• The name of each book, its abbreviation, and its numerical order in Scripture is printed on two of the six sides (for example: Philippians, Phil, 50).
• Two more sides display the numerical order in large numbers.
• The fifth side provides information regarding which testament the book is in, along with its division and number (example for Philippians: New Testament, Letter, 50).
• The final side displays a symbol that relates to the division.

Each division of Scripture has its own color:

• The Law is blue.
• Old and New Testament History are both orange.
• Wisdom is yellow.
• Prophets are purple, with Major Prophets being dark purple and Minor Prophets light purple.
• The Gospels are red.
• The Letters are green.

I see two changes I would make to the design of The Books of the Bible Block Set:

1. I would remove the numerical order from at least one of the sides with the book name and abbreviation. The numbers make it easy to “cheat” as children try to put the blocks in order.
2. I would add more divisions to the New Testament. The set divides the New Testament into only the following three categories: the Gospels, Acts (history), and letters. I would rather see the letters divided with different shades of green to denote Pauline and general epistles. I also prefer to categorize Revelation as prophecy or apocalyptic literature rather than as a letter.

Having made those comments, however, I must say that we love The Books of the Bible Block Set. It is admittedly pricey, but I can attest to the durability of the product. The blocks come in a nice, wooden storage box, and the set is very attractive and well-made. Even my eleven-year-old enjoys playing with the blocks, and they provide a great resource for some of our “Books of the Bible” games. I can also see myself using them at church to teach older children the books of the Bible and their divisions. For parents wanting to invest in a block set that can be used over the course of many years for building, learning numbers, and learning basic information about the books of the Bible, I definitely recommend The Books of the Bible Block Set.

Answers for Kids Volume 1 begins with an introduction by the author for parents and teachers. The rest of the book is a series of two-page spreads with questions children ask about Creation and the Fall, and answers to those questions. Each “question page” has a photo of a child and the child’s name, location, and age. My children enjoyed seeing where each child lived. The questions are realistic and, in fact, my children have asked several of them at one time or another. On the second page of each spread is a Bible verse about the question and the author’s answer. The answers are beautifully written to be understandable and at a child’s level, without coming across as if the author is speaking down to the child. The books are intended for children ages 6 to 12. The print is a little small and close together for the younger end of this age group, but the book makes a great read-aloud for younger children.

Answers for Kids Volume 1 does not shy away from difficult or controversial issues. Each answer is sensible and biblical. When discussing some of these issues, even months later, my children remember and repeat the information we read in Answers for Kids. I appreciate knowing that they are getting an early start in answering some difficult questions about Christianity. When they are challenged on these issues at some time in their lives, they will be equipped to stand their ground in their faith.

What I really loved about Reaching for the Moon:

• It’s written for a very young age group, so it’s not overly technical or boring. At the same time, Dr. Aldrin is an engaging storyteller. We feel almost as if we are there with him! I enjoyed reading it as much as my kids did.
• The illustrations are paintings by Wendell Minor. These paintings are just gorgeous! The detail in them is amazing, and they are definitely fine art in their own right.
• The story begins with Buzz’s childhood and includes his time at West Point and in the Air Force. It gives us a nice look at the whole journey.

What I didn’t like about Reaching for the Moon:

• It’s not written from a Christian perspective. He makes reference to the idea that his trip to the moon was “meant to be.” It’s also mentioned that the continents on earth are younger than the dust on the surface of the moon. I dealt with that statement simply by mentioning to my children that we know that’s not true because of the account of creation in Genesis.

I’ve loved the history of spaceflight, particularly the Apollo program, from the time I was a little girl. Unfortunately, a lot of the documentaries and books available on this topic are aimed at a slightly older age group. I was excited to find a well-written and beautifully illustrated storybook about it that could be enjoyed by even my youngest children. Even though it is written from a secular viewpoint, Reaching for the Moon is still well worth adding to your family library.

Off My Case for Kids uses humor to appeal to children. Some of the stories were a little over-the-top for my taste, but my children thought they were hilarious. A story about the circus discusses elephant “poop,” which sent them into fits of laughter. The dialogue in the stories contains a lot of unsophisticated language, which is meant to make it easier for elementary and middle school-aged children to relate to the story. Words like “bogus,” “dude,” and “bummer” are used in the text. I felt that reading the first three books added to my children’s knowledge of how to defend their faith, but I was disappointed in Off My Case for Kids. The analogies used in the original three books helped to put difficult concepts into terms children could understand. Off My Case for Kids just seemed silly. I didn’t feel that my children really understood the point of the stories. That said, I do think that the concept of showing children how other children might respond to challenges to their faith is a timely one.

The Pilgrim Adventure has a similar feel to the Adventures in Odyssey episodes in which the “Imagination Station” is used for historical trips. The children are accepted into the story as if they had been there all along. Several historical events are told through the eyes of a child, which made them interesting to my own children. The chapters are fairly short–most are only three to five pages long. There was enough adventure and interesting information to hold the interest of my son, who tends to be active and easily bored.

