A Net in Time

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Review

Art Book: Stick Sketch School

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I want you to imagine that you have just taught your children about this amazing animal called the blob fish.  It comes out of Tasmania, and you asked your children to draw a picture of it and they give you a blank look… How can you help them draw this amazing fish?   Well, if you have the Stick Sketch School book it will be easy peasy.. just turn to page 86 and before you know it your children will have created a beautiful image of the blob fish.  🙂   Might be a sketch figure but it will be “beautiful” enough to colour in and create an underwater world.

Allow me now to introduce you to a wonderful book called “Stick Sketch School”

Stick Sketch School

This is a rather neat book that I see so much potential for in a homeschool situation (or even a lets just draw together at home).

There is such a variety of animals (real or imagined) such as frogs, tigers, bears, reindeer, spiders, flies, blob fish, whales and more

Each animal comes with a small introduction, along with where they are from.  They have fun introducing the animal.

stick sketch school

The rest of the page shows you different ways you can draw your stick figure animal.

Stick Sketch School: An Animal Artventure: Mastering the Art of Stick Figure Critters (Stick World)

Each animal is given a two page spread.
One to show how to draw it and give ideas.  The second to create a scene with your newly drawn animals.  Do you see how he has three sheep started?   Wouldn’t it be fun to draw them in and then add some little sheep frolicking about?

stick sketch school

I think this is a such a neat art book.  Animals, with their place in the world, an author with a sense of humour that shows various ways you can draw the same animal in a simple stick figure way.  Bring those critters to life eh?   

It could be such a fun addition to geography study, nature study or just a fun art class.  🙂   Use it as part of a co-op class!   Have fun, bring your stick figures to life, give them facial expressions and interesting poses. 
 

Stick Sketch School: An Animal Artventure: Mastering the Art of Stick Figure Critters (Stick World)

Stick Sketch School.  Mastering the art of stick figure critters.
Author/Artist: Billy Attinger
Author: Rachel Kochackis
Series:Stick Figures- An Animal Adventure
Softcover
Art Book

Reviewed for: Quarto Group

Where Can I Find It?
Amazon.ca: Stick Sketch School
Amazon.com: Stick Sketch School, an animal adventure

Linked up at the Virtual Fridge!

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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 . 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: Journey Through Learning Lapbooks

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The Greatest Inventors has been a delight to us to use over the past few weeks. We’ve laughed, we’ve talked, and we’ve discovered so much thanks to A Journey through Learning Lapbooks.  Let me tell you all about it!

Now I do need to tell you this… we haven’t gotten as far into this lapbook as we wanted to.  You know what happened?  First we had vacation, then I got a NASTY migraine that wiped me out for a week, so we’ve only worked through the first six or seven inventors.
But it’s been such a delightful process of discovery… we are looking forward to finishing this lapbook up!  

A Journey through Learning Lapbooks is owned by Paula and Nancy.  They started their company with a desire to provide fun and educational studies for homeschooled students to engage with. They know have a team of six individuals that they work with.  They provide good quality lapbooks to supplement various other programs as well.

The Greatest Inventors lapbook dives us into the worlds of 18 different inventors. An Inventor is someone who thinks of new ways to solves problems. As my son commented “Like when Ant-man learned that ants will live in plastic ant homes that he made!”  

 You get a biography for each inventor that touches on the highlights of their life and their notable Invention(s).  Each inventor has a lapbook element to put together.  Some include writing in point form, others longer sections, I found each element was unique to that inventor.   

How we used it.

I printed off the book.  It’s not too bad.  I chose to print off the biography pages though I could have chosen to just read them off the computer, but that just gets complicated sometimes (as I don’t like putting PDF’s on the tablet).  🙂  The lad and I took turns reading the pages and deciding what was important to pull out.  

Occasionally we’d find an invention we didn’t know about.  Like.. swimming fins!  So we would stop and look them and up learn more about them.

