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#7-6: Resources for Teaching Your Children

#1 · April 17, 2004, 7:06 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on April 17, 2004, 7:06 pm
Posted by: homenews <homenews@...>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THE HOPE CHEST

with Virginia Knowles

Tidbit #7-6 on April 17, 2004

Resources for Teaching Your Children

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Hope Chest is a free email newsletter with encouragement and practical teaching tips. The writer is Virginia Knowles, wife of Thad, mother of nine children, and author of Common Sense Excellence: Faith-Filled Home Education for Preschool to 5th Grade, and The Real Life Home School Mom.

Contact information:

Web site: http://www.thehopechest.net
Resource orders: http://www.thehopechest.net/resourceorders.html
Personal Email: [email protected]
Subscription: hope [email protected]
Unsubscription: hope [email protected]
To change your subscription, just unsubscribe from your old address, and subscribe from the new one. This will save me a lot of time!

Dear Hope Chest friends,

At last, my resources-for-children review issue! This has been in the works for a few months, but I have just now gotten everything completely tested and reviewed. There are so many more books and videos I would love to share with you now, but this will have to suffice for a while. I tried to pick books that you may not have heard about from other sources, ones you might not purchase unless someone told you about them in detail. Before I get into the reviews, I want to offer two observations about curriculum selection.

First, there is constant debate about structure vs. flexibility in home school curriculum. I still dont think it should be an either/or proposition. We need both! I like to think in terms of skeleton, muscle and flesh. The skeleton gives us the structure we need, the muscles move us, and the flesh gives us padding. We cant do without any of them. Likewise, our home school programs need some structure, but we must be free to adjust them to our own needs and interests. There are also certain subjects in which I appreciate more structure, such as math. I want it laid out and I dont want to reinvent the wheel. Yes, we may need to pull out the Cuisenaire manipulative sets to demonstrate a concept, but we generally use Horizons workbooks for elementary and Saxon texts after that.

Second, it really does help to get your children involved in curriculum selection if at all possible. Bring them to book fairs or home school conventions, and let them read the catalogs. Listen to what they say about what youve already used (or tried to use) with them. Try to discern their learning styles and do your best to work within those general guidelines. You will save a lot of money, time and hassle this way!

I have a lot more information about choosing curriculum in my book Common Sense Excellence. Check out my web page on this book at http://www.thehopechest.net/CSE.html

Also, I'd like to do an issues on courtship and the maintenance & repair of electronic media (videos, CDs, etc.). If you have any ideas for this, please send them along to me as soon as possible!

OK, now onto the resource reviews! As a side note, even if you aren't interested in these specific products, the reviews may give you a peek into how home schooling works (or doesn't work) in our family.

Unit Study: Days of Creation Unit Study by Stephanie Romero
Language Arts: Write with the Best by Jill Dixon, B.S. Ed., M. Ed.
Home Discipleship: The Gospel for Children by John Leuzander and The Young Peacemaker by Collette Sande
Historical Fiction: The Prairie River series by Kristiana Gregory

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Days of Creation Unit Study

by Stephanie Romero

Review by Virginia Knowles

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am intrigued with the Days of Creation Unit Study because it takes the same approach that our family did ten years ago when our oldest child was in first grade. We did unit studies based on the different days of creation, taking a month or two for each. This laid a great foundation in appreciating the world around us. In fact, we are planning to do it again this coming school year with some of our children, and I know this book will be a terrific resource. It was written and published by Stephanie Romero, a long-time Hope Chest reader and veteran home school mom.

What will you find in it? For each day of creation, Stephanie lists Bible verses, books & videos for various age levels, web sites and an occasional activity. The web sites make up the bulk of it, and this is what makes the book unique. There are literally hundreds of web links here that will give you access to worksheets, coloring pages, math activities, project instructions, vocabulary lists, animated simulations, downloadable software and more. Stephanies goal for doing this is to give you a world of great, inexpensive resources as close as your computer. My caveat is that if you arent willing or able to use the web, this book will have limited appeal to you. Like my books, the Days of Creation Unit Study it is spiral-bound and has sturdy jelly-proof covers.

Chapters include:

In the Beginning (creation vs. Evolution)
Day One: Light/Dark (the world, character, electricity, lights & optics)
Day Two: Sky (weather)
Day Three: Land (Geography), Seas (Oceans, Rivers, Lakes), Vegetation (Plants, Flowers, Trees)
Day Four: Lights (seasons, sun/moon/stars)
Day Five: Underwater Creatures and Birds
Day Six: Animals (dinosaurs, domestic, farm, wild) and Man (families, anatomy, culture)
Other Subjects: Spellings, English/Writing, Reading/Phonics/Language Arts, Handwriting, Math, Art, Bible, Music, Typing

In the introduction, Stephanie says, My purpose in putting together this Creation curriculum was for two reasons. First, I wanted to find a unique way of teaching my children, through the wonderful story of how the world was created. I knew that if I could teach my children about the weather, animals, human anatomy and so forth, from a biblical standpoint, that the creation story would become more real and alive to them. Secondly, I wanted to find a way that the unit study method could be used in as economical a way as possible. With those two purposes in mind, I hope that you and your children will enjoy studying all the wonderful aspects of the world that our Creator has made.

Because I know that you all like meeting the person behind the product, I asked Stephanie for a blurb about her family, and here is what she sent: My name is Stephanie Romero and I have been married to my husband Dan for almost 13 years. We have always homeschooled our three children: Daniel, 10 (4th grade); Caitlin, 6 (1st grade) and Jacob, 5 (Kindergarten). In the beginning I attempted to bring the traditional school setting into our home but quickly discovered that my oldest son didn't quite learn that way. In fact, he was diagnosed a year ago with both Attention Deficit Disorder and Tourette Syndrome, so the challenges of homeschooling him became greater. I began to put together my own curriculum, creating mini units that not only interested him but because they were mini units, kept his attention just long enough...then we would move on to something else new. Although it's time consuming, it works great for our family. I am at a point where we hardly do any formal curriculum...I prefer coming up with and writing my own. It was on my heart to go through the six days of creation but I didn't want to spend a lot of money on supplements and materials. So I spent a year compiling a list of books, videos and computer programs from my library that could be used, along with surfing the web to find appropriate websites. I couldn't believe how many free resources were available and with that, created "Days of Creation Unit Study." We are just completing the curriculum, having started it in September and honestly, we only touched the surface of what I wrote. I could do this unit all over again next year and have all new stuff. My husband has been very pleased with the results and quite honestly, how I have saved him a great deal of money. So I am also in the process of writing our own history curriculum. On my website, you can access a free unit that I wrote, called "Learning Through Letters," along with a lot other information. The website is: http://groups.msn.com/HizChozenMinistry [Virginias note: be sure to poke around on this site -- its got lots of goodies on it!)

You can order this book from Stephanie for $20 plus $2 shipping and handling. Here is her contact information:

Mailing address:

Stephanie Romero

3131 South Brust Avenue

Milwaukee WI 53207

Web page for book: http://groups.msn.com/HizChozenMinistry/daysofcreationunitstudy.msnw

E-mail: [email protected]

Subscription to free monthly home school newsletter: http://www.topica.com/lists/hizchozen

A Polished Character (My first published book...come take a peek!)
http://www.stephanieromero.org/apolishedcharacter.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Write With the Best, Volume 1

by Jill Dixon B.S. Ed., M. Ed.

Review by Virginia Knowles

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As I mentioned in the last Hope Chest issue, my 13 year old curriculum expert, Rachel, found this curriculum in a home school catalog. We decided it would be helpful to you if we reviewed it, since it is not very well known. We also wanted to give the publisher some well-deserved extra exposure for their product.

Write With the Best Volume 1 is a one semester creative writing curriculum based on works of great literature. The students model their own writing on the positive techniques used by seasoned classic authors such as Jules Verne, Charles Dickens and others. The literary passages are included in the book, so you dont need to buy anything extra. The course is packaged in a three-ring binder, which makes reproducing pages easier. This also makes it lie flat so you dont have to wrestle with it while you work.

Introduction
How to Use this Program
Unit 1: Writing a Descriptive Paragraph Describing an Object: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
Unit 2: Writing A Descriptive Paragraph Describing A Place: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Unit 3: Writing A Descriptive Paragraph Describing A Character: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
Unit 4: Writing a Dialogue: The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
Unit 5: Writing A Short Story: "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry
Unit 6: Writing A Fable: "The Ants and the Grasshopper" and "The Shepherds Boy and the Wolf" by Aesop
Unit 7: Writing A Friendly Letter: Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Unit 8: Writing Poetry Rhyming Verse: "The Daffodils" by William Wordsworth
Unit 9: Writing Poetry A Ballad or Narrative Poem: "Paul Reveres Ride" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Three Characterisitics that Make the Best Writing the Best
Proofreading Checklist
ADDITIONAL LITERARY PASSAGES FOR MODELING WRITING
HOW TO WRITE GUIDE
HOW TO WRITE A DESCRIPTIVE PARAGRAPH
HOW TO WRITE A DIALOGUE
HOW TO WRITE A SHORT STORY
HOW TO WRITE A FABLE
HOW TO WRITE A FRIENDLY LETTER
HOW TO WRITE RHYMING VERSE
HOW TO WRITE A BALLAD OR NARRATIVE POEM
ANSWER KEY TO CITED LITERARY PASSAGES

The topics in Volume 2 include writing free verse, business letters, notes, outlines, summaries, essays, literary critiques, book reviews, newspaper articles, speeches, and dramatic monologues.

