Reviews Delayed Due to Family Illness

The reviews I had planned to post this week have been interrupted by an extended hospital stay with one of my children. We began our stay with the ER and ICU on Sunday afternoon, and my daughter is now stable enough for me to update here on my blog.

My family appreciates all the prayers, visits, calls and extensions of sympathy at this time. I also appreciate the patience of curriculum vendors who understand my own need to focus on getting my daughter well at this time. We hope to be released from the hospital next week, and reviews will be posted as usual when I am able to do so.

Joy and Sorrow, Praise and Pain

Although I have not written lately, many blog posts have been in my mind, awaiting an opportunity to share. Here are some highlights of the many I have wished to share lately:

My daughter, "Venturer" completed her NYLT training, had her braces removed, and just achieved very good to excellent scores on her ASVAB test. We will be going over her possible career options in upcoming months and discussing them and planning for them. She seems to have become more interested in math and science than in English since she took the ACT Explore test. She is huge blessing to me, and I thank God for her daily.

My son "Knothead" (so nicknamed due to his excellent knot-tying abilities) achieved his Star scout rank in December, and we awarded him his patch in January. He is already narrowing in on Life scout, looking forward to summer camp (especially earning the Robotics merit badge!), and contemplating working on his Eagle project this summer. He is now taller than his sister, and turning into a young man of character.

My two younger children continue to be as entertaining as always, always saying and doing funny things. They are such a joy to our family, always lighting up the room with their presence.

And my middle child, my daughter, "Princess Buttercup" has continued to be ill. She has seen many specialists and has finally been diagnosed with a very rare genetic disorder. Some similar cases exist, though hers is unique, and this week the Geneticist will tell us about other cases and what we can expect. To date, we really still don't know what to expect in terms of my daughter's health and treatment. Praise God, that she has turned to faith in Him and will soon be baptized. For now, we are all turning to Him who is faithful to walk with us down this dark road and strengthen us.

At a time like this, the book of Job has been my comfort. I do not understand why our family is undergoing this trial. I only know that He has some good purpose in it. The following verses sum up my experience of the past five months, seeking answers to help my daughter.

"But when I hoped for good, evil came,
And when I waited for light, darkness came.
My inward parts are in turmoil and never still;
days of affliction come to meet me."
Job 30:26-27 ESV

And yet,

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."
Romans 8:28 ESV

I am deeply appreciative of the many friends who have been praying for our family during this time.

Review: Write With World

Teaching Writing. A struggle in your home or a joy? This often difficult and perplexing subject can be made at least a little easier with the folks at WORLD magazine and God's World's News. Write With WORLD is a new middle school curriculum designed to make writing enjoyable--an effort much appreciated in our household. Read Martin Olasky's recent article for WORLD magazine lamenting modern writing methods to see a little of the philosophy behind this new writing program.

My own seventh grade son was the test subject in our home for this pilot version of this program designed for 6th through 9th graders, which should be released in its final form for the 2012-13 school year. At that time the complimentary website for this curriculum will also go "live," and offer additional writing and online publishing opportunities for students using this curriculum.

So, back to my son. Writing lover he is not. Future engineer or computer scientist would be a more accurate description of him, actually. So, will this program work for a kid like him?

This program comes with a non-consumable teacher's manual and student book set. You provide your choice of notebook, binder, or journal to serve as the student's journal. We used a standard bound composition book--blue in color, to match the student book, naturally.

Although our version of Write With WORLD did not contain a table of contents or page numbers, the final version will. Suffice it to say for now, that the teacher and student books are about 3/4" thick and very substantive. It is illustrated with color photographs. This curriculum contains four units with four weekly lessons containing five daily lessons apiece. At times, you will be expected to locate magazine ads or articles, and God's World News could be used, but is not required. My son used Boy's Life magazine when necessary.

So, this curriculum could be used in a semester, with a separate semester devoted to literature. Or weeks could be alternated between writing or literature, or you could choose an alternate arrangement of the material.

What does each unit cover?

Unit One challenges the student writer to think about the writing process and pay attention to the arrangement of careful details and careful word choice. Students are challenged to ask questions and try options as they build skill in identifying strong and weak writing. This is the unit that we actually worked in for the review period, and I think it does a great job of starting at the most basic level at which students need to begin--the stage of critical thinking, observation and description.

Unit Two takes this knowledge a step further by helping students apply their knowledge to building sentences and paragraphs which logically demonstrate their ideas.

Unit Three focuses on autobiography, as well as research and organizational skills. This unit is designed to draw out reluctant writers by giving them a subject to research about which they are already familiar--themselves.

Unit Four teaches how to write narrative. Fiction is touched on toward the end, but the focus is on relaying a personal experience. Relevant, specific details are again emphasized, and the development of purpose is revisited.

Our family's verdict?

Mom likes this curriculum, but acknowledges that it will probably be most effective when the website to accompany it goes "live" in September. The first unit was not overly teacher-intensive, either, though I anticipate further units may be more intensive. It is possible that the teacher helps intended to be provided on the new website may prove an excellent help for parents.

My son really enjoyed reading the student book, but still struggled to get his thoughts onto paper. Is this unusual for him? No. He was still able to complete the assignments, with some prodding. Would the website with the opportunities to use technology and interaction have helped keep him motivated better? Probably. We are undecided as to whether to continue with this curriculum in August or not, but I tentatively recommend its use for this age student, anticipating the website to complete and complement the texts.

Write With WORLD costs:

$95 for Year One
$95 for Year Two
$165 for BOTH years

All packages include the student book, teacher's manual and an online subscription to the website for either one or two years. The publishers are considering publishing a high school curriculum for 2013-14, as well as the possibility of an electronic version of this curriculum. Interested in either? Feel free to leave a comment, as the publishers would love to know the interest level.

Disclaimer: As a member of the Homeschool Crew, I received the Write With WORLD student book and teacher's manual to review. Since the online subscription has not yet become available, I am unable to comment on it. To read other reviews of this product, please visit the Homeschool Crew blog page.

Winter Gives Way to Spring

Only five minutes later he noticed a dozen crocuses growing round the foot of an old tree--gold and purple and white. Then came a sound even more delicious than the sound of the water. Close beside the path they were following a bird suddenly chirped from the branch of a tree. It was answered by the chuckle of another bird a little farther off. And then, as if that had been a signal, there was chattering and chirruping in every direction, and then a moment of full song, and within five minutes the whole wood was ringing with birds' music, and wherever Edmund's eyes turned he saw birds alighting on branches, or sailing overhead or chasing one another or having their little quarrels or tidying up their feathers with their beaks.

Today I am picturing this scene from C. S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Our Winter has been long, yet Spring is arriving. For that, I am thankful. And yet, the physical winter has been very mild this year. I am perhaps speaking more of a different type of Winter our family has been experiencing.

We have experienced a medical crisis so puzzling that numerous specialists are unable to offer diagnoses or treatments--or, at least, precious few. We have had at least 50 appointments. We have had 19 vials of blood drawn. Various tests.

While we have not given up on doctors or tests or appointments, we have had to rely daily on prayer and the strength and peace of God to get us through this time of sleepless nights and endless wondering. We have prayed for healing. At times, we have wondered how many years of Winter we would experience before Aslan would come. At times we have marched through the endless dark and cold and snow, exhausted and blind. Simply holding onto Hope.

Yet Spring is here. The cold has left. The earth has awakened from its slumber.

We do not have all our answers. We have made some unusual dietary choices of late. God has slowly led us to make some changes in this area. I now spend roughly three hours daily in the kitchen, and roughly four days weekly running to specialist's appointments. Blogging is less a part of my life now. We will soon be busy gardening. I have some topics I would like to share here. Scouting progress, gardening, our dietary adventure, some educational thoughts and more. In time.

Blessings to all my faithful readers.

Review: Progeny Press Literature Guides (The Screwtape Letters)

When I discovered that Progeny Press would be a vendor for the Homeschool Crew this year, I asked my 16 year old tenth grader which of these over 100 literature guides for all ages she would like to review. As a huge fan of C. S. Lewis, she opted to study The Screwtape Letters.

What did we receive?

Progeny Press offers both physical literature guides and electronic versions. We received a downloadable interactive literature guide. I was able to save a main copy and make a second copy, assigning her name to it in order to allow her to type in her own answers. I also received an answer key.

Progeny Press Literature Guides are designed to focus on the following skills:

• reading comprehension
• critical thinking
• literary analysis
• Christian application

Our verdict?

Progeny Press does an admirable job of meeting all these goals. I am impressed and am considering purchasing some of these.

Any problems?

I was a little surprised by some of this, but we did encounter a few small problems.

