How to Write a Book Review

Anyone who reads my  blog knows I enjoy sharing books with my readers.  I find it a hoot to find neat books or curriculum to share with you.   But how does one write a review?   

I know that over time I have figured out how I tend to like do a review.  But what makes the meat of a review?  What makes a good book review?  What makes a book review different from a book report?

Tell, a poem of relationships

 Tell... oh my... I see this word,and you know what I want to belt out?

GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN over the hills and every where!   BUT the question is this...
Should I belt it out right now when Hubby and I are busy chatting?   
I THINK NOT.

Wouldn't be polite you know.  Nor kind, nor showing empathy, nor upbuilding of relationship betwixt the two of us. 

Ergo, thinking of the word tell now that we are finished chatting, has me thinking what does it speak to us about marriage or even just relationships?

Review: Gobi: A Little Dog With a Big Heart

Imagine, a hot day, you are in a race, you want to win.

You have rules to help you run better just as every runner does.  

The end is clear, run smart, run fast, run to win. 

Then you discover a small, furry bump in the road.

                                                What's a fellow to do?

Hymn Study: Come, Now is the Time to Worship

Worship is the first word of the October write 31 days challenge.  I had a hoot last year doing this so I thought I'd try it again this year.  I might try to do all hymns...but doubt that will work.  :)  But this first word had this song immediately running through my head, so I figured I'd share it with you.  :)

31 Days of October! Free Writes!

So... 

It's October.. pretty cool huh?  Here in Ontario we are starting to see the trees turn colour, the nights are getting colder and the days brisk.  It's good weather we are having.

AND.. it's time for the 31 days of October.  Some folks are writing on one topic for the month, others are responding to prompts.   BUT we are all aiming to write every day for the whole month of October.

I have chosen to do a month of writing prompts.  :)  I find prompts to be fun, and trying to figure out how to write on something for a whole month had me completely stumped. 

 If you want to join up, here's the linky.

1. worship: Come Now is the Time To Worship
2. tell: Tell, a poem of relationships.
3. create: Create in Me A Clean Heart, O God
4. hope: My Hope.
5. trust: Trust.
6. FMF prompt: Owning Your Own Story.
7. hold: Hold, as from scripture.
8. Truth: Speak O Lord.
9. plan: Plan, A Thanksgiving Meal.
10. listen: Listen, Listen my Child.
11. remember: Always Remember.
12. write: I Just Gotta Write.
13. FMF prompt: Invite: Something should Change.
14. try: Try It, Just Try It.
15. remain: A Pondering on the Word Remain.
16. read: I Read
17. grow: This Garden Grows
18. share: Share, it's a Thing to Learn.
19. brave: Today I was Brave
20. FMF Prompt: Have you discovered this?
21. Give: The Flip-Side of Giving.
22. Light: Send the Light.
23. work:
24. revise:
25. because:
26. change:
27. FMF Prompt:
28. Connect: Walking Through The World.
29. Follow:
30. Refine:
31. Rest:

This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank you! ©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites

Review: When I Was A Turkey

I have to admit when I first saw this book when I was a turkey I thought what kind of a crazy character lives with turkeys, like seriously?!?!?!  And if I'm to be perfectly honestly, I didn't even want to read about it, who wants to read about crazy people?  I chose to read it anyways, and found, much to my surprise, he wasn't as crazy as I thought.  :)  Good thing eh?   AND I was so surprised by this book I talked about it with friends.  

A Dependable Trinity.

I was talking with my son the other day, he mentioned what he was learning in his devotions (about the Trinity of God) and I talked with him about what I was learning... God always having our back, minding and protecting us.    We talked about how that connected, as when I saw this word prompt late last night I've been pondering the connections between the two.

