Thankfulness

I have seen a lot of thankfulness posting on Facebook.  I am just not disciplined enough to come up with something different to be thankful for each day.  I figured I could do it all at once.

1. I am thankful for the free gift of salvation.  Thank you Jesus for saving ME.

2. I am thankful for my husband.  We have been married 22 years...all of them good.

3. I am thankful for my children. Rebecca, Erin, Rachel, Kaitlyn, Ryan, Connor, Emma, Jenna, Ellie and Sadie.  Each unique, adding something different to our family.

4. I am thankful for my home.

5. I am thankful for heat. (If you know me, you know that I am always cold...so this one is big!)

6. I am thankful for air conditioning (Ironic considering #5 but I can't stand really hot, humid weather)

7. I am thankful for good friends.  I have a lot of good friends both IRL and online.

8. I am thankful for my piano.  I love hearing my children make music on it.

9. I am thankful that we were blessed with a son with Down syndrome.  It is a blessing.

10. I am thankful to live in the USA.

11.  I am thankful that I live near the ocean.

12. I am thankful that I can read and write.

13. I am thankful for the internet.

14. I am thankful for my extended family.

15. I am thankful for my husband's job.

16. I am thankful that I am able to homeschool.

17. I am thankful for electricity (on this very windy day I am hoping we don't lose it!)

18. I am thankful for running water.

19. I am thankful for food.  (I do love food.)

20. I am thankful for my electronics. (computer, iPod, Kindle etc.)

21.  I am thankful for a bed with sheets, blankets and an electric mattress pad (see #5)

22. I am thankful for our vehicles.

23. I am thankful for rain and SNOW.

24. I am thankful for sunshine.

25. I am thankful that I live in a place where we observe the change of seasons.

26. I am thankful for clothing including a nice warm winter coat (and a rain coat for days like today.)

27. I am thankful for music.

28. I am thankful for quiet mornings with a cup of coffee. (Yes, I drink coffee now and love it..this is new for me.)

29. I am thankful for my health (and our health and dental insurance).

30.  Again-so thankful for Jesus and for all He has done for me.  Bless His Name!

Thanksgiving Bible Study

On Monday I found out that Good Morning Morning Girls was starting a 2 week Thanksgiving Bible Study and thought this would be a great change for my morning devotions.

Since I absolutely love playing on PicMonkey and I use the KJV Bible I thought I'd make a Word Art picture of this week's memory verse.

Who is My Neighbor?

Who is My Neighbor? is the third book in the Biblical worldview series, What We Believe. Apologia has teamed up with Summit Ministries to create this wonderful  four book series. An accompanying notebooking journal and coloring book are also available. It has been designed with homeschools and families in mind. The hardcover text is high quality and designed to withstand lots of use in your family.

The third book in the award-winning What We Believe series helps children understand what it means to be salt and light to the world (Matthew 5:13-14). This study will encourage kids to develop a Christlike servant attitude based on these biblical truths: God created me to be a blessing to the world; God chooses to work through me; I can make a difference at home, in my community, and at church; the church is God's family; the church is one body with many gifts; and I am an important member of Jesus' body.

Who is My Neighbor? is written for 6-14 year olds. Emma (9) has been going through this study with me and she likes it a lot and frequently requests that we read it.  Younger students will need to be read to and assisted while older children should be able to manage it on their own if you choose.

Each book in the series is designed to stand alone, but would best be read in order.  I have not seen any of the other books and we are doing fine without having read books 1 and 2. (though I would like to!) Occasionally references are made to what was taught in previous books, but it hasn't been a problem at all.

There is no teacher prep involved in this at all.  You can just pick up the book and go (or have your student follow the schedule if they are older.)  There are free online teacher helps available (password information is included in the book).

The teacher helps include:




• Overviews of the lesson’s main idea as well as every topic covered in the lesson

• Key themes and lesson objectives

• Vocabulary words and memory verses

• Suggested activities for use with the lesson

• Child-directed discussion questions for each topic covered in the lesson—you simply read them aloud to help you guide the

conversation

• Recommended reading list for deeper study of the themes, people, and places discussed in the text

Pages in the book vary, but as you can see, the text is complemented with color pictures.

another sample page from the book

Scriptures in the book are quoted from a variety of versions.  We use the KJV.  It's very easy to just read from your own Bible if you have a preference.

