Book Review: How Can A Good God Let Bad Things Happen?

Author: Mark Tabb Online casino Ireland. ###

Publisher: NavPress

Subject: Biblical Teaching on Suffering

Mark Tabb takes the story of Job in the Bible, analyzing all the suffering he went through, the pain of losing everything in his life and applies it to the sufferings that we all go through.

The first time I saw “How Can A Good God Let Bad Things Happen?” I thought that it might be boring to read. I did not know who Mark Tabb was and the cover seems so stark and straightforward. The title, however, caught my curiosity and since our family has been going through some hard times, I thought that this could be a good book to read.

This is not the kind of book you read from cover to cover in just one sitting. From the first chapter, I’ve had to keep putting the book down and digest what the author was saying. I can’t help but apply it to my own life and see how God is working there.

At first, the things he wrote about the Godhood of God were actually hard for me to digest. He wrote about God in such a way that you will actually start being scared of God, but encourages you to keep on trusting Him anyway. He wrote about a God who is capable of doing anything and everything in your life including letting bad things happen to you. Then he explains why God does let bad things happen to us.

The book’s message lets you know more about God through our suffering and is written in a very simple and understandable manner. The message is actually doctrinal but he explained it so that an ordinary person like me can easily understand.

This is a worthwhile book to buy and read. Plan to spend weeks on finishing it because you just have to stop after every few pages and ponder on the message and how good and gracious is our God.

How Can A Good God Let Bad Things Happen is availabe at the following:

NavPress.com, Amazon.com, How Can a Good God Let Bad Things Happen?'>Christianbook.com

The Best Curriculum for New Homeschoolers

I received an email some (long) time ago from a mom who has quite a lot of important questions for me. She even called me a “veteran” homeschooler. I admit I’ve been doing this for almost seven years now, but I still have to find that curriculum which will be really suitable for my children and for the whole family.

I’ll try to answer the easier question first. The question about finding a homeschool school that is accredited by the Department of Education.

As far as I know,the Philippines Department of Education requires a report card for elementary students starting Grade 1 to Grade 6 in order for the child to graduate and enter High School. There are several options you can take to go about this.

You can enroll your incoming Grade 1 to a homeschool group that is accredited by the Department of Education. With this, there are now more options available for you to choose from. You can choose to enroll her in a homeschool group with a set curriculum, or a homeschool group with an open curriculum. Living Heritage or School of Tomorrow and TMA Homeschool provide a set curriculum for their students. Lately though, I’ve learned that TMA Homeschool now allows families to choose whether they want to use Alpha Omega Lifepacs or another curriculum.

One advantage of using a set or boxed curriculum is that a lot of the work is taken out of your hands. You just need to do some advance preparation, otherwise the lesson plans are laid out for you to follow. I think this may be a good way to get your feet wet in homeschooling.

The other option is to choose a school with an open curriculum. This means that the family is free to decide on which curriculum to choose for their children. Kid’s World Integrated School and Victory Christian School are two homeschool groups that I know of that has an open curriculum.

My own children are enrolled at Kid’s World Integrated School. Every Saturday we go to Greenhills Christian Fellowship in Ortigas for the children’s MAPE classes. The tuition fee is very affordable and the support of the school directress and the parents are very good.

Last year, I called up Victory Christian School located in Fort Bonifacio. Victory Christian School is a school connected to Victory Christian Fellowship. There is an actual school and there is a separate homeschool group. As far as I know, they also use open curriculum.

As for which curriculum is best to use for your children, this is a decision that you and your husband will have to make for yourself. I can’t really recommend a particular curriculum. Nowadays, we are privileged to have so many curriculums to choose from.

The first thing you and your husband really need to ask yourself first is “What are your goals for your children? What’s your vision for them so many years from now?” Each family has different goals and it’s important that you think this over first before anything else. Homeschooling is not an easy task. During your downtimes, it’s your vision for your children that will keep you going.

