A Net in Time

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Progeny Press’s Frankenstein E-guide

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DISCLAIMER. I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

Do you know what Progeny Press does well?   They make study guides for books.  The goal?  To help children/teens think critically, with a faith emphasis, about the books they are reading.  This saves homeschooling parents so much time!  They do all the work for and it’s great! Progeny Press’s Frankenstein E-guide helps your high school student dig deeper into this classic work

Progeny Press's Frankenstin Eguide

The Details about the Frankenstein E-guide

You will receive a 79 page downloadable file that you have one year to download.  Within the pages of the guide you will discover information about the author, pre-reading activities, note to the instructor, a brief synopsis of the book studied, background information as well as study question.  These study questions cover vocabulary, various literary techniques and discussion questions.  The PDF e-guide can be editted or printed off depending on what works best for your student.  It sells for $21.99

So what do you get from Progeny Press?

I love all the before you get the the study material.  It’s fantastic to have a biography of author, as well as historical information and more. It all helps to get the most out of a study don’t you find?

I also love that the PDF’s are fully editable.  How fantastic for a student to simply fill it out online negating the need to print it off.  In our house, anything over 30ish pages means we send it out for printing (old printer) … and not having to have that expense is wonderful! 

Specific Elements

I also have never thought about doing pre-study, studies.  Seeing some of the warm-up options encourages me to try these with some of the books I have planned for my lad this year.

Each lesson contains vocabulary lessons.  I appreciate that these vocabulary lessons aren’t the same lesson to lesson.  Sometimes they look at a word in context, other times fill-in-the-blanks, and yet others something like the synonym study below. 

As you progress thru Progeny Press’s Frankenstein e-guide you will discover various literary techniques.  Some of these techniques are : In context, dictionary, characterization, allusion, foreshadowing, adjectives, Gothic novel, versimilitude, compare/contrast, metaphor, and contrivance.  Many other techniques are studied as well.  I’m amazed at just how much they cover and I think you will be too! 

Digging Deeper

Plenty of opportunities are provided for students to dig deeper and think deeper about what they are reading.  Frequently students are encouraged to add faith into the mix.   In the introduction, instructors are encouraged to have a thesaurus, bible concordance, dictionary and Bible easily at hand.  In this manner, students are encouraged to apply their worldview to the materials they interact with. 

You know what’s rather nice?   Essay options!  It’s hard to come up with an essay topic on a book study (been there, done that).  It’s tough.  Progeny Press takes that pressure away by providing several options for students to choose from.  They can discuss critique Shelley’s writing style, or consider the moral framework of the book, or even write about what Frankenstein offers current biologists!  More than 10 essay topics are provided. 

Answer Key

The answer key is provided under separate file for Progeny Press’s Frankenstein E-guide.  This means you can either provide it to your students for self-correcting, or use it to keep answers private until after grading. 

As your students study Frankenstein they will be able to further discuss moral issues and deepen their character and what they value.   Issues/values such as motivation, pride, friendship, guit, ambition, revenge and more. 

The wide variety of activities and writing assignments will provide motivation and prevent boredom.  You will find a well-written study including drama, research and discussion. 

Since having a Christian worldview is important to Progeny Press authors, you will find it present throughout the e-guide.   I appreciate the extra depth added to the literature study. 

What do I think of Progeny Press’s Frankenstein E-guide?

Well done.  After reviewing Progeny Press’s Frankenstein E-guide I’m thinking to add it to my son’s Language Arts program (which I’m currently in process of developing) for this coming January.   I love the variety in questions and discussions, and I find the options for essays varied.   My son would easily to be to take a couple of the topics and write up a three page essay for me.   If he really liked it I’d have no problem rounding out his senior year of study with a good number of them. 

Social Media Links: Progeny Press

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/progenypress
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/progenypress
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/progenypress
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/progenypress

Hashtags:
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#hsreviews #homeschool #literature #reading #comprehension #unitstudies #progenypress

Read the Reviews!

