Love Inspired Series by Harlequin - A Review

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a HUGE bookworm. On average, I read approximately 40-60 books a year. and I usually am reading at least 5 books at any given time (At the time I'm writing this, my Goodreads shows I'm currently reading 9 books).   One of my favorite genres to read, without a doubt, is romance. I absolutely love vegging out in a nice warm bath after the kids go to bed and immerse myself into a great romance novel.  I really enjoy historical romance novels but I find myself skipping over what my friends refer to as "the juicy parts".. Ripping bodices and heaving breasts just don't do it for me - to me that's not romance.

So it was with great surprise when I found that Harlequin, the biggest publisher of romance novels, had a "Love Inspired" series of books for people like me who want all the romance but not the sex.  Love Inspired books provide wholesome, faith based books that follow Christian values.

Each month Harlequin releases 6 new titles for their Love Inspired series. These stories show that faith, forgiveness and hope have the power to lift spirits and change lives. The six monthly books have a shelf life of only that month and then they are no longer available through Harlequin.   I received May's six selections (which will be on sale from April 21-May 28 )  to read for the purpose of this blog.  

Straight out of the box, the first thing I noticed is the covers of all 6 books.. No shirtless man with his muscles flexed and his arms wrapped around a scantly clad female in the throws of passion. Instead, each cover had couples who looked like every day normal people.

Skimming the back of the books, it was really hard to pick one particular book to read for this review, they honestly all looked pretty interesting.  After a good "ennie meenie minnie mo"  I chose "Winning the Teacher's Heart" by Jean C. Gordon.  It's the story of retired motocross champion Jared Donnelly and his return to his hometown to rebuild his family’s tarnished reputation and to help troubled children in the community by giving back and building a motocross riding school on a parcel of property he inherited.  He is re-united with Becca Norton, a single mother of two who's husband left her and her children for another woman and who's ex-inlaws do everything to make her life miserable.

I really enjoyed reading this book and it was so wonderful not to have to skip over pages of throbbing body parts and other nasty tidbits.  There were a few questions left unanswered but as this appears to be Book 1 of a series entitled "The Donnelly Brothers", I guess I will have to look for Book 2 to get answers ;)

This is easily a series of books that I am happy to have been introduced to and I would also be more than comfortable allowing my teenage daughter to read these.  The story lines are well developed, the characters faith in God is apparent and real romance is the forerunner, not sex.

GIVEAWAY

Would you like to meet Jared Donnelly and read his story for yourself? Or maybe meet any of the other characters in these 6 books? Then I've got great news for you:  One lucky winner will receive the same set of six (6) Love Inspired books!  They would make perfect Mother’s Day gifts! Enter through the Rafflecopter form below.  Giveaway will run from  04/19/2015 until 12:00am 04/26/2015 This giveaway is open to residents of the United States and Canada.

But first, the important legal stuff:

"Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.

 Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway. If you have won a prize from our sponsor Propeller / FlyBy Promotions in the last 30 days, you are not eligible to win. If you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.”

a Rafflecopter giveaway

ARTistic Pursuits (A Schoolhouse Crew Review)

 
When it comes to homeschooling, most parents have the basics covered. We know to teach them the big subjects like Mathematics, Sciences, English and Grammar.  Many times, however, parents get a bit discombobulated when they start considering fine arts.  ARTistic Pursuits has made it very easy to jump right in and introduce visual arts to your students with their line of Art curriculum that can be started as early as Kindergarten and can be followed all the way through 12th grade. I was given the opportunity to use and review Early Elementary K-3, Book 1: Introduction to the Visual Arts  with my kids and was surprised with my results.

Designed and written by homeschooling mom Brenda Ellis, ARTistic Pursuits uses the theory that all children can learn artistic concepts and put them to use on paper.  Starting with the most basic of these concepts in Book 1, students progress each year until they are studying these concepts on a much deeper level of technique and application.  Students are introduced early on to various mediums such as watercolor crayons and oil pastels.  Books that cover Sculpture Techiques are also available.