The next question is finding out your child’s learning style and even your own learning and teaching style. On this site, you’ll find out more about learning styles. Personality Plus for Parents by Florence Littauer is a book that has helped me in getting to know my children better.

Another important thing for you to do is to connect with other parents and find out how it is going for them. What curriculums they’re using and how they teach their children. Homeschool parents are great in sharing information and what works for them.

Read reviews of  homeschool books and products by other homeschool families. The TOS Homeschool Crew site, where I used to write my reviews, is filled with reviews of over 50 homeschool products. There are more homeschool product reviewers out there, it can get overwhelming. This is where your goals and knowing your child’s learning style comes in to help you choose your curriculum. The best curriculum for each and every family is different, so I have no valid recommendation for you. You won’t even know what is the best until you’ve tried it out with your family.

Finally, just go for it! Be confident in your decision to homeschool your children. Really, if your heart is in it and you believe that this is your calling, then have the confidence to do it. Whatever God has called us to do, He also equipped us to do it.

I apologize for not having a cut and dried answer for your question about curriculum. Also please read my previous blog for more information. I hope the information I’ve written here can help you.

The Weekly Writer Club – An Online Club for Young Writers & a Time-Sensitive FREEBIE

* Read this blog through to the end for a chance to join the Weekly Writer Club for FREE!*

The Weekly Writer Club is an online club that teaches Language Arts through letter writing for Grades 2-8. Students are encouraged to write letters to experts around the globe. Not only that, students get to write their own blogs, have international pen pals, participate in forums in a safe learning environment. The website is password protected so the student’s profile, blogs and posts are safe.

My Guitar Babe and Artsy Princess are enrolled in the Summer Travel Club by Weekly Writer. The Summer Travel Club is a safe place for the children to meet with other children around the world. Here they can participate in forums, chat with others and write their own blogs and go on virtual travels.

The website seemed confusing for us during the first few times that we used it. It was only when Artsy Princess realized that she can also write her own blogs on it that things started to happen for us. The owner, Ms. Judy Steidl, is a professional educator who also homeschooled her children. Ever since we enrolled, she has not failed to communicate with us through email. At first I thought that she was just sending group emails to everybody. Then she started writing to each of my children as well! This excited my two kids so much. Judy Steidl communicates kindly with the children, encouraging them to write. This week, Artsy Princess, wrote three blogs by herself already. When Guitar Babe saw this, she was motivated (and competitive enough) to want to write her own blogs. It’s fun for the two of them, though they still need my help to navigate through the site and to type their posts.

The other thing I like about this site is that it encourages parent participation. I write to Judy a lot about how my kids are learning here. She responds by motivating my children in the best way that she knows how. We’ve just been using this site for about two weeks, so far, we are enjoying it. The children will still have to write their first letter and we’ll be doing that soon.

Here’s the good news for all of you! In honor of USA’s Independence Day, Judy has allowed us to invite 3 other friends to join the Summer Travel Club for FREE! But you will have to join before July 4.

To join, you will need to register, give the student referror’s name and a code word.

The first three who will post a comment here on this blog will receive a FREE membership to the Summer Travel Club. This is open to all Filipino homeschoolers and other homeschoolers worldwide.

Those three free members will also have the chance to invite three more friends to join. The deadline is July 4. So don’t forget to post your comment at the bottom of this blog if you want to join.

Please include your email address where I can contact you.

Online Resources for Your Homeschool

The past week, I haven’t posted anything on this blog because I was busy planning our homeschool. Another thing I was busy with was my hubby’s training that he conducted yesterday morning for a client. I helped him with the preparation of materials, along with Guitar Babe, which pretty much took up all of my time.

