Wiglington and Wenks

The Travels of Wiglington and Wenks Virtual World is an on-line game for kids ages 7-14. The site was created based on a children's book series by British businessman and author, John Bittleston. Wiglington and Wenks, mice extraordinaire, live in an interactive time traveling virtual world where children learn history, geography and environmental science as they visit. Currently, anyone can travel with Wiglington and Wenks for FREE in a limited fashion, but an Elite Quest Traveler membership costs $5.99/ mo, $16.99/ 3 months, $29.99 for 6 months, or $59.99/ year. Our family received a free one month Elite membership in exchange for this review.

Wiglington and Wenks are adventure-seeking water rats from England. Wiglington's ancestor, Carto Wiglington, left a series of magic maps which unlock secrets of the past, present and future by enabling the owner of the maps to travel through time and space. The lost maps recovered by Wiglington, were brought back to his hometown to be used for good. Virtual travelers to Wiglington Town, re-named in honor of Wiglington's heroic recovery of the maps, may use the magic maps for time travel after graduating from the Traveling Academy of Wiglington Town and earning a passport. With passport in hand, the fun begins as travelers visit with historical figures, real and fictional, in various locations around the world.

Count Carneggio, a selfish, evil rat, attempts to foil the fun. Carneggio desires to have possession of the maps for financial gain. The evil Count is suspect of creating a time portal which accidentally traps historical figures, placing them in different time periods and locations. The confusing experience inevitably causes the misplaced people of the past to suffer from amnesia. Travelers must search for clothing, inventions and other historical items to prompt the amnesiacs memory and restore order to the world.

Although the description of Wiglington and Wenks Virtual World seems complicated it really is just a great story come to life. Kids participating in the virtual world easily learn the details of the storyline (read rules of the game) by attending the Traveling Academy and watching animated videos. Within minutes young travelers are seasoned enough to navigate throughout the world. All the animation of Wiglington and Wenks is engaging and snappy. The characters are cute, but smartly dressed with a contemporary flair drawn with sharp defined lines, slightly exaggerated heads, and clever expressions.

The introductory video on the homepage alone was enough to draw my 5 year old son, Aidan from across the room. Aidan stood intensely watching the video and obviously excited about all the potential this virtual world had to offer. After listening to my explanation of Wiglington and Wenks to his younger sibling, my 15 year old son said, "Man! Aidan is so lucky! I would have been all over that site when I was his age. I mean it has everything....cool characters, adventure, games...."

Wiglington and Wenks has over 100 educational real world and imaginary locations to travel. For example, adventure seekers can visit the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the Great Sphinx of Egypt or future imaginary locations in outer space. While visiting, players engage in educational games, facts and information is learned and "money" is earned for future virtual costumes and attire that allow special powers and moves. A chat feature is also available to allow travelers to interact with others visiting the virtual world.

"I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed it!" said Micah, age 12. "It's fun to communicate with other kids playing. I like all the random fun facts about different things in the countries. I also like that Wiglington and Wenks is challenging and gives you a mission. I like to have a purpose when playing games on the internet. I will definitely tell my friends that they need to check Wiglington and Wenks out" she concluded.

Aidan, age 5 was filled with enthusiasm when asked for his opinion of Wiglington and Wenks Virtual World. "It is awesome! I like the maps and Wiglington and Wenks. I like the people and the games. We get to buy clothes and costumes with money from the games. I really like those!" he said.

Fans will be thrilled to note Wiglington and Wenks merchandise is available for purchase at Zazzle.com. The webpage offering hats, t-shirts, mugs and of course, mouse pads can be found here.

Since Wiglington and Wenks Virtual World is available for limited use for FREE, I highly recommend readers give it a whirl. It's engaging storyline, graphics and fun atmosphere make it a wonderful educational resource for elementary and middle grade students. Clever homeschool parents can easily use this virtual world to light a fire of enthusiasm for history and geography study and maybe even some adventure story crafting of their own.

Pandia Press: History Odyssey

I am a huge fan of unit studies having used them exclusively our first 7 or so years of homeschooling. The age of my oldest children drew us away from unit studies as curriculum available on the market at the time was designed for elementary use. I tried finding time to research, plan and write unit studies for my teens, but the time required to do so was all consuming. Our once strictly unit study based homeschool slowly evolved with textbooks in an effort to keep pace with the educational needs of Jr. High and High school.

Kathleen Desmaris, homeschool Mom to four children ages toddler to teen, author and owner of Pandia Press has created excellent unit studies for the Jr. High and High School level student. I received History Odyssey: Modern Times, a literature-based study guide combining history, geography, and writing from Pandia Press in exchange for this review. Modern Times is created with an unit study model based in the classical style, is written for grades 7-10, and covers world history from the 1800's-21st century. It is a unit study loving homeschool Mom's dream come true.