Early Elementary K-3, Book 1: Introduction to the Visual Arts  is a spiral bound, 95 page soft cover book currently in its third edition. It consists of 36 Art lessons covering topics about  "What Artists Do", "What Artists See" and "Where We Find Art".  It is worded for students in Kindergarten thru Third Grade to understand (and a 3rd grader could probably read independently).  This particular book focuses more on getting the student involved in the creative processes through observation of other artwork.

How We Used It and What We Thought

I had no doubt that Ashleigh was going to enjoy this new addition to our homeschool schedule. Ash is the type to draw on everything and anything (as evident by the paint that I have had to buy because she drew cats all over her white walls in black sharpie). Garrett on the other hand, I knew was going to be a bit of a challenge. Garrett hates drawing and coloring - it's just not his forte. I've tried everything to engage Garrett into some form of art; I've tried to get him to draw Minecraft characters (Minecraft being huge with him right now).  I've tried clay.  I've tried coloring books with popular characters with boys - all to no avail.  Part of this is lack of confidence because Ashleigh tends to "overshine" him with her drawings.  So I went into this endeavor knowing that more than likely, Garrett wouldn't participate any more than he absolutely had to and even with that, it would be like pulling teeth.

We decided  to do one lesson per week.  On Tuesday we would read and discuss the lesson and begin our artwork.  On Thursdays the kids would sit and finish the project they had began.

Upon arrival of Book 1, Ashleigh wanted to start immediately.  I had bought most of the supplies needed to get us started early on, so after our studies we sat together and did the first lesson together.  Both kids were very involved in the lesson which I found to be short enough to hold their attention and had enough information for their grade level.  I've got to say, it's really neat to sit and have a discussion about art concepts with a 6 and 8 year old while looking at paintings by Edgar Degas, Marc Chegall and Pieter De Hooch.




Of course, the real fun in this curriculum is the actual act of making their own art.. The first few lessons, Garrett balked and didn't want to draw anything..  He did, however, like using the watercolor crayons and making them turn to paint with water which made him want to draw more. Before I knew it, both of them were filling the pages with pictures and colors.  And in just the six weeks we have been using it, I have seen a real improvement in both Garrett's confidence and ability in his own artwork.    Just hearing him say “Look Mom” and the huge smile that beams as he shows off his latest “masterpiece” is worth it’s weight in gold and that is what ARTistic Pursuits has provided for us.

 Ashleigh of course LOVES everything about ARTistic Pursuits. It means she gets to draw "with fun stuff" twice a week as part of school.    We do struggle a bit with her as far as trying to get her to draw something beyond cats (and even then, she usually sneaks something regarding cats into the picture).  She loves trying the various mediums but like Garrett, she enjoys the watercolor crayons the best. 

All in all, ARTistic Pursuits was a HUGE hit in our house and I think it is something that we will continue with throughout their school adventures.  I would definitely recommend a spiral type watercolor pad so that they can keep all their work together for years to come :)

ARTistic Pursuits can be found on Facebook and on the web at www.artisticpursuits.com.

Wordless Wednesday

Memoria Press: New American Cursive (A Schoolhouse Crew Review)

Memoria Press has recently released a new handwriting curriculum that focuses on teaching students as young as 1st grade the fundamentals of writing in cursive.  I was given the opportunity to use the New American Cursive:  Penmanship Program Workbook 1 with my 7 year old daughter for the purpose of this review. 

Many of us can remember sitting in school and working on our cursive writing. I think it was around 3rd grade that we began learning the careful strokes and then around 4th grade we were told we could no longer print our assignments but must write in cursive or points would be taken off.  These days students in public schools are no longer expected to learn cursive writing. As emails and text messages replace actual written correspondences, the art of cursive has fallen to the wayside and has basically become obsolete.  However, many homeschooling parents still find learning to write in cursive to be a very important skill.

 

New American Cursive was designed by Iris Hatfield in order to present an easy to teach, easy to follow method of cursive to younger students. This particular adaptation of cursive writing is a bit more simplified in that it has 26 fewer pen strokes than the top three most common cursive programs.  With Mr. Meerkat as a guide, the book instructs students through each letter as well as using fun activities and doodle pages to keep them entertained. Level One's main  focus is on correct letter formation to obtain legibility.  This is then followed with Workbook 2 and Workbook 3 which focuses on proficiency through copy work.

Each book is a top bound spiral notebook which makes it easy for both left or right handed writers to work without impediment.

