Soli Deo Gloria Resources: Young Hearts Longing for God Bible Study

"Educating children for God's glory" is the motto of Solio Deo Gloria Resources. The company offers unit studies and Bible studies for children in grades K-12. As a member of TOS Homeschool Crew, our family received a digital copy of Soli Deo Gloria's "Young Hearts Longing for God: A Pre-inductive Psalm Study" in exchange for this review.

Young Hearts Longing for God: A Pre-inductive Psalm Study written by Kim Kargbo, is designed for students who can read alone, but may not be ready for disciplined independent Bible study. According to the author, this is typically grades 3-5, but a recommendation is also given to utilize the curriculum through 8th grade. My third grade daughter, Sierra and my 8th grade daughter, Micah both made use of the study for the purposes of this review.

Inductive Bible studies utilize the power of color and shapes to identify key elements within the text. For example, the lesson studying Psalm 95 instructs the student to underline all the names for God in red, while the lesson on Psalm 36 has the student underlining attributes of God in orange, drawing a star over the sentence which tells the end result for a wicked person, etc. Using color and pictures is much more engaging than dissecting sentences in a more typical manner.

Young Hearts Longing for God has all scripture used typed on the top of each worksheet page. The author uses the New International Version of the Bible. Below the text are a series of questions, some of them simply instructions for underlining, etc., which help the reader draw meaning from the passage. The final step for each lesson is to answer a question in a journal. The author recommends keeping a spiral notebook for journaling exercises. She has designed her study to last an entire school year with the student spending one week studying each Psalm.

"Again, you may use your discretion in this regard, but a word of caution--taking longer than one week per Psalm may cause the child to become bored and lose interest, therefore not gaining all that could be gained from the study", says Kargbo.

I found the curriculum to be very user friendly, well organized and easy to implement. I simply printed out the digital copy, read the one page of instructions for use and we were off and running. Sierra required lots of hands on time with me in order to successfully make use of the study. Some of the concepts were difficult for her to grasp at first, but with discussion she genuinely engaged with the study and enjoyed it. Micah, grade 8, used the study completely independent of me as she does with most of her studies.

When asked for their opinions of Young Hearts Longing for God, the girls had lots of glowing comments.

"It helps you to think about what each verse means instead of just reading it. Sometimes I don't stop to think about the true meaning of a verse or I don't understand it. (when reading the Bible). This helped me focus on that", said Micah.

"I liked the journaling because it helped me think more and apply the Psalm to my life. It made all the verses more relevant", she added.

"The colored pencils helped me understand the meanings of different things", said Sierra, age 9. "It helped me understand what we were doing."

"I liked the journal too because at the end of the year I can look back and see all the things I learned", Sierra continued.

When asked for any final comments, Sierra added, "I also liked having the verses on the paper. It made it easier to have them right there".

To purchase Soli Deo Gloria's Young Hearts Longing For God: Pre-Inductive Bible Study of the Psalms or any of their other products simply visit their website at http://www.solideogloriaresources.com/ The study sells for $16.00 plus minimal shipping on the site. A sample can be viewed by clicking here.

The Schoolhouse Planner Modules--June 2010

There is nothing like a planner to make a homeschool Mom start to dream. The Old Schoolhouse Magazine offers one of the most comprehensive planners I have seen in 15 years of home education. You can read my complete opinion of this amazing planner by clicking here.

Although the 2009-2010 planner's service has come to an end the unit study based Schoolhouse Planner modules can still bring new life to your homeschool.

I LOVE unit studies. At one time, my homeschool support group referred to our family as "the unit study family". If you are unfamiliar with the term, a unit study is a organized effort to incorporate all subject areas of learning around one central topic or theme. Unit studies to me are like a big educational party filled with activities, recipes, great books to read and arts and crafts to make. They are especially wonderful with younger aged children who don't require a lot of structured learning, but really just need to catch the "fever" of the learning process.

I received the June 2010 Module (unit study) designed to accompany the 2009-2010 Schoolhouse Planner for free in exchange for this review. This module titled "Travel the World" is designed to introduce children of all ages to the study of world geography.

My children just completed a year long study of world geography so we did not use this module for this review. I wish however, I had latched on to "Travel the World" last year at this time. All of my planning and prep work for the World Geography co-op class I taught would have been done for me. "Travel the World" is filled with well written, concise informational text, poetry, fill in the blank activities, word scramble, word search, crossword and rebus puzzles, coloring pages which include world and continent maps, manuscript and cursive copywork, a high school expansion section with literature and activity suggestions, recipes, resource list and my personal favorite, answer keys. A section titled "Lapbook Beginnings" is included with several lapbook elements to be used as starting points for families wishing to develop a geography lapbook to chronicle their time with the study.

"Travel the World" was written especially for the homeschool family. Homeschool teachers can literally download the 52 page curriculm to their computer, open it up, print a few relevant pages and teach. It is a unit study homeschool teacher's dream come true and even strict textbook families will not be able to resist its charm and ease of use. To be able to take all children within your home on a learning adventure for a mere $7.95 is a treasure.

I have seen and participated in writing a lot of unit studies over the years and this is one of the best. It can be used as a brief break from routine studies or as one of a collection of units for an outstanding school year. Because of the variety of resources available through this digital download, families may choose to spend a full week using "Travel the World" exclusively or simply sample parts for several weeks. Since no two families look or school alike the flexibility and ease of use of this module make it a perfect homeschool product.

For more great Planner modules and products visit The Old Schoolhouse Store at http://www.theoldschoolhousestore.com/index.php?main_page=index

Kregel Publishing Books-Andrea Carter and the Trouble with Treasure

Andrea Carter and the Trouble with Treasure by Susan K. Marlowe is an adventure story set near Fresno, California during the time of the California Gold Rush. Thirteen year old Andi Carter returns home for a fun filled summer vacation from Miss Whittaker's Academy, a finishing school for girls located in San Francisco. She is anxious to re-connect with old friends, family and her favorite horse, Taffy. Andi, a true tom-boy is conflicted with the responsibility and expectations of a growing up in a time when women were limited in their roles.



The adventure begins innocently enough as Andi, big brother Mitch and friends Jenny and Cory take off on horseback for a 2-week camping and gold prospecting trip. The group believes they are destined for hours of riding, fishing and panning for gold. Unfortunately, innocent mishaps lead to bigger trouble and Andi and friends faith, courage and survival skills are tested in ways they could never have imagined.



Themes of adventure, courage, bravery, self-less love and Godly character are present throughout this 17 chapter novel targeted to tweens. Although Andrea (Andi) Carter is a female main character, most boys will enjoy the plot line and be drawn in by the action. Andrea Carter and the Trouble with Treasure is the 5th book written by Marlowe for her Circle C Adventure series. Each book is available on Kregel Publications website, http://www.kregel.com/ for $7.99 for a paperback copy. I received a free copy of the book in exchange for this review.



I read this little adventure story during a 12 hour car ride to the beach. I thoroughly enjoyed it and was occassionally surprised by plot twists and turns. As I read Marlowe's account of 13 year Andil I easily remembered the conflicted emotions and responsibilities brought about by this age. My daughter, Micah just celebrated her 13th birthday and could imagine her involved in the plot. I can't wait to give Micah this book to read and enjoy.



Andrea Carter and the Trouble with Treasure will make a great summer read for any child aged 10 and older. Due to the frightening nature of some plot twists I would reccommend pre-reading the book for younger children. There is also a 24 page supplementary unit study guide available for free on the company website. The guide covers:

• vocabulary
• Discussion Questions
• A Closer Look section for learning more about maps, California Gold Rush and Annie Oakley
• A Nature Connection section to learn more about mountain lions and rattlesnakes
• A Just for Fun section
• Helpful weblinks for "rabbit trail" studies of the Sierra Nevadas, the California Gold Rush, etc.

Click here to view the guide.

Kregel Publications is a Christian publishing company dedicated since 1949 to meet the needs of evangelical readers. You can read more about Kregel Publications and all the books they offer at their website.

