My son loves to play chess and so do several of my young friends so I was very intrigued by the opportunity to review Fun Family Chess from Brain Blox!

As soon as the family chess set arrived, I bought it to our homeschool co-op. There are many chess fans in our co-op so I wanted them to try it out. 

Peter enjoyed playing the game and said that it was fun to play with the dice because it made the game more random and he was able to get his friend Daniel, who hates chess, to play. He also liked that you can play regular chess, too!

Samuel thought it was really fun and like the options. He thought it was a great way to introduce non-chess players to the game. 

Gracie loved all the pretty colors in the booklet and on the dice. She liked the easier version and said it made her want to keep playing. 

Daniel was surprised that he enjoyed it so much. 

Fun Family Chess contains a wooden chess board and 32 wooden chess pieces. In addition, there was a full color chess directions booklets, a pouch to hold chess pieces, two full color reference cards, and a chess cube. 

I love that everything is color-coded so that learning chess is made more simple. 

It is always a delight to review any book in The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls series from Worthy Kids. I reviewed Secret in the Hidden Scrolls: The Shepherd's Stone (Book 5) and Secret in the Hidden Scrolls: The Lion's Roar (Book 6). 

As I was with the first four books in the series, I loved these two books. I read them myself first and was delighted to find that they are accurate biblically and teach a practical Christian life truth in addition to the Bible story. I shared these books with my four-year grandson whose mom read it aloud to him and an eight-year old girl from our homeschool co-op who read it on her own. They both loved the books!

Secret in the Hidden Scrolls: The Shepherd's Stone (Book 5) is from I Samuel in the Old Testament. It's the historical tale of David visiting his brothers and ending up a war hero after fighting the taunting Goliath. David fights for the glory of God with confidence in His power to defeat His enemies. Along the way, Peter and Mary hear some of the songs (psalms) David has composed and see his bravery in facing down a bear. I love the way humor is used in the story, too. 

I had forgotten until I read this little book that David is from Bethlehem. Of course, Bethlehem is the City of David. A good refresher for me!

My favorite part of the book is when David loses 1 of his 99 sheep named Pearl. What does that remind you of? Yes, you got it!  Two of Jesus' parables in one: The Pearl of Great Price and the Shepherd Who Goes Looking for His 1 Sheep. 

Secret in the Hidden Scrolls: The Lion's Roar (Book 6) takes us back in time to Babylon. With the author MJ Thomas' skill, we see the Ishtar Gate, Processional Way, Hanging Gardens, Statue of Marduk, the Euphrates River, a ziggerut, cuneiform writing, and the sparkling blue and yellow tiles decorating buildings all over the city. Lions, dragons, and bulls are everywhere. I was delighted as a homeschool mom at how much history was included.

The story is woven delightfully to let us meet Hannah and her grandfather Shadrach (yes, that one!), Daniel, and the king. We see the power of God to protect Daniel when he is thrown into the lion's den. I loved the story! And I felt like I was a visitor to Babylon meeting Daniel and experiencing his adventure! This book could easily turn into a great unit study. I'm adding it to my Ancient History historical reading list. 

In each adventure story, Mary and Peter must solve the puzzle in a certain amount of days or they will be stuck back in time forever. There are also rules they must follow including not changing the past or revealing that they are from a different time period. The angel Michael appears in every story, too. 

I was so excited to review Progeny Press's Hound of the Baskervilles Study Guide! You see we are reading Hound of the Baskervilles for our Who Dun It? Cozy Mystery High School English Course. It was perfect timing! 

Progeny Press is a great place for homeschoolers to go to get study guides for classic literature written from a Christian perspective. 

Hounds of the Baskervilles Study Guide starts with a synopsis of the book, a brief summary. Next, we learn about the author Conan Doyle. 

We also learn a little background information. Hounds of the Baskervilles is actually a Gothic novel, so we explore that genre. 

​We followed the advice in the Prereading Activities section and looked up the words more, mire, tor, and gorse. I was glad we did because that helped so much with reading and understanding the book. Next, explored Dartmoor in Devon, England on the internet. It is a beautiful place, but easy to see how it can be spooky. 

