Review of Home School in the Woods HISTORY Through the Ages Hands-on History Lap-Pak: U.S. Elections

Our family recently to the chance to use and review HISTORY Through the Ages Hands-on History Lap-Pak: U.S. Elections from Home School in the Woods. We've been homeschooling for a really long time and Home School in the Woods has been around for much longer than we've been choosing curriculum. They are a trusted source for high quality curriculum. It was so cool to get a chance to give feedback on one of their products.

It’s our first time trying a lapbook product. I was a little unsure when I first looked at the product because it honestly at first glance looks like a lot of cut and paste. But because it’s an election year and I really want my kids to get an idea of what’s involved in the election, I gave it a go.

Here’s a little information on the product. It’s broken down into 21 sections/projects. 

1. Definition of Election
2. Different forms of Government
3. The American Experiment
4. The Three Branches of Government
5. Suffrage
6. Who Do We Vote For?
7. Terms of Office
8. A "Handful" of Political Parties
9. Caucuses and Primaries
10. National Conventions
11. The Presidential Campaign: Platform
12. The Presidential Campaign: Stump Speaking
13. The Presidential Campaign: Media — News Source
14. The Presidential Campaign: Campaign Advertising — Spreading the Word!
15. Raising Money
16. Statistics
17. Election Day
18. The Electoral College
19. Inauguration Day
20. The Electoral Race!
21. The "Vocabinet"

Each section has an audio portion that give you the information that’s also presented in the booklet that you print out and assemble. You can use the booklet and audio as a read-along for emergent readers. My daughter preferred me to read the sections to her as we worked on the different parts of the lapbook.

You can see she really loves the coloring part. The audio portions range from 1-7-ish minutes which is very easy to fit into any school day. I printed out portions as we got to them but you could print it all out at once. I found it easier for me to cut sections out and she would do the coloring and adding the pieces to the lapbook. My advice is: Get good glue. You want the pieces to stick and stay. My daughter has had a little more experience with the Home School in the Woods as she was in a homeschool co-op class that used the Time Travelers curriculum. She really loves all things crafty.

Here’s some product shots to show the finished product.

The little one on the right actually moves with a brass fastener! So cool!

The doors really open!

I really appreciate all the interactivity that results from the projects. It makes for a fun piece they can hold onto and show off. This was such a fun project. I’m not sure we are lapbooking converts but in the very least we had fun with this particular lapbook.

As a supplement to the lapbook, we also got some books from the library. Here's a couple of the ones we found. Monster Needs Your Vote by Paul Czajak and Vote from Eyewitness Books. 

Click here to see what other Schoolhouse Review Crew members had to say about HISTORY Through the Ages Hands-on History Lap-Pak: U.S. Elections from Home School in the Woods!

Book Review: Too Rich for a Bride by Mona Hodgson

In this continuation of The Sinclair Sisters of Cripple Creek, we follow the story of Ida Sinclair. Ida is the oldest of the Sinclair sisters. She comes to Cripple Creek to find work the the legendary businesswoman Mollie O'Bryan. And while Ida is not looking for a husband, love seems to find her none the less.

I very much enjoyed this story. Even though I haven't read the first book, I believe this story can stand on it's own. That said it did take me some time to get in to this story. It was enjoyable but took a while to get going. And having not known the characters from the previous book, I felt like I was trying to play catch-up.

I love the character of Tucker Raines. I also have found a love of fiction set in Colorado. When I learned that Cripple Creek is a real life town in Colorado (Just 2 hours from me) I told my husband we just have to visit.

I recommend it! It was a fun read. And I can not wait for the next book. Now off to get the first book.

Check out this video by the author, it made me really wanna go visit Cripple Creek:



Just so you know, I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. And you get get free books too through Blogging for Books. There's a link on the sidebar. -->

Mine is the Night by Liz Curtis Higgs and a Contest

Mine is the Night by Liz Curtis Higgs

I've got a review coming soon for Mine is the Night by Liz Curtis Higgs, the much awaited sequel to Here Burns My Candle.

I'm really enjoying this book and can't wait to tell you about it. But in the meantime, Waterbrook/Multnomah is hosting a contest.

You can check it out here Mine is the Night Contest

Also, Liz Curtis Higgs is hosting a live video event on April 5th at 2pm (eastern) Liz Curtis Higgs live event

Also, below is a book trailer for the latest book. Enjoy!

I've been a fan of Liz Curtis Higgs for quite some time. I love reading about Scotland and she is able to bring it to life for poor people like me who must read about it until the day they can afford to travel there.

Book Review: Lady in Waiting

My first impressions of this book when I picked it up were:

1. The cover art is beautiful.
2. I want that ring!
3. I've never read anything by Susan Meissner. I'm excited to get to know a new author.
4. It's got that new book smell!!!
5. There's a family tree chart in the front. I love books with charts!

My impressions after reading are that you still can't judge a book by it's cover. That said I must confess, I'm an avid reader. I eat books. But this book turned out to be a really slow read for me. It took probably 3-4 days to complete.

Lady in Waiting is the story of 2 women, living hundreds of years apart. Their destinies become connected by a ring found by Jane, an antique shop owner and our main character. Jane is in a bad place, emotionally. When her husband walks out, she is blindsided. She begins to see her life clearly for the first time. That she has the life that she decided for herself. She's allowed others to shift her focus and make her life decisions. Jane doesn't know herself. She begins to question the life that she's been living for the past 20 plus years.

The other character, Lucy Day is a dressmaker for Lady Jane Grey in 1500s England. Lucy's story begins when she is brought in to attend to Lady Jane Grey, a young royal who is the chief mourner at a funeral for the Queen Dowager, Katherine. Jane and Lucy form a friendship that impacts them both for life.

This story is about decisions. We make them daily and they impact our lives. We decide who to love. We decide where our focus lies and in the end we have to live with those decisions. I didn't really enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. It felt very disjoint. The two stories didn't seem to have an obvious common thread. The theme was decisions. The ring didn't really play that big a part in the story, in my opinion.

I would have like to read just Jane's story. Her story would have been enough. I think the historical secondary story actually took away from the story of Jane and her husband. So in the end there were 2 semi-complete stories that felt forced in to the same book. Jane's story doesn't have the ending you want to read. It's more of a beginning. Overall, the characters could have used a little more development. I didn't feel like they had a lot of depth.

I will rate this book at 3 stars. 

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Book Review: Tandem by Tracey Bateman

I haven't read anything by Tracey Bateman before so I have no idea what her style is usually. This book was a slow starter. It took about 1/3 of the book to get going. It's also a sequel. The cover says "A Novel" but it's the sequel to Thirsty, which I haven't read.

All that aside, it was an interesting read. I didn't know it was going to be about vampires. But the cover art and title font is reminiscent of a certain series.

The writing style took a while to get use to. The story was engaging. It did keep me wanting to know how it would all end. I don't know if there's to be a third book in the series but I'm probably gonna check out the first one.

If you are on a vampire binge, I would recommend it. It's a pretty good mystery.

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Book Review: Two Tickets to the Christmas Ball by Donita K. Paul

I'll be honest. This is the first book I've read by Donita K. Paul. But it won't be the last. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of *Two Tickets to the Christmas* Ball. My only complaint is that is was short. It left me wanting more of Cora and Simon. I want to know what happens next. But that's not really a bad thing. Is it?

The story is very reminiscent of The Shop Around the Corner and You've Got Mail. I love a "diamond in the rough" story. You know, that person that's always been there but when they finally get their "shining moment" they become the love of your life.

I foresee this book becoming a Hallmark holiday special. It's got all the elements of a fun movie. The lead characters who aren't really looking for love but find it anyways. Mysterious matchmakers who get them ready for the ball. People who know each other but come to really see each other for the first time.

This book comes highly recommended! It's one of those books you keep around to read at least once a year. That is if your friends don't swipe it.

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

New stuff to be excited about!

I started blogging for books! I'm really excited. The first book I received was "Two Tickets to the Christmas Ball" by Donita K. Paul. I'm really loving the book so far. Kind of a "You've Got Mail" type story. The review is coming as soon as I finish reading. But in the meantime, here's a book trailer for it. It's not really descriptive but here it is anyways.

Enjoy!

The Actor and the Housewife: A non-spoilerish review

I'm a huge Shannon Hale fan. Let's just get that out in the open. It's shameful. Well not really shameful but obsessive. I've read every published work. Some multiple times. I'd like to say that I own them all as well but after my recent book buying kick I think I'm on a budget. I dragged my family 12 hours from Denver to Phoenix back in April to see Shannon Hale and Stephenie Meyer at the Project Book Babe event.

I follow Shannon's blog and when I heard a few months ago that she had a new non-YA novel coming out I was very happy. The last non-YA novel she published was Austenland. I waited for that book to be released. And then I devoured it in 4 hours. It must have taken months to write, edit, etc. And it took me almost no time to rip thru it and really want some more. It was good. I liked the idea alot. The plot drew me in. Good stuff.

The Actor and the Housewife was a good book. I really enjoyed it. I'm going to be as descriptive as possible without giving anything away. I hope. This book was a slow starter. By that I mean it didn't immediately draw me in. I knew the basic premise of the story from the blurbs I'd read and the discussion on Shannon Hale's blog.

There's an actor and a housewife obviously. They become friends. They have life. They have laughs. People think they are weird. They are weird. Things happen to them. Life events bring them together and apart. They made me laugh and cry.

NOTE: Thanks a lot by the way, Shannon. My husband had to come comfort me at the end of Act 2. I was a mess. But I continued reading anyways.

The story take some surprising twists and turns. I really didn't see some things coming. Others were more obvious to me. In the end, I can look back on this book and say I really enjoyed it. My favorite lines from the whole book (and it's hard to pick just one) are:

Felix: "I don't know how you persist in being so stubborn---"
Becky: "It's a superpower. I was bitten by a radioactive mule."

I woke my husband up about 15 minutes after he fell asleep last night to read that to him and he fell back to sleep with a laugh.

This book brought out emotions from me that I didn't want to experience. To me that says something about a story. That you experience emotions with the characters. It means you made a connection. It really did start kind of slow. However, like most good stories if you stick with it for the first couple of chapters you won't be sorry.

And by the way, if like me you've already devoured this yummy book there is a great "behind the scenes" of how this book came about. Here's the link: http://www.squeetus.com/stage/books_housewife.html