So today, I decided to put in one page all the wonderful resources that I have found online while I was working on our homeschool plans. So many homeschool families have shared what worked for them for FREE so here goes:

For organizing your home and homeschool:

Donna Young.Org Printables and Resources This homeschool mom has generously shared almost all of her resources here. She has forms, forms, and forms. Forms for home organization, homeschool planner, calendar forms and forms to use for Art, English, History, Science, Math. Her forms are excellent! You can set the calendar to print according to the month that you will start school. I’ve also printed off my children’s attendance sheet from here. Although this site already has tons of worksheets, she also sells the Young Minds CD-rom where you can find her forms and many, many more.

If you prefer to make your homeschool schedules on your PC, you can download the FREE Homeschool Tracker Basic Edition by TGHomesoft. Or if you have some cash to spare, you can also purchase their PLUS Edition.

I’ve tried this last year and it’s very organized. After you input your kid’s schedules and assignments, you can either have your child use the PC to track his schedule, or print it out for filing. You can also see which assignments are due, which are already done and which assignments are still to be done. This is a great resource!

Organized Home has printables for everything you need to organize your home. From cleaning the house, to making your own household notebook, to organizing your garage sales, and more!

For the ultimate Homeschool and Household Planner in one, there’s nothing like The Old Schoolhouse Planner.

This is an ebook that you have to purchase online. It is loaded with pages and pages of forms and various ideas for your home and homeschool. Last year, I got this planner, it is very flexible since you only print out the pages you need at the time you need it. You can check it out by clicking on the picture.

There is a chance for you to get this for free if you become a fan of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine on Facebook. They are running a promo now and you can join in the fun!

For the Homeschool Preschooler:

This year, my Sunshine Girl is 4 years old and is so eager to learn. I haven’t taught her to read yet but I decided that it’s time for her to start learning with her big sisters.

ABC JESUS LOVES ME is a site that I found recently which I consider such a blessing. It is lovingly created by a homeschool mom, “Momma C” who is currently homeschooling her 3 children.

She created a complete preschool Bible curriculum, one for 3-year olds and another for 4-year olds. I’ve decided to use this for my Sunshine Girl. Her lesson plans are arranged weekly and apart from making most of the materials yourself, she leaves it up to you if you want to purchase her suggested books or not. The curriculum can still work without the books. Most of the materials you need are found online. Best of all, her curriculum is FREE! All she asks is for the users to spread the word about her website.

The Preschool Sunday School Central is another great website that I found through ABC Jesus Loves Me. There are a lot of FREE material on this site, lots of FREE ebooks to download, a Bible timeline as well as resources for sale. This is one site that you won’t tire of because the materials are just HUGE.

The Math Lesson, another website created by fellow homeschool parents for children ages 4-8. I am grateful to this company because when my 2nd child, Artsy Princess, started learning, I found this site. They had Math worksheets from the Preschool level onwards. I downloaded and printed all the worksheets and used it for about two years for Artsy Princess. She learned addition and subtraction here. By using this and a few other books to teach her, when I had her tested, she went straight to 2nd Grade, totally bypassing the 1st Grade level!

The Reading Lesson, created by the same people behind the Math Lesson, also has a lot of Goodies to try before you buy. The two sites above are the sites that I used a lot when I was teaching Artsy Princess.

For teaching values and character:

Shiver Academy has just recently released this 900+page lesson plan based on the Book of Virtues, which is another FREE downloadable resource for us. Her file is massive and I doubt if you can finish all of it in just one year. When you get to her website, scroll down and look at her right sidebar until you see The Book of Virtues project.

In our home, we will be using Full Armor’s Our Time Together to teach Biblical character and have family devotion at the same time. Subscription is free. I like their format because it is easy enough for my hubby to follow and takes only 10-20 minutes a day to teach. For every month, only one topic is covered. They will email you weekly with the lesson for the month.

This is it for now. I’ll be following up with other resources next week. I do hope that you will find this blog helpful for your homeschool. If you have any questions, comments or even suggestions, please leave a comment here. I’d very much appreciate your thoughts.

God bless you!

Another FREEBIE for Homeschoolers : Sunflower Schoolhouse

During these hard times, I have been busy online searching and searching for FREE resources that I can use to teach my children. Here’s another one I’ve found online. Ms. Honey Brown, owner of Sunflower Schoolhouse is offering all her products FREE for a limited period. She has products to organize your home, to help in creative writing, to help teach your wee ones at home. All are very valuable and can be a big help for us. All the products are available as PDF downloads.

Hurry and go to her SHOP now to take advantage of her free products on offer!

Time Has Come – Hillsong United

My Guitar Babe loves to play her guitar. She’s been on the Praise and Worship Team of our church where her playing has improved even more.

This is her cover of Hillsong United’s “Time Has Come”

Your comments are highly appreciated to encourage this homeschooler. Thanks!

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Times Tales is the Best Thing That Happened to Multiplication!

I have previously reviewed Times Tales and found it a great way to learn the upper times tables. You can read my review HERE.

This morning Trigger Memory Systems, the creator of Times Tales, sent me an email announcing that Times Tales is available for a FREE trial download. Below is the announcement, follow their link to sign up for their news letter.

Enjoy!

 

With Times Tales, learning the upper times tables is so easy even a Kindergartener can do it! Don't believe us? Now you can see for yourself just how effective Times Tales is...and it won't cost you a thing! For a limited time only, you can receive a free trial download of Times Tales PLUS a free Memory Trigger Ebook, just for signing up for Trigger Memory System's, Education Through Imagination newsletter. Our free, monthly newsletter is full of free, creative learning ideas and resources.
To sign up and receive your freebies visit HERE

A FREE Home Economics Curriculum for Young Girls

Here is another FREE resource that I have found online. Future Christian Homemakers is a class given by Ms. Laurie Latour to teach young ladies about cooking, baking, sewing and homemaking. Now, we mothers can have our own Future Christian Homemakers class for our daughters at home. Ms. Latour has graciously made available her homemaking lessons for FREE online.

The book is organized into over 15 lessons and is very flexible to use. You may just pick and choose which lessons are applicable for you and your children. Devotionals are also included but are available on the website. The rest of the book are available as Adobe Acrobat Downloads.

I’ve downloaded and read through a few lessons and I am very excited to use this to teach my three girls. It’s such a blessing because I was just thinking about it this morning. I will be updating you on how we have used this resource in our homeschool this coming school year.

You will find the online book here.

 

Writing Program Review: Write Shop Primary Book A – An Incremental Writing Program

Delivery: Digital or Electronic (E-book)

Author: Nancy I. Sanders

Website: www.writeshop.com

Inclusions: Teacher’s Guide and Activity Book

Write Shop Primary Book A is an introduction to early writing skills. It is designed for students in the K – Grade 2 level. It can be used to teach multiple aged children simultaneously. The authors have provided their suggestions on how to do this. Depending on your child’s grade level, you can complete Write Shop Primary Book A from a year (for the older child) to three years (for the younger child).

The Teacher’s Guide is comprehensive. It will instruct the parent/teacher on the following:

· Planning your schedule (choose from a one-week to a three-week lesson plan)

· Creating a writing center (portable or permanent)

· Preparing your supplies and materials

· How to teach the lessons and even tweak it to suit the needs of your homeschool

The Write Shop Primary Book A has ten lessons. Each lesson has a focus, a theme and several writing activities. Again, the parent/teacher can decide if she wants her child to complete just a number of activities for every lesson, or complete all of the activities.

I have not yet started teaching my Sunshine Girl how to read, much less how to write (handwriting). So I was not very willing to try this out with her because I thought it will have to involve handwriting. However, after studying the teacher’s guide carefully, I discovered that they teach writing in a very gentle manner. At some point, handwriting is also taught. But the focus of this program is to encourage and develop a child’s imagination so that she can start telling narratives while she is still young. In fact, the guide encourages the parents to write down what the child is saying. Eventually, I believe, the child develops and will gain the confidence to write well.

Write Shop, An Incremental Writing Program is a recipient of the following awards: