Art Book: My Name is Georgia

YAY!!!   One of my favourite people is doing a guest post for me today.   Lori is going to tell you about a neat book and interesting person.

One of my favorite artists is Georgia O'Keefe. Partly because she is New Mexican, partly because her artwork is just stunning, partly because she is just an interesting person. Whatever way you look at it, Georgia O'Keefe is worth learning a bit about. That is why, when I was able to visit the Georgia O'Keefe Museum in Santa Fe, NM, I picked up a children's biography about her to share with the girls.

My Name Is Georgia a portrait by Jeanette Winter

This is a lovely children's book that takes us from Georgia's childhood through to her old age. She moved from her Wisconsin childhood home to Chicago, New York, Texas, and New Mexico. She was always searching for inspiration and she found it in nature.

This is not a difficult book to read but it is an inspiring one. Reach for your desires - this is the inspiration from Georgia O'Keefe. And if it encourages you to read more about her and all that she did for the art movement and community, well, that's all the better.

This book is published by Voyager Books and was purchased at the Georgia O'Keefe Museum in Santa Fe, NM.

If you were inspired to learn more about Georgia O'Keefe perhaps this video might help.

You can find Lori blogging at At Home where life happens.  You need to visit her seriously, she writes well and has a good heart. :)

Where can you find this delightful book?

Amazon.ca - My Name Is Georgia: A Portrait by Jeanette Winter

Amazon.com - My Name Is Georgia: A Portrait by Jeanette Winter


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/

Review: Smartick Math

Imagine if you would, a daily math program, that after assessing the student, teaches them math every day, in short sessions, that the not keen on math student actually enjoys doing?  An intelligent math program called the Smartick Method (or Smartick for short).

What is Smartick?
Smartick is an on-line math learning system that teaches your children math through exercises and math problems.  

Problem solving skills is a big part of the program, my son has learned that you need to carefully read the questions before answering them.  Sometimes the obvious answer is not really the question being asked.

When you start with Smartick, first you get to set up your avatar.

The next thing you is spend the first few sessions being evaluated.  It's been a while since the lad did it, but I think it took him three days to complete the assessment as I didn't make him do it all at once.  The program takes into account your speed at answering questions as well as correctness to help place you accordingly.

As you start and close each days sessions it asks you how you are feeling.

Each session is divided into two sections.   A section with lot of math questions.  No problem solving in this section, just math questions.    The second section is shorter and focuses just on word problems. 

A math question:

A word problem

A correct answer earns you a green checkmark.

Whereas an incorrect question will get you a red "x" with the correct answer popping up immediately.

To the side of each question is a graph bar.  This feels up with red if you answer questions too slowly, and green as you answer questions quickly and accurately.  The more accurate your answers, and the quicker you answer them the faster the bar fills up and the more ticks you get.

An number keyboard is provided, but if you don't like it there is a settings board you can use to use your keyboard number pad. 

At the end of each lesson, just before you close it, you are given the opportunity to earn an extra tick by correcting all your mistakes.   

When you finish your lesson for the day you can spend your ticks earned in the shop and set up interesting things in your room.  My son spends all his "money" on feeding his cat!  :)

As each days lesson ends I am sent a report on how he has done.

If I go to the report it brings up a page showing all the questions.  It will then show the question and answer so that I can talk with him about why he got it wrong.   The first few times it was problems he got wrong simply from not reading the question through.   It does have a bit of a learning curve as sometimes you not only have to type in the answer, but you need to toggle the multiple choice to get the right topic.  (I don't know how else to explain that part as I can't get a screen image).

As you can see here...one of his wrong answers he did in 13 seconds, I asked him what happened.  His response was "I didn't understand it mom, the answer was asking for something not in the question so I just guessed".   This was one of the toggle the answer to get the correct subject questions and he (at that time) didn't understand what he was to do.