41 Reviewers members of the crew checked out these literature studies.

Progeny Press Literature Study Guides

This Year’s Reviews from The Crew

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So it’s been a busy year with the homeschool review crew.  This is my last year with them I think.  My lad is in grade 11, and I’m finding myself busy with other things.  Maintaining the crew reviews is something that I’m choosing to let go of.  BUT this year… We’ve done some interesting reviews with some favourites.  Soon the crew will be doing it’s blue ribbon winners, and since I needed a topic this week I thought I’d share with you this year’s reviews from the crew. 

this years reviews from the crew

The Reviews I’ve completed

I’ve completed 13 reviews with one left to do.   I’ll update this blog post once I’ve completed that final review. 

Which Review Did We most Appreciate?

My lad came to me just this week. 

MOM!  I’m glad we have CTC Math.  They do a good job of teaching me Pre-Calculus.  They teach a bit, let me practice, teach some more and then help me put it all together.  I just keep gradually learning more and more and it helps me to learn it really well! 

Highschool Math with CTCmath

My favourites are

Total transcript solutions – I need to put something together for the highschool for a program the lad wants to be part of.  Being able to put a transcript together so easily is hugely helpful! 

Though not a flashy resource, The Handbook for Writers is hugely helpful and I appreciate having it as a resource.   Being able to pinpoint areas to help my essay writer is so handy!

Handbook for writers

this year’s reviews from the crew honourable mentions

Those three would definitely be our top products this year.   I would hope that you will find them just as helpful in your homeschool journey. 

We do have our honourable mentions of course.  🙂  I hope to use the style of Progeny Press to help my lad complete some book studies. Pursued to Eternity gave me some questions for my evolution leaning lad to help him think more deeply.  And personal finance lab gave my lad the opportunity to practice budget setting. 

Biochemistry/Microbiology

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DISCLAIMER. I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

Do you have a need for some science?  Perhaps like us, you need to round out a health portion of a physical education course.  Or perhaps you need a reminder or even an introduction to science topics?   My son and I have been working on the Biochemistry/Microbiology half-semester courses from Greg Landry’s Homeschool Science.  The combination of video along with worksheets has worked well for him.  I’d like to tell you more about it. 

Biochemistry/microbiology

What have we been reviewing?

Self-Paced (recorded) Online Classes by Greg Landry for grades 7-12 grade.  Of the five courses available we chose the biochemistry/microbiology course.    Mr Landry conducts his online classes with the goal of having students work at their own pace.  Mr. Landry teaches the video lessons himself.   Each class has a study guide which comes in PDF form.  Some pages are coloured which give additional information.   Learning which of those pages is coloured if you only have a black and white printer is initally a problem but it quickly becomes obvious.  🙂   This course is worth a 1/2 credit in high school science.

Students can communicate with Professor Landry via email if they have any questions during the lessons.  Tuition is $120.  As Mr. Landry teaches the lessons the students can watch him interacting with the whiteboard and pointing to graphics and what not. 

biochemistry/microbiology

How is it set up?

You’ll need to open an account with Canvas as that is what the lessons run on.  When you click on a class link, the lesson opens into a new window.  Seven classes were conducted in the Biochemistry/Microbiology course that we took.   The lad thought the immunology lesson would be interesting.    All the worksheets are contained within a single PDF that you can download and print off. 

Faith plays a role in how Mr. Landry conducts his life and leads his classes.   Scripture is part of the PDF lessons.   Lessons open in prayer and verses will be found in the PDF. 

All of your students can use the one course which means how ever many students you have needing to take a course, they can all take it at the same time.   So if you have students in grade 7-12, they can all take the labs and/or half-semester courses together!  You have a whole year to complete it in, so if your students work best on their own that’s an option as well. 

How is it put together?

Your students will find this a very easy course to navigate.   Once they get signed into Canvas each lesson opens up into a new window.   The video lesson does not start playing automatically, and my son appreciated that he could speed up the rate of play.  NO, I do not get how he can listen that fast, but it works for him, and he’s quite accurate. So whenever online lessons allow for that option he’s delighted!  🙂   The lesson takes centre stage as you can tell from the image below. 

Encouragement to Develop Good Study Habits

Students are encouraged to take good study notes, and my lad promised to get me a screenshot of his notes but he’s gotten rather busy.  It’s good to know notes were taken, but …. getting them in time for this review?  I don’t think it’s gonna happen!   The lad did ask me if it was okay if for filling out the worksheets if he could use the “coloured sheets”.   I asked him what he was talking about and why he would ask.  Apparently Mr. Landry tells his students to fill out the worksheets to the best of their ability and if they couldn’t to use the Coloured Sheets to fill out the rest.  The lad wasn’t sure if that would be cheating or not. 

The lad continued his explanation that Mr. Landry would explain part of the material, but didn’t cover everything so the encouragement was to complete their education.   This means it wasn’t ‘cheating’ to use the coloured sheets to complete the worksheets. Every lesson has worksheets to fill out.  NOW, if I were wanting to test his knowledge I probably could have said “no worksheets, I want to see what you know”.  But given that not all the information was given in the video lesson I wouldn’t have liked that option without giving some good study time as well.    

Now as I stop to think about it, I could have easily assigned additional work in the form of a paper/essay.  Research something you learned about and present it in one of these 40 ways. 

What did we think of Biochemistry/Microbiology?

We struggled to find the time to work on this together.  With part-time jobs, our schedules didn’t often fit together.   So our goals to do this together and have mom/son time didn’t pan out the way we wanted it to.  The lad ended up watching the videos in random order Comments from the lad, a grade 11 student

  • One: “What if I don’t think drawing pictures will help me really remember information well?   Do I have to do that mom?  I don’t think highlighting words by drawing them big will help me remember them any better than just writing normally.”   We actually watched this lesson together and had a good discussion over the pros and cons of different studying methods. 
  • Two: “I covered this really well in my biology class already.  And the diagrams were simple, they didn’t go indepth on anything.” 
  • Three: “He didn’t give enough detail.”
  • Four: 
  • Five: “I liked this lesson and found it well done. Learning about bacteria and antibiotics, it was really interesting.”
  • Six: “He went off on a tangent telling a personal story, but otherwise he did a good job on the lymph system.”
  • Seven: “It was a decent lesson, but he only covered the basics”. 

Overall the lad and I decided that these would be a good homeschool science classes online for higher elementary or lower highschool students to take.  It would be good to do the study skills one in grade 9.   Other than lesson five most of the material he viewed he had already studied and would assume most grade 11 students would have as well. 

Greg Landry on Social Media

As far as I can tell, Greg Landry and his homeschool science courses are not on social media.

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What did Crew Members Review?

19 members of the crew reviewed different parts of Greg Landry’s Homeschool Science programs. 

  1. Virtual, interactive homeschool laboratory

– self paced online – start any time
– biology / anatomy and physiology
– chemistry
– physics

2. Self-paced 4th-7th grade one-semester classes…

– Young Scientist : Anatomy & Physiology, Biology, Chemistry, Physics or Earth & Space Science.

3. Self-paced 7th-12th grade half-semester classes

– Exercise & Sports Physiology
– Biochemistry / Microbiology
– Embryology / Endocrinology
– Earth & Space Science
– Study Skills / Measurement / Lab Reports / Graphing

I do urge you to read the reviews by the crew.  You’ll find we all had varied experiences which will help bring this online homeschool science program to life! 

Self Paced Online Homeschool Science Labs

Bible Breakdowns

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DISCLAIMER. I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

Have you ever wondered what makes up a book of the bible?  What the important themes or verses might be? Have you ever engaged in bible study and found yourself wondering… what is the context around these verses?  Teach Sunday School has created Bible Breakdowns to help you.  These are sheets that walk you through every book of the bible highlighting every section of the book and then pointing out the most popular verses. 

Bible breakdowns

Bonus Material Included!

Before I get too far into this review, let me tell you about this bonus material I received.

A Bible Reading Checklist!  Since doing the review for Danika Cooley’s book we’ve been reading the bible as a family.  And look now!  I have a checklist that I can edit online showing how far we have come!  Thanks Teach Sunday School!  This bonus will come in handy!

Learning the basics about Bible Breakdowns.

Bible Breakdowns comes in Old Testament and New Testament form.  It was created by Teach Sunday School.  My PDF review copy was provided by The Homeschool Review Crew and came with a family license. 

Bible Breakdowns was created to help people doing bible study to look at the passage in context.  Not just random verses, but seeing these verses within the greater context of the history and bible period they were written.   Sometimes it’s easier to not look for context when doing bible study, so Teach Sunday School wants to give people a leg up, a bit of a boost on their journey.   These bible pages are there as an assistive tool for for bible study you do.  Each overview gives a bird’s-eye view of one book in the Bible.

