Morning Coffee With God

So, every morning I wake up before my children and usually before my husband. I sit down, enjoy a cup of coffee and read a chapter or so out of my Bible app on my phone. It's been awhile before I shared my Spiritual thoughts derived from these moments in the morning. So, I thought I'd share this one.

From John 15:18-19:

If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

As an introvert who struggles to understand people's actions in general, this scripture is encouraging to me. Just one glance at comments on Facebook or Twitter, and I feel like everything I believe in, everything that makes up the core of who I am is hated. Knowing that I have been chosen to be taken out of the world (In other words, I am not of this world), makes me feel loved. It makes me realize that perhaps my thoughts and beliefs only appear to be odd or hated because they are not popular with those who live for worldly ways.

Homeschool Review Crew - Greek 'n' Stuff Hey, Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek!

So, the phrase - "It's all Greek to me" was probably written by my family, making us the perfect test students for a Greek curriculum, so needless to say, I was thrilled to get a chance to review Hey, Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek! - Level 3 Set from Greek 'n' Stuff, which is intended for students approximately 4th Grade and older, written by Karen Mohs.

Other Homeschool Review Crew members got a chance to review:

Hey, Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek! - Level 2 Set (Good for students as young as 2nd Grade)

I Can Study Jonah & Ruth Alone With God Bible Study (13 week study)
KJV
NIV

I Can Study Esther Alone With God Bible Study (13 week study)
KJV
NIV

I Can Study I Samuel Alone With God Bible Study (39 week study)
KJV
NIV

I Can Study Acts Alone With God Bible Study (52 week study)
KJV
NIV

What is Hey, Andrew! Teach me Some Greek! - Level 3 Set from Greek 'n' Stuff?

Hey, Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek!  series includes Level 1 through 8. I received  Level 3 which is intended for 4th grade and up, students who have completed Level 2, or older beginners who want to learn whether or not they've completed any of the earlier levels. My daughter is just beginning her Fifth Grade year, so it was perfect for her. The company recommends starting at this level for 4th graders and even if you are an adult and have no prior Greek experience, like me. The materials have weekly lessons and daily assignments. The first couple of lessons teach the alphabet at a pace of three letters per day and then the lessons begin to slowly teach vocabulary.

Basically, the learning consists of:

Workbook written practice assignments
Flashcard practice daily With Vocalization of the Words (This is the KEY to the entire program)
Copy Work using an Interlinear Greek Bible (Bible Not Included in the set)
Practice
Practice
Practice

There is very little to no parent/teacher prep. There are some brief instructions and teaching tips in the Answer Key to help guide you, but it's pretty much an open book, easy-to-follow format. There are 36 lessons in the book, but the emphasis is on learning and mastering a concept before moving on. It's more important to practice until the student feels confident in the newly learned skill rather than to move forward unprepared. Here is an example of what the Teacher Lesson Tips looks like:

The book takes a gradual approach and builds the student up each day with reinforced learning and doesn't suddenly drop you off a cliff expecting you to speak fluently suddenly, which is what many foreign language courses tend to do. Level 3 approaches grammar in what is called an inductive format. That means it takes parts to whole as opposed to how they approach grammar beginning in Level 4, which is a deductive format, in other words, whole to parts.

The workbooks are set up with the intention of the student completing one workbook page each day along with flashcard practice, however if you are an older student, you may be able to complete more than one page per day.

I received a nice spiral-bound paper back student workbook and an answer key that is also paperback, glossy covers, and a pronunciation CD.

The Answer Key provides teaching tips and brief instructions for each lesson and then contains a complete student workbook with the answers filled in and an appendix along with flashcard tips.

The student book is set up with 36 lessons and a nice appendix filled with helpful learning references and tips. The back of the book contains pages of flashcards to be cut out and used for memory learning work.

How Did We Use It?

  

Flashcards

One look at this page, and my daughter lit up - "Is that the Pi symbol?" So, she was hooked. She recognized a Greek letter and wanted to know more.

We were so happy to see that the workbook included activities such as drawing, one of my daughter's favorite things to do.

What Did We Think?

First of all, I have to say that I absolutely love the name of the company. The 'n' stuff" part of the name takes a sophisticated sounding study and makes it sound as if even we common folk (I speak for my family) will be able to grasp it. I knew basically nothing about Greek going into this and neither did my daughter. When my daughter first saw the letters, she was amazed. But, it didn't take long, and I'm talking the first day here, before she was excited and encouraged that she could tackle this. My favorite part of the study is the copy work using a Greek Interlinear Bible. The book suggests starting in the Gospel of John and practice writing/copying the original Greek text. I really appreciate the learning approach these book and CD use in reinforcing the concepts over and over until you master it.

