Pearl Seeker: Seek to be Thankful

This chapter was quite simple.  We live in a land of plenty, a land of ease, do we understand how blessed we are?

With that blessing, do we take time to say thanks?

Today I was Brave

Guess what... today I was brave.
And the whole time...

I was quaking in my shoes!

Art Book: Art Up Close

Wow! I really like this art book. It's called Art Up Close. Despite the fact that it has no art to draw or to inspire, my lad even likes it! 

I have to tell you all the details about this marvellous book, and truly it is a GOOD book.

Share, it's a thing to learn

What does it mean to share?  

It's odd how some things stick with you for years.  I remember when my lad was a wee youngster and we were trying to be part of a play group and they had this rule that if a child was playing with something, and another child wanted it we needed to teach them to share, so child one would have to give up the toy so that other child could have it.  This rule was enforced and it bothered me mightily at the time, and I guess it still does.  All those toys my lad was forced to give up...for another child's selfishness...I WANT DAT!  and so my lad would kindly give it up...  seemed so dreadfully unfair.

I suppose it's a hard balance ... to teach sharing without encouraging selfishness. We didn't last in that play group as the balance just wasn't there.

Review: Family at Large

A homeschooling friend wrote this book and I told her I'd put a blurb about it up on the blog.  :)  If you review books, you gotta do things like this eh?  :)

Seriously though, good book, you aught to get yourself a copy.

Canada Book: Canada the Culture

 Canada the Culture, the book I looked at is one of the original books in this series.    In this book we are invited to see Canadian culture in it's many different facets.

This Garden Grows

but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ 

 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

 we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ

Four Sources of Poetry for Middle School and High School

As a reader on my blog, I'm sure you've come to realize that I like poetry, I like writing it (it's fun for me), and I often times like to read it, though not always... (sorry being honest).

I Read

Today's word prompt is read, bringing to mind one of my favourite activities of the day.  Reading with my lad.  Our current read is called "out of time", a marvellous fiction book that has my lad daily clamouring "read more, read more".

A Pondering on the Word Remain

I do a hymn study on Sundays, I have to admit, the word remain is proving to be elusive   You don't find many, if any, hymns with the word remain in them.   I did find a scripture song that had the word remains in it, but it's so new the copying the lyrics here could be problematic.  So nix that idea eh?

Review: Sled Dog School

You know how people often can write best the life that they know? Author Terry Lynn Johnson has owned a team of sled dogs for years so writing a book with sled dogs is a natural fit for her.

The book starts off with Matt, an 11 year old boy, trying to get mail from the mailbox while his younger sister tags along.  He learned he needs to do an extra credit project in order to bring up his grade in school.   School is not a pleasant place for Matt, often teased for being different than the other students, with the smell of the wood burning stove on this clothes.  Matt enjoys the time he spends with the family's sled dogs.   Matt decided for extra credit he would start Matt's Sled Dog School.

The rest of the book is filled with how Matt ran the sled dog school, how he learned to deal with difficult people, learn to run his dogs and learn how to actually run a business.  The practical application of doing math, and the help of a friendly bus driver, helped him to learn to do math better, and to see the need to get help in understanding math all the more. 

Try it, Just try it

You know one of the things I really love?   When my lad grabs hold of an idea, even a half formed idea, and simply runs with it.   It's just fascinating to sit back and watch him.  His willingness to try new ideas has just exploded over the past year and I so often sit back amazed at where it's taking him.

Invite: Something should change

 I'll be making some changes to the blog, so I invite you to stay tuned... Change is good you know?  Keeps a body on their toes. :)  In the meantime, let me tell you about a meal I had tonight and thoughts I had regarding it.

Pearl Seeker: Seek What is Most Important

 Quote from the book "We all need hope, hope that God will fix our sorrows and relationships, hope that God will fix our children and their problems, hope that God will restore us to the family were we once belonged, and hope that God still loves us no matter what we have done." p.123
"We must love others like Jesus continues to love us.  We must be on our toes and look for those that God sends our way."  (p.124)
 

 Consider the depth of God's love for us.  God loves us so much his son willingly died for us.  That's the depth of God's love.

So what do we do with that love? Accept it.
Let his love mean something, let it change us.

Consider most brand new Christians.  What do they do?
They tell everyone they know about the miracle that God has wrought in their lives.  As a result... the lives of their friends are changed.  The church grows.   Granted, it doesn't always work like that, sometimes faith has a cost. 

We need to consider what God has called us into though.
Not some random grouping, but into a family.
A family loves and cares for each other.
Accepting each others foibles, our weaknesses, our 'not having let go of sin' parts.
But as families go... we help each other along the way.
Jollying, encouraging, exhorting, teaching each other along the way. 

So keep your ears, eyes, feet, mouth and heart alert!   God might be sending a new family member your way, that you can help find their way home.

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

I Just Gotta Write

It's what writers do eh?  We WRITE!   Sometimes we write stories (I like writing kids stories, and have told a lot of them off the top of my head), sometimes we write poetry or music (like.. you know..... poetry is simply fun!), sometimes we write to inform others (reviews, factual things, printables, devotionals etc), and sometimes we write just have a way to put our thoughts down, writing helps us to think more clearly (I've done this since I was little, I admittedly drove my mom a bit nuts).

