Book Reviews

Product Review—Reading Kingdom

May 29, 2020 by NZ Filbruns 1 Comment

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in
exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I
compensated in any other way.

When we were given the opportunity to review Reading Kingdom again, Mr. Imagination and Little Miss were pretty excited to use it. Little Miss has been wanting to learn to read, and Mr. Imagination remembered having fun with it a couple of years ago, the first time we reviewed this product.

Reading Kingdom uses a variety of activities to help children learn to read fluently. Each lesson introduces one word. In some lessons, the child must pick the word out from several choices of similar words, several times. Next, she must look at several words with blanks in place of some letters and choose which one would make the word being studied, then fill in the missing letters by typing them from the keyboard. After that, the word is used in various sentences, which are read to the child, who also needs to choose the proper words to make the sentence. After clicking on the words, he/she has to type them, too. Finally, at the end of the level, the child gets to read a whole story! In earlier lessons, the focus is more on learning the letters that make the word. For example, here are several activities from the lesson in which “cat” is taught.

After a week or so, I saw that Mr. Imagination was pretty bored with Reading Kingdom. He is a fluent reader now, and his abilities are way beyond this program’s usefulness for him, so I let him quit. Little Miss, however, is loving it still. She’s been using it an average of 3-4 days a week through the review period (about 5 weeks, I think), and still enjoying it. In fact, it’s a great incentive for her to get her other work done, so she can do Reading Kingdom for 20 minutes! She often does two sessions a day, which is all the program allows, although I allow her to stop whenever she wants to. She enjoys getting to do computer work like the older children, and the activities are just games to her, for the most part. She was quite frustrated at first as she learned how to click in the right places and where the keys are on the keyboard. She struggled with correlating the lower case letters shown her on the screen with the capital letters on the keyboard, but it helped that a picture of the keyboard often popped up with both capital and lower case letters on the keys and the correct one highlighted. I still did have to help her find the correct one for awhile, but for the last couple of weeks she’s been doing great.

Each child has his/her own dashboard, reached by clicking on their name on the main dashboard. The child is to click on a picture of an owl to continue with the program. You can also check their progress by scrolling down a little; here is the chart showing where Little Miss is with it. By clicking on the title of one of the sections, you can see the individual lessons, and also use this area to redo a previous lesson.

Now, the real question is, does the program work? Will it teach a child to read? I think it can. I know for sure that Little Miss is much more aware of individual words on a page; she was picking out words in the Bible one evening last week as we were reading together. I was pointing to the words as we went, and she learned to recognize a few, quickly, which she had never done before. I haven’t spent enough time watching her do her Reading Kingdom lessons to know if she can read all the words she has been introduced to, but the one time I did stop by her and check, she was able to read the sentence fairly easily. One thing I noticed that she’s picked up from it is the skill of moving from left to right on a page, which is quite important for reading well.

Would I buy a subscription to this program? I might, if it was a matter of needing something educational for my young child to do and I was overwhelmed and not able to spend the time to teach her to read. For children with no major learning issues (I have dealt with severe dyslexia, so that colors all my experiences with this sort of program), it would likely result in a child being able to read fairly well. I don’t see it building a very strong foundation in phonics, though; it seems more like sight reading to me. That being said, though, awhile after we used it two years ago, I introduced “ing” to one of the boys who had been using Reading Kingdom, thinking he had never seen it and would not know what it said. He easily read it, and when I expressed surprise, he told me he had learned it with Reading Kingdom! That showed me that this system can work. Maybe I just think it’s too lazy on my part! Anyway, I’m going to allow Little Miss to continue using it as long as she enjoys it, and see how she progresses. It sure helps me out!

Check it out for yourself! If you go to this page, hover over the Resources tab and you’ll see several sample lessons. Go through a couple of those, and see if this program would be a good fit for your child. Also, click on the image below to see what 31 other families have to say about it. Three families have also used ASD Reading, developed for children on the autism spectrum, from the same company. I always enjoy reading other people’s reviews after I have posted my own.

Book Review—Avalanche

May 21, 2020 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

About the Book

Book: Avalanche
Author: M. Liz Boyle
Genre: Christian YA
Release Date: September 27, 2019

When fifteen-year-old Marlee Stanley joins her two sisters and the sons of their family friends on a secretive hike in the middle of the night, she is thrilled and nervous. Battling her conscience, she prays that the hike will go flawlessly and that they will return to the safety of their campsite before their parents wake. The start of the hike is beautiful and wonderfully memorable.

In a white flash so fast that Marlee can barely comprehend what has happened, an avalanche crashes into their path. Buried in packed snow, Marlee is forced to remember survival tips learned from her dad and her own research.

This group of friends, ages eleven through seventeen, is about to endure bigger challenges than many adults have experienced. Digging out of the packed snow is only the first of many challenges. Injuries, cold, hunger, fatigue, aggressive wildlife and tensions in the group make this a much bigger adventure than they ever imagined. As the kids strive to exhibit Christian values throughout the trials, they learn numerous life lessons. But they are nearly out of food, and their energy is waning quickly. How will they ever reach help?

My Thoughts:

My boys love stories of outdoor adventures, especially if they include survival in some sort of emergency situation. When I saw Avalanche, by M. Liz Boyle, available for review, I thought my crew might enjoy it. We read a different book by the same title several years ago, and they really liked it, so I took a chance on a YA book (I rarely read them because I don’t like most of them) and requested it.

Marlee narrates the story. She and her sisters, Ellie and Lydie, and their two friends, Sawyer and Marshall, and both sets of parents, are camping in Colorado, as they do every summer. The five young people decide they are going to climb a mountain at night so they can see the view from the top in the light of the full moon. They wait until the adults are all asleep, then slip out of camp with their packs. All goes well—until an avalanche sweeps them down the mountain, burying some of them. They all survive—but some are hurt. Can the ones who are well find a way to get help for the others?

Without much food, and no tents, the night is rough, and so is the trek off of the mountain. Interpersonal relationships are strained, especially between the girls and the boys. Marlee learns some earth-shaking facts about boys and their feelings, and Ellie confesses to her sisters that she has a crush on Sawyer. All this complicates things. Can they lay aside their feelings and work together so they all survive?

I started reading this book aloud. We got about halfway through before my boys had had enough. I skipped over a number of passages that had to do with boy/girl stuff, and they still thought there was way too much of that. All they wanted from the story was the adventure part. I read the rest of the book myself and told them what happened. So, the moral of this story is, Avalanche is not a book for boys! If you have girls who like adventure and light romance wrapped up together, it would be a good fit.

Another thing my boys didn’t like very well was that the children in the story took off at night, without their parents’ approval. The young people in the story did come to realize they had done wrong, and they apologized, but they ended up being rewarded at the end. I don’t really care for this example, either. On the other hand, this is a story about teenagers being resourceful when they needed to be, and working together to help those who are hurt. I liked the way they learned to get along together.

I received a free copy of this book from CelebrateLit, and these are my honest thoughts about it. Any links may be affiliate links; if so, they will benefit Esther’s website.

About the Author:

Liz is an author, the wife of a professional tree climber and the mom of three energetic and laundry-producing children. She received her Associate’s of Arts at the University of Sioux Falls, where she received the LAR Writing Award for her essay entitled, “My Real Life Mufasa.” Liz once spent a summer in Colorado teaching rock climbing, which she believes was a fantastic way to make money and memories. She resides with her family in Wisconsin, where they enjoy hiking and rock climbing. Liz and her husband have also backpacked in Colorado and the Grand Canyon, which have provided inspiration for her writing. She likes making adventurous stories to encourage others to find adventures and expand their comfort zones (though admittedly, she still needs lots of practice expanding her own comfort zone). She has thoroughly enjoyed working on her first novel, Avalanche, and the sequel Chased, which will release in the summer of 2020.

More From Liz:

Have you ever been tempted to take a risk even though your conscience was screaming at you? Were you able to justify the pursuit of the thrill, actually convincing yourself that what you knew to be the unwise decision made perfect sense?

I did. So did my sisters. And so did Sawyer and Marshall Miles. When Sawyer first proposed the idea of the moonlit summit on our families’ annual backpacking trip, I was terrified. But I was also hooked. Sawyer convinced us that we would be fine, and we would be back to camp before our parents woke up with the sunrise.

Hearts racing and hands trembling, we five kids snuck away from camp in the middle of the night. Hiking toward the peak, the full moon was breathtaking, the wildlife abundant, and the experience unreal.

It became a whole lot more unreal when an avalanche, roaring, white and enormous, thundered into our path. Buried in the packed snow, I would have given anything to go back in time and change my decision to go along with this foolish idea.

Digging out of the cemented snow was the first of many challenges in the coming days. Physically, emotionally and spiritually, we were all pushed to our limits.

I had always loved hiking Colorado’s peaks. But, of course, I had never had to evacuate my own sister. I had always trusted Dad’s orienteering. Now I had to trust Sawyer, who, by the way, was the brain behind this dilemma. I usually slept best while backpacking. But, mountain nights are warmer when spent in a sleeping bag. But I can’t let my mind go there. I must keep a positive outlook and trust God to bring us to safety. That’s easier said than done.

Avalanche is a Christian teen and young adult novel. This engaging journey, told by fifteen-year-old Marlee Stanley, captures a timeless sense of adventure. The five young adults strive to exhibit godly character throughout their escapade, but they have not been in such a dire situation before. It will take immense strength and cooperation to hike out of this mess.

To purchase your copy, click here.

To visit more of the blog stops on this tour, click here.

To enter a fun giveaway, click here.

Book Review—Volition

May 13, 2020 by NZ Filbruns 2 Comments

About the Book

Book: Volition
Author: Chautona Havig
Genre: Christian fiction, futuristic
Release Date: December 31, 2019

“I should have made that left turn at Tucumcari.”

It’s Doctor Who meets mail-order brides when “rescuers” from the future arrive to save Andi Flanders from a happy life with her loving family and fiancé.

Okay, so they meant to get her suicidal roommate, but hey. Mistakes happen, right?

And as far as Andi’s concerned, they can fix them—by sending her home.

However, when she learns what happens when she disappears from home, Andi has an impossible choice. Stay in the government-controlled futuristic world she despises and never see her family again or return to the twenty-first century and doom an innocent person to death.

Volition— Life and death decisions are so overrated.

My Thoughts:

I actually posted a review of Volition on my blog already, a day or so after it published. You can read my review here. So, why did I sign up for the tour? Simple—if I helped Chautona out by promoting her book again, she would send a copy of it to my mom! I really enjoyed the book, and I love helping Chautona out, so here we are. And I hope my mom doesn’t mind my saying it, but I hear that she told my daughter that she had to exercise great self-discipline the day that Volition arrived in the mail! I know what she means—that’s the way I am with a new book by this author! So, if you enjoy futuristic sci-fi, check out this book! Or, even if you don’t. I don’t like time travel, and I don’t like sci-fi, and this book is both—but I couldn’t put it down. And now, with the way things have happened in the last couple of months, with the COVID 19 pandemic and governments seemingly using it as an excuse to establish a police state, Volition sounds quite plausible.

I received a free copy of this book from the author, and these are my honest thoughts about it. Also, links in this post are likely affiliate links.

About the Author:

Chautona Havig lives in an oxymoron, escapes into imaginary worlds that look startlingly similar to ours and writes the stories that emerge. An irrepressible optimist, Chautona sees everything through a kaleidoscope of It’s a Wonderful Life sprinkled with fairy tales. Find her at chautona.com and say howdy—if you can remember how to spell her name.

More From Chautona:

What Happens When You Explore Logical Progressions?

She used chopsticks. Me? I’m a fork kind of gal. But over plates of sesame chicken and fried rice, we hashed out what our NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) books would be. Every year, I challenged myself. Once by writing drippy romance (Discovering Hope). Once by turning a sermon into a story that wasn’t preachy (Argosy Junction). (psst… links are affiliate links—they provide a small commission at no extra expense to you!)

This time, I’d decided the challenge would include writing in the first person. Anyone who knows me knows how much I don’t like the first-person perspective. As we tried to figure out what our plots would be, my friend added another challenge. “Do science fiction.”

I’ll be honest. I almost laughed her out of the restaurant. But then an idea hit me. Why shouldn’t I? I could kill two dislikes in one book. Bam! Done!

That kicked off a book I probably never would have written otherwise.

I knew doing major techno-science stuff wouldn’t be conducive to trying to write 50,000 words in thirty days, so I immediately chose futuristic over space travel. The decision to go with a form of time travel was probably inspired by Doctor Who, now that I think of it. I didn’t back then. I just went with what I thought I might be able to make interesting—to write, if not to read.

That kicked off an idea that sent my brain spinning.

What would happen if you got kidnapped and taken to the future, but returning to your former life means someone’s soul will never be redeemed?

Of course, it would take a really strong, amazing character to pull off that kind of thing. Not everyone could do it. But who… who give up her life for someone else?

That’s when I knew. That soul saved would have to belong to someone my character didn’t even like. Gotta raise the stakes, you know?

That’s also when I discovered that I wouldn’t like her—not at first.

Andi Flanders jumped onto the page with hands on hips and eyes flashing. She was livid that people in the future had interfered with her life. Then she’s broken when she realizes she can’t go back.

Fiercely independent, Andi enters futuristic Rockland with a critical eye and condemning spirit. Since most sci-fi stuff I’ve seen focuses on sleek, pristine futures full of glass and steel, I wanted to go a different direction. But how?

That’s when my solution came to me.

I’d take today’s world and push everything to logical exaggerated conclusions.

Environmentalism? We’ll have a world that tries not to encroach on nature any more than necessary
Population? I took China’s “one child” policy and made it worldwide… and then let the future deal with the fallout.
Globalism? I let them have their one-world government that protects everyone from themselves.
Apathetic faith? I didn’t persecute Christians. I just let their faith die a slow, natural death.

And then I threw in a character with a love for Jesus and a minor obsession with Ayn Rand’s objectivism. Yes, I’m aware that those two things can be mutually exclusive. That was the fun of it.