Once he understood the system, he found it quite easy to do.  The first section he would regularly get in the 90%, the word problems would be in the 80% range.   As he is learning to read the questions thoroughly his marks with this section is also improving.

 
Our thoughts
Both my son and I love the immediacy of the reports.   It seems the very minute he's done I get an email telling me about the session he just completed. 

He loves that it is quick.   When he first started the program they kept telling me he was too quick, but the program has since adjusted and simply says "fast" for speed in answering.   The quicker you answer, the more coins you get so the incentive is there.

For the main questions he will frequently say "they should ask me harder questions" but for the second level of questions "Mom, these take longer."  From the sounds he makes I can tell that they are making him think and take his time, and he'd rather know it, answer it and then move on.  This boy LOVES to do his math quickly!  :)

My son dislikes the "how are you feeling today" section.  He cannot figure out why a computer would want to know that information.
 
Is he learning? Yes.  It's good to see the progress.  This is an excellent tutoring program, designed to help students excel in school.   It improves their speed and mental math abilities. It increases their logic, starts them working with algebra, and gives a decent reward at the end.   

We only found one error in the program, which was corrected very quickly.  I have found their customer service to be outstanding.

The Smartick Method.  
Received One Year Membership
 Age 4-14 years
Works on PC, Android or Tablet.

Currently on sale!   Try it for the summer and see if you like it.  Keep math fresh with an program designed to keep your children interested.

 Over the summer my lad will be using this program off and on.  He has two other math programs that he uses as well and at the time of this writing isn't sure which one he likes the most.  It's a quick and easy program to use that will keep his math skills sharp.

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 .

Review: Car Chapel Bride

 Did you know that there used to be ministers who would live in work in cars on trains?  I had briefly heard of this ministry from days gone by and found myself intrigued by the notion.   When NutsAboutBooks had the Chapel Car Bride up for review I snatched it up so I could learn more about this ministry.

The story brings us Hope and her father who live in car provided freely for them by the railroad.   They went wherever the train went, conducting ministry wherever they were placed.  Sometimes the board overseeing their ministry would give them a specific place to set up shop and in this particular story they were told to minister in a mining community of Finch, West Virginia.   This is Hope's first journey with her minister father and she's finding the experience interesting, exciting and sometimes frightening.  She enjoys conducting the children's ministry while her father teaches the adults.

When an unexpected blessing of Sunday school materials lands in their laps it gives them an opportunity to broaden their ministry outreach, unbeknownst to them that their helper was being less than honest with them.    What will happen as a result?  Well...you'll have to read the book yourself.  :)

This video will give you a good idea of the space that Hope and her dad lived in.

My thoughts?
I've grown tired of most romance type books, finding the stories simplistic and annoying.  :)   BUT this book I enjoyed.  I liked learning about the pros and cons of railroad ministry, seeing how God used materials to strengthen bonds between people, and even seeing how the problems in the book were resolved.    If you like reading light romances that broaden your horizons, this book is definitely for you.  :)  

I got a chance to learn more about a little known piece of history from the early 1900's, the characters were well-developed and I wanted to kick one of them in the seat of the pants.. my that lad needed to grow up a bit and stop being a selfish git.   The ending was tidy and quick, fairly typical I find for this type of literature.   All in all, well worth a read.  :)

For a brief look into the overall ministry of the chapel car ministry you may find this video helpful.

For additional reading: 
Pine Chapel Car. 
Chapel Car Emmanuel.

 The Chapel Car Bride
Judith Miller
Baker Books
341 pages
Soft cover
Christian historical romance

Reviewed for: Nuts About Books.


Where to buy:

Amazon.ca - The Chapel Car Bride

 Amazon.com - The Chapel Car Bride

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.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/

The letter V, Canadian Style

 HEY O...

Did you know

This year Canada 

 Turns the big 1 5 0!

