Review

Review: NIV Revolution Bible

October 31, 2017 By Annette1 2 Comments

The Revolution Bible is a bible geared toward young men, from teenagers on up.It’s actually a fairly neat bible with some interesting features.

It’s actually hard to know where to start with this review. It has so many features and I can’t list them (lest the review get too long and wordy) so I’m pondering how to break it down for you.

For instance, I love the introduction “We don’t call the Bible “God’s Word” for nothing. The wisdom, instructions, and lessons in it come straight from the Almighty”. Truth eh?

It’s presented in the New NIV translation, hard cover with a dustcover, with 50 match ups found throughout the bible, and interesting little cut outs, and all sorts of advice geared toward a teen guy, helping him to understand God’s word and delve into it deeper.

What are the special features?

12 full-colour pages with life-impacting ideas.
in-depth book introductions
Battlelines that answer tough questions.
“Be the Change” cutouts showcasing biblical truth
“God Calling” notes that focus on key verses
“Live the Revolution”, change your life, revolutionize your impact
“Matchups” that compare villains and heroes.
“Beliefs 101” that help shape personal worldview.

I have to admit, there are so many features to this Bible for Teen Guys that it’s easy to get distracted. At the same time, I see the value in all these add-ons. Regular language, challenging guys to take their faith seriously, to dig into God’s word and consider what it really means for their lives.

For instance this “live the revolution” thought. “Do you ever feel as though there are “walls” between you and other people? Some walls are built because of race or social standing. Some are built because of differences in backgrounds and upbringing… No matter what kinds of walls you have….none of them can stand against Jesus’ power….. When you’re serious about following him, he will help you eliminate the barriers that separate you from others….” Neat statement eh? Good call to action in faith.

My Thoughts:
It’s a nice bible, the hardcover makes it a durable bible, and it looks nice to the eyes, the green/blue exterior is pleasing to the eye. My son says “it’s a good blue”.

I like the variety of helps contained within, though I wonder about the distraction level they also possess…some might be tempted to meditate upon the points made, rather than on the scripture itself. Some of the revolution thoughts seemed to take a verse out of context, but overall I found them thought provoking and on point. I appreciated that all of the aids were scattered throughout the whole bible.

At the close of the bible, you find a good subject index listing all the helps found within the bibles’ pages, as well as Beliefs 101, Christianity 101, and a Reading plan.

The Revolution Bible
Editors: Livingston Corp. and Christopher D. Hudson
Zondervan
Translation: NIVr
2017
Hardcover, Bible
Audience: Male, teen, young adult

Reviewed for: BookLookBloggers

Where can I find it?
Amazon.ca Amazon.com

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What I do when I Rest… READ!

October 31, 2017 By Annette1 6 Comments

You know what I do when I rest? One of two things… colour in my colouring book and … READ. I, if I’m totally honestly, read more than I do anything else when I am at rest. What do you do?

So did you know that this month I took some time to rest? I read book or two. 🙂 Not as many as I would have liked…but I read some books.

Cell by Robin Cook. This book had me riveted. The end just left me hanging.. made me want to shake my fist at it. But overall, interesting book and led to a fascinating conversation twixt the lad and I. Conversations about where technology could take us and what kind of things to be mindful of when creating them and how to safe guard people.

Once was a Time by Leila Sales. This book I read with my lad over breakfast. One to four chapters per day depending on how much he begged “one more mom, just one more”. Excellent book, a review will be coming up later. All I can say is this “Mom, tell people to read this book, it was good”.

I read something else, but hubby cleaned off my table and the book kinda.. well.. walked away somewhere. I remember liking it..but the name.. ah, slips my mind! I’ve recently started a new Nora Roberts. AND at some point I’ll be picking my way through “Writing Tools” that I picked up at the Writer’s Conference. 55 strategies.. so that’s more than one a week for a whole year!

Ah… Janet Evanovich’s Four to Score. Wow…this one was a bit of a wild ride and following it at times a challenge, but Stephanie is fun with an interesting Italian family. 🙂 Murder mystery with humour… I liked it.

I read a bunch of review books which.. well you know what? Instead of me listing them off GO CHECK HERE to read those reviews.

Which ones stood out?

I particularly enjoyed “Art Up Close” and “Gobi, a little dog with a big heart“.

I read some others that will be posting over this coming month… one to watch for is Writing Radar .. my lad read this one and said it was good…I used it as part of his language arts work. One on Backyard Chickens.. fascinating and all about chickens so it HAD to be good, and Moving with Actions & Words…. didn’t expect to like that one but I found it very interesting… so interesting in fact that sometime over the next couple of months I’ll be reviewing the ones for middle school and high school as well. (love awesome companies who help with that eh!)

Okay, now it’s your turn.
What book related posts do you have?
Read or reviewed any GOOD books lately?

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Review: Gospel Tracts and Evangelism Tools Sample Pack

October 30, 2017 By Annette1 2 Comments

Hey! I gotta tell you about this nifty little product, one that will help you share the gospel with the children in our lives. I would never have known about such neat little ways to share the gospel with children before seeing this sampler pack from Let the Little Children come. Boy, tracts have come a long way baby!

What we received was a sample pack of the various tracts produced by Let the Little Children Come. And wow.. I was impressed by most of it. Well done products to intrigue children as you help them learn more about our Lord and Saviour.

What do you get?

A colourful bracelet with a colour code.
Tells you all about what the colours mean in regards to the salvation plan.

It goes along really well with the wordless booklet that is all colours with no words. Learn one, learn all three. 🙂

Oh….I almost forgot the bead bracelet, again, it’s wordless, using the colours to help tell the gospel message. I’ve seen these beads quite often in the past so they were nothing new to me. Having the colour code was new so I am so pleased it was included. “I made something like this mom, in vacation bible school, remember I brought it home?” He then needed to run upstairs to show me. The fact that he kept shows it’s importance to him.

Moving tracts, I don’t know how else to describe them, they are tracts with skewed images that if you put a black plastic over them and shuffle it back and forth it makes the image appear and appear to be moving. There were three of these, all different. On the website they are called animated tracts! 🙂 My boy fitzed around with these three for quite a while checking them out. They definitely got a thumbs up from him.

The Gospel Button FlipAbout and John 3:16 FlipAbout. Admittedly these two are the only ones I wasn’t keen about. My lad didn’t care for them either, he’d gotten another type this summer that had more twists in it then these, so he didn’t like them and didn’t think other children would either. They took a bit of figuring out initially. Not bad, present the message, just not our favourites of the bunch.

The Pop Up Tracts! I have to admit these were our favourites. In fact… the house one disappeared from my bag of tracts….and I’m guessing it’s either been given away by my lad or disappeared into his room somewhere. Little tracts with pages that pop up to help tell a story from the bible. We thought they were fantastic! The two were “The Most Amazing House” and “The Lost Easter Egg”.

I’ve provided a bit of a walk through for you here:

It’s a rather good variety you’ll find and I found it to be excellent quality. In talking about it with friends I discovered a hitherto unknown use… as rewards for a girl’s club party. While another mom said “My kids could use that with their friends!” And another “I like that bracelet, would be good to make it with my group”. I love sharing neat products like this with people I know.

So there you have it, a good variety of tracts, which you can order as a sample pack, or if a particular one (like the house tract) appeals to you, you can just order it! They make it so simple to get just what you want. Can’t you imagine all the different ways you can use them? Hallowe’en gifts, girls and boys clubs, vacation bible school, Sunday School, neighbourhood evangelism, and so much more. Bring the gospel easily to the children in your lives. Let the Little Children come has made it so easy.

Vendor: Let the Little Children Come
Product: Gospel Tracts and Evangelism Tools Sampler Pack
Evangelism tools
Tracts
Children

Price per Pack: (10 in each pack)

US$ 11.95 (1 – 10 packs)
US$ 10.95 (11 – 20 packs)
US$ 9.95 (21 packs or more)

70 members of the Homeschool Review Crew have taken a look at this pack, click here to learn more.

Social Media Links. Let the Little Children Come can be found on facebook.

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Review: Flashes of Genius Series

October 28, 2017 By Annette1 2 Comments

Today I have for you four books in the Flashes of Genius Series by Luca Novelli. They are Darwin and the True Story of Dinosaurs, Einstein and the Time Machine, Leonardo da Vinci and the Pen that Drew the Future, and Newton and the Antigravity Formula.

Quirky, that’s what I want to call these four little books. None of them are very long, between 112-128 pages, making for a quick read, especially since most pages have at least one drawing on them.

Each book follows the life of one famous person from the past, telling their story in the first person, told in a very expressive fashion. In Darwin’s case, he explains that he was accused of saying man comes from monkeys “even though I never said that”.

There are numerous pages of facts, delineated by a grey outline around the page. The print on these pages was smaller than in the rest of the book, making them very easy to discern. These pages gave facts not otherwise talked about in the rest of the book. For instance, I learned the Newton “one time, he fixed one ee on the sun until he nearly ruined his eyesight“, and in Einstein’s book “small amounts of matter can be turned into large amounts of energy“. The facts all differed, but where very interesting.

I have to admit, I am not really sure what I think of these books. I’m put off by the story in the first person, I find myself wanting to dismiss what it says, and I’m not entirely sure why. Each book closes with a glossary on the scientist involved, explaining some terms relevant to the topic. This section also included black and white photos.

I thoroughly appreciated that Darwin’s theory of evolution was indeed presented at a theory, though at other points the book pointed to it being a fact. Which I don’t believe. Evolution hasn’t been completely proven, and should be seen as a theory not a fact.

Do I think these four books are worth looking at?
Yes. You can be amused at the line drawings as you learn real facts about the scientists life and the work they engaged in. There is some solid material in these books and that should not be discarded.

With Leonardo we learn about how he was the greatest thinker of the Renaissance, he had his hand in so many pies and he kept thinking and learning.
Einstein and how he learned about light and put together his Theory of Relativity.
Newton with his laws of motion, developing calculus and laws about gravity.
Darwin and his theory of evolution and his journey around the world.

All fascinating topics that every student should learn about.

Four different books (titles below)
Flashes of Genius Series
Luca Novelli
Softcover
Middle School
112-128 pages each.
Reviewed for: Chicago Review Press

Where can you find them:
Amazon.ca:
Darwin and the True Story of Dinosaurs
Einstein and the Time Machine
Leonardo da Vinci and the Pen that Drew the Future
Newton and the Antigravity Formula.

Amazon.com:
Darwin and the True Story of Dinosaurs
Einstein and the Time Machine
Leonardo da Vinci and the Pen that Drew the Future
Newton and the Antigravity Formula.

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

Review: Caroling Through The Psalms

October 27, 2017 By Annette1 2 Comments

Hi! Do you remember me reviewing a book called Psalm Hymns? It’s fine if you don’t, but it was this cool book that put the words of the Psalms to familiar tunes. Well, they have put out a boof called Caroling through the Psalms.

Now I have to tell you this… not all this music is new. About 2/3rd’s is taken from their regular Psalm Hymns book with the last 1/3 coming from the newest work in progress.

They’ve excerpted this selection to make an easy to use book just for the holidays, making it easier for people to focus on God in all the festivities of Christmas. Check it out, all the tunes are familiar hymn tunes we sing at Christmas.

You will notice that each hymn has the tune (and alternate if needed) listed in the top corner of the page. There are no notes that were present in the first Psalm Hymn book that I reviewed.

28 hymns to bring us back to God during the Christmas season. Isn’t that just a marvellous thing? NO really.. isn’t it? Imagine singing through the Psalms with the elderly or the sick, bringing that comfort from God’s word.

Want to grab this book and use it to sing hymns at Christmas time? Well it’s rather wonderful, they’ve made the font larger for ease in singing. (who wants to squint while caroling eh?) Makes it a great gift to give to seniors as well as the larger font is easier on the eyes you know?

Caroling Through The Psalms
LL Larkins
Capture Books
paperback, music, hymns, faith

reviewed for: Capture Books

Where can you find it?

Amazon.ca: Caroling through the Psalms.
Amazon.com: Caroling through the Psalms.

If you would like to follow some of the practices
and ideas for singing the Carols, you can go to this group and join
up. Facebook Psalm Hymns.

Group discounts are also available there.

They can buy their own copies for after-holiday-dinner-fun or for performances through CreateSpace: http://www.capturemebooks.com/product-page/caroling-through-the-psalms

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

Review: Canadian History-Based Writing Lessons

October 25, 2017 By Annette1 2 Comments

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!

Art Book: Hand Lettered Life

October 25, 2017 By Annette1 6 Comments

Today I have a bit of a different book for you. You know how sometimes I like to look at Adult Colouring Books? Well today I have a new format of a ‘colouring book’ for you, called a Scratch and Create. This one is called Hand Lettered Life and was put together by Shandra Smith.

This book is filled with 16 Scratch Board and 4 alphabet and ornament stencils to help you create your own quotes and colourful images. In these pages, the colouring is done for you, all you need to do is create the colourful image.

To do so you have this handy dandy stylus to use.

Once you have your stylus in hand, you take your board (with perforated edge for ease of removal) and your stencils and then you basically scratch off the grey tile to reveal the bright colour underneath, using the stencil as a guide line.

I’ll show you what I worked at with one board.

I thought I’d try a couple of things to see how the stylus and board worked. I punched out a dragonfly and thought I’d see how tracing goes, because sometimes you just want an outline of something, you know? Tracing the solid stencil worked really well. Easy to do with the pointed end of the stylus.

I found that using the outline stencil didn’t work as well. I had to really push down on the edges of the outline to keep the lines smooth.

It took some practice to figure out which end of the stylus was the best to use, and then how best to use it. It’s a good thing they give four practice boards in the front of the book eh? Very helpful that!

I learned that the colours on the outside of the board reflect the colours underneath the silver coating.

I must warn you, keep a cloth handy to keep the silver coating from transfering to your clothes, it washes out easily, but if you are out at a gathering, you don’t need it on your nice clothes eh?

I can’t say I’m completely enamoured with how it all turned out, I don’t feel particularly creative to really make full use of this book.

It also requires more attention to detail then what I am prone to give to any kind of art form. Less forgiving of errors as well. BUT overall I think for the right person this could be a stellar form of relaxation. Sitting back and watching the colours come to life in front of you.

Hand-Lettered Life: design our own quotes with 16 scratch boards and 4 alphabet and ornament tiles
Shandra Smith
Series: Scratch & Create (four in series currently)
Rockport Publishers
24 pages
Colour, Stencil, Scratch, Art Book

Reviewed for: Quarto Group

Where Can I Find It?
Amazon.ca: Hand-lettered Life.
Amazon.com: Hand-lettered Life.

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

Review

Review: NIV Revolution Bible

What I do when I Rest… READ!

Review: Gospel Tracts and Evangelism Tools Sample Pack

Review: Flashes of Genius Series

Review: Caroling Through The Psalms

Review: Canadian History-Based Writing Lessons

Art Book: Hand Lettered Life

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