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Most Catholic homeschoolers today are familiar with the high quality level of the Catholic Textbook Projects volumes, and this one, Light to the Nations is no exception. (Note that I write this review based on the CD format of the book). Attractive, user-friendly layout, beautiful reproductions and helpful maps are found throughout the chapters.

Light to the Nations explores World History starting with the birth of Christ. So it is the history of our Christian, Western civilization. Volume One, the book in question, goes from the time of the Birth of Christ until the Enlightenment in the 18th century. Volume Two will pick up where this volume has left off, and from what I can assess on their website, it is in production. See more information at the publisher's website at http://www.catholictextbookproject.com/purchase/purchase-main.html

What is different, and both extremely rewarding and delightful about this book, is the issue of trust. You know the feeling: you are studying History with your kids and when it comes to certain historical periods, you begin trembling, knowing all too well what's coming: attacks on the Church based most times on ignorance of History and Protestant slant. Not here!

While this book doesn't have the usual Protestant or secular slant, it does not glorify the Church as a spotless, perfect human institution: She isn't. We know that, as mistakes have been made and apologies have been issued. Light to the Nations gives the Catholic student a balanced, cohesive, balanced account of the turbulent and wonder-ful times of the development and growth of Christendom in Europe.

I led a small group of 8th and 9th graders this past school year (2008-2009) using The Catholic Textbook Project's Light to the Nations. We got together once a week for an afternoon and read aloud the chapter, stopping to discuss when necessary, and using Atlases many times to follow along paths of events. We read the summary at the end of the chapter and loved the interesting extra snippets about people and places of interest. Since the teacher's manual is not yet available, I had the students write different types of questions with answers for each chapter and many times we had fun quizzing each other.

There are several components of this Latin/Music Appreciation Program. Materials may be purchased individually or in sets, depending on where you purchase them from.

Song Book and Audio CD: A lovely, six voice polyphonic choir performs twenty-four Latin songs and hymns a capella (without accompaniment) on this professionally-recorded CD. Not only is this a beautiful way to present this type of music, but it also makes the music easier to learn for children and families. These songs represent some of the most beautiful musical treasures of the Church - from Gregorian Chant ( e.g. Mass of the Angels and Adoro Te ) to classic four-part hymns (e.g. Panis Angelicus and Stabat Mater). Singing can be a great component of your Latin curriculum. It aids pronunciation, provides additional (and fun) practice and helps students make connections to Latin used outside of class.

The CD alone is a wonderful complement to a Catholic education and a simple way to introduce your children to the beauty of our Catholic heritage. I found my two year old singing snatches of the Ave Maria when we had only listened to the CD a few times. The song book includes four part harmonies and extensive verses all written in modern musical notation (if you'd like the Gregorian Chant notation for the appropriate songs, you will find those in the Adoremus Hymnal). In addition to the more "serious" selections, this set also includes some fun-to-sing songs like the traditional German Student Song Gaudeamus Igitur.

Even on their own, the Lingua Angelica CD and Song Book will make an excellent addition your Latin curriculum, a beautiful component of family devotions and an excellent resource for music history and appreciation. The song book also includes historical notes on the songs and offers some related topics for further research. Every Catholic family - even those not yet studying Latin formally - will enjoy and benefit from this musical set.

Student Book and Teacher Manual (Level I): The first level Lingua Angelica text gently guides student and teacher through sixteen Latin prayers and songs through the study of vocabulary and grammar. While this is not intended as a complete Latin program in and of itself, it will reinforce grammar components learned elsewhere and help interconnect Latin studies with related subjects. Ideally, this supplement would be started once the student has completed about three quarters of Latina Christiana I. Each lesson covers a song or a part of a song; offering new vocabulary and practicing noun, verb and adjective endings. The back of the text includes thirteen pages of Grammar Charts for easy reference.

The Introduction to the Teacher's Manual gives a great overview of the reasons why Christian Latin can be so helpful and formational on many levels - both as a foundation of "real" Latin for students to build their later studies upon and as a beautiful and worthy subject matter for our children to memorize and learn to appreciate for their own sake. This manual also includes a detailed schedule (with varying levels of learning activities which are easily adaptable for different abilities) and grammar and vocabulary notes on each song.

The entire Lingua Angelica - the Song Book, audio CD and two levels of Texts (with teacher's manuals) provides a well-planned six-year Latin supplement based on these songs and prayers. These six years are specifically intended to complement the two years of Latina Christiana and four years of Henle.

This book is a clever way to introduce children to the works and life of Claude Monet and help them to start appreciating the works of the Impressionists. "Linnea" is a little girl with a love for art and flowers who travels with her friend and neighbor Mr. Bloom (a retired gardener) to France to visit the restored estate of Claude Monet and the museums displaying his art. Besides the illustrations of this story, there are reproductions of some of Monet's paintings, old photographs of him and his family, and photographs of what his estate looks like today. Linnea helps to explain the idea of imporessionism and share her enthusiasm - especially of standing on the Japanese bridge. The book also includes a brief biography, a timeline and Monet Family Tree as well as information about other books on Monet and the Museums and other attractions visited by Linnea in the story. I'm waiting for them to write "Linnea in the Louvre" and "Linnea visits the Sistine Chapel"! : )

Although this is a hefty tome, the relaxed, informal tone begs you to snuggle up with it on the sofa with a cozy afghan, a crackling fire, and a hot cup of tea. Of course, it's winter here in Wisconsin: overcast, chilly and white outside. Whatever the weather or circumstances, this book is guaranteed to soothe the soul and inspire the book lover within. You feel like you are having a conversation with a best friend and will often find yourself saying, "Yes" and nodding in agreement, or pausing to reflect and say, "Hmm, interesting, I will have to think about that."

Appropriately subtitled How to Turn a Living Book into a Cherished Book within the Home, Literature Alive covers just about every imaginable topic related to books, book collecting, and creating book lovers in your children. There are a whopping 111 topics. Topic titles include: Compiling a Book List; Finding Old Book Friends; Narration and Writing for Beginners; Guiding Teens to Writing; Notebooking! Easy as A, B, C; A Journey into the World of Dyslexia; and The Art of Journals. There are also several articles on Maria Montessori and Charlotte Mason. Although the majority of the book is written by Cay Gibson, there are a number of contributing authors as well. If you enjoy books and have been homeschooling for a while, you will probably recognize a few of the contributing authors, such as: Ann Ball, Joan Stromberg, Penny Gardner and MacBeth Derham.

This is not the kind of book you will want to plow through quickly. You will want to pause often and reflect on passages and quotes about books while taking notes about favorite authors or helpful resources. For the bibliophile, you will be tempted to check out the lists of books about books and resources for literature study from the library or elsewhere. The book also includes blank spaces to add your own notes. The informal type face adds to the comfortable tone.

You might want to jump to your favorite topic or enjoy the journey from beginning to end with pit stops along the way. The spiral binding allows you to fold back the pages, making it easier to handle when reading. If you are a lover of great literature and good books, or just learning about the importance of literature in the lives of your children, you will enjoy this book. Even for those of us who don't need to be convinced of the value of good books, there is much to ponder within the pages of this wonderful resource.

Available through this link.