Art Book: CatDoodles

Do you like cats? Do you like to doodle as a way to relax? Well, let me tell you about this fun little book that crossed my desk today. Catdoodles. The Cat Loves Drawing book. 

Now mind me here.. if cats are TOTALLY not your thing, this is not the book for you.  BUT if you are like my boy and think cats are well... the cat's meow.. then this book just might appeal to you as a doodler.  

Always Remember

So this past weekend I was at the Breathe Conference. One of the workshops that I attended was one were they critiqued poems brought by the attendees.   I can't say they all resonated with me, but one of them did. And quietly sitting me burst out with "That was interesting".  I wish I could have kept a copy, but alas, it was a read poem with no copies available.

 Always Remember

Canada Book: In the Red Canoe

I like to go in the red canoe

I sit low in the bow

I can paddle by myself

My Grampa taught me how. 

Review: Brinkman Adventures #4, Audio Stories

Imagine having stories about missionary adventures, or fun stories that teach important truths being at your beck and call whilst cooking supper, traveling in the car, or wherever you are. Over the past few weeks I have been privileged to listen to Christian Stories of adventures, in Brinkman Adventures Season 4 published by Brinkman Adventures. 

Who are the Brinkman's?
A fictional family produced by Beachglass ministries, a non-profit, non-denomination Christian ministry. Their focus is inspiring and motivating the younger generation of Christian believers. The Brinkman's are a family the walk us through many adventures showing us Christian's in action, and God at work.

What do you get? 
12 Christian Stories brought to life!  Each is about a 1/2 hour long so easy to listen to while preparing supper or folding laundry (can you tell how I used it?)  These stories are a mixture between being based on real life, while others tell a moral story.

I have to admit, my favourite story involved the raccoons. :)  The one that caused me to pause and think "Remember Nhu".  The one that amazed me most was The Five Guys.

These are the stories:

•   A Paradise Lost - learning what missionaries go through at family camp.
•   Remember Nhu - searching for and rescuing a girl from slavery, mission started.
•   Aisha’s Fear - fear turned to praise = evangelist for the Lord
•   Heart Song - the song of Russian Christian, imprisoned, prisoners changed, singer saved from death because
•   The Crashed Kitchen - a crashed kitchen, love shown, hope restored
•   Crisis In The Congo - meeting the flying machine (pt 1)
•   The Mysterious Palm Feller - learning to face up to opposition (pt 2)  This was a good reminder of how it's hard for missionaries to know what to do sometimes.
•   War of the Raccoons - moral story, just a silly story :)
•   The Five Guys - ways God called people to him
•   Toughest Man - the story of a man who gave up everything for God, even trusting God with his family.
•   Cambodian Quest - safe places to live where slavery isn't possible
•   What Brings Us Together - it's a wedding, with mishaps

 The real stories behind each of the tales can be found here. I very much appreciated how they showed what was true and what was changed, they gave a depth not found in the story as well.   It was great to be able to follow links such as this one for Remember Nhu. 

Each story contains a lot of realism from crickets chirping, the real family experiences, with a variety of world wide experiences.  

Another website feature is the Episode Preview section.
Here you can discover the theme of each episode, along with what part of the world is featured, as well as get an audio preview.

How did I use it?
I listened while doing dishes, preparing supper, while cleaning up, doing laundry etc.  It was so very portable carrying them around on my tablet. 

What did I think?
Are they easy to listen to?   Yes.  1/2 hour long, interesting stories.  Approximately 5 hours worth of listening time.
Are they appropriate for all ages? Debatable. I appreciated that they would warn you when adults should listen alongside their children. My son wouldn't have had an issue with any of the stories before age 10, but I know other children are more sensitive.
Are they Faith-based?  Most definitely.  These stories introduced us to different ways that God acts, how his people can serve him, how even missionaries can struggle with doing what they should, or even in knowing what to do, and more.

All that said, I really enjoyed season two previously reviewed.  This set, didn't seem up to the same standard, at least not as completely.  I found that one episode was overacted, and another was slow to get going. When it comes right down to it though, I think part of my discontent is that I want longer stories.  I want more depth, and intrigue, something that will get ME fired up as an adult. For instance, the story with the five guys and how they came to faith, I wanted to know more about their stories.  I wanted to know more about the guy behind the scenes.  I just wanted MORE.  :)

Right now I listen to full length books with my family and the biggest reason they don't want to listen to Brinkman Adventures with me is not that they don't enjoy the stories, but like me, they want MORE. It would be fascinating to have a full length story made up of these tales, showing God in action in a person's life, giving more detail and what not. It's fact that I liked the stories, but I wanted more depth provided. Time perhaps for an adult version of these stories or just a longer CD???  I think it would be interesting to listen to, to have these stories (or new ones) made for a teen or adult audience as well.

Brinkman Adventures Season 4
Brinkman Adventures
Produced by Beachglass 

Series: Brinkman Adventures
Type: MP3 or CD

$25.99–$31.99 depending on format

Reviewed for: Homeschool Review Crew

80 members of the Homeschool Review Crew had a chance to listen to these adventures, see what we thought by clicking the image below or RIGHT HERE.

You can find Brinkman Adventures on facebook. 

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

Listen, Listen My Child

Hush, quiet, be still
Hush, quiet, be aware.
Hush, quiet, be one who listens.

Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.  Psalm 34:11