FIND Greek 'n' Stuff ON SOCIAL MEDIA @:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GreeknStuff/https://www.facebook.com/groups/heyandrewteachmesomegreek/ 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GreeknStuff Tag: @GreeknStuff 
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/kuriakos/greek-n-stuff/ 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karenmohs/ Tag:   @karenmohs 

Read what other members of the Homeschool Review Crew thought by clicking on the picture below:

Homeschool Review Crew: Shepherd, Potter, Spy, And The Star Namer by Peggy Consolver Book Review

I love the concept of taking biblical accounts and combining them with historical facts to create a story that makes you feel as if you have traveled back in time to experience it right alongside them, so I was happy to get a chance to review Shepherd, Potter, Spy--and the Star Namer from Peggy Consolver - Author that does just that.

 

Who is Peggy Consolver?

As a long-time Sunday School teacher, Peggy read through the Chronological Bible reading plan and discovered interesting insights from passages that stood out to her, such as:

Joshua 9 and 10

Genesis 10

Psalm 114. 

From these passages, she was inspired to create a story based on the account of how the Gibeonites survived destruction. She was interested in telling the story from a fresh, unexpected perspective - That of a descendant of Ham. She chose to write the story from the perspective of a young Canaanite shepherd boy, Keshub.

The first step of her writing journey included a visit to Gibeon in the Palestinian West Bank and taking part in an archaeological dig where the pieces of history began to fill in the details of historic and biblical fact into her created story of a shepherd boy, a potter's son.

What is the book about?

The story is about a young 13-year-old shepherd boy, a Canaanite and descendent of Ham who finds himself caught up in a moment in biblical history. When he befriends the son of the Amorite King and discovers how evil the king is, and as he watches the Hebrews attacking city after city and the walls of Jericho fall, he begins to take his place in Gibeonite history as his life and all of his adventures begin to change.

The book is based on facts from history and accounts recorded in the Bible, though the author makes history come alive by creating an imaginary storyline told from this young shepherd boy's perspective.

The author includes scriptures from which she derived the story. One big one is from Joshua 10 where the sun stood still.

The book I received a 375-page, 46-chapter paperback copy of the book along with access to the study guide, which is available for purchase on the website but first offers you a free sample of a portion of it simply by clicking on the link on the page. I would highly recommend if you use the book as a biblical history study since it provides links to facts and videos that help bring the story to life, such as the kind of bear talked about in the book that the shepherd would have encountered or a style of knot tied. It also provides you with tons of questions for discussion to really bring the story home and apply the spiritual and historical aspects of the story to real life today.

How Did We Use It?

One of the first things I noticed is that the book is based upon some passages in the Bible, which the author suggested for reading. So, I looked them up starting with Joshua 9 and 10, which is the account of the Israelites making a peace treaty with the Gibeonites, against what God had commanded, and finally the account written of in Joshua of the day the sun stood still. At this point, I was hooked. Before deciding whether or not to include this in my children's course of study, I sat down to experience the book and the study guide for myself. It didn't take long before I realized this would make a great read-aloud for the entire family.

What Did We Think?

What a rivoting book. I was fascinated with the way the author was able to intertwine real historic and biblical accounts with a story that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Get ready, because when you start reading it, you may find yourself caught up in these historic biblical moments and forget you're living in the 21st century as the words float off the page and into your heart.

FIND VENDOR ON SOCIAL MEDIA @:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/peggy.consolver

Read what other members of the Homeschool Review Crew thought by clicking on the picture below:

Homeschool Review - Chara Games Commissioned

The Bible is at the root of everything in our lives, including how we homeschool. So, when I had a chance for my older kids to review a new game based on biblical concepts and events, while using strategy and throw in a bit of church history, and I was excited to get a chance to review Commissioned from Chara Games.

   

What is Commissioned from Chara Games?

The people who run Chara Games are Pat and Kat Lysaght. They are a Christian homeschooling family. The company is named based on the Greek word for JOY! They named it Chara (Joy) because they believe games are a way to bring people together to interact and share joy together. They began their company a couple years ago and set forth to provide fun games directed towards teens and adults that would bridge the gap between the Christian and secular community as well as games that help Christians deepen their faith as they delve into exploring history.

Commissioned is a 2-6 player cooperative game. It explores faith, fear, and wonder of the early Christian Church. Game play is expected to take one hour and is intended for ages 14+.

Each player takes on the role of an apostle, using a unique skill in the Faith Deck in order to help the team grow the church. The goal is to collect the New Testament and overcome historic trials while strengthening their Faith Deck.

There is a huge historical element to this game, which gives your children an opportunity to explore more of history. The game includes 5 different scenarios that cover different periods of the early church with unique challenges in strategy.

This 25-minute video explains how to play:

There are several components, game pieces, and cards. I received a brand new, sealed board game in the mail. It consists of everything you need to play the game:

• A dual-sided game board with a map based on a Roman map originally drawn by Marcus Vipsanius in 20 AD.
• Game tokens
• Game cards
• Rule booklets
• Elements of the trial deck cards
• Faith deck
• Theme Appendix
• church member cubes
• missionary meeples
• scenario cards
• extinguish tokens
• stops
• converted city leader token
• Roman legion token
• message die
• elder staff
• apostle pawns
• starting elements of apostle decks

   

Here is how the game board looks setting up and while in play:

 How Did We Use It?

I showed it to my kids after I received it, and they were excited to give it a go. Not so surprisingly, my youngest was probably the most excited even though it's intended for ages 14+. My 14-year-old was excited to play a game based on the Bible, and rallying up my 16-year old son is always a challenge regardless of what the family event is. After playing and watching the video of how to play and pulling out the rule booklet to begin reading through the rules, we sat down and set up the board for play. I briefly described how to play, but my son always wants to read through rules himself, which is fine. I'd rather he have the full concept of game play down before jumping in and no one knowing what to do.

What Did We Think?

Honestly, as is the case with us for any game, the hardest part was reading through the rules to understand how it's played. I really appreciated that there was a "How To Play" video available on their site. Once the game begins, it plays seamlessly and opens your eyes as to some of the things the early church may have faced.

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ANOTHER GAME REVIEW COMING SOON - 3 SEEDS - A GAME ABOUT SMART TIME INVESTMENTS!

The game came with information about another game that was originally intended to be part of this review, but the game was delayed. So, hopefully, you will be seeing a review for the game, 3 Seeds very soon! It is a 2-5 player card game that focuses on smartly investing your time!

FIND CHARA GAMES ON SOCIAL MEDIA @:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CharaGames/
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CharaGames/ @Charagames

Read what other members of the Homeschool Review Crew thought by clicking on the picture below:

TOS Review - Spiritual Circle Journal For Kids and Teens

** Raising my children to have a personal relationship with their creator is my reason to live. So, I was thrilled to get a chance to review the Spiritual Circle Journal for Kids & Teens from Spiritual Circle Journal.

What is the Spiritual Circle Journal?

The creator of the journal is Liz Lassa, who is a life purpose coach. The journal starts with a 3-page introduction and explains that the idea behind the journal is to help establish quiet time with God and to keep it encouraging and fun. It is said to be used with kids and teens, but any age child can use it and can get as creative as they desire, using cut outs from magazine pictures, drawing their own, decorating the pages however they see fit, or simply writing words inside the graphics that serve as spiritual story prompts.

I received a spiral-bound-on-the-top journal that is much like a scrapbook and journal combined. It is designed by child book illustrator, Jack Foster, with large graphics for the student to write inside. Each graphic leads the user to think about specific topics:

• Thought Bubble - Journal Entry (What are you thinking about today? Feelings.
• Oval - Lyric/Verse (Line of a song or Bible verse that caught your attention)
• Open Book - Message (Most important thing you learned from devotions today
• Heart - Confession (What do you need to say sorry for?)
• Car - God Moving (Have you noticed God doing something special in your life?)
• Light Bulb - Lesson Learned Light-Bulb Moment (Enlightened moments)
• Purse - Prayer (What Do You need to pray for today?)
• Note - Thank You/Adoration (What do you want to give praise for?)
• Shoe - Actions (What do you think God is calling you to do, to take action for others?)

The journal has a laminated transparent cover that protects the pages. The inside cover has a template explaining each icon. The next page has a spot for your name, From and Date Range, followed by a 3 pages of instruction for the parent and then a Personal Page About Me and Favorites as well as a spot for a Selfie.

A sample page of how to fill out each entry gets you started. There are 66 journal pages, The last several pages are filled with empty ovals for your child to fill in lessons learned, God stories, favorite verses or to be used for character pages.

How Did We Use It?

I sat down with a cup of coffee and a Snickers bar to read the 3 pages of instruction for the parent. I learned that the creator of the journal wanted to provide a tool for young users to sit down and listen to God.

I was originally going to have my teenage use this since she journals every day, but when I looked it over, I decided that it was more fitting for my 9-year-old to help get her started in digging deeper in her Bible study time.

What Did We Think?

What a great idea! The journal combines the idea of scrapbooking with the practice of journaling and focuses on spiritual matter and Bible study verses. This is a really excellent way to engage kids who have outgrown preschool Bible fun programs and need to stay focused at applying God's Word to their daily lives.

FIND Spiritual Circle Journal ON SOCIAL MEDIA @:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LizLassa/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spiritualcirclejournal/ @spiritualcirclejournal
Twitter: https://twitter.com/liz_lassa @liz_lassa

Read what other members of the TOS Review Crew thought by clicking on the picture below: