Book Review: God Made the World and Me & Charlie and Trike: Grand Canyon

The curriculum for the Preschool Level of God Made The World and Me is a fantastic resource for a mom who is just starting out homeschooling. I enjoy all of the suggestions for the Learning Centers and how they can be involved or simple. The music suggestions are cute and creative.

I look forward to using this curriculum to help my son learn more about the world around him. This offers a great scope and sequence as well as supplemental learning activities that I can use to supplement my own ideas and lessons. I only wish that The Creation Story for Children was included in my review package as I was not able to look at the stories that were suggested for Circle Time.

The second book that was included in my review package was Charlie and Trike in the Grand Canyon Adventure. This is such a cute book! Author Ken Ham did an excellent job in explaining the World Wide Flood using interesting characters and a great story line. I believe it will go well when we look to find out more of the story of Noah and the Great Flood. The pullouts and the maps that are offered for kiddos to look at are intriguing to little kiddos.

Above all, both of these resources will be an excellent addition to my curriculum and my family.

Book Review: LOL with God - Devotional

I recently received the book "LOL with God: Devotional Messages of Hope and Humor for Women" by Pam Farrel and Dawn Wilson from Tyndale Publishing.

As a mom who is busy and often does not wake up early enough (you know...before 5am!) before the kids to have a quality quiet time, this devotional offers some great anecdotes of humor and refreshing words of encouragement all in a short time span...which is what I only have to give most mornings.

There are some interesting items in the book such as the Text Helps that remind you to refer back to your Bible for additional guidance and the LOL section that tells the humorous stories women go through every day. It is nice to be reminded all women make mistakes and learn to laugh about them in the end.

Thank you to Tyndale Publishing for providing a complimentary copy of this book for reviewing purposes.

Book Review: One Hand, Two Hands

It's not very common to receive Children's books in the mail to review, but I was a lucky one to receive One Hand, Two Hands by Max Lucado from Tommy Nelson Publishers.

The beautiful hard cover and illustrations in the book is about a little girl who begins her morning discovering her hands, along with her fluffy dog and numerous stuffed animals. Throughout the day, she lists things about her hands and what they can do.

At the climax of the story, it changes into what her hand were made to do. The point of the story that Lucado is trying to bring out is that God made hands for specific purposes. Not for hurting or hitting, but for caring and for loving. For parents who have children who are struggling with "hurtful" hands, this book is a great resource for their families.

Book Review: 100 Prayers God Loves to Hear, 100 Praise Songs

Once again, Booksneeze sent another item to review! I was super excited when I found this book/music CD in my mailbox! My kids and I popped it in the CD player in the car and headed down the road for a short little road trip. My little guy held the book in his lap and flipped through the pages while the song were being played! Many of the songs I knew from growing up and now I can pass them on to my kids.

The book: 100 Prayers God Loves to Hear, 100 Praise Songs by Stephen Elkins. What an enjoyable little gem! It is a hardcover book that comes with 2 CDs. I am excited to introduce these music CDs into our Homeschool Curriculum during Bible time! It was perfect timing! The fact that the music and the kids singing it didn't make my head hurt or my ears bleed, and the fact that it was quite enjoyable made it a bonus!

This is a wonderful book that most preschoolers, kindergartners and lower elementary grades will enjoy and learn more about God, classic prayers, Bible verses on prayer, prayers from the Bible as well as prayers from famous people. A worthy book on any small child's bookshelf.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255

O You of Little Faith...

I am now an official book reviewer on Book Sneeze. My first book: Fearless, by Max Lucado from Thomas Nelson Publishers

I have read many of Lucado's books, both adult and children books alike. Both are superbly written in such a way where it feels as if Lucado is speaking with you on your couch while sipping some Earl Grey with a twist of lemon and a squirt of honey. When I was offered to review his new book, Fearless, I jumped at the chance. When I sat down with my cup of coffee in the wee hours of the morning before the family began to rev up their engines, my first impression from the title, was that I was someone who probably didn't have too many fears that this book would touch on. The word, FEAR, to me didn't exactly stand out to me as something I would consider myself to have or to be. Yet, Lucado touched on many different areas that I would have never thought of. Fear to me is something of a scary emotion. More like a bad horror film on a Friday night. But what Lucado brought to the surface, was real-life fear that I often over-look for cast aside as something of an everyday life occurrence. Such as the fear of not being able to protect my children. The fear of tomorrow. The fear of the future. The fear of not being accepted. The fear of overwhelming challenges. The fear of violence in my life, neighborhood, schools, church, family, and friends. The fear of waking up in the morning, knowing that there is an overwhelming challenge at hand, and the courage it will take to stand up to it and overcome it...or to be defeated in the face of it. Or the fear of "this world is going to hell in a hand basket!" Knowing what I do of the end times and the different things that are happening in this world, FEAR, has gripped me to the point of wanting to live in an underground hideout, just so I can protect my kids and my family.

But what Lucado brings to the surface in my life after reading this book is simple: Matthew 8:26: "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?". Why am I fearful when the God of the Universe knows the number of my days, the number of the hairs on my head...and why am I fearful when I am full of much more worth than the many sparrows? WHY? WHY? WHY? Because when I choose to let fear come into my life, I choose to take matters into my own hands instead of letting God take care of me, since of course, he loves me.

What I love about Lucado's book, Fearless, is that he walks the reader through the steps of knowing what fear is, why we have it, and then points the reader in the direction of where to place our misguided fears and how to overcome it. Definitely a great read, and I would recommend it to anyone!