Which of course got me to thinking about the origins of Canada.   It's good to do that once in a while you know?    Thinking of the rivalries between the French and English, the First nation peoples, the Metis and the settlers. How we finally managed to come together as a country, despite all our differences and without a major civil war.   Really big battles yes, major civil war no.

Which got me to thinking about Queen Victoria. 

She was the queen when Canada became a country.  She was known as a strong advocate for Canada as a confederacy.   She never visited Canada, but her name is spread far and wide across our beloved land.   You could learn more about Queen Victoria here.

Which of course led to be think about Victoria, which is is the capital city of British Columbia and is located on Vancouver Island.   One day I would like to travel all the way out west with my lad, I've been out there to visit my sister but that was more to visit her and less to sight see.  :)  It would be neat to visit Butchart Gardens and other tourist traps of Victoria, BC.  

And IN British Columbia you can find a small bird called the Hutton's Vireo.  You can learn more about the bird here.  :)

Queen Victoria to Victoria to Vancouver to a small Vireo.

 

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Canada Book: C is for Canada

Allow me to introduce to you a sweet board book all about Canada, perfect for your littlest ones to learn some of the fun things about Canada.  It was my pleasure to review C is for Canada: A Canuck Primer.   In case you didn't know, Canuck is one way of saying Canadian. 

The colours are bold and bright, with simple details to draw the eye.    20 pages of colour and ideas.  Some pages like this one double up on the letters, while others.

like this one of Ogopogo devote a whole page to one letter.

 It's a very sturdy board book, just right for the hands of your littles.  I like that it introduced a whole variety of subjects from birds, to animals, places and tourist attractions.  

 My Recommendation:
A wide array of subject matter.  A book that teaches young ones simple concepts about Canada.  Easy to read font.  Sturdy board book.

All this makes it a great book to your youngsters.

 C is for Canada: A Canuck ABC Primer

Author: Trish Madson

Illustrator:y David W Miles 

Pages: 20

Publisher: Familius LLC

Approximately 8 x 8
Reviewed for: Raincoast Books

Looking to find it?  Check out these Amazon Affiliate links.  They don't affect your bottom line and it makes me delighted to know you found a good book while helping me out.  :)

From Amazon.ca: C is for Canada: A Canuck ABC Primer

From Amazon.com: C Is for Canada: A Canuck ABC Primer

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/

Review:The Imperfect Disciple

 The other day the lad and I were talking about how much I enjoyed this book and how that would make it a hard book to review.   He didn't understand how that could be.   I said "well, if I don't like the book I can say this is what I didn't like and this is why.   But when I have a book that I really enjoy I just want to tell people "READ IT, It's GOOD"."   

So the Imperfect Disciple by Jared C. Wilson.. READ IT, IT's GOOD!.  :)

Okay, so maybe I can't tell you to just go read it because it's a good book, perhaps I need to tell you why I loved (yes LOVED) this book so much.

1. Jared writes like my hubby preaches.  He breaks down points to make them easily understood.  Uses scripture well, and within contest.  He shows his heart.

2. God's grace is clearly shown throughout the book.  How God knows us SO well and yet still calls us his own.

3. My heart was broken and touched.  I wept, I laughed, I talked about different points with my lad.  It was a book that compelled me to stop and THINK about what I was being taught, and how I could let that change my life and my heart.  I intend to keep this book and read it again and to have my lad read it next year.  

4. I want to have more copies of it so I can share it everyone I think who would possibly read it. I want their lives to be impacted by the simple, yet profound truths locked within the pages of this book.

5. This is not a how-to book.   It's not "make sure you read your bible every day in the morning, and pray eight times a day".  It's a  "can you see what it means to behold God, to really BEHOLD him (not just look or see but to behold.. it's a different connotation)", "let me point out the advantages and disadvantages of Christian fellowship".   It's real life and tough and not always easy, but God's heart and love are always held forth as a source of strength, comfort and encouragement.

6. The writing style is casual, with humour and sarcasm used freely.   Because his style is casual, it makes me more apt to listen to his words cause it's like talking with a brother or a mentor.  So you listen and want to talk back and think about what is said. 

7. Speaks straight into the heart of the Christian who struggles with their imperfections and struggles to be a good disciple of Christ.  Who desperately wants to walk in the way of the Lord but finds themselves stumbling, more oft then not, over their own two feet.   THIS IS a book for ME.  I stumble and fall and get up again, and this book left me feeling so encouraged and beloved of the Lord.

So what do you get in the book. 

The introduction.. YES.. read this too!

1. Sin and the art of soul maintenance

2.  Good News for Losers

3. Staring at the Glory until you see it

4. The Rhythm of listening

5. The Rhythm of Spilling your guts

6. The Revolution will not be instagrammed

7. The Nine Irrefutable laws of fellowship

8. Will the real me please stand up?

9. Does Grace Go all the way down?

10. Lurv Wins.

AND don't forget to read the conclusion.

The Imperfect Disciple: Grace for People Who Can't Get their Act together
Jared C. Wilson
Baker Books
234 Pages
softcover, slightly larger book 8 by 6 approximately

Reviewed for: Nuts about Books



Where can you find it?  (cause you really need to get it)

Amazon.ca - The Imperfect Disciple: Grace for People Who Can't Get Their Act Together

Amazon.com - The Imperfect Disciple: Grace for People Who Can't Get Their Act Together

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/

Expect

Expect

Two weeks ago I was in a state of expectation.
A longing,
A hoping for,
A waiting for 
Time away

Holidays awaited
Time with my hubby
Time with my boy,
A time to visit with on-line friends.
I waited and hoped and foresaw good things.

We hiked.
We museumed.
We toured.
We listened. 
We even sang, and biked, and watched in amazement.

Caves, speakers, water, birds, 
Peepers busy peeping...how close can we sneak?
The thrum of a bullfrog 
The patter of rain and
The ACK of wetness on a sleeping bag unplanned.

The sorrow of no visits with on-line friends.
The delight of seeing a heron on the prowl.

Expect.
Expectations seen and exceeded.
Expectations hoped for and missed.

So what do you expect?  

--------

This is a five minute Friday post. the word prompt is brought to us by Miss Kate over at Five Minute Friday.  What is Five Minute Friday?  Well it's a party of a group of like minded folks who gather on Friday to do a five minute free write around a singular word.  AND THEN (and this is the most important part) we take the time to offer up encouragement to each other on this writing journey.  It's fun, though it's not always easy, but it is always good.   Come join us won't you?  You are always welcome.
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/

Review: Jesus Journey

Jesus Journey is a look at the humanity of Christ by Trent Sheppard.

Book Synopsis:

Jesus was human, like you and me. If the gospel is true, he still is.
Christians worldwide believe that Jesus is God. But this belief wasn’t the starting point for Jesus’ earliest followers. While Jesus’ humanity was a given for the disciples, his divinity was a truth they grew into believing—it was a journey of faith. As Christians today, we are also called into a faith journey—this time, to rediscover Jesus’ humanity.
Yes, we believe that Jesus is God, but do we truly believe that Jesus is human? And if so, how does that transform our own experience of being human?
Through eye-opening yet down-to-earth reflections, Jesus Journey invites you to encounter Jesus again—as if for the first time—by experiencing his breathing, heart-beating, body-and-blood, crying-and-laughing humanity.
Join Bible teacher and storyteller Trent Sheppard as he shines new light on the vibrant humanity of the historical Jesus through an up-close look at Jesus’ relationships with Mary and Joseph, with the God he called Abba, with his closest friends and followers, and how, ultimately, his crucifixion and resurrection finally and forever redefine what we mean by the word God. Come encounter the human who radically transforms our view of God.
Come encounter the God who forever changes what it means to be human.

What do you get?

A book divided into five sections.