First, we have a computer down. Although I did not realize it at first, my daughter did not want to type on my computer to complete the interactive study. So, a couple of weeks before this review was due, I realized that she had not been making progress and I printed her a physical copy of the literature guide. Not a big deal. Having an electronic copy allows the flexibility of choosing between using the interactive version and printing a physical copy. Not all companies offer these options, so this was a plus.

Second, since my daughter had actually read this book nearly two years ago, her memory alone was not sufficient for her to rely on to complete the study guide. This is a good problem to have! It indicates that Progeny Press requires such a high level of attention to details and literary analysis of its students that a cursory reading or former reading is not sufficient to be able to complete the guides.

Third, I discovered that although the questions and critical thinking style required of the Progeny Press Literature Guide was very comfortable for her and even familiar to her, that she wanted to use this in a discussion format. Yes, honestly. She did not want to fill out the guide herself, but would happily sit down and discuss the book with me, answering the questions as I asked them.

Okay, she is admittedly extroverted and more used to completing this type of study in a discussion format rather than writing her analysis and thoughts down. Yet that made me consider that she probably does need more experience writing her thoughts out in this type of format. And this literature guide really required a great deal from its readers. And that can be a really beneficial thing.

I think we'll be buying some more of these.

The Screwtape Letters is available in both physical and downloadable formats:

Booklet                                     $21.99
CD                                           $18.99
E-mail .pdf                                $18.99
Set (physical booklet plus CD)  $27.99
Book (by C. S. Lewis)              $13.99

Download and view Progeny Press' full catalog. Levels are available for all ages, from elementary through high school. All guides are now available in the new interactive format, or be sure to check their specials for discount prices on the old CD versions if you or your own children would rather have printable literature guides.


Disclosure: As a member of the Homeschool Crew, I received a complimentary e-download of this product for review. No other compensation was received. To see other reviews of this product, read the Homeschool Crew blog.

Review: Classical Academic Press

By now I am sure that my regular readers know how many painstaking hours I have researched different homeschooling curricula (including polling all my homeschooling friends whose children have been awarded prestigious college scholarships), and by far the logic curriculum preferred by the most discriminating homeschooling families is the line sold by Classical Academic Press. I am sure that my truly academically-minded homeschooling friends will surely want to join the elite cadre of homeschoolers using this excellent curricula.

Or perhaps you have paused at the end of this paragraph, and pondered what I just typed. Do you detect an informal fallacy here? If you guessed "Snob Appeal," you would be correct! Perhaps you have also realized how frequently our youth are bombarded with various appeals and advertisements of this very nature. Learning about informal fallacies is an excellent way for young people to develop the analytical skills they need in order to become critically reasoning adults. Solid reasoning skills aid students in many areas--from better writing skills to better standardized test-taking skills.

The Art of Argument: An Introduction to the Informal Fallacies, co-authored by Aaron Larsen, Joelle Hodge and Chris Perrin, is the first of three titles in the Classical Academic Press logic series for secondary students. Although The Art of Argument is recommended primarily for grades 7 through 9, it can also be used by those older students who have little or no other logic exposure. Since I have a 10th grade daughter who has had some light logic exposure with two other programs and a 7th grade son who had not yet studied logic, they have both been using this program with me the past several weeks.

Did I say "using"? I meant to say "loving." Really. Loving logic. Amazing. Okay, so why the interest in this program? Why does my 7th grader keep grabbing the student book and reading ahead when he thinks I'm not looking?

I believe it's due to the Classical Academic Press logo: "Classical Subjects--Creatively Taught." CAP has a knack for taking what many people think are dull, college-level subjects and making them interesting, humorous and memorable.

What is included within Art of Argument logic curriculum?

• 28 fallacies, broken down into six categories
• 230 page Student Edition
• 286 page Teacher's Edition, including answers for student discussion questions
• 6 chapter tests, 2 unit tests, plus a final exam located within the Teacher's Edition (plus answer keys)
• interesting illustrations and advertisements interspersed throughout every chapter
• multiple skits with Socrates (yes, the historical figure) to read aloud and enjoy
• an optional DVD set containing over 8 hours of interesting discussions between four students, Dr. Christopher Perrin and logic teacher Joelle Hodge--one video segment for each of the 28 fallacies

View a video clip below to see what to expect from the DVD set.

The teaching procedure we have used is for the kids and I to sit down with the books, take turns reading aloud about each fallacy, discuss the fallacy, then grab the DVD in order to play the segment for that fallacy. My 10th grader and 7th grader both love this part of their school day. With the recent election coverage, my older kids have been applying all they have been learning about informal fallacies in a very practical manner.

Be sure to view uploaded DVD clips from other Classical Academic Press products and visit Headventureland for free supplementary materials designed to complement the Classical Academic Press curricula offerings, but free to all. While you are visiting Headventureland, take time to practice your Latin with online flash cards, read an illustrated Spanish or Latin reader, print coloring pages for the little ones, download a free desktop wallpaper for The Art of Argument, and watch a video of the weekly Latin derivative and word root with your children. This 10 year old curriculum company continues to expand its offerings of Latin, Spanish, Greek, logic, poetry, Bible and more with each passing year.

The Art of Argument is available as follows:

• The Art of Argument Student Book, $21.95
• The Art of Argument Teacher's Edition, $24.95
• The Art of Argument DVD Set, $54.95
• The Art of Argument Basic Bundle, $88.95

Although it is possible to effectively teach The Art of Argument without the DVD set, you and your students will likely enjoy its study much more with its purchase and use. My kids love to watch the DVD segments. It is just more interesting seeing other students interact with the logic teachers on the DVD set, and further reinforces the arguments in my kids' minds.

 
The Discovery of Deduction: An Introduction to Formal Logic and The Argument Builder are designed to complete the Classical Academic Press logic series. You can bet we'll be buying these additional volumes this spring. And the great thing is my kids will be happy about it.

Disclosure: As a member of the Homeschool Crew, I received review copies of the Student Book, Teacher's Edition and the initial DVD of the DVD set. My children and I enjoyed the first DVD so much that we purchased the DVD set ourselves. Yesterday the Crew was offered a discount on the purchase of the DVD set, which was made retroactive in my case. While I appreciate CAP's generosity, it did not unduly influence me and this review simply represents our family's experience and opinions about this curriculum. To read further reviews, please visit the Homeschool Crew blog.

Review: ESV Grow! Bible

When I recently received a package from Crossway, I opened it and discovered a new Bible designed for the "tween" crowd--8-12 year old children. I currently have one child in this age frame, and two older and two younger than this. As my regular readers know, this is not the first Bible for tweens which I have reviewed. So, the question is, how is this one distinctive?

Every single one I have reviewed to date has contained some type of features that someone, somewhere has decided kids this age should have. Often the editorial team is pretty insightful, and produces some nice Bibles. Other times I see a few features I may scratch my head over, or which although they sounded good on paper haven't translated well to the actual product.

So, how did this tween Bible fare?

Honestly, very well. I love the black font color. Black is simply easier to read than other colors I have seen printed in other Bibles. The font size is good, as well. Not too big so as to make the size of the Bible difficult to carry or make the child feel he is carrying a "little kid" Bible, yet not too small for those still reading chapter books. Enough color and illustrations within to add interest, yet not distract. In short, it is well-designed, and I am pleased.

Here are some of the features I noted:

• 775 "W" Questions--Answering the who, what, when, where and why's of the text, these are interspersed throughout the chapters, with roughly every couple of pages containing one. These responses answer crucial questions tweens are likely to ask themselves as they read the text, bringing comprehension to the material. 
• 90 4U (For You) Boxes--Providing simple answers to passages many young people need a little explanation about--what being born again means, what baptism is, etc.
• 45 Cross Connections--Tied into various key Scripture passages, these discuss Jesus' atoning work on the cross and point tweens to Jesus and their need for a relationship with Him.
• Introductions to the Bible books (and sections)--these provide the "big picture" for older children. Expect key stories to be highlighted here, as well as information on the author, date, key people and key messages for tweens to take from the material.
• Articles and Charts--Colorful, these support the main purpose of this Bible--a focus on Jesus and on understanding God's Word. Mostly interspersed throughout the text, a few are also included following the glossary.
• Glossary--Ten pages defining key words. Enough for this age frame.
• Timelines and Maps--Always helpful to make sense of the events encountered, each book's introduction contains a timeline which should prove helpful. A few additional timelines are included in the back. Maps are colorful and relevant, though this Bible does not contain an extensive collection of them. Really, sufficient for this age, though.

This Bible meets our family's needs for this age frame, and I am delighted to be able to allow my own children to use it. Be sure to check the Crossway blog for additional titles.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this Bible from Crossway in the hopes that I would review it for them. No other compensation was received, and opinions expressed represent my own and that of my family.