One of the inventors I most connected with was John Deere.   Growing up in a farming community I could talk to my lad about the importance of not having clay stick to your digging implements.  This made sense to my lad and he immediately connected that with how hard it is to dig in our clay soil when the clay sticks to our shovels.   It was great to reread our John Deere book. And to reminisce  with my lad about how he used to love the Johnny Deere books and to make our John Deere slide puzzles.    It was great!  🙂

I am looking forward to learning about : Guglielmo Marconi, Louis Braille, Eli Whitney, Robert Fulton, Thomas Jefferson, George Stevenson, Thomas Edison, Jonas Salk, George Washington Carver, and Alexander Graham Bell among others.

Generally speaking the reading level I’d put around grade 3/4.  But at the end of the book there are ways to expand your studies, with additional books you can read, biography pages and more.

I love the conversations generated between the lad and I.  It’s fun to learn about different people and the activities that shaped their inventions.  How different it was from how we live now.  Where we fly without even thinking about it, and how others risked their lives just to get up off the ground.  Flying a kit to learn about electricity, which again, we don’t even have to think about using, how easy it makes our lives… from heating hot water, to helping us get around at night, and letting us have computers. 

I also liked helping my lad learn to listen to an oral presentation and then learn how to take down notes from that presentation.  He’s got more to learn in this regard but he’s well on his way.  It’s an excellent skill to learn and not one that I anticipated doing this study.   We started him off just using the biographies provided, but then added listening to videos to increase his understanding. 

We liked this lapbook about the Greatest Inventors, and have a desire to keep learning about innovators from around the world. It’s rather fascinating what people can come up with isn’t it?

In case you think you need to make a lapbook with a lapbook study (and dislike the idea of figuring out how to fold your file folders .. despite AJTL’s excellent instructions), you could do what the lad and I do.  We make it into a scrapbook (in essence).  This means we can organize the lapbook elements in the way we want, add extra notebooking or biography pages easily, and put them into a three ring binder for easy storage.  it’s a method that works well for us.   We just paste the elements onto cardstock and we’re done. 🙂   It makes it work for eh?


Vendor:  A Journey Through Learning Lapbooks
Product: The Greatest Inventors Grades 2-8.  There is a study guide included, so this is a stand-alone product.
Received: PDF format ebook.
Price: PDF $8, also available in print for $18.
Reviewed for: The Homeschool Review Crew

Do check out their product list, you may find a fun and educational lapbook to do in your classroom.

 The Crew has been reviewing a number of products from A Journey Through Learning Lapbook,  not only The Greatest Inventors but also:
 Classical Conversations Cycle 3 JUNIOR Activity Book
 Classical Conversations Cycle 3 Activity Book
 An Overview of the 20th Century

Please click here or on the image below to read the reviews. 

http://schoolhousereviewcrew.com/lapbooks-for-classical-conversations-apologia-inventors-20th-century-a-journey-through-learning-lapbooks-reviews/
 Social Media Links:
Twiiter:  https://twitter.com/AJTL_Lapbooks  @AJTL_lapbooks

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 Train of Thought

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I have this fascination with trains, not real running on the rails trains…but the trains of old, the ones I can do in replica on an HO scale rail.   So imagine my delight when I was contacted about reviewing a book about trains, told from the perspective of a fella who worked the lines for 40 years.

Reading the short chapters lining the pages was like sitting on the porch with one’s grandpa, listening to his tales of days gone back.  Reminiscing together over the ole’ glory days, hearing the rattle of trains delivering goods hither and yon, seeing the men who make it all happen.

What you get is 40 chapters divided into six sections.  These chapters have interesting names like Pack a Bag, Old John, Dog Day, Oklahoma 3.2 and me, and Hackshaw.  Terry Beck divides his life into four parts, from beginning to end through the stages of his work life, learning, challenging, growing.  It’s a good story of a man’s life.