40 separate chapters covering topics such as Joseph and Jesus, Intervention, Nicknamed, Holy Fury, No Escape, Biology 2.0, and Ascension.

My Thoughts:


I tried, I really really tried but I had to stop part way through the book, I just couldn't continue to read this book.

Points I struggled with:

1. Text taken out context.
2. Text changed without it making sense why he was changing the traditional understanding.
3. Too focused on the humanity of Christ to see the Godness of Christ as well.
4. When he did use text, he often stopped it too soon OR miss the point of the passage.
5. He makes too many suppositions.  Such as at the wedding at Cana he assumes there was a special look that passed between Mary and Jesus...when we have no sign of that AND he misses the point that the wedding is about God's glory at work in Jesus.
6. He seems to want to bring Jesus down to our level instead of bringing us up to his. Jesus shows us what true humanity is all about.
7. I dislike the almost exclusive use of paraphrases throughout this treatise.

What I liked:
As a devotional Mr. Shepherd adds three points to the close of each chapter 
Ponder - He'll give a point to think on.
Pray - He's gives a point of prayer, something we can ask for usually.
Practice - How to put into practice the lessons learned.

Many of these three points I liked, particularly the practice ones.   It's good to think on ponder on who Jesus was. 

I have to admit... I thought the idea of the book was intriguing, but the fact is this... Jesus was so interlinked, his humanity with his divinity that its one of those mysteries you just can't really understand.   How can God cry?  Can God skin a knee?   Yes, if he's also fully human.   Jesus wept, got hungry, got tired, just as we do.   Just as Jesus did, we need to grow in maturity in the sight of God and man.   Jesus is that perfect example of weakness held within strength.

Now.. just because I couldn't finish this book doesn't mean it's not at all worthy to read.  I can easily see this book being used in a group study as a way to think differently about a subject and to talk out some of his points.  To read different translations, to get the full gist of what the bible passages are talking about and to look for how Jesus shows us how living as the humans that we are can be better.

Jesus Journey: Shattering the Stained Glass Superhero and Discovering the Humanity of God.
Trent Shepherd
Zondervan
256 pages
softcover
8 x 5

Reviewed for: booklookbloggers

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/

Art Book: Splash of Color

 Ah... I need to apologize to you all.. being away last week totally wrecked up my routine for getting posts ready for the blog.  TOTALLY!!!    I need to figure out a way to get caught back up!  

Anyways, I have a neat book here for you today... it's not a little book by any means, rather long... think the size of those big sketch books you can buy for art ... NOT the HUGE ones, but those middle sized ones.   It's called Splash of Color.  It's a painting and colouring book.

I know I know.. SAY WHAT?  

It's a painting and colouring book, it's made on watercolour paper so you can colour the pages with watercolour brushes or pens, or use paints OR use pencil crayons. 

The point is to colour.  :)

 Isn't that welcome lovely?   Makes me think of the pleasure it brings to share art with each other doesn't it with you too?   And this book calls you to make art, to share that art on the easy tear off sheets. 

I have GOT to show you my favourite design in the whole book.  I have this major thing for chickens.  :)  So guess what!   I found a chicken!!!!!

Though admittedly I also like this one: 

Lest you think they only have animals in this book, let me show you some of the variety.

The paper is a very sturdy watercolour paper, able to be pulled out easily to be displayed.  They are designed so they will fit in 9 x 12 frame.  The pages, as you can see pull up from the top.

The opening cover fits smoothly behind each page to provide additional support in your painting & colouring endeavors. 

I definitely recommend this book you and if you do get it, you might want to consider trying out their watercolor pencils as well!

 Splash of Color: Painting & Coloring Book
Author:  Liz Libre of Linda & Harriett 
Pages: 50
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Reviewed for: Raincoast Books

Where can you find it?
Amazon.com - Splash of Color Painting & Coloring Book

Amazon.ca - Splash of Color Painting & Coloring Book

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/