Pearl Seeker: Seek Second Chances

I have to admit, the opening section to this chapter had me wanting to argue with it.   I understood her point... we have to be mindful that the stuff in our lives doesn't become more important to us than golf...but at the same time I wanted to argue saying.. but someone has to do the laundry and run the errands, we can't all run out to conferences and the mission field.  Someone has to mind the gates at home.    It just makes me wonder sometimes... if we all sat at the feet of Jesus and just listened and learned from him....who would get the work done?   Who would help Martha?

Don't Pick Fights Over Little Things

Romans 14: 1-12 is our reading today. 

Art Book: Playful Painting Pets

Let's say you have a pet and you like to paint, but you look at said pet and say "I dunno, How can I show off that silky fur?"   Faye Moorhouse comes to your rescue in Playful Painting: Pets. 

Oh This Music, Just Floods My Soul

I don't know about you but oh.. music can just flood my soul. 

Old hymns filled with doctrine, teaching me about God as it lifts my soul toward heavens in praise and worship of the one I serve.    I suppose that's one of the reasons why I post a hymn almost every week.  A song will catch my heart and then I need to share with others. :)  Finding out the history, learning of faithful men and women who have gone on before, writing down words to lift and cheer, to inspire our praise and worship of the living Lord.   This is our Christian history.

Love Like You Love Yourself

 Reading today from Romans 13:8-14.

Canada Book: Canada Year By Year

This book has a wee bit of everything to celebrate all that's good in Canada through her 150 years of being.  I liked it!   A well written book that touches on all aspects of Canadian life.

Balancing Work and Homeschooling

The other day Jen asked for people to give her a brief outline of how working parents  balance out schooling their children with their jobs.  It's not always easy to balance commitments you know? Especially if you have a household to run, friends to keep in contact with and the host of things distracting us. 

So just what is it that I do?   What am I trying to balance?

Hymn Study: We Praise Thee O God Our Redeemer

 Lyrics: 

We praise Thee, O God, our Redeemer, creator,
In grateful devotion our tribute we bring;
We lay it before Thee, we kneel and adore Thee,
We bless Thy holy name, glad praises we sing.

We worship Thee, God of our fathers, we bless Thee;
Through life’s storm and tempest our guide have Thou been;
When perils overtake us, escape Thou will make us,
And with Thy help, O Lord, our battles we win.

With voices united our praises we offer,
To Thee, great Jehovah, glad anthems we raise.
Thy strong arm will guide us, our God is beside us,
To Thee, our great Redeemer, forever be praise.

 Thy love Thou didst show us, Thine only Son sending,
Who came as a babe and whose bed was a stall,
His blest life He gave us and then died to save us;
We praise Thee, O Lord, for Thy gift to us all.

 Written by Julia Cory on the behest of Archer Gibson.  Gibson was the organist at the church that Cory's family attended in New York.  Gibson wanted new words to a popular tune (we gather together).  It took her about two weeks to come up with the original first three stanzas, she added the fourth for Christmas. 

She was an active member of her church all her life, working actively in her community as well.  

This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank you! ©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites

Illness Strikes!!!!!

My goals for the week: Work on the trailer, cleaning the living room and keeping the learning going on. 

Review: Marine Science for Kids

Marine Science for Kids is part of the for kids series put out by Chicago press. These books are fantastic resource for helping children explore a particular topic, in this case Marine Science.

The Lad's Research: How to Farm Crickets

How to Farm Crickets

The first step in farming crickets is to either catch some or buy them in a store. If you buy them in a store they are less likely to have diseases.   If you catch them in the wild, you want that ones hardest to catch, and you'll need to check them for mites, You will probably need 20-50 of them depending on the size of your container. Make sure you have a mix of males and females. You can see a picture of a female cricket here. 

Field Trip Friday: Hershey Chocolate World

One of the field trips we took when we went to Pennsylvania was to Hershey World, lots of people suggested we go, so we went.

Ergo, I thought I'd share our trip with you.

Because I am reminded, I accept

I accept
I take on 
I willingly do this thing.

You know.. 
That thing you would have me do

It's hard though
sometimes to do this thing

To be the woman that 
I am called to be.