Though I have read all of Volume 1, we have only had time to test out the first two week unit so far. (It took us a little more than two weeks, though!) The objective is to learn to write a descriptive paragraph about an object. This is accomplished by:

reviewing four parts of speech (nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs)
selecting vivid, descriptive words to replace dull ones
identifying descriptive words, categorized by parts of speech, in a passage from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, and in a passage from a book chosen by the child
using descriptive words and phrases to write, edit and present an original paragraph about an object

I started out with Joanna (5^th grade) and Lydia (3^rd grade). Joanna loves it and makes sure that we sit down each day for our lesson. I enjoy watching her enthusiasm and creativity when we work together on it. She says it is very straightforward and gets the job done. There is not a lot of flash and sizzle here, but no fluff either. Lydia felt a little bit overwhelmed and bailed out of our writing class after a few sessions. I am trying to work with her on it independently at a slower pace. I really appreciate the daily lesson plans, although I wish the pages were formatted a little differently to make the instructions easier to take in at a glance. This is a trivial problem; I compensated by making up work sheets on the computer to correspond with each daily lesson. (I didnt add anything new, but just typed in the student information and instructions, and gave the girls an organized place to write down their work. It saved me a trip to the copy shop, too.)

The Write With the Best curriculum is aimed at grades 3-12. Your third grader might be a bit stretched but it is definitely doable. Your teenagers, if they have already had a solid foundation in creative writing, may not be stretched enough by Volume 1, so you may wish to start with Volume 2. I would recommend Volume 1 mostly for upper elementary and middle school. The literature selections are not childish, though, so anyone, even a home school mom, could benefit from it.

Jill J. Dixon, the author of Write With the Best, is well-qualified to write a creative writing curriculum. She is a homeschooling mother of four, holds a Bachelor of Science in English Education (magna cum laude) and a Masters Degree in Special Education (summa cum laude). Her teaching experience spans twenty-two years and includes working with students from pre-school age to adults in public school, private school, and home school settings. Mrs. Dixon is currently a national consultant for Homeschool Legal Defense Association, teaches history and writing classes to homeschoolers and speaks and conducts workshops for homeschool groups. She is the author of several diagnostic tests and homeschooling materials including Roots and Fruits and WRITE WITH THE BEST Modeling Writing after Great Works of World Literature.

If you are going to the FPEA home school convention in Orlando next month, be sure to look for Jills booth, Diagnostic Prescriptive Services!

The special web site price for Volume 1 is $29.95 plus $3.50 shipping and handling. The web price for Volume 2 is $34.95 plus shipping.

You may also wish to check out Jill Dixons new POC4U (PERSON OPTIMIZED CURRICULA FOR YOU) learning styles assessment program.

http://www.diagnosticprescriptive.com/poc4u.html

Contact information:

Diagnostic Prescriptive Services

122 Rose Dhu Way, Savannah, GA 31419

Make check payable to Diagnostic Prescriptive Services or simply to DPS.

www.diagnosticprescriptive.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Gospel for Children by John Leuzarder

and The Young Peacemaker by Collette Sande

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I found The Gospel for Children, by John Leuzarder, while browsing through our churchs bookstore. Its a very attractive hardback picture book with the descriptive subtitle of A Beautifully Illustrated, Simple Yet Complete Guide to Help Parents Teach Their Children the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Shepherd Press very cordially sent me a review copy on request. (You might recognize Shepherd Press as the publisher of the very popular Shepherding a Childs Heart by Tedd Tripp and The Young Peacemaker curriculum by Collette Sande.) The author notes in his acknowledgement that he used J.I. Packers book Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God as a theological basis, so you can tell there is no fluff here! There is no discussion of the doctrines of predestination, infant vs. adult baptism, or millennial views. The book is written in outline form, with a target audience of children ages 5 and up. That said, the material is not dumbed down, so you can expect your child to learn some new vocabulary and concepts. The five chapters are titled God, The Bible, Sin, Jesus, Repentance and Faith, and Counting the Costs.