This Rand-spouting, Jesus loving, freckle-faced, fiery redhead had to deal with all if this stuff in a world as opposite from her freedom-loving self as can stand.

Ninety-thousand words later, I was done. And then I shelved the book.

For ten years.

On December 27, 2019, I got a message from my son.

He’d found a book cover design contest and wondered if he should enter. And if so, with what book? We hashed out ideas when I remembered Volition. It wasn’t edited. Done, but not edited. Could I possibly get the whole thing cleaned up before December 31 rolled over into January 1?

I decided to try.

Nolan got to work on a cover while I began editing like nobody’s business.

With the help of my amazing launch team, an incredible editor, and no sleep, the book was live on New Year’s Eve with three hours to spare.

Then my son decided not to worry about entering this year.

He lives. This is a testimony to God’s grace and control over my life. And my hands.

Or maybe it’s because he lives three hours south of me, and I’ve only seen him once since then. You don’t kill your son at your daughter’s wedding reception. Just sayin’.

But let’s go with the first reason. It makes me sound more spiritual or something.

To purchase your copy, click here.

To visit more of the blog stops on this tour, click here.

To enter a fun giveaway, click here.

Product Review—Beyond the Stick Figure Art School

May 12, 2020 by NZ Filbruns 2 Comments

I have a son, Mr. Imagination, who loves to draw and wants to learn more about art. When we were offered the opportunity to use the Beyond the Stick Figure Complete Drawing Course Plus 3 Bonus Courses from Beyond the Stick Figure Art School, he was very enthusiastic. This sounded perfect—a step-by-step, incremental guide to art.

Mr. Imagination and Little Miss working on an art project.

The first several lessons went very well; both he (age 8) and Little Miss (age 5) loved doing the projects, and even Mr. Sweetie (age 10) joined us. We learned about circles and dots, and curved lines and straight lines, and practiced looking for these in objects around the house. We drew circles on paper, and made pages of bubbles, then colored them in with markers. We drew designs with each of the other components of pictures, too, and colored pretty designs. Then, we started drawing flowers. I really liked the projects where we drew a flower in the foreground and then more behind it! I have never considered myself an artist, but I could do that!

As we moved on, however, my little ones got bogged down in the repetition. We ended up skipping a large section of lessons so that I could see what the rest of the course was like, in order to tell you in this review, and found a project that they liked better. We got to draw hills, cover the nearest one with grass, and paint the picture with a watercolor wash. Everyone enjoyed that! Unfortunately, because of the lockdown due to COVID 19, we did not have proper watercolor paper. We had to use printer paper, because that’s all we have (we were not able to get more because it’s nonessential), and it doesn’t work well with watercolors.

We also were not able to get the markers that are recommended. I think if we had been able to, the earlier projects would have been much more satisfying. She recommends Prismacolor markers, and they aren’t sold in this country anywhere that I could find, even without lockdown, so I bought the only ones I could find. They were washable, which means the color ran and mixed in ways we didn’t want it to. If you want to use this course, try to find the proper markers (if you live in America, they are on Amazon—shipping is much too high for me to be able to get them that way here).

Anyway, back to the course. The next section, which we haven’t done anything with yet, is about watercolor painting. It looks fun! Even though my little ones are tired of this course, because of the constant repetition, I think I can interest them in the painting part of it. I watched a few of the instructional videos, and in them she was teaching how to create different tones of paint. Once we are able to get watercolor paper, I want to try this. As with all the other lessons, these techniques are taught baby step by baby step.

Further lessons cover acrylic painting and sculpture. I don’t know if we’ll ever get to those lessons. They sound interesting; it’s just that Mr. Imagination feels pretty bored with the lessons we have done. I feel like this course, although it is simple enough for young children to do, would be better for older ones who can understand the need for repetition.

All the lessons are presented as 1-10 minute videos, with the instructor, who happens to be a homeschooling mother herself, talking through what she is doing and wants her students to be doing. She has a lovely British accent (and I can now tell the difference between British and Kiwi!). We did have some issues with the videos. The worst simply had to do with our computer. These videos are from Vimeo, and my computer often freezes when I play Vimeo videos. We had to do a lot of reloading to make them work. Also, the sound is very quiet on some of them, and even with our speakers plugged in, we had to strain to hear her talking. Here is a picture of our dashboard. It is very easy to move from one lesson to the next, although we have to mark each one complete in order to move on. It’s extremely easy to go back to a previously completed lesson!If you have a child interested in art, this might be something to look into. It certainly is easy to use; just watch a video to see what materials you will need for a given section, then move on and watch each instructional video and follow directions. Click the image below to read what 80 different families have to say about this course.

Beyond the Stick Figure Complete Drawing Course {Beyond the Stick Figure Art School}

Book Review—Oh, Gracious!