Another plus to this program is that it can be paired up with the purchase of New American Cursive® StartWrite® Software which lets you to create your own worksheets using the New American Cursive font.  This allows the student to continue practicing their cursive regardless of the subject they are currently working on.  (Software is not available on Mac OS)

How Did We Use It and How Did We Like It?

Early on, I knew that this was a program I wanted to use with Ashleigh, my youngest daughter.  Together we worked on one letter a week for roughly 20 minutes at a time on both Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Originally, Ashleigh was super excited  about getting something school related just for her.  That lasted about half way through our very first lesson.   Ash had a lot of fun tracing out the letters with her fingers and laughing as mom made "swooshing" noises when showing her the various loops. When it came time to write, however, Ash wanted to rush through and did not want to actually sit and cooperate.  The first week we had a bit of tears. 

The next week was much better.. Ashleigh really liked following along with Mr Meerkat and once she began to actually slow down and take her time to make sure each letter went from the top line to the bottom, she actually stated having fun with it.

By letter D, she began looking forward to doing her writing lesson.  She was a bit worried about the letter D as it has two "loops" but after a few practice tries she stated, "D's are easy Mom!" and actually smiled through the rest of the practice.

The fun activities and doodle pages really help to make this program fun for kids. Ashleigh really
enjoys getting to the end of the lesson each Thursday and getting to doodle as part of her assignment. Her doodles tend to be things that are included in the lesson or something she visualizes the letter looking like, such as the A looking like the muzzle of a cat.

Will she stick with it? I have no doubt she will. This weekend as I was working out in the garden she was having fun tracing the letters she has learned so far in the dirt.

Eventually I would like to get the New American Cursive® StartWrite® Software to go along with the workbook. We had just purchased StartWrite Version 6 prior to starting the New American Cursive program and unfortunately the font is not an available add on for Version 6. I hope this will change in the future or I will probably just purchase the software through Memoria Press at a later date as Ashleigh gets more proficient in her writing.

Memoria Press can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google +, and Instagram.

Letters To Garrett : A Mother's Letter of Acceptance to Her Autistic Son

Last Thursday, April 2nd, was World Autism Awareness Day . However, on that day we were all running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying  to get things together for my oldest daughter to head to Texas for Spring Break so the day went unnoticed here on my blog.   However, Autism Awareness is nothing new in our house and it's something observed daily as we go through each and every day with my son.

Today, for throw back Thursday (as well as to honor World Autism Awareness Day a week late), I would like to share with my readers a letter I wrote to my son. Originally written in June of 2011 when my son was 4 years old, it was the first posting to a now defunct blog I was writing entitled "Letters To Garrett". Started shortly after our diagnosis of autism spectrum, my original intention of that blog was to keep a journal of Garrett's life as we stumbled together though the uncharted forests of Autism and Einstein's syndrome. I share it here today so that other moms, at wits end, might feel the same love for their autistic children and know that even though they are not the same as their "normal" peers, they are still absolutely wonderful children full of love and wonder.

Many things have changed since I wrote this letter nearly 4 years ago. Many things have stayed the same.. The child that we were told might not write or learn much beyond the basics is now doing all of the above  well ahead of his peers. The child I was told would most likely never speak is still delayed verbally but he does talk.   He is a boy of very few words but when he does speak, he speaks with a purpose. 

But the most important thing - He tells me "I Love you" more than a handful of times each day.

Music to my ears.

Garrett (Age 8)  with his sister

Letters to Garrett

My Dear Son,

As I write this, you are currently playing next to me.. From time to time, you look up at me and

attempt to say "hi" or make some occasional noise that makes no sense to anyone but yourself, but that's okay. I can tell that you are just happy being beside me and I enjoy it as well.

Earlier this month, you were diagnosed with Autism. Dad and I always suspected it even when you were much younger but I guess the doctors in Michigan let you (and us) slip through the cracks. Some parents sit and blame themselves and ask "Why Me? Why my child?" when their child is labeled as something. Personally, I wouldn't change anything about you - to me, you are perfect. Autism is part of who you are and I like who that is.. Granted, you can be a terrible pain at times but your laugh, your curiosity, and your love for life is contagious. You are my son and I love you more than any label could ever diminish.

I'm starting this blog for you to know how things were when you were young.. To start documenting what you go through since your diagnosis, some of the crazy things you do, some of the things that have me pulling my hair out and will explain why mom went grey in her 30's.. Maybe one day, when you are older, you can read it and have a laugh and when you graduate you can thank mom for putting up with your craziness. But more than anything, I want you to be able to look back on this and know that Mom loved you so very much.

Right now, you are climbing on the couch next to me, smiling that huge smile that I love, laughing

like you haven't a care in the world. A few moments ago, you reached out and held my hand for a few moments. I think you are starting to tucker out though...you're laying on the back of the couch getting quiet.. Almost time for a nap, though I am sure you will disagree with me.

Sometimes it is hard - wishing that you would just come to me and say "I love you" on your own, without me having to break each word down for you to repeat it. And Lord knows, you have given me a number of scares when you have found ways to sneak out of the house at 3am...something I thought I wouldn't have to worry about til you were a teenager, not at 4 years old. Or the mornings I wake up and go to let you out of your room (which now has a chain lock on the door to keep you in) only to find you and the walls and carpet painted in a very smelly shade of brown. There are times I ask myself what I did wrong...was it the shots that I got for you when you were an infant?? Did I do something wrong while I was pregnant with you?? But research says it just happens with no real rhyme or reason.

And then I watch you, playing on the floor with your blocks.. making such intricate patterns and I wonder what really goes through that mind of yours... You see patterns in everything...the coke cans in the recycle bag (which you have gone and spread all over the floor on numerous occasions), the DVD cases which can almost never seem to stay on the shelf but instead make roads all over the living room floor..If the edges can be put side to side, you are finding some way to lay them out in various patterns. I'd like to see the world, as you do, just to understand how one as little as you can see the patterns in everything.

So now we begin this journey together my son. It won't be easy, I know this. But I am there for you to hold your hand...you may sometimes be alone in your mind, but you will never be truly alone.  You will always have at least one person in your corner, no matter where you go or what you do. One person who will fight your battles with you, who will hold you when things get too overwhelming or when the loud noises are too much... One person who will love you unconditionally when the road is long and the journey seems unbearable.

I'm not perfect. There will be days I hit my breaking point and will feel I cannot handle much more. I might yell. There might be days you hear Mom crying. Just know it's not your fault, that sometimes Mom's get frustrated too.

We didn't choose this but we won't let it beat us.

I love you,
Mom

Real Life Homeschooling - Day 4 - Our Outdoor Classroom

Today is Day 4 of The Schoolhouse Review Crew's "Real Life Homeschooling" bloghop.   I've already showed you some of the "ugly" that is our homeschool, but now I'll show you one of the awesome things we get to do.

Right now, our big project that we are all working on together is our garden. We started studying botany a while back which sparked our interest in starting a garden. We also got a great deal on an Aerogarden which is a small indoor hydroponics system. Using both of these in conjuction with our Apologia text book and notebook, the kids have been working hard every day to help tend the garden by preparing the soil (granted, Dad did most of the hard work), planting seeds, watering the garden twice a day, weeding, ect.    While we're taking care of the plants, hummingbirds buzz over our heads and butterflies and ladybugs flitter all around.  It makes for a really great learning environment.  It's also something that we have all worked on together - the kids have been outside with rakes and hoes along side Mom and Dad so it's not a project that they are just observing - they are completely involved.

The various things we have done, far beyond just the basic planting of bean seeds in a Styrofoam cup, have made it a really unique experience. We've tested the PH of the soil using vinegar and baking soda and then had to figure out how to raise the PH since we had extremely alkaline soil. The kids have had a wonderful time picking out vegetables to grow from seeds that they wanted, which has resulted in a garden currently full of carrots (Garrett's choice), and Brussel Sprouts (Ash's choice), Kohlrabi (Dad's choice) among other things.  We even made our own "hot box" which we have used to start seeds indoors .

The Inside of our hotbox.. Not much left except tomato seedlings.

Another thing we've gotten to do was plan our garden out using the Farmer's Almanac Garden Planner. We were able to use it to figure out how many plants we could put of each type of vegetable in the space we had.  The garden was originally only half of what it is now.