After reading the first chapter of the book, we started with vocabulary and then learned about Sherlock Holmes' deductive reasoning. This was followed by questions about the chapter. 

I was impressed with the questions about the story that went far beyond rote answers. I loved the analytical questions that really led the students to dig into the story. The analysis questions and Dig Deeper questions were excellent. I felt that we analyzed literature in a deep way in this study guide. 

Equally impressive were all the optional activities at the end of the all the English work. There were science projects, Bible study, history fun, research, art, architecture, type setting, writing, journaling, and discussion questions. This could definitely be a complete unit study!

As a homeschooling mom and homeschool co-op teacher, I feel that this study guide is a treasure! 

Progeny Press is the place homeschoolers can go to get study guides for classic literature written from a Christian perspective. I was so excited to review Progeny Press's Little House on the Prairie Study Guide!

The Little House books are favorites in our house. My older children read these books followed by hours of playacting. 

We started by reading the short synopsis of the book and biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder. We also read the historical background information together and discussed that time in history of Westward Expansion. 

We did not go camping because I prefer to see nature through a window, but we did find and label all the suggested places the guide mentioned like the Mississippi River, the Verdigris River, Fort Gibson, Missouri, Wisconsin, etc. That was great for knowing where the little family was starting out and where they ended up. 

The first English lesson was impressive to me. We found synonyms and explored similes and personification. Then, we answered plot questions. At the end were some questions to help the children go deeper and really think about the book. I really liked everything about how Progeny Press teaches English! Well, of course we had to make the cornbread and Molasses Milk--we love to cook! We tried two more of the eight suggested activities: we wrote a letter from Laura to Grandpa and we listened to some of the suggested music. What fun!

We continued on through the book and study guide which stayed fresh with a variety of creative assignments. I was totally delighted with Little House on the Prairie Study Guide. There is nothing lightweight about what they teach, yet they keep it fun and creative. Very impressive! 

On the title page of What is Your Language  by Debra Leventhal a little boy is packing a suitcase and holding his red passport. 

He is off to make new friends all around the world. 

His first stop is London where he asks some children, "What is your language?" and they respond, "My language is English and this is the way it sounds, "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!"

The pattern continues with him traveling to Germany, France, Russian, Inuktitut, Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, Swahili, and Spanish. Children love patterns like we find in this picture book. 

When he tells the children he is going home, they all respond, "No!" in their native language. 

The final illustration is the little lying under his world flag comforter with his map-of-the-word rug by his bed. Very cute! 

Which brings me to the illustrations. 

Luis lives in Columbia with his wife Diana. He loves to read and buys lots and lots of books.

He has so many books, he has to get rid of some which gives him a great idea. 

He will create a mobile library, transported from town to town on the back of a donkey. Luis and his traveling library go from village to village, reading books to children and letting them take books home to read. 

Books, biblio in Spanish, and donkey, burro in Spanish led to the book's title, Biblioburro by Jeanette Winter. 

Beyond the charming story, this picture book is filled with charming illustrations that children love! The pictures are bright and cheery! 

The story of one man's outreach to his fellow Colombians is delightful. Your little lambs will want to hear it again and again. 

Home School in the Woods is one of my favorite go-to places for history fun! I was so excited to review Project Passport World History Studies: Middle Ages, a digital product that comes with hours and hours of learning fun!

Since I had done another Project Passport (you can read my review of Project Passport World History Studies: Renaissance and Reformation here), I knew what to expect. 

We made our scrapbook, started the luggage folder, and put our Scrapbook of sights together to fill later. That's how I will start all the Passport Projects we do in the future too. It just helps me to feel organized and ready to work. 

I always like to start with reading a few good books aloud. Otto of the Silver Hand by Howard Pyle and A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver by by EL Konigsburg would be perfect to read aloud while we worked on the project. 

Since this is a digital product, we printed what we needed and read lots of information right on the laptop. 

While we listened to the audios, we did all our coloring projects. After we listened to the audio, we worked on creative writing projects, played games, and put projects together. This routine worked really well for us. 

​Let me give you an example. 