Generous doses of humour and real life lessons fill the pages, like the fellow found talking about an easy way to make money off the job and finding himself looking for new work.  To learning things the hard way about keeping a railroaders bag packed.   Shyness in the bathroom and learning the tricks of leading men. I thoroughly enjoy the real life situations presented in the book.. even the hard ones with train crashes.

I learned so much about what the dangers are in railroading.. from track failure to working with men of all different skill sets. The dangers certain position entailed, the sheer hard work involved and the odd things they would find on the track.   

Book: A Gathering Of Words — A Train Of Thought: Forty Years Workin’ on the Railroad
Author: Terry Beck
Pages: 150
Publisher: Park Cities Publishing
Type: Autobiography
Genre: Trains

Reviewed for:  Park Cities Publishing

Where can you find it?
 Amazon.ca: A Gathering Of Words — A Train Of Thought: Forty Years Workin’ on the Railroad
Amazon.com:
A Gathering Of Words — A Train Of Thought: Forty Years Workin’ on the Railroad

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: Everyday Homemaking with Everyday Cooking

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Want to try a new cookbook?   Well, Everyday Homemaking provided me with a collection of tried-and-true recipes in their book Everyday Cooking.  Included in this cookbook are numerous hints to make your cooking journey simpler, while emphasizing whole foods.  

When you open this cookbook (choosing from either a red or blue cover), you will find a great table of contents clearly breaking the book into sections for cooking, and for hints.

You can tell she comes from a large family cooking standpoint as she has a variety of ways she tells us about in order to save a goodly amount of time in the kitchen.   From handly convenience foods, to make your own cream soups along with how to do batch cooking.

She takes her time and talks like you are sitting with her in the kitchen, chatting over how to make a meal or save time to do other things with your family. 

There is such a plethora of recipes to choose from AND Vicki tries to make it easy by offering different ways to make the same recipe (so if you don’t have a pressure cooker, make it as a casserole, or cook it on the stove top).   If you want the step by step way of making bread she’ll give the long way, or the short way.  

Here’s one I want to try with my lad yet.

HINTS!   Oh my the hints included.  Scattered throughout the book.  Just lovely helpful things that make it easier to be a good homemaker and cook.

We made a whole variety of meals, such as bread, muffins, pork chops, deviled eggs and more.  We worked on trying recipes from different sections of the cookbooks.

My lad was impressed that he was able to make deviled eggs.  Though he did suggest it would be helpful to draw a picture showing which way was length wise on an egg.  🙂

What are the things that I appreciated:

  • Equivalency lists! Did you that 3.5 cups of almonds is equal to a pound?  Great to know eh?
  • How to make sauces and extracts and things that you use ALL THE TIME when you are cooking.  Did I get around to trying any of them?  No.. but time will come. 🙂
  • For those that are into low-carb or gluten free, suggestions are made. 
  • Her desire to help people eat healthier.
  • her mini food and nutrition unit for students was a good read through and something I can work on with my lad this year. 🙂 
  • a well done index, being able to find what you need easily is a wonderful thing. 
  • Clear description (along with pictures) of good kitchen items.
  • Clear description (along with pictures) of the different grains/wheats one can use in their cooking. 

Recipes we tried and our thoughts on them:
The muffins… we discovered that they taste great with a slab of homemade jam on them.  🙂  They turned out more biscuity than muffiny though.

The bread….the lads devoured it, again with homemade jam.  Though we didn’t use the odd ingredients as we don’t have them in the house and I wasn’t buying them for two loaves of bread. 
Deviled eggs.  This is a recipe my lad made.  Mixed reviews.  I thought them better than some I tried but not as good as the ones we’ve most recently had.
Pork Chop Casserole…I liked this, hubby found it bland, the lad dug into the pork chops and ignored the rice.  (Typical of him to do that though)
Chops in Herbs and Wine.  I liked the taste of this recipe. The lad liked the meat, hubby didn’t touch it… as he was in the mood for spaghetti and meatballs so did that instead.  
Chicken and Noodle Casserole.  I used her basic recipe but changed it up a bit…using rabbit instead of chicken, and cooking the noodles with the rabbit as a casserole and adding a few more herbs.   This was excellent and would happily make again.

Things I would love to see improved:

Vicki mentioned that this cookbook was used to help her children learn how to cook, as such I thought it would be a great book to help my lad improve his repertoire.  We did not find this the case as all ingredients were in imperial measure (not in grams or metric).  Occasionally items such as a stick of butter were used…this one really had him wondering and we asked a friend who lives stateside what a stick of butter was equivalent too.   YEAH for friends!  Adding in worldwide equivalency measurements would easily resolve this issue.  I later found this explained near the end of the cookbook, adding it to the recipe would make it easier.

Adding a glossary would be really nice, it would give a ready answer to questions like “Mom, what is sponging?”  Instead of having mom give a completely blank look.  I know how to cook, I just don’t always know the right terminology at the moment!  🙂

End result:
There is much in this cookbook that I like, the tips and helps and lessons.. GOOD STUFF!   As I’ve gone through this review, I discovered that I think of this cookbook more as a “way to cook naturally” rather than a whole foods cookbook. Why? Many recipes used ground grains and my hubby’s whole food cookbooks will use the grains whole (like his red wheat shepherd’s pie which is really good).  This book teaches you use natural foods instead of the overly processed foods.  Which is a great thing to do!

Thing is.. I’m a good cook. I like trying new recipes as long as they don’t ask for ingredients that I don’t have regularly in the house.  My initial understanding (that this would be a book to help my lad increase his repertoire of things to cook) didn’t pan out, once my lad hit one too many ingredient that I didn’t know what it was he just shut down and said “can I use “x” cookbook instead?”  Therefore, I tried out a few recipes, some that worked  others that didn’t.  It’s a decent cookbook.. the hints and ideas found within the pages are a .. for serious.. treasure trove of helpfulness to people learning to cook a more natural diet.  If you want to cook better this book will help you!


Vendor: Everyday Homemaking
Product: Everyday Cooking
Author: Vicky Bentley
Received: ebook version
Price:$15.99/$19.99
Pages: 198
Type: cookbook
Received: Ebook
Choice in cover colour: red or blue

A Note From Vicki
As a special offer for your blog readers, I am offering 10% off The Everyday Family Chore System and/or Everyday Cooking
(print or e-book) through Labor Day! The code for your readers is
TOS10books –they can apply it to as many books in their cart as they’d
like, but they do need to shop first, apply the 10% discount code last.
(Sorry — eccentric cart function) Expires Sept 5.

The crew has been reviewing two items from Vicki at Everyday Homemaking.  The Everyday Family Chore System and Everyday Cooking both of which can be found here.

Click on the image below or follow this link to read our reviews. 

Social Media Links:
         Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/everydayhomemaking     
                                Tag:   @everydayhomemaking  

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: My Great Big God

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 I suppose it’s odd of me, but I like reviewing these hardcover children’s bible story books.  Perhaps it’s because I have a wee niece (what do you call a niece of a niece?) and her mom is dating a fellow who has a wee lad around the same age.   So I have these two little people in my life so these books make me smile.   I want them to have good books that help show them who God is.

This book makes the cut, let me tell you why.


1. The bright, colourful pictures draw you in.

Don’t you just love how the colours come out of the one page leading into the story on the other?  The fish jumping out of this page just causing you to want to read the story that goes along with it.  Aren’t you curious about why a man would be holding his hands up and has fishing jumping out all around him?

2. The text rhymes making it really readable.  The heading for each story makes it really clear where in the bible the story comes from.  Each story closes with a point to take home about “my great big God”.  

 I thoroughly appreciated those “points about My Great Big God”.  A simple truth for the child to take home and learn to think more about how God helps us to be people he calls us to be. 

3.  Variety in the stories.  A good mix from the old and new testament.

Stories such as:  creation, God’s promise to Abraham, Joseph’s dream, Samson and the Philistines, Esther, Jesus’ birth, parable of the Samaritan, Jesus’ triumphal entry and more.  20 Stories in all. 

