A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

Reviews

Review: Once Was A Time

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Imagine the possibilities…. see the potentials…realize the dreams.  Step in the world of Once Was a Time. This great middle school read introduces us to  Lottie and Kitty who are the best of friends… soul mates who understood each other full well.  Believing in the possibilities, living out the realities of war torn England in 1940. 

This was a well-written novel by Leila Sales, who has author several young adult books.   Lottie and Kitty were so well described I felt as though I knew them and could fun with them.  Girls with crazy imaginations, a willingness to accept each others foibles, and still stick together like glue.  Leaving with dreams and plans, struggling with how their families were, dealing with the terror of war.  Good characters.

Then …oh.. the unimaginable happens, these two soul mates are separated.  What would happen?  How would Lottie manage?  Would Kitty survive?   What happens to their families?

How their lives diverge is a fascinating tale of persistance and hope.   And OH… I want to tell more but then I’d have to say SPOILER ALERT!  SPOILER ALERT!   And who wants that eh?   Themes covered: Time Travel, war, bullying, friendship, library, budgets, books..oh the books!, siblings, travel and more.   A well crafted book quite suited for the middle school crowd.  These characters will linger.

My Thoughts:

My lad has heard me talking about how much I have been enjoying his book, and now that he is finished Time Stoppers, and knowing how his dad has been waiting to read the series, he asked if he could read Once Was a Time next.  I joyfully said “YES!”

This was a great book…history along with intrigue with the joy of learning what true friendship is.  Makes for an excellent book middle schoolers AND their parents!  🙂

Once Was a Time

Leila Sales

Chronicle Kids

Softcover, 340 pages, Ages 10+

Fiction, middle school, time travel

Reviewed for: Raincoast Books.

Where can you find?

Amazon.ca:  Once Was a Time.

Amazon.com: Once Was a Time.

Review: The Simple Blessings of Christmas

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The Simple Blessings of Christmas is a hope-filled journey through the days of Advent.  It’s a wonderful book that if you are looking to celebrate Advent would fit well into households of faith, as well those who just want to add some joy and wonder to the holidays season.

Let me tell you more about this well made hardcover book.

25 chapers, one for each day up to Christmas.  It’s not quite long enough to be a full advent book, but it covers all the days of December up to Christmas day.   The Chapters have names such as 

  • Christmas teachs gratitude
  • Christmas encourages us to open our hearts and homes to others
  • Christmas challenges us to make our lives matter
  • Christmas shows that God is still at work in the world and in our lives
  • Christmas promises us new beginnings
  • Christmas invites us to worship

I love the set up, the clear point of each chapter highlighted on ornaments or pages reminiscent of wrapping paper.  Point on bible verses or quotes from different people, some that I recognized and others were new to me. 🙂

The chapters were short and easy to read.  Many including stories to help connect you to the teaching, others filled with questions and challenges to help you think through the joy, wonder and teachings of Christmas.

It’s simply a lovely book to use for personal or family advent readings, or to get as a gift to use next year for the days preceding Christmas.

The Simple Blessing of Christmas: A hope-filled journey through the 25 days of Advent

Mark Gilroy

Simple Truths.  Sourcebooks.

Faith, Christmas, Advent

Hardcover, 120 pages

Reviewed for: Raincoast Books

Where can you find it?  

Amazon.ca: The Simple Blessings of Christmas.

Amazon.com: The Simple Blessings of Christmas.

Review: Busy Family Planning Calendar 2018

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Do you ever find it hard to keep things straight?   The running around here and there, sometimes could have a family spinning like a wheel! A friend of mine has a calendar with names scrawled on it, arrows pointing from one slot to another, with times crossed out and .. well.. to me it looks a mess!  🙂

The Busy Family Planning Calendar works to eliminate the mess.  So I have got to tell you all about it!

This calendar has five slots for every day of the week.   So if you have three children, a mom and dad, you can easily fill up all the spaces, And if you are stuck.. you can easily use the top slot with the daily number in it as an emergency! As you can see they are nicely broken up by colour so you could follow the same person throughout the week making sure that no one is keeping too busy.   As you can see, this calendar also lists the important days of the year, not just the judeo–christian, but other popular holidays as well.