May 7, 2020 by NZ Filbruns 1 Comment

About the Book

Book: Oh, Gracious!
Author: Chautona Havig
Genre: Christian fiction, contemporary Romance, woman’s fiction
Release Date: March 31, 2020

Life is too short to settle for just anyone.
Grace gave her whole heart to Jesus, but now he wants a part of it.

All she ever wanted was to be a homemaker.

Sure, she has a degree in physics. Yes, she could have a lucrative job in Rockland, but Grace Buscher enjoys her life as a single homemaker. As they say, it’s her choice.

As a successful business owner, a handsome guy, and heir to a small fortune, it’s no wonder Nolan Burke is one of Rockland’s most eligible bachelors. The problem is, he hasn’t met anyone who isn’t looking for a “trophy husband.”

Don’t family-centered women exist anymore?

Grace isn’t exactly eye candy. Nolan is a bit blind. So when an “accidental meeting” forges an unlikely friendship, it becomes obvious to everyone that it’s likely to become more.

But is Grace ready to give up the life she loves for the man she loves?

Find out in this completely updated, revised, and improved version of Chautona Havig’s first novel, Noble Pursuits.

My Thoughts:

One of the few books by Chautona Havig that I hadn’t yet read was Noble Pursuits. I believe it was the first book she published, and she has just now finished rewriting it as Oh, Gracious! I enjoyed reading it as she finished sections—I could hardly wait for the next installment to come along. Now, the entire book is available for your enjoyment and inspiration.

Nolan was fed up with women flirting with him and doing their best to get him to take them out—but yet he wanted to get married. He wanted a godly woman who wanted to be a homemaker; was such a person in existence anywhere near Rockland? Did he really have to move to a different area in order to find her?

Grace canned fruit to sell to friends, babysat children, and made handcrafts for her living. She had a degree in physics—but she wanted to be a homemaker. For a year now, she had proved that she could stay at home and make a living for herself, even if money was tight at times. She had given her whole heart to Jesus, she loved her life, and she wasn’t interested in changing.

And then, Nolan moved into the house across the road from Grace and they met in a rather dramatic way. Nolan was intrigued by this woman who seemed to be everything he wanted in a woman, and who wasn’t throwing herself at him. Could she learn to share her heart with a man, when Jesus already had all of it?

I love this story! It is delightfully sweet, but not mushy. I loved Grace; her focus on doing traditional woman’s work is something I really like. Her heart for God is wonderful to see, as well. Nolan was a great hero, too. He was loving, strong and sensitive—and real. There were times when both of them lost their cool, and then we got to see them calm down and make things right. I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys Christian women’s fiction.

I received a free copy of this book from the author, and these are my honest thoughts about it. Also, links in this post are likely affiliate links, and anything purchased through the link will benefit Esther’s website.

About the Author:

More From Chautona:

Wow, My Beloved First Book Was a Hot Mess

On my blog, I sometimes answer readers’ questions, and one of the earliest ones was, “Since you zip out your books so fast, do you ever later wish you had done something differently with them?”

My answer today is the same as back then—usually. No. Yes, I sometimes regret not being able to tell a supporting character’s story because the book has given away that person’s past and/or future. Still, most of the time, I tell the story as I want it.

But in that post about “regrets,” I said that as I learn, I definitely wish to improve sentences here, and others there. I did this already with Argosy Junction, the second book that I published. The first two or three books were experiments where I made many serious mistakes. Took bad advice. Didn’t know the right things to research. All the mistake-ness.

Total transparency here. I chose Argosy Junction to revise first because I made fewer mistakes on it. Still lots, but not as many as my first book, Noble Pursuits.

Bad editing advice, horrible cover design (twice), and just basic writing craft stuff that I didn’t know when I started this whole journey all culminated in a book I both loved (the story) and hated (the final result). Many reviewers said the same thing, too. That poor book has the worst reviews of all of my books combined.

And for good reason.

But it’s a good story—one I love, as I said—and it has some strong fans. Some readers were able to look past the problems and see the heart of what I tried to do with it. And that was a beautiful thing. Those readers, actually, are the ones I’ve rewritten this book for.

Yes, I rewrote Noble Pursuits. While every sentence isn’t completely rewritten, enough are that I considered it a new book, not just a revised one.

A few readers have panicked to see the title changed, the story rewritten. They’ve asked if I took out this or even that. I took out and added nothing that 99.9% of readers would ever notice. And it’s a better book for it.

I am updating the original Noble Pursuits file with the new text. I’m doing this in hopes that those who already own that book can go into their digital content on Amazon and get the updated version. I don’t know if it will work, but I pray it does.

Meanwhile, for those who’ve asked why they can’t buy the first book on my Suggested Reading Order list, well… now you can!

Oh, Gracious! has been a long time coming, but she’s here with a new title, rewritten content, and even a lovely new cover by the brilliantly talented Perry Elizabeth. It took what seems like forever to settle on a title, but we finally did. Why we chose Oh, Gracious! however, is a story for another day.

