A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

Reviews

Review: 1-2-3 Parenting With Heart

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Are you a parent looking for a way to discipline your children in a way that works? 
Do you want to learn a method that has some biblical merit behind it?  Then I will suggest you check out 1-2-3 Parenting with a heart: Three step discipline for a calm and godly household.
1-2-3 Parenting with Heart is based on a book by Thomas Phelan, which teaches parents to parent with justice and mercy.  I found it didn’t back up the biblical claims a great deal but it did touch on a few verses.  It’s a matter of finding the balance between being warm and friendly with being a person who has firm expectations.

The book is broken down in to six sections, each section having 2 to 7 sub-sections contained within.   The six sections are:  

  • Building a Solid Foundation for Parenting
  • Controling Obnoxious Behaviour: Parenting Job 1
  • Managing testing and manipulation
  • Encouraging Good Behaviour: Parenting Job 2
  • Strengthening your Relationship with your Children: Parenting Job 3
  • Enjoying Your New Family Life

This method of raising your children is recommended for ages 2-12. The book is well-written with a personable tone, including many real-life stories from families utilizing this method of parenting their children.    I really liked the before and after cartoons, show casing how real challenges can be handled.

Let me see, what else can I tell you about this trade paperback? Oh, it has built in tips, set into corners and off-sides to make their helpfullness all the more apparent.  Each chapter clossed with a series of questions to make you think a spell about what you just read and learned.

My thoughts:

Honestly… I don’t know what I think about this book, part of that unsettled feeling about it is that  1-2-3 method is not one that I would choose to employ.  (cause every family is different in their dynamics).  BUT I do very much like how the author spells out to use this method successfully and how he broaches other parenting concerns as well…such as teaching children (through the use of natural consequences) to take responsibility for what they can. 1-2-3 Parenting with Heart does an excellent job of sticking to it’s premise.  Giving parents a defined method to help discipline their children without yelling.  Just a simple countdown with follow through.

I guess my concern is that … so often throughout the book it seemed like parents were setting down rules and expecting their children to follow through… just I struggled to see the grace of God at work through this method.  And maybe it’s there, because granted I didn’t read every word or paragraph…. it’s just a struggle, not a defined problem.  I can see it as being very beneficial to a whole lot of families.

1-2-3 Parenting with heart

Thomas W. Phelan & Chriss Webb

Trade paperback, adult.

304 pages

Reviewed for: Raincoast books.

Review: NIV Reader’s Bible

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The NIV Readers Bible is a really nice book.  Hardcover, well bound that comes in a protective sheath.

Do you know what a reader’s bible is?

No?

Well.. A reader’s bible is one that doesn’t break up the whole bible into chapters and verses.  You just open it and read it like any other book.  No headers to interrupt the flow, no verses to break up a sentence of thought.  Just straight-forward text to make just setting down and reading a pleasure.

Now this version puts reference notes at the top… so that let’s say you are reading along and go.. ooh.. interesting thought, let me grab my commentary and explore that a bit more.. you don’t end up having to find a bible with verses to track it down.  The quiet page header let’s you know where abouts you are in the book and you can just look up that thought catcher easily.

I love how this bible has the 10.5 point type font printed in a single column, reading just like a regular book.   The footnotes are included at the end of every book. The footnotes are broken down per chapter.   The lovely grey ribbon is excellent for holding your place.

This Bible was designed to provide a seamless reading experience.  This bible is so well made.  Cloth over book cover, easy reading font.  Cause you know how most bibles have this tiny font… this one doesn’t..  It feels good in the hand, not too heavy, kinda like a regular bible for weight, but nice a solid like a normal book.

As with any bible, there is a set of references in the back, helping you understand the historical measurements and other such things.

NIV Reader's Bible
Zondervan
Soft cover over board
Bible, 1984 pages, all ages
Reviewed for: BookLookBloggers.

Where can you find it?   Amazon Link.

 

Review: Dinosaur Atlas

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Imagine that you could travel around the world seeing history unfold…. welcome to the Dinosaur Atlas.  A wonderful book of unfolding pages and lift that flaps to delight and inform.   This is seriously a great book for the dinosaur lovers among us, it is so packed with information.

The Dinosaur Atlas comes with facts to amaze you, fold-out maps, lift the flaps curiousities and life-size fossils.  Lonely Planet Kids worked to make this an informative book to delight as you walk your way through the pages.  In the middle of the book we are treated to a photograph containing the actual size jaws of a Anhanguera which lived in Brazil.

Each of the pages folds out to present even more information, and the pages are printed on a heavy stock paper… thte quality of board paper.   Sometimes they included lift the flap pages.  Regardless of how the information is presented, you’ll be surprised at the sheer amount you learn… like did you know there were dinosaurs who shrank due to living on a small island?  Or that there were dinosaurs that had scales and feathers?  Or even that dinosaurs have been discovered in Madagascar?  I KNOW.. tons of information, some of the facts caught me off guard, others were like old friends reminding me of their presence.

Maps contained through the book told the story of where these dinosaurs came from.   Dinosaurs have been found on every continent… even Antarctica!

Though many of the drawing were illustrations, some photos are included as well.  Dinosaurs and all the information surrounding them are brought to life.

d Dinosaur Atlas

Reviewed for: Raincoast Books.

ON Amazon.

Art Book: How to Build Lego Cars

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Do you love building with Lego?   Do you see it for the art form that it is?  Yes, it’s STEM and building and engineering, but … it is also an art form.   You can really see it in these magnificantcars that Peter Blackert helps you design in How to Build Brick Cars.

Oh…these aren’t your standard lego cars…these are master builder cars that go on to inspire you to model your own creations.
15 different cars which work you up from basic to expert, teaching you the skills you need to design your own lego models of the sports, race, and muscle cars you see around you every day.

You get to build cars such as the Ford Raptor, Datsun Coupe, Ferrari 250, Porsche 911 and so many more.  15 cars all told.

You will find detailed parts lists as well as information about the car being built.  The parts list is in full colour with numbers written alongside.  I didn’t find those numbers worked well with the Lego Store, so they might be with another area?  I don’t know.  BUT I do know you could go into any Lego Store with this book and they could help you find any pieces that you need, with the picture is on the page along with colour.  Easy peasy!

After the opening section you get into the meat of the build.  Full colour illustrations walk you step by step through the build. As long as you are paying attention (and don’t skip steps) you can complete your build.

My thoughts:
This is a great book for any lego enthusiast.  Getting help to make the car of your dreams?  What more could you ask for.  The detailed instruction ensure that anyone who can follow lego instructions can complete these builds…just as long as you have all the lego parts at hand.    Go ahead, create some lego art!

How to Build Brick Cars: Detailed Lego Designs for Sports cars, race cars, and muscle cars.
Peter Blackert
MotorBooks
192 Pages
Paperback, oversized
Lego, creator, build, master builder, animals, design

Reviewed for: Quarto Group.

Where can I find it?

How to Build Brick Cars.    Amazon.ca   Or   Amazon.com.

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Review: Not So Different

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You know how children can ask questions that sometimes we don’t want them to?  Well, Shane Burcaw invites those questions in “Not So Different”, a book where he answers the questions from children about his disability.  Frank conversation, humour and good images round out this sensitive topic.

What we are given is a 40 page picture book filled with great images of Shane and his wheelchair.

Chat bubbles show the questions that children ask.  Frank and honest questions of children showing their curiousity about the health and well-fare of someone who might look and act a bit different from them.

Great illustrations round out the story, and the text is large enough that if you wanted to read it to a group of children it would be so easy to do.   Through it all Shane points out how, even if he does something differently, it doesn’t mean that he has any different feelings or needs from any other person out there.  Sometimes it just takes a bit more work. 

My Thoughts:

A good picture book to help elementary kids learn about differently abled people.   From how sometimes you need to think outside the box in  order to have the life you want.   Struggling with wanting to do things and finding ways to accomplish them.   Living through hurt and finding what is good.   It can’t always be easy opening yourself up to pain and questions, and yet Shane let’s children ask questions and gives them honest answers.   A good thing that. 🙂

Not so Different: What you really want to ask about being disabled.

Shane Burcaw

Matt Carr Illustrator

Softcover, 40 pages, ages 6-9 years.

Disabled, special needs, wheelchair, questions, elementary, picture book

Reviewed for: Raincoast Books.

Where to Purchase: Amazon.ca   or Amazon.com.

Review: The Boy and His Whale

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Sometimes it is very hard when nature collides with human activity, hard decisions need to be made. What can a boy do? Obey his dad, or….follow his instincts? We see this struggle in “The Boy and The Whale”.

This carefully illustrated book brings to life the struggle this boy had. What should he do about the whale?  And this review is SO hard to write because I don’t want to give the story away… cause you know.. that spoils the fun of a good book to read.

My thoughts:

I think it would be a delight to sit down with a younger child and just enjoy looking at the pictures as we read the story together.   Sharing a boy’s need to breathe,  a whale’s need to breathe and for a father to connect with his boy when a boy makes a difficult choice. 

This would make an excellent book to show the push and pull about human influence on the world and some of the difficult decisions that need to be made.

 
The Boy and the Whale
Mordicai Gerstein
Roaring Brook Press
40 pages, 4-7 years old
Hardcover, science, human impact, decisions
Picture Book
Reviewed for: Raincoast Books. 

Where can you find it?   
Amazon link.

Review: March Forward, Girl

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Oh.. imagine being in the mind of an African-American girl growing up in Little Rock, Arkansas in the 40’s and 50’s.   This is the story of Melba and how she was taught to live her life, even as inwardly she railed against it. Segregation was a horrible thing. The fear, the anger, the shame and the outrage.   It was a hard time of living.

I have to admit, the events of this book are so outside my paradigm of experience and even as I read the book and experienced Melba’s life through her eyes, a part of me didn’t really believe what I was reading.   Could people truly be so mean?  So unthinking?

Then I had to ask myself this question: Would I want my 12 year to read this book?  It’s geared for middle school… but would I truly want him to read it?   He’s a sensitive minded lad who has been raised to realize there are horrors and bad things in the world, but do I really want him reading about it now? And honestly I don’t know.  Melba paints a very real picture of what life was like for her and her people.  The needing to give way, the living in fear, as well as the sheer joy that comes from living with family and having people who genuinely care about your life.  AND oh..there was joy in the midst of it all.  The mixture of the joy with the anger providing good juxstopotion that made it all so much more real. 

I want to tell you how the book ends, but that’s not my role here.  My role is to tell you what I thought abour March Forward Girl.   It was a good book, a needful book to read, and I enjoyed watching Melba mature in her ability to think and DO in her fight against the injustices in her life and in the lives of the people around her.  

I still am not sure about sharing it with my middle schooler, though I might read it with him, that would be a good thing I think.  I think it would be could talk about the things we read together.

Scattered throughout the book are black and white images from Melba, her family, and the events of the day.

March Forward, Girl: From Young Warrior to Little Rock Nine.

 

Melba Pattilo Beals

Frank Morrison, Illustrator

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books

Softcover, 10+,

Autobiography, history, America, African-American

Reviewed for: Raincoast Books.

Where Can You Find it?

Amazon.com: March Forward, Girl.