What exactly do you get in Teach Sunday School’s most recent offering?

You will find one page for each book of the bible, each in the order that it appears.  Both Old and New Testament books are served, with a table of contents for each time period. 

Each page is laid out in the same manner.   With an overview provided along with a breakdown of the book as well as the most popular verses. More on these sections continue below. 

Bible Breakdowns

The overview starts off each book of the bible breakdown.  You’ll find the number of title, where it places in the bible, and what type of book it is. Also included in the approximate time of writing, what time period was covered and who the author is. 

Breakdowns for each book of the bible.  Shorter books are more succint, longer books might include highlighted familiar stories or passages. 

Most popular verses are included on each page.  I do wonder how they figured out what verses were the most popular.  When I look up popular verses for Psalms I come up with different ones.   

How I Used Bible Breakdowns

Honestly, I wasn’t terribly certain how to make use of this with my family.  I didn’t.   It may be my lack of creativity, or the busyness of our household, or the age of child.  I did on the other hand, know how to make use of it for myself. 

I created a binder in which I placed the pages I copied out on our black and white printer so that behind them I could write out verses, and ideas about that particular book of the bible.  My tendency is to do my bible study on my laptop as my handwriting is simply atrocious!  Trust me on this! 🙂 This gave me this incentive to print out my learning so I have it all in one place to refer to easily. 

At this point I am merely using my binder as a storage area as I can’t find my three hole punch!  Rather annoying as I know we have two of them.  I may have to ask the teenager where one might be.

Bible breakdowns

I can well imagine a day when the whole binder is full, and I live enough white space that I can scrawl in my additional thoughts as I go through passages again.  It’s good to track what you’ve done so you can see how much you have learned.   Having a face page for each book of the bible helps me to pay attention to pivotal verses too.  🙂 

Bible Breakdowns

I’m looking forward to combining Bible Breakdowns with the Books of the Bible overview I looked at back in 2018.  I think they will work really well together. 

Should you get it? 

Yes!  It will help you in your bible study.  Helping you see context, helping you learn where each book is going, and be a quick aid in finding a particular well-known bible story. 

How else can you use it other than for your own personal study?

In bible studies you conduct with others, as a resource for your middle through high school students as a quick reference, and in helping to see the big themes of the bible. 

Social Media Links

Social Media Links: Teach Sunday School

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SundaySchoolLessons
Instagram: @teachsundayschool
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/biblefun/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChwHfenlbCBU_XfzvqCFFPA

Hashtags:
For use on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook

#hsreviews #biblebreakdowns #biblestudytools #bibleeducation #readingthebible #biblestudyguide #bibleprintable

SEO Keywords:

Bible Study Printables, Bible Study Tools

44 members of the crew are writing reviews on Facebook, Via Video and on blogs.   Please take the time to check out the reviews to see the varied ways you can make use of Teach Sunday School’s Bible Breakdowns. 

Boob-by-Book Bible Study Printable Breakdowns

Archer and Zowie

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DISCLAIMER. I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

Archer and Zowie, by Hans Bluedorn tells the story of two intrepid explorers.  Two friends, who are quite different from each other, go on an amazing, imaginative journey into space.  Told in dialogue form you get to “go along for the ride” seeing the world through their eyes.  How much more fun could middle school readers ask for?  What will they learn of friendship and self-esteem as they follow along with Archer and Zowie?

archer and zowie

The Basic details of Archer and Zowie

Archer and Zowie is written by Hans Bluedorn and is all about friendship and self-esteem.  You can hear parts of it being read on the Archer and Zowie page.  These two children are the best of friends, even if they are quite different from each other.  Throughout Archer and Zowie you can observe them using their skills as they imagine a variety of scenarios and extricate themselves from trouble.   They are carefree and very imaginative, and the story is told in their voice…. as if they are talking with the reader.   Written for youth 7-12 years old, and covering 234 pages, most middle school students will have no trouble finishing this book.  Hans Bluedorn has published and illustrated this book himself!  (and he won’t refund your money if you don’t like the illustrations). 

archer and zowie

Archer and Zowie comes in three formats: Kindle, audio and paperback.  I received a paperback copy and found it well made with a glossy cover.  It feels like a book that will last the most voracious reader.   You can find it on Amazon with my affiliate link. 

What do you get?

Mr. Bluedorn’s illustrations fit the theme and characters of Archer and Zowie fantastically. 

You’ll find 18 short and sweet chapters.  Some chapter headings are illustrated, most are not. 

archer and zowie chapter heading with illustration

The dialogue would be about what you expect from 10 year olds.  Funny, quirky, occasionally with some potty talk, and the odd insightful comment.   But that’s children right?  They talk about anything and everything that pops into their heads.  This makes the story real don’t you think? 

It’s not all dialogue though.  It would be difficult I think to write a story that was completely dialogue, you need to have context and description to round out a book well. 

Character development…watching characters grow and develop new thinking patterns, or discover new things about themselves, is fantastic!   Seeing the changes in Archer and Zowie between the first few chapters and the last is part of the fun of reading this story.   Even through imaginative play, children can learn and grow and become something more.  Simply wonderful that. 

Conflict happened.  Children get offended with each other. Danger threatens.  But they get through it. 

archer and zowie

Should you get Archer and Zowie?

Honestly, I initially struggled with reading Archer and Zowie.  The style of writing didn’t suit me.  So I did what I often do with books that aren’t working for me, read the ending first.  That got me intrigued!  Reading through the entire book probably took me an hour once I had the motivation to do so.  🙂   I had to see how they got from point a to b! 

I did hand it over to my lad to get his opinion as he’s 40 years younger than I am. 🙂   So… he’s closer to the target audience. 🙂   So far he says that he likes it. I will update when he is done. 🙂

 Is it my style no?  Do I want to read it again?  No.  But that doesn’t matter… what matters is this: is it suited for the audience it is intended?   Does it have a good story to tell?   Is there meaning to be found?   Do the characters learn anything about themselves or others and become more than they were at the beginning of the book?   If there’s conflict, do they find a way to resolve it? Can they figure out solutions to difficulties they find themselves in?

The answer to all these question is YES!  Resoundingly so.   

So, if your children like quirky, fun reads.  If they enjoy being immersed into the lives of other children’s imaginations, Archer and Zowie will be a fun read for them. 

fallacy detective logo

Social Media Links

For the Fallacy Detective (also a Hans Bluedorn book)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fallacydetective

For Hans Bluedorn
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hansbluedorn/

Read the Reviews!

27 members of the crew either reviewed Fallacy Detective or Archer and Zowie. I urge you to check out their reviews.

Hans Bluedorn Brings us Fallacy Detective and Archer & Zowie

The Homescholar LLC – Total Transcript Solution

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DISCLAIMER. I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

Did you know that I have an finishing grade 10 student, soon to start grade 11?  He really has no idea what he’d like to do yet as a working adult so we are continuing to offer a varied highschool education for him.  But in the meantime keeping track of grades is vitally important. So imagine how pleased I have been to review Total Transcript Solution by The HomeScholar LLC.   You will love this program with the sheer variety of transcript options. The solid training behind it all will delight you.  🙂 

Total Transcript Solution

The Basics about Total Transcript Solution

The HomeScholar LLC is the designer of several products meant to help homeschool parents pull together details to help their children pursue higher education.  Lee Binz’s speciality is in helping parents homeschooling highschool students. The goal: success both now and in future endeavors.   The product that I am specifically looking at today is Total Transcript Solution.  I have received 6 months access in exchange for my review.   This is more than enough time since you get downloaded transcripts that you can use forever, or use as a template to create your own templates.   

About Lee Binz

After homeschooling her children through highschool, and seeing them into their future endeavors, Ms. Binz decided to expand her consulting business by creating product to share. You can learn about her core beliefs and learn about her low-key method of providing help to others.   Her husband Matt works alongside her, and her employees are also active homeschoolers. 

Total Transcript Solution

What do you receive?

Upon opening Total Transcript Solution I was immediately able to see all the modules available in this course.  