To purchase your copy, click here.

To visit more of the blog stops on this tour, click here.

To enter a fun giveaway, click here.

Product Review—Everyday Education, LLC

May 6, 2020 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

I don’t know about anyone else, but it seems like writing, and penmanship in general, are very difficult to teach to boys. They just aren’t interested! I struggle to get them to write at all, let alone legibly. Therefore, I was somewhat interested in using Perfect Reading, Beautiful Handwriting ebook from Everyday Education, LLC. The premise sounded great—a simple method for teaching beautiful handwriting, and good reading. I thought I would use it to supplement the Language Arts program we’re using with the boys, and get a start on teaching Little Miss to read and write with it.

When I received the ebook, I was quite interested in reading the introductory pages. The history of our current type of cursive handwriting was fascinating, and I like the premise of this book, which is to simplify writing so that everyone can have beautiful handwriting. I believe the book would work to teach a child to read, as well, assuming the child had no learning disabilities and the mother had enough time to spend with them doing the lessons. For me, unfortunately, it didn’t work well.

I did not end up using this course as a supplement for my boys. This book teaches Italic writing, which is beautiful and simple, but they had already learned the normal cursive. Therefore, I felt like it would be too confusing for them to try to relearn everything. I did use it for Little Miss, to work on letter formation. She loved doing several pages of the letters, and did very well at learning the sounds. Each letter is given a picture of a word that begins with that sound—like A is apple, E is elephant, I is igloo, etc. We didn’t get beyond writing letters, though. The program doesn’t start putting letters together into words until all the letters have been learned. Then, it introduces short vowel words, consonant blends, compound words and plural words. It then moves on to vowel-R words and vowel teams. Each of these lessons has a list of words to learn to read, and then several sentences using the words. Each of the sentences is printed with blank lines under the words for practice writing. This is one of the strengths I see in this book, that the child is expected to write directly below the example, which makes it easy to follow the model.

After thoroughly learning the shapes of the letters, children are introduced to joining them. With the Italic system, most of the letters are actually not joined, as in most cursive systems. I found that quite interesting.

In summary, this book was not a good fit for our family at this time, both because I have already taught my boys to write cursive with a different system and because of the dyslexia that runs in our family. In the introduction, this book states that everyone will be able to read well by going through this system, but I know from experience that some people will not be able to—at least not with someone like me teaching them. I tried systems like this with my older boys and utterly failed, although I’m sure some people would have done well with it. This book would work well to teach most children to read and write, however, and if I didn’t already have a course on hand to use with Little Miss I would give this one a try. Take a look at it and see what you think!

Fifty families have been using Perfect Reading, Beautiful Handwriting over the past month and a half; see what they have to say about it by clicking the image below!

Perfect Reading, Beautiful Handwriting ebook {Everyday Education, LLC Reviews}

Book Review—One Rich Girl

April 27, 2020 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

I was rather excited when I heard that Gwenda Smithies had written a book about her life. I met her several years ago at a meeting, and although I have not visited very much with her, I have greatly admired her. I’ve actually had more to do with her children than with her, and also talked to her mother awhile back. I was delighted to be given a copy of her book, One Rich Girl, to read.

Gwenda tells the story of her life from a third-person point of view, in a matter-of-fact way. She grew up in Nelson, and moved to Christchurch for University. There, she eventually met the man she would marry. They went on to have twelve beautiful children! Gwenda tells many stories about raising her children (the youngest of whom is only a couple of years old right now). Her joy in her family is very inspiring. I really loved reading about her experiences as the children came along.

Gwenda’s faith is also inspiring. I appreciated the way she shared about her walk with God and how He worked in her life. God’s provision for the Smithies family’s needs is also amazing—I loved the way He gave them a dishwasher when they needed one. Gwenda’s challenge with forgiveness at one point stood out to me, as well.

This is a great book to read if you enjoy stories of mothers and their children. Read this book to be encouraged to love your husband and to love your children, and to find joy in the little everyday things in life. It will also encourage you in your prayer life. I would have liked this book very much even if I didn’t know the author personally, but since I do, that adds another dimension, of course.

I received a free copy of this book from the author, and these are my honest thoughts about it.

Buy your copy of the book here.

Book Review—Not If, But When

April 23, 2020 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

As a mother of several boys, I am always happy to find a product that will help in teaching them godliness in their personal lives.

When I saw the book Not If, But When being offered for review by the publisher, Christian Focus, and read the description, I was immediately interested. The subtitle, Preparing Our Children for Wordly Images, really only hints at the content of this book; I was glad that there were some sample pages on the publisher’s website. Looking at those helped me make the decision to request the book, and I’m glad I did. I read this book aloud to all five of my boys yesterday afternoon when the rain kept us all inside, and then talked about it with them during and after the reading.