And yet, 
When I see that you Lord
YOU manage all the details.
You mind my back.
You take care of enemies.
You are my source.

Then that reminder
Helps me all the more
to 

A Pearl Seeker: A Spiritual Mindset

Intro...Remember the Alamo,  choice given,  step over the line and fight, or go home.  As Christians we step over the line to go with God rather than stay with the old.  Once we step over we can't go back.

People, very human people, wrote the bible.  God chose them, as holy people,  people serving him,  to write down his words.

We are introduced to Ezra,  prophet, who kept the physical copy of the Torah.  He was a scribe, part of an educated respected class.   This copy was scrolls that would be big and bulky.  They travelled 900 miles through hostile territory with God minding his back.  Why?

Ezra 7:10   God's hand was on him because Ezra studied God's word with an Intent to know it, to live it and to teach it to others.

Be a doer of the word.  Know it, do it. 
Have that hunger to know his word and to be changed by it.
To live out that change.

My thoughts: 

This is a good reminder.. you know?  

To think about the steps the Ezra took.  First to know the word of the Lord.  He studied it extensively, wrote it out as part of his work, and yet.. even though he studied it and knew it for his work, even in his off-time, God's word was still that important to him.

But it wasn't just a matter of studying it, he allowed it to change him.  He lived out what he learned and knew of the Lord God.

And having lived it... he taught it to others. 

Isn't that what we should do?   Teach others WHY we live as we do.  

If we follow these steps, don't you think Christianity, our faith, our beliefs, would become contagious?  Helping to turn the hearts of others to God.

This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank you! ©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites

God Gave the Authority

Learning today from Romans 13:1-7.

Art Book: It's Great to Create

Jon Burgerman has created a really fun art book for us to use.  Coming up with 101 creative exercises for anyone to do as they play around doing art.

God's Got it in Hand

Romans 12:9-21 is our passage for today.   I still have thoughts in my head from yesterday right?   How God graces us all with differing amounts of faith and within that faith given, bestows upon us different gifts that we are to use well. 

That lives the question doesn't it... what does it mean for a Christian to use those gifts well, upon what do we base the use of them.

Paul answers that in today's lesson.

Canada Book: Hey Freddy, it's Canada's Birthday!

Hey Freddy, it's Canada's Birthday is a book about Canada geared for the younger set.   Let me tell you all about it.  :)

Star Wars and Ghost Box the #PlayTestShare Giveaway

It’s a  wonderful time of the year! Guess what!  It is time for Raincoast’s #PlayTestShare.  Today I get to show you a couple of really neat items I reviewed from Raincoast Books and YOU dear Canadian Resident, get the chance to win one!

Gifts Differ By Grace Given

Romans 12:3-8 is our passage for today.

40 Ways in Which to Present Research

Presenting research is an integral part of schooling.  It can be done simply by talking, but often times in the business world you need to be able to show your audience such as you boss or team members, the material you've gathered in different ways.  Practicing this skill in your formative years helps you to hone your abilities. 

Hymn Study: All People that on Earth, Do Dwell

School continues!

This was a good week that turned out a tad different than planned.   Though not written on the calendar, our Friday happened on Thursday, and our Friday was very scattered in our approach. Book Study didn't happen with gramma due to my not having the book to hand.   For geography the lad is doing a study on Red Tides.  And for science he started a study on Atoms and Molecules.

Monday:
Our typical go to London day.  Sold a bunny.   Did some shopping and puttering about.  OH!   We also went to the Mandarin to celebrate Gramma's Birthday.   It was a good day.

Tuesday:
Hubby has a interview this evening for a job!   Yay that all the technical stuff worked the way it was supposed to!! 
Cleaned the living room area..moved the birds from one side to the other, tidied up "that corner" and found a bunch of stuff I don't need!  WOOT WOOT!
The lad did his schooling and then cleaned his room "Mom, going to clean out my closet" which morphed into cleaning his entire room and saying "I'm not moving this" to a lot of items. Took him all day, he was bushed by the end of it, but not too bushed that he couldn't make a new axe.   This one is called the "chop'em stick'em, hook'em and pull'em" after a weapon in the Brotherband series. 