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

Virginia Soaps and Scents

What happens when a homeschool project becomes a favorite family hobby? For the Spargur family of rural southeastern Virginia it becomes a family business. Three years ago, Roy and Richelle Spargur, parents of their homeschool family of 11, enjoyed their soap making project suggested in a unit study on Colonial Life in Virginia so much they knew they had to continue making soap as a family. They launched their hand crafted soap making business, Virginia Soaps and Scents at the Virginia State homeschool convention in June of 2008, where they caught the attention of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine publishers Paul and Gena Suarez. A review of Virginia Soaps and Scents products appeared in the Spring 2009 issue of the magazine catapulting their company to national recognition and exposure.

My four daughters and I adore bath and body products. When I received my free sample of soaps from Virginia Soaps and Scents to review I couldn’t wait to test them out and share them with my family. We are very particular about scents and quality in our bath and body products and on occasion can spend hours in chain stores searching for just the right selection. We were able to use the Ginger Lime shampoo bar, Coconut Lemongrass, Fresh Orange and Oatmeal, Milk & Honey soaps. We found the soaps to hold a lovely light fragrance, which unfortunately, in my opinion, did not linger. I love fragrance so much that I found this aspect just a tad disappointing. I was very skeptical about using a bar of soap as shampoo, but too intrigued not to give it a try.

The shampoo bar is applied to wet hair and lathers remarkably well. Its’ light scent is refreshing and with a quick rinse all soap residue and dirt is removed from hair and scalp. My hair was left literally squeaky clean, but since it tends to be a bit on the dry side I felt still needed a touch of conditioner. As I placed the bar on the soap dish I realized what a benefit a shampoo bar would be for travel. It is lightweight and compact for packing plus eliminates all issues airlines have with liquids. The shampoo bar is also recommended on the company website for use in camping.

When asked for comments our family test marketing team had similar experiences to share. “It made my hair slightly dry, but my scalp felt really clean”, said Sammi age 18. “It was fun to use because it was different from regular shampoo. It didn’t have a strong scent, but I thought it smelled clean which is the scent I want for my hair”.

“It was easy to use and it made my skin feel really soft after using it", commented Micah, age 12. “It would be really handy to take to swimming lessons, I think, because you could pack it in your bag to use as your shampoo and conditioner and it wouldn’t take up much space”, she added.

Virginia Soaps and Scents soap bars contain an olive oil base not detergent. According to a company brochure provided in the packaging their product is defined as “real soap” because it consists of oil and water bound together with sodium hydroxide. “Basically, a fatty acid (the oil) combined with an alkali (the sodium hydroxide) creates a salt (the soap.) The alkali is neutralized in the reaction; leaving a cleansing, moisturizing compound we call ‘soap’”. Almost all Virginia Soaps and Scents products contain olive and/or soy oil for skin conditioning and coconut oil for lathering.

The Spargur Family promises all of their products are hand crafted and explains on their website what they mean by the term. “At Virginia Soaps and Scents we take the term literally. It means we don’t buy soap, lotion and lip balm from a supplier and slap our label on it. We have developed our own soap recipes which are poured into Roy’s handmade poplar soap molds. Roy makes all the tools used in cutting and planing the soap, as well as printing all the labels and literature. All of our products are crafted right from scratch and are tested by use in our own home..”

Virginia Soaps and Scents products are sold in specialty stores in Virginia, craft fairs and homeschool conventions, but most non-Virginians will want to take advantage of the convenience of on-line shopping at the company’s web store, http://www.va-soaps.com/.
Payments are made via PayPal. Prices range from $3.95 for an individual bar of gourmet soap to $39.95 for the Virginia Sampler, a sample set of all the bath and body products offered by the company delivered in a wooden crate. The set includes soaps, baby powder, body butter, lip balm, and laundry soap. Shipping charges are added to orders at the time of check out.

From lip balms to laundry detergent Virginia Soaps and Scents has a lot to offer the homeschool family in search of pure, wholesome toiletries. Their reasonable pricing and quality standards make them stand out from ordinary bath and body products. As you use their soap, shampoo or lotions you will experience the joy of cleanliness while knowing you have the best home education can offer; a “delight directed family business” born from a love of working together.