The spiral bound notebooking journal has a variety of different pages that go along with the lessons.  There are mini-books, crossword puzzles, word searches, questions, writing prompts and more.  The notebooking journal is not necessary but would be an excellent addition if you have the book.  We chose to answer the questions orally but if you wanted a workbook to go along with the book you won't want to miss this.

The coloring book would also be a great addition.  Emma loves it.  I think the coloring book would be great for the younger children (those that enjoy coloring) and the notebooking journal for the older ones.  Emma is at an age where both are appropriate for her.

The book has 8 lessons which should take about 3 weeks to complete on average. A schedule is provided for you in the introduction. (A more detailed schedule is found in the notebooking journal.)  We are not using the schedule at all.  We're just going at our own pace.

Lessons include:


Does Anyone Really Need Me?
How Can I Make a Difference?
Who is My Neighbor?
Why Did God Make Families?
What Can I Do For My Country?
Why Can't We All Just Get Along?
Who is God's Family?
Why Does the Church Need Me?

Each lesson contains several key components:

The Big Idea (introduction to the main topic)
What You Will Do (lesson objectives)
Think About It (questions)
Words you Need to Know (vocabulary)
Hide It In Your Heart (2 memory verses for each lesson)
Integrated Learning (interesting articles related to the main text)
What Should I Do? (highlights godly character traits)
Prayer 
Encounters with Jesus (a Bible story based on the scripture-historical fiction style)
Take a Closer Look (questions)
House of Truth (read more here but note this is not something you need to purchase, students can draw their own or use Legos)


On the website, you can view the table of contents, a sample lesson and read the FAQ's pertaining to the entire series.


We have really enjoyed using this (especially Emma and that is a blessing) and plan to continue. I hope to use the entire series.

Purchase Who is My Neighbor? for $39.00, the notebooking journal for $24.00 and the coloring book for $8.00. The other books in the series are available here at the same prices.  The first two editions also have an audio CD available for $24.00. The fourth and final book is scheduled to be released in 2012.

Apologia is a wonderful Christian company that offers Biblical worldview books, science texts, parenting resources and an online academy.  If you are not already familiar with Apologia I would encourage you to visit their website.  You can find them on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Read what others are saying about Who is My Neighbor? on the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog.






disclaimer: I received Who is My Neighbor? hardcover book, notebooking journal, and coloring book in exchange for an honest review.

The Child Training Bible

Have you heard of the Child Training Bible?  I noticed a lot of homeschool bloggers reviewing this lately and from the first time I saw it I knew I wanted to use this in my home.  Over the years, I have read MANY books on parenting and child training, but ultimately it's the Bible I want to use to train my children.  I was thrilled to have an opportunity to review this and give one away! (so keep reading to the end)

The Child Training Bible Kit is a set of 4 laminated cards that allow you to mark your own Bible or one you purchase just for this purpose. I purchased this Bible for $9.99 which I am very happy with.  It took me a few hours to get my new Bible all set up and it was a blessing to do it.  This kit would make a wonderful baby shower gift or gift for any parent.  You could set it up for whoever you are giving it to but I am glad I had the opportunity to do it myself.  

My Child Training Bible completed with all the tabs.

The Child Training Bible Kit

As mentioned the CTB kit comes with 4 laminated cards.  The cards are sturdy and look like they will hold up over a long period of time.  The first card is the key that you tape using double sided tape to the inside cover of your Bible and makes it easy to find the verses for each "offense".  The remaining cards called tabbers are printed on both sides.  The first side lists the Bible verses for each tab and is used to help you set up your Bible.  The opposite side is divided into 3 sections.  The first two sections have questions to help open up the discussion after reading the scriptures and the third section contains prayers with scripture that you can pray with your child at the end of a training session.  You can clip these cards inside the back cover of your Bible with a binder clip or make a pocket to slide them into.

Inside the Bible.  Verses are highlighted.
I found that with some of the darker colors it was better to underline rather than highlight.
The Bible I bought has lighter ink so it might just be because of that.

This video is a great overview of what the Child Training Bible is, how to put it together and how to use it.

You can purchase your own Child Training Bible kit for $9 plus $4.99 shipping for up to 2 kits. She also offers discounts for orders of 10 or more. You will also need a 9"x6" Bible, post it flags and highlighters to complete your kit. Product suggestions can be found on the CTB Order Supplies page. Visit the Child Training Bible website to learn how it came into existence and more about the creator.

