His Treasure Seekers

One thing I have learned through my years of teaching both in a classroom setting and at home is that good planning makes things run so much more smoothly than when I try to fly by the seat of my pants.  I’ve developed my own systems of organization that work pretty well for our family, but when I heard about The Ultimate Homeschool Planner available from Apologia Educational Ministries I decided to take the opportunity to review it.  I was curious to see if it would help me consider new things and help fine tune our well-oiled machine.

About The Ultimate Homeschool Planner

Right away, this planner, designed by homeschool veteran Debra Bell, impressed me just with its physical features:

• plastic cover for durability (available in the three colors shown above)
• spiral bound so it stays on the page you want
• pockets on both inside covers for stashing papers
• school year “at a a glance” calendars from 2015-16 through 2022-2023
• weekly planning pages that allow you to choose how you want to organize your children’s work (by days of the week, subject, or individual student)
• room to plan for up to 6 children

As I got into the planner, however, I realized it is about more than just jotting down weekly lesson plans.  It guides you through planning on three levels: yearly, monthly, and weekly.  A yearly planning retreat (4-8 hours), one planning session each month and about 30 minutes a week can make the difference between thriving and surviving, and this planner has specific pages for working through all those times.

Beyond lesson planning, The Ultimate Homeschool Planner also helps you focus on matters of the heart:

• places for Bible reading plans
• character and academic goals for individual children
• places to record prayer requests and gratitude

The Ultimate Homeschool Planner is a wonderful stand-alone resource for moms, but it is also designed to be used in coordination with The Ultimate Daily Planner for Students (designed for 4th-8th graders) and The Ultimate Weekly Planner for Teens (for 7th-12th graders).

My Thoughts

There are so many things to love about this planner.  My favorite is the One Year Planning Grid, which allows me to see the entire year on one 2-page spread.

It’s a place for marking holidays, vacations, days when Daddy’s off work, birthdays,  the kids classes, etc. to help me quickly see how our school year is going to look.  Mapping all that out helped me set more realistic expectations for milestones I’d like the boys to reach in various subjects.

I also really liked the flexibility of the weekly lesson plan pages.  There are enough to cover 48 weeks, so it works well regardless of whether we choose to follow a traditional school year.  I chose to make daily checklists for each child, though with Arianna (who’s only 3) I didn’t plan anything but rather jotted down notes about what she did that day that was preschool-related.

I was impressed by the thoroughness of Debra Bell’s system and enjoyed getting familiar with it.  I’m not sure it will replace what I’ve been doing, simply because I prefer keeping my plans on the computer so I don’t have to re-write everything each week. However, for people who prefer a pen and paper method of planning, I would highly recommend The Ultimate Homeschool Planner.  

A few months ago, I shared about FishFlix.com, a company devoted to providing quality Christian entertainment while helping support ministries in Turkey.  They recently gave us a chance to review another DVD, Little Boy, and once again we were truly blessed by their generosity.

About Little Boy

Little Boy takes place on the home front during World War II.  7-year old Pepper Busbee is unusually short, and he is looked down on by pretty much everyone in his small town of O’Hare, California.  The other kids bully him, and the adults all seem to just ignore him, and everyone calls him by the disparaging nickname “Little Boy.”  The one bright spot in his life, however, is his relationship with his father.  They call each other “partner,” and his dad continually lifts him up, calling him a hero.  They even develop a motto: “Do you believe you can do this?”  With his dad’s encouragement, Pepper believes he can do pretty much anything.

When his father leaves to fight in the war, Pepper says a teary good-bye to his only friend.  His dad is later reported missing in action, believed to have been taken prisoner.  Inspired by his hero, a magician, and a sermon at church on the power of faith, Pepper seeks to “move mountains” to bring his father home.  “How can I get bigger faith?” The priest, in response, gives him an ancient list of tasks to complete, including loving his enemy.  Pepper reaches out to a Japanese man who has recently been released from an internment camp.  He and his brother had formerly been quite hostile and abusive to the man, but eventually he and Pepper become friends.  Hashimoto teaches him the story of a samurai who believed that “Nothing was more powerful than the will… the will to face one’s fear and act.”  Pepper finally misses his father so much he can’t take it anymore, and his determination and faith do indeed move mountains.  (I don’t want to give away the ending, but it’s definitely worth watching!)

Our Experience

Little Boy is rated PG-13, so I watched this film with just my husband.  While I will definitely wait until my boys are older, it’s a movie I do want to share with them later on.  It could be a great discussion starter on a number of topics: bullying, prejudice, loving your enemy, faith, heroism, World War II, the atomic bomb…

There was no profanity or sexual content aside from some mild flirting, but there were several scenes with violence, both on the battlefield and back at home.  The scenes I found most disturbing were those depicting prejudice against Hashimoto.  “If I could, I’d smash every Jap with my bare hands!” yells Pepper at one point before the two become friends.  His hatred is encouraged by his older brother, and it’s hard to watch such a young boy spewing such vitriol.

Overall, however, I found Pepper’s character endearing, and I found myself in tears several times as my heart ached for him, probably because he’s right around my son Ian’s age and I would hate seeing him face similar trials.  The film itself is a well-written, powerful glimpse into the emotions of a young boy facing unusually difficult circumstances.  I highly recommend it for families with older children, and I know it’s a film our family will be revisiting in the future as our children mature.

I’m so thankful to FishFlix.com for the opportunity to review Little Boy, and I look forward to checking out some of their other family-friendly DVDs.  To read what other Crew Members thought of Little Boy, as well as several other titles, click the banner below to get to their reviews.

Growing up, my brother was the one interested in space, and I’m only now beginning to realize how much I missed out on by not listening to him more.  For the past couple months, our whole family has been learning together as we go through the Book of Astronomy Set from Memoria Press, a company known for its classical Christian education materials.  This set is a great way for elementary students to learn about the constellations and the solar system.

About The Book of Astronomy Set

The Book of Astronomy Set consists of a Student Book and a Teacher’s Guide, which contains the full text of the Student Book with the answers written in, blackline masters for creating overhead transparencies, and tests for the end of each unit plus a final exam.

There are four units in the book.  Unit 1 is the longest because it contains introductory material that will be needed to go on.  Then it covers the constellations found in the summer-fall sky, and the summer-fall zodiac.  Unit 2 covers what can be seen in winter, and Unit 3 covers spring.  Finally, Unit 4 takes a look at the solar system, covering the planets, dwarf planets, and major moons.  At the end of each unit there are “Exercises,” where the student answers questions about specific facts presented in the previous lessons, and draws and labels the constellations.  There are also further exercises at the end of the book that cover information from all four units.

The first assignment is to memorize the 15 brightest stars in the universe.  We memorized the list by singing the names to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, and both boys had it down within a couple days.  In true Classical style, that memorization work was an essential foundation for the rest of the course.

I love the way the lessons build upon each other.  For example, when the first constellation (Lyra) is introduced, the students write out the names of the 15 brightest stars (which they learned earlier), as well as listing Lyra next to Vega, since it’s part of that constellation.  Each time a new constellation is learned (both the Roman and English names), the student adds it to the list, rewriting all the stars and constellations learned so far.  Through this continual repetition, the students become masters of the material and can not only say the names of the stars and constellations (I was really thankful for the pronunciation guide at the back of the book!) but spell them properly as well.

Because many of the constellations were identified back in ancient times, it is helpful to have some familiarity with Greek mythology.  The book actually includes page references for D’Aulaires’ Greek Myths, so we were able to spend some time reading about Hercules and other important characters whose names popped up as we went through the Book of Astronomy.  (Other Crew members received the Memoria Press study guide to go along with D’Aulaires’ Greek Myths, so check out their reviews by clicking on the banner below if you want to find out more about that product.)

Our Experience

The Book of Astronomy is designed for 3rd grade and up, but I was pretty sure Ian (8) would be able to handle it even though he’s just finishing up 2nd grade.  After looking at the materials I decided to invite Elijah (6) along for the ride as well, so I bought a second student book for him.  I think both of the boys had more fun because they were going through it together.

I especially appreciated the continual practice drawing the constellations.  It made it that much easier for the boys to start finding the real thing when we’d get a clear night and search the skies for ourselves.  We talked about how knowing the stars has helped people find their way for thousands of years, and we ended up starting a unit study on the Underground Railroad after learning about the Drink Gourd/Big Dipper and how it helped guide slaves to freedom.  One night when I was out, the boys spotted the Big Dipper and were so upset that I wasn’t there to see it with them!

Going through the Book of Astronomy has given my boys a new appreciation for the night sky.  I loved watching Elijah and my father looking up at the stars one night, pointing out what they could see.  Grandpa was pretty impressed when the 6-year old said, “That’s a first magnitude star!”  It won’t be long before he’s telling him the name of it as well, for I intend to keep going until we have finished this whole course.  I’m so impressed with how much the boys and I have learned so far, and I’m looking forward to what’s still to come.

I’m really glad I went ahead and included Elijah.  Both boys take great pride in filling in their Student Books, and I think these are going to be wonderful references for the boys to turn to for many years to come.