The current layout of our garden, soon to be expanded to include Tomatoes, pumpkins and watermelon

Our classroom extends way beyond a designated room inside a mortar and brick building that is typical public schools.   And we have the added benefit of time on our side - we can do our classwork during the very hot hours and then turn around and work in the garden once it cools off, which is long past the normal public school hours...  We've had fun exploring seed catalogs and learning about growing seasons and learning what mistakes we have made in this first garden so that when we begin planting for the fall crops, we will not make the same mistakes.

Here's what we have so far after 2 months of hard work    We started the garden officially on Feb 15th.

First, a reminder of what we started off with.. very dry, very sandy alkaline soil.

The beautiful green bounty that the kids have worked hard on. We weren't sure we would be able to grow anything being in the desert but so far so good. 

Garrett works on preparing dirt. He wants to plant a huge sunflower here.  In typical Garrett form, he refused to put a shirt on for the picture.. But, this is "Real Life Homeschooling" so.....

Our Garden.. More Green then we're use to seeing.   We've also noticed right close to the fence on the neighbors side has turned green from the extra water we're providing ;)  

Ashleigh's Brussels Sprout..  We ended up transplanting three of the plants today because we couldn't bring it to ourselves to discard three plants.  

Walla Onions with Radish seedlings on the right. We harvested radishes last week and those are the new ones we sowed a few days later.

And here are some of the radishes we grew.. We were all so excited to know we grew these from seeds - and they tasted GREAT to boot :)

Carrot plants.

 Our Aerogarden has been busy and the kids check it daily to see if its needing water or plant food.. We have used fresh herbs from it several times now and have even had to harvest from it and dry out what we cut in order to make room..   The Aerogarden is great for allowing the kids to observe the root systems of the plants and also to allow them to watch the tiny tomatoes start off as flowers and then the progression of the fruit. 

The VERY extensive root system in our Aerogarden.

About time to harvest in order to trim it down again.

Lots and lots of tiny tomatoes

My husband wanted Coleus so I started some for him..

 We are currently working on an experiment to see how plants grown in the Aerogarden compare to those grown in regular dirt.   We started both of our cherry tomato plants at the same time in the Aerogarden.   A few weeks ago, we removed one of the plants and put it in dirt and left the other one in the Aerogarden.    While the Aerogarden plant has definately grown much bigger then the dirt counterpart, both are producing fruit. So once we have tomatoes on them, we will taste one from each plant and see if there's any difference in taste.

This tomato plant enjoys lots of sun and the benefits of being in soil.

We can't forget about BIG tomatoes.. The kids and I started three different heirloom varieties from seeds. Honestly, we did not expect that they would grow but grow they did.. Before we knew it, we had so many seedlings, we knew we would not be able to put all of them in the ground.. We have transplanted the best of the seedings into Terra cotta pots and are letting them get bigger before we thin them out to the best plant out of each pot.. That way, we will have two Purple Cherokee, two Carbons and two Pink Accordion plants to put in the ground.

I leave you with this thought.. All of this is for one class, our Botany science class... My kids are getting a hands on education and are learning skills that one day might come in handy, if they ever have any desire to homestead or if there's some sort of event that makes growing ones own food necessary.     Real Life Skills from Real Life Homeschooling at it's best.

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I hope you've been enjoying these looks into our homeschooling and what the kids have accomplished. If so, please head over to visit the blogs of these other Review Crew member who are also participating in the "Real Life Homeschooling Blog Hop"

Treasuring Life's Blessings
Double O Farms
Simple Living Mama
Fried Clams and Sweet Tea
This Sweet Life
A Net In Time
Some Call It Natural
Kingdom Academy Homeschool
Debbie's Homeschool Corner
Life at Rossmont
A Stable Beginning
Happy Little Homemaker
Joyful Hearts and Faces
Day by Day in Our World
Mama's Coffee Shop
Delightful Learning
Double O Farms
Tales of a Homeschool Family
Home Sweet Life
A Rup Life

 

Discover real life in other homeschools with the Schoolhouse Review Crew bloggers! Join the blog hop to read more!

Also, if your also into gardening,  click on over to my friend Wren's blog and check out all the wonderful work they are doing in their garden :)