Crew Review: Heroines of the Past Bible Study

Heroines of the Past Bible Study is a 13 week study celebrating the noble deeds of women and girls from history.  It is broken down into 5 daily lessons that are easy to incorporate into personal quiet time, school Bible time, or family devotion time.  Sarah and I, however, kept this one all to ourselves.  Mother/daughter time is something we love and this study was a wonderful asset to our time together.

This study is recommended for girls 8 and older.  It is written by Amy Puetz, who is a homeschool graduate and owns Golden Prairie Press.  She has a love and passion for history and it shows in this study.  

This is not only a Bible study but a collection of historical facts about women and girls.  Each chapter has a story about a righteous lady from the past, and then a study that digs into God’s Word concerning the virtues demonstrated in the story.

Just a few examples of the women you will meet in this study are...

• servant-minded women like Mary Slessor, who worked for Christ as a missionary in Africa
• kindhearted women like Florence Nightingale, who served the sick
• truth-seeking women like Katherine von Bora Luther, who boldly left a convent to follow Christ

You will also meet some lesser-known virtuous women who also impacted history.  

One of Sarah's favorite parts was memorizing scripture together.  Sarah loves writing and has beautiful handwriting so we put her memory verse cards in a photo album as a treasure for her to always keep.  

For me, I loved the fact that all the work was done for me.  Sample questions as well as scripture passages to look up were provided after each story, making my job so much easier.

Our absolute favorite for both of us was the box of visual reminders.  Simple item suggestions were given as a reminder to keep our focus on God.  An example of a reminder would be something as simple as a rock or glove, but the reminder we have when we see it is anything but simple. 

The visual reminder from the story of Mary Slessor...

"Put a stone in your box. The bad young people of Dundee tried to frighten Mary with stones, but Mary wasn’t frightened. She had learned to lean on the Rock of Ages. When you see this rock in the box, think about how God is your Rock."

I would highly recommend this study especially to moms and daughters.  You could definitely use it in other settings but the bond that you will build during this study is priceless.  It retails for $27.00 and can be purchased here in printed book or e-book formats.

For only a few more days, Golden Prairie Press, is having a back to school sale where you can save 20%.  It ends September 1st so go there NOW!  You can also see samples here.

Be sure to check out what my fellow crew members thought about this study and others available at Golden Prairie Press.

**Disclaimer: As a member of The Schoolhouse Review Crew, I received a free e-book in exchange for my review. The opinions here are my honest and true evaluation.

Another fun Mom video

The Parent Rap

Saw this over at Raising Little Rhodies and had to share!  Love it!!

It's a Wrap - Week 2

This week we added in My Father's World - Creation to Greeks for Stephen and Sarah.  They LOVED every part of it.

During the year we will be preparing for and celebrating some of the feasts.  This week's feast was the Sabbath.  We prepared our challah (bread) covering and spice box but we are going to wait until dad can join us for the celebration so that will be next week.  We simply used a small t-shirt and fabric markers.  I have a tendency to "over do" things in my mind and then because my mind made it so elaborate, I'll just skip it.  So, my goal was to try to keep it simple!  Each person of our family added to our covering which makes it very special to us.

Our history focus this year is Ancient, so we of course started with creation.  I love how My Father's World has everything already done for me!!

We have just recently begun using some of the stick figuring through the Bible lessons from Grapevine Studies and we love those.  This week we used the Days of Creation eLesson that we received for free.  Be sure to sign up for their newsletter for free downloads.  It is such a simple yet effective way to cement Bible facts.  Here is our board with some of the days of creation.  

We had many favorites this week but a lesson from God and the History of Art was one of our favorites.  

It taught about Joni Eareckson Tada and artist frustration.  Our job was to draw a butterfly sample using our teeth.  Not an easy feat at all but such a reminder to be thankful for that we can do and take for granted, daily!

Stephen drawing and results

Sarah drawing and results

Jonathan drawing and results.  We quickly learned pens and markers were easier than pencils!  Jonathan did great!

My drawings with marker and pencil.  :)

Reading is going well.  We are using Sonlight readers.  Stephen is having a difficult time getting through Mara, Daughter of the Nile but he is pushing through hoping his next book comes soon.  

Math is going extremely well.  All 3 are using Teaching Textbooks and love it!  I have said before how much I love math so I still cannot believe that I gave math teaching over to a computer but I can finally say that I love it too.  It gives me time to take Spanish along with Jonathan.  :)

Here is another art lesson - simply drawing lines as close and straight as you can.  That was really hard!  I think Sarah found this one easier.

We also began our Classical Conversations memory work.  This week, they copied all of week 1.  I'm saving our lapbooks for when we start back with our community in September.  We start early at home to help Stephen who loves trying to obtain Memory Master.  

To continue our baby steps back to school, Jonathan added in Spanish this week.  Next week he will add in Science.  Stephen and Sarah will be adding in our read aloud.

Until next week!  I'm linking up with The Homeschool Mother's Journal, Weekly Wrap-Up, and Collage Friday.  I love looking at other homeschoolers weeks!

Free Bible Curriculum

Foundations 3 Year Bible Curriculum is free right now at Currclick. Each book retails for 14.95, so grab these for FREE while you can!  We used this when we first started homeschooling and enjoyed it.  

Book 1

Book 2

Book 3

First Week Back To School!

In our homeschool this week…

We wrapped up our first week back to school!  We are taking things slow and easy so it was a great, smooth week.

We started the week with our First Day traditions of the 3C's and a P.  Coffee, Candy, Crayons, and Pj's.  No 3 R's here.  Just Kidding, they come later!

hmm...the sun was kinda bright that day.  

It took several takes but here are my babies. :)

Let's see what we can do to wake up these kiddos? What's that? Deodorant on the kitchen counter...hmmm. Hubby is working strange hours - maybe he was still asleep too.

Cheers and Yum!  They all love coffee as much as me!  We usually have a Saturday morning coffee date too.  The first day of school morning coffee break comes only after a few subjects have been complete.  That was math and reading for Sarah and Stephen.  Jonathan finished Bible (his favorite), History, and suffered through the New Answers Book. (see below)

Jonathan had the fullest load this week as he began HIGH SCHOOL.  9th grade freshman, really?  The time sure does fly by.  He really enjoyed his grid lesson plan with everything laid out for him from My Father's World - AHL and so did I!  Ahem...excuse the laundry - just keeping it real.  :)

He actually did very well with everything except 1 book.  

The New Answers Book is just not his cup of tea.  So, I told him I would put him out of his misery and we would read that one together.  Honestly, it's not my cup of tea either.  It's a great book, don't get me wrong, but D-E-E-P.  I think we need to start with a kid's version.  I know high school is suppose to be the Rhetoric stage but I'm not quite sure either of us are there yet!  I find my eyes glossing over at times too.  I do think it has some important points and concepts so we will keep going with it - for now.    Next week, we'll add in Spanish.  

Stephen and Sarah started with a very light week.  Sarah was disappointed.  This child LOVES school and to learn.  She wanted more but I told her I really needed to be there for Jonathan this week and she will have me for the rest of the weeks (shared, of course).   They will start My Father's World - CTG next week.

If your looking for curriculum, I have some for sale.  I'm hoping to add more soon!  

Until next week!  I'm linking up with The Homeschool Mother's Journal, Weekly Wrap-Up, and Collage Friday.  I love looking at other homeschoolers weeks!

We are ready! 2012-2013 School Area

Our first week of school will begin Monday, August 13 and we are ready!  Here are a few more areas of our school room.  This room is located in our bedroom so we share the area.  I try to keep it all separated so it doesn't feel overwhelming.  We changed things a little from last year by adding individual desks.

We meet at the school table and the kids will finish their work at their desks.  The chairs will be rolled from area to area - yeah they love that!  The grey chair is mine and I sit in front of the bookshelf where my teacher manuals and supplies are stored.

This desk is for my freshman - he is pretty much independent now but still likes to stay in the room with us.  He does have a desk in his room though if we are too loud.  :)

Calendar area - my birthday was Friday.  :)

Birthday goodies - I am loved!

MFW-AHL books for Jonathan

 Sonlight Readers For Stephen

Here are some fun back to school goodies waiting on each desk for Monday!  Simple but they love it!  I am a big fan of Crayola. 

See this post on getting ready for our My Father's World Lessons.