In the chapter about Jesus, the final main point and bulleted sub-points, read like this:

~~~~

Jesus is coming back again (110)

Some day, perhaps in the near future, those who love Jesus will, in a flash, receive new bodies and ascend to meet Him when He returns. (111)

He will take those who love Him to heaven and bring terrible punishment on those who reject Him as Lord and King. (112)

This world will be consumed in fire and a new heaven and a new earth will be created where there is no sin or sorrow at all. (113)

~*~*~

At the end of each chapter, Bible references and full texts (NIV) are given for each point. Each is numbered as a footnote, so you can see exactly what goes where. The references for the points listed above are:

(110) Revelation 22:12 and Acts 1:11

(111) 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 and 1 Corinthians 15:51-52

(112) Matthew 25:34, 41

(113) 2 Peter 3:10, 12-13

Each main point also features a simple illustration designed to aid memorization. At the end of the book, there is a page spread with all of the illustrations so that your child can attempt to remember all of the points from the pictures.

And now, for the final test: How did my children like it? Andrew, who is almost 7, had a hard time sitting still for very long because it didnt catch his attention. He is still mostly in the concrete mode of thinking, rather than the abstract. The concepts, vocabulary and outline format are more advanced than his comfort level. Stories with descriptive language might be more effective for reaching him because he would be able to picture it in his made. I can still use The Gospel for Children with him; I just have to do a tiny bit at a time, rephrase some of the harder concepts and ask him to tell me back in his own words what I just said. I wanted to see if the book would be more appropriate for slightly older children, but unfortunately, mine declined to read it saying it was hard to read or didnt interest them. So, while I wish I could say this book captivated my children, it didnt. That doesnt mean it wont captivate yours, however. I still like the book! Even if you don't sit down and read it with your children, you can use it as a checklist or framework to make sure you cover the essential concepts of Scripture in other ways, such as personal discussions with your children. It is also a good source for memory verses.

The resource from Shepherd Press that Ive had more success with is The Young Peacemaker curriculum by Collette Sande, which is a 12 week course in Biblical conflict resolution. Admittedly, when I bought it a few years ago, it didnt go over very well with the age mix of children who used it then. I think I may have been pushing to hard with it, too. For the past few weeks, Ive been using it again with my 9, 11 and 13 year old daughters. Its pretty easy to use. I read my stuff from the teachers manual, we look up some Scriptures, we do some role plays, and we discuss the concepts. We arent using the activity books right now, because we are sort of blitzing through this in a short time. It is more effective for us to devote the time to our role play sessions, which can get really bizarre since I have a few drama queens on my hands. If you have any notions of the Knowles family being serene or sedate, lay them to rest, will you? I wish I could give you a chapter list for The Young Peacemaker, but I cant seem to find the book at the moment. (I hope it shows up by Monday morning!) I can tell you that it is very complete and very sensible, solid stuff. Im glad I got the gumption to try this again, and lets just pray it makes a lasting impression on us this time.

.

You can order The Gospel for Children, The Young Peacemaker and the ever popular Shepherding Your Childs Heart from Shepherd Press.

Contact Information

Web site: www.shepherdpress.com

Telephone: 800-338-1445

From Canada: 570-379-2015

E-mail: General Information: [email protected]

Postal Address: P.O. Box 24, Wapwallopen, PA 18660

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Prairie River series by Kristiana Gregory

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Imagine this: Christian fiction published by Scholastic! When I picked up the first book in the series, A Journey of Faith, in the religious section at Books-a-Million, I felt like I was taking a gamble. Would it be pseudo-Christian mumbo-jumbo or the real thing? Im happy to report that its really, truly, good Christian fiction for girls. After careful browsing, I bought it for Lydia (age 9) for Christmas, and she raved about it, as did her 10 year old cousin. After a full read, I liked it so much that I went back and bought the second book, A Grateful Harvest. The third and fourth books in the series, A Winter Song and an unnamed sequel, will be released this year. Mrs. Gregory is not exactly a novice author, with several Dear America series titles and other books to her credit.

So whats it all about? The story opens on the very last day of the Civil War in Independence, Missouri. Nessa Clemens, fourteen years old, must leave the orphanage to make her way in the world. The mean-spirited headmaster has arranged for her to marry a dull preacher who never wants to have children. Nessa, frantic to escape, books passage on a stage coach to the frontier village of Prairie River and attempts to build a new life for herself. Along the way she continually prays for Jesus to help her, and though life is not easy, her faith sustains and guides her. As she encounters various unpleasant people, she makes mistakes and learns consequences. There are also several really helpful folks who are great role models of compassion, as well as some mixed-bag people. I like this series because it doesnt have the trite formula fiction feel. The characters are very real, not caricatures. Nessa learns, as we all must, that while we must always be cautious, we should also give people the benefit of the doubt because we dont know their whole story. This helps her to try to be kind even to those who are spiteful and malicious. I know that some of her conflicts and trials will be resolved in book 3, but I guess Ill have to wait until I get my hands on it. I know that Ill have a conflict too -- with Lydia -- over who gets to read it first!

You should be able to find the Prairie River series in major bookstore chains (Books a Million, Borders, etc.) or on-line at www.Amazon.com.

~*~*~

That's all for now, folks! I'd be delighted to hear what you think about this issue, and the previous one ("Is the Cross a Way of Life for You?") And don't forget to send your ideas for the courtship issue!

In His Sovereign Grace,

Virginia Knowles

www.thehopechest.net

Posted by: homenews <homenews@...>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THE HOPE CHEST

with Virginia Knowles

Tidbit #7-6 on April 17, 2004

Resources for Teaching Your Children

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Hope Chest is a free email newsletter with encouragement and practical teaching tips. The writer is Virginia Knowles, wife of Thad, mother of nine children, and author of Common Sense Excellence: Faith-Filled Home Education for Preschool to 5th Grade, and The Real Life Home School Mom.

Contact information:

Web site: http://www.thehopechest.net
Resource orders: http://www.thehopechest.net/resourceorders.html
Personal Email: [email protected]
Subscription: hope [email protected]
Unsubscription: hope [email protected]
To change your subscription, just unsubscribe from your old address, and subscribe from the new one. This will save me a lot of time!

Dear Hope Chest friends,

At last, my resources-for-children review issue! This has been in the works for a few months, but I have just now gotten everything completely tested and reviewed. There are so many more books and videos I would love to share with you now, but this will have to suffice for a while. I tried to pick books that you may not have heard about from other sources, ones you might not purchase unless someone told you about them in detail. Before I get into the reviews, I want to offer two observations about curriculum selection.

First, there is constant debate about structure vs. flexibility in home school curriculum. I still dont think it should be an either/or proposition. We need both! I like to think in terms of skeleton, muscle and flesh. The skeleton gives us the structure we need, the muscles move us, and the flesh gives us padding. We cant do without any of them. Likewise, our home school programs need some structure, but we must be free to adjust them to our own needs and interests. There are also certain subjects in which I appreciate more structure, such as math. I want it laid out and I dont want to reinvent the wheel. Yes, we may need to pull out the Cuisenaire manipulative sets to demonstrate a concept, but we generally use Horizons workbooks for elementary and Saxon texts after that.

Second, it really does help to get your children involved in curriculum selection if at all possible. Bring them to book fairs or home school conventions, and let them read the catalogs. Listen to what they say about what youve already used (or tried to use) with them. Try to discern their learning styles and do your best to work within those general guidelines. You will save a lot of money, time and hassle this way!

I have a lot more information about choosing curriculum in my book Common Sense Excellence. Check out my web page on this book at http://www.thehopechest.net/CSE.html

Also, I'd like to do an issues on courtship and the maintenance & repair of electronic media (videos, CDs, etc.). If you have any ideas for this, please send them along to me as soon as possible!

OK, now onto the resource reviews! As a side note, even if you aren't interested in these specific products, the reviews may give you a peek into how home schooling works (or doesn't work) in our family.

Unit Study: Days of Creation Unit Study by Stephanie Romero
Language Arts: Write with the Best by Jill Dixon, B.S. Ed., M. Ed.
Home Discipleship: The Gospel for Children by John Leuzander and The Young Peacemaker by Collette Sande
Historical Fiction: The Prairie River series by Kristiana Gregory

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Days of Creation Unit Study

by Stephanie Romero

Review by Virginia Knowles

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am intrigued with the Days of Creation Unit Study because it takes the same approach that our family did ten years ago when our oldest child was in first grade. We did unit studies based on the different days of creation, taking a month or two for each. This laid a great foundation in appreciating the world around us. In fact, we are planning to do it again this coming school year with some of our children, and I know this book will be a terrific resource. It was written and published by Stephanie Romero, a long-time Hope Chest reader and veteran home school mom.

What will you find in it? For each day of creation, Stephanie lists Bible verses, books & videos for various age levels, web sites and an occasional activity. The web sites make up the bulk of it, and this is what makes the book unique. There are literally hundreds of web links here that will give you access to worksheets, coloring pages, math activities, project instructions, vocabulary lists, animated simulations, downloadable software and more. Stephanies goal for doing this is to give you a world of great, inexpensive resources as close as your computer. My caveat is that if you arent willing or able to use the web, this book will have limited appeal to you. Like my books, the Days of Creation Unit Study it is spiral-bound and has sturdy jelly-proof covers.

Chapters include:

In the Beginning (creation vs. Evolution)
Day One: Light/Dark (the world, character, electricity, lights & optics)
Day Two: Sky (weather)
Day Three: Land (Geography), Seas (Oceans, Rivers, Lakes), Vegetation (Plants, Flowers, Trees)
