Author: John Grisham

ISBN: 978-0-385-53245-7

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 308

Publisher: Doubleday

Rating: 4 stars

I always love John Grisham’s books and this one did not disappoint!  It’s different from most of his others – it’s short stories rather than one novel and they aren’t suspense or legal stories like his others.  I did enjoy them very much though.  I’m not always a fan of short stories because it seems like a lot of times they kind of leave you hanging and wanting more but these didn’t do that – they were written in such a way that the story was wrapped up and finished by the end and I was satisfied with how it turned out.  I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves good fiction stories.

Well, as I was reading blogs that I have in my Google reader this morning I came across this post that was posted on a photography blog I found recently and have enjoyed reading.  I was excited to share with her that we have been homeschooling for ten years and we absolutely love it!  A couple of the things that she asked for were advice and book suggestions and after looking through some of the comments I got to thinking… I never posted anything about what we were using this year!  Not that everyone has just been on the edge of their seat waiting, quite the contrary since I’ve hardly posted much this school year – I’ve lost most of my regular readers I think!  That’s okay though.  I don’t do this to get a huge readership – just to have a creative outlet for me and to meet whoever happens to stop by and comment. 

Anyway, back to what I originally was talking about – since I never shared with you what we were using I figured better late than never!  Our school year is quickly coming to a close but I guess that will almost make it easier to share my thoughts on each book.  So, here goes!

I am homeschooling a freshman and a junior this year – here is what we are using:
(I’m sorry for the books/pictures being misaligned – I cannot get them to stay in the right spot for some reason! ugh!)

Algebra 1 – Teaching Textbooks

My son, who is a freshman, is taking this class this year.  I used this same program with my daughter so we are getting year #2 out of this set.  I absolutely love this program.  It is laid out so well – it has enough work that it teaches well, but not too much that it’s full of busy work. The CDs that you can purchase as part of the set are amazing – they show each and every problem being worked out so if you ever have trouble understanding one or figuring out how to explain it, all you have to do is pop the CD in the computer and the explanation is there.  I just can’t say enough good things about this program.

Geometry – Teaching Textbooks

We followed Algebra 1 with Algebra 2 for my daughter, who is a junior, so this year we are doing Geometry.  The same things that I said above for Algebra 1 apply here as well.  This curriculum has been wonderful for our family.  We have now used Pre-Algebra, Algebra 1, Algebra 2, and Geometry from this program and I would highly recommend all of them.

US History – Bob Jones University (BJU Press)

Both of my kids are taking US history this year.  We have not used any BJU materials since my oldest was in 2nd or 3rd grade but I have been pleased with this curriculum.  It is very thorough and covers quite a bit of information.  There is also an activity book that goes with the text and we are using that as well.  It has done a good job of reinforcing the material that they are reading in the text.   I would definitely recommend this as well.

Biology – Apologia

My son is taking Biology this year and we are using Apologia’s material.  I absolutely love their curriculum.  It is written extremely well – it’s written conversationally rather than the traditional way a textbook is written.  That makes it so much easier to read because it’s as if someone is talking to you and explaining things rather than just straight facts being presented.  I also really like it because, while it still teaches what the theory of evolution is, it teaches creationism as well.  Apologia has science curriculum from elementary all the way up through high school and I’ve loved every book we’ve ever used.   (The ones we have used are: Botany, Astronomy, General Science, Physical Science, Biology, and Anatomy. )

World Geography – Prentice Hall

I have actually written a book review on this book.  You can click here to read that.  This has been a great book and I’ve been very pleased with it as well.  I have to say that my son wasn’t as crazy about this book but overall it does a great job of presenting quite a bit of information, it has great maps in it, and it even has quite a bit of great pictures from places all around the world.

Shakespeare Literature – No Fear Shakespeare books

Both of my kids used these this year.  We have read through eight of these plays this year plus gone through the material presented in the No Fear Shakespeare A Companion book.  These have been a fabulous choice for studying Shakespeare and literature.  We have really enjoyed reading the plays as well as learning about Shakespeare himself.  The No Fear Shakespeare books are a great way to dive into Shakespeare because not only does it have the traditional Shakespeare language on one side but it has a modern day translation on the opposite page.  I think every high school student should spend some time with these books at some point – it will open up a whole new world of literature to them!

Well, those are the main books we are using this year.  I would love to hear from you if you have any experience with any of these!  Let me know what you thought of them!  

Title: The Karma of Jesus

Author: Mark Herringshaw

ISBN: 978-0-7642-0734-1

Genre: Non-Fiction; Religious; Spirituality

Pages: 206

Publisher: Bethany House

Rating: 4 stars

This was a GREAT book!  I have to admit I was skeptical of it at first simply because of the title.  There seem to be so many people nowadays mixing religions and making up their own as well as saying that any path you choose is the right path.  I’m tired of that kind of gobbleygook (don’t you love my description of it!  haha!) and I want a book by an author who knows Truth and isn’t afraid to talk about it.  Well, this book delivered in my opinion.  Mark Herringshaw does a good job of teaching about Christ and the love that He gave to us.  He compares the concept of karma with the forgiveness that we receive from God and explains how we can receive God’s perfect love and forgiveness.  He weaves some wonderful stories into the book and it’s actually one of those books that was hard to put down!  I would highly recommend it!!

Author: Daniel Levin

ISBN: 978-1-59448-872-6

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 418

Publisher: Penguin Group  – Riverhead Books

Rating: 3 stars

From the cover flap:

Jonathan Marcus, a young American lawyer and a former doctoral student in classics, has become a sought-after commodity among antiquities dealers. But when he is summoned to Rome to examine a client’s fragment of an ancient stone map, he stumbles across a startling secret: a hidden message carved inside the stone itself. The discovery propels him on a perilous journey from the labyrinth beneath the Colosseum to the biblical-era tunnels of Jerusalem in search of a hidden 2,000-year-old artifact sought by empires throughout the ages.

As Marcus and a passionate UN preservationist, Dr. Emili Travia, dig more deeply into the past, they’re stunned to discover not only an ancient intelligence operation to protect the artifact, but also a ruthless modern plot to destroy all trace of it by a mysterious radical bent on erasing every remnant of Jewish and Christian presence from the Temple Mount.

With a cutting-edge plot as intricately layered as the ancient sites it explores, The Last Ember is a gripping thriller spanning the high-stakes worlds of archaeology, politics, and terrorism in its portrayal of the modern struggle to define–and redefine–history itself.

My thoughts:

I had a hard time deciding what to rate this book.  In some ways I could give it a four but decided to go with a three.  It is a very well-written book and I was impressed with the writing style but I had a really hard time staying connected with the story.  Much of the storyline and plot were things that I’m just not very familiar with so it made it hard to follow.  I found myself getting lost and wondering what was going on.  Many books will have a heading when the characters change or the location changes so that the reader knows what’s going on and which characters are in focus at that point.  This book didn’t do that and each time it switched it would take me a minute to figure out what was going on and what part of the story I was in.  If you have any knowledge of the main topics of the book I think you’ll really like it.  If not, it might be a little confusing.

Author: Mae O’Steen-Grant

ISBN: 978-1-4327-3910-2

Genre: Religion, Christian Life

Pages: 257

Publisher: OutskirtsPress.com

Rating: 2 stars

I’m really sorry to say that I just really didn’t get this book.  It seemed to just go in circles and I felt very confused the whole time I was reading it.   I only read part of the book as I could not figure out exactly what the point was.  I finally just decided I needed to move on to something else.  So, unfortunately, this book is not a book I would recommend.

Publisher: Prentice Hall

ISBN: 0134359909

Genre: Geography, Curriculum

Pages: 748

Age: middle school and high school

My kids are using this book for geography this year and I really like it.  The book is separated by regions and countries and has a wealth of information on land, weather, culture, people groups, etc.  One of the things I really love about this book is that it has great, colorful pictures throughout that show everything from famous landmarks, to cultural items, to just interesting tidbits.  It has great charts, graphs, and especially maps.  I would highly recommend this book for homeschooling geography!

Author: Sharon Sebastian & Raymond G. Bohlin

ISBN: 978-1-60264-393-2

Genre: Religion, Christian Life, Science

Pages: 216 pages

Publisher: Virtualbookworm.com Publishing, INC.

Rating: 4 stars (you can look here to read about my rating system)

Book’s website

From the back of the book:

Who are you? Where did you come from? Are you being told the truth? How does what you believe link you to the world’s worst mass murderers, being judged by the color of your skin, super babies of the future, and today’s school curriculum?

