Book Reviews

Book Review—Wounded in the Church

August 8, 2017 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

About the Book

Book title: Wounded in the Church
Authors: Ray Beeson & Chris Hayward
Release date: March 14, 2017
Genre: Non-fiction

My Thoughts: I rarely read books like Wounded in the Church. Theology just doesn’t appeal to me. When the Celebrate Lit team was asking for more people to sign up for this book, though, and I saw that we would still be in America when they sent out paper copies of the book, I decided to sign up and see what this book was like.

The authors have a lot of good points. They show how people in the church can be just like anyone else. Christians should be loving and caring, right, no matter what kind of people cross their paths? Well, unfortunately, quite often Christians act in unloving ways, ending up wounding people even within the church. The authors showed quite effectively how this happens. I felt disappointed, though, that no real solutions were presented. I kept looking for advice for how to cope when you have been “wounded”, but either I overlooked it, or it wasn’t there as clearly as I had thought it would be. On the other hand, there was a chapter of common cliches Christians use, which I found quite thought-provoking. We need to be very careful what we say and how we say it. On the whole, I didn’t find this book overly helpful, although there were several points that really stood out, which I believe will be useful for the rest of my life.

The Authors’ Synopsis:

Church should be a safe place, right? Then why do so many get hurt there?

Ray Beeson and Chris Hayward combine their years of ministry experience to address head-on the elephant in the room: church members and church leaders hurt Christians. All the time. And the long-lasting effects—rejection, shame, despair, loneliness, fear—can be devastating. The authors have witnessed the rise of the “dones,” those who are just done with God thanks to scars from church.

With first-person stories of hurt and loss, this book is a wake-up call for any who deny woundedness in the church but is also a redemptive message for any who hurt from church wounds. Leaders and laypeople alike will learn how to grieve over abuse, to leave unhealthy attitudes and patterns that cause pain, and to trust in God’s real, delivering work through churches that build up, not tear down.

Thanks to the grace of God, there is always hope beyond the pain.

About the Authors:

Ray Beeson is the director of Overcomers Ministries, a teaching ministry with a special emphasis on spiritual warfare and prayer. Ray teaches seminars on spiritual warfare, prayer, and Christlike living and is the author of numerous books including Signed in His Blood (Charisma House, 2014) and The Hidden Price of Greatness (Overcomers, 2000). Ray and his wife, Linda, live in Ventura, CA.

Chris Hayward has had over thirty-six years of pastoral ministry and is currently serving as president of Cleansing Stream Ministries, a discipleship ministry that works with the local church around the world. He is also the author of God’s Cleansing Stream (Chosen Books, 2004) and The End of Rejection(Chosen Books, 2007). Chris and his wife, Karen, live in Castaic, CA.

Guest Post from Ray Beeson & Chris Hayward:

When we tell people we’ve written a book entitled “Wounded in the Church,” many nod knowingly. Sadly, the pain and heartache that happens in churches is all too common. Collectively, the two of us have spent more than 70 years in ministry. During that time we have seen neglect, tactlessness, and blatant insensitivity fostered by some leaders and congregations resulting in the wounding of others. We realize it is not prolific in every church, but the wounding is significant and it needs to be exposed. That is why we wrote this book – we share real stories of real people who were wounded in church, a place that should be a shelter of God’s love and peace. Sometimes people are abused by leaders or church members. There are also times when leaders are abused by people within the congregation. As you read, perhaps you’ll identify with some of the situations described. If so, be assured you are not alone. If you have been wounded, it is our hope and prayer God uses this book to facilitate healing. Because of Jesus Christ, there is hope beyond the pain.

Click here to purchase your copy.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the author for my honest review, which I have given. I was not required to write a positive review and have not been compensated for it in any way. All opinions expressed are my own.

Book Review—Manuscript for Murder

August 5, 2017 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

About the Book

Book title: Manuscript for Murder
Author: Chautona Havig
Release date: October 13, 2012
Genre: Mystery

My Thoughts: I first read Manuscript for Murder about a year ago. I don’t normally read murder mysteries, but because Chautona Havig wrote this book, I decided I would read it. I was not disappointed—this is another good book by a good author. Yes, there are murders, but the book doesn’t focus on them. Instead, the main focus is the relationships between Alexa and the other characters. I thoroughly enjoyed watching her learning to know Joe, the cop and Lorie, the sick girl in Chicago. Some of the conversations were quite thought-provoking, like the one about why Alexa dressed the way she did (“I wear what I like when I like, and I don’t worry about what anyone else likes or wears.”) The conversation about why she, as a Christian, would write murder mysteries, was quite good, too. If you enjoy Christian fiction that makes you think, give the Hartfield Mysteries a try. If you want to know more about the book, my longer review is here.