The Pilgrim Adventure stayed as true as possible to the recorded historical events. The author explains interesting details in an end note, including the fact that the dialogues are entirely works of fiction and that they are written in modern speech in order to make them easier to read. There are also several fascinating facts about Squanto that I hadn’t known before. It did sometimes seem unrealistic that Finn, at twelve years old, was allowed to go on dangerous expeditions; however, it worked well as a storytelling device to allow the reader to also go along on these expeditions. The were a few instances in which children were disobedient in the story. I was pleased to find that there were either disciplinary or natural consequences for this disobedience.

As The Pilgrim Adventures is intended to be the first story in a series by Ms. Kilbride, it ends without resolving the situation with the twins’ parents. This had the desired effect of piquing our interest. We are anxiously awaiting the next book in the series!

Editor’s note:  There is now available a unit of free Pilgrim Activities that can be used with any Pilgrim unit, courtesy of the author. 

Initially, the Mathlink Cubes seem a bit difficult to get together or apart for little fingers, though this seems to resolve with further use. Though the initial investment may seem high, these multi-link cubes may be used all through elementary school and for multiple siblings.

Our family has found these multi-link cubes to be helpful explaining abstract concepts in a concrete form to our very hands-on style daughter. Singapore Math’s Mathlink Cubes could also be used with special needs students to teach color, sorting, and motor skills.

1. Fluently read a given selection orally.
2. Show an increased desire for reading.
3. Show comprehension on a literal and inferential level.
4. Demonstrate an increased vocabulary.
5. Identify basic biblical values in the literature being read.
6. Identify various styles (myths, poems, fantasy, fiction, nonfiction, etc.).

Each daily lesson features reproducible pages of comprehension questions based on the day’s reading. The guide includes a ten-word vocabulary list, vocabulary test, and activity sheets on grammar and literary devices.

From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler follows the adventures of two children, a brother and sister, who run away from home and “camp out” in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. My boys are art lovers, so I was excited to find that the Comprehension Guide included six full-color art cards featuring some works by the masters:

• Leonardo da Vinci
• Homer
• Van Gogh
• Monet
• Rembrandt
• Michelangelo

There are instructions for a game that students can play with the art cards, in which they use artist clues, such as “shadows to make things look 3-D,” “realistic representation of nature,” “thick layers of paint,” and “scenes from the Bible” to figure out which artist painted a particular piece. As you follow the characters of the book through the museum, you can pull out the corresponding art cards and talk about them.

I was somewhat disappointed that the lessons consisted mainly of comprehension questions and did not include any discussion material. The Comprehension Guide is basically just that–a set of questions for students to answer to see if they remember the events from the story. The format is for “reading the story aloud for 30-40 minutes, followed by 10-15 minutes of time for students to individually complete worksheets or activities.” This may be better suited for a classroom environment. Though modifications for homeschoolers are provided, I prefer to use discussion, writing, and literary analysis with my boys, and I tend to steer clear of worksheet-focused learning. I could have easily asked my boys questions after we read each chapter and covered most of what was in the guide.

The Comprehension Guide also included a “Spot a Simile” activity and a “Gotcha Grammar” activity, but these are very sparse on instructions. The puzzles, which are based on using clues to fill in different charts, and then using them to solve a mystery, are not based on events from the book. I thought the “Name That Artist” game was the best part of the guide, but I found the instructions for assembling it to be confusing and awkwardly phrased. I would rather not have had to cut out the cards and assemble folders (not included).

If you are following the classical model of learning, and if you prefer cut and dried worksheet activities for literature, the From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler Comprehension Guide will deliver. Other than assembling the game, all you have to do is make copies of the reproducible worksheets, grab a copy of the novel, and you are ready to go. If you are looking for a literary analysis and discussion guide, this will not fit the bill.

Worldview marked indeterminate, because even though one of the stated objectives was that student would be able to “identify basic biblical values in the literature being read,” there was no discussion, no questions, and no biblical references to address this in the Comprehension Guide.

Discover Your Child’s Learning Style is broken down into several parts:

1. A preparatory section gives insight into why children so often struggle with traditional educational methods, and lays the groundwork for understanding the various ways children learn.
2. The practical middle section includes specific instructions for giving the assessment, the reproducible assessment itself (which can also be found in Appendix I), and detailed descriptions to walk parents through interpreting each portion of the evaluation.
3. The final section provides the tools needed to carry the assessment results on into long-term usage, including a learning disabilities discussion and guidelines for parents who do not teach their children at home and need to interact with teachers.

