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Review: Adventures in Famous Places

5/30/2015

"Do you know what I like mom? I like that this book tells you how to say hello everywhere we went!"

I have to admit I was surprised by my lad's response to this book. He liked it. He really really waffled on whether he wanted to the sticker part of it. I let it be his decision. He ultimately decided he didn't want to cause "then I can let another child have fun with it too mom". (isn't my lad the sweetest?) :) Just so you know what book I'm talking about it's Lonely Planet Kids "Adventures in Famous Places"

This book is a really neat sticker and activity book. It has over 250 stickers that embrace different elements of 10 different countries. To my son's delight the book starts off with Canada! YEAH! Some of the other countries include Australia, Dubai and Japan. As we went through it my son delighted in reading what country we were looking at next. The countries flag was included on each introductory page.

The general layout was to give an introduction to the country with activities for the child to do that were specific to that country (for Canada they talked about the winter, mounties and moose). I have to admit, my lad frowned at Canada being famous for Justin Bieber...." Why HIM mom?" he asked.

The next section was a two page sticker friendly page spread. The pages are made to that stickers can be repositioned. The stickers are found gathered at the back of the book and are clearly labeled.

Each country section ends with an full page activity sheet for the child to complete.

Adventures in Famous Places ended with three different activity.   My really liked this one.    He gave it a really good search and when he got the end "I GOT IT" was the delighted response.

This is a fun book to go through with children.   It is published by lonelyplanetkids.com.   48 pages of learning fun about different countries around the world.

Geared for ages three years and up.

I overall feel that the book is aimed at about 5-6 year olds.

My son at age 9 still enjoyed the book but it was geared down for younger children. Nevertheless he learned a good number of things about different countries that spurred us on to look into things a bit deeper (using the trusty cellphone). :)

It is definitely a book worth getting if you want you children to learn abit more about some interesting places around the world.    It gives a good grounding to further study if your children are older, and if they are younger, it's a fun look around the world.

Raincoast books can be found at the following social Media links:
www.raincoast.com
https://twitter.com/raincoastbooks
https://www.facebook.com/raincoastbooks
https://instagram.com/raincoastbooks/
https://www.pinterest.com/raincoastbooks/
http://raincoastbooks.tumblr.com/
https://plus.google.com/+raincoastbooks/

#FMFParty: Blue

5/29/2015

Blue

I read that word prompt and immediately thought BLUE??? What can I say about that???

Then I got to thinking...Blue...it's a colour, it's a feeling, it's descriptive, it's more.

Blue: a colour, usually signifies coolness.

Blue: A feeling: feeling sad, quiet, alone, depressed,

Blue: Descriptive: Helps you define what colour or state something is in.

Blue: Signifier: Blue is for boys, skies, and oceans.

Blue...for those into looking at auras...blue is calming, teaching, helping, service

So blue isn't quite as simple as it is at first is it?
Blue can be so sad, but it can be deep, and full and saturated with plucky determination.

Party Rules:
Write for five minutes on a word prompt. Link up.
THEN importantly, take the time to be an encouragement to others being as bold as you are. Visit the blog ahead of you in the link up. Just comment and encourage. Not hard that is it? :) So go on, write your own post. Be brave this week. :)

Thinking Thursday: Democritus and Leucippus

5/29/2015

Coming from Greece in the early 5th century Democritus and Leucippus are the fellows who came up with the first atomic theory.   They believed that everything was made up of tiny, invisible and unchangeable particles that they called "atomos" (greek for atoms).

They believed that there were uncountable numbers of atoms but that they could only form a finite number of different combinations.   When things die the atoms they contain are dispersed and become part of other combinations.

They left no room for god in their theorizing.   Their theory, called atomism, opened the door to additional scientific inquiry.

Project Fair Pictures

5/26/2015

This past week HOPE had their annual Project fair.

My son did an exhibit on Minecraft. He had so much fun. :) I unfortunately forgot to get a picture of him and the gaggle of children huddled around his presentation. :) But he always had someone there to talk minecraft with.

Here are some shots from the different project available. :)

This included a small write up with guinea pig with a "fun catch the error" giggle in it. :)

These pictures were based on the Percy Jackson novel.

aren't these art work pieces well done? One young fellow was quite pleased with what he and his sisters accomplished..

trip around 10 countries which came with food to share and buildings to see. :)

The Magic Bank Account

5/25/2015

Interesting perspective – Never really looked at it this way
THE MAGIC BANK ACCOUNT
THE AUTHOR IS NOT KNOWN. IT WAS FOUND IN THE BILLFOLD OF COACH PAUL BEAR BRYANT, ALABAMA, AFTER HE DIED IN 1982
The Magic Bank Account

Imagine that you had won the
following *PRIZE* in a contest: Each morning your bank would deposit $86,400
in your private account for your use. However, this prize has
rules: The set of rules:

1. Everything that you didn't spend during each day would be taken away from you.
2. You may not simply transfer money into some other account.
3. You may only spend it.
4. Each morning upon awakening, the bank opens your account with another $86,400 for that day.
5. The bank can end the game without warning; at any time it can say,“Game Over!" It can close the account and you will not receive a new one.

What would you personally do?

You would buy anything and everything you wanted right? Not only for yourself, but for all the people you love and care for. Even for people you don't know, because you couldn't possibly spend it all on yourself, right?
You would try to spend every penny, and use it all, because you knew it would be replenished in the morning, right?

ACTUALLY, This GAME is REAL
... Shocked ???
YES! Each of us is already a winner of this *PRIZE*. We just can't seem to see it.

The PRIZE is *TIME*
1. Each morning we awaken to receive 86,400 seconds as a gift of life.
2. And when we go to sleep at night, any remaining time is Not credited to us.
3. What we haven't used up that day is forever lost.
4. Yesterday is forever gone.
5. Each morning the account is refilled, but the bank can dissolve your account at any time WITHOUT WARNING...
SO, what will YOU do with your 86,400 seconds?

Those seconds are worth so much more than the same amount in dollars. Think about it and remember to enjoy every second of your life, because time races by so much quicker than you think.
So take care of yourself, be happy, love deeply and enjoy life!
Here's wishing you a wonderful and beautiful day. Start “spending”....
"DON’T COMPLAIN ABOUT GROWING OLD…!"
SOME PEOPLE DON'T GET THE PRIVILEGE!

Missionary Monday: Sam HigginBottom

5/25/2015

Sam Higginbottom was born in England. He was Christian missionary to Allahabad, India, where he founded the Allahabad Agricultural Institute. This institute is currently being renamed the Sam Higginbottom Institute.

Doing agricultural work better was the focus of Mr. Higginbottom.   And he believed that if a thing should be done, it should simply be done.   So at age 12 he left school and went to work for his dad on the farm.   It was a life that he loved.   Caring for critters, working the land and being out of doors.   Just wan he wanted.

When he was 16 he was given a bible and decided he should honour the giver and take time to read it. By the end of it he called himself a Christian and determined that he should live out that faith.   He fought hard against the idea of becoming a missionary or a minister but eventually saw it as God's call on his life.

He eventually decided to enroll in school at Mount Hermon for five years, Amherst college for two and Princeton for another 2.   While there he heard Henry Forman talk about India and the needs of the people. He decided that he would go to India as a lay pastor.    He had dreams of preaching to the untouchables, but when he arrived the mission had other plans for him.   He became a teacher of economics and the leader of a leper colony.

His first look at the leper colony was a series of broken down mud huts. It was a dismal, depressing place.    Higginbottom took matters in hand and turned into a place of beauty with neat homes, gardens, and a lovely chapel.   It went from five christians to over half of the people there turning the Lord.

Teaching economics lead him to see the need for good gardens and agricultural use of land, which sent him back to school for more training.   He bought rough tough land, brought in a bunch of students, seed, tools and set to work.   Every student had to work the land.   From those humble beginnings the school was born.   A highly productive farm was developed and a people fed.

This is the legacy of Sam Higginbottom..

History comes alive...

5/24/2015

I recently finished reading two books with my lad.   One entitled "With Nothing but our Courage" and the other "Peril and Peace".

In With Nothing but our Courage we followed Mary MacDonald, part of a Loyalist family as she was forced to leave her home and trudge up to Canada with an old horse, a baby and the rest of her family.   It was a very hard difficult journey with trusted friends and neighbours treating them poorly along the way.

