A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

Middle School

Review: Writing Radar

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I freely admit that I have not read this book.  I have read bits and pieces of it, but predominately this was read by my 12 year.  He’ll be giving a report on it later in this post.  I’ll be giving the factual details about it like chapters, length, interesting features etc.

My lad read this book over the month of September through mid-way October as his language arts component, I occasionally asked him what he was learning about, and he’d give me a verbal chapter synopsis, and what he thought of the ideas presented.  It worked well for us.  

What do you get?
20 chapters, with titles such as:
Trust me; Getting started; The Best Journal in the world is yours;The Writing Journal in action; Blank Slate; Story Maps; Good Habits lead to Great inspiration; Focused Drafts and much more. 

Scattered throughout the pages are black and white illustrations that sometimes illustrate a point or add humour to the page.

Since I occasionally heard giggles while the lad was reading I assume that the author used humour to convey his message.   Neither did I hear complaints about it taking too long to read, or being boring, or too difficult.  The only thing I would hear was “Sorry mom, I forgot to read Writing Radar today.  Can I do two chapters tomorrow instead?”   I simply would say, it needs to be done in five weeks, how he managed that was up to him.  From what I read, it seemed crafted for 9-12 year olds.  A good middle school level book.

Leafing through I noticed they have these little grey boxes with “writing tip” at the top.  handy those I thought.   Asked the lad what he thought and he said “they told the point of the chapter or section”. 

The lad’s Report: 
Overall: Good book.
Liked: I don’t know how to understand this part exactly.  I liked most of it.
What did I learn: How to write a book or a story.
Specific example that I liked: How a draft of a story is like a wedding cake and you just add on layer after layer after layer.
Didn’t like: I liked the whole book. I can’t think of anything I didn’t like.
I think, maybe, it would have been good to add some questions to answer after chapters or something. 

Recommendation: Get it if you want to know how to write a story or a book.

 Writing Radar: Using your Journal to Snoop our and Craft Great Stories.
Jack Gantos
Farrar Straus Giroux
202 pages
Trade Paperback
Language arts, story writing, journaling, writers, middle school
Middle school
Reviewed for : Raincoast Books

Where can you Find it?

Amazon.ca: Writing Radar.
Amazon.com: Writing Radar.

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: Canadian History-Based Writing Lessons

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 Here I am today showing you an outstanding language arts curriculum produced by the great IEW people with Canadian History Content!!!!!    How wonderful is that eh?  It is called the Canadian History-based Writing Lessons. 

Okay, so I’ve heard it said that you can’t use IEW writing lessons unless you have a good grounding in how their system works. In fact their website will tell you this:  These lessons are designed to be used by an instructor who has been through the Teaching Writing: Structure and Style seminar.  In practice I have learned this fundamental fact, if you take your time and you follow the lesson plan, your students will learn.  That said, will they learn as much as if you took the time to do the lessons and fully understand their system?   I don’t know.  I do know that my son is learning and I sorta took the seminar but haven’t really retained the information.  I find the IEW people have been nothing less than helpful whenever I’ve called upon them for help as well.. so don’t let the instructor training part freak you out…really, don’t let it.


Trust your instincts and your ability to follow instructions and you will do just fine. 


Now that that, is out of the way, let’s talk about what you get.  For this review I received the teacher’s manual…wow…ever so helpful, and the student book…. lots of space to write even for my space hungry boy.

The particulars.
The student book sets out the scope and sequence of the course nicely.  Letting you know the history topic to be covered as well as the writing lessons: style, vocabulary and structure.   Very clearly laid out so you know what you are working towards.

The teacher’s manual contains copies of each of the pages, so that you know you and your student are working off the same page and lesson.

Instructions are very clearly laid out for your use.  You don’t have to guess what you are to do next.  Answers are provided.   Allowing you to guide your children if necessary and to check their work easily.

As I mentioned earlier, there is lots of space for the student to write (you’ll need one for each student).  My space hungry boy doesn’t complain about needing more room.  I’m not showing you pages of completed work as my lad is (the older he becomes) less inclined to let anyone potentially see his less than perfect handwriting or work!

My son, even though he tends NOT to be a fan of writing curriculum, has been delighted to learn about Canadian history while improving his ability to write well. It solves the “but why do I have to learn THIS” struggle as all I have to say is “good to learn more about Canada eh?” He automatically agrees.  🙂  Win win eh?



Now along with these two books you get downloads from IEW.  
The Student Resource Packet and Lesson Checklists.   The Student Resource Packet is an invaluable part of the program and shouldn’t be neglected.  Don’t forget to download it!  Printing it off and getting it bound would be a great way to keep it all together easily. 

The checklist is helpful to make sure you’ve covered everything you are supposed to in a given lesson.  If you are inclined to grade the work, a grading system is included.

What do we think?
It’s a great curriculum to use, we’ll be putting it aside to use as our language arts program next year.  It’s a lovely middle school program that will serve our needs well after we finish the writing program we are currently using.



Canadian History Based Writing Lessons 
IEW
Lisa Marie Fletcher 
Lori Verstegen
two books plus online resources
History, writing, curriculum.

Can be purchased these Canadian Resellers. 

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

Four Sources of Poetry for Middle School and High School

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As a reader on my blog, I’m sure you’ve come to realize that I like poetry, I like writing it (it’s fun for me), and I often times like to read it, though not always… (sorry being honest).

middle school highschool poetry lessons

When I pondered what to write for this Monday post I got to thinking about writing poetry, and learning how to read poetry.  You see when I was at the Writer’s Conference I ran into this book that I wanted to buy but couldn’t justify the cost of (it’s now on my wish list from Amazon as maybe a Christmas present).  🙂

It’s important I think to learn how to read a poem, to understand how to see the images the poet is portraying, even if you don’t understand everything, like all the nuances and what not.. cause seriously. when I read a  poem I don’t catch everything that some others might, I just read it, and think “neat” or “meh”.  🙂    Occasionally one will catch me off guard, or just even a line and I’ll ponder that for a while… that to me is reading a poem.  🙂  And THAT is how I’ve taught my lad.  (sorry, nasty little secret eh?)  🙂

Anyways, on to poetry lessons here!  🙂  Where can you find them?

Well, first up is poetry that you can find on SchoolhouseTeachers.com.
Opening the Door to Poetry.   The lad and I are starting this course this week as soon as he’s done his Writing Radar book.

Then down the road when we want to do something different (like over the holidays when things get a bit more sporadic).  So I found The Literary Maven. She has a 30 day poetry challenge for high school students, and granted the lad’s not there but hey.. read a poem, be inspired, laugh a little, and just have fun for a few days! 

Then I stopped by Poets.org and discovered lesson plans for poetry.. for middle school and highschool.  I thought Dear Poet 2017 looked interesting.  What do you think?  Or would one of their other lesson plans intrigue you more?

If you want to read seasonal poems, you could check out these fall/autumn poems for middle schoolers put together by The Poetry Foundation. 

What do you think?  Will these get you and your students off to a good poetry study this fall and winter?  I hope so.. poetry is fun if you let it be.  🙂  

Read it, delight in it, but don’t beat it death!  Let the thoughts and images run through your mind, letting a line grabbing you so you can savour it.. and then let it go again.  Poetry is a bit of a wild child you know…you have to let it run free soaking in where it will, running where it needs to.  Blazingly fun, comfortingly slow, or soothingly sweet.

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: Brinkman Adventures #4, Audio Stories

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Imagine having stories about missionary adventures, or fun stories that teach important truths being at your beck and call whilst cooking supper, traveling in the car, or wherever you are. Over the past few weeks I have been privileged to listen to Christian Stories of adventures, in Brinkman Adventures Season 4 published by Brinkman Adventures. 

Who are the Brinkman’s?
A fictional family produced by Beachglass ministries, a non-profit, non-denomination Christian ministry. Their focus is inspiring and motivating the younger generation of Christian believers. The Brinkman’s are a family the walk us through many adventures showing us Christian’s in action, and God at work.

What do you get? 
12 Christian Stories brought to life!  Each is about a 1/2 hour long so easy to listen to while preparing supper or folding laundry (can you tell how I used it?)  These stories are a mixture between being based on real life, while others tell a moral story.

I have to admit, my favourite story involved the raccoons. 🙂  The one that caused me to pause and think “Remember Nhu”.  The one that amazed me most was The Five Guys.

These are the stories:

  •   A Paradise Lost – learning what missionaries go through at family camp.
  •  
    Remember Nhu – searching for and rescuing a girl from slavery, mission started.
  •  
    Aisha’s Fear – fear turned to praise = evangelist for the Lord
  •  
    Heart Song – the song of Russian Christian, imprisoned, prisoners changed, singer saved from death because
  •  
    The Crashed Kitchen – a crashed kitchen, love shown, hope restored
  •  
    Crisis In The Congo – meeting the flying machine (pt 1)
  •  
    The Mysterious Palm Feller – learning to face up to opposition (pt 2)  This was a good reminder of how it’s hard for missionaries to know what to do sometimes.
  •  
    War of the Raccoons – moral story, just a silly story 🙂
  •  
    The Five Guys – ways God called people to him
  •  
    Toughest Man – the story of a man who gave up everything for God, even trusting God with his family.
  •  
    Cambodian Quest – safe places to live where slavery isn’t possible
  •  
    What Brings Us Together – it’s a wedding, with mishaps

 The real stories behind each of the tales can be found here. I very much appreciated how they showed what was true and what was changed, they gave a depth not found in the story as well.   It was great to be able to follow links such as this one for Remember Nhu. 

Each story contains a lot of realism from crickets chirping, the real family experiences, with a variety of world wide experiences.  

Another website feature is the Episode Preview section.
Here you can discover the theme of each episode, along with what part of the world is featured, as well as get an audio preview.

How did I use it?
I listened while doing dishes, preparing supper, while cleaning up, doing laundry etc.  It was so very portable carrying them around on my tablet. 

What did I think?
Are they easy to listen to?   Yes.  1/2 hour long, interesting stories.  Approximately 5 hours worth of listening time.
Are they appropriate for all ages? Debatable. I appreciated that they would warn you when adults should listen alongside their children. My son wouldn’t have had an issue with any of the stories before age 10, but I know other children are more sensitive.
Are they Faith-based?  Most definitely.  These stories introduced us to different ways that God acts, how his people can serve him, how even missionaries can struggle with doing what they should, or even in knowing what to do, and more.

All that said, I really enjoyed season two previously reviewed.  This set, didn’t seem up to the same standard, at least not as completely.  I found that one episode was overacted, and another was slow to get going. When it comes right down to it though, I think part of my discontent is that I want longer stories.  I want more depth, and intrigue, something that will get ME fired up as an adult. For instance, the story with the five guys and how they came to faith, I wanted to know more about their stories.  I wanted to know more about the guy behind the scenes.  I just wanted MORE.  🙂

Right now I listen to full length books with my family and the biggest reason they don’t want to listen to Brinkman Adventures with me is not that they don’t enjoy the stories, but like me, they want MORE. It would be fascinating to have a full length story made up of these tales, showing God in action in a person’s life, giving more detail and what not. It’s fact that I liked the stories, but I wanted more depth provided. Time perhaps for an adult version of these stories or just a longer CD???  I think it would be interesting to listen to, to have these stories (or new ones) made for a teen or adult audience as well.

Brinkman Adventures Season 4
Brinkman Adventures
Produced by Beachglass 

Series: Brinkman Adventures
Type: MP3 or CD

$25.99–$31.99 depending on format
Reviewed for: Homeschool Review Crew

80 members of the Homeschool Review Crew had a chance to listen to these adventures, see what we thought by clicking the image below or RIGHT HERE.

http://schoolhousereviewcrew.com/brinkman-adventures-season-4-reviews/

You can find Brinkman Adventures on facebook. 

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: Marine Science for Kids

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Marine Science for Kids is part of the for kids series put out by Chicago press. These books are fantastic resource for helping children explore a particular topic, in this case Marine Science.

In this book you will find career highlights, 21 different activities, clear well-developed images that show the vast variety of fauna and flora in the underwater environment.  Did you know there was such an animal as a tripod fish?   I had no clue a fish could use it’s tail for balance… did you?

Explore careers such as whale researcher, an aquarium director and others.  I really appreciated the human element they showed in these career highlights, giving the path the individuals took to get there, and what inspired them along the way. 

Walk with me as I show you how great a resource this is for your classroom whether you are in a public school or in-home school. The myriad of activities include writing assignments, hands on science experiments, art and many more.  There are 21 activities to expand your learning and cement it in well.

Seven chapters highlight our journey through Marine Science, with lots of pictures, readable text that draws you into the Marine environment.

The table of contents spells out the activities contained with the chapter making it easy to choose which one you want to work with.  Geared for a variety of ages making this book a delight to use with multiple students.

The clearly written activities spell out well the items you need to complete the activity as well as step by step walking you through what you need to do for successful completion.

I had a firm appreciation for all the images found throughout, breaking up the text nicely and adding sight to what words can’t fully convey.

My 12 year had little difficulty reading the passage that I had him test out, but I don’t know if he would be able to read the whole book and understand it all.   The text is definitely geared for middle school and up.   The well written headings, and good chapter outlines would make it easy for him to find the information he was looking for though.   The glossary and index at the close of the book would definitely be of aid as well. 

I am sure that you will be delighted with this book as much as I am.  I am looking forward to using this book with my lad, probably in grade 8 or 9 to teach him marine science. 

Marine Science for Kids: Exploring and Protecting our Watery World
Josh and Bethanie Hestermann
Series: For Kids
Publisher: Chicago Press
Pages: 132
Type: Science, Activity, softcover,
Elementary to Middle School
Reviewed for: Chicago Press

Where can I find it?
Amazon.ca: Marine Science.
Amazon.com: Marine Science for Kids: Exploring and Protecting Our Watery World, Includes Cool Careers and 21 Activities (For Kids series)

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

Creative Friday: Junk Drawer Engineering

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Do you like doing STEM Challenges with your students or children?   Aren’t they fun to do?   Do you sometimes get concerned that it will cost you an arm and a leg to do STEM activities?    Bobby Mercer comes to your rescue in this great book I’m reviewing today called Junk Drawer Engineering.

Three Chapters entitled Energy, Structures, Waves.  Each chapter has several projects listed such as windmill challenge, egg catch or mirror, mirror on the wall.

Each project lists what you need and then walks you step by step what you need to do to complete the project along with pictures. 

The pictures are all in black and white, but they are clear enough to show the builders what they need to do.  How to bend the paperclip, or how to attach the elastic and so forth.   Little things that might not be as easy to explain in words are readily apparent in a picture. 

I found that for many of the projects he provided images for how you might engineer the project a bit differently.   For instance using the bottom of a can or a ninja star or a plastic cup to make the windmill.   Bobby Mercer also explains the science behind the projects and gives age appropriate ways to guide the student engineer.  

These different STEM projects are a boon to the learning of any middle school and up student.  Upper elementary students could complete many of the projects as well.

Junk Drawer Engineering: 25 Construction Challenges that don’t cost a thing
Bobby Mercer
Chicago Review Press
Ages 9 and up

208 pages
Type: STEM Challenges, 
Trade Paperback
Series: Junk Drawer Science

Reviewed for: Chicago Review Press

Where can you find this helpful book?
Amazon.ca: Junk Drawer Engineering: 25 Construction Challenges That Don’t Cost a Thing (Junk Drawer Science)

Amazon.com:  Junk Drawer Engineering: 25 Construction Challenges That Don’t Cost a Thing (Junk Drawer Science)

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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

Three Great Middle School Reads

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Recently Raincoast sent me a three middle school chapter books.   I thoroughly enjoyed them though they had completely different styles.  Affiliate links will be used in this post.  Thanks for blessing my family. 🙂

I Love You Michael Collins, The Journey to Dragon Island and Ten: A Soccer Story.

TEN: A Soccer Story, is the shortest of the three.   The story involves a young Brazillian girl who ADORES soccer, and has the gumption to start up a girls soccer team, in a time and area when “girls don’t play soccer”.   We are brought into her family difficulties and how she tries to solve them.   It is a well written book with excellent character development, showing growth in her and her brother, seeing how her team came together to play good soccer.   

 Maya, an odd ball girl, eleven years old, learning to stand up for
herself, and for her family.  Learning to love up on her expanded family
even if they don’t “get her”.   It’s a nice book that should appeal to a
broad range.  🙂  It’s a good upper elementary/middle school book.

I found this clip of her favourite soccer player and the moment, as talked of in the book, where he didn’t get his penalty kick.

176 pages, published by  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, geared for 10-12 years old.  Softcover.

 Amazon.ca: Ten: A Soccer Story

Amazon.com: Ten: A Soccer Story

Oh..this book, The Journey to Dragon Island, made me laugh, oh my.  🙂   It could have been my quirky sense of humour though. 

It was a great story.  A group of pirates in a world of magic. 
A rescue to undertake, a meaning of home to understand.

Brine, Peter, Tom, Cassie and the whole gang.. would they solve the mystery?      Would the figure out where the dragons went?

It’s a great read that I am eager to see if my son likes it as much as I did.  🙂

Written for ages 8-12 and published by Henry Holt and Co, it is the second in a series by Claire Fayers. 304 pages in length each chapter is predicated by a short verse. 

Amazon.ca: The Journey to Dragon Island

Amazon.com: The Journey to Dragon Island (The Accidental Pirates)

I have to admit that I don’t know if my son would like this book, “I Love You Michael Collins” but I am fairly sure a couple daughters of a friend would.   Mamie is a young lady who knows her own mind.  She isn’t the most popular child in school because of it, but she and her best friend are indeed the best of buds.  Set in the 1969 when the first planned landing on the moon is in the works.  Her school class is given an assignment, write to one of the astronauts.    Mamie chose “the forgotten astronaut” Michael Collins. 

This book is her series of letters to him, talking to him about her life and asking him questions.   It is written in conversational tone, you could just see a 10 year old lass writing like this.  🙂   

Part of the conversation in this book is how to handle a fractured family, teen angst, selfish of a variety of people, and how family matters.

Published by Farrar Straus & Giroux, 204 pages long, written by Lauren Baratz Logsted, it’s a wonderful piece of history.  Walking us through the divergent opinions of putting a man on the moon, how families interacted, and wonder of astronauts in space for middle school students.. I thoroughly enjoyed this read.   Geared to youth 9-12 years old.

Amazon.ca: I Love You, Michael Collins

Amazon.com: I Love You, Michael Collins