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Level E is the 5th-6th grade text in this series, providing 34 weeks of spelling lessons with quarterly reviews. The book is now bound with a lay-flat spiral binding, making it easier for the student to write in the book. Spaces for the student's work include a dashed middle line, allowing for handwriting practice---an important and overlooked element in teaching spelling. The particular copy of the text that I have is printed on a smooth, erasable, bright-white paper, but there is some show-through of the ink from the printing on the other side of the paper. I find it distracting, but my son hasn't been bothered by it.

The list words for the first 15 weeks are grouped by phonogram, while the next 15 weeks' lists concentrate on prefixes and suffixes. The final lessons teach homonyms and some Greek and Latin roots. Week 3 includes these words: muscle, scissors, grasp, genuflect, and produce. Week 14 includes these words: parachute, clutch, ancient, gesture, and challenge. Week 25 includes these words: beautify, devotee, stigmatist, volunteer, and author. Week 33 (the final lesson with new words) includes these words: precede, construct, vocation, structure, and recess. Exercises for each lesson include dictionary work, alphabetization, synonym and antonym practice, and some puzzles. This text, in contrast to many other series, emphasizes the meanings of the list words and their usage in sentences.

A unique feature of this series of spelling texts is the apologetics quote for each lesson that incorporates at least one of the list words. This grade level uses quotations from the early Church fathers, many of which I found very difficult! These quotations provide an excellent source for copywork and handwriting practice. Includes teaching suggestions and a full answer key bound into the back.

Danielle Bean is a Catholic homeschool mom with a bunch of kids, a great sense of humor and a very helpful sense of perspective. Her book is a collection of short reflections on events in her life that any mom-of-many can relate to. Somehow, in the midst of these engaging stories of noise and illness and chaos, great truths glimmer just below the surface. Truths about God and reality and what really matters. Encouraging truths that give us perspective when things don't go quite right and the world simply doesn't understand. Her great writing (and good thinking!) draws these out in gentle and encouraging ways.

The chapter titles say a lot about the content, so please forgive me for listing them in their entirety:

• My Cup of Tea: Embracing the Mixed Blessings of Parenthood
• My Hands are Full: The Many Blessings of Many Children
• Time Flies: Gaining Perspective
• Real Presence: The Importance of Friendship
• Growing Pains: Coping with Our Children's Pain
• Bear Instincts: With God All Things Are Possible
• Shopping for Answers: Bearing Witness to Christ
• A Dollar Between Us: Trusting in Divine Providence
• Every Mother Works: Blooming Where You're Planted
• Sweet Dreams: Serving God by Serving Our Children
• Finding Our Wings: A Tangible Easter Message
• Resurrection Triumph: Gratitude for the Sacraments
• God's Tiny Messenger: Remembering What Matters Most
• Something's Got to Give: Balancing Work and Family Life
• What Little Girls Are Made Of: The Joy of the Unexpected
• My Boy: Being a Faithful Child of God
• Martha, Martha: Balancing Daily Obligations and Prayer
• Mass Distraction: Worshipping with Babies
• Less than Perfect: Praying as a Family
• Nesting Is for the Birds: The Blessings of Maternal Instinct
• Mom Olympics: All Mothers are Champions
• A Winning Combination: Contrasting Perspectives on Competition
• Baking Lessons: Letting Go of Perfectionism
• For Better or For Worse: The Give and Take of Married Life
• A Reluctant Messenger: Living Out Christian Duty
• Continual Commitment: Daily Challenges of Teaching at Home
• The Pumpkin Connection: Celebrating Oktoberfest
• Fowl Trouble: Teaching Respect for God's Creation
• Picture Perfect: Making Christmas Memories
• Joyful Noise: The Boisterous Sounds of Family Life

This is a book ideally read for the first time by a mother in those early stages of raising a large family (who often seems to feel shunned by neighbors and overwhelmed by a sense of inadequacy at the same time). I remember at that sometimes all I wanted was a sense that the everyday chaos and challenges were "normal" or that other people understood.

And yet this book also works for those who have already "been there" to some extent and moved into the role of being supportive of others. It's a great pleasure to say a loud "yes!" inside at those things that I can SO relate to, and yet the ideas behind the stories are ones that I always need (and appreciate) to be reminded of once again.

Apparently the audience extends even beyond new moms and experienced moms. I had talked enough about fun and true and touching tidbits in this book since I first read it a year or so ago that my teenage daughter (who also loves Danielle's blog) decided to read it - and loved it too! I guess it's never too early to gain some perspective on great ideas of family life and motherhood!

Highly recommended!

This is a fun and very kid-friendly introduction to the body and its various functions and capabilities. It begins with a set of transparent overlays which portray the skeleton (skeletal system), the heart, lungs and blood (cardiovascular system), and the brain and nerves and digestive system. When I first got this book (back in the days when I was a DK representative for a short time) I worried that this book wouldn't hold up very well. After more than three years of use by little hands, I have to admit it's done quite well.

The rest of the book provides simple text, funny illustrations and the trademark DK photos covering the following topics: faces, skin and hair, muscles and bones, blood and heart, lungs and breathing, digestion, brain and nerves, eyes and seeing, ears and hearing, taste and smell, touch, growing up and "all about you."

The digestion is handled quite politely (no graphic pictures) and I was pleasantly surprised at how well the "growing up" section was handled. It begins with a very sweet and simple explanation of conception "A baby starts when a tiny sperm from the father joins with an egg inside the mother. The egg attaches itself to a part of the mother called the womb..." (pg. 29) and goes on to descriptions of the various stages of development of an unborn baby. Although the term fetus is mentioned, the baby is called a baby throughout the text!!! Again - no yucky pictures but not twaddly or dumbed-down either.

The My First Missal is a wonderful, purse- or pocket-sized missal to carry with you to Church. And don't be fooled by the title. Whenever I see "my first", I think of little children and lots of pictures. This missal has lots going for it and would be suitable for children who have already received their First Communion and First Reconciliation. The text is not babyish or overly simplified.

In the space of 48 pages, this booklet has the complete novus ordo Mass (with one line explanations scattered throughout for further clarification and edification). The book goes further, explaining (and encouraging) other visits to Church -- for visiting the Blessed Sacrament, for morning or evening prayers, for praying Stations of the Cross and for celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation. There is a very nice "examination of conscience" with prayers to help make a good confession and prayers to offer in thanksgiving after receiving this wonderful Sacrament.

Illustrations, although at a minimum, are nicely done water-colors. They don't distract or detract from the text. For $3.95, this little booklet is a nice accompaniment for Church.