Day Four: Lights (seasons, sun/moon/stars)
Day Five: Underwater Creatures and Birds
Day Six: Animals (dinosaurs, domestic, farm, wild) and Man (families, anatomy, culture)
Other Subjects: Spellings, English/Writing, Reading/Phonics/Language Arts, Handwriting, Math, Art, Bible, Music, Typing

In the introduction, Stephanie says, My purpose in putting together this Creation curriculum was for two reasons. First, I wanted to find a unique way of teaching my children, through the wonderful story of how the world was created. I knew that if I could teach my children about the weather, animals, human anatomy and so forth, from a biblical standpoint, that the creation story would become more real and alive to them. Secondly, I wanted to find a way that the unit study method could be used in as economical a way as possible. With those two purposes in mind, I hope that you and your children will enjoy studying all the wonderful aspects of the world that our Creator has made.

Because I know that you all like meeting the person behind the product, I asked Stephanie for a blurb about her family, and here is what she sent: My name is Stephanie Romero and I have been married to my husband Dan for almost 13 years. We have always homeschooled our three children: Daniel, 10 (4th grade); Caitlin, 6 (1st grade) and Jacob, 5 (Kindergarten). In the beginning I attempted to bring the traditional school setting into our home but quickly discovered that my oldest son didn't quite learn that way. In fact, he was diagnosed a year ago with both Attention Deficit Disorder and Tourette Syndrome, so the challenges of homeschooling him became greater. I began to put together my own curriculum, creating mini units that not only interested him but because they were mini units, kept his attention just long enough...then we would move on to something else new. Although it's time consuming, it works great for our family. I am at a point where we hardly do any formal curriculum...I prefer coming up with and writing my own. It was on my heart to go through the six days of creation but I didn't want to spend a lot of money on supplements and materials. So I spent a year compiling a list of books, videos and computer programs from my library that could be used, along with surfing the web to find appropriate websites. I couldn't believe how many free resources were available and with that, created "Days of Creation Unit Study." We are just completing the curriculum, having started it in September and honestly, we only touched the surface of what I wrote. I could do this unit all over again next year and have all new stuff. My husband has been very pleased with the results and quite honestly, how I have saved him a great deal of money. So I am also in the process of writing our own history curriculum. On my website, you can access a free unit that I wrote, called "Learning Through Letters," along with a lot other information. The website is: http://groups.msn.com/HizChozenMinistry [Virginias note: be sure to poke around on this site -- its got lots of goodies on it!)

You can order this book from Stephanie for $20 plus $2 shipping and handling. Here is her contact information:

Mailing address:

Stephanie Romero

3131 South Brust Avenue

Milwaukee WI 53207

Web page for book: http://groups.msn.com/HizChozenMinistry/daysofcreationunitstudy.msnw

E-mail: [email protected]

Subscription to free monthly home school newsletter: http://www.topica.com/lists/hizchozen

A Polished Character (My first published book...come take a peek!)
http://www.stephanieromero.org/apolishedcharacter.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Write With the Best, Volume 1

by Jill Dixon B.S. Ed., M. Ed.

Review by Virginia Knowles

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As I mentioned in the last Hope Chest issue, my 13 year old curriculum expert, Rachel, found this curriculum in a home school catalog. We decided it would be helpful to you if we reviewed it, since it is not very well known. We also wanted to give the publisher some well-deserved extra exposure for their product.

Write With the Best Volume 1 is a one semester creative writing curriculum based on works of great literature. The students model their own writing on the positive techniques used by seasoned classic authors such as Jules Verne, Charles Dickens and others. The literary passages are included in the book, so you dont need to buy anything extra. The course is packaged in a three-ring binder, which makes reproducing pages easier. This also makes it lie flat so you dont have to wrestle with it while you work.

Introduction
How to Use this Program
Unit 1: Writing a Descriptive Paragraph Describing an Object: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
Unit 2: Writing A Descriptive Paragraph Describing A Place: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Unit 3: Writing A Descriptive Paragraph Describing A Character: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
Unit 4: Writing a Dialogue: The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
Unit 5: Writing A Short Story: "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry
Unit 6: Writing A Fable: "The Ants and the Grasshopper" and "The Shepherds Boy and the Wolf" by Aesop
Unit 7: Writing A Friendly Letter: Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Unit 8: Writing Poetry Rhyming Verse: "The Daffodils" by William Wordsworth
Unit 9: Writing Poetry A Ballad or Narrative Poem: "Paul Reveres Ride" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Three Characterisitics that Make the Best Writing the Best
Proofreading Checklist
ADDITIONAL LITERARY PASSAGES FOR MODELING WRITING
HOW TO WRITE GUIDE
HOW TO WRITE A DESCRIPTIVE PARAGRAPH
HOW TO WRITE A DIALOGUE
HOW TO WRITE A SHORT STORY
HOW TO WRITE A FABLE
HOW TO WRITE A FRIENDLY LETTER
HOW TO WRITE RHYMING VERSE
HOW TO WRITE A BALLAD OR NARRATIVE POEM
ANSWER KEY TO CITED LITERARY PASSAGES