Total transcript solution modules

Not only that, I had access (via the sidebar) of all the available resources.   And boy oh boy you will like these bonuses.  From sample diplomas, to sample grading criteria, there is just so much here!   You should be able to easily be done within a month, and if you need longer (cause face it, life happens) … join the silver training club.  🙂   

You will be able to listen to Lee Binz, either by watching a video or downloading the audio, conduct various workshops.  She has a simple, easy to listen style that immediately makes you feel at ease.   She takes away the angst of making a transcript, while letting you know how important it is.   Every course will come with a handout (varying in size from 2-109 pages), some with slides, and always with audio. 

Did you know that courses can be labeled using a course code, a name that delineates exactly what you taught, or given a generic title?   Higher learning institutions tend to prefer courses be as specific as possible.  So not doing English 1, English 2, but rather something like Writing and Grammar grade 9. It’s the same thing, but the language is clearer (and therefore more desired) by the reader (the college acceptance people). 

With the bonuses, some of them open into a webinar, others into a webpage.  All these helps she provides in order to make our lives easier, and to enable us to complete all the steps that we need to.  Isn’t it fantastic how Ms. Binz has created a homeschool transcript help site that is so complete? 

What do I think?

Oh, I like and appreciate this course. I thought the logical layout and the diversity of material presentation.   For instance….. I would much rather read a book then listen to audio as I can get it done so much faster.  BUT I like listening to audio if I want to fine-tune my learning. The manner in which the material was presented was kind, at times funny, and with heart. 

I was simply delighted by this particular bonus.   Being able to see what I should be looking at for grade 11! Yes, it’s very USA centric, but that doesn’t mean I can’t extrapolate for Canadian needs/goals. 

I adored how Ms. Binz thought about the different needs of families, providing her resources in a variety of formats.   This makes it so easy to just edit materials right on your screen without having to print everything out (unless of course you like printing everything out).   Everyone’s needs are different right? 

The options for the different types of transcripts were great!   I initially started out with one transcript but found it didn’t work well for me, so I switched to a different format which made more sense to me.  I loved the ability to describe or state what product I used, or where the marks came from.   I’ve been considering next year (in the spring) to sign my lad up for courses in London, so then I could use that course description as well as who taught it in the description area. 

Total Transcript Solution

When should you get total transcript solution?  Anytime after elementary school.  You’ll find helps for middle school all the way through to the end of highschool. 

The Homeschooler LLC

Social Media

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thehomescholar
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thehomescholar
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/homescholar/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/homescholar/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/homescholar/

Products Reviewed by The Crew

36 members of the crew checked out these products: 

I urge you to check out the reviews today!  

Need Help Discipling Children?

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Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

Need to make a change in how you are discipling your children?  Bethany House Publishers along with Danika Cooley has come out with a really helpful Christian parenting/discipling book.  A book that is full of encouragement and teaching about why discipling our children is SO very important.  I didn’t think I needed to make any changes, and yet I found my self both convicted and compelled to make change.   Come along and discover why eh?  Help Your Kids Learn & Love the Bible will help parents who need help discipling children.

Need help discipling children?

What am I reviewing?

I received a trade paperback copy of Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible written by Danika Cooley and published by Bethany House Publishers.  A short, but weighty read at 198 pages.  You may find yourself reading it straight through, or doing as I did, and reading in short bursts and then pondering.   Her goal, to encourage parents in diving into God’s word together with their children.   Helping children to see the God of the bible in the words that he has given us and how that then impacts our lives.  Simple enough eh?  You’d be surprised.  🙂

You’ll find a solidly constructed read of a size easily tucked into a purse, or to take along to someone’s house to share with them.  One that will not take up a huge amount of room on your bedside table as you take in the encouragement and advice that Ms. Cooley offers.   Honestly, if you want to develop confidence that YOU can disciple YOUR OWN children?  You’ll develop that confidence using the advice Ms. Cooley offers. 

Because it can be challenging asking for assistance when you help discipling children, I want to tell you about Danika Cooley’s new book Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible from Bethany House Publishers.

Learning the details that will help discipling children

First off, the author Danika Cooley. 

I’ve long known of her heart for discipling children.  She creates resources like the Bible Road trip, sermon notebooks and various other resources.  You’ll find her over on her blog Thinking Kids frequently, helping parents find ways to better disciple their children. 

On to the book

The specific book I am reviewing today is entitled Help your kids learn & love the BIBLE.  Three parts, eleven chapters. 

