A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

Review

Raising Boys with Purpose

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I have a son. He’s my joy and delight.
And I don’t know about you, but having a plan, a long term view, an end vision of what I hope to instill in him is part of how I raise him.

I want to raise a boy who knows how to think, to reason, to work, to care for those around him, to be called after God’s own heart. That’s what I want in my son when he’s grown up and not needing his mother so much.

BUT how do I plan for that? What types of things should I be considering?

To that end, I read two books. Raising Real Men by Hal and Melanie Young, and Raising Boys by Design by Gregory L Jantz and Michael Gurian.

The approach is this, how do you use God’s word and God’s principles to raise up your boys to be men?

 Raising Real Men by the Young’s is a book with a ton of personal examples from life, showing how a principle could be put into action.

14 chapters, divided into two parts.   Talking about the joys and the challenges of raising boys, and the way we need to talk to them, shape them, work with who they are.   Boys are meant to be leaders in their households, to hold down a job, to learn to how cherish their loved ones and to rely on the strength of God.

When talking about how to deal with temptation, we were told of the fist principle.

Dealing with temptation
1. Leave the situation
2. Pray, ask the Lord’s forgiveness and help
3. Read your bible
4. Sing praises or Hymns to God
5. Go to your authority and ask for help

These are five ways to make a fist to knock away temptation.

Doesn’t that sound so doable?   Easy lessons to teach your son and to apply to your own life!

At 255 pages it is not an overly long book, the text is easy to read and quite personable.   
Recommended reading.  🙂

Raising boys by Design.
This is a more scholarly type book, with the science behind how men and boys think explained.     12 chapters, divided into two sections.

The first section is mostly the brain stuff.   The science behind the workings of the male brain and body. In this section you will find chapters such as “what a boy learns from mom”, “what a boy learns from dad” “how boys develop differently than girls” etc.

The second section deals with helping boys develop good heroes, to do their best in work and school, to the building of character and self-discipline.    We also learn the importance of marking off stages in a lad’s life… giving them good markers to show that they are maturing and not a young child any more.  To the importance of giving a vision of what a strong Christian man looks like.

I appreciated this section “Making Faith Work for Boys”
1. faith must be individual, not merely institutional
2. faith must be flexible
3. faith must be interactive
4. faith must be relevant
5. faith must be muscular
6. faith must include room for questions
7. faith must include room for doubt
8. faith must be active
9. faith must be intergenerational
10. faith must cost something
11. faith must be relational.

It’s a meaty book with a less personal touch, but a very good book none-the-less.   It has good examples and stories of how to help a boy become a man scattered throughout it’s pages.

I Love the combination of these two books.

The end result they have is the same, the turning of boys into men called after God’s own heart.
The approach is different, but the result the same.  They compliment each other very nicely.

I am so pleased that I chose to read them and be able to take the truths contained within it’s pages to help me in the raising of my son.

I hope that you will find them useful to you as well.  🙂

Review and Giveaway: All Things Bright and Beautiful

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Today I have a sweet hardcover book to tell you about.   It’s called All Things Bright and Beautiful.   Written by Cecil Frances Alexander and Illustrated by Katy Hudson.   It’s a pretty, well illustrated book that I think your young children would enjoy.

About
the book:
First published by
Cecil Frances Alexander in 1848, this favorite hymn has become a
mainstay of churches and Sunday school classes everywhere. Here
artist Katy Hudson brings new joy to the words with her fresh and
bright watercolor style. Readers can join in the fun as they follow
two little girls and their brother on a day filled with the discovery
of “all things bright and beautiful.”
About
the artist:
Katy Hudson was
raised in Middlesbrough, England, and started her career as a small
child drawing on freshly painted walls. Her parents quickly
encouraged drawing with pencil and paper instead. The idea stuck, and
after earning a degree in illustration, Katy is now a freelance
illustrator. Katy works at a desk in a studio within Old London
Library and likes to tap dance in her spare time.
My Thoughts:
Beautifully illustrated, this is simply a lovely book filled with bright colourful images the illustrate the first verse of this hymn wonderfully.  