The topics in Volume 2 include writing free verse, business letters, notes, outlines, summaries, essays, literary critiques, book reviews, newspaper articles, speeches, and dramatic monologues.

Though I have read all of Volume 1, we have only had time to test out the first two week unit so far. (It took us a little more than two weeks, though!) The objective is to learn to write a descriptive paragraph about an object. This is accomplished by:

reviewing four parts of speech (nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs)
selecting vivid, descriptive words to replace dull ones
identifying descriptive words, categorized by parts of speech, in a passage from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, and in a passage from a book chosen by the child
using descriptive words and phrases to write, edit and present an original paragraph about an object

I started out with Joanna (5^th grade) and Lydia (3^rd grade). Joanna loves it and makes sure that we sit down each day for our lesson. I enjoy watching her enthusiasm and creativity when we work together on it. She says it is very straightforward and gets the job done. There is not a lot of flash and sizzle here, but no fluff either. Lydia felt a little bit overwhelmed and bailed out of our writing class after a few sessions. I am trying to work with her on it independently at a slower pace. I really appreciate the daily lesson plans, although I wish the pages were formatted a little differently to make the instructions easier to take in at a glance. This is a trivial problem; I compensated by making up work sheets on the computer to correspond with each daily lesson. (I didnt add anything new, but just typed in the student information and instructions, and gave the girls an organized place to write down their work. It saved me a trip to the copy shop, too.)

The Write With the Best curriculum is aimed at grades 3-12. Your third grader might be a bit stretched but it is definitely doable. Your teenagers, if they have already had a solid foundation in creative writing, may not be stretched enough by Volume 1, so you may wish to start with Volume 2. I would recommend Volume 1 mostly for upper elementary and middle school. The literature selections are not childish, though, so anyone, even a home school mom, could benefit from it.

Jill J. Dixon, the author of Write With the Best, is well-qualified to write a creative writing curriculum. She is a homeschooling mother of four, holds a Bachelor of Science in English Education (magna cum laude) and a Masters Degree in Special Education (summa cum laude). Her teaching experience spans twenty-two years and includes working with students from pre-school age to adults in public school, private school, and home school settings. Mrs. Dixon is currently a national consultant for Homeschool Legal Defense Association, teaches history and writing classes to homeschoolers and speaks and conducts workshops for homeschool groups. She is the author of several diagnostic tests and homeschooling materials including Roots and Fruits and WRITE WITH THE BEST Modeling Writing after Great Works of World Literature.

If you are going to the FPEA home school convention in Orlando next month, be sure to look for Jills booth, Diagnostic Prescriptive Services!

The special web site price for Volume 1 is $29.95 plus $3.50 shipping and handling. The web price for Volume 2 is $34.95 plus shipping.

You may also wish to check out Jill Dixons new POC4U (PERSON OPTIMIZED CURRICULA FOR YOU) learning styles assessment program.

http://www.diagnosticprescriptive.com/poc4u.html

Contact information:

Diagnostic Prescriptive Services

122 Rose Dhu Way, Savannah, GA 31419

Make check payable to Diagnostic Prescriptive Services or simply to DPS.

http://www.diagnosticprescriptive.com

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The Gospel for Children by John Leuzarder

and The Young Peacemaker by Collette Sande

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I found The Gospel for Children, by John Leuzarder, while browsing through our churchs bookstore. Its a very attractive hardback picture book with the descriptive subtitle of A Beautifully Illustrated, Simple Yet Complete Guide to Help Parents Teach Their Children the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Shepherd Press very cordially sent me a review copy on request. (You might recognize Shepherd Press as the publisher of the very popular Shepherding a Childs Heart by Tedd Tripp and The Young Peacemaker curriculum by Collette Sande.) The author notes in his acknowledgement that he used J.I. Packers book Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God as a theological basis, so you can tell there is no fluff here! There is no discussion of the doctrines of predestination, infant vs. adult baptism, or millennial views. The book is written in outline form, with a target audience of children ages 5 and up. That said, the material is not dumbed down, so you can expect your child to learn some new vocabulary and concepts. The five chapters are titled God, The Bible, Sin, Jesus, Repentance and Faith, and Counting the Costs.

In the chapter about Jesus, the final main point and bulleted sub-points, read like this:

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Jesus is coming back again (110)

Some day, perhaps in the near future, those who love Jesus will, in a flash, receive new bodies and ascend to meet Him when He returns. (111)

He will take those who love Him to heaven and bring terrible punishment on those who reject Him as Lord and King. (112)

This world will be consumed in fire and a new heaven and a new earth will be created where there is no sin or sorrow at all. (113)

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At the end of each chapter, Bible references and full texts (NIV) are given for each point. Each is numbered as a footnote, so you can see exactly what goes where. The references for the points listed above are:

(110) Revelation 22:12 and Acts 1:11

