Sunday, June 17, 2018

Book Review: The Memorization Study Bible ~ Thomas Meyer


Professor Thomas Meyer (AKA The Bible Man) has memorized multiple scripture passages and 20 complete books of the Bible; a feat made even more incredible when one realizes he does not have a photographic memory. 

The Memorization Bible is the KJV of the New Testament. Mr. Meyer has organized verses to begin, where possible, with conjunctions or prepositions. There are brief, yet concise, directions explaining how to best memorize for long term memory storage. Emphasis is also placed on writing out the verses as suggested with up to 8 words per line and incorporating both oral and written recitation. Devoting time and energy to this process is a given, but what a gift!

As I age, I feel less capable of memorizing anything significant, yet, this method gives me hope. As both a homeschool parent and Sunday school teacher, I want to memorize God’s Word alongside our children. I tape weekly verses on the window to review while washing dishes, cut strips of verses to use as bookmarks,...whatever will remind me. I look forward to trying this scientific method of memorization with myself, family, and Sunday School class. The best part is, it's another way to immerse oneself in God's Word and hide it in your heart.

Book Review: My Story and the World Around Me 1


My Story and the World Around Me 1 is a large text/workbook/teacher’s guide all-in-one single year course geared towards grades 1-2. Take your child through social studies, starting with his/her family and expand through community, city, and country into other countries/continents around the globe. I appreciate that Mr. Froman and Mr. Froman have incorporated language (Spanish & French words), interactive dialogue/questions, vocabulary, and the element of an adventurous quest into 36 weeks of geography and history lessons. It’s a difficult task to design a meaningful course that can seamlessly switch between current events/geography and Biblically accurate historical events that help children understand why history has a direct impact on today’s world. Where did everyone come from? Why are there different languages around the world?

Designed to be a half hour lesson daily, there is flexibility to work within a routine that best works for your schedule. For us, I’d likely combine 2 lessons to work through three days per school week. My Story and the World Around Me 1 includes eye catching photography, puzzles, copywork, maps, journal questions, reviews, quizzes, and hands on activities. Clicking on the link above will direct you to the Master Books website where you can download a preview of My Story and the World Around Me. I look forward to using this book with future years with our youngest.

Book Review: Language Lessons for a Living Education 2


Language Lessons for a Living Education 2, written by Kristen Pratt, is an all inclusive (includes a recommended list of reading books) 2nd grade language arts course. Phonics, sentence formation, reading comprehension, spelling, types of words (antonyms, synonyms, etc.), worksheets, quizzes, and dictionary-building are a sampling of the course work. Students will be practicing independent reading of age/ability-appropriate books which the parent keeps track of on a chart. Over the school year, scripture memorization, writing, oral narration, review, and vocabulary are practiced/retained.

I love that the “Tell Your Story” sections include illustration boxes for your student to add illustrations to his/her writing. The choice of font used throughout the book draws your child’s attention to the work or question at hand. Overall, it’s an aesthetically appealing book and continues to build on learned concepts.

We’ve used a variety of language arts curricula over the years with our children and there are aspects of each that I would love to see pulled together into one book. While this book is intended to stand alone, I’m going to use it (Language Lessons for a Living Education 3) as a supplement to our current language arts course and see how things progress side by side. I can see my son enjoying the format.

Master Books publishes fantastic homeschool books, such as this, that include various facets of daily subjects under the umbrella of a single topic. I love that so many sides of language learning are included in a single lesson/unit. One book=multi-practice of skills. Clicking on any of the links above will direct you to their website where you can download a preview of Language Lessons, the table of contents, as well as the list of suggested reading books.