Just look at all the things you can point out to your children, or questions you can ask about what they see, flower petals they can count.
Each page is fully illustrated, with easy to read text if you want to read to a group of children.  You can almost imagine a fish jumping in the river to delight the children.
“Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks
to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post. Only one entrant per mailing
address, per giveaway.  If you have won a prize from our sponsor
Propeller / FlyBy Promotions in the last 30 days, you are not eligible
to win.  Or if you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not
eligible to win it again. Winner
is subject to eligibility verification.”

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Review: Shark Week

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I have to tell you about this wonderful resource I was sent by Raincoast Books.  It’s called Shark Week by Martha Brockenbrough.   This book is named after the Discovery Channels very popular Shark Week.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this book, it is so full of interesting facts.
Did you know that there is a shark almost as long as a school bus?
Or conversely a shark only about 10 inches long?   I know amazing isn’t it, the differences?!?!
How about this fact… not all sharks breathe the same way and some can switch how they breathe?
Or another that lives in volcanoes?
And this interesting fact… some sharks can have babies WITHOUT mating!!!

I know.. it’s fascinating isn’t it!?!?!!   🙂

Full colour images.

 Sufficient text to give good information without being too succinct. In-depth information without information overload…just enough to make a person want to look deeper.   Learning about sharks that live in a volcano led me to look for more information.


 Interesting facts, with a good break in the text, pictures fitting with what the text is talking about.

 Facts to amaze and astound, like comparing the great white to the kodiak bear.

Shark Week runs around 150 pages, teaches more about sharks than you might believe possible, I was SO fascinated, and I think you will be too.  Imagine..shark week.. in your own hands to enjoy for much longer than a week.

From learning about the prehistoic Whorl Shark, to how sharks hunt, breathe, reproduce and where they live.   Learning how much they are the same to each other, and yet how different they are as well.

This book is for every shark fanatic who
wants to get even more up close and personal.   Now you really can live every week like it’s shark week.

 Feiwel ; Friends
Author: Martha Brockenbrough
8.99 x 10.92 Â· 160 pages
Ages 9-12 years
Shark Week: Everything You Need to Know

Review: Let’s Explore Series

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You know how sometimes you get a book to review and you think to yourself…man, I wish I had these when my (insert child’s name) was into these types of books?

Well that was my response when I received the Let’s Explore books from Lonely Planet Kids.   The books are Let’s Explore Safari, Let’s Explore Ocean and Let’s Explore Jungle.

I love these books.
Seriously.
I wish I could do them but.. I’m too old AND I’d rather save them for younger hands than mine to work through.

They are NOT cookie cutter books.  You know, when you get a series and you can pretty much say what’s going to happen from page to page?   Not so with this series… different puzzles, different facts, different ways of presenting the information, it makes them interesting.

Each book open with Marco and Amelia about to head out on a new adventure.

Then through a series of sticker pages, puzzles and activities the reader is led to learn a variety of information about the safari, jungle or ocean.

The pages are bright and colourful, drawing the eye in.

There are over 250 stickers in each book with plenty of pages to put them.   Where the stickers are put is not dictated, leaving the user free to place them wherever desired.  In the back of the book there is an answer sheet which is great if one gets stuck on one of the puzzles or activities.

The stickers are, for the most part, great for smaller hands, but also interesting enough for older hands.

Let’s Explore… Jungle (Lonely Planet Kids) by Lonely Planet Kids (2016-02-16)
takes us into the jungles of South America learning about the flora and fauna.

 Let’s Explore… Ocean (Lonely Planet Kids) by Lonely Planet Kids (2016-02-16)
learning about sharks and other oceanic life, drawing a seahorse and more.

 Let’s Explore… Safari (Lonely Planet Kids) by Lonely Planet Kids (2016-02-16)  takes us to the plains of Africa where we can explore the big five, visit Victoria Falls and more.

 Geared for ages 5-8, Lonely Planet Kids has done a lovely job of helping children learn more about the ocean, jungle and safari.  They have done up a number of other books as well, be sure to check them out.   Rainforest Books graciously sent me these three books so that I could give you my honest review.

Just in case you missed it, I think these books would be a lovely addition to any house with younger children.. sticker, puzzle, learn as you work the activities.   So much colour and fun to be had.