This book often filled my son and I with a sense of profound sadness.    Seeing the anger expressed at them by their fellow Americans... the horror of a sick baby...and harshness of the holding camp.   It was just HARD.   BUT as my son said "They became part of Canada. And that was good right mom?" They walked and they worked and they become part of Canada... part of US!    Hard losses, good friends, helpful people, past lives missed and mourned and eventually new life embraced

And that's true you know.   They were part of the beginning of this beloved country of ours.   And ours is the best country in the world you know. Just ask my nine year old. :)

This second book is the start to a series called "Chronicles of the Ancient Church"   We read Peril and Peace which covers the years 3 BC - 550 AD.   These books are written with 9-14 year olds in mind.     Modern language, ancient people. I was delighted throughout the book to hear my boy say "I learned about him".    It was great to hear some additional information about the people my son's been learning about in his Veritas Press Studies

15 stories of individuals interwoven into brief forays into the surrounding history or additional early church leaders of which not a lot of information is known.   I found it a fascinating read and look forward to reading the rest of the series.

I have to say that some of the chapters were long so we broke them up into a couple of nights reading.   But the lad was intrigued and sometimes would fill in additional information which was just cool. :)

A bee's life, first 21 days

5/24/2015

I thought this was interesting. What do you think?

To go to the original source and to find a video with explanatory text, GO HERE.

#FMFParty: Rise

5/24/2015

And you shall rise up....

Today was Pentecost Sunday..

You know... that first fruits day, when the first fruits of the church is celebrated.    Jesus had to leave so that the Holy Spirit to come... and that was the start of the early church.

Pretty awesome when you think of it that way eh?

So I have all this in my brain when I read the catch word of the FMFParty and i think... one day the church shall rise up.   Rise up with the Lord when he returns.

BUT ... and this is the but... in the meantime we are to BE the church.   An active, vibrant, God-serving, God-fearing church that RELIES upon the Holy Spirit to spread the Good News that we know.

What say we RISE UP together eh?
Rise and stop being afraid.
Rise up and stop wondering what we should do next.
Rise up and start trusting the counsellor that Jesus himself sent for us.

What say you?

So now go ahead...rise up.. write your own #FMFParty post. LInk up. And then go ahead...encourage the person who linked up before you Be the encouragement you are called to be. :)

Review: Return to Augie Hobble

5/19/2015

"So what did you think of this book my boy?" I asked my nine year old son.
"I liked it mom, but it had some odd twists to it that made it weird".

So with that endorsement let me tell you about a book we recently reviewed on behalf of Raincoast Books. The book is called "Return to Augie Hobble" and is written by Lane Smith. Lane Smith is a prolific author.

Augie Hobble, bulled, artistic, outcast with but one friend to call his own...and his friend is going on vacation.

He lives with his parents (his dad owns an amusement park) in Fairy Tale Place.   Hogg Wills regularly bullies him just because he can.     I have to admit, this part of the book caused my son to ask lots of questions. Why do people do mean things to other people. Augie didn't do anything to deserve that. Why would the boy be so mean?   Good source of discussion that.

Anyways, it's getting on time for summer break from school but Augie has a problem.... he's failed creative arts and needs to make up the credit over summer.    Now to find a new project to do.   My son loved this.   Pictures, short vignettes, stories... he laughed, he helped me read, and it just totally drew us into Augie as a character.

We liked Augie, seemed like a normal child, dealing with regular middle school issues.

My son kept asking for this book to be read, he was enjoying it...but then the book took an odd turn.   My son's shock should have been recorded! :)

A werewolf?

Oh my.   Things reach into the paranormal.    This is where my lad says "the book is weird mom".     We still were very much desirous of knowing how things would turn out with Augie.   Would he sort things out with his tormentor? (the method he used made us laugh, but provoked good discussion on the rightness or wrongness of it).   Would he come to an understanding over the unthinkable?    (he did...and all I can say is interesting flip).   Would he make new friends at all?    What's with the guy in the hoodie and those Special Special Agents....what's with them???

So many questions that needed answering and we managed to get answers.

It was a book of unexpected tosses and turns.....

It did the job of keeping us well entertained.
Would I have chosen to read this book with my lad if I had known about those unexpected turnings?   Probably not...

But it was an interesting book to read and provoked good discussion twixt my boy and me.

I will leave it to your discretion if you want to read it with your children, or even preview it before you let them read it :)