The Author’s Synopsis:

Alexa Hartfield. Author, local celebrity, fashion connoisseur. She chose Fairbury for its close proximity to Rockland, its small town atmosphere, and its low crime rate.

Then someone made her life a literary cliché. A mysterious accident with a light bulb sparked an interesting idea for her latest novel—and for Fairbury’s new serial killer. The first replication infuriated her. The second left an even worse taste in her mouth. The third blasted more than her self-confidence, and the fourth beat her down so far she’s considering giving up writing completely.

Who is killing Fairbury’s citizens, and furthermore, why and how are they using her novels to do it?

About the Author:

Chautona Havig lives and writes in California’s Mojave Desert with her husbnd and five of her nine children. Through her novels, she hopes to encourage Christians in their walk with Jesus.

Guest post from Chautona Havig:

How Arrows & My Obsession with Vintage Clothes Inspired Murder

A swath of fabric cut across my bedroom at an odd angle but that angle ensured that I could stretch it all out. With painstaking precision, I pinned every last piece to the fabric, disgusted at the enormous waste stretching out before me.

The pattern called for three and a half yards. I’d crammed it into two at most.

Just as I picked up the scissors for the first cut, Mom popped her head in the door to see how I was doing. I pointed out the waste. “Grandma said patterns always told you to buy way too much, but I’ve got enough to make another dress!”

Mom stepped closer. I want to say a cigarette hung from her lips, but let’s face it. No way would Mom ever allow the ashes to drop on the carpet. But it felt like one was there, nonetheless. Mom pointed. “Chautona, I don’t know anything about sewing, but I think those arrows are there for a reason.”

And with that, she turned away.

I stared down at the pattern. My arrows zig-zagged all over the place. A glance at the directions showed all arrows going exactly the same direction. Straight up and down the fabric.

You know, if I’d been doing this for the first time in 2017, I could have just zipped on over to “the Google,” as Mom calls it, and looked up why. Instead, I grabbed a thick sewing manual I’d bought for a buck at Pick-N-Save and flipped through it until I found a section on laying out patterns.

A couple of minutes later, I flew down the stairs. “The book says that the long, smooth edges are called selvages. The arrows are supposed to run parallel or the dress might hang wonky.”

Here, I can guarantee Mom took a puff of that cigarette. Man, I hated those things. “Well, like I said. I don’t know anything about sewing, but they looked important.” She blew a puff of smoke.

That’s when I suspected that Mom knew more about sewing than she’d let on.

What does this little sewing lesson have to do with mysteries and murder?

Well, see. This was a test dress. I’d only decided to learn to sew because I’d also decided that I wanted Nancy Drew’s wardrobe. In 1982, you couldn’t buy trim, neat clothing from the 50’s. I had Gunne Sax skirts and preppy tops with ruffles that my parents hated. When they found out I wanted a sewing machine to make clothes like that, they got me one.

Yep. I cut my reading teeth on Nancy Drew and didn’t stop there. I read all the youth mysteries—Bobsey Twins, Trixie Belden, Hardy Boys, Meg Duncan (she was a fave, too), and when I got a little older, Phyllis Whitney.

I loved the challenge of seeing events play out—and figuring out why. Why told me who. You get to where you can figure out things rather easily. But if you make me doubt my ideas, that’s good enough. I love that.

Is it any wonder that one of the first books I conceived was a mystery? I’d never put the ideas together until I began working on this post, but really… is it any wonder that I gave that author a love of vintage fashion? Too funny. But those arrows on that pattern? They taught me pretty cool lessons as a kid. Like Mom said:

“Those arrows are there for a reason.”

Isn’t that what God’s directional arrows in His Word are like? They’re there for a reason. They keep us from getting all wonky. It’s why Alexa writes the kind of books she does. I never could, but as she says when she describes telling someone why she writes horror/suspense,

“I tried to describe a world where we never see justice—where sin surrounds us, but the only response we see is a sweet romance or a heartwarming tale of doing good to our neighbors… And God is a God of more than love and mercy. [He’s also a God of] justice.”

Alexa writes what she does to help people sort out those crossed arrows and see that there is a point to it all—that eventually justice and mercy converge paths into one rather than criss-crossing all over the place, trampling each other. She doesn’t write Christian fiction, but I don’t know how a Christian can write fiction without some part of faith shining through. In Alexa’s, and I hope in mine as well, there’s an overarching theme that illustrates that the Lord hasn’t forgotten the people He created.