Wednesday:
Foodbank.  The lad schooled, helped with the delivery, I organized shelves.
Made buns and beet jelly, I cleaned up the living room a bit.   Kept busy.  The lad went out ant hunting. :)
Evening Karate starts up again.

Thursday:
Out to the Western Fair after the lad finished most of his schooling quick quick in the morning.  Admittedly he didn't do math or Compuscholar.   We headed up a bit earlier as the lad wanted to buy test tubes for his ants, and Hubby needed to pick something up at the "make your own beer" store.

Anyways, once all the errands we run we hit the fair and had a good time. 
One of the quilts we saw.

We had fun!  To read about our adventures go here.  Though I didn't include how I dragged the lads off to watch square dancing for a while.  I found it rather fun, they.. well.. were very good sports.  :)

On the way home from the Western Fair we picked up the bunny that I had sold on Monday.  Turned out their other rabbit was a male instead of a female, they didn't want babies and didn't want to neuter their buck.  So this girlie came home again.

Friday:
I had originally planned to go to a museum today with the lad but given that I didn't get up and busy until about 1000 a.m.... and the lad was only up about 1/2 hour before I was and hubby wasn't much brighter either... we decided a stay at home day suited us much better.

The lad and I worked on a Star Wars review (two different ones actually) then we talked about his research project where we discovered that I had carefully delineated my expectations... so he's got three projects in his head and I need to print off my expectations for him so he knows what to do.   I said next week is fine.  :)  And it is, gives us time to talk and learn and experiment and that's a good thing eh?

The two fellows worked on a budgie nestbox now that we have two budgies that like each other living together.  The lad is hoping to get baby budgies!!!!   He thinks that might be a touch exciting.  :)


Saturday: 
BUSY...first thing, karate class.
Then off to Camp Shalom for their fall fair.   Bought food, did some visiting, found a corelle bowl in the rummage tent and the lad some foam for projects, it was a successful venture.  Jim picked up some wine bottles from a friend.    

Off to the St. Jacobs Market to get some fruit to make jam... thought I'd try my hand at peach jam.

Grandparents, A Poem.   A word prompt post turned into poem
Hymn study: sing praise to God who reigns above.   A history on this hymn. :)
How Reviewing Curriculum Works in Real Life. A round of up ideas for making reviews work.
Devotional Romans 11:11-24.  Stand Fast, not proud but fearing. 
Canada Book: Crazy About Canada.   Questions about Canada?  Answers.
Art Book: Making Amazing Art.  Learn the seven elements of art.
Devotional Romans 11:25-35:  For who has known the mind of God. 
Pearl Seekers: The Good Part.  Book study on pearl seekers.
Devotional Romans 12:1-2.  Our Bodies, Living Sacrifices.
Support: A Five Minute Friday post, I have room for improvement!
Field Trip: The Western Fair.  Our annual trip to the Western Fair

Reviews:
The Shark Lady: I thoroughly enjoyed this picture book.  All about shark lady Eugenia Clark.
Carole P. Roman book. Cultural history books using family life to draw you into the culture. 

 Linking up with: 
Kym at Homeschool Highlights.
Weird Unsocialized homeschoolers
Homeschool Nook
Homeschool blog and tell.
Encouraging hearts and homes.
Friday funnies, flops and fails.

This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank you! ©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites

Review: Shark Lady

Eugenie Clark was a girl who's very determined to work with marine life, particularly with sharks.   She was fascinated with them from the time she was very litter. Shark lady is the story of how she realized her dream.

Field Trip: Western Fair

Well okay.. do I call this a field trip or just a day out having fun??   I'll let you decide eh?

Almost every year we attend the Western Fair in London.  There was one year we missed but normally we go.  ANYWAYS, enough preamble eh?

Support

Tonight the family and I went out to the Western Fair, the boys out to go on the rides and me to kibbitz about seeing the exhibits and taking pics of the farm animals and what not. 

Our Bodies, a Living Sacrifices

I still have the thoughts of Romans 11 floating in my head. How we can't understand how his mind works, but we can give him glory.  

So when I read these first couple of verses of Romans 12, I can't help but wonder, are our bodies a way to give glory to God?

Pearl Seekers: The Good Part

Ms. Blackmon opens this chapter talking about spending time in the Kitchen, around the table, laughing, joking, talking, sharing the things of God. Taking that needed time to just slow down and show the things of God to each.

As we move into the meat of the chapter we find Mary and Martha serving as hosts. Martha is scurrying around getting things done, Mary is chillin', spending time with the Messiah.  Martha is getting a bit steamed.. working hard, seeing her sister chillin', and she wants some help and directly says so, asking the Lord to tell Mary to give her a hand.

Now I have to admit, I saw this and hadn't really thought of it before.  I wonder why Martha didn't just say MARY, help me out here will you?!?!  But she turned to the Lord for this aid, and the Lord say, Martha chill, Mary has chosen a good thing...to spend time with me.

Mary was sitting at Jesus' feet listening to him. 
This was the good thing, the good part, that Jesus was referring to.   Sitting, listening, soaking in his words. 

It seems like every time we see Martha and Mary with the Lord, Martha is serving and Mary is focused on Jesus.   Listening to him, washing his feet with perfume, being right there.   They both made the Lord comfortable in their home.   

We need to be seeking the Lord, opening our hearts to him, like these two ladies did.

You know what?  I'm more of a Martha, I want to be working in the background, instead of sitting quietly listening.  Two ways of spending time with the Lord.  Martha needed to learn how not to fret, Mary needed to learn to be involved as well (see how she learned to wash his feet?).  Mary already knew how to sit quiet and listen and soak in his words.  A skill Martha perhaps needed to learn as well...but she learned, perhaps, not to fret.   

Makes me wonder what skills I need to learn yet.

This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank you! ©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

For who has known the mind of the Lord

Today we are reading from Romans 11:25-35.

Art Book: Making Amazing Art

Did you know that art has seven different elements to it?
Can you name them all?

Canada Book: Crazy About Canada

Crazy about Canada is a neat book all about Canada.  

Stand fast, not proud but fearing

Today we are reading from Romans 11:11-24.

Carole P. Roman's cultural, history books for children, a review

It has been my joy to read Carole P. Roman's books over these past few weeks.   Books from the "If you were me and lived" series that spoke to me predominately of days gone by, but one with a look into a possible future.   History was portrayed from The Mayan Empire, Viking Europe and the Ancient Mali Empire, the future glimpsed in a potential life on Mars.   Here are links to all four books that I reviewed via Amazon.com: If you were me and lived on ... Mars, If you were me and lived in ... The Ancient Mali Empire, If you were me and lived in ... Viking Europe, and If you were me and lived in ... The Mayan Empire.

How Reviewing Curriculum Works in Real Life

A bit back my sister-in-law asked me how doing reviews works with schooling the lad.   Doesn't it mean interrupted schooling?   How do I keep him moving forward when I have to stop one program and start another.  How do I make it work?  What if he doesn't like it?  How do you plan anything out if you don't know what you'll be reviewing?

I thought it would be good to answer some of those questions.

Grandparents, a poem

Grandparents 

Old and wizened
Washcloth shakes
How dare I make a noise
in this quiet place?

Adults are chattering
Children be gone
Grandparents are sitting
Staring in alarm.

Old and wizened
Moving about
What are you doing?
The questions abound.

Hotdogs are roasting
Cameras are out.
Opa and Oma
New memories they make

The differences is stark
Grandparents of mine.
One likes obedience, 
One memories are found.

This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank you! ©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites