I will be making a post of my own personal favourites yet, but these are the overal winners via The Schoolhouse Crew

Ever have a book that you stay up late to finish reading?   Soldier Dog was one such book for me.   It is a seriously GOOD book.

A boy, his dog, hard life choices, a brother, and a war to fight.   Sam Angus put together an excellent book on the life of messenger dogs in the battle during World War 1.

  This is one of those review books that I'll be keeping to have my son read when he gets a tad older.   There are some hard events that happen in the beginning of the book that my son would have some difficulty reading, but I know that he would like how the story turned out in the end.     I expect to have him read next year in September.

Stanley is left at home with his dad who has turned miserable in the loss of his beloved wife and his worry over his older boy being in the war.    Breeder of dogs and horses, preferring only the purebred lines, "Da" has lost so much he has yet to find himself and treat others with the love he has buried inside himself.

After the loss of the puppies, Stanley leaves home with one goal in his 13 year old head.  Find his brother Tom.  The only way to do so is to join the army.   Telling them that he's 17, the war office helped him meet the minimum requirements and Stanley finds himself training a big great dane to for the work of a messenger dogs.  

Against all odds he manages to train his dog Bones and is sent into battle.     

As much as I want to tell you the whole story I can't... I don't want to issue any spoilers. 

GO get the book.  READ IT.    If you don't think your children can read it on the own, read it with them.  Talk it through with them, but just read the book.  Sam Angus put together a good book about real history and it's worth reading.

Did you know she took the idea from a real dog doing this job?   Though the army preferred to use lurchers (poachers dogs, half-breeds) Jack the Airedale proved his mettle in combat.    You can learn more about him here.

Dogs served in a variety of ways: Messengers, Sentries, Mercy or Medical, Scout and casualty, and mascots.  You can learn more about those different roles here.

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Guarding the tongue...guarding the way we communicate.  It's a hard thing isn't it?   I know it is for me.   It can be so easy to spout something off without taking the time to think through what we say and how we say it.   It is SO very tough at times.

Let me take a moment to share some key thoughts I pulled from this chapter.

P. 68  words are formed on the tongue,  but they originate in the heart.    Our words are the barometer of our hearts.

How to help yourself monitor your tongue
1. Commit yourself to be candid and open about speaking the truth,  even if it makes things sticky for you.
2. Be careful about confidences.   Don't blab about situations and people.
3. If in doubt,  keep your mouth shut.    Realize there is a time for talking AND a time for silence.
4.Remember also to use your tongue in the way it was intended.
    During public worship remember "to use your tongue to assent to the congregational liturgy,  to pray with (your)  mind on the Lord,  to sing truthfully the words of a hymn,  and to accept the preaching of God's Word into (your)  life."

In your home use your tongue in a respectful God-honouring way.
If you make a promise keep it.

Think of technology as an extension of your tongue.   Use it with restraint in the same way.

I have to admit that I really liked that section about how we ARE to use our tongue in a Godly way, particularly in public worship.   To use it to assent to public liturgy, to pray with our minds on the lord and to sing truthfully the words of a hymn.   Food for thought and a punch in the arm to pay attention.     To listening to our hubby's preach and not to tune him out because we hear him talk all the time (not just on Sundays). 

Let me clarify...I don't tune my hubby out but sometimes I don't hear him as clearly as I aught to.

I squirmed a bit with the thinking of technology like I would my tongue.   I use my tablet to take church not and my bible is on my phone and it is SO tempting to check my email during the service... and sometimes I don't win that battle.  I do have a 10 year old minder at times though.... but still.. I NEED to be more mindful of minding my hubby's words and really listening to him.

What do you struggle with when it comes to your tongue and how you communicate?

Tonight we had a great meal.  We are currently cooking our way through Europe using the Drawing around the world: Europe as a base for our studies.   As we like to have folks join us for these meals, we decided to call Gramma and see if she would like to come.    She said yes, and so we cooked, ate and talked.  It was good.

We made a variety of recipes.
Strawberry Snow.   This is SO good.   Seriously. MAKE THIS.
Ingredients

• 500 g strawberries, hulled
• 2 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 1⁄2 cup caster sugar
• 1⁄2 cup whipping cream
• 1⁄4-1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla (or to taste)
• 6 -8 strawberries, sliced, for garnish

Directions

1. Puree strawberries in a food processor or blender.
2. Combine strawberry puree, egg whites and sugar in a bowl and beat until stiff and glossy.
3. Add vanilla to cream, and whip mixture until peaks form.
4. Gently fold cream mixture into strawberry mixture.
5. Spoon into a serving bowl and garnish with strawberry slices and mint (if desired).
6. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until you are ready to serve.
7. This can be made a day ahead. Good luck keeping everyone else in the house out of it.

Finnish Carrot Rolls
These are excellent when they are served cold.   And good when fresh out of the oven.
Ingredients

• 2 cups milk
• 4 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 4 carrots, grated

• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 1/2 tablespoons butter, softened

Directions:

1. Heat milk in a microwave-safe bowl in the microwave until warmed, about 3 minutes. Add 1/2 cup flour and yeast to warm milk. Let stand until the yeast softens and begins to form a creamy foam, about 5 minutes.
2. Stir carrots, honey, and salt into yeast mixture. Mix flour, about 1/2 cup at a time, into carrot mixture, mixing thoroughly after each addition until a smooth dough forms. Mix butter into dough until thoroughly integrated using your hands. Cover bowl with a damp, clean towel.
3. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Place bowl with dough on top of oven while it preheats until dough has doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
4. Form dough into rolls and arrange on a baking sheet; loosely cover dough with a clean towel or plastic wrap and let rise, 20 to 30 minutes.
5. Bake in the preheated oven until rolls are lightly browned, 10 to 15 minutes.

Karjalan Pies.   I have to admit, the boys were really uncertain about this recipe.   BUT they ended up liking it.  :)






Ingredients:

• 2 cups water
• 1 cup uncooked white rice
• 2 cups milk
• salt to taste
• 1/2 cup water

• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup rye flour
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, or as needed
• 3 tbsps, butter, melted

Directions

1. Combine rice and water in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes, or until water is absorbed. Stir in milk, cover, and cook until milk is absorbed by the rice, about 20 minutes. Season with salt to taste.
2. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (220 degrees C). In a medium bowl, stir together the salt and rye flour. Stir in water. Mix in all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon at a time until dough is just past the sticky stage. Divide the dough into 16 equal portions.
3. On a lightly floured surface, roll each piece of dough out into a thin circle 6 inches in diameter. The dough should be as thin as possible. Place about 3 tablespoons of the rice mixture in the center of each circle. Spread the mixture out to within 1 inch of the edges. Fold the edges of the dough upward, and crimp the edges so as to allow the pastries to hold their shape. Pinch the sides at each end to form a little boat. Place pastries about 3 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet, and brush the tops with butter.
4. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until the dough is firm, and the rice porridge is slightly browned on the top. Serve warm.

Finnish Cranberry Whip.   This was good, but I found it was best served with something else.  I put it on the Carrot Roll as well as Karjalan.   It was particularly good on the karjalan.   :)

Ingredients 

• 2 cups fresh cranberries
• 1 1⁄2 cups water
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 dash salt
• 1⁄3 cup farina

 Directions

1. Heat cranberries in 1 1/2 cups water to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer uncovered until berries pop, about 8 minutes.
2. Press cranberries through sieve to remove skins. return juice to saucepan. Add sugar, 1 cup water and the salt; heat to boiling.
3. Add farina gradually, stirring constantly. Cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened, 3 to 5 minutes.
4. Pour into small mixer bowl. Beat on high speed until pudding becomes fluffy and light pink, 3 to 5 minutes.

Beetroot  Burgers.    I have to admit that I was very much the skeptical one here.   I am not a fan of capers or beets... particularly pickled beets, but hubby was like .. "hun, make them I am positive they will be good".  And you know what?   Even though the patties were hard to make.. WOW.. these are GOOD burgers.  :)

Ingredients

• 400 g minced meat
• 1 tsp salt
• Black pepper
• 2 medium-sized potatoes, boiled
• 1 egg
• 100 ml milk or beef stock
• 1-2 medium-sized pickled beetroots
• 1 onion
• 2 tbsp capers
• Oil or butter for frying

Directions
Season the meat with salt and pepper.
Peel and grate the potatoes.   As I prepared the meat I boiled the potatoes that I had grated before boiling.
Add the grated potatoes, egg and milk into the meat.
Chop the beetroot and onion. Add them with the capers into the meat batter. Mix carefully.
Make small chubby burgers and fry quickly in butter in a hot pan, about 2-3 minutes on both sides.   Be prepared for the meat mixture to be a bit sloppy, but they cook up nicely.   And the ones that fall apart... well...the cook gets to enjoy.  :)
Serve the burgers with plain yoghurt or crème fraîche sauce and pickled cucumbers.  We did not serve them this way.  We enjoyed them as they were.

Finnish Stick Cookies.   I am facing a rebellion.  I told my son that I'll be bringing the rest of the cookies over to the church in the morning.  :)   Well... I can say he wasn't happy about that idea at all.  :) 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 eggs, beaten (I used less)
• 1/2 c white sugar (I needed more)
• 1 1/2 cup finely chopped almonds (I used less)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and 1/2 cup sugar until smooth. Stir in 1 egg and almond extract. Combine the salt and flour; stir into the sugar mixture with your hands until a smooth dough forms. Roll dough into log shaped pieces about 1/2 inch thick and 2 to 3 inches long. Dip each piece in the beaten eggs, then in remaining 1/2 cup sugar and then roll them in almonds. Place them 1 inch apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

We had such a good time, and the food was all so good.   We've added some favourites to our meal plans  :)   WOOT WOOT.    Even our son's cat thought he should have some...  He tried hard to sweet talk the lad when he got up, but to no avail...

You know how school is more than doing reading, writing and arithmetic?   Well lately that's what it seems like our school has been.   I've been adding interactive stuff, but it's been rather helter-skelter.    That hasn't been working for my organized, easily stressed, creative lad so I decided we'll put those creative elements on one day.   I chose Friday because well.. I CAN.  :)   To that end on Fridays we'll be doing things like our
Interactive Math journal.   Today our interactive journal was on the rules of patterning.   Each day has a creative element, and my son made his element into a monster. 

Learning about our own beloved country of Canada.   As we are restarting this study, we started with making a puzzle map of Canada.   As you can see our ever present helpers are helping him finish it up.     They celebrated by eating cake (while we had lunch).  :)

Geography of Europe by watching videos and making a meal of the country studied.   This week it's Finland.

Our recorder Lessons.   We're starting with the lessons from Schoolhouse Teachers.   Today we learned how to make G and A and how to breathe softly.

  Art Lessons.   For now I am using a book called Hands On Art Projects. 

 We are still doing important things like math, writing, and reading.  Just in a different format yes?   

It's interesting, despite this day taking a tad bit longer to accomplished our schooling in, no complaints from one boy child.   AND THAT my readers... Is  VERY good thing.  :)

My son and I read a lot of non-fiction.  People ask how I can do that so easily and I find it so incredibly easy that I don't understand the question.   I don't understand how it is so much harder to add non-fiction than it is to add fiction.     They are all books and worth talking about right?

Recently we read through three quite different books.   They are Ancient Greece, Brown Bears and Tree of Wonder.

Navigators: Ancient Greece
My son surprised me with Ancient Greece.  Normally when we read a book he rarely looks at it again.  But this one he picked up more than once just looking through the pictures, reading captions, picking up on the details I skimmed over the first time I read the book with him.     The book is filled with excellent images - some artistic, the others of actual images.     There are internet links provided throughout the book to help with additional learning...though I have to admit, we didn't take the time to do so.  :)      Pages 24 -25 fit in really well with the archaeology unit we are doing right now, my lad was so intrigued it was neat to see.  

Maps, sports, stories, hoplites, bravery, and yet a seen weakness in the people.
My lad didn't understand why weak children would be killed at birth.  "What if they are really smart though mom?  What if they are so smart they can figure out better ways to fight so people don't have to die?  Why would they do that mom?"   Sometimes I wish I had answers to these questions the lad asks.

Living Wild: Brown Bears.
My lad liked this book.  It taught him a bit more about bears, even though it wasn't about the black bears we saw this summer.     He was saddened to learn that they aren't known to live around here.   

This book was filled with excellent images of brown bears: Syrian, Eurasian, Kamchatka, Ussuri and Grizzly from around the world.   We learned the origin of them, some places where they are pictured, and a variety of interesting facts about them such as scientists thinking they hibernate because they can smell the changes in the air.  We viewed images of bears painted in caves long ago, Ursa Major and scientists at work learning more about them.   When he saw the picture of the bear with his head in the campers tent he just laughed.  

Tree of Wonder: The many marvelous lives of a rainforest tree.   
It's hard to know how to describe this book.  I loved looking through it.  On the first page I searched for many of the animals found in the rest of the book.   My son grabbed it from me and said "MOM.. there is no way I can find more than a 1000 ants in this picture!!!".    Once he realized he wasn't supposed to he had fun looking at the rest of the book making comments such as "ooh.. look at all the baby snakes" and "agoutis look a lot like big guinea pigs".  

Each page of the book has some portion of the Almendro Tree in it.   All these different animals owe a good part of their lives due to this tree.  There is ONE tree, Two parrots, 4 macaws and so forth all the way up to 1,024 leafcutters ants.   The book is all about how "life multiplies again and again in this One Almendro Tree".   As each animal multiplies a brief write up is given for it.  Often times the picture for the animal includes some of the animals written about in the book, showing the inclusive community that they are part of because of the tree.

For fun at the end of the book, some rainforest math questions are given.  They don't seem to be particularly easy questions but it's good to offer a challenge to folks now again isn't it?  :)

I was given a chance to look at all these books by Raincoast Books.   They've been a fine addition to our homeschooling.

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I opened my book of poems and said Okay lad, pick a poem.

And this poem is the one he picked.

After I read the poem to him, I set it up like this:
Bananananananana
by William Cole

Line A I thought I'd win the spelling bee
Line B    And get right to the top
Line C But I started to spell "banana"
Line D   And didn't know where to stop.

I asked him to read it himself, which he did quite nicely.  
Did the normal thing of what's it called, who wrote it.   Then asked what he noticed.

1.  MOM.. It's funny!  :)   Right off the top he giggled at the silliness of this poem.
2. Lines B and D rhyme.   Top and Stop.

I asked if there was anything he didn't understand.
His response:
Nope.
Though mom, what's a spelling bee?
My response
Oh.. what where people have contests to see who can spell the most words correctly.

I challenged him to spell Banana.
And he got it correctly.  :)

What words could you use if you wanted to continue this poem?
Hop and pop.   Or... DROP....

These are the last two of four books I received in the Horrors of History series.  The first two books I reviewed here.    The books I am reviewing today are called People of the Plague and Ocean of Fire.

The four books in the series are entitled:

• People of the Plague
  
• Oceans of Fire
• City of the Dead
• Massacre of the Miners. 

A Short Synopsis of the books:
 Ocean of Fire
It’s February 1865 and the end of the American Civil War is in sight. Union troops under the leadership of General Sherman have made their way from Atlanta to Savannah, allegedly burning Confederate towns along their path, and word is they’re headed to Columbia, South Carolina, to do the same. 
Readers follow the stories of several characters—both real and imagined—as they learn about the chaotic community of Columbia as it tries to survive a blazing firestorm. Combining fictionalized narrative with actual documented accounts, readers see this controversial event through the eyes of seventeen-year-old Emma LeConte who struggles to keep her family safe after her father and uncle leave to transport war supplies. Then there’s Charles Davis, a mysterious Confederate soldier who warns the LeConte’s of impending doom. But is Charles really the Confederate spy he claims to be? Can he be trusted? 

 People of the Plague
“This was a flu that put people into bed as if they’d been hit with a two-by-four. That turned into pneumonia,that turned people blue and black and killed them. It was a flu out of some sort of horror story.”    —Alfred Crosby, historian (“Influenza 1918.” American Experience. PBS, 1988) 
In 1918 a virulent strain of influenza effected the entire world. In Philadelphia alone it was estimated that 19,000 people died. In this historical novel, young readers follow the experiences of a few fictional characters living in South Philadelphia, the hardest hit section of the city due to it’s already unsanitary conditions in the tenement housing. Experience the terror, sorrow, and bravery of the city’s residents.

People of the Plague.  Have to admit.  I liked this book.  For me it was the best one in the series.  The startling reality of how hard a plague can hit when people are in close quarters and when things like parades happen just as the plague is starting to hit.    It was amazing the speed at which is consumed the tenements of Philadelphia.  I continue to appreciate the true facts section provided at the end of the book.    Families devastated, some so quickly that entire families died, others only the parents dying or just the children.   So much loss and death.  So heart-breaking for the people tending them.  

Ocean of Fire.  I have to admit...I just wanted to slap a couple of those women.  I just wanted to yell at them STOP WHINING AND DO SOMETHING.   But then I am called to mind of how God created us all differently and one of the whiners had already seen harsh things and hadn't recovered yet.  I admired Emma, working hard to save her family, the black slaves for making choices about staying or leaving their people, it was a difficult time.   I had ANGER at those drunken soldiers not giving a rip about the people of the city.   This book brought out several emotions and is the book I liked the least.   It just seemed... I don't know... pathetically sad.   

Again, these books are billed for young people age 11 and up.  I do not see my 10 year old as being old enough to handle reading them.   In his own words "mom, I don't like reading about sad things that happened when there is nothing I can do about it".   I love his heart, and I respect his desire to not see this part of history yet.  I honestly don't know many young people his age who would like to read them.  THOUGH I do know some early teens that just might.  Billing this more as a series for young to older teens might be a better age range for this series.