Stop #4 is Called Everyday Life--The Family
We learn about Feudalism in the Text Stop #4
We listen to the Audio Tour: "Interview Among the Classes
While we listened to the audios we colored for our project
After listening, we wrote up 2 newspaper articles: "Arranged Marriage Announcements" and "A New Castle is Erected" 
We also put the Medieval Structure of Classes together

The whole thing took us about an hour. 

What I love best about this Passport Project: 

• It goes beyond the basics of the Middle Ages to things I consider very important like classical education, trades, pilgrimages, icon art, mystery plays, Gregorian chants, monasteries, panel painting, Alfred the Great, tapestries, Battle of Hastings, the Magna Charta, and cathedrals
• Making the Robin Hood Cap and Wreath/Dressing Medieval
• Building a Castle out of Sugar Cubes
• The Little Jousting Paper Game
• The Trade Goods Activity so we could learn who traded what 
• Stained Glass Art Activity
• Creating an Illumination Activity
• Making a Catapult
• Journey thru the Middle Ages Game
• Stop #19

Stop #19 is my favorite stop with the Code of Chivalry, Steps from being a Page to a Knight project, and making a Coat of Arms. Hey, I'm just a romantic at heart. Knights, castles, fair maidens, dragon slayers...

What fun to study the USA with Crafty Classroom. We were so excited to download   our USA Activity Bundle Pack. The check-out and process of downloading was so easy. The USA  Activity Bundle Pack includes 3 e-books: USA State by State Activity Notebook, USA State Bird Art Cards, and USA 50 State Mazes. 

As soon as we downloaded our USA Activity Bundle Pack, we immediately got to work printing the first pages we wanted to use. We started with our home state and the states closest to us: Florida, Alabama, and Georgia. We downloaded their pages from the USA State by State Activity Notebook. We also printed the mazes from each of those states from USA 50 State Mazes. Finally, we printed mockingbird page from the USA State Bird Art Cards e-book.  

This is how we put it all together in a geography lesson. We started with a large USA map and found all three states. We found the capitals: Tallahassee, Montgomery, and Alabama. We found rivers and lakes, cities we'd heard of and cities we hadn't. We spent a lot time exploring the large map. 

Next, we read a book on Florida from the library and filled our our Florida notebook page and completed the map. We decided to make our mockingbird (Florida state bird) art card next, coloring in our bird with colored pencils. We decided to make a list of all the places we had visited in Florida and another list of all the places we wanted to visit in Florida. Then we made a citrus fruit salad with Florida grapefruit, oranges, and tangelos. We followed the same format for Georgia (peach cobbler) and Alabama (banana pudding). 

I love historical fiction, so I was so excited to read The Heart Changer by Jarm Del Boccio, a middle-grade (ages 7 -12) story set in Bible times, on my Kindle.  Knowing she is a fellow teacher at SchoolhouseTeachers.com made me even more excited! 

I read the book first on my Kindle. I read my Kindle each evening before I fall asleep and found this book easy to use on my tablet. I was so nervous when Miriam was kidnapped and so sad about her being separated from her family. You see, right away I was swept up emotionally in the story set in the Middle East. I loved Miriam who trusted the Lord, yet struggled with doubts sometimes. It was exciting to learn about the workings of an Assyrian household. The household was headed by Naaman, a commander in the Assyrian Army. On a raid through Israel, Miriam is captured and taken home to be a servant girl to the Commander's wife. She leaves behind her loving family in Israel to become part of a wealthy Assyrian household. When the Commander comes down with leprosy, Miriam tells him about the prophet Elisha who is able to heal people with the power of God. Well, you know the story from II Kings, but Jarm brings it alive in a fresh way to her readers. 

The story moved quickly. I loved reading it. Beyond adventure, there was spiritual application. Miriam grew closer to her Creator King, the God of Israel. The book was encouraging and inspiring. 

We also read it together and found it just as exciting. Everyone liked it! 

As a homeschooling mom, I see historical fiction as a treasure that brings other times and places alive for my children. I love finding excellent works that will add to my children's understanding of ancient times, especially biblical history. This book is a perfect addition to our home school library! 

"What a beautiful book!" I gushed as I looked through His Mercy Endures Forever Psalm 136 by Kathleen DeJong from Reformed Free Publishing Association. 

I showed it to my grandson Rusty. 

"Will you read it to me right now?" he asked politely. We sat down and read it together. It was the third time I had read the book, but I was thrilled to read God's beautiful Word and enjoy lovely artwork all the way until the end. Rusty loved it, too. 

His Mercy Endureth Forever Psalm 136 by Kathleen DeJong is a beautifully illustrated picture book. The words on the pages are straight from God's Song Book, or the Psalms of The Holy Bible. 

This psalm is unique in that it has a refrain after every phrase. "O Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!" is the opening line followed by the refrain, "His mercy endureth forever." 

"O give thanks unto the God of Gods" followed by the beautiful refrain, "His love endureth forever!" 

On and on the psalm/song goes speaking of God being worthy of praise, doing wonders, making the heavens, bringing Israel out of Egypt, parting the Red Sea, leading the people through the wilderness, giving the Israelites their land, and feeding all living things. After each exultation of God's amazingness, the refrain resounds: "His Mercy Endureth Forever!" 

All Christians need to read this picture book, to look at the beautiful illustrations as they read the inspiring words that pierce our hearts, reminding us of the power and majesty of a Holy God who chose to show mercy to us because He loves us. How thrilling!

I just love learning about the different states so I was excited to receive Chronicles of  ... State History Notebook by Gladys Whitted from Hewitt Homeschooling Resources. 

This research notebook is perfect for a third-eighth graders. We wanted to study our home state of Florida so we checked books out from the library and also used the internet to gather information. 

Called "Chronicles of .... State History Notebook," I believe that title is misleading. It covers so much more than state history. I loved it! 

The worksheets are divided up into the following sections: 

• Symbols, Emblems
• Geogeography, Population
• Industries, Jobs
• History, Government
• Misc, Fild Trips, Photographs

My children always enjoy drawing or coloring the flag, state bird, state seal, state tree, and state flower. This time, though, we printed a photograph of the Florida flag from the internet. A big surprise to me was a page of sheet music to write the notes and lyrics of the state song. What a great idea! We also drew the first of many Florida maps to put the state capital on, as well as the city where we live. Other maps included several natural resources maps, climate map, relief map, counties map, and state border map. 

It was nice to look at jobs and industry in Florida. We focused on agriculture, tourism, citrus industry, and space. 

The history section focused on state and local history, Native American tribes, immigration, and religious history. Naturals disasters are many when we study Florida. We looked at famous hurricanes! 

There are field trips which are wonderful. I really like to go on lots of field trips when we study Florida, so I loved all the field trips pages which are divided by historical sites, museums, cities, and misc. There's even a place to list resources used at the end. 

Memoria Press is one of my favorite publishers, so I couldn't wait to explore The Story of the 13 Colonies & The Great Republic Set and 200 Questions about American History they sent me to review. 

I didn't realize how much was in the set for teaching American History to fifth through eighth graders. The Story of the Thirteen Colonies and The Great Republic is the textbook with an accompanying Student Guide and Teacher Guide. There is also another set: 200 Questions about American History Student and the accompanying Teacher Guide. Both student guides are consumable, but you can use the teacher guides over and over again. 

The Story of the Thirteen Colonies and The Great Republic are classic books combined in one volume. Written by H. A. Guerber in 1899 and edited by Meoria Press, this book moves quickly from the landing of vikings in Newfoundland to the Spanish-American War. 

Each chapter is short and full of information. The writing is clear and concise. 

Now, I have been teaching American History to my children and in homeschool co-ops since 1991. Plus I read all kinds of American history resources biographies, living books, and textbooks for fun. I honestly didn't expect to learn anything when I sat down to read the entire book. I was pleasantly shocked to learn little details I never knew before such as: 

• Leif the Lucky went home in 1012 because of Native attacks
• Columbus' wife's father worked for Henry the Navigator and wrote about his voyages, so Columbus had access to that information
• It was in Cuba that Columbus and his men were introduced to tobacco
• The reason that Frances Drake sailed around the world was to avoid the Spanish who were laying in wait for him in the Atlantic, so he turned the other way, crossing the Pacific and returning back to England
• Captain John Smith sent a letter to the company sponsoring them to sent blacksmiths, masons, carpenters, farmers, and wood cutters, instead of gentlemen
• Between 1630 and 1640, over 20 thousand folks traveled from England to New England, creating 50 little villages and towns
• The first person to speak out against invasive search warrants in Boston was James Otis

Now, that may seem boring to you, but I was super-excited to learn these little details. 