Click here to purchase your copy.

Product Review—Trust Fund

July 18, 2017 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Our most recent review was the new movie Trust Fund, by Mapelle Films. The story sounded very good, and the trailer we watched was intriguing, so I signed up. We were also given a book that goes with the movie, Love Was Near. I asked Esther to write the review of the movie, since she is good at that, so I read the book. We watched the movie while we were at Mom’s house. At first, we weren’t sure about letting the boys watch it, since we had seen the trailer and there was a swimming scene in it, but it turned out not to be a problem. Everyone who was home that day (two boys were helping their aunt at work) ended up watching it.

Here is Esther’s review of the movie:
In some ways, I really enjoyed Trust Fund. The acting and videography were superb; I always felt like I was right there, listening in on the conversations or viewing the scenery. Overall, this is a gorgeous movie from that perspective. However, there were some things that I didn’t appreciate so much about the film—but I’ll get to those later.

Reese Donahue, aspiring author, does not agree with her father that she needs a job. What she’d like is to finish her book, become the next New York Times bestseller, then head back to Italy to be with her boyfriend. However, life seems to be conspiring against her, and when her agent refuses to give her another advance on her not-yet-completed book and her father refuses to give her money unless she gets a job, she feels stuck. Then she discovers that her dad has been hiding something from her and her sister since their mother’s death. She is suddenly faced with a decision—one that she, and only she, can make. Either go against the morals of right and wrong that she has been taught from little up in order to achieve her dreams—and in the process, destroy her relationship with her father and sister—or trust her father’s judgment and end up living and working in a situation that is what she would consider less than desirable. Are the costs worth the possible outcome? And when things turn out completely different than she had imagined, is there any way out for her? This movie can be intense at times as you wonder what she’s going to decide to do next. There were also a few funny bits that we all enjoyed. Like I said before, however, although I enjoyed some elements of the movie, there were other parts that I didn’t like as much.

While this movie doesn’t claim to be Christian, it bothered me that they used a Christian theme but didn’t really come across as Christian. The characters never said the name of God, or mentioned the Bible, so in the end there’s just a Christian theme used for this—the story of the prodigal son, but in this case, it’s the daughter. That was done very well, in my opinion, although fairly early on our family did figure out what storyline this movie was following, so it ended up slightly more predictable than some movies I’ve seen. My only problem with this was that the moral of the prodigal story was used, without attributing a real reason to it. Talking about this with my family, I mentioned that it reminded me of another movie we’ve seen—Time Changer. That story starts out with the main character, a professor, telling a boy that it’s wrong to steal—but he neglected to say who said it was wrong to steal. In a different context, that happening came up, and one of the other characters calls the professor out on it. Over the course of the movie, he ends up showing him that if the person who gave the law is not attributed (in this case, God), then after some time even the moral truth will be lost—because without the fear of the Lord as the moral lawgiver, there is no meaning to the moral law. All that to say—I felt like this movie was a little like that. Having the moral law, without a mention of the giver. In the end, it felt like it fell flat—as if even though everything turned out okay, there wasn’t any real meaning behind why the people did what they did. It could easily be that I just missed the main part of the movie—I hope so! As I said before, I did enjoy parts of it, although I could have done without some of the romance in there (I don’t agree with couples touching before marriage, and there were about five different kisses, if I counted correctly). In all, you might enjoy this movie; it could be that it’s just not my style.

Love was Near is the book Reese, the main character, wrote in the movie. In each of the 28 chapters of the book, she tells a little more of her story, then shares a diary entry. Then, there are a couple of questions for the reader, and lines on which to write journal your thoughts and feelings about the subject discussed in the chapter. Basically, then, this is a study guide for the movie. It really does add to the movie; in Trust Fund, there is no mention of God or the Bible. We were quite disappointed about that, but Love Was Near helps a little to redeem it in my opinion. There were some scripture references, and at the end the author makes it clear that the movie was based on the parable of the Prodigal Son. A couple of other Bible stories are referenced, as well. The bottom line, in my opinion? This book isn’t really needed in our family, but would be a good resource for young adults who are struggling with who they are and whether or not they are worth anything. The movie is pretty clean entertainment, if that’s what you’re looking for, just don’t be expecting a deep message.

One more thing I should mention: The filmmaker is a home school graduate; his parents were among the pioneers of the homeschooling movement.