Part One: You’re the Leader

  • Making the bible approachable for your kids
  • A good start to a strong finish
  • Finding time in an age of hustle

Part Two: Faithful Reading

  • Who Wrote this thing, Anyway?
  • Keep the message in view
  • A library of Books
  • Profitable discussion

Part Three: A daily Walk

  • Reading the word together
  • Hide the word in your Child’s heart
  • Praying the word together
  • Study the word when you’re not feeling it

You will also find an introduction, a conclusion, various notes and works consulted.

You’ll find when you pick up this help for discipling children that there are lots of headers.  Sections are short and easily digestable. The headers accurately reflect what will be discussed in the following paragraphs. 

There is little to no adornment, simple chapter headings and good use of white space without being wasteful.  It feels like a nice book to read. Comfortable on older eyes too!  🙂 

What did I discover?

Well, our family has done a number of things over the years.  Various picture books, story book bibles, devotions, family studies etc.  We done archaelogical studies where we unearthed the bible. The lad has gone to Cadets and Youth group.  He’s been well exposed to studies about the word of God.  These are all part of discipling our children into the faith.   This I knew and wasn’t really surprised at.  🙂 

I was delighted to discover a book full of encouragement written in a friendly tone.  It’s rather like sitting down with Ms. Cooley and having a chat about how to make God real to your children. 

What I was convicted of?

Just reading God’s word.  Simple eh?  Just letting God’s word stand alone.  Had I ever done that before? In my journey of discipling my son have I simply just read the bible with him?  

Doesn’t have to be big or profound, but God’s word tells us it will never go out empty, so just taking time to read a chapter or two of God’s word daily (or as often as you remember to do so) matters.  Just read God’s word. 

Then, be open to questions and discussion.  To a lad saying “I want to read that myself”. 

As Danika says “The Bible is necessary for salvation.  It is a gift to us that “the Lord has made known his salvation; he has revealed his righteous in the sight of the nations.” Without the special revelation the Lord has given us through his Word, we are without knowledge of our Saviour.”  (p 86)

So what we’ve done?  We’ve started reading the book of Matthew.  I thought about starting in Genesis but the lad and I are going through A Stranger on the Road to Emmaus together and I didn’t want to replicate our reading.  Are we doing it perfectly?  NOPE.  We’ve done three days in a row and we’ve skipped an entire week, but it’s easy enough to just book mark a chapter and then just read the next one. It’s hard when you have a working household.

help your kids learn & love the bible

Information I really appreciated

Throughout Help your kids to Learn & Love the Bible you will find help in discipling your children.  From questions you can help them ask, to reminding them to read the bible in context, and to think about how does this reading further the story of God’s plan of salvation.  Her concrete examples and encouragement make this a tome well worth reading.

I cannot tell you tell how much I love how Ms Cooley was persistent in reminding us to let God tell his own story.  To not make stories become a moral talking point, or make a history merely a listing off of dates and activities.  THIS is God’s word, his story to his people, that lays out his plan of salvation.   At times she drove me to the bible to consider her words and any “moralizing” I may have done in the past.  How could I see God at work in the story of Esther?

need help discipling children

Need help discipling children : Ideas to make history real

One of the other things I loved was how Ms. Cooley wants us to help make history come alive for our children.  And how we can help our teens explore different approaches to scriptural ideas.  How can you help your children understand Egyptian hierarchy, slavery, the differences between goats and sheep, the long hours of a fisherman, and other biblical settings?  When God tells us to consider the flowers of the field can you go out and see the beauty he has provided us with? Maybe even take the time to preserve some of it?  Do a fashion course as well?  How can you make God’s plan of salvation come alive? What an encouragement to think of such things eh? 

need help discipling children

Social Media Presence

I am sharing both the links for Bethany House Publishers and the author, Danika Cooley, for you to share and follow.

Bethany House Publishers

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BHPnonfiction
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bethany_house
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bethany_house_nonfiction/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/bethanyhouse
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/bethanyhouse

Danika Cooley

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DanikaCooleyAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanikaCooley
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danikacooleyauthor
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/danikacooley/_created/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/DanikaCooley

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Read the Reviews!

32 members of the Homeschool Review Crew took the time to read Danika’s book.   I invite you to check them out. 

Bethany House Publishers