Modern Times Level Two is one of 10 offerings in Pandia Press's History Odyssey series. Modern Times Level Two serves as a complete study guide offering a unique mix of literature discussion, history study with mapping and timeline work, research and hands-on independent projects for upper level students. The Modern Times study guide includes:

• 99 detailed lessons written for independent use
• Reading assignments
• Writing assignments
• Map work assignments (they provide the maps in the unit--yeah!)
• Timeline instructions (timelines are also included--double yeah!)
• Research instructions for further study and assigned essays and reports
• 23 Custom World Geography Maps
• Worksheets
• Primary Source writings

The text of the study guide is laid out in a day to day format with clear expectations. For example, Part I: Introduction to Modern Times covers a review of world geography based around the novel, Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne. Lesson 3 assignments from Part I, which are recommended to be completed in one to two sittings, are simply:

• Read Chapters 15 to 20 in Around the World in Eighty Days
• Label places visited by Fogg on Map 1
• Add destinations to travel log

Students are provided with small check off boxes as they work through assignments. There is no ambiguity in these lesson plans, nor any reason to offer an excuse for the inevitable question of "Why is this assignment not completed?" Students can work independently with home teachers acting as mentors or guides throughout the study. In our homeschool, independent study for 7th grade and up is a preferred commodity.

In addition to mapping and timeline work to plot the where and when of history; writing assignments sprinkled throughout the lessons provide opportunity to develop outlining and research skills. Writing assignments vary in complexity and focus, but correspond with the work of literature chosen to support the history topic. Students compose one major research paper in MLA format throughout the year long course.

Pandia Press guides are written to a secular market with this explanation. "Our courses are secular, they are not written from any particular religious point of view. We hope that customers of all faiths will be comfortable using our materials. History Odyssey courses begin at 6000 B.C., therefore evolution is not applicable...."

Most homeschool families struggle with finding the perfect curriculum and occasionally purchase items that after a few weeks are destined to be dust collectors for bookshelves. Pandia Press, offers a unique "try before you buy" program to help customers avoid purchasing a curriculum that doesn't work for their family. The first few weeks of each History Odyssey guide and the company's R.E.A.L. Science guides for elementary grades are available in PDF formats on the Pandia website. The company encourages customers to freely use the curricula from the website, then purchase and download the e-book formats of the desired curriculum once they are sure it meets the "kid tested, homeschool Mom approved" standard.

To take advantage of the "try before you buy" opportunity click here http://www.pandiapress.com/History%20Odyssey%20Modern%20Times%20%28level%20two%29%20Preview.pdf

History Odyssey: Modern Times is available on Pandia's website for $33.99 in e-book format. For those not thrilled with an e-book option, paper copies can be purchased from select vendors. A list of vendors with direct links to their sites can be viewed at www.pandiapress.com

Our short review time with History Odyssey: Modern Times provided us only a glimpse of this one year curriculum. I believe it will be a very good fit for future study for my older students. My 7th grade daughter, Micah shared her perspective with me of the first unit.

"I think it's a good curriculum because it helps you to understand more about the story (literature) by having you look at the maps and find where the person was. I think by writing down all the details in the Travel Log it helps you understand the story more and really know the plot", she said.

As I suspected she did appreciate the independent study nature of History Odyssey. She shared her enthusiasm with the following comments:

"It's easier to do things by myself and on my own time with this curriculum. All you have to do is read the instructions then complete the assignments. It explains everything for you. I really like this because I don't have to wait on my teacher to help me."

Pandia Press fans can join the History Odyssey yahoo group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/history odyssey/members to share ideas, information and teaching secrets with other users. To read more reviews of Pandia Press science or history curriculum for elementary, Jr. High or High School level students visit the Crew Blog at www.homeschoolblogger.com/thehomeschoolcrew

Homeschool in the Woods- Revisted

From my experience, time in the woods brings about relaxation, refreshment and renewal of spirit. Founded by artist Amy Pak, Homeschool in the Woods offers products which will visually enrich your homeschool bringing refreshment and renewal to tired old lessons. Offering timelines, timeline figures, maps and unit studies with lapbook elements designed by Pak, Homeschool in the Woods products are educational works of art.

As a member of TOS Homeschool Review Crew I received a free download of Homeschool in the Woods Olde World Style Modern and Historical Maps: United States and Olde World Style Modern and Ancient Maps: World Maps for use in my homeschool in exchange for this review.

The maps are available on the Homeschool in the Woods website, www.homeschoolinthewoods.com as instant download zip files for $18.95 each or on CD for $19.95 each. For customers wishing for both sets of maps, a downloadable combo pack sells for $28.95 while the CD combo pack sells for $29.95. I received the instant download zip file maps, easily extracted the files and was ready to preview and print the pages I desired. I am not usually a big fan of e-books and computer based curricula, but I found the convenience of scrolling through the various maps and then printing specific quantities to supplement our history lessons a refreshing option to old school copying from books.

Each Olde World Style map selection comes with five separate files which include:

• Acknowledgement/ Introduction information plus color or black and white cover pages for notebooks

• Grouped Map Sets

• Individual Maps

• Notebooking pages

World Map notebooking pages include Country Fact Sheets, Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, Geography Page, and Brochure template to enable students to create a brochure of specific countries. US Map notebooking pages include fill in the blank pages for each state, teacher key and full color State flags ready to be cut and added to the pages for each state.

