A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

Reviews

My Friend Earth

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Earth day is coming!  Can you believe it!   A day to celebrate all that is good about the earth and to think of ways to help perserve her. My Friend Earth which I am reviewing today helps youngsters see all that the earth is.  It also serves as an inspiration in caring for our world. 

My Friend Earth

What I am Reviewing

Patrician MacLachlan wrote My Friend Earth, a beautifully illustrated hardcover book with interactive elements. Francesca Sanna, illustrator, brought together vibrant colours with multiple shades of greens and browns to tell Earth’s story.  Chronicle Books produced this 44 page picture book that is written for preschool and kindergarten children.    My Friend Earth teaches children about the earth, it’s seasons, and the environment. 

Reviewed on behalf of Raincoast Books. 

The Details of My Friend Earth

sample page from My Friend Earth

Just look at those colours eh?  So bright and inviting!  The cut outs help create action and movement resulting in drawing you in to learn more.   See birds flit, fish dart, and water flow.  

my friend earth, sample page

You’ll be delighted with the antics of whales, the coursing of horses, and fierce winds that blow hard.   The seasons will come and go, showing the earth in action.

sample page My Friend Earth

The text fits within the images, flowing as the images pass. The lines aren’t poetic in nature but just fit. Easy words to read the help you delight a child with the turn of page.  What will happen next?  What might Earth do or see or cause to happen? Are there flaps to lift?  Holes to peer through?

Recommendations

Celebrate Earth day with your littles.  This delightful book is geared for them.  So much to see and talk about on each page.  I love the peek-a-boo holes.  It’s wonderful to read of the variety of animals and see the gentle change in seasons.  For all the activity that happens within the pages, this is a very calm, peaceful picture book.  Introduce your littles to the environment of the world, talk about how we can preserve it, and have a great Earth day!  My Friend Earth.

On the Horizon

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“Back home, in his
small New York town,
friends got Christmas cards
that year from Silas.

He’d mailed them nine days
before he died.” (p 23, on the horizon)

On the Horizon by Lois Lowry is a quiet reflective look in both sides of World War 2.  Seeing the pain and loss of Pearl Harbour, and later, seeing the pain and loss of Hiroshima.  Poetry that shows the effects of devastation both sides of the war. 

Sometimes we are hit hard by the unexpected.  I did not expect how this lovely book would affect me.  My heart begs you to read this book as well.

In On the Horizon, Lois Lowry did an excellent job of reminding me of the horrors and heroism of the war.  Carefully written lines helping us to the the poignant beauty in people caring for each other in a time of utter stress.

A soldier carrying a boy safely to his dad, a wounded twin crying out in determination to save a brother, a four year riding a tricycle – buried with it, a band ready to play – called to duty – dying in the process.  Hard words, softly written.  Definitely worth a read. 

On the Horizon

Art Work for On the Horizon

Simple drawings dot the pages, just gray-scale pencil drawings. Kenard Pak is the illustrator. In the ARC sample that I received, not all the drawings were complete. The ones there were all relevant to the poem they were connected with, like the outline of a young person standing on a beach or a child riding a tricycle.

On the Horizon

Details about What I am Reviewing

80 pages, 41 pages divided into three sections.  These sections are On the Horizon, Another Horizon, and Beyond the Horizons. She closes with a personal note about her history. So fascinating to see how these events connected with her own personal history.  Reading these personal notes just added to the deepness I felt.

A most excellent book well worthy of being read. I am so delighted that Raincoast books sent it to me!  🙂  Youth (and perhaps their parents) in grades 5-7 should find On the Horizon an easy read. American military history brought to life, showing the impact of war. 

Review: The Unbreakable Faith Course

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Conversation, it’s one of the things I love best as my lad grows older. Conversations about God, life, purpose, people and whatever else he (or I) am learning about.  It is absolutely fantastic.  Recently we’ve been reviewing an apologetics program called The Unbreakable Faith Course.  It’s been put out by Pilgrim’s Rock, LLC… and it is causing lots of conversation in our household and I love that.   I can’t wait to tell you all about in this review for the Homeschool Review Crew. 

The Unbreakable Faith Course

What I am Reviewing

Pilgrim’s Rock, LLC is the designer of the The Unbreakable Faith Course.   With this course you’ll receive online information as well as two books.  These books are called God the Reason and The Box.  I received these books as PDF’s but there is an option to get the physical books as well.    This is a credited Christian apologetics course.  Their goal is to help teens, young adults and families take on a biblical worldview so we can show and talk about God’s infinite excellence to those around us. 

viewing The Unbreakable Faith Course

How we used it

Our goal was to do The Unbreakable Faith Course with the whole family.  My son wanted dad to be involved.  My husband works long hours into the early morning hours, which made working out the logistics a bit of a challenge.  🙂  What we ended up planning was two-three days a week we would read “The Box” together, and watch one video. We ended up missing watching videos since life sometimes get complicated with later than normal shifts and a need for sleep!  🙂   

The first thing I did was connect with Staples and get them to print off the PDF’s.  These are fairly large books and I didn’t want to print them all off at home.  My son and I read hard-copies of books easier than using e-readers.  

How far did we get?   We’ve watched three videos, and I’ve read the first two chapters of “God the Reason”, and have finished “The Box”.    My son has been steadily reading one chapter a week.  The Box is mostly finished, and he’s about to start on God the Reason.  

The Box

The Box book cover

The Box, written by Craig Biehl, is covered in the first lesson.  17 chapters, much of which is a conversation between Mr. A and Mr. C.   It is broken up into three sections.

  1. Answering the Faith of the Atheist (9 chapters)
  2. Answering the Faith of the Agnostic (5 chapters)
  3. Concluding Remarks (3 chapters)

The book closes with acknowledgements, about the author and resources for parents.    The Box demonstrates how to have a conversation with non-believers.  The conversation is at times stilted but that’s to be expected when you are “setting the scene”. I did find it to be a bit repetitive at times. My son sometimes struggled with the authors not taking everything thought into account.  Many of his questions were about “what if this” and “what about that”. He’s a bit of a perfectionist so wording matters to him.

Presuppositional apologetics are a big part of The Box.  If we get to the root of a person’s thought process, the better we are able to ask questions to help them see truth and deception. 

God the Reason

God the Reason

God the Reason is the larger of the two books.  It has 15 chapters with distinct sections.

  1. God is Eternal (6 sections)
  2. God Needs Nothing (5 sections)
  3. God Cannot be Known unless he reveals himself (five sections)
  4. God is Boundless perfection (7 sections)
  5. God Does not Change (2 sections)
  6. God is Undivided (3 sections)
  7. God is Spirit (3 sections)
  8. God knows everything (4 sections)
  9. God is Wise (3 sections)
  10. God is True and Truthful (3 sections)
  11. God is Good and Love (4 sections)
  12. God is Holy (4 sections)
  13. God is righteous (4 sections)
  14. God is infinitely powerful (6 sections)
  15. God Rules over all (8 sections)

There is a conclusion, two appendices, acknowledgements, works cited, and two indexes.

This book was very much appreciated.  Easy to read and understand.  I love the short sections contained within each chapter with the clear headings of what they were about. This book was also written by Craig Biehl and really helps people understand the nature and majesty of God.

The more we understand the nature of God, the more we are enabled to import worldview truths to those around us. 

reading from God the Reason

Course Set Up

This is a self-paced course.  Take it at your own speed, but if doing it for a credit needs to be finished within 36 weeks of start. 

self-paced

One of the many helpful aspects of Pilgrim’s Rock is they give you a tour of your dashboard. Helping you to understand the many different parts in this presuppositional apologetics course.

dashboard tour

Your lesson work is set up in such a way that you need to complete each section before heading into the next one.  This ensures that you can’t jump ahead, though… if you really want to.. it is possible. 🙂

Unbreakable faith course lay out

We haven’t gotten to the point of taking a test yet.  It is important to note that these tests are timed.  You have 36 weeks to complete the course from the time that you start it.  

Pilgrim's Rock, Timed Tests

The structure of the course is to read chapters of God the Reason and The Box. These readings and chapters are followed up by a quiz.  These quizzes can only be taken once.  I loved the questions that my son came up with, they showed he was understanding the chapters he read.  I do regret that the course itself asks no questions to help you understand what you are reading or how it all fits together into a cohesive unit. 

unbreakable-faith-course-calender

Watching videos is a great way for my lad to learn.  He’s generally audio-oriented so having video just adds.  He did mention that he would like to have a transcript of the videos as well.  His intention is to watch the videos again, and if he had the transcript he could circle the parts of the transcript he wanted to remember for the quiz. 

pilgrim's rock - unbreakable faith course

They have different pricing options depending if you need credit or not.  The course is designed for individuals 15 years or older.  As I read through it and listened to my 14 year old, I think the age range is pretty good.  My son didn’t seem to struggle with it at all, but it’s definitely not geared for elementary students. 

pilgrim's rock logo

So What Did we Think?

My thoughts: “I really like how God the Reason is done. Short chapters with smaller sections that reinforce the main topic. The videos do a good job of supporting this book.  I would really like if the test could be printed out and wasn’t timed.  I absolutely adore the fact that my son asks great questions with this course.  That in and of itself makes this an excellent course.”

My son’s thoughts: “It’s okay.  I don’t like the conversations in The Box, I like just straight-forward writing. I like the videos.  I like when mom can read God the Reason to me and I can listen and ask questions.“

Dad’s thoughts: “They approach apologetics from a different perspective then I would, but they don’t do a bad job.  It would be good if it came with questions, or at least conversation starters.”

watching unbreakable faith

35 members of the Homeschool Review Crew have taken a look at Pilgrim’s Rock, The Unbreakable Faith Course.  You can check out their reviews at this link or by clicking on the image below.   

The Unbreakable Faith Course {Pilgrim's Rock, LLC Reviews}

Pilgrim Rock is on Social Media:

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Rain Boy

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You know how some kindness books are syrupy sweet and you just want to toss them out the window?   Rain Boy is not one such book.  Rain Boy was such an unloved youngster, no one wanted him around UNTIL…. But you’ll have to read the book to find out the until. Rest assured in this review, I won’t give away the secret!  

Rain Boy

What I am Reviewing

Debut author came out with a picture book helping young children learn empathy and how to demonstrate kindness to others in Rain Boy. 

Published by Chronicle Kids, this hardcover tome runs 40 pages and is geared to the preschool to kindergarten crowd. I am reviewing it on behalf of Raincoast Books. 

Wherever he goes, Rain Boy brings wet-which means he’s not very popular. Sun Kidd brings sunshine everywhere she goes, so everyone loves her. Only Sun Kidd sees what’s special about Rain Boy. But when she invites him to her birthday party, disaster strikes, and Rain Boy storms. Now the world is nothing but rain. Will the other kids ever love Rain Boy for being himself? And. more importantly, can Rain Boy learn to love his rain?

Details of Rain Boy

This is actually a hard book to talk about as the words I want to use to describe aren’t quite accurate.  So let’s dive in.

This picture book is predominately about kindness and learning to expand what you thought was possible.  Learning empathy is a big part as well.

Rain Boy

All the children, including the Sun Kidd and Rain Boy had lessons to learn and Bylan Glynn leads us through them.  With oodles of colour and expressive artwork, the designer Jay Marvel brought the story to life. 

Rain Boy

The large, clear font makes it an easy read for parents and teachers.  The well designed illustrations bring out lots of talking points with young children. The fun of a playground, the joy of a party, or the sadness of a dark day.

Rain Boy

Recommendation?

This is a very sweet book.  I loved how Glynn showed growth in all the children.  The reality of how the children learned was so on point.  It all fit.

If you are hoping to help your children see others more clearly, to look beyond themselves, Rain Boy just might be what you need.  With the variety in illustrations (water colour, cut paper, pastels and pencil crayons) the colours and images are sure to delight. 

Tiny Bird

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Raincoast books is the story of one little hummingbird’s migration journey.  Let’s travel with him from the northern part of the USA to the Gulf of Mexico. Beautifully illustrated with a treasure trove of information about hummingbirds.  It has been my pleasure to review this picture book. 

Tiny Bird: A Hummingbird's Amazing Journey

What I am Reviewing

Tiny Bird: A Hummingbird’s Amazing Journey was written by Robert Burleigh.  Illustrated by Wendell Minor, and published by Henry Hold & Company.   It is 40 pages long and intended for ages 5-9.  Covering hummingbirds and migration, ecology and zoology.   This is a beautiful book.  Reviewed for Raincoast books.  I received a softcover ARC copy for this review. 

The Details on Tiny Bird

I love it when picture books open up with an introduction to the topic at hand before they get to the title page.  Tiny Bird opens with facts about hummingbirds along with a map showing the journey that tiny bird will be taking. 

Tiny Bird

I learned a ton about hummingbirds reading this book, some of it actually surprised me so I had to fact check.  Nothing that I checked was proven to be false, so if you are undergoing a study on hummingbirds, grab up this book!  The beautiful illustrations that show off the speed and grace of the hummingbird will delight you. 

Tiny Bird sample page

Tiny Bird brings out the hardships these little birds face on their journey.  I could see how their tiny size belies the strength behind them. 

Most of the pages have ample white space to showcase these tiny birds.  But occasional pages are full colour.

Tiny Bird sample page

No rhyming lyrics fill the pages, just straightforward informative text, written in easy to understand language for the young reader.   The font size is easy to read. 

Tiny bird, sample text

This inspiring migratory and life cycle story celebrates the important and impressive feat of a small but mighty creature.  You will learn so much about this smallest of birds travelling over 1500 miles.  Many of these birds don’t make it, but in Tiny Bird we celebrate the ones that do!

Young or old, Tiny Bird is worth a look at. You won’t regret the read for yourself or your children. 

Iceland: The Puffin Explorers Series

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Imagine visiting a country that gets more than 2.3 million visitors a year, more than the whole country has as it’s population, and falling in love with a “flying football”.  Put those two loves together and you get an engaging series entitled Iceland: The Puffin Explorers by RA Anderson.   Three books thus far in this series extolling the virtues of puffins and the land they live in.  Join me in this review, won’t you?

iceland the puffin explorers series

What I am Reviewing

Ascot Media was kind enough to send me the entire series of Iceland: the Puffin Explories Series.   The three books in the series are 

Written by RA Anderson, who also wrote the “if pets could talk” series, she gears this series to children up to grade two. My Favourite Books Publishing Company put together these three books that average 70 pages each. 

Each book centres around young puffin Arni and his friend Birta. As they look for various things they also learn a lot about Iceland. 

The Details

You will find every page filled with brightly coloured images and good clear text.  The text is great size for reading to singles or a group.  Please note these adorable puffin footy-prints running throughout the pages. 

iceland the puffin explorers

Most pages that Arni, Birta or puffin parents talking about things they see, the concerns they have, etc.  These words are always italicized and in rhyme.

iceland the puffin explorers

The author adds tidbits of learning with cutouts borded in orange.  You will learn facts such as statistics, puffin details, green power in Iceland, and cultural information.  They even brought in Icelandic words such as lopi, tog, thel, and tolt. 

iceland the puffin explorers

The Individual Books

Puffins Take Flight

Puffins take flight book cover

Puffins take flight introduces us to Pabbi (Arni’s dad), Arni, Birta and Arni’s mother.  Arni is up for an exploration but his best pal Birta is missing!   In this first book we predominately learn all about puffins, from how they walk, fledge, nest, their predators and more. 

Did you know there were four types of puffins? It was news to me as well.   These books are definitely not just for youth up to grade two, if you are interested in puffins and/or Iceland these books are a treasure trove of information for one and all. 

Puffins take flight sample page

Puffins off the Beaten Path

puffins off the beaten path book cover

In Puffins off the beaten path, Arni and his best friend Birta are looking for two lost sheep.  These twins need to get back to their mama and these two puffins are determined to help!

Along the way we learn more about puffins, and a lot about Iceland. Learning about farming and sheep, horses, swans, foxes, turf homes and more.  You’ll pick up some Icelandic language along the way.

puffins off the beaten path sample page

Puffins Encounter Fire & Ice

Puffins Encounter Fire & Ice book cover

Puffins Encounter Fire & Ice is the last book in the series. Arni and Birta are off for one last land adventure before they head off to sea for the next four years. 

Arni and Birta will discover glaciers, volcanoes and natural energy.  They will learn about some of the Iceland’s legendary folk.  You’ll see beautiful pictures of waterfalls, lighthouses, and wildlife. 

Puffins Encounter Fire & Ice sample page

Recommendation

I found these books to be simply fantastic.  Most of the pictures are unique to each book but I did find some puffins duplicates.  The full colour images, the interesting and varied facts about both puffins and Iceland, make for a compelling read. 

The large font size makes it easier for adult and child alike to read.  I could easily see letting the child read the puffin conversation while the adult reads the factual bits. 

The author mentioned that the pictures in the book were of adult puffins, not immature ones like Arni and Birta would have been. 

Civilization’s Quotations: Life’s Ideal

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It is my privilege to share a treat with you today.  I got to review Civilization’s Quotations: Life Ideal.  A really cool book filled with quotes some were funny, others sad, and yet others that were profound.  Saves me time you know, to have a book at hand rather than having to search on-line for a vaguely remembered quote. Imagine this.. I now have 8000 quotes available for me, all organized and ready to for me to read, enjoy and use!

Civilization's Quotations by richard krieger

What I am Reviewing

Richard Alan Krieger put together Civilization’s Quotations: Life’s Ideal.  This is a softcover book, which contains 8000 quotes within 344 pages.  I am reviewing this on behalf of Ascot Media.

This is not an exhaustive compendium of the world’s most original quotations, but more so a collection of observations and maxim’s that caught the authors eye.   These quotes are provided in a “poetic quotation” style. You’ll find it a fun book to go through and it also serves well as a resource when searching for just the right words to use. 

quote by Gandhi

The Details on Civilization’s Quotations

The book opens with an extensive table of contents that outlines each main category with the subcategories listed under.  Some of the main categories are: 

  • Gratitude – thankfulness, praise, pleasing, value, worth
  • Work – labor, employment, occupation, business, trade, proft etc
  • Family – ancestors, home, marriage, parents, mother, father, children
  • Time – the past, the present, now, the moment, today, the future etc.
  • The world – the universe, unity, mystery
civilizations quotations table of contents

You’ll find the font is a bit small … I was happy to have my bifocals.  My 14 year old had no problems though.  

Most quotes run 1-2 lines each, occasionally longer quotes would pop up. 

Civilizations Quotations was filled with quotes were from various time periods from the far past to more recent. Not only that they were from all over the world, different genders, and various people groups. 

Civilization's Quotations sample quotes

The quotes range from funny to serious.  I have a love of old proverbs and I thoroughly enjoy reading good quotes on a wide variety of topics. Most of them are one or two lines long, but I did notice a few that were three-four lines.  Those longer ones were in the minority. 

japanese proverb - luck is like having a rice dumpling fly into your mouth

My Recommendations

One thing I wish the book had was an index of authors. I would love to be able to find all the Japanese proverbs easily, or to find other quotes by Gandhi, Lincoln, or Atwood. 

Overall, I love books like this. I know, I’m out of the normal stream, but seriously… reading quips, lines, proverbs and so forth.. it’s good you know?  

I have a firm appreciation for the variety chosen.  Not all serious, not all just fun, it was an excellent mix. Quotes were taken from all over the world.

The variety in Proverbs makes me think of making a fun workbook of learning old proverbs and what they mean. Kinda like one I did on idioms a few years back. A great tool for teaching international students English.