(111) 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 and 1 Corinthians 15:51-52

(112) Matthew 25:34, 41

(113) 2 Peter 3:10, 12-13

Each main point also features a simple illustration designed to aid memorization. At the end of the book, there is a page spread with all of the illustrations so that your child can attempt to remember all of the points from the pictures.

And now, for the final test: How did my children like it? Andrew, who is almost 7, had a hard time sitting still for very long because it didnt catch his attention. He is still mostly in the concrete mode of thinking, rather than the abstract. The concepts, vocabulary and outline format are more advanced than his comfort level. Stories with descriptive language might be more effective for reaching him because he would be able to picture it in his made. I can still use The Gospel for Children with him; I just have to do a tiny bit at a time, rephrase some of the harder concepts and ask him to tell me back in his own words what I just said. I wanted to see if the book would be more appropriate for slightly older children, but unfortunately, mine declined to read it saying it was hard to read or didnt interest them. So, while I wish I could say this book captivated my children, it didnt. That doesnt mean it wont captivate yours, however. I still like the book! Even if you don't sit down and read it with your children, you can use it as a checklist or framework to make sure you cover the essential concepts of Scripture in other ways, such as personal discussions with your children. It is also a good source for memory verses.

The resource from Shepherd Press that Ive had more success with is The Young Peacemaker curriculum by Collette Sande, which is a 12 week course in Biblical conflict resolution. Admittedly, when I bought it a few years ago, it didnt go over very well with the age mix of children who used it then. I think I may have been pushing to hard with it, too. For the past few weeks, Ive been using it again with my 9, 11 and 13 year old daughters. Its pretty easy to use. I read my stuff from the teachers manual, we look up some Scriptures, we do some role plays, and we discuss the concepts. We arent using the activity books right now, because we are sort of blitzing through this in a short time. It is more effective for us to devote the time to our role play sessions, which can get really bizarre since I have a few drama queens on my hands. If you have any notions of the Knowles family being serene or sedate, lay them to rest, will you? I wish I could give you a chapter list for The Young Peacemaker, but I cant seem to find the book at the moment. (I hope it shows up by Monday morning!) I can tell you that it is very complete and very sensible, solid stuff. Im glad I got the gumption to try this again, and lets just pray it makes a lasting impression on us this time.

You can order The Gospel for Children, The Young Peacemaker and the ever popular Shepherding Your Childs Heart from Shepherd Press.

Contact Information

Web site: http://www.shepherdpress.com

Telephone: 800-338-1445

From Canada: 570-379-2015

E-mail: General Information: [email protected]

Postal Address: P.O. Box 24, Wapwallopen, PA 18660

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The Prairie River series by Kristiana Gregory

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Imagine this: Christian fiction published by Scholastic! When I picked up the first book in the series, A Journey of Faith, in the religious section at Books-a-Million, I felt like I was taking a gamble. Would it be pseudo-Christian mumbo-jumbo or the real thing? Im happy to report that its really, truly, good Christian fiction for girls. After careful browsing, I bought it for Lydia (age 9) for Christmas, and she raved about it, as did her 10 year old cousin. After a full read, I liked it so much that I went back and bought the second book, A Grateful Harvest. The third and fourth books in the series, A Winter Song and an unnamed sequel, will be released this year. Mrs. Gregory is not exactly a novice author, with several Dear America series titles and other books to her credit.

So whats it all about? The story opens on the very last day of the Civil War in Independence, Missouri. Nessa Clemens, fourteen years old, must leave the orphanage to make her way in the world. The mean-spirited headmaster has arranged for her to marry a dull preacher who never wants to have children. Nessa, frantic to escape, books passage on a stage coach to the frontier village of Prairie River and attempts to build a new life for herself. Along the way she continually prays for Jesus to help her, and though life is not easy, her faith sustains and guides her. As she encounters various unpleasant people, she makes mistakes and learns consequences. There are also several really helpful folks who are great role models of compassion, as well as some mixed-bag people. I like this series because it doesnt have the trite formula fiction feel. The characters are very real, not caricatures. Nessa learns, as we all must, that while we must always be cautious, we should also give people the benefit of the doubt because we dont know their whole story. This helps her to try to be kind even to those who are spiteful and malicious. I know that some of her conflicts and trials will be resolved in book 3, but I guess Ill have to wait until I get my hands on it. I know that Ill have a conflict too -- with Lydia -- over who gets to read it first!

You should be able to find the Prairie River series in major bookstore chains (Books a Million, Borders, etc.) or on-line at http://www.Amazon.com.

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That's all for now, folks! I'd be delighted to hear what you think about this issue, and the previous one ("Is the Cross a Way of Life for You?") And don't forget to send your ideas for the courtship issue!

In His Sovereign Grace,

Virginia Knowles

http://www.thehopechest.net