Picture Books to Introduce Artists

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My son and I are currently reviewing a program called ArtAchieve.   We are enjoying the program since it comes in different formats, a slide show or a video.  We are finding both formats quite useful.   If you want to give the program a look over they have sample lessons that you can try out.

Anyways, I had mentioned to my contact at Raincoast Books some of the things we were going to be doing, and she graciously sent me some art books to review.  (How cool is that eh!)

First up we looked at a book called “Mary Cassatt – extraordinary impressionist painter” by Barbara Herkert.   This book is around 30 pages long, filled with full colour illustrations throughout.

Lovely book.   We learned about her early life, her determination, her friendships, her stepping outside of what was conventional for ladies in her day.  She was an opinionated and stubborn lady who was determined to be artist, and she did what she wanted to do, no two ways about it.

BUT WOW…. have you ever looked at some of the work she did?    I found a website dedicated to the work of Mary Cassatt and all I can say is WOW.. she did excellent work.    I cannot say I love EVERYTHING that she did, but I like a lot of it.    For instance, check out this child in a straw hat.

http://www.marycassatt.org/Child-In-A-Straw-Hat.html

She drew a lot of people pictures, friends, family, people she saw at theatre and so forth.   Just an interesting lady and this book gives us a good glimpse into her early life.   The illustrator does a great job at bringing the story to life with his full colour art work.

Our next book was one on Beatrix Potter and Her Paint box, written by David McPhail. It’s a short small book, running around 40 pages.  

What a nice little book.  Seriously.  My lad enjoyed this book with me.   We even learned why the Peter Rabbit books were small “little books for little hands” was something that Beatrix insisted upon.   When we learned about the snake getting away from she could paint a picture of it, my lad was quite concerned that the snake got away to a safe place to live.

Like Mary Cassatt, Beatrix Potter did best painting things her own way.

Did you know that the Peter Rabbit books became a story because of a sick boy?   It was a “let me cheer you up when you are sick book” and at the urging of the boy’s mom, it was turned into a book which morphed into a whole series about the friends of Peter Rabbit.

I liked the images in the book as well, well crafted and made me think of Peter Rabbit and his friends.

Oh.. I have to tell you this part.   When we read about Beatrix’s pet mouse running through the paint my lad tried to get one of his house mice to run through some dye and leave mouse footy-prints on paper.  He had so much fun trying to convince the mouse to do so.. but MilkyWay would have NOTHING to do with it.    It was fun watching him try though.  🙂

 Raincoast books was the provider of these books for me.  Wanting only my honest review of them.  They were a delightful addition to our week.

You can find Raincoast at the following social media sites: 

Fanfare, Royalty, Combat… A King’s Delight

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Recently my family was treated to the King’s package at Medieval Times.   My son brought along a friend as we took the time for the royal fanfare courtesy of Medieval Times.  This is our review.  🙂

 Medieval Times graciously offered us the King’s Package.   This comes with: 

 Gramma, son, friend of son, myself and my husband attended.   We made sure we got there in plenty of time so that we could see and hear all they had to offer in the preshow arena.   When one is in the greeting area, you are surrounded by various shields and crests.

You are handed a card, which will signify your hat colour, and part of the Royal Package you get to have your picture taken with the king.

Your hat colour also signifies your table colour and whereabouts you will be seated.   Being at green table three means we were sitting ring side, closest to the action, with the knight who.. as it turned out.. was the King’s Champion of the day.

Before we actually got into the show though, they have an area set up with shops and people wandering around dressed in period clothing.   The boys were able to meet the King’s Falconer where they learned she was hooded, not because she wouldn’t stay with him, but because there were a couple of service dogs roaming around and she was not fond of dogs at all.

And there were shops.  All manned by people dressed in period clothing.  There was a bar set up in the middle of the floor and town crier who called out birthday greetings, and announced which tables would get to go in next. 

 The lad was mightily tempted to by a sword for himself and his friend but found them simply out of his price range.   Eventually the temptation subsided as we found ourselves going into our sitting area.  And here we all are.  🙂   Ready for an evening of food and fun.

 And it was GOOD food.  Soup, bread, chicken, corn, potato, limitless drinks (pop etc).   The only thing I didn’t like was the tea post meal which was MUCH too strong for my taste.