Mere generations ago, a man named Charles Darwin introduced his Theory of Evolution which permeates today’s society. Its premise is that some groups of people are less evolved than others and, therefore, inferior. As a result, millions have died when targeted by race, class or disability.

There are those who say that this same philosophy, that helped fuel Hitler’s ovens, has crept into America’s school system when no one was watching. Others contend that evolution, which was rooted in racist and class elitism and is today being taught, makes some of us superior and more “fit” to live on the planet. Are you fit enough? Is your family fit enough? Who survives? Who decides?

In America, are we one nation under God or one nation under Darwin? As two worldviews of race and class collide, it is time to decide what you believe regardless of your social status or the color of your skin.

This books does a fabulous job of pointing out the flaws in Darwin’s Theory of Evolution.  They delve into many areas that some scientists have claimed as fact when, in fact, they have not been proven to be so – they are ideas that are pure speculation.  They also do a great job pointing out many problems that have arisen, not only in our society, but in other societies of the world since Darwin first presented his theory.

There are many great quotes in this book, there are two I’d love to share here.

Spurgeon quickly noted a double standard that was pro-evolution and anti-creation and used sarcasm to criticize Darwin’s unproven theory.  In his monthly magazine, The Sword and the Trowel, Spurgeon wrote the following to all those who recognized God as Creator.

“You are not to be dogmatic in theology, but for scientific men it is the correct thing.  You are never to assert anything very strongly; but scientists may boldly assert what they cannot prove, which may demand a faith more credulous than any we possess.”  Charles Spurgeon

With what he calls almost seemingly endless attacks on religion – through lawsuits, misleading television programs and a bias towards the faith of Darwinism, Author and President of Amerisearch, William J. Federer sees an alarming irony.

“Religion provides social order and tolerance for all people.  Now, in America, everyone is tolerated except the ones who came up with the idea.”

These are just two of many great thoughts shared in this book.  If you are interested in learning about how the Theory of Evolution has shaped our world this book is a great book for you to read.  It is packed full of great information and great quotes.  (If you are interested, you can click on the title above and it will take you to Amazon to purchase the book.)

I do have to add one negative because I’m a bit of a grammar freak.  When using quotation marks the rule is that periods and commas ALWAYS go inside of the quotation marks.  It doesn’t matter if the quotation marks are part of the whole sentence or just around one word at the end – they ALWAYS go inside the quotation marks.  Numerous times in the book the authors have commas and periods outside of the quotation marks.  I know, I know – you’re probably thinking, “Who cares!”  Well, I’m sorry, but I do.

Author: Mary Farrar

ISBN: 978-1-4347-6871-1

Genre: Religion, Christian Life, Women

Pages: 303 pages

Publisher: David C. Cook

Rating: 4 stars (you can look here to read about my rating system)

Mary Farrar has written a fabulous book with a peek into the male mind.  After much research, she does a fabulous job in this book of explaining how our men think, what they expect out of life and marriage, what issues they struggle with, and how we, as their wives, can best be their helpmate.  Men and women are so different in their thinking and their emotions and I would recommend that every wife or soon-to-be wife read this book.  It can be a tremendous help to your marriage to understand what your husbands needs are and how to best fulfill your role as his wife.  The most important aspect of this book, in my opinion, is that everything she says is from a Biblical standpoint – she explains how to fight the enemy with God’s truths.

I received this book from Phenix & Phenix and they were kind enough to send a couple of copies so that I could have a giveaway!  So, I’m excited to announce my very first giveaway on this site!

• For 1 entry eligibility, just leave me a comment – you can just say, “I want to learn more about my man” if you want
• For 2 entries, leave a comment and also subscribe to my blog through email by entering your email address in the subscription box at the sidebar then come back and leave another comment letting me know you did so
• For 3 entries, do both of the above and twitter or blog about this blog post leaving a third comment letting me know you did this as well.

I will have a drawing next Wednesday, September 30th, for both books.  I will e-mail you at the e-mail address you use to comment to let you know you have won and to get your mailing address.

So, I’m learning about giving books away and trying to win some for myself!  haha!  You ought to stop over there and check it out – it’s a pretty cute blog!  You don’t have to enter the drawing though – I don’t want TOO many people entering and ruining my chance of winning.    j/k!