This calendar also comes with stickers!   Stickers galore.  Categories like school, half days, dentist, sleepovers and birthdays meant to fill in just one slot. Menus, spring and winter break meant to fill in two, maybe three slots.  Chores and vacation fill whole sections.   They store in this easy to access pouch, which also doubles as a great place to store birthday, anniversary, etc cards. (if you are that organized) or your bills to be paid as well!

The hole (where you’d hang it up) has been reinforced with a wire gasket … don’t know what else to call it.  Just means it won’t rip and come off your wall.    The illustrations are whimiscal without being annoying.  🙂   I have to admit, I like photography in my calendars, but the illustrations in this helpful calendar ar interesting and fun, rather than making me want to toss it away. 

Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t always hang my calendars.  One of the things I like about this calendar is the handy place keeper.  Made of sturdy thick paper, helping you to hold your place well in this well made 17 month calendar. 

Busy family planning calendar 2018

Rockpoint

Calendar, planning, 17 months

Reviewed for Quarto Group

Art Book: Beasts from Bricks

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Oh, who doesn’t like to build with lego?  I spent hours as a child playing with lego and have had lots of fun playing with my boy child…though the older he gets the more he keeps himself busy with other things and plays less with his mama.  BUT this book is cool!  Making animals from around the world, using the designs in Beasts from Bricks.  It’s great!


15 different animals which take you through the different continents of the world, teaching you the skills you need to design your own lego models of various animals you can meet in your life (or perhaps WISH you could meet in real life).

You get to build animals such as the African Elephant, Indian rhinocerous, Suffolk sheep, walrus, jack rabbit, anteater and a wombat (as well as others).   I loved that each new animals was introduced to us along with why the author builder created them.

You will find detailed parts lists along with a colour key.  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, since the picture is on the page along with it’s 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.  You may even find yourself inspired to find other animals you can build.  Sometimes to just be changing the colour (as in making a white sheep black, or multi coloured), or by using the skills you have been taught to come up with your own designs.  Who knows what you’ll be able to build eh?

Little things I liked: Each animal is colour coded, so you know all the blue is one animal, different builds he’s made pictured at the back of book, clear instructions, image of finished animal, and the pedestal each animal is placed on so you aren’t limited to stance or flat surfaces.

My Thoughts:
Get this book.  Have fun learning about and then building animals from all over the world. It’ll be great fun, you know it!  🙂

Beasts from bricks
Ekow Nimako
Quarry books
144 pages
Softcover, oversized
Lego, building, STEM, animals, engineering

Reviewed for: Quarto Group

Where can I find it?
Beasts from bricks.  Amazon.ca    Or    Amazon.com.

This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you! ©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites

Review: The Little Books of Prayers

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Sometimes, just sometimes I get a review book in that I am just not sure how to approach.   That was the case recently with this book “The Little Book of Prayers”. Many of the prayers in this little book, were great.  Well written, God-based prayers.  There were also some really neat images, of believers who have gone on before, contained in almost every two-page spread.

Herein lies my hesitation.

It’s a Roman Catholic based book and as such, evaluating prayers to the saints (like to Mary, Jude, Anne etc) I feel totally unqualified to do.   That’s the brass tacks of it, NOR do I feel right in telling you these prayers are appropriate.   I don’t pray to any of the saints, I believe that our prayers are directed to God through Jesus.

BUT if you are Catholic and are looking for a neat prayer book to aid yourself or your children in developing a good prayer life, this book will most definitely (from what I can tell) fit the bill.

I appreciated the little blue ribbon, it’s of good quality and so helpful for keeping your place as you learn the prayers.  The prayers are written in an easy to read font.

Check out these images, aren’t they well done?  Helping us to remember believers who have died and gone on to glory?  It’s good to remember the history of our faith.

It’s not a large book, perhaps 6 x 4 inches, hardcover, with gloss lined edges, it’s a very pretty book, and very easy to handle.  I can envision someone putting it into their handbag or pocket on their way to church or other places.  Or giving to a child to hold as they learn the prayers of the Roman Catholic church.

My Thoughts:  
If you are Roman Catholic, or even a person curious about the Roman Catholic faith, this prayer book is well made, of excellent quality, with good pictures of people in our faith history.  See the images, be inspired to live out your faith as the believers did of old.  Learn to pray better by seeing and memorizing good examples.  

The Little Book of Prayers
Chronicle books
176 pages
Faith, Roman Catholic, Prayers, Hardcover 

Reviewed for: Raincoast Books.  

 Where can I find it?
Amazon.ca: The Little Book of Prayers.
Amazon.com: The Little Book of Prayers. 

This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you! ©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites

Review: A Runtamuffin Tale

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Runtamuffin…. is a cute little chicken that learns quickly that people are it’s friends, and that thought carries Runtamuffin throughout her entire life. This fun picture book for children captures life in a barnyard, while teaching important truths to it’s readers.

 Imagine you want to give someone a gift unique to them, what would it be?
In Lasse’s case….he wanted to be a farmer…the gift, just for him…chickens!  Oh my the girls had fun in making this gift special for him.  You could sense the delight they had in the creating, and their love for him.

And so starts the story of Runtamuffin and her adventures.  She learned to trust her humans, she learned to trust the other animals, to count on their aid, and they in turn learned to count on her. Tales of adventure awaited little Runtamuffin.

It’s a nice story for youngsters, the font making it one to read along side a child as opposed to reading to a group of children.    

The illustrations are full colour and give many talking points, such as why a chicken might sit on the back of a horse, how they might learn which horses were safe to visit and which were not, and the joy of listening to a well told story.

If you want to know more about the author and illustrator, as well as read snippets of other reviews you can go here.

My thoughts:
It was a cute story, seeing all the farm animals, the protective dog, the newest arrival and the curiousity among the chickens and the boldness of Runtamuffin.  Nicely told.

A Runtamuffin Tale
Melissa Taylor
Marc Beauregard (illustrator)
57 pages
Ages 5-8
Picture book, animals, life on farm, relationships

Reviewed for: Ascot Media Group. 

This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites

Review: Santa’s Magic Key

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We have NEVER done Santa in this house, I didn’t grow up with Santa in my formative years and always thought it was a bit silly to believe in him, or to encourage children to do so. I deliberately chose to exclude Santa from stories with the lad when he was little as I remember my mom saying “don’t lie on purpose to your children, if they do, they just might wonder what else you are lying to them about.”

That said, every once in a while though I run into a Santa based Christmas Story that I just enjoy, and that I then share with my lad, and when we are done I ask him “what do you think the truth is in that story?” Today I want to tell you about Santa’s Magic Key.  This is honestly, just a lovely book.  🙂   I am looking forward to, when this review is over, putting it in the Christmas box for the local gifts for the needy.


Imagine if you would, a young boy who lives in a new home, has been taught all about Santa, and now it’s Christmas.  

His new home doesn’t have a chimney….what is a boy in a new home to do?   Worry that’s what!  He writes a letter to tell him of this conumbrum…and so the story continues. 

Simon Mendez does an excellent job of illustrating the words of Eric James.  These beautifully wrought pictures bring the story to life showcasing the story so wonderfully you’d almost feel like you were in the pictures with this young boy. 

In this sweet story we get to see the kindness of a shopkeeper, the heart of a young boy, and a future promise.   If I read this book to my lad he could easily find truths to hold on to, and so I think would your children.  See the truths, enjoy a make-believe story, and touch on a bit of the wonder of Christmas.  You just need to look a little harder for it. 

My Thoughts:
I loved that this book comes with a heavy key… what a great way to help children live out the joy of  Christmas promise.   The illustrations are simply beautiful and the story so easy to read.  The large font would make it ideal to read to a group of children gathered round your feet, the pictures large so all could see, and yet the book sits comfortably in one’s lap to share individually with a child.  

Santa’s Magic Key
Eric James
Simon Mendez (illustrator)
Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
40 pages
Christmas, picture book, seasonal, hardcover
ages 4-9

Reviewed for: Raincoast Books.

Where can I find it?
Amazon.ca: Santa’s Magic Key.
Amazon.com: Santa’s Magic Key. 

This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you! ©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites