Reviews: Picture Perfect

Picture Perfect by Beverly King
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A quick little "relationship fiction" read. It was a bit hard to read about loosing a parent, since I so recently lost my mother. But, I guess my friends keep recommending these to me to help me through my grief and so I'm thankfully reading them.

All of the book had a good flow until the end. The ending was completely stilted and awkward. It just was not a good ending. This book is not a classic by any means and will not be read again, but it was good entertainment.

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Reviews: Michael Vey 2: Rise of the Elgen

Michael Vey 2: Rise of the Elgen by Richard Paul Evans
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A decent and clean read for teens. The story line is good and entertaining. I think this is one of the better young adult authors out there. I just wish there was a bit more depth and more superior writing like many of the classics. I do recommend it although it does not go on my classics list.

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Reviews: Cash, Cars, and College

Cash, Cars and College by Janine, Bolon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A very quick read and a bit pricey for how small it is if you ask me. Thankfully I was able to find it with an inter-library loan. I did enjoy it and think my teens should read it. I've heard of many of her principles before, but she explains the 40/60 principle for teens, which I have not heard before.

All through the book I kept wondering about what she recommends for adults. Of course, at the end I find out she does have a book for adults Money...It's Not Just for Rich People!. I guess I'll have to check that one out next.

One thing I liked was that she suggests that people read a new book about money every 3 months. I think I read one every 2 years. Maybe if I step it up on reading books about money I'll get better at how I manage our money. I do wish I had learned these principles as a youth...my money life would have been a LOT better.

The #1 con I see with this book is she keeps referring to "The Universe". I am a Christian woman and I feel a bit offended by suggesting that the Universe has power to make money come into my life. Just for that I had to bring the book down in rating and give this note to future readers.

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Reviews: 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I spent a lot of time in the reading of this book, mainly because I did not want to treat it too lightly, and secondly because I wanted to truly learn the material. I realize, however, that I will need to do much more than read this book to learn the principles. I will need to deeply study this book before I can say I have mastered the principles taught here.

Like so many others, I found the 7 Habits earth shattering. I can see so many, so so many things that I need to change in myself in order to be more effective in my life. Sometimes it seems so overwhelming to think of all the areas I need to work on in order to make the changes I need to make. I can at least find comfort that I have found areas that need change and I have some inkling of what the changes are that I should focus on first.

On a personal note, I found the last chapter inspiring. Especially when he talks about being the Transition Person in the scripting of your life. I am that person in my family. I often stand alone because others cannot understand why I do what I do. They see my actions in a Win/Lose way and so can't fathom that I intend for all of us to Win! I hope and pray that as I continue on my path as a Transition Person, that somehow I can learn to communicate to understand with those who seem unable/unwilling to communicate at this point in time.

I highly recommend this book to everyone who wants to make vital changes in their life to be happier, more fulfilled, and to meet the needs of others in their life.

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Home Library Cataloging

We own a lot of books. Keeping track of all the books we own is a huge chore! I can't tell you how many times I have re-purchased the same book because I thought we did not own it yet. Plus, I have several different types of lists that I want to know what books are on which lists.

For example, I want to know which books are included in my Great Books of the Western World set, which books are for homeschooling by subject, which books are on the Thomas Jefferson Education for Teens list and which age group they pertain to, etc. etc. I have copies of all these lists, but it is not incredibly easy to keep this lists in my purse when I run across books at a yard sale, Goodwill, and Bookman's.

I tried a program for my home computer, but again, I would have to print the lists and carry them around in my purse, hoping the one in my purse was the most up-to-date version. Hmmmm....still not meeting my ultimate need to KNOW exactly what I have at home and what I still need.

I recently acquired a smart phone, which I love, and discovered an app called Book Catalogue. Gee...the name was so vague I had to read more...just kidding, I'm really not that dumb. The coolest thing about this app is that it can scan the barcode of the book and enter it into the bookshelves, entered manually, or synced with Goodreads. All very useful in my book.

Another great feature is that when I catalog the Great Books of the Western World set, it allows me to enter anthologies, or the list of books/stories in each individual volume with the authors names. Sometimes one volume will have several authors and numerous books or stories. This has made it super easy for me to keep track of all the items included in this set.

My Complaint
The only complaint I have about this app is that it added all of my Goodreads bookshelves even when I do not own the books. So, keep that in mind if you want to sync that website or not. I have a separate bookshelf for our "Home Library" of books that we own rather than just the list of what we have read or what is on a specific list, like the 5 Pillar list.

I also wish it would keep track of multiple people so that I can track what each child has read. I suppose I could just make a bookshelf for each child, but then there is not an additional section for their comments and ratings of books. It might be a useful item to ask for from the creator of the app.

Other Cool Features
There is also a section for adding notes and keeping a rating system for the books you have read, which it will sync from Goodreads if you have that already, and puts a big green checkmark next to the ones you have read.

I love that it has a "Loan Book" feature so that I can record who I loaned the book too! Sometimes I have loaned out books and can't remember who has them.

