As the title suggests, The Church History ABCs goes through the alphabet, naming a church history hero for each letter. Each page contains a cartoon-like picture of the church hero in focus for that particular letter, accompanied by one or two other illustrations highlighting something major related to each person. A couple of paragraphs provide a very brief biography of each hero, and in the back of the book, a little more information is added to fill in some gaps and provide details about the extra illustrations. Obviously, not a lot of detail can be included in just a few brief paragraphs. But, the book effectively uses the combination of colorful images, a bit of humor, and the alphabet itself to introduce these twenty-six names in a memorable fashion.

There are a few things to keep in mind when reading The Church History ABCs:

1. There is no pronunciation guide, so a quick pre-read is helpful, just in case a name or foreign word’s pronunciation needs to be looked up before read-aloud time.
2. There are a lot of missing names. Obviously, by limiting the names to one per letter of the alphabet, many heroes are not included. The book could definitely use a sequel, and perhaps even several of them! It might also be relevant to note that the majority of the names highlighted in this book are those held in highest regard among Calvinists.
3. There is a large gap, historically speaking. Of the first few centuries, St. Patrick is the latest mentioned (c. 390-c. 461), and then the next name is Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531). While the thousand years of that gap are rather dark ones for church history, there still existed heroes in that time frame who carried the torch that lit the Reformation.

Whenever one of the heroes from The Church History ABCs is mentioned in other sources, at least one of my children will say, “I remember him (or her) from our ABC book!” Anything that makes names that memorable is definitely a useful tool for my teaching toolbox!

In Bible, students learn about Jesus by studying His various names in the Bible, such as Light of the World, Immanuel, and Lamb of God. Memory verses that correspond with each name are learned. American history is taught using a variety of “living books” purchased with the program. A huge list of library books divided by the week can be found in the teacher’s manual. These books can be used during “book basket” time (independent reading) to enhance the history curriculum. A very brief trip through each state includes a student sheet and a variety of hands-on activities that correspond to the state being studied. Several of the state birds are studied. Students also do art and craft projects and listen to Americana music on the Patriotic Songs of the U.S.A. CD (formerly, Celebrate America). Adventures in My Father’s World includes art with I Can Do All Things and a composer study of Tchaikovsky. General science experiments on topics such as air, weather, and astronomy are completed from three Usborne science books.

The teacher’s manual for Adventures in My Father’s World is well-organized and detailed. If you are interested in a Charlotte Mason, unit study, living books approach to educating your child but are unsure where to start, you can relax when using this unit. Each week’s study, plotted out for you in a grid, schedules the books to read and resources you should use. There are also teacher’s notes each week. The introductory part of the teacher’s manual includes detailed information about setting up your school year and scheduling your day.

The resources in Adventures in My Father’s World have been carefully chosen to be interesting and educational. We enjoyed all of the read-alouds and the history books. My daughter learned a lot about American history during this study. As we move into studying American history in greater depth now that she is older, she frequently recalls information that she studied during our Adventures year. The science experiments were perfect for her age and ability, and were a lot of fun to complete. Our favorite part of the year, however, was the study of the state birds using Birds, Nests, and Eggs. Adventures in My Father’s World is intended to be a quick overview of American history and geography, as both are studied in more detail during the My Father’s World multi-age cycle. Even so, the study of the states seems really fast.

My Father’s World offers three options when purchasing Adventures in My Father’s World: the deluxe package which includes the teacher’s manual, student worksheets, and all the books, resources, and CDs needed to complete the program; the basic package which includes everything except the read-alouds, the composer study, I Can Do All Things, Fun with Magnets, and a soda bottle bird feeder; or a la carte. The packages offer a substantial discount over purchasing the items separately. Basic school supplies, art supplies, and kitchen items will need to be provided by the parent. A sample of the teacher’s manual is available at the My Father’s World website.

If you are interested in more information about how My Father’s World works for students in grades 2 to 8, please check out my review on the multi-age family cycle.

What I enjoyed about Shadows Gray:

• It’s written in the first-person point of view, which was a nice change of pace.
• The premise of random time-traveling is quite unique, and makes for an interesting setting.
• The question of whether or not Sonnet was truly seeing her sister kept me guessing.
• The eclectic cast of characters was anything but ordinary.
• Near the end of the book, two of the characters are tied to an actual historical event.

What I didn’t enjoy about Shadows Gray:

• It’s mentioned more than once that the Lost are adept liars. While I can see why they couldn’t exactly tell people that they travel through time, the ease with which they deceive people disturbed me.
• I like novels that have a moral to the story, but it just wasn’t there. I honestly expected a pretty deep message when the description of Shadows Gray said:

Shadow’s Gray will keep you up at night, wondering: is the redemptive power of love enough to change history?

