A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

Reviews

Review: Free Of Me

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Free of Me is a book written by Sharon Hodde Miller.  In this book  Ms. Miller invites us to look to Jesus more and to ourselves less.  To in essence, be free of ourselves, to not be so self-focused as we are apt to me.

What do you get?

In Free of Me you get three sections, 14 chapters total. 

The first section lays down the ground work. Reminding us of just how distractible we truly are. How very self-focused we are prone to being.

In section two we are introduced to seven mirrors: God, Family, Appearance, Possessions, Friendships, Calling and Church. All these things we often make just about us.

The last section spells out how we break out of this cycle: Praise, People, Purpose, Passion and Forgetting yourself without neglecting yourself. 

Each chapter starts with a quote and ends with discussion questions, bible verse and a prayer. I actually liked the discussion questions.  They were meaty “make you think” types of questions, not just regurgitate information types.

So What Did I Think?

I have to admit, the start of the book had me a bit “meh” …the examples she used from her own life didn’t resonate with me at all, and ergo her message didn’t either.  This is the danger in using a book based on your own life, or filled with examples from your own life, if they don’t resonate with the reader, the message threatens to be lost.

I persevered though and actually jumped head to the possessions chapter.  I went here because I’m struggling with “what to get rid of” with our impending move.  What do I need?  What can I keep?  What matters most to me?  This chapter pointed out this … my security comes from the Lord not the stuff that I own.  Plain and simple.  Doesn’t make the getting rid of stuff easier (as in picking and choosing), but it does help my perspective and therefore my angst.  Perspective matters!

I see this popping up everywhere in this book, if we take our eyes off ourselves, it gives us the opportunity to see whatever is in front of us.  Ugly plates that were a gift… the person loved me enough to give them to me.  My friend didn’t say hi in church… perhaps life hit them hard and they couldn’t see you for their own pain.  I wasn’t invited to a party… who else wasn’t invited?   So forth and so on.     Mind your perspective. Focus less on yourself.  See God and his people more clearly…without those blinders getting in the way.

I haven’t read through the entire book, I’ve picked my way through parts eh?   But what I read seemed solid.  It was very full of the life stories of the author, which you may or may not connect with.  They may or may not give you a way to connect with the truisms presented. 

See God more.  See yourself less.  Be mindful of the sneaky ways you see yourself too much.

Oh… Just so you know Ms. Miller has a blog called “She Worships“.She does some good writing. 🙂

Free of Me
  Why Life is Better when It's not about you.
Sharon Hodde Miller 
Baker Books
Trade paperback, 204 pages
Faith, inspirational, women

Reviewed for: Nuts about Books.

here can you find: Amazon Link.

Review: Animal Camouflage

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Every once in a while you get a book in your hands for reviewing and you just fall in love.  As soon as I saw this beautiful book “Animal Camouflage” I was like “Son, look at this book”, and talking to other people about it.  I just really, really like this book and thought it a very clever design. 

Now I have to admit that my 12 year wasn’t quite an enamoured as his mother was, but he thought it was pretty interesting, and had fun flipping through the pages and finding the more difficult animals to spot.  I am also concerned that I won’t be able to show you well the beauty and wonder that is contained within this book.

I’m trying to figure out just what I like so much about it.

First: It’s an unusual rendition of a camouflage book. It’s not animals hiding in their areas, with their colours and stripes and stops within a multi-coloured background.  It’s white with dark lines, so the animals are right there and can be seen, some easier than others.  But no colours to look for, just shapes and outlines, hidden with all the white and lines.  

Second: the information is presented in a clear format.  Do you see how each area has a colour?  That colour is used for the four pages it takes for each area.  This makes it easy to differentiate between areas.

Third: It’s a lovely book to hold.  Feels good in the hand.  It’s pretty to look at and to exclaim over.  I showed it to a friend and she agreed it was a nice book to hold in your hand, and loved the ways the animals/scenery was represented.  “It’s very clean”.

Fourth: It’s educational.  The text is brief, but more animals are covered than just a couple for each area.  I do wish that they talked about the TYPE of camouflage that each animal possessed, like the gazelle with a stripe down it’s belly.  The spots of a giraffe helping it blend into the browns of the savannah, and the brown pelt of the cottontail helping it hide in the underbrush. 

Fifth: I think that it’s perhaps less about the camouflage of animals, but more how they create a fun camouflage search and find to help children want to learn more about the different animals represented.    Honestly… it’s a FUN book to look through, to find the four reindeer or the 10ish wolves or can you find the anaconda slithering along the ground?

If you get stuck, or your child needs help, the answers are in back of the book.

Animal Camouflage: Search and find
Sarah Dennis & Sam Hutchinson
Princeton Architectural Press
Hardcover, ages 6-9
Animal, elementary, nature

Reviewed for: Raincoast Books.

Where can you Find it?   Amazon Link.