This book contains two stories, one each for girls and boys. Since my girls are not within the age range for this book, I didn’t read the part for girls very closely. It is very similar to the one for boys. The story begins with a child coming home from a day at the waterpark with his/her class, and coming to a parent with questions about his/her friends talking about s-xual things. The child also had a friend show them some pornography pictures on a phone that day. As the parent discusses these occurences with the child, God’s design for s-x is discussed; God designed it and it is a very good thing—in the right context and timing. During the discussion about the pictures shown, the parent talks about how that type of picture objectifies and disrespects people that God made, and about how viewing it becomes an addiction. The child compares this to an addiction to coffee, which made my boys chuckle! Each short chapter has a scripture passage to read, and some thoughts to help focus the study.

The book is a high-quality hardcover with thick, glossy pages. It is beautifully illustrated with somewhat stylized pictures of children and homes, for the most part. The pictures actually have little or nothing to do with the subject matter of the book. My 5-year-old girl loves looking at the pictures, and because she can’t read, I don’t mind her browsing through it.

I asked each of my three teenage boys what they thought of this book and how it made them feel. One, especially, felt like it was helpful to him. He has struggled some in this area and appreciated the encouragement to keep his thoughts pure. The other two didn’t feel like they needed it so much. One of them thought it would have been a good book for him to read at about age 13. They all agreed that the way the topic of s-x was discussed in this book was pure, and helpful as a reminder to keep their thoughts pure. Because none of our boys has any close friends who have their own phones, they haven’t been faced with a situation like what was described in the story, so they couldn’t really identify with that part of the book. I am hoping that if such a situation arises, having heard this story will help my younger ones know how to handle it. Reading the book together gave an opportunity to discuss strategies to cope with such a situation; the publisher recommends this book for ages 7-11, with a parent reading it with them.

I am thankful to have had the chance to read this book, and plan to go through it again in a couple of years with my younger children. In the world in which we live today, it is truly a case of Not If, But When.

***The publisher accidentally sent me two copies of this book, and I have permission to give the extra one away. If you live in New Zealand, and would like your own copy of this book, let me know and I’ll mail it to you. If more than one person requests it, I will draw a name.***

Fifty-three families have read three different books from Christian Focus. Click the image below to read their reviews!

Psalms for my Day, 30 Prophecies: One Story & Not If, But When {Christian Focus Reviews}

Product Review—Home School in the Woods

March 26, 2020 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Last month, we were offered the opportunity to use and review a product from Home School in the Woods. We really enjoyed doing a history study from them six or eight months ago, and the children were fairly enthusiastic about doing another project now. I gave Mr. Sweetie, Mr. Imagination, and Little Miss the choice of two Lap-Paks, one about Knights and one about Benjamin Franklin. They decided they would like to do the Knights K-2 Lap-Pak, so that’s the one we requested. We’ve been working on the projects in it ever since receiving our download. We haven’t quite finished, but almost. We put the lapbook together yesterday, and got a start on coloring the picture for the cover.

There are 12 different little projects to do for the lap book. Each one gives more information about knights. The first project talks about the feudal system in general and how it was organized. There were also projects about the knights’ armor and weapons, and how a king knighted a man (that one was very fun!).

Each project required printing from one to five pages, each on its own PDF, on either white or colored paper or cardstock. I was thankful to have a supply of these on hand from the last time we did a similar-style study! Each project was a little different. Most of the projects have some sort of flaps to lift in order to read information underneath, and a couple of them have several small pages stapled together. One project involved drawing a coat of arms for yourself or your family. Mr. Sweetie remembered seeing a coat of arms that related to our family in a book we have about the Middle Ages, so he based his on that—fun! Two of the projects used paper fasteners to make moving parts, and another has a little “puppet” to show a tournament happening.

This project is a really fun supplement to a study of the Middle Ages. It was something different to do in our school days. We learned a fair amount about knights, and in such a way that the children will remember what we learned. They did get pretty tired of coloring pictures by the end; there is a lot of coloring involved. I had them work on coloring while we read aloud, and that helped. This project was good for developing fine motor skills, and, as one of my boys learned the hard way, it is good for learning to follow directions! I had to reprint one or two projects because they weren’t done correctly.

Pros—fun way to learn
easy way to do a little art
very little preparation time required
all printing is black and white, with one page per PDF
Cons—lots of coloring, which my boys struggle with
quite a few pages to print

Will we do more of these projects if they are offered to us? Yes, indeed! We would love to do the Benjamin Franklin lapbook next! Would I buy one? Yes, to use as a supplement to a study we’re doing. These projects are well-thought-out and easy to work into our school days. And by the way, if you’re interested in how the elections work in the United States, this publisher has a Lap-Pak about them. Check out this page if you want to know more about it. Also, if you are curious about lapbooks, I found a very informative blog post about them, here. Click on the link below to see what 79 other families experienced with various products from Home School in the Woods!

Home School in the Woods Collections - Lap-pak, Timeline Figures, History Studies & Activity-Pak {Home School in the Woods Reviews}

Book Review—Byrd’s Eye View

March 25, 2020 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

About the Book

Book: Bird’s Eye View
Author: Chautona Havig
Genre: Fiction / Christian / Historical / Mystery
Release Date: February 18, 2020

If everything looks so perfect, how does she know it’s all wrong?

Madeline just wanted to learn to develop her own pictures. It seemed an innocent enough pastime until she sees something in the developer’s tray that piques her meddlesome curiosity.

Now she’s on the hunt for clues to spare a man’s life, and she might just land her father in hot political waters while she’s at it.

The fifth book in the Meddlin’ Madeline Series, Byrd’s Eye View sees Madeline back at home in Rockland and determined to stay out of trouble, although that’s not likely to happen, is it?

My Thoughts:

I have been enjoying the Meddlin’ Madeline books ever since the first one was written four years ago. These historical novels are such fun mysteries! I really appreciate the work this author goes to to make sure the books are historically accurate, and she weaves a great story.

Byrd’s Eye View isn’t finished yet, as you can see by reading the guest post here. I have read the first nine chapters, though, and can tell you that this book will be great—I’m really looking forward to reading the rest of it! You can preorder your copy now, and if you enjoy historical mystery stories with a Christian worldview, you will like this book. Don’t break into the middle of the series, though; start at the beginning with Sweet on You. You can find my review of it here, and I have also reviewed Such a Tease, Fine Print, and Dead Letter.

I received a free copy of this book from Celebrate Lit, and these are my honest thoughts about it.

About the Author:

Chautona Havig lives in an oxymoron, escapes into imaginary worlds that look startlingly similar to ours and writes the stories that emerge. An irrepressible optimist, Chautona sees everything through a kaleidoscope of It’s a Wonderful Life sprinkled with fairy tales. Find her on the web and say howdy—if you can remember how to spell her name.

More From Chautona:

It’s Like This Book Didn’t Want to Be!

It’s an hour and a half from my mother’s old house in Missouri to the Springfield airport—a perfect distance for plotting out a book. So, when I had to drive back to swap out rental cars, I decided to work on the early 2020 books. Up first… Madeline #5.

Often when I’m plotting out a new book, the first few minutes are kind of jumbled messes as I consider this plot point or that and get into a work flow, and that day was no exception. However, by the time I hit the interstate again, I’d done it. Madeline would learn how to develop pictures in this one. The plot would revolve around that new skill.

By the time I hit Noel, I’d really come up with a cool book idea. I was so excited. You have no idea. Then, as I passed Noel on my way to the hospital in Gravette, Arkansas, I stopped on the side of the road so I cold turn off the voice recorder and start working on another book.

The recorder was off. All my “brilliant ideas” were gone.

Sometimes, I wish I was a crier. It would have been appropriate right there. Just sayin’.

Determined to record the ideas all over again before I forgot them, I started the first few things, watching the recorder bars rise and fall with the inflection of my voice. It worked great.

The only problem was I couldn’t remember anything I’d come up with. Photography. That was it.

That’s when I called my friend and wailed.

Look, it had been a hard couple of weeks, a rough day, and now this. But, complaining about it offered enough catharsis that by the time I went back to Springfield the next week, I was able to record most of it again. Some of it was actually better.

Little hint: it usually is the second or third round of ideas.

By the time I’d finished, I knew what happened and what havoc it would cause, but not to whom or why. Enter Clark.

You know, the guy who made me split the first book into two separate books (you can read about that HERE), and the guy who tried to make things get really gruesome in book four (you can read about that HERE—halfway down the pageish—and be assured that I didn’t do it).

So, just as I was getting into Byrd’s Eye View, Clark and I met up at Denny’s to figure out how to make all the elements I had work.

My one issue became another one. Why became totally different from anything I’d considered. Who became a great reason for it to make things tough on Madeline’s father, and a previous thing I’d thought was a bit excessive became more so… and more believable at the same time. How cool is that?

There was still one problem, though.

I wasn’t done with the book I needed to finish before I could immerse myself in this one.

And this book needed to be done yesterday.

Look, I had actually considered not doing this book until later in the year. For a few minutes, I wished that I had. But Madeline always comes out in February/March and I’d kind of like to keep it that way. So…

Despite losing my notes, having plotter’s block, having Clark upset everything I’d planned and making it better… again. It’s here. And I think it’s my favorite one yet. Who am I kidding? Of course it is!

To purchase your copy, click here.

To visit more of the blog stops on this tour, click here.

To enter a fun giveaway, click here.