Product Details:
Received: hardcover books
Title: People of the Plague and Ocean of Fire
Author: T.Neill Anderson
Series: Horrors of History
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Pages: 144-157 in each
Age: for 11 years old and up

Did you know there was such a difference in screws?   I figured an archimedes screw was just a screw until I learned there's a dry screw and a liquid screw.   Neat eh?   Today we made a dry screw... let me walk you through the process.  :)

For our Science we are using the God's Design Curriculum put out there by Answers in Genesis.   We purchased the whole set and my son chose to do Machines & Motion first.  He's thoroughly enjoying it since it's an easy curriculum to work our way through.  One chapter a day for the most part.. some weeks we do less others we do more.  Sometimes he has a worksheet that he actually sees, other days I just look it over and ask questions.  Some days he does an experiment and others he doesn't.  We don't do EVERYTHING every day basically is what I am saying.  :)   I haven't even looked at quizzing/testing him at this point yet.

We've just started a section on simple machines.   My lad knows a bit about this already from a K'nex unit we did last year and from just talking and working around the house (using wheelbarrows, shovels, board ramps and the like).   But now he's learning the language and the definitions.

We learned about Archimedes yesterday and how he was so instrumental in defending his city, using cranes, and battering rams against ships, using magnifying glasses and mirrors to light ships on fire, catapults and the like.   My lad was MOST intrigued.  He really wanted to figure out a way to make the cranes to lift up ships to destroy them but I couldn't figure out how to do that, so I had him make an Archimedes screw instead.

AND I took pictures but they disappeared...  AND since I told my lad he was done for the day he wasn't willing to come back and work the screw again just so I could take pictures....

We used this video as visual assistance:

 We found this pdf on how to make a Fluid Archimedes Screw.   Seeing this video after we were done has my lad asking if we can make a water screw as well.   I told him we would but it would take a bit to find the materials we need to make it...and we might wait til spring unless we have a few more warm days this fall.  (depends on how long it takes for me to find what I want right?)

We used rice in our dry screw since the lad thought that
1. we shouldn't waste our cereal
2. rice would work easier
We changed the type of water bottle since "Mom, wouldn't a bigger or smoother water bottle be better?   Then the screw part would fit in better right?"   Since we had a smooth edge mid-sized bottle we used that and it did seem to work.

It worked really well the first time through.  The lad was quite pleased.  He did 85% of the work himself in making it.  I helped with fine tuning the cardstock to fit as he was getting a tad vexed with the process (it's hard to fine tune a circle to fit inside another circle if you are eyeballing it) and then with locating and putting some rice into the screw for it to work.

Recently Raincoast books sent me a variety of books about the World Wars.   I'm going to review a couple of those today.  

The first is called "The Tortoise and the Soldier".  

What a neat book for children.  Written by Michael Foreman, it tells the story of a young journalism given the task of seeing if Ali Pasha, the tortoise has woken up yet.   As the boy got intrigued by the story of the tortoise, he learned about the war through an old soldiers war diary and stories.

Detailed black and white illustrations help tell the story. 

Lessons in the book:  

• People are people regardless of what side of the war they are on.
  
• How a dream to travel came to fruition in the Navy.
  
• Sometimes little things (like having a pet tortoise) can make big things less scary
  
• Heading home can be more alarming then heading away from home.
  

Neat to find out the tortoise was real!!   In reality the tortoise was called Blake.  You can learn more him here.

Battle of the Bulge.

This book about WW2 I read about half way through with my lad but it was getting to be too real for him, and he wasn't ready for all the details in this book as much as he was interested in it.    

It is loaded with TONS of historical facts and lots of black and white pictures.   Those, as I continued to read the book, I would show my boy, particularly the ones with men working cannons, and hiding in the snow, and what not. 

The chapters are, for the most part, short and easily read. 
They are very detailed and explained why the Battle of the Bulge happened as it did.   It was a hard fought battle which the Americans ended up winning but at heavy cost.  

I found some of the words too large for a child.   Quite frankly some of the words I didn't know what they meant.. so for this being a young readers edition I had to query it being for children younger than 11-12.

I found it fascinating watching how the battle played out.  Horrified by the actions of the SS group that murdered the surrendering soldiers.     Pleased by the determination of troops to battle on.  Dismayed by cowardice.Disgusted by ineptitude.   It was all the different things that come up in war.

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