I am so excited to be able to give away on Child Training Bible kit through the generosity of Mindy at The Child Training Bible.  This giveaway ends on Friday, June 29 at midnight, so enter now!

Winner is Katrina B!  Congratulations!  (Contact has been made.)  Thank you to all who entered to win.  I would encourage you to follow Child Training Bible on facebook (other giveaways are posted) or just BUY your own kit!

This is my first Rafflecopter giveaway. It seemed easy to set up so I hope everything is working properly.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

disclaimer:  I was given a free Child Bible Training Kit in exchange for an honest review.

Judah Bible Curriculum

      I am always excited when any kind of Bible curriculum comes along that I get to review for the TOS Homeschool crew.  For the last several weeks we have been trying the Judah Bible Curriculum which included a 100 page pdf manual, a notebook ideas book and 8 mp3 teacher training lectures.

• Principle Approach curriculum for Bible class. 
• Develop a comprehensive knowledge of the Bible. 
• Build strong, Godly character in your children. 
• Study the Bible together. 
• Study the hand of God in the lives of individuals and nations. 
• For homeschool, Christian school, Sunday school. 
• Teach your children living Biblical principles to guide their lives. 
• Apply God’s word personally in every area of life. 
• The Bible is the textbook.

Judah Bible Curriculum has a page with extensive information about their philosophy of education.  A brief synopsis is this: We want the Bible to be the center of our education, having a Christian school is not enough.  All education produces character which influences government.  The curriculum is based on the fact that God is sovereign and that he rules the individual internally by love.

The Bible is divided into 5 themes that are taught each year.

In the first semester, the first three themes are from the Old Testament:

Theme 1 CREATION
Theme 2 THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION BEGINS
Theme 3 KINGDOM OF ISRAEL

The second semester covers the remaining two New Testament themes:

Theme 4 KINGDOM OF GOD
Theme 5 EARLY CHURCH

You can read about the themes here.

Each THEME is broken down into Bible Keys. In each of the five time periods, students will study a few  of the key individuals, key events, key institutions, and key documents for that period with a view towards identifying the hand of God, the character of God, and the place of that Key in His purpose for history. They blank key sheets are printable and are placed into the student notebook. The student notebook is NOT just busywork.  It is designed to be something of value that the student will later be able to each from.

1) Judah Bible Curriculum K-12 Manual, e-book format to download;
2) Elementary Notebook Ideas booklet to view online or download;
3) Eight-lecture Teacher Training Seminar. listen online or download.

Watch this video to get an idea of what the audios sound like:

My opinion:  I really wanted to like this curriculum but I have struggled greatly with implementing it.  I printed the entire guide and had it bound and listened to the audios but had a very difficult time figuring out how to use the key sheets with my older students.  For younger students,  you are given the theme and ideas for how to begin, however, there are no worksheets or activities. You have to come up with those yourself.  I did make up some notebooking pages for the creation theme to use with my kids and you can download them free here.

I really like the idea of building notebooks. I also liked listening to the audios although they clearly would be better if they were videos.  Sometimes the speaker is referring to visual aids which are included in the back of the pdf book but I didn't know that when I was first listening to them.

I think this curriculum would be great for someone who likes the principle approach or notebooking and really wants to spend a lot of time preparing Bible lessons.   You need to really dig in for a while to be able to use this.  It's non-consumable and is intended to be used year after year (on a 6 year schedule) so it is very affordable.  I really think this could be a valuable way to study to the Bible so I am going to keep at it.

You can download the Judah Bible Curriculum for $44 or if you prefer a hard copy version that is available for $69 plus $5 shipping and handling.

Read the JBC statement of faith and a chart of the scope and sequence.

To Order by Phone or Mail:
217-344-5672
Judah Bible Curriculum
P.O. Box 122
Urbana, Illinois, 61803

See what others are saying about the Judah Bible Curriculum on the TOS crew blog.

disclaimer: I was given a free copy of the Judah Bible Curriculum in exchange for an honest review.

Proverbs 31:10-31

10 Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.
11 The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.
12 She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.
13 She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.
14 She is like the merchants' ships; she bringeth her food from afar.
15 She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.
16 She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.
17 She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms.
18 She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night.
19 She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.
20 She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.
21 She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet.
22 She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple.
23 Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.
24 She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant.
25 Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.
26 She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.
27 She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.
28 Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.
29 Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.
30 Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.
31 Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.