​We set up our homeschooling plan to follow the suggestions by Memoria Press. 

Life with Dog is a family movie from Mill Creek Entertainment.

Corbin Bernsen does an amazing job portraying a bitter man who has lost his wife to a hit and run accident.

I was impressed with Corbin Bernsen's acting in the movie and then found out that he wrote, directed, and helped produce the  movie! My family enjoys watching him in old Psych television reruns where he plays Shaun's father.  

Anyway, back to the movie. Joe Bigler, the main character, is struggling with depression after his wife dies unexpectedly. He is determined to find the driver of the truck that hit his wife. His temper gets the best of him in several scenes and he ends up being hauled off to jail twice. Still, you have compassion for this angry man who has lost the love of his life. 

The movie was excellent as far as acting, settings, scenes, and camera angels. It was very professional. 

I watched it with two adult children and two younger children. Let me be honest. It was a sad movie. I kept waiting for it to get bright and sunny, as did the younger children. 

However, Life with Dog is an amazing look at grief and how it turns you inside out. He has conversations with his dead wife and I explained to the children that it's hard to realize your spouse is gone so widows and widowers often continue to talk to their spouse after they die. In fact, it reminded me of a time after my momma died and I was waiting for Daddy to wake up from a nap. He called for Mom! I sobbed like a baby. My sorrow mingled with his. Watching this movie brought back sad memories for me, but I'm glad I saw the movie. ​

It reminded me of the process of grief and was an honest look at the process of grief. 

It was also an honest look at those who have no hope in Jesus. Joe Bigler doesn't believe in Jesus even though his wife was a devoted Christian. His daughter has found faith in Christ, too and tries to share that faith with Joe in the movie. She even sends her pastor to see him. 

I was so excited when my Hey Mama! Homeschool Planner for the 2019/2020 Year by Gene Suerez arrived from The Old Schoolhouse(R)! 

I love planners and this planner has it all. From transcripts to attendance records, from goal sheets to curriculum lists, and from calendars to devotionals from Gena. 

​We can all use help getting organized! However, some planners are so big, they seem overwhelming. My first homeschool planner was a 4" thick notebook with tons of pages and sections. I could barely lift it. When I saw the Hey Mama! 2019-2020 Schoolhouse Planner, I thought, "Oh, no, it's so thin and light--what did they leave out?" 

I'm happy to report that nothing was left out! 

We have planning pages galore!

It opens with directions on writing a transcript followed by a transcript page and skills and courses checklist. 

The next section is calendar section which opens with 3 one page year calendars: 2019, 2020, and 2021. This is followed by a terrific section: a room for monthly notes (e.g. "July 2019 Notes"), a full 2 page calendar (e.g. July 2019 calendar on 2 pages). This section covers July 2019 to July 2020. 

The next section is a series of 2-page weekly calendars with sections for each child. Wow! I love this section! This is the longest section of the planner which will be the most helpful to me. 

The child section follows where there is a section for each child with a page for notes, another page for curriculum planning, an attendance sheet, a books read list, yearly goals page, first semester page, and second semester goals. This is my FAVORITE SECTION because I am a big-picture person and I love to make big-picture goals. 

There is another thing in the planner that is my FAVORITE THING! I love all the blogs from Gena! She writes weekly in the Homeschool with Heart Blog where I find myself challenged, inspired, relieved, and encouraged. To find her practical encouragement sprinkled throughout the planner is such a blessing! Wow! I am so excited! 

Since this planner has everything I need, but isn't too heavy to carry around, I plan on using it all year long. It's just perfect for me. It would be just perfect for you, too.