• The book’s ending seemed abrupt and unresolved. While this does fit with the idea of sudden, random time traveling, it left me a bit unsatisfied as a reader.
• Throughout the book, Sonnet questions whether there is a purpose and design for their travels. I was hoping that this would lead to a discussion of the sovereignty of God, but there is really no spiritual discussion at all in the story.

Shadows Gray doesn’t contain any bad language or graphic violence that would make it inappropriate for teenagers, but neither would I consider it a Christian novel. It’s an original story idea with enough of a mystery to keep the reader curious. If you are looking for a purely entertaining book for your teen, then this would fit the bill, but if you want a book with a Christian message, then you will probably be disappointed.

The Case for a Creator for Kids begins with an introduction that discusses a common occurrence for children today: their science teacher and Sunday School teacher strongly disagree on how the world began. In the following six chapters of the book, the author uses logic and physical evidence to prove the existence of an intelligent creator. An elephant on a rooftop, an imaginary trip to Venus, a room full of monkeys, and a Scrabble game are just some of the examples that are used to bring difficult topics to a kid’s level. Boxes with important terms and comprehension questions are found throughout the book, and help increase the reader’s understanding.

The Case for a Creator for Kids uses humor and funny illustrations to emphasize points throughout the book and to help make the book interesting to kids. While we appreciated much of the humor and my children enjoyed the illustrations, there were times that it felt as if some of the wording was sillier than necessary and almost seemed to be talking down to children. For example, at one point the author tells the reader to “multiply that by several bajillions of gazillions.” The word “bajillions” is used more than once in the text. In another part of the book, an imaginary conversation is held, and rather than saying “he said” or “she said”, the author uses the phrases “he goes” and “you go”. The concepts that my children learned through reading this book certainly outweighed the colloquial language. If you need some help in putting creation science and apologetics into kid-friendly terms, you should find The Case for a Creator for Kids to be just what you need.

Editor’s note: the edition reviewed is no longer in print. There is now an updated and expanded edition at the publisher’s website listed.

Spy School then begins to reveal a story of secret missions, moles, falsified documents, bombs, and double agents. Benjamin is tossed from one strange situation to another, and he is never quite sure if the danger is real or fake and if his friends are really enemies. The only thing he can be sure of is that Erica Hale, one of the academy’s top students, has gotten him involved in an undercover investigation. This story has many humorous (as well as outrageous) scenarios, including a ninja attack as part of a classroom lecture and an assassination attempt foiled by a tennis racket.

Spy School is an imaginative, amusing, and easy book to read. Some of the vocabulary is quite advanced. However, I am not sure that it would be appropriate for young boys to read. There are several references to boy-girl relationships. Bathroom humor appears in a few places. On a couple of occasions, mild swear words even appear in the text. And every adult in the book appears to be some sort of bumbling idiot. Although I would not go so far as to say that this book is not fit for anyone to read, I could not in good conscience recommend it to anyone.

Each chapter in Sammy and His Shepherd is a two- or three-page story about “Sammy” the sheep, and how his shepherd cares for him. “Precious” is a sheep in a neighboring pasture whose shepherd does not care for her. Parallels are drawn from needs of sheep and how God cares for us. Salvation is even illustrated when Sammy’s shepherd redeems and purchases Precious.

Discussion questions are given at the end of Sammy and His Shepherd to prompt conversation. I would have preferred the questions directly listed at the end of each chapter, but the page number is given to find them easily. These questions prompted some deeper conversation and insight with my daughter.

Sammy and His Shepherd would also be a great book to use with a Sunday school class or children’s church setting.

Practical! At the end of the picture book is a section for adults (teachers, parents, caregivers, etc.) with detailed, but not overbearing, page-by-page explanations of symptoms and situations mentioned in the picture book. This allows adults to have more information, but still in an easy to understand format. The book ends with a checklist of symptoms, and a “10 Quick Tips” section that will immediately make a difference in caring for a child with autism!

Respectful! Beverly writes from the perspective of a child introducing the reader to his/her friend. The text is kind and caring, discreetly handling issues that may be embarrassing for some children. She has worded the child’s needs in ways that are appropriate without appearing condescending. For example, sensory issues are explained as, “My friend’s ears work very well. He can hear sounds I may not even hear.”

Families of newly-diagnosed children need My Friend with Autism so they can get a quick rundown of autism. Parents and other caregivers can use this book to help other people understand their child (think co-op, play group, extracurricular, church, neighbors, extended family, etc.).

I will use this with my niece to help her understand her cousin. When the time comes that my son’s developmental delays separate him more from his peers at church, I’ll discuss the possibility of reading it to his class, or letting parents borrow it. I showed it to our local librarian, and she loved it.

I do not often say “must-have book.” I often say “great book” or “you’ll really want it!” If you have a loved one with autism, particularly a child, you need to consider adding My Friend with Autism to your library. It is also a great way to introduce a growing category of special needs to your “neurotypical” children.

The CD is divided up so you can use it at your own pace by doing the warm-up activity, then go through the slide presentation, and end with discussion questions at the end. Each lesson begins with an objective, and from there you go into the warm-up activity. The warm-up activity is fun to do with the kids because it leads them to discuss why a person would want to study these things. The anticipation to begin is mounting! Then the on screen tour begins with the amazing pictures.

The Power Point presentation format in Home School Astronomy was difficult for my kids. There are over 100 words on any screen and sometimes many, many more. I think they were expecting something more interactive. They did not want to read the all the words on the screen after about five slides. I found myself reading them aloud, which was fine, but I was hoping for more of an independent study with this type of composition.

There are many interesting facts to accompany the magnificent pictures with the Home School Astronomy CD, and the ending discussion questions are thorough and thought provoking.  I’m just afraid my children have been desensitized to “reading” on the computer. They are used to action-packed video games, unfortunately. If perhaps, the CD was a “read aloud”, like an audio book, it would have been better received by all in my home school.

Worldview marked indeterminate due to this statement from the website: “Home School Astronomy teaches astronomy from an ‘as is’ perspective, meaning from the perspective of what we see happening right now. There are no references to age, origins or evolution.”

Guest Reviewer Cindy is married to Bruce Holcomb, and they are the parents of four kids which they have homeschooled from the beginning. Bruce and Cindy have been together since they were 18.  Cindy is able to be a full time homemaker/educator while Bruce works from home as a structural engineer. They are members of South Creek Church in Springfield, MO.

The Young Learners book is designed to match the older student’s version of Fifty States Under God (also by A Helping Hand). In fact, the material perfectly intertwines, which allows them to learn right alongside the big kids, just at a level that is more appealing and age-appropriate for them. The author does note that it does not include review lessons, a progressive map study, or a timeline like the Fifty States Under God does. In my opinion, those could simply overwhelm the younger kids anyway. This is similar to the My State History Funbook, but the Fifty States Under God for Young Learners does not require the addition of travel brochure cutouts and a few other activities the Funbook does, as it is not that in-depth for every state.

Since we prefer the Charlotte Mason method of learning, I was a bit apprehensive about whether or not this program would work for us. I really do not like to use workbooks as our main backbone for studies (whenever possible), but as we progressed through the book, we found it wasn’t too bad. I did notice that after awhile, the activities became a bit monotonous for my son. To ward off boredom, I simply add a state-related story book to each unit, and I highly recommend it to those who prefer to have living books woven into their studies. What I really like is how each state section mentions at least one thing about an event that positively influenced history, or about someone who displayed godly characteristics. The goal of this study is to reflect and show reverence for the Lord’s handprint upon our history, and it does a pretty good job of doing so.

The Fifty States Under God for Young Learners should be a great fit for those who prefer the traditional methods of teaching, or who do not have the time to create/pull together lessons and resources. It is especially helpful if one’s homeschool laws require them to study state history because it is all there, ready to go. The ability to tag this into the older children’s study makes it that much more appealing, especially to families who have a variety of ages to teach.

Swiss Courier grabbed my attention right away, in the introduction. As the writers shared the failed assassination attempt on Hitler by Colonel Claus Graf von Stauffenberg and his co-conspirators, and how Swiss Courier continued on from there, I had to make time to read it! Reviewers often say, “The author weaves a tale…”, so I hesitate to use that term. However, it truly applies to this novel. Yorkey and Goyer planned out an exciting plot and then put the pieces together, weaving in and out, up and down, taking the reader back and forth between 1944 Switzerland and Germany.

You will be carried along, chasing down an atomic scientist, hoping to get him out of Germany to safety. You will see events of the times from a different perspective (for most of us), as you read of many characters wondering if the concentration camps really exist, or are really as horrible as the rumors make it sound. You will find yourself amazed that Switzerland was not simply absorbed into the Nazi empire that surrounded it. You will pause in awe at the bravery of characters that you know are fiction, but represent real people who put their lives on the line for others, most of the time for strangers they had not met before.

Though there is some romance in Swiss Courier, it is not sappy or drawn out. There is, of course, violence in the book due to its subject matter. You may want to read it before your teenager, depending on the level of sensitivity of your son or daughter. Swiss Courier offers many conversation starters for parents and their teens, or for book clubs. I venture to guess that most adults will also learn bits of history they’d never known.

If you enjoy a well-crafted story with a plot that keeps moving and characters that evoke emotion, then you will want to hunt down a copy of Swiss Courier to hold in your hand or read on your e-reader! You may even end up like me, hoping Goyer and Yorkey will team up again and give us more.