And throughout it, these full colour illustrations to delight the eye and initiate questions, just what you want in a book for littles.  To sit cozy up on a couch and point and tell a story and get little hearts wondering after the things of God.

Book: My Great Big God
Author: Andy Holmes
Illustrator: Marta Alvarez Miguens
Publisher: Tommy Nelson
Pages: 40
Type: Boardbook 
Age: preschooler

Reviewed for: BookLookBloggers

Where can you find it?
Amazon.ca: My Great Big God: 20 Bible Stories to Build a Great Big Faith.
Amazon.com: My Great Big God Bible Stories.

Linking up at the following

What to Read Wednesday

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 Superhero Handbook

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 I have to admit, this is a cute book. Written in bold, easy to read font with quick easy instructions to get children on the road to making their own Superhero gear.   The Superhero Handbook is just that, a handbook made just for your average superhero, reminding him/her of all things important to superheroes.

Clear Text.   Easy to understand. Easily read by most children in the 7-11 years old bracket. 

Materials lists.  I like how they added the images to add clarity.   As face it, not all children read at the same level.

Clear instructions.   Again with illustrations to keep it straight-forward. Stickers as well to help you embellish your creations.

Some of the ideas are downright clever!   Giant hands! Hoverboards.  Blasters and Electro-magnets.  Let’s make them all!   What perfect fun for a child during summer holidays!

With it comes certificates needed. Oaths to make to protect and serve.   To help each other.  To have a great sidekick.

 My Thoughts:
This is a fantastic book that will be a great boon and idea maker for all the young superheroes among us.   It would be easy to extend the ideas in this book into learning opportunities (should you as parent/teacher desire to do so).  But frankly, I’d had this to my young superhero and say “here’s an idea book for you… run with it!”
 

The Superhero Handbook.
Janet Doyle and Jason Ford
Laurence King Publishing
144 pages
ages: 7-11
Approximate size: 6 x 8

Reviewed for: Raincoast Books

Where can you find it?
 Amazon.ca: The Superhero Handbook: 20 Super Activities to Help You Save the World!

Amazon.com:  The Superhero Handbook: 20 Super Activities to Help You Save the World!

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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

Review: Lint Boy

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Imagine that you have a life that you love, living with your family, just having a good time.  Now imagine that your sibling, who you love dearly, is snatched away.  Kidnapped by a dreadful person!  What do you do?

Well.. if you are Lint Boy you rush to the rescue!   Can you save your brother Lint Bear?


The person who took Lint Bear is NASTY.  Seriously.  Fixated on a single thought.   Dolls can move.  To that end she is mean to the dolls she gets.   The dolls are desparate…..how can they get away?  How can they stop her from mutilating them?

Could they possibly escape?
Is there anyone who can help them?

As the dolls work together they teach each other their stories and begin to feel less alone, less like victims, more willing to seek a life beyond that which they have been trapped in.  

What will happen!?!?!   Will the mean lady get her way or will the dolls escape?

Sorry…You’ll have to read the book to find out.  🙂

My Thoughts:
I was initially alarmed by the look of some of the dolls until I found out why they looked as they did.  Then it made sense and gave me empathy for them.

The story is interlaced between pictures, giving the book a bit of a graphic novel feel, without the graphic novel text.  Nicely put together.

Given my initial alarm at seeing the dolls, if you have sensitive minded youngsters, you may wish to preview the book before giving it to them.  

I liked the lighter tone to this book, if the colours had been darker it would have given the story a darker feel.  By the end I was rooting for the dolls and their hoped for freedom.

Lint Boy
Aileen Leijten
Clarion Books
Illustrator: Lisa Vega
Pages: 128
Age: 7-10 years

Reviewed for: Raincoast Books.

Where can you find it? 

Amazon.ca:  Lint Boy

Amazon.com:  Lint Boy

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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