A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

Books for Children

Canada Book: Canada My Country

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 Busy clearing out some book shelves and thought I’d share some of the books we’ve enjoyed over the years.   Canada My Country is a work book with stories.

Read a story or an article on some aspect of Canada, and then do a short worksheet.

Six separate units covering topics like Canada’s Political Map, It’s Physical Map, The Symbols of Canada, Our Government, the Freedoms of Canada and some outstanding Canadians.

Twenty seven lessons contained within 75 pages.

Geared for up to about grade four.  It’s an easy book to pull out the information that you want, with permissions for a single teacher to replicate pages for her students as needed.

It’s been a helpful book for us over the years.   If studying Canada with younger children this book will come in very helpful to you.  🙂

The pages are easy to do and the information short enough

 As you can see.. short selections, easy worksheets the fit the level of elementary aged children.

Published by Northwoods Press, written by Donna Ward.

Where To Find?

 Amazon.ca: Canada, my country: Social studies for elementary grades

 Amazon.com – Canada, my country: Social studies for elementary grades

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©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/

Review: Millennium Falcon, Star Wars Builders

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My lad has been waiting for .. what seemed to him like forever…until we could build this lovely kit that came our way via Raincoast Books.   Little did he know I had an agenda.

First… work through his Apologia Astronomy book and read through the book on Pluto. Now admittedly he’s not completely done with the apologia study (but he’s close), but he’s got a cold, it’s a blah rainy day and I thought.. why not today!  So that’s what we did. 🙂  We opened up the kit Star Wars Builders Millennium Falcon.  Oh my, did the lad have fun!

What do you get?
This kit comes as a complete unit, a box attached to a book.

A clear direction sheet that has instructions on both sides. One to show the numbering, the other to show how to put it all together. 

The book is a nice one with good quality paper and full colour pictures throughout.  The text appeals to a variety of ages.   64 pages of good information for the Star Wars fan. 

The build is made of cardstock that is very thick and sturdy.   It has layers in it, but they are held together well and do not separate when putting it together.  One piece buckled a little when being bent to form the curved lines…but that was more a learning how much pressure needed to be applied.  It did not affect the integrity of the finished product.

An easy to put together 3-D puzzle.   Follow the instructions or it won’t go together well.

My Thoughts

I have to admit that it was hard to not want to do the build myself or to offer help.  I contented myself with reading parts of the book out-loud to my lad and asking him how he thinks it reflects real life (as movies are supposed to reflect life right?).   It was enjoyable to listen to his thoughts.

New Horizons is a real spacecraft from Pluto Mission

Concern:
 
I
can’t say the box is very sturdy as it came to us ripped although it
was in secure packaging and taped closed. None of the pieces were damaged as they were
tightly packed, a good bit away from any damage to the box.  So I can’t say the damage was really worth anything, just spoiled the initial look of the kit is all it did.

My Son’s Thoughts:
My son loved this.  Oh my!  He had fun building it.  He thought it was one of the best builds he’s ever done.

Kit Synopsis: 
Discover what makes the Millennium Falcon the most famous ship in the Star Wars
galaxy with this awesome master builder kit! Featuring a 64-page book
detailing out some of the ship’s most daring adventures and introducing
members of the crew, Star Wars fans will enjoy learning more
about one of the most legendary starships in the galaxy. When fans
finish the guidebook, they can follow the included instructions to build
their own to-scale replica Millennium Falcon with the included cardstock model pieces. It’s everything Star Wars fans need to begin an adventure in the galaxy far, far away. 

Where can you find it?

 Amazon.ca – Star Wars Builders: Millennium Falcon

 Amazon.com – Star Wars Builders: Millennium Falcon

Just so you know.. if you want to teach your child astronomy, SchoolhouseTeachers is having a sale right now AND it’s an really great sale.  The sale price for the monthly membership is $9.95, and the sale price for the yearly membership is $99.   Not only can you take the everyday astronomy course but you can use all the interactive elements of the World Book Encyclopedia.   AND you could even make Hans Solo’s Sound Blaster!

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/

Art Book Series: Spot the Differences

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HI!   Guess what, Joanna is nice enough to guest post for me with what sounds like a fascinating book.  Joanna commented on my blog about this book and I asked if she’d please please please write a blog post for me as I wanted you all to know about it too!   Come check it out with me eh? 
I am always looking for ways to keep my boys interested in learning about art. 

We
have read many great books about artists, carried out artist studies
complete with copied works, and go on field trips to local art museums.  

But
I always wanted my boys to really stop and study the works of art.
 Look for the nuances that make them so spectacular, learn the names of
major works of art and the artists who painted them.  

I
was so thrilled when I stumbled upon the Spot the Differences book!  So
far we only have book 1 but there are 4 of them in the series.  

I love this series because my boys were excited about using it!  

The
book has 25 famous paintings– each painting is pictured twice.  The
first page shows the original painting complete with name and date it
was painted.  The opposing page shows the same picture with anywhere
from 6-14 change and you are challenged to find all the differences
between the original work of art and the changed picture.  There is an
answer key in the back of the book if you get stumped and a handy box
for checking off all the differences you have found. 



 Surrounding
both pictures are snippets of information about the artist, the
painting itself, and some facts about the historical period in which the
artist lived and painted. 

It has made art study so fun! 

  You can find Joanna over at Our Unschooling Journey Through Life.   Do be sure to visit her there as well eh?

Where can you find it:
 Amazon.com: Spot the Differences Book 1: Art Masterpiece Mysteries (Dover Children’s Activity Books)

Amazon.ca: Spot the Differences Book 1: Art Masterpiece Mysteries




Joanne Rawson is the author of the blog Our Unschooling Journey.
Known around the web as Mother of 3, Joanne began her blog when she
first started homeschooling her three boys in 2012. She lives in
Connecticut with her family and enjoys reading, crafting, and
travelling… all of which usually ends up on her blog.

Social Media:

 

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©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/

Books read in April

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This month has seemed very busy, so I’m trying to recall what all we read this month.   Not as much as some months.  🙂

Oh.. before I begin I have to tell you this funny story.

I told my mom-in-law how much we enjoyed the book Irish Chain… and suggested she read it.  She’s about 78 years old and she liked this book so much she stayed up all night.  Oh my…she looked so tired and frail but wow.. she was full of her enjoyment of it.  🙂   Gave her and the lad much to talk about. 

It took her four days to recover from her reading adventure.  🙂

So what else did we read this month?
We’re continuing our natural world adventures with Natural world.   We’re in the midst of learning about a variety of birds. It was rather interesting today, we had recently learned about swallows, and today we saw some swallows in real life.  My lad was fascinated!

The lad is continuing to read through Shepherd, Potter, Spy and Star-Namer.  Tells me he likes it.   His bed-time reading is all about the Warrior Cat series by Erin Hunter.

At breakfast we are reading the Golden Goblet.
So far this book has us very intrigued.  Has the lad asking lots of questions about why the boy’s brother has to be so mean.  

I’m glad my lad doesn’t really understand such cruelty.. he hasn’t experienced it.  I’m also pleased that it bothers him as much as it does me.

We are also reading a book about animals in urban life (very interesting), a book about Canada (a bit young but the lad asks questions so good), and a book about muskoxen (more fascinating than you might think).  OH… And we are also reading a second book in the Rip and Red series (review coming soon).   I don’t have pics as the books are upstairs in my sleeping sons room.


I have just started a new book: A Train in Winter. I picked it up at the hospital’s rummage sale.  I was hoping it would be written as a novel, but it wasn’t.   Still interesting, but won’t be as fun a read.  Well..I phrased that poorly.. as reading about women in the French resistance who were shipped to a death camp from the Nazi’s wouldn’t ever be a “FUN” read, but more clinical I guess this will be.

So far it’s been a good explanation as to why the French started to resist so much against German occupation.

Oh Remember Fledgling from last month?   I have the boys hooked, so we’re listening to it on MP3’s in the car!   They like it so much we’re into book two!  AND they are mad that I want to listen ahead to book three so my listening fun has been curtailed a bit.  🙁

Avian is not a book for young listeners though as there is a fairly NASTY fellow in the book who likes hurting people.   But Javed holds true to who he is learning he really is, even if others warn him not to be.   A compelling story that the lad says “NO drive around the block, drive longer!!  PLEASE!!!!”

I also read a Valdemar compendium.. thoroughly enjoyed it.  🙂
Tempest.  It’s fun to read fan fiction.. to see what people come up with that’s in the light of the whole series.

Some of the stories are really well done, others just leave you wondering “what were they thinking!!!” cause it seems so off.

This one was quite well done.

And that’s all I have in my brain for now.   NOTE!  A linky is up at the end of the post so… join in!

Books read for reviews:

Curious Constructions.  Engineering marvels from around the world.
Fish Girl.  A well done graphic novel.
Quick tips for busy families.  Parenting hacks
Your Next 24 Hours.   A book to teach us how to be kind.
John Deere, that’s Who.   I liked this meaty picture book.
Once Upon a Time Storybook.   I had mixed feelings about this bible story book
God’s Easter Miracles.  Picture book for Easter for children.

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©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/

Review: Curious Constructions

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Do you think a building could be designed like a basket, or that a secret base could be built into a snow bank?   How about going to the bathroom over the ocean?   What if you wanted to explore natural architecture like the Great Barrier Reef?   Man-made, or found in creation, Curious Constructions can be found all over the world. 

So why would you have a building built to look like a huge basket?
What is the reasoning for a giant steel door sticking out of the snow?
How long can it take to build one church?
Questions about the pyramids?
Want to know more about Desert Breath?

All these questions and more are answered in this marvellous book.  50 interesting constuctions from places like Puerto Rico, Egypt, the USA, England and France and even up to outer space.

Each construction is discussed over a two page spread with a large picture on one side and a good deal of information on the other side. 

 This was a dry academic read, humour was readily apparent throughout.  Good bite-sized facts to delight and intrigue…. in fact I’d love to walk around that basket building!  

Honestly.. this a neat book that Michael Hearst has put together.   Matt Johnstone’s illustrations bring it all to life.   I learned about different types of bridges, the world’s biggest skate ramp, science machines, underwater restaurants, and lego constructions.  There is so much information in here to delight not only your 8-12 year olds, but to delight you as well.  🙂

 

Title: Curious Constructions: A Peculiar Portfolio of Fifty Fascinating Structures 
Author: Michael Hearst
Illustrator: Matt Johnstone
Series: Uncommon Compendiums
Pages: 104
Age Range: 8 a-12
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Reviewed for Raincoast Books

Where can you find it?
 Amazon.ca: Curious Constructions

Amazon.com: Curious Constructions: A Peculiar Portfolio of Fifty Fascinating Structures  

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/

Art Book Series; How to Draw

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Every artist can use a bit a help in learning how to draw, particularly images that can be difficult.  How to Draw, 21 lessons in 48 pages.  All you need to get you well started on your artistic journey. 

I have to admit, I have a couple of books in this series.   How to Paint and How to Draw. But today I want to talk to you about the How to Draw book.  🙂

As I mentioned early, 21 lessons are included in this book, lessons that cover how to draw a variety of animals and vehicles, 8 lessons focus on various aspects of the human body, the remaining four lessons focus on cartoons.

One of the things I like is how the drawings look like they are in perspective, and directions are very clear about why you want to draw certain shapes to suit the object you are trying to draw, like a large plant eating dinosaur would have block-like limbs to hold him up, whereas an dinosaur built to run would have angular limbs and more circles where their joints would be. 

Drawing a horse would use bigger circles and triangles with straight lines joining them.  And cat would be circles, small squares and triangle eyes.   It’s neat to watch it all come together, smoothing out the lines to form the sleek animals one sees around them.

I have been told that drawing people is hard (and coming from someone who draws stick figure people I believe it).   So having eight pages of different ways to draw people is an important part to have in a book.

How would you draw a football player?

But if you learn to draw the lines and the circles so that you can fill in the rest, don’t you think it would make it easier to draw a person?   I look at these drawings and I think… even “I” could learn how to do that!   What do you think?   Could you learn to do that too?

How to Draw
Author: Helen Webster
Pages: 48
Type: Art Book, softcover
Publisher: Capella
Series: How to

Where to find:
Amazon.ca: How to Draw

Amazon.com: How to Draw

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/

Art Book Series: Discover Great Paintings – A Child’s Book of Art

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 Do you want your children to understand the great artists?  Or even just to know how to look at some of the great paintings done?   Discover Great Paintings will teach you how to unpack these great pieces of artwork so you can discuss them well.

The first chapter in this book teaches a person how to look at art work.
Questions to ask, details to look at and facts about the artist.
The next 13 chapters unpack 13 different pieces of art work, helping the reader to understand them and learn the questions to ask about any artwork you can find. 

Learn to understand the colours, textures, emotions, shapes presented.

As you can see different elements are pulled out of the painting and discussed.

The facts about each painting are drawn out .. such as the castle belongs to a king, skulls show the dragon has been a danger, the princess wants to be saved, and the dragon is a symbol for evil (whereas the cross on the shield is a symbol for good). 

Learn the facts behind the scenes

Remember details about the artist:

 Learn how to look at art work, see everything you can in the paintings you see.  Be aware of all the great questions you can ask of an artist of the work that they do.  Or that you can ask of yourself if the artist is no longer living.  There is more in a piece of art then you might think eh!  🙂

Discover Great Paintings: A child’s book of art
Author: Lucy Micklethwait
Publisher: Firefly Books
32 pages.
Type: Hardcover
Art Book

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©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/