A Journey Through Learning

Fourteen years ago when I began my homeschool journey I was always the odd Mom out. Most of the families in my homeschool support group were lovers of standard textbook curriculum. We were not. I loved the concept of the unit study and chose them as our primary source of learning. I continually searched for non-traditional ways to process our learning adventures and when I enthusiastically explained about them to friends I was usually rewarded with blank stares of disbelief and confusion. More times than not I would hear comments such as “Oh, I’m just not creative enough to do all of that!" or "I could never handle all that mess in my house”.
A Journey through Learning is a company designed to help those less adventuresome families who think “they can’t” when it comes to unit study learning. A Journey Through Learning currently sells 8 different prepared unit studies for families to try covering history and other social studies topics. All unit studies are designed to teach children in grades 2-7 or 8. In addition to unit studies, A Journey Through Learning offers 47 lapbooks complete with study guides designed for students pre-school- grade 7.

If the term LapbookTM is a new one for you it is time you became acquainted. I learned of LapbooksTM a few years ago and quickly fell in love with the idea. Lapbooks consist of a file folder bent into a new form filled with little mini booklets all designed to summarize information in varying ways regarding a topic studied. Lapbooks have an artsy-crafty feel, but serve as a practical educational tool. They work especially well with unit study families as a way to capture all the varied information related to the topic being studied.

A Journey Through Learning e-mailed three lapbooks in e-book format for our family to try. I chose to dive into the Autumn Lapbook with Study Guide first. My test victim, I mean student, was my 2nd grader, Sierra and she has loved every minute of the study. Together we have read through most of the background information provided and chose which mini-books to create as suggested. We began the study trying to incorporate her Kindergarten brother, but quickly discovered that the age suggestions of 2-7th grade were right on target. This lapbook was a bit too challenging for my Kindergarten student.

Preparation consisted of printing off the lapbook pages in their entirety and then placing them in a file folder. A Journey Through Learning suggests putting all pages in a three ring binder, but we were satisfied with using a file folder. Topics covered within the Autumn lapbook include Fall Equinox, calendar of fall months, science of leaf colors, foods of autumn, fall holidays, vocabulary words associated with fall, nature study activities for the fall, migrating birds, and a few jokes and puzzles for fun.

Each day of study is spent reading through the background information provided and then making a small booklet to reinforce the material learned. For example our second day with the the Autumn Lapbook we read a brief article regarding the Fall Equinox. We looked up the date on our family calendar and discussed in great detail the amount of daylight versus darkness. Next, Sierra created a two little booklets one reviewing the fall equinox and another of small calendar pages. We marked important dates on the calendar pages like her sister's birthday and Sierra's birthday. As we placed the little booklets into the file folder delight settled in Sierra's eyes as the vision of a finished product began to unfold.

A Journey Through Learning states their purpose is to "create delight filled learning experiences". Sierra smiled as she gazed at her lapbook and said, "Can we show this at the Project Fair at the end of the year?" "Absolutely", I said, taking note that this experience was not only delight filled, but memory making all in one.

A Journey Through Learning offers their lapbooks as digital downloads for $13.00, CD’s for $14.00 or printed copies for $21.00. Study guides and other useful suggestions for further topical study are included in each lapbook purchase. Full descriptions and sample pages can be viewed on the company’s website at www.ajourneythroughlearning.com

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.

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.

Five in A Row--Volume 3

I adore summer time. I love the ease of life, warm temperatures, and relaxed attitude everyone seems to share. When I was young I spent most of my summer days absorbed in a good book. To this day, in my mind, summer always equates with long, lazy days filled with endless reading adventures and imagination.

As I first considered home education I had romantic ideas of what it would look like. I imagined it allowing my family to keep the spirit of summer year round. I wanted my children’s childhood memories to be of long, lazy days filled with endless reading adventures and imagination.

I first laid eyes on Five in Row, 9 years ago and knew I had found a kindred spirit in author Jane Claire Lambert. According to Lambert, Five in a Row studies were “created to nurture, teach and inspire young learners. Each story is chosen to delight your children and continue to build the special intimacy that comes from learning together and sharing good books. Snuggle close and enjoy a great story as you keep on making memories for a lifetime”. Sigh…. Can you not feel the summer breezes?

Five in a Row is a perfect way to introduce quality children’s literature to young students. The premise of the curriculum is simple, but very rewarding. Parents and children choose a classic children’s story to read five days in a row. After reading the story aloud, time is spent exploring different academic areas through various activities that link back to the literature read. The joy of Five in a Row stems from its flexibility and ease of use.

Five in a Row offers curriculum for children aged 2-12 and older. Each volume of the curriculum retails for about $24.95, making it an extremely affordable resource. Before Five in a Row contains 23 mini-units for children aged 2-4. Five in Row, designed for students aged 5-8, is available in three volumes. Beyond Five in a Row, making use of chapter books, is written for children aged 8-12 and Above and Beyond Five in a Row offers the same high quality literature based learning experience for students 12 and older. In addition, Five in a Row Digital offers a multitude of products designed to accompany the three volume Five in a Row studies for 5-8 year olds. Samples, full product descriptions, a FIAR message board as well as helpful articles regarding home education are all available on the Five in A Row website, at http://www.fiveinarow.com/

My first grade daughter Sierra and I happily tested Volume 3, the newest edition to the Five in a Row curriculum for 5-8 year olds. After reading through the brief yet informative 12 page introduction/teacher’s notes, Sierra and I chose to start with the third title listed in the curriculum The Wild Horses of Sweetbriar by Natalie Kinsey-Warnock. I intended to spend five full days with this book, but due to Sierra's enthusiastic interest in the subject matter we completed all of the activities in just three days spending between 45 mins.- one hour each day.

Day 1 we read the picture book and completed two social studies activities by discussing the realities of living on an island in isolation and learning a brief history of Assateague and Chincoteague islands off the coast of Virginia and their connection to wild horses. In addition, Sierra spent time coloring a small circle disk, provided as part of the 114+ page text of the curriculum, and placed it on a large map of the United States we had in our home. This activity introduced U.S. Geography to Sierra and allowed her to identify a location for this delightful work of historical fiction.

Day 2 began with another read of the book followed up with a language arts activity; discussion of similes and identifying those present in the text of the book. We finished day 2 with a discussion of triangular element of design looking at one of the books illustrations to identify it. Next, Sierra was asked to draw a picture making use of this design concept. She eagerly drew horses running on a beach with a hill behind them and a little tree at the top of the hill. I noted she really understood the design concept and worked very hard to copy it in her artwork.

Day 3 of our adventure began with a final reading of the story. Following the story, we completed a math activity; counting by 10’s since there had been 10 horses on the island. Next we dove into some science activities. We read the curriculum’s description of the terms flora and fauna and identified the various species of each in the books illustrations. I chose to have Sierra copy the words Flora and Fauna onto index cards and then illustrate them to help her remember their meaning. In addition, we spent time discussing the concepts of "weathering" and "erosion". I was amazed that Sierra, when asked a very specific question in regards to the story and the concept of erosion, remembered the exact words spoken by the father in the story. His words explained why the island was now separated from the main land which was evidence of the realities of eroison. Sierra's recollection demonstrated an important aspect of reading a story five days in a row, or in our case three. Repitition breeds familiarity with a story and words allowing children to truly absorb information and learn from the lessons it teaches.

When asked her opinion of Five in a Row Sierra said, “I liked it. I like how we can learn about the stories and put the story on the map. I liked the activities a lot. I liked the activity where I drew a picture of the island.” (Art: Line of Design, pg. 28)

As I was jotting down her thoughts Sierra suddenly came to life and began saying, “I can’t believe we are really near Virginia where the wild horses live! It’s all I can think about! I hope we can go there some day.”

I loved that! My seven year old daughter remembered her Day 1 geography lesson even though it simply consisted of a brief discussion and placing her story disk on a map. During our discussion we naturally found our state and noted how far away it was from the wild horses of Chincoteague. Her expression of interest over what she learned occurred a week after the initial lesson. Gentle instruction surrounded by a delightful children’s story spoke to Sierra and helped create in her a sense of wonder and excitement over what she learned. That is Five in a Row!