Before the main show there were smaller shows, the falcon flew and caught her lure, the horses strutted their stuff.. Gramma just LOVED this part.

Then the main show began with the knights performing their skills.   I have to tell you this.. there were a group of eight year old boys celebrating a birthday.. and my.. they hooted and hollered and had SO MUCH fun.   YEAH!!!!   Green Knight YOU ROCK!     And booing and hissing when the bad guy appeared.   “YOU SUCK!!!   YOU ARE THE BAD MAN!!!!”    They were so totally into the show it added that extra bit of enjoyment to the show.   Though I have to admit, the mom with them looked a bit shell shocked!  🙂

The show was a lot of fun, even though we had seen it last year, the joy and the wonder and the fun were still there for my lad with plans for next year!   MOM!!!   Do you think next year I should wear my knights costume?    Wouldn’t that be fun?

I said “Sure Lad, but let’s see if they invite us back next year too!”

Here are some pics of the fun we had.

And action.   Men were called upon.  Will you defend the honour of the realm?   Fight to protect the throne and the Princess?   Jousting, combat, sparks flew as weapons hit.

Currently we are listening to a series of books called “The Ranger’s Apprentice”. (Excellent series by the by.. get your boys to listen to it.. your girls too!)  🙂   It is set during this time period, when we saw the flail at work against the sword, it brought to life the danger one of the characters was in when he was faced up against the flail.  The reach it gives to the person bearing it and the thud it made against a shield.   Made it all more real you know?   Even though we know the show is carefully choreographed so no one gets hurt, it still brings the thrill and the danger immediately to bear.

And so, the kingdom was protected.
And all was good in the land.
By the end of the show my son’s friend said “I am so tired, but I am so glad that I came.”

Did you know that you too can go to see Medieval Times?
You can.  
The prices in Canada are as follows:
You can pick up these additional packages: 
Did you know that Medieval Times, Toronto received an award last year?

If you want to have a great meal (using your fingers), great service and excellent entertainment, do check Medieval Times.   It is well worth your time to attend.     HAVE FUN!  

The Haunting of Falcon House, a review

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A boy.  Russia.  An aunt.   A destiny to full-fill.   Is 12 year old Lev up to the task?   The Haunting of Falcon House is my latest review for Raincoast Books.

Book Synopsis:
A long undisturbed bedroom. A startling likeness. A mysterious friend.
When
twelve-year-old Prince Lev Lvov goes to live with his aunt at Falcon
House, he takes his rightful place as heir to the Lvov family estate.
Prince Lev dreams of becoming a hero of Russia like his great ancestors.
But he’ll discover that dark secrets haunt this house. Prince Lev is
the only one who can set them free-will he be the hero his family needs?

My Thoughts:
I read this book through in one sitting, took me (an adult) about one hour to finish.   I could imagine my son taking about a week to finish it, potentially less.

I have to admit though, I’m not sure what I think of this book.
It intrigued me enough to keep reading it.  
The chapters are short and sweet.
It’s interesting, but its… odd.
I know.. I don’t normally call books odd… but I found this book odd.   It had interesting pictures scattered through the book.   An interesting character that seemed a bit detached from himself, a rather um…. almost horrible aunt, servants that ran scared and a wee boy with interesting abilities.

 Would I read it again?
Perhaps that’s the standard by which I should judge this book.
And you know what?   I think I would.  I think I would like to read this book with my lad just so I could see his response to it.   I think he’d be surprised at the ending, I think he’d be intrigued by the events that happen throughout the book.  He’s more level-headed than his mother is and less apt to be alarmed by what he reads.

I think that’s part of what makes me call this book odd… I’m easily alarmed and I spent time internally telling myself there must be an good explanation for what’s going on…and I was happy that my suspicions in one area were correct but was surprised in another.

My recommendation: If you have level-headed children, who like mildly spooky books, this short chapter book might be the book that they are wanting.  

It’s an interesting read, and I was curious as to how it would turn out in the end.   I had this thought, the aunt has an end purpose in mind… what is it???

I’m glad I found out!  🙂

Eugene Yelchin is both the author and the illustrator.  It runs around 320 pages and is geared for ages 9-12.   I reviewed The Haunting of Falcon House for Raincoast books.