Mapping activities usually fall off the radar in our homeschool. Even with a history curriculum which recommends mapping activities to enhance study we always seem to run out of time or interest to follow through. Homeschool in the Woods Olde World Maps cured us from missing out on this valuable activity. Since we are studying World History of the middle ages this year, I chose to print a number of maps from Olde World Style Modern and Ancient Maps: World Maps. A map of the Sui and Tang Dynasties of China, Paul's Missionary journeys, the British Isles, France, India, Japan and Korea allowed my kids to visually plot their history lessons. Pak explains in her introduction of Olde World Style Modern and Ancient Maps why mapping activities are an integral part of the learning process of history.

"History is made of stories and legacies from a different time and place. Each story taught is like a puzzle piece--it has its own shape, size and image, but may pose a challenge when trying to connect it to other stories, making it a random happening or isolated event. In order to make sense, these "happenings" need to go from random to concrete, and that's where these two important elements come in. Timelines are used to plot the "when" in history.....and mapping, in turn, plots the "where", says Pak.

Our test marketing crew agreed with Pak's analysis of the importance of partnering mapping with history study.

"I liked how there were maps for each one of Paul's missionary journeys. It helped me figure out where he was in the world at this time. If he was stranded or if it was hot somewhere, etc. Using the maps really helped me understand more about the stories I read", said Micah, age 12 and 7th grade history student.

Jonah, age 15 and 10th grade history student appreciated the quality of the maps included with Olde World Style Modern and Ancient Maps: World Maps.

"They are very informational. I liked all the detail presented on each of the World maps. They were easy to use because the printing was clear and well defined. These maps made geography study of my history lessons easy,"he said.

Due to our current world history studies our family did not take advantage of all the Olde World Style Modern and Historical Maps:United States had to offer during this testing period. We did however, print out all the information for the State of Ohio to send back with a flat traveler visiting us from Canada. With a detailed State Facts sheet, State Flag and maps of Ohio we created a small booklet of detailed information of our beloved home state to send home with our flat visitors. I found the design quality of each of the maps and the facts page to be superior. Everything printed easily and quickly from the PDF file.

Never again will geography lessons slip off our homeschool radar. Homeschool in the Woods
has enhanced our history lessons with beautifully designed resources. I encourage everyone to visit the company website and breathe deeply of the rich resources that await your homeschool.

Dollar Homeschool: Eclectic Education Series

Everything old is new again with Dollar Homeschool's Eclectic Education Series or EES. EES is a collection of textbooks used in the American public schools between the years of 1865-1915. Due to limits of copyright, all of these texts are available for distribution free of charge in various locations. Dollar Homeschool has located and organized them by subject, scanned them and placed the texts on CD.

EES covers every major subject area including, science, math, grammar, history and reading. It includes well known titles like McGuffey's Readers, Ray's Arthimetic, Pinneo's Grammar, Thalheimer's History, and Norton's Science. The CD holds copies of each of the texts spanning basic educational needs for grades K-12. Customers can choose between buying the entire series on CD for $159.00 or individual subjects for $39.00 each. Dollar Homeschool offers FREE shipping on orders and a 30 day money back guarantee.

I received an email download of EES for free in exchange for this review. Since our family only had six weeks to spend with textbooks spanning an entire 12 years of curriculum we choose to focus our time with Harvey's Elementary Grammar and Long's Language Readers. Complete product descriptions, pricing and ordering information can be found at Dollar Homeschool's website, www.dollarhomeschool.com.

I was very resistant at first to make use of Harvey's Elementary Grammar. Not being a huge fan of the subject matter to begin with and being slightly turned off by the dull pages I glanced at with old-fashioned typeset, I had high doubts that information from the "good old days" truly was better than curriculum options of today. I was WRONG!

Charlotte Mason fans take note....Harvey's Grammar is a huge inexpensive resource which will fit idyllically with this educational philosophy. Broken into small simple lessons with intelligent vocabulary each lesson is designed for discussion and narration. For $39.00 customers can have an entire Grammar curriculum for 12 years of education. Wow!

My 2nd grade student, Sierra and I spent several weeks working through the beginning of Harvey's Elementary Grammar. She had never studied Grammar formally before and Harvey's was a perfect fit for her. Sierra has been a late bloomer in the area of language development and still struggles in her writing with letter reversals, fine motor control, verb tense, and spelling. Harvey's Grammar met Sierra's need to advance her conceptual understanding of language without having to constantly face these hurdles which slow her down. I could not have loved a curriculum more!

When asked for her opinion, Sierra enthusiastically replied, "I really liked it (Harvey's Grammar) because it tells you different things you probably don't know. I like some of the words that are in it because they are big words. It seemed easy because I just got to talk through it instead of like having to fill out the answers."

Eclectic Education Series is available only on CD format at this time. I am not a huge fan of e-books, but the value of this curriculum will certainly off set any printing costs incurred at home. The CD is bookmarked making it easy to locate desired texts, print and use in an alternative location from the computer.

Although we have spent six weeks with this massive curriculum I still believe we have much to discover. Dollar Homeschool has created a Yahoo group for discussion for Ray's Arithmetic. A link to the group can be found on their website. In addition, their blog, http://www.dollarhomeschool.com/blog/index.html offers customers articles of interest and helpful links to use while using their curriculum.

American Heritage

There is a saying that "the best things in life are free", and this certainly holds true with American History curriculum provided by the American Heritage Foundation. I received a CD from American Heritage with their Elementary English language, Elementary Spanish version, Middle School and High School level American History curriculum to review for TOS Review Crew. Although American Heritage always provides their curriculum for FREE I promised to review this product in exchange for them mailing it to me.

The American Heritage Foundation is "a non-profit corporation dedicated to the understanding and teaching of our nation's factual and philosophical heritage to promote freedom, unity, progress and responsibility among our students and citizens." (AHEF purpose statement) AHEF provides materials to students, families and schools to help students become "thoughtful, active and productive citizens." Their curriculum, America's Heritage: an adventure in liberty consists of 10-14 different units designed to focus on four key themes at all levels. The themes are Freedom, Unity, Progress, and Responsibility. The program is designed to be used as a year long supplement or as an intensified study during the month of November proclaimed American Heritage Month by the foundation.

Each level of America's Heritage contains an 11 page essay written for the teacher and intended as background to aid in teaching the curriculum. Detailed lesson plans listing the purpose, objective, theme and core knowledge points, expected time required for each lesson, materials and preparation checklists are written on the first page of each unit. Elementary lessons are designed for grades 1-5, middle school for grades 6-8 and high school for grades 9-12.

The elementary level lessons include directions and text for activities like group discussion, essay writing, role playing, games, songs, puzzles, journal entries, art and other creative ideas. One such activity suggested in the Colonial America unit is a game that requires students to play the parts of King of Great Britain, Parliamentarian Governor, Merchant or Colonist with variations for classes with 20, 25 or 30 students. Since America's Heritage is designed to be used with classrooms of children it makes an excellent curriculum for homeschool co-ops.

My friend and fellow teacher, Kelley Chin, chose America's Heritage to use with her homeschool co-op class this school year. When I asked her for her opinion of the curriculum she eagerly responded. "I am using this curriculum. I love it! The students really seem to enjoy it too! Every lesson is interactive to give the students a tangible way to learn the material. It is very patriotic! All of the lessons are based on the founding principles of our country. As soon as I saw the add in TOS magazine, I knew that this was the way I wanted my children to learn about the birth of our nation!!" she said

Elementary units of the curriculum cover the following points of American history:

* Colonial America

* Declaration of Independence

*John Hancock's Signature

*George Washington

*U.S. Presidents

*The Great Seal

*History of Thanksgiving

*The United States Flag

*The Star Spangled Banner

*The National Motto

*The Statue of Liberty

*The Pledge of Allegiance

*America the Beautiful

*What is an American?

* plus an extra teacher's supplement regarding religious expression in public schools

Middle school lessons and activities are varied much like the elementary level of America's Heritage. A sample activity while learning about the Constitution involved learning the Preamble of the Constitution in sign language. The 182 page Middle School curriculum has units for the following topics:

*Colonial America

*Lives, Fortunes, Sacred Honor (the history of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence)

*Declaration of Independence

*U.S. Constitution

*Thanksgiving

*Bill of Rights: Rights and Responsibilities

*Our National Documents

*The U.S. Flag

*The Star Spangled Banner

*The Gettysburg Address

*The National Motto

*The Statue of Liberty

*The Pledge of Allegiance

*What is an American?

The high school level curriculum offers greater opportunities for vocabulary study and discussion compared to the elementary and middle school levels. For example, students are instructed to read through the text of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, included with the curriculum, and then write their own personal Bill of Rights. High School level units include:

*Mayflower Compact

*The Declaration of Independence

*Federalist 47

*U.S. Constitution

*Bill of Rights: Rights and Responsibilities

*The First Ammendment

*Our National Documents

*Entrepreneurs in History

-Cornelius Vanderbilt

-Andrew Carnegie

-James Hill

-John D. Rockefeller

*America's Creed

*U.S. Flag/ Federal Flag Code

*Religious Expression in Public Schools

*What is an American?

America's Heritage: an adventure in Liberty is an excellent curriculum for students of all ages and the price is right! Persons interested in obtaining their own copy can do so by ordering a FREE CD on the website or if preferred purchase any level printed and placed in a binder for only $19.95 each. Payments can be made on-line through PayPal.

For more information about America's Heritage or the American Heritage Education Foundation become a fan on Facebook or visit their website at www.americanheritage.org. Once you have I think you will agree that some of the best things in life still are free.

The Amazing Bible World History Timeline

I remember the first time I discovered I loved world history. My kids and I were reading a history curriculum that the author had specifically written to help readers understand God directed parallels present in history. This particular curriculum began with Creation and ended with the resurrection of Christ. In addition, the author wrote of events in the Middle East (Bible history) in one lesson and then followed with a lesson of events taking place on the other continents in the world during the same time period. For example, I learned that Ancient Indian Mounds in Ohio were built during the time Hezekiah was on the throne.

For the first time in my education I had the opportunity to “connect the dots”, so to speak, with all the different aspects of Ancient history. The author’s desire to share Bible history as a part of world history allowed our family to understand history as God’s story of mankind. This concept, pointed out by the author, was an exciting and inspiring moment for me and of course, I wanted to learn more.

The Amazing Bible World History Timeline was created by Bible Charts and Maps, LLC to aid students of all ages in seeing God’s plan in history. According to the company’s literature, “You see His hand directing all of the world events and the Bible set against that background.” Delivered to your home as a 36 x 46” laminated chart, the Amazing Bible World History Timeline is a lasting resource for history study. According to information on the chart, “It represents not only years of patient research by the author, but centuries of efficient effort of early historians. It contains a wealth of authentic information to be obtained at a glance. It shows the simultaneous relationship of events.”

I have never been a fan of timelines simply because I never seem to reference them. In our homeschool we many times have diligently created timelines for reference; however they usually succumb to being a wall covering rather than a learning tool. Over time edges curl, figures fade or fall off the timeline which vies for our attention, but inevitably we simply remove it having not learned much from the process. The Amazing Bible World History Timeline, I am sorry to say, met a similar fate.

I struggle with reading charts and graphs to begin with and so took a bit too long in my opinion trying to determine how to read the chart. It is designed in a circular fashion with all B.C. dates to the right and A.D. dates to the left. According to the company’s website, “It works like a clock. Adam is at the top. Christ's birth divides the circle in half.” In my mind the concept was confusing and I struggled. The printing on the chart was very small because so much information is shared on one chart. There is 6000 years of world history represented by the chart! The timeline is printed mostly in black and white with pink, blue and highlighter yellow used to allow students to visually connect various people groups.


The Amazing Bible World History Timeline may be an excellent resource for some, but not our house. I asked my 15 year old son for his opinion after spending a few too many frustrating moments with the chart and he said, “If I was just to look at the chart with no one explaining it to me I would be so confused.”

The Amazing Bible World History Timeline offers customers free interactive maps of the Holy Land, the genealogy of Christ in two different formats and a pdf file of the timeline for use in lesson planning and easy research reference. In addition, my Amazing Bible World History Timeline came with helpful tips for incorporating it into Bible study. The timeline and all the extras can be purchased at www.BibleTimeline.NET for $29.97.

I encourage you to spend some time on the company’s website and judge for yourself if this timeline is a good fit for your family. Connecting the dots in world history is an inspiring and thrilling experience. If the Amazing Bible World History Timeline helps deepen your family’s understanding of God at work then it will be well worth your investment.

Sarah Books

Like all things born from the heart, Sarah Books offers homeschoolers a delight-filled option for historical educationi. Authored by 62 year old grandfather of nine, Jim Baumgardner, the author promises he wrote all three books in his current series for his grandchildren. “They (books) do not have any sex, profanity, or anything that would be offensive to young readers. I would never subject my grandchildren to such writing”, he stated.

Although others have labeled the Sarah books as Christian fiction, Baumgardner prefers the label, “Young Adult fiction written by a Christian author.” I would easily label them historical fiction with a Christian focus. The main character, Sarah, is a twelve year old girl facing the world through the eyes of a child raised with Christian principles and teaching. She easily shares her faith, as do several other characters throughout her journey, but never with a preachy or judgmental attitude.

Having raised two daughters on historical fiction, and read more girl heroine stories than I can possibly count, I was anxious to dive into Sarah’s Wish, the first in Baumgardner’s series of Sarah Books. The story is set in 19th century southern Ohio near the time of the Civil War. Beginning with great description and action readers and listeners are easily drawn into the story line from the first phrase. Good characters are very good and evil ones repulsive. Sarah instantly rises as the heroine as she assists with runaway slaves, finds delight in the simple things of life and strives for patience as she waits for her adoption into a family of her own. I thought Baumgardner cleverly wove definition of difficult vocabulary and historical references within the storyline for young readers, although a two page glossary of terms is provided at the beginning of the novel for easy reference. In my opinion, Sarah’s Wish is targeted for an 8-12 year old audience, but could easily appeal to younger and older as a family read aloud. The nature of the story line and historical context make it an adventure story worthy of boys or girls.

“I would definitely give it thumbs up”, said Micah age 12 who fancies herself a connoisseur of historical fiction with girl heroines. “He is a good writer and I like how he uses a lot of description in the book”, she added.

Sarah’s Wish consists of 123 pages divided into 14 easy to read, short chapters. Chapters easily accommodate short reading sessions, but I’m sure most readers will want to keep reading once they open up the world of adventure within the Sarah books. Baumgardner offers audio books of the first two books in his series. Sarah’s Wish, however, comes with a free audio download code on the inside back cover for on-line listening at the publishers website to all four discs of its audio version.

All three of Baumgardner’s books can be purchased at http://www.sarahbooks.net/. The author offers a free personalized autograph service with every purchase. Since Sarah’s Wish retails for only $9.99 with free shipping and handling, I can think of no better Christmas gift for young fiction enthusiasts this holiday season. Book two in the series Sarah’s Promise retails for $14.99 and the third, Sarah’s Escape for $17.50 both with free shipping and handling as well. The books are available as a set for $39.95. A portion of all sales of Sarah’s Wish will be donated to one of the author’s favorite charities, Carpenter’s Place, http://www.carpenterplace.org/, a non-profit agency benefiting girls especially orphans like fictional Sarah.

For those wishing for more adventures with Sarah an email newsletter is available complete with interesting historical facts, an historical question of the month, contests, famous quotes and the address to write the author with comments and questions. My personal interchanges with Baumgardner were warm and witty just like his books. I found him to be an author that understands homeschoolers and children and who desires to do everything he can to support both.

Tapestry of Grace

I remember when I first heard of Tapestry of Grace I thought it was amazing, yet complicated. It certainly seemed to be the type of education people dream of for their kids, but could I use it? My best friend of the time had just purchased Year 1 and was showing the volumes of paper which made up the manual. She spent nearly an hour explaining to me how she planned to use the curriculum the next year with her daughter, the great literature they would read, the philosophical discussions that would result from reading said literature, the variety of activities they could do. I was extremely impressed, but a tad overwhelmed at the sheer volume of it all.

I have since come to understand that the “overwhelmed” feeling is common to those of us new to the “Tapestry” way. The authors of the curriculum in fact warn users to allow two to three weeks of use to become comfortable with the curriculum. Once comfort has arrived, however, it is my understanding the delight ensues.

Tapestry of Grace is one of the most comprehensive unit study curriculums I have ever seen. Created by homeschool parents and home education leaders, Marcia and Scott Sommerville, this history based curriculum is designed to aid families in teaching their children in grades K-12. According to “An Introduction to Tapestry” published by the curriculum authors, “Tapestry of Grace is a homeschool curriculum: a plan of study that helps parents provide a Christian, classical education using a guided unit study approach with the history of the world as the core organizational theme.”

Comprehensive is such an inadequate adjective to describe Tapestry of Grace. Colossally comprehensive, delightfully detailed, everything you could possibly dream of and more written out for your convenience in a very large manual might be a better description. Ironically, it is the comprehensive, detailed nature of the curriculum that has driven up printing costs for the company creating financial woes recently. In an effort to continue to provide the quality products they offer at an affordable cost to home educators, Tapestry of Grace is now available in digital format.

I received Year 2, Unit 1, Tapestry of Grace Digital Edition for review. The file was immediately accessible to me for down load but, before I could open it I first had to download Lock Lizard a special program which allows users to view protected PDF files. Tapestry of Grace makes use of Lock Lizard in an effort to supervise copyright issues as each Digital Edition is meant to be used by one household. If for some reason a problem arises with your computer or download, Tapestry of Grace offers the opportunity to download a purchase more than once from their website free of charge. Unit 1 of Year 2 was a 107 Megabyte file and took my computer operating on a DSL internet connection 20 mins. to download.

Tapestry provides a “Simple Start” guide for all newbies like me. The helpful 17 page guide answered questions like, “What is Tapestry?” and “What is the philosophy of education?” Detailed descriptions complete with small screen shots of the pages discussed were also provided explaining various aspects of the curriculum including writing assignments, student activity pages, Pageant of Philosophy, Teachers notes, and Setting up Tapestry. Once a homeschool teacher has worked through the “Simple Start” guide the typical overwhelmed feeling should begin to dissipate.

Being more of a paper in hand type of girl than a digital one I printed all the pages which coordinated with week 1 of Unit 1 for Year 2. This was no small task as it contained 66 pages! It was easier for me to understand the depth of information and begin to see its flow as I flipped through the various paper pages, however. Included were extremely detailed teacher’s notes complete with history, geography and church history background information, discussion questions and answers to be used with students, mini world book articles with detailed basic information regarding the topics at hand, the first installment of the Pageant of Philosophy, accountability and thinking questions for rhetoric level students, and worksheets. Papers are color coded on the edges for easy reference with blue representing rhetoric level students, green for dialectic, yellow for upper grammar and red for lower grammar. I thought this a nice touch for busy Moms trying to keep organized.

Tapestry of Grace is comprehensive in nature, but users will need to have access to a well stocked library as the curriculum makes use of many living books for literature, church history and biography study. For those with inadequate library access, Tapestry does offer an on-line shopping tool called “Bookshelf Central” accessible from the Tapestry of Grace website. Simply plug in the unit being studied, age of child and subjects of books needed and a handy excel spread sheet appears with direct links for purchasing the books listed. Bookshelf Central can save moms and dads with multiple children planning several levels of study for a school year hours of time and energy. Nice touch Tapestry!

Tapestry of Grace has been written to follow the classical four year cycle of history model of education. I know many families whom have chosen to spread each year of Tapestry of Grace over two years or only commit to one or two units of study in a school year. Tapestry of Grace offers such depth of information and study opportunities that however it is used students will benefit.

The cost for one full year of Tapestry of Grace is $225.00 for the full year program in print version or $170.00 for the Digital Edition download version of the full year. Currently, only the Digital Edition is available for Year 2, but pre-orders are being accepted for the print version. For those unsure about committing to a full year of Tapestry, individual units which comprise of about 9 weeks of study are available for $60.00 each for printed versions and $45.00 for digital editions. Currently, only units 2, 3, and 4 are available in the printed format on the Tapestry website, but all four units of the digital edition are available.

If you still feel a bit overwhelmed as I did after reading about all Tapestry of Grace offers the company has made a free download sample available on the Tapestry website of the first three weeks lesson plans of Year 1 along with other helpful “getting started” information. In addition a Tapestry of Grace forum created and monitored by the company allows opportunity for homeschooling parents to enjoy the benefits of a homeschool support group just for Tapestry of Grace users. With all of this help, support and test marketing available you might just find your homeschool learning the Tapestry way.

TruthQuest History

History is one of those subjects which can be approached in a multitude of ways. I have seen curriculum which asks the participant to chart people and events on timelines. I have seen curriculum that asks the student to live the history through reenactments, recipes, art and costumes. I have seen history curriculum which simply asks the student to read a chapter of information and then answer questions of comprehension. TruthQuest History offers yet another approach for teachers and students seeking the opportunity to participate in history study with literature and discussion.

TruthQuest History is more of a guide of philosophical thought than other history curriculum currently available. Written by Michelle Miller, veteran homeschooler and children’s librarian, TruthQuest promises the homeschool family hours, days even years of the study of mankind all while seeking to understand, “God’s plan and our response”, for according to Miller, “that’s history!” TruthQuest will take parents and kids on a journey of thought and discussion and although not designed for the faint of heart, a journey well worth its challenge.

Miller’s passion for history shines through in her explanation of the curriculum. When describing the approach to studying history she explains, “It should be a personal encounter with the King of the Universe, the Maker of our souls! It should be one of the most inspiring, personal, real and intimate topics because it hooks us up with the truths that make life work!”

Miller’s description of implementing TruthQuest in your home is encouraging to parent teachers. “All you have to do is convey truth to your kids in the way the Bible often does: through story. Hence, the copious booklists in this guide, and the happy fact that your children’s ‘history time’ will be spent basking in great reading”, writes Miller in the “Notes for Mom and Dad” section of her curriculum.

Feeling Miller’s passion for her curriculum guide and history I was fired up to give TruthQuest History: Age of Revolution III a go at our house. The guide covers American and European history topics from 1865-2000. When I dream about homeschool days with my children I picture us reading great literature, discussing it and growing in wisdom from the experience. It is an impressionistic painting of soft colors, warm summer days and beauty. TruthQuest instantly brought my dream to mind as I read Miller’s description and helpful hints.

As beautiful as my dream is in my mind the reality falls just a bit short most days. Time flies past us as we run to appointments, deal with illness, grocery shop, eat, clean the house and fend off cranky, bad attitudes or other real life problems. I tend to be a bit distractible or even sometimes remain too focused on special projects to remember to make time for “the great discussion”. Keeping all this in mind I still had high hopes for our home’s experience with TruthQuest.

Unfortunately, when I went with curriculum guide in hand to the main branch of a very extensive library system in a major metropolitan city near my home I could find very few of the books listed in the guide. Miller offered me 14 different titles of books and one film choice to cover the topics of Victorian England and the Crimean War. I found one book for my 9th grade son and one book for my 6th grade daughter in the library system. I was so disappointed at the lack of availability of the literature that my initial enthusiasm was stifled. I think Miller might consider adding a line of literature for purchase along with the curriculum guides to help struggling Moms like me, because the concept of TruthQuest is phenomenal, but the reality for our family fell short.

Miller does specifically address the issue of out of print books in the guide. She says, “All worrying about acquiring listed books is hereby outlawed!” I agree that you do not have to have exact titles to experience the richness of learning through living books, however this Mom no longer has the ability to search for titles and plan accordingly. I need to be able to pay someone who has done that for me.

Despite our limited experience with TruthQuest my 6th grade daughter, Micah, had nothing but glowing remarks to share regarding the curriculum. “I think it’s kind of easier because you can do more things on your own with reading the books. There is no specific schedule so you can read as much as you want.”

When asked what she thought of the running commentary written by Miller laced between book lists Micah said, “She is a bit chatty, but sometimes that helps me understand about what is happening”.

TruthQuest History retails for $24.95 for most volumes with a maximum price of $34.95 for Volume III: Age of Revolution, America/Europe 1865-2000 . Samples of the guides are available by clicking here. TruthQuest divides world history for grades 5-12 into seven different time periods. Families with younger children can still benefit from the TruthQuest guides by purchasing up to three different American History guides written for grades 1-5. TruthQuest sponsors an on-line discussion Yahoo group enabling curriculum users to continue the “great discussion” on a greater scale. Interested families can join by emailing HIStoryQuesters-subscribe@YahooGroups.com

TruthQuest was chosen by Cathy Duffy as one of her 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum. It truly is a treasure which when opened will enhance your children’s education, broaden their minds and bring them closer to truth and wisdom.

Homeschool In the Woods: New Testament Lapbook

Whenever I wax philosophical about homeschooling my daydreams take on a very definite form. I picture my children and me enjoying great literature, discussing literature and history over tea and biscuits, and creating beautiful projects that mirror our great insight. We discover, explore, and wonder while birds sing and butterflies dance around our heads. It is very Charlotte Mason-esque (is that a word?) and although never reality, fun to dream.

Homeschool in the Woods, a company dedicated to bringing history to life for children, offers beautifully designed time-line figures, unit study kits, and lapbook activity packs that easily support my daydream. Homeschool In The Woods is owned and created by Amy Pak, artist and homeschool Mom of four who says she fell in love with the topic of history while homeschooling her children.

“As we studied history through living books, drama, writing, etc., I fell in love with the topic of history, as it had become a new and exciting venture to be explored--far different than the boring textbooks I remembered in high school!”, says Pak on her website.

While teaching her children she discovered she couldn’t find images for timelines that she appreciated. “I had been a graphic designer/illustrator both in an agency and as a free-lancer for several years, and my choice of art was rather picky. I vowed that, Lord willing, someday I would create figures that were classic and realistic in illustration. With young ones and a lot on my plate, the time was not to be then."

In 1998, Pak created a website to offer families resources for unit study education, but in 2002, she began researching and illustrating her hearts desire, figures for the timeline project. With the creation of the timeline figures, the Lord provided a time and purpose for completing them and Homeschool in the Woods was born.


When I first viewed Homeschool in the Woods products I couldn’t resist their charm. I purchased every packet of figures available at the time and began using them in our homeschool immediately. As a long time unit study family, Pak’s products were a delightful, fresh new resource for us designed by a company that understood my non-text book mind set. In addition, Pak’s attention to detail and comprehensive instructions and ideas offered me the expertise I needed to create beautiful projects with my children with a minimal effort and time commitment. What more could a busy homeschool Mom ask for in a product?!

Homeschool in the Woods timeline figures are extremely detailed and come accompanied with a brief description of the event or character. They are designed only in black and white which encourages children to personalize them in color. Pak sells beautifully designed timeline books for those wishing to place figures in a notebook format. She includes dated timelines in her packets of figures so that families may also create a time-line wall. This visual reminder of history cements dates, people and events in the mind in ways no amount of quizzing or memorization can. I have found it to be a powerful teaching tool and terrific discussion starter, not to mention quirky way to decorate the living room on occasion.

As a TOS Crew member I received Homeschool in the Woods New Testament Lapbook activity pack for review. It is one of three of the company’s “Hands On History Activity Packs” available for purchase as a downloadable product for $18.95 or a CD for $19.95 plus shipping. With either purchase selection customers will want to make friends with their computer, have cardstock and copy paper ready and a full supply of ink to print off as many copies as needed to complete lapbooks and projects for each student. It is designed for grades 3-8 to use independently, but my 1st grader started the project and with a little direction is completing a lapbook too.

For those unfamiliar, lapbooks are a special project made from common office supplies centered on a common theme or topic. Little mini-books/activities are created by the student as they study different aspects of the topic at hand and are eventually displayed in a finished product; the lapbook. The best way to explain, lapbooks is to see them. The screen shots below are from the New Testament Activity Pack.

The New Testament Activity Pack contains 15 mini-book projects for a finished lapbook designed to take the student through the history of the New Testament. In addition to the lapbook, The New Testament Activity Pack contains directions to create “The New Testament News” and an “Armor of God” poster personalized with your child’s photo. Beginning with the Birth of Christ and ending with Paul’s Missionary journeys the projects provide a delight-filled comprehensive educational experience for students. The New Testament Activity Pack is designed to be used as a stand alone unit study experience or supplement to Bible study. All projects are complete; including detailed directions, examples of the finished projects, and Bible verse references for deeper study. The homeschool teacher need only supply basic school supplies and encouragement.

My daughter Micah, age 11, and daughter Sierra age 7 and a half both used the New Testament Activity Pack for my review. I printed off two copies of each of the necessary pages, noting when asked to print some on cardstock and others with regular weight copy paper. After about a half an hour of printing, all the copies were made and I placed them in two different colored file folders for storage. The colored file folders will later serve as the covers of their lapbooks. Since Micah will complete the lapbook project on her own I made a copy of all directions and samples of the mini books for her reference; three hole punched and placed the paperwork in a 1” three ring binder. My total prep time was probably one hour.

Over the past few weeks, we have made several of the mini-books. Micah easily completes one in about 15-20 mins. of time, but Sierra and I take closer to a half hour due to my 40 something brain that seems to suffer from short-term memory loss and cannot remember directions any longer than 10 seconds. Both Micah and I agree the mini-books are beautifully designed; artfully crafted and help even the artistically challenged in the home create a colorful, keepsake treasure filled with well researched information and illustrations.

“I think the activity pack is a lot of fun and it is really easy which makes it even more fun. I like doing crafts like this because you have all the supplies already in the house. I can’t wait until I do the next project and the next one after that, because they are always so pretty when I finish them. It will be nice to look at my finished lapbook at the end of the school year,” said Micah.



To view all that Homeschool in the Woods has to offer visit their website at http://www.homeschoolinthewoods.com/ . Refreshing, informative and meaningful, their projects, timelines, unit studies and new activity packs just may help your homeschool daydreams translate into real school time.