It is extremely important to note that the assessment itself is only a small portion of this book. It is a tool that will help parents understand how their children think and learn, but without the rest of the book, the assessment will make little sense. Parents cannot grab this book the day before school starts, run their child through the assessment, and be ready to go. This actually contributes to my two primary struggles with Discover Your Child’s Learning Style:

• There is so much information packed into this book. I find myself needing to reread much of it each time I evaluate my children, just to process how to help each child through their year-to-year growth and changes. It creates a pretty substantial increase to the amount of time needed to prepare for a new school year.
• The system is based on the experience of professionals. Their information is so helpful to have, but I lack their experience in testing younger children. When I have used the assessment with my children in the years spanning kindergarten through third grade, they have struggled with the required self-evaluation. Meanwhile, I have struggled to help them understand each question without coaching or prompting their responses. By about fourth or fifth grade, however, the assessment process becomes much easier.

Despite some of the struggles mentioned, I truly feel that Discover Your Child’s Learning Style has been incredibly helpful. I have not only learned to speak my oldest child’s foreign language of learning, but I have discovered that my mild-mannered, people-pleasing middle child has a language of her own, as well. And as we have learned about ourselves and one another, our learning as a family has beautifully flourished.

Note: I have not used the preschool evaluation included in the book. I have simply chosen to wait until each child was ready to begin learning to read.

The New Answers Book 2 contains an introduction and conclusion, as well as a collection of thirty-one essays by pastors and various experts in fields such as geology, theology, research science, biology, ancient history, physics, and mechanical engineering. The articles are well-written and interesting. Several give physical evidence for topics such as the existence of a creator or the reality of a young earth. Others use logic and reasoning to prove their position, such as the article that discusses Jesus’ deity and another on alleged contradictions in the Bible. One article discusses the Scopes trial and its significance. There are photos, drawings, and charts throughout the text that enhance the reader’s understanding of topics being discussed.

I recommend The New Answers Book 2 for parents and high school students who are good readers. Most of the articles are written by individuals with master’s degrees and doctorates in their field, so some high school students may need support in understanding some of the vocabulary and content. Several articles contain terms associated with the field of study of the author. Although many are defined within the articles, it would be helpful to have a glossary of terms at the end of the book to define some of this vocabulary.

The New Answers Book 2 answered several questions that I had wondered about myself or have been asked by others. If you want to reaffirm your belief in the Bible or need more information to logically discuss questions about the Bible, The New Answers Book 2 is a very helpful book to have in your library.

Like many home educating families, elementary science for our family consisted of hands-on learning experiences, which ranged from nature walks and journaling, to human biology (studying real live human babies), to bread-making (science in the kitchen!), to dissection of chickens at butchering time. If you approach science this way, you might wonder how your children will cope when it’s time to do real science (complete with textbooks) in high school.

Relax! With Exploring Creation with Biology, you get a great review and overview of what you’ve been exploring all along! An intense practical immersion into the scientific method, five-kingdom classification scheme, microscopy, biochemistry, cellular biology, molecular and Mendelian genetics, evolution, dissection, and ecosystems are all included in this college-prep course. For a continuation of Exploring Creation with Biology, plan to study Advanced Biology, the Human Body course. Completion of these two courses is generally considered the equivalent of college biology, and some students may be able to CLEP out of college biology after finishing both courses.

Although Apologia offers general science and physical science courses that are excellent for junior high students, and biology is usually a high school course, there is no prerequisite for this course, and the text is student-friendly. Dr. Jay Wile, the author of Exploring Creation with Biology, has a wonderful manner of writing in a conversational tone directly to the student, explaining difficult concepts in an easy-to-understand way, all from the perspective of the wonderful design of God’s creation. The student can jump right in and complete the course with confidence.

One of the best parts of the course is the optional dissection labs. Our co-op put together a schedule that provided two weeks for independent study of each of the sixteen modules before we gathered together to complete the lab experiments, study guide, and supplemental activities.

Exploring Creation with Biology provides three types of lab exercises:

1. Those requiring household supplies.
2. Optional microscope labs which require a slide set (purchased separately).
3. Optional dissection labs which require a dissection kit, available separately. There is also a specimen-only kit containing frog, crayfish, perch and earthworm.

Several options are available for supplemental materials:

• The textbook can be purchased without the solutions and test manual (which includes answers to end-of-module review questions, practice problems, and helpful material for instructors).
• A companion CD-ROM includes additional multimedia material like audio pronunciations of vocabulary terms, animations, and video.
• A full course CD-ROM contains all the information found in the print version, plus multimedia extras from the companion CD.
• An MP3 Audio CD of the textbook for auditory learners or slow readers is available.

Although Exploring Creation with Biology can be studied independently, I highly recommend the co-op approach, since it allows the option of sharing resources like high-powered microscopes, lab equipment, dissection kits, and slides, as well as sharing the talents of parents who enjoy teaching science. One of our microbiologist moms loved to teach every time, while another was happy to gather all the lab supplies–and we let her! Other moms taught younger siblings fun subjects at the same time.

Some advantages I noticed about studying Exploring Creation with Biology in a co-op setting were:

• Students remained on schedule and were motivated by peer learning.
• Students enjoyed working in teams for the dissections.
• Shared cost of the microscope slides resulted in quite a cost savings for all of the families.

And the retching and gagging over the dissected frog is much more fun in a group setting — especially for the guys! Some things are just more fun with a group!