Book Review—None So Blind

June 25, 2017 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

About the Book

Book title: None So Blind
Author: Chautona Havig
Release date: September 29, 2013
Genre: Contemporary

My Thoughts:

One thing I love about Chautona Havig—and something that always amazes me about her—is her ability to take a very improbable scenario and make it sound quite plausible. For example, what if you woke up one morning and had no idea who you were and where you were, and why a strange man was in bed with you? That’s what happened to Dani Weeks! I was quite intrigued by her struggles, and the way she tried to reconcile her former personality with her present one. I’ll have to admit that my toes were stepped on a few times as Ella (she changed her nickname to reflect that she was a different person) learned what a lazy person Dani had been. I loved this book, and am really looking forward to reading the sequel soon. To read a longer review I wrote, click here.

The Author’s Synopsis:
Dani and Ella Weeks–two women who share one thing in common. The same life, the same family, and the same body.

When Dani wakes with no knowledge of who or where she is–no memories of her life at all–David and Dani Weeks discover that “til death do us part” takes on an entirely unexpected meaning. Practically speaking, Dani died. But she didn’t.

What’s a gal to do?

In a desperate attempt to separate the old life from the new, Dani insists on a new name, a twist of her old one–Ella.

Ella’s doctors can’t explain what happened. Her children can’t understand why she doesn’t know them. David, her husband, finds himself torn between admiration for the “new” version of his wife and missing the woman he’s known for over fifteen years.

Will Ella ever regain her memory? Why does their pastor suspect it’s one great hoax?

About the Author

Chautona Havig lives and writes in California’s Mojave Desert with her husbnd and five of her nine children. Through her novels, she hopes to encourage Christians in their walk with Jesus.

Guest post from Chautona Havig

“Who are you, again?”

“I’m Joe’s, daughter. Vyonie.” My sister pointed to me. “This is Chautona.”

For some odd reason, the niece she spent the least amount of time with, Aunt Doris remembered—somewhat. But she didn’t remember Vyonie from what I could tell. She smiled at me, that amazing, sweet smile I’d never forget. She asked how I was. I always thought that Mrs. Sanderson—mother of John, Alicia, and Carl on the TV show, Little House on the Prairie—looked and sounded like Aunt Doris. Of course, that memory of me didn’t last. A minute or two later, she gave me a big smile and asked if she knew me.

It gave me a picture of what it must have been like for my character, Ella Weeks—to wake up every day with these children there—children who knew her, but she didn’t remember. The hurt she caused every time she had to struggle to admit she didn’t know something she probably should—again. So, I thought I’d ask her to tell us about it.

Ella: People often assume that the worst part of losing my memory are the memories that disappeared, too. But it’s not. A much as I’d love to remember my wedding day, my daughter’s first steps, my son’s first words, or that moment I realized I was pregnant with my third, those are blessings that I don’t think about often. No, what hurts most is seeing the pain in my children’s eyes when they need me to remember something and I can’t. For me, not remembering their first day of kindergarten is an inconvenience. For them, it’s a further reminder that if they didn’t tell me, I wouldn’t know them. That without them pushing themselves into my life, I wouldn’t care about them any more than any other human in my path. I do now, of course, but not at first. I hate that they heard David say once, “…she doesn’t know me. She doesn’t trust me. She doesn’t know our children. She tries, but she could walk out of our lives tomorrow and never miss us.”

Living so close to it every day, I missed those little bits of pain that I inflicted without meaning to, but when I went with our Bible study to a nursing home and visited with the residents, then I saw it. Women with tears running down their cheeks as loved ones patted their hands and tried to comfort. I heard one man offer to find a woman’s father. She squeezed him close and whispered, “It’s okay, Daddy. I love you. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

The man promised to try to find her father in the meantime.

Those people there—most of them didn’t realize they didn’t remember someone important. They didn’t struggle to remember this or that. Their dementia had gotten bad enough that their lives had gone from constant frustration to, by comparison, blissful oblivion.

And their families withered with each forgotten face, name, moment.

That’s what my “episode” did for my family. It caused them pain that just resurfaced every time something new happened. Pain that I didn’t know I inflicted. And since that visit, I have a greater compassion and awareness of just how amazing and powerful memories are.

I also have a greater appreciation for those beautiful words in Isaiah when the Lord promised… “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins.”

You see, there’s a lifetime of the sins that Jesus died for buried somewhere in my brain—or, at least at one time there was. I know that those sins were in there, because the ones I committed yesterday are there today. The ones I’ve already confessed and been forgiven for—I beat myself up for the next morning. A week later. A month. But the Lord has wiped them clean. I just keep smearing them back out there again as if to say, “But You don’t get how BAD I was.” Yeah. The arrogance, right? Because an almighty, holy God can’t possibly understand how sinful a sinner that He had to DIE to save from those sins… is. The arrogance? That’s an understatement.

But all those years before that horrible morning… gone. Maybe I stole something. I don’t know. It was forgiven, wiped clean, and then wiped from my memory. I can’t rehash it with the Lord over and over. I can’t drag it back up like a wife who won’t let her husband forget the one time he forgot her birthday. I can’t use it as a whip to beat myself up with. And I think there’s something beautiful in that.

Do I wish I could stop hurting my family with my blank past? Of course. But am I also grateful for a living picture of the fresh start the Lord gives His people at salvation? Definitely. I hope I never take it for granted again.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher for my honest review, which I have given. I was not required to write a positive review and have not been compensated for it in any way. All opinions expressed are my own.

Click here to purchase your copy.

Product Review–Adventures of Rush Revere

June 21, 2017 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

I’ve been seeing references in various places to the Adventures of Rush Revere Book Series, and was thinking I’d like to read some of them so I could review them for Esther’s website. When I had the opportunity to sign up for a review of the Adventures of Rush Revere #1 New York Times Bestselling Book Series by Rush and Kathryn Adams Limbaugh, I grabbed the chance. I found these books interesting, but not a great fit for our family. For the most part, the history seems to be quite accurate; I noted below where I was in question about it. This is a creative way to teach history and make it fascinating! What I don’t like so much is the magical aspect. The main character, Rush Revere, a history teacher who dresses like Paul Revere, has a magic horse who can take people through a time portal to any time in American History. The horse starts running, saying the words, “Rush, rush, rushing into history,” and a swirling yellow and purple circle opens up in front of them. Whoever jumps through quickly, before it closes up, is instantly transported to the time and place they chose. The horse can also stop time briefly.

These books would be good for roughly 8-15-year-olds who enjoy fantasy, history, and adventure all mixed up. The books are beautiful; they have good, solid hard covers and the pages are lovely heavy paper. One thing that made this fun was receiving the books tied up with a blue ribbon! It was so pretty I took a picture.

Read my full review here.

Product Review—MarshMedia

June 8, 2017 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Some reviews are more popular around here than others. When I first read the description of MarshMedia, I was not interested. Then, I got an email virtually begging for more reviewers, so, reluctantly, I signed up. We have been watching a movie a day while we eat lunch, as we have time. It tends to be difficult to find time for movies in our house.

MarshMedia offers short (15-20 minute) videos on various topics for schools to use in their health education programs. They have 54 vidoes about hygiene, health, puberty education, safety, immune system disorders, head lice, nutrition, etc. Though MarshMedia has offered their videos to schools up to this point, they are now wanting to reach out to the homeschool community. If you wish to take advantage of the opportunity to introduce the MarshMedia curriculum to your home schooler click on this link for more information: https://marshmedia.com/pages/homeschools

There are the most about puberty, a few of which I have watched. We also watched a couple from the hygeine topics. The one about protecting your hearing was unanimously voted boring, unfortunately. So was the one about head lice, although there was some interest, since a family we know had problems with them recently. Once I discovered the Character Education movies, though, under the Guidance tab, there was more interest in watching these. The Character Education ones each feature an animal who acts in pretty natural ways as he narrates the story. Stanley’s This is the Life was about a bear who found a snack inside a camper whose door was left open, and found himself transported to a place far from his mountain home. He discovered a drive-in theater and found lots of food there, but after awhile he realized that he wasn’t feeling good anymore. The moral of the story is obvious! Feathers at Las Flores was a fun story about a talking parrot at a cafe in Florida who repeats what he hears—with disastrous results. We found it quite funny, and I was able to refer to the story when one of my sons was tempted to gossip a day or two after watching it. We also watched Inger’s Promise, about a reindeer in Lapland who learned to be reliable. The best part of that one was the glimpse at life in a fascinating culture. These movies are not quite animated, but almost; the camera zooms in and out on a painting, and moves around the painting or from one illustration to another, as the story is narrated. The pictures are lovely and fairly realistic.

As I said, I watched a few of the Puberty videos myself. I wasn’t comfortable with showing them to my boys. They aren’t very explicit, but there are line drawings of undressed people, showing the changes that occur in the human body as they mature. One thing I did appreciate about the one, A Baby is Born, was a quote near the end. It was something about that you are born either a boy or a girl and cannot change that. Not politically correct now, it seems, but certainly the truth!

My personal opinion? If you want or need to come up with a health education course, MarshMedia’s videos would be a great resource. For our family, they aren’t very helpful. Take a look and see what you think!

Product Review—K5 Learning

June 7, 2017 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

My 5-year-old has been asking for school, and begging me to teach him to read. I’ve given him the attention I could, but I wasn’t sure he was really ready to learn to read, so I haven’t been pushing him at all. When the opportunity arose to review K5 Learning, I showed it to him and asked him if he wanted to try it. He was excited to do this online program, and couldn’t wait till I got the information about logging in to do it. He faithfully does his “school on the computer” every day, and wants to do the worksheets, too.

There are three parts to the K5 Learning. Mr. Imagination has only been using the Reading and Math; he’s too young for the Spelling. He is doing very well with the Math part. I usually just let him do it by himself, because I’m busy helping the older boys with their schoolwork when he does it in the morning, but a couple of afternoons when I’ve been working in the kitchen he has wanted to do his school, so I’ve gotten to observe. I couldn’t believe what he was able to do! He was supposed to put numbers in order the one time, and they gave him 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, and 95. He did it correctly without hesitation. He was also supposed to use the greater than and less than symbols (> and <) that day. He had a little more trouble with that, but caught on pretty quickly. Yesterday he was working on addition on it, and when he finished he came running into the kitchen saying, “Two plus two is four!” I quizzed him on a few other simple facts and he figured them out pretty fast, too.

On the other hand, he’s having more trouble with the Reading section. I can’t tell that he’s really learned much there although he picked up rhyming words very fast from working with them on there. I’m guessing he is dyslexic and that reading will be a little harder for him. It does seem like K5 Learning does not start at the very beginning; my impression is that even Kindergarten starts with some prior experience presupposed. They do say they are a supplementary course, rather than a complete curriculum. My impression is that they spend more time working on sight words than phonics.

There are worksheets to go with each lesson. You can actually use the worksheets without having an account. Mr. Imagination loves doing them, and has done very well. On the sign-in page, worksheets are suggested based on the lessons the child has been doing recently. (It looks, though like he didn’t understand what he was supposed to be doing on the one page here!)

In my opinion, if you have a child who wants to play games on the computer, and you want them to be doing something educational, K5 Learning would be a good choice. As a replacement for other schoolwork, I don’t think it’s a very good choice. One thing that would make it a lot better would be the ability to choose the lessons you want your child to do, and to be able to start them where you want them. As it is, if you want them to be working at a different level from where the program puts them, you have to contact the website. I did do that when Mr. Imagination started out, because the math he was being given was too advanced for him. I asked them to reset him at the beginning of Kindergarten (he had tested between Low Kindergarten and Low 1^st grade for reading, and Intermediate Kindergarten to Low 1^st on their assessment), but when he got on again the next time he was still at the same place he had been before.

Mr. Sweetie has also used K5 Learning a few times. He mainly does in the evening after his chores are done, when he feels like playing on the computer. He has mostly done the reading part. He’s been given exercises like finding the main idea of a paragraph, or figuring out the meaning of words. They spent a lot of time having him do reading comprehension exercises. I did enjoy the opportunity to have him do the assessment and get a bit of an idea where he is academically. He tested from just below to well above grade level in the various areas they tested. Nice to know he’s average!

Since I don’t have anyone doing the spelling part, I took a look at it myself. There were two areas to choose from, Vocabulary Tutor and Spelling Tutor. In Vocabulary Tutor, you are given a definition and a sample sentence, and must determine what the word is. They do give you dashes to show how many letters are in the word. The Spelling Tutor is similar, except that they pronounce the word for you. In both cases, you have to spell the word correctly before moving on. They seem to be coordinated; for example, I misspelled a word on the Vocabulary part, and that was the first word when I switched to the spelling part.

My final opinion: There are pros and cons to K5 Learning. I like that it is self-directed; I don’t have to help my boys with it much at all. When they want to play something on the computer, they have an educational activity to do. I don’t like that it is sight-word based rather than phonetic. Also, you must keep in mind that it is not a complete curriculum, but supplementary. The part I don’t like about using as a supplement is that you can’t choose the lessons you want them to do. If you’re interested in seeing if this program is a good fit for your family, they offer a 14-day free trial. Up to four students are allowed per account.

Product Review—The Typing Coach

May 25, 2017 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

I have been trying to teach my boys touch typing for a long time now. Esther learned when we still lived in America, using an old typing book I had picked up somewhere. It was very similar to the way I had learned, and really worked. The boys have been using a variety of computer programs, and none of them was working as well as I thought they should. I had been thinking about finding something else, so when The Typing Coach Online Typing Course, from The Typing Coach, was offered for review, I jumped at the chance. Mr. Intellectual has been using it for five or six weeks now, and he is really happy that he got to.

This program is quite different from the other online typing programs I’ve seen. It took awhile for Mr. Intellectual to get started with it, because there is a lot of introductory material to get through. To start out, you read a brief introduction, then watch a video introducing the method used in The Typing Coach. After that, you are asked to print several documents, which contain the passages you’ll be typing for practice, and then watch another, much longer video explaining how the course works. It took my boy several days to get through all that! The last step before actually learning to type is to do the Before and After Snapshot—type the Gettysburg Address for three minutes and take a screenshot of your results.

Finally, you’re ready to start the first lesson. That covers good posture while typing (mine isn’t very good all the time, to be honest). The second lesson covers the home row. It begins with an audio in which the instructor tells you where to have each finger and what letters to type. Then, you practice, using the student packet you printed out earlier, until you can get through several lines without a mistake. When you feel ready, take a test. You will not pass the test until you have 100% accuracy! The big difference I’m seeing between The Typing Coach and the other programs we’ve tried is that you are not to look at the screen. You are to keep your eyes on the paper you’re copying from. While you listen to the audio, of course, you won’t see anything on the screen, either. You are to type in a word processing program, such as Microsoft Word or Google Docs. That makes it work much like real life.

Does it work? Yes, at least for Mr. Intellectual! He already knew how to touch type, but was very slow and not accurate. He had been averaging 6-10 words per minute, with several errors. Today, when he did the Top Row Learning Check in The Typing Coach, he typed 11 words in 40 seconds, with no errors. He’s pretty happy to be able to type faster. In fact, when he writes stories, he is now typing them rather than using a speech-to-text program! I will probably be using this program for some of my other children in the future (you don’t want to use it with children much younger than about sixth grade, unless you have time to help them through it). One thing I really appreciated is that Mr. Intellectual was able to do this program pretty much on his own.

We did have some frustrations with this course. At first, the website seemed pretty clunky and hard to navigate. After playing around with it and looking closer at everything, we found what we needed, though. We did notice that things were changed as we used it, and it’s actually much better than it was before. Another frustration was that you have to wait two days, to the minute, before retaking a test that you have failed. That is especially aggravating when you’ve left Caps Lock on accidentally! We did find a way around that, though; if you enter a different name you can retake it immediately, so my boy used his middle name a couple of times. However—remember that the purpose of this course is to teach mastery and accuracy! That is why the rule about not doing the test again immediately. You are to practice and practice until you are absolutely accurate.

The suggested pace is a lesson a week for ten weeks. Mr. Intellectual hasn’t quite held to that pace, because life is pretty crazy around here; he’s finishing lesson 3 right now. We’ve had a lot of days we had to take off school to go to Christchurch for appointments, or other life happenings, including our upcoming trip to America. He has learned a lot, though, and plans to finish the course after we get home. I highly recommend this course for anyone who wants to improve their typing speed or accuracy, but you will have to have the patience to figure out the course.

To read what 100 reviewers think about The Typing Coach, click here:

Book Review: Shepherd, Potter, Spy—and the Star Namer

April 6, 2017 by NZ Filbruns 1 Comment

A couple of months ago, I received the offer to review the book Shepherd, Potter, Spy—and the Star Namer for Peggy Consolver. She had been intrigued by the story of the Gibeonites, found in Joshua 9 and 10, and wanted to write a novel about them. Well, I was immediately intrigued by the idea; I had never come across a story written from that point of view before! So, of course, I signed up for it.

Keshub is the main character; he is a 12-year-old as the story begins. He lives in Gibeon, and is a shepherd for his family. One day, he runs across an Amorite boy on the border between their lands, and is startled to learn that the boy, bin Zedek, a son of Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem, hates his own father. Why? He learns the terrible reason a few months later.

The author has created a study guide for the book. I did not purchase it, but did look over the sample. If you wanted to do a unit study on Ancient Israel, this would be a wonderful resource. She has some maps, and many links to help you learn more about various topics mentioned in the book.

Read my full review here.

For the reviews of 80 other people who read this book, click on the banner below:

Book Review: Meddlin’ Madeline Book Two—Such a Tease

March 29, 2017 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

About the Book

Book: Such a Tease
Author: Chautona Havig
Genre: Christian Fiction/Historical/Mystery

My Thoughts:

I enjoyed Sweet on You, the first book in the series about Madeline Brown, but Such a Tease is even better, I think. This was a really fun book to read. I enjoyed seeing how Madeline worked out the details of Vernon’s scheme for electrifying the town—was it a fraud, or wasn’t it? How was the bank involved? And then there is Russell. He really wants her to receive something better than the first offer of marriage she was given—is Henry the one? Russell is only fulfilling his promise to his sister Amy to keep Madeline from being lonely while Amy was in Europe, or so Madeline believes. I loved all the different strands woven together in this book. I also love seeing the way Madeline is developing a deeper walk with God through this story.

The author’s synopsis:

Madeline, with a little assistance, discovers her old adversary is gaining a following in Rockland! Can she expose him for the fraud she’s sure he is? In book two of the Meddlin’ Madeline series, Madeline Brown has a new endeavor to occupy her time. But is it to keep her out of the way or a reward for her work in Sweet on You? With the help of her young friends, Madeline discovers her old adversary is gaining a following in Rockland! What’s a girl to do? But her new position also gives her opportunities to observe, and what she sees sets more than one new investigation in motion. What does her old suitor, Delbert Jackson, know? Why is Mr. Merton giving important papers to that scoundrel, Vernon Smythe, and whatever happened to poor Abigail Cooper? Add to these intriguing questions Henry Hardwick’s continued attentions, Edith’s newfound devotion to the temperance movement and Madeline’s determination to find her a more reliable suitor, and strange behavior from her Aunt Louisa and things heat up as summer fades from Rockland. Her dear friend, Russell, busy with an important project at work, finds himself unable to help keep her out of trouble and away from danger. Is Madeline going too far? Will her meddling get her in serious trouble this time, will it destroy her reputation irreparably, or will she rid Rockland of a scoundrel once and for all?

About the Author

Author of the Amazon bestselling Aggie, Past Forward, and HearthLand series, Chautona considers herself blessed to live in California’s Mojave Desert with her husband and five of her nine children. When not writing, which she admits isn’t often, Chautona enjoys blogging, paper crafts, sewing, smocking, photo editing, and old (read: before her parents’ time) music.

Guest Blog Post from Chautona

Leon Czolgosz is my new nemesis. He’s dead, but he ruined my book. No, really. The guy totally destroyed the opening pages of Such a Tease. Now, these days, not a whole lot of people remember the name of Leon Cozolgosz. I didn’t. But I’ll never forget him now (although I may never remember how to spell his name). Who is he? Only the guy who shot President McKinley. Why am I annoyed with him over a hundred years later? The idiot did this thing on September 6, 1901. You know, four days after this book opened? Yeah. Couldn’t he have done it on say… January 6, 1901? Even January 6, 1902 would have served my purposes. Look, I’m not as callous as I appear. Truly. But if President McKinley had to die, did his murderer have to do it when it would completely mess up my book?

How did it mess up my book you ask?

I’ll tell you. I left it out—the whole assassination thing. There I was, fixing a wedding date for one of the characters, when a thought occurred to me. She could be married on Flag Day—if Flag Day was a thing then. I didn’t think it was. I really thought Wilson was responsible for that—you know, creating holidays in between his notes to Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany or something like that. But I hoped. Somehow—just maybe. I mean we had Labor Day from Cleveland, why not Flag Day from McKinley. But noooooo. He didn’t. What did he do? He got shot. Four days after my book opened. And there wasn’t a single word about it in the story. Like I could ever get away with that. This was news! Big news. And nothing about it in the life of a daughter of a politician? I think not. Not only did this Leon Czolgosz (no, really. It’s spelled correctly) shoot the president on September 6^th, but he didn’t do a good job of it! Look, I think I’ve established that I didn’t want President McKinley killed. But if the guy with the unpronounceable last name had to do it, couldn’t he have done a good job of it? Couldn’t he have shot the president in the head? McKinley suffered for eight days before he died. Eight days! They thought he was getting better and then gangrene killed him. It would have been a mercy had Leon just shot McKinley in the head or the heart. Why the abdomen? Cruel, if you ask me, even for an anarchist. And it made adding the whole affair to my book even more problematic. No, really! Think about it. I couldn’t have the newspapers announce the death of President McKinley on September 7^th and then have a few mentions of the bank being affected or something. No… no… now I had to have a headline event, give false hope, and then add the death on top of it all. Look, I do an obscene amount of research for my books. No, really. Keen was slang in 1901. Woohoo! Look up “peachy keen”? Yeah. Can’t use it. 1950s. The telephone? Can Madeline expect to use one in a burgeoning city in 1901? Considering there were over 850,000 telephones in use, yes. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to assume that a photographer who works for a local paper might have a telephone in order to receive calls requesting him to come photograph some big event—like the Mayor’s speech on the death of President McKinley, perchance? Yep. Somehow, I almost missed one of the biggest events in US history. Research saved the book—and ruined my timeline. All at the same time. Gotta love history. Or not. And Leon Czolgosz? Yeah. Thanks for nothing.

Buy the book on Amazon here.