Review: Lesson Planning for High School Physical Education

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Do you remember when I reviewed Moving with Actions and Words?  This was a physical education curriculum for young children.  Today I have one for High School students entitled “Lesson Planning for High School Physical Education”.  Put out by Human Kinetics, this is an amazingly detailed book to help high school age youth get the exercise they need, as well as teaching them valuable new skills, setting them up for a healthy adulthood. 

So what do you get?

In Lesson Planning for High School Physical Education, you get a 770 page book divided into two main sections.
1. Planning for Student Success in High School.
+ The Importance of Teaching For student Learning
+ Teaching to Standards
+ Meeting the National Standards and Grade-level outcomes in High School
+ Developing an Electives-based program for High School Students

This first section gives you all the nitty-gritty details about why phys ed is important for high school students as well as giving the instructor the needed facts about what the national standards are for each grade level.  A challenge is then issue to offer students a choice in what they want to learn, what sport most interests them. This may take some creative thinking on the part of the physical education staff, but where there is a will there is often a way. 

2. Lessons Plans for High School Physical Education.
+ Extending Students Skills and Knowledge to outdoor Pursuits
+ Extending Students…. to individual Performance Activities
+ Extending Students…. to Target Games
+ Extending Students…. to Dance and Rhythms
+ Extending Students…. to Fitness Activities
+ Extending Students…. to Designing and Implementing Personal Fitness Plans.

This section breaks down each physical activity into a number of lessons.  For instance aquatics takes you through 16 lessons ranging from how to swim, rescue, endurance, aerobics, diving, water polo and more.   Each lesson is broken down into parts like fitting a life jacket, swimming underwater etc.  Each Lesson as you can see, lists the equipment needed, outcomes, goals etc. 

One of the things I very much appreciate is the goal to help high school students internalize what they are learning and finding a sport (or sports) they like and want to take part in whether it be water polo, dance, or fishing. 

My thoughts:

This is a highly organized and very thorough approach to high school physical education.   Each section is well-laid with numerous lessons to help you to teach the sport involved.  The sports aren’t all the normal ones that I was expecting like soccer and volleyball, but also included sports such as fly-fishing, rock-climbing and dance.  This book is geared to the adult instructor. 

Lesson Planning for High School Physical Education:
 - Meeting the national standards & Grade-level outcomes
 - 16 modules, 248 lesson plans
Shape America
Human Kinetics
Lynn Courturier MacDonald
Robert J. Doan
Stevie Chepko
Trade paperback, 771 pages
exercise, physical education, lessons, planning, high school

Reviewed for: Human Kinetics. 

Where can you find it?   Amazon Link.

Art Book: Meet Cindy Sherman

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Cindy Sherman, an chameleon of a person who is also an artist and a photographer… likes to do things in her own way, allowing people to interpret her art in their own way.   In this book children are invited to see her art and say what they think of it.    Today I invite you to bring YOUR students along to interpret her art in their own way as well.  Meet Cindy Sherman: Artist, Photographer, Chameleon.

I half expect Cindy and I might get along as I also like to let individuals do art in their own way.  Giving parameters and lessons and letting them live out their vision of how they think it can be worked out.   It’s what makes art fun.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading the comments from different children about her work, some of them making up stories to go behind what they see, others describing colours and attitudes, and still others describing their emotion at the image.   That mix in attitudes and emotion intrigue me when it comes to introducing children to art. 

We are introduced to Cindy Sherman in all her many forms, and her life as she explored art.   Starting a child playing dress up to an adult experienced in her craft. A child could easily read this book as the language is written at a good level for upper elementary and middle school students.  We read of the work she did and HOW she went about achieving her ends.. from scouring thrift stores, to covering the walls of her room with images from the past, getting friends to help her take pictures in different locations.   She explores what makes a person…can a person wearing a wig and beard dressed in men’s clothes really be the same as the lady wearing a lovely dress and done up all nice?

Now, all this said, I can’t say I really appreciate all of her work, but I do appreciate the sentiment behind her work and therefore, should I ever see her work it gives me a glimpse into her mindset and therefore helps me appreciate what her aim is.   People being people without worrying about the window-dressing.  🙂

Cindy is a persistent lady with a vision of what she wants to accomplish in her art.  This book is well worth giving any prospective art student as an encouragement to them to continue in their endeavors. 

  
Meet Cindy Sherman: Artist, Photographer, Chameleon
Jan Greenburg & Sandra Jordan
Roaring Book Press
64 pages, ages 7-12
art, softcover, opinion, artist, middle school

Reviewed for: Raincoast Books.

Review: Ellie, Engineer

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Ellie, Engineer.  What can I tell you about a young girl who likes to build and create?  This lovely little easy read chapter book contains: One Ellie, one toolbelt, one skirt, one sketchpad and one very active mind along with one friend with a birthday coming up.  Then a mishap happens….

… and then another…. and then… well you know what.. I can’t tell you the WHOLE story. 🙂

Friendship and engineering fill the pages.   Truthfulness and dishonesty place close seconds.  Will Ellie and Kits’ friendship handle the tests put to it?   Will new friendships become needful? Will Ellie lose it all in the end or will more be gained than could be even dreamed of?

An easy read chapter book with decently developed characters.  It was a fun read with a handy “these are an engineers tools” section at the close of the book.   Ellie’s sketches filled several pages throughout the book.

My Thoughts:

I laughed more than once.  🙂  I think it’s geared more 8-10 years. It was a good story filled with all sorts of engineering tasks and explanations about how a youth could engage in engineering tasks.   I love the list of tools at the close of the book. A fun read with short chapters and sketches that add well to the story. 

Ellie, Engineer
Jackson Pearce
Bloomsbury Kids
Softcover, trade paperback, fiction
ages 8-12
Engineering, girls, creativity, 

Reviewed for: Raincoast Books.

Where to purchase: Amazon Link.

Review: The Spinner Prince (Pride Wars)

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Oh my Lanta… I’ve heard that expression occasionally and I really don’t know what it’s origins are…but I know it’s meant to display surprise and appreciation mixed together.  🙂   I DON’T think it’s supposed to be a polite way to use God’s name in vain (so don’t want to do that!) so if it is let me know!   Anyways, Oh My Lanta… I enjoyed this book “The Spinner Prince”.   Leo is a very real character, fighting to fit into society and his role in life…and meeting some difficulties along the way.  I want to know how this story will ultimately turn out!

This is a “coming of age” book with Leo at the centre of the story.  He engages with some intriguing characters along the way, showing his heart and hinting at his passions as he does so. The fierceness of his people strikes me as real, but there is an unbalance in their lifestyle, an unbalance I suspect that Leo is born to face. The question is… will Leo be up for the task?

We get hints in this first book that he will be up for the task, even if he is the Spinner Prince.  He’s gathering some stalwart (and perhaps not so stalwart) people around him.  He’ll battle prejudice.  He’ll have to fight for what is right. He will have to stand against the crowd.  He will need to find unconventional ways to prove himself.   The only question is.. WILL HE?  Will he redeem himself well?  Honour and Duty, Ferocity and Faith…these things will be tested.  How will Leo and his people stand up to this?   Read the book and find out!  🙂

The Spinner Prince
Matt Laney
HMHKids, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Age 10-12
352 pages
Fiction, Faith, Character, Middle School
Series: Pride Wars

Reviewed for: Raincoast Books

Where to Find it: Amazon Link.

Review: NKJV Study Bible For Kids

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Theme bibles are all the rage you know?   We have bibles for kids, women, men, boys, girls, outdoor bibles, readers bibles… bibles of all shapes and sizes, translations and focus groups.   That’s not necessarily a bad thing you know?  Because helping people read God’s word is one of many steps that can help reach lost souls for the Lord.    We have so many, you might ask, why do we need more?  For this simple fact: We don’t know if THIS translation or THIS style will reach even one more person for the Lord.   So today I bring you a really colourful bible called “NKJV Study Bible for Kids”.

Tommy Nelson has come out with a colourful bible to intrigue your children.  The bright colours on the cover attract, and those colours are repeated throughout the bible with the various topical helps they have inserted. Printed on slightly heavier than normal bible quality paper, it is easy to carry for youth. 

Each of the topics is presented in a “let’s make it relevant to the children” manner, from defining more difficult words, to helping the reader to connect with important biblical people.  The NKJV Study Bible for Kids is “The Premier NKJV Study Bible for kids”.

The features/articles include:

Timelines
On Location: Maps
Spotlight: Stories of the Bible – e.g. God’s Gift to Joseph, Living Wisely
Starring Rolls: Profiles on major people of the Bible – e.g. Deborah, Eunice, Stephen, Samuel
Action!: Articles on day-to-day articles that are relevant to kids – e.g. Learning, community, obedience
In Focus: Definitions
Epic Ideas: Info on must-know topics – e.g. God keeps promises, God loves honesty, The Scarlet Cord

What I liked:

What I like in the NKJV Study Bible for Kids, is the myriad of helps contained within the pages.  850 different topic boxes under such headings as “Behind the Scenes”, “Spotlight”, “Action”, “Epic Ideas”, “Starring Roles”, “In Focus”, “On Location” and “Time Lines”.   You will also find a dictionary/concordance, an index for all the topics, and a quick reference section.  The scripture reference is on the edge of each page which is rather helpful.

I liked how each topical area is clearly delineated as to the focus and separating it from the text of the bible. 

I liked the fresh look of the cover, seriously.. all those colours intermingling on the cover.. just seemed bright and cheerful to my eyes.  🙂

Things I wasn’t as keen on:

Each page is outlined in colour. Just wasn’t my thing, I prefer clean edges in my bibles for ease of note taking. It is quite pretty and eye-catching so it might be a draw for some… and it does fit with the theme of the cover so THAT’s a good thing.  🙂

NKJV Study Bible for Kids - 
     The Premier NKJV Study Bible For Kids
Tommy Nelson
Study Bible, 
Trade Paperback, 

Reviewed for: BookLookBloggers. 

Where you can find it: Amazon Link.