The author of the popular Miserly Moms, a guide for frugal family living, has done it again! Jonni McCoy has written a stand-alone but complementary book that helps families to enjoy well-prepared, nutritious meals while keeping their grocery expenditures under control. Most homeschooling families live on one income, and we need all the help that we can get in controlling our expenses; this cookbook can help us to do just that.
$25 per student
Truly a unique offering, the Learning Styles assessment from Mercy Academy provides a wonderful opportunity for a homeschooling parent to learn how to better teach their child(ren). Understanding the best way in which a child learns, as well as learning how to strengthen their weaker areas, will make each day's lessons more productive and less frustrating. You will not necessarily need to purchase new curriculum in each subject area; instead, you will learn how to use any materials more effectively.
This book is not too "scholarly" to enjoy, and I have truly enjoyed it. Each of the chapters discusses a different element of children's literature in the context of actual books. There is a complete synopsis of the book at this address:
http://www.neumannpress.com/mysoflifinch.html
Be forewarned: you will be running to your bookshelves to start reading some of these books to your children and to re-read them yourself.
When it comes to craft projects, I am all thumbs. If I must struggle with following incomprehensible directions and managing difficult techniques, I prefer to end up with something delicious to eat. You can imagine my fear when I was first introduced to lap books---described by the author of the Ultimate Lap Book Handbook as "a file folder folded a funny way, and then filled with child-produced booklets". As I read through this book, my fear turned to fascination. This was one incredible project that even I could handle!
What could be better than a well-planned and well-organized Catholic art textbook written by internationally-known Catholic artists who are also art historians and professors? This is the textbook! From the introduction by the authors: "The rules used here have been the time-tested tools used by artists for centuries and are based on natural law and common sense. Once acquired, these skills are not only transferable to other disciplines but also foster genuine appreciation and discernment in the field of art and of beauty in creation."
All Latin students will benefit from ready access to a Latin dictionary, but Catholic Latin students using a Catholic textbook, or reading from Church documents and the Vulgate Bible in their original Latin, will especially benefit from access to a Catholic Latin dictionary. The Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin has been written to help both seminary students and laypeople as they advance beyond their introductory Latin studies. The hardback binding, clear typeface, and non-shiny paper combine to make this book a pleasure to use.
After several challenging years of teaching beginning Latin to my elementary-grade children, I have finally found exactly the book that I wish I had had available from the beginning. Not only is this book classical in orientation and Christian in content, but it is also very well-organized and easy to use. This program can be begun as early as third grade by a motivated student with excellent reading fluency and some grammar knowledge, but it will be beneficial for a beginning Latin student of any age.
Today's young women can benefit in many ways from the lessons learned whilst sewing. Among them are the genuine self-esteem gained by completing a challenging task, patience both with oneself and with the project at hand, and quiet perseverance with a task that takes longer than expected. Sewing with Saint Anne is a delightful book that organizes and simplifies the steps needed to learn how to sew. The majority of the projects would appeal to a young lady from about age six onward if she had help, or from about age ten with just a little help.
A Book of Sanctity is a newly printed collection of stories gathered from numerous out-of-print Catholic reading books. These 27 selections center around the theme of sanctity and include Bible stories, stories of the saints, and stories of families. Most pages include a simple black-and-white illustration that enhances the interest of the story without distracting a young reader's attention.
This is simple, clearly presented, and in a pleasing font; examples are profuse, and exercises numerous. It includes a complete answer key, on different colored paper, in the back of the book. Ours was just a shrink-wrapped set of 3-hole-punched pages which we put into a simple binder. No fancy bindings, but an excellent presentation. The eight chapters include The Sentence: Subject and Verb, Three Articles, Adjectives, Direct Objects, Linking Verbs, Adverbs, Prepositions, and A Peek Ahead.