The app also pulls in cover art for the books if you connect it to Library Thing, which is free. Sometimes the covers are not the actual covers of the books I own, but usually the covers are correct.

Review: The Well-Educated Mind

The Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had by Susan Wise Bauer

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I only read portions of this book. I've read in full her previous book The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home. I personally find her books on education flawed. They are all about pushing an education without much thought to individuality, personal needs, aptitude or soul. I would much rather study Oliver Van DeMille books on education.

I highly recommend the following books on getting a quality education: A Thomas Jefferson Education: Teaching a Generation of Leaders for the Twenty-first Century, Leadership Education: The Phases of Learning, and The Great Conversation: The Substance Of A Liberal Education. These books discuss a true liberal arts education with more emphasis on being educated than following a prescribed plan for education.

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Book, Video, and Other Lists

Another important part of our yearly binder is the lists we keep of completed books, videos, magazines, and other articles. Here is a link to some list forms. My favorite is the books, issues and videos/plays/concerts forms. One requirement for my Scholars is that they record all of the materials they finish on these forms in their individual binders. Nayna and I also record the books we read on Goodreads.com with reviews. This is a nice way to have your student write a review and share it. Sometimes she reads so many books that she does not write reviews on every single one.

In addition to recording every book we finish, we also have checklists to chose books from. Our most important list is:



Once an item has been read they check it off on their list. Our goal is read all of the books during their Scholar Phase and marked off as level 1 and to hopefully have at least one a month marked off as level 2. (For an explanation of the three levels please see "TJED for Teens" by Oliver DeMille and Shannon Brooks.)

What a STEAL!

I am so excited I can barely contain myself!

I won an Ebay bid on a set of the Great Books of the Western World for only...

$66 with free shipping!

Whoot! I basically bid when it was a low-ball price thinking I would never get it, but just thought I would give it a shot. To my happy surprise...I won! That is probably because it is missing a couple of the books. The set usually runs $150-300 on Ebay. New sets can run over $900 dollars. For less than $20 I can pick up the volumes that are missing. Sweet!

Why should I be happy about this?
This set contains all of the great authors, philosophers, mathematicians, scientists, etc. of the Western World. Some have equated the knowledge in these books as equal to "a bachelor's, a master's, and two graduate degrees".

When used with a classical education, this set is the epitome of learning from the greatest minds known to man. The Great Ideas Program is an outline of readings over a 10 year period to finish most of the knowledge in these books. I started on that path, but had difficulty acquiring all the books. Now I have my own set. (Can you feel my excitement!)

The Blessings of Prayer
For several months now I have been praying about how to acquire some of the things we need - health concerns and healing (which came), paying off debt, home education curriculum, home education social activities, travel expenses to see family, etc. I have relied heavily on Heavenly Father to supply us with our needs after all we can do. This has come as a direct answer to my prayers. After our prayers for Chris's tumor have been answered, I didn't think we deserved any more blessings, but I am extremely thankful to a Heavenly Father who has seen fit to bless us with so much.

My $200 Budget
With our tax return we set a budget of $200 for new curriculum this Spring. I never thought I would be able to get as much as I did. I bought Math-U-See Geometry, Great Books of the Western World set (still can't believe it!), and Generation Change Home Edition for Teens. Along with what we have acquired over the years and the fantastic library system we have, these new additions will be greatly loved.

Now to find a place to put my set of 52 books!

Reviews: The Hobbit

We just finished this book as a Read Aloud for our home education. Nayna and I have read it before, Nayna several months ago and I read it in middle school. It is one of my all-time favorites! I'm a sci-fi and fantasy junkie! It is so nice to find classics in those genres. I highly recommend this book for all readers and especially as a read aloud book to the family.

We have also watched the cartoon movie, we actually watched before reading the book as a read aloud together. You can find the movie on YouTube here. The Hobbit does not seem nearly as gruesome as The Lord of the Rings series, although it does have scary parts. It is a good place to start for all ages.

Reviews: That Hideous Strength

I typically love C. S. Lewis, but this series is just a bit too creepy and weird. I can see where he is going with the story, but he adds in so many elements that it is just plain confusing to follow the planetary characters and their various names, etc. He mixes mythology with Christian believes, also making it a bit confusing. Sometimes I couldn't tell if he is trying to make a case for or against Christianity. I can see why this series is one of the least known of C. S. Lewis' works.

He titles it an "adult fairy tale", which I agree that this is not for children.

One Second After

This book is patterned after "Alas, Babylon", which I liked better. "One Second After" has tons of language which I felt was very unnecessary and is quite graphic. I know that in that situation it would be horrific and graphic, I just don't need the gory details.

However, I feel this topic is a real possibility. The US could be hit by an EMP and have all the electronics fail at once, leaving the human race to scrounge for food and survival. We are a soft generation that is far from prepared to live without electronics/electricity. In other words, this is not a fantasy/sci-fi book, it could really happen. I do think that the scenario is realistic and correctly depicts how people would react (not a comforting thought).

One positive to reading this book is that it made me truly think about what we would need to survive such a drastic circumstance. It is not a very comforting thought and I am loosing sleep just thinking about the book and what we would need to do to be prepared, not just having food on hand and what not, but to survive raiders.

A Brief History of Time

A Brief History of Time is a fascinating book. I am truly surprised at how detailed a "brief history" can be. I was very overwhelmed by the subject in the first few chapters, then I realized, this was going to take more study and more time than what I had originally prepared myself for. Thus, it took me several more weeks than anticipated to finish.

Do I understand everything in this book? Absolutely not! I have a basic overview, or outline as Hawkings would put it, of the string theory of the universe. I have a limited understanding of relativity and the workings of gravity, but I am happy that at least I know more than what I did before. It can be so easy to get discouraged by an overwhelming subject of study, but I have learned that everything takes time to digest, especially subjects that are not my easiest subjects, like science and math.

I took several pages of notes to help me remember what I studied on this book. Towards the end I was genuinely intrigued by the idea that the universe can have one mathematical theory to explain how everything works. Hawkings does a good job of touching on the existence of God while still maintaining his scientific findings, something rarely seen in a published scientific work.

Another thought I had while reading this book was that I feel outraged and cheated that so much of what is in our current textbooks is so outdated. Hawkings does his fair share of discussing how you need to be an expert to understand it all. It was another glaring example of the dumbing down of society....the general public is too dumb to understand. Will I ever fully understand string theory? Probably not, but exposure will lead to higher understanding over time.

Mockingjay

When I first began The Hunger Games I was pretty shocked with the violence and that this book was geared towards teens. A couple of my children had read the book so I decided to finish the book and make sure I knew what the whole thing was about. In the end, I allowed my children to read the subsequent books Catching Fire and Mockingjay.
I have two reasons for allowing my children to read these books and for finding them fascinating myself.

1. The society depicted in this series has completely lost their freedoms. It is a very Communist type of society with no ability to change their circumstances. I felt this was similar to 1984 without some of the adult themes. After reading all three, I still agree with this reason and feel it is important to read this with my children and discuss how they could have gotten that way, and as the story progresses, why the characters make the choices that they do.
2. This story rightly depicts a revolution with all of its gore, tragedy, heart-ache, and deception. In times of crisis, many people are stirred up to a revolution rather than seeing what will happen and pulling together as a people to reinvent themselves without all the bloodshed. I wanted my children to see the patterns and how each character's choices played into the revolution. The author seems to make it all rush along as inevitable rather than a set of choices.

In the end, I do recommend these books for older teens. There is some talk of kissing and teen relationships, but nothing terribly graphic.

Foundation

Foundation by Isaac Asimov

I find this book to be interesting, yet it is written differently than most books. It is basically a short story series that was originally published in a magazine and then later published into book form. The story is unique in that it skips from the original characters to characters in the future. There are no "main" characters to follow throughout the book. It is like watching episodes of a series that take place 50 years apart. It takes a bit to try to figure out what has changed since the previous short story.

One thing that bothered me about this series is that there is an obvious disdain for religion, making it appear falsified in the book. Religion in this book is created by government officials in order to dominate governments and groups of people. It made me uncomfortable. I do know that Isaac Asimov is a Humanist and firmly believed in Darwin's theories. I'm sure many of his books mock religion because of this. I think it is important for parents to discuss the worldview of the author when your children read this book.

The Weight Loss Cure

I am not impressed with this book. The author gives no real data, no studies, no factual evidence...just simply his opinion as he sees it. I'm not sure that his information is wrong, just that he does not state his evidence of why he is right. He is not a doctor, but a journalist! Most books like this at least state references to studies and other books where they got their information. This book has some references listed in the back, but it is not annotated to know which study belongs to which statements, making it hard to research his information.

The logic behind this author's arguments is flawed. In Phase 1 of the diet he stresses over and over about illuminating hormones and such by eating only organic food. Then Phase 2 is using the HCG hormone shots. What? How can you say ALL hormones in foods and such is bad, then turn around and promote giving yourself shots of another type of hormone? It does not add up and quite frankly seems fishy to me.

Boys Adrift

Boys Adrift: Five Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men is an excellent book discussing why we are seeing such a trend of men and boys who are happy to be underachievers. I remember watching the movie "Failure to Launch" and thinking how funny it was...until I realized how true it was. My own two youngest brothers fit that category...even though they have both been married and each have kids!

I have also seen many examples of men who have no desire to support their families or even to marry at all. It is also scary to see so many women willing to raise children in single homes.

I highly recommend this book. The part that probably scared me the most was the chapter on plastics. I think that is that only thing from this book that is a change I need to make in our home. (See more about Endocrine Disruptors here and BPA Fact Sheet). The main concerns for boys are lowered sperm counts and too much estrogen which effeminates the males.

Of course, the author does not advocate home education as a possible fix for boys who hate school. He advocates same-sex schools instead. Other than that I was pretty impressed with this book.

Check out the Boys Adrift website.