Wordless Wednesday: Our New Neighbors

June Reads

Here is the lowdown on my reading this month.

Dearly Loved ~ Bonnie Blythe ~ B

Cute chick-lit/romance. I got it for my Kindle for 99 cents. I think it was self published, but still a good read. A man walks back into a woman's life. They were 'friends' in high school. She was a nice girl, he was a player. Now he wants to settle down and get serious.

Last Light ~ Terri Blackstock ~ B

Good, fast paced thriller/mystery. I got this one free for my Kindle. Something causes all technology world wide to stop working. The book focuses on one family learning how to survive with no electricity, cell phones, xbox, facebook...you get the picture. There are three more in the series that I want to read eventually. I will say the writing was not all that great, and one of the characters was really annoying, but the story was fun.

Dug Down Deep ~ Joshua Harris ~ A

Review here.

On Who is God ~ Mark Driscoll ~ A

Another Kindle Cheapie. Very good, short, easy to read explanation of  God and why we believe what we believe. There is a series of these books on different aspects of the Christian faith, and I hope tho read them all. Highly recommended.

The Great Divide ~ T. Davis Bunn ~ B-

I originally gave this book a C+, but I decided that was a little harsh. It is a political/legal thriller which aren't really my cup of tea. It is about a lawyer who takes on an unwinable case against the Chinese government and a large American corporation. There is a good twist at the end.

The Potluck Club ~ Linda evens Shepherd and Eva Marie Everson ~ B+

Kindle freebie. I liked this book. It reminded me of The Yada Yada books. A group of friends meet every month to 'pray' together. Mostly they eat and gossip. By the end of the book they begin to know what real prayer looks like, and have grown closer together. There are some yummy sounding recipes at the end of the book too. I plan to read the next 2 in the series as soon as I can get my hands on them.

Alice's Tulips ~ Sandra Dallas ~ B+

Disclaimer: This is not a Christian book. That being said I really enjoyed it. It is clean, and I don't remember any bad language. There are some adult themes, and the author gets her opinion about abortion in a couple of times.The story is set during the Civil War in Iowa. It is told in letters between Alice and her sister. Alice does a lot of growing throughout the book, which is good, because she starts out rather petty and selfish. Even though it is not a Christian book, Christianity is present and treated respectfully for the most part. I plan on trying out another book by this author at some point.

Well, it looks like the best books I read this month were theology books. I added my favorites to the side bar. If you read any of these let me know what you think.

I Bless the Rains Down in Africa

Anna and I ended the school year in Botswana, Africa. It was a lovely visit, and we didn't even have to leave our home. We used a Five in a Row style unit study from Home School Share based on Honey, Honey, Lion by Jan Brett. It was a great end to the school year. The highlight of the study was making papyrus paper and drawing "hieroglyphs" on it. Here are some pictures and a list of the books we read for our study.

Honey, Honey, Lion ~ Jan Brett

Lions ~ Gallimard Jeunesse

Lions at Lunchtime ~ Mary Pope Osborne

Botswana ~ Sara Louise Kras

The Magic School Bus Inside a Beehive

The Life and Times of the Honeybee

Waterhole Waiting ~ Jane and Christopher Kurtz

The Water Hole ~ Graeme Base

Anna and I had lot of fun learning this year. It is hard to believe she will be a 4th grader. This year really reaffirmed my love of literature unit studies. I plan to continue them next year, but with chapter books. I can't wait!

Wordless Wednesday: Adam and Anna

Spring Reading Thing 2011 ~ Conclusion

Spring is over, and so is the Spring Reading Thing challenge at Callapider Days. I did pretty well this year. I had 10 books on my list, and I read most of them, gave up on a few of them, and am still reading one of them. Here is a break down of my list and how I rated each book.

Books I completed:

Sing ~ Lisa T Bergran ~ C

Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ ~ John Piper ~ A

The Shadow Women ~ Angela Hunt ~ A

Thin Places ~ Mary DeMuth ~ A

The Pirate Queen ~ C-

Life in Defiance ~ Mary DeMuth ~ A

Books I gave up on:

The Moment Between ~ Nicole Baart

Paradise Valley ~ Dale Cramer

Green Rider ~ Kristin Britain

Still reading:

Jane Eyre ~ Charlotte Bronte

I had a lot of fun and read some great books. You can check out what the other participants did here.

Book Review: Dug Down Deep by Joshua Harris

I recently read Dug Down Deep by Joshua Harris. It is a very readable and understandable study of systematic theology. The author has an engaging writing style, and effectively uses stories from his own life to get his message across. His explanation of the basic doctrines of Christianity is easy to understand. I would recommend this book to any one who wants to know more about their faith, and why we believe what we believe. I think it would be an excellent study for youth and young adults, and I plan to have both of my teens read it.

This book was given to me free by Waterbrook Multnomah for the purpose of review.

Swimming With the Penguins

Anna and I have spent the last few weeks doing a penguin unit study. We have have studied not only penguins, but also their habitats, predators, Antarctica, the Arctic, and the men who explored Antarctica and the Arctic. When we do a unit study, we incorporate as many subjects into it as possible. Instead of just doing science when we do an animal study, I find ways to work in social studies and language arts as much as possible.

We read lots of books when we do a unit study. I had a picture of the 14 library books I had checked out for Anna to read. Russty deleted it. He says he thought they were EBay pictures. Honestly! Here is a list of them: 

Antartica~Wendy Viero

Life Under ice~Mary M.Cerullo

Summer Ice~Bruce McMillan

Sir Earnest Shackleton~Hal Marcovitz

What's a Penguin Doing in a Place Like This~MiriumSchlein

Penguins~Gail Gibbons

Penguins and Polar Bears~Sandra Lee Crow

 The Emperor's Egg~Martin Jenkins

Penguins and their chicks~Margaret Hall

Penguins and Antarctica~Mary Pope Osbourne

Eve of the Emperor Penguin~Mary Pope Osbourne

Mr. Popper's Penguins~Richard and Florence Atwater

Black Whiteness~Robert Burleigh

Yes, Anna read them all. We also blubbered through March of the Penguins together. Anna has inherited my low tolerance for nature documentaries. For written work, I printed worksheets from Homeschool Share which is a wonderful resource for unit studies. Lots of free stuff. We put them in the scrapbook she has been working on this year. Here are some pics.



I am now working on a lion/Africa unit study to finish out the year. I'm so excited! I'll do a post on it when we're done.