and More Christmas Books

Continuing on with my list. :)

We Three Kings illustrated by Olga Zharkova
The song, We Three Kings, in storybook format.

Mystery in the Stable by Lisa Flinn and Barbara Younger, illustrated by Judi Niernberger
Anna and Jacob live in Bethlehem and are noticing all the extra people coming into town for the Census. One family, in particular, catch their eye and they work on solving the mystery of just who this special family is.

Jacob's Gift by Max Lucado, illustrated by Robert Hunt.
Jacob is a gifted carpenters apprentice. He is excited about the competition between himself and the other apprentices for building the best project, the winner gets to help build the Temple. Just as Jacob is about to finish his project, the night before it's due, he has to make an important decision, one that could cost him the opportunity to help build the Temple.

On Christmas Eve by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Nancy Edwards Calder.
Christmas Eve as seen through the eyes of 3 young children. MWB uses very few words in this beautiful story but all the magic of childhood and Christmas Eve are captured.

Diane Goode's American Christmas
A collection of American poems, stories and songs.

The Mitten by Alvin Tresselt, illustrated by Yaroslava
A retelling of the Ukrainian folktale of a young boy who looses a mitten and the amazing journey his mitten has.

The Legend of The Christmas Kiss by Barbie Jenkins, illustrated by Joyce Revoir
A cute story that tells where snow comes from, Angel Kisses of course!

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski, illustrated by P.J. Lynch
Mr. Toomey is a gloomy, grumpy loner until the widow and her son enter his life asking him to carve a nativity for her. As the nativity pieces come to life, so does Mr. Toomey. A sweet story of Christmas love and sharing.

The Christmas Story According to Luke illustrated by Donald Kueker
The King James version of the book of Luke telling the Christmas story.

A Special Place for Santa by Jeanne Piepper
Santa overhears shoppers talking about how he has taken away from the real meaning of Christmas. Upset and worried, Santa contemplates whether he has become more important than Christ. As he sits in the church, where he always delivers his last gift of the year, a voice speaks to him reminding him of his true beginnings as St. Nicholas spreading God's love and charity throughout the world and how there is always a place for him next to Christ's manger.

Clopper the Christmas Donkey by Emily King, illustrated by Ed Olson
The nativity story as told through the eyes of Clopper, a donkey who was there.

The CandyMaker's Gift written and illustrated by David & Helen Haidle
A story of how the candy cane came to be and how it tells the story of Christ's love and redemption for us.

The Christmas Promise by Susan Bartoletti, illustrated by David Christiana
The depression has hit and times are hard, everywhere. In this story a young girl and her father ride the rails looking for work. When they are separated, Papa leaving his girl at a safe, warm home to find work, he promises her he'll be home in time to celebrate Christmas together. As the days count down, will her Papa come back for her in time? A sweet, inspirational story of love and promises.

Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree by Robert Barry
Another book we have two of, one is my copy from childhood and one is a newer version (without a broken spine ;) ).  This is a favorite of everyone in the family. It tells the story of Mr. Willowby's Christmas tree, that was too tall for his home, so they chopped off the top. From there the fun begins as Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree gets shared with humans and animals alike.

The Christmas Pageant by Christy Colby Heno, illustrated by Maren J. Scott
A story of a Christmas Pageant gone wrong, one of the wisemen doesn't feel too good and the resulting chaos that ensues. All except for Mary and Joseph who remain peaceful through the whole thing as they watch over their precious baby Jesus.

The Baby Jesus by Alan and Linda Parry
A sweet touch and feel book that we've had ever since our oldest was a baby.

Gertie the Goldfish and the Christmas Surprise by Naomi Judd, illustrated by Tom Bancroft & Rob Corley.
Gertie comes to Josh and Emily's house and helps them understand the true meaning of Christmas.

More to follow!

More Christmas Books

Continuing with my list of Christmas books.

My Merry Christmas and the Real Reason for Christmas Joy by Sally Lloyd Jones, illustrated by Linda Clearwater.
This is a sweet board book that tells the story of Christ's birth alongside the joys of our modern traditions. Very sweet, simple book for our youngsters.

The Twelve Days of Christmas Illustrated by Jan Brett
Another Jan Brett favorite as she shares her creative and beautiful illustrations to retell this famous poem/song. The one thing about this book that drives my kids crazy, because they like to sing the book instead of read the book ;), is that her order of events for the days are out of order from how you usually hear it sung.

Counting to Christmas by Nancy Tafuri
An advent, of sorts, book counting down the days to Christmas. The girl in the book does different activities throughout the month from crafting to baking to making nature goodies for birds and squirrels. Very sweet, peaceful book that is a favorite at our home. :)

Nine Days to Christmas a Story of Mexico by Marie Hall Ets and Aurora Labastida
Cici is finally old enough for her own Posada, which means, she gets to pick out her very first pinata!  Sweet story of a little girls anticipation as she waits for the magical day of her Posada and how she helps a pinata become "real".

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson
Somehow we have two of these books, but we only read it once. ;) If you've never enjoyed the Christmas story told with the Herdmans involved, you definitely need to go out and get this book to read! Hilarious and poignant as the real meaning of Christmas is revealed to all those present.

Pooh's Christmas Days 
This is a sound board book that has lost it's sounds. :)  It's another version of the Twelve Days of Christmas, Pooh style.

The Littlest Christmas Tree by Janie Jasin, illustrated by Pam Kurtz
The story of a little tree that dreams of becoming a beautiful Christmas tree one day. As she grows, she listens to the wisdom of the older trees around her so she can become a beautiful, tall, straight tree when she is older. As the title says, a simple tale of growing and becoming.

Wombat Divine by Mem Fox, Illustrated by Kerry Argent
Another book that we somehow have two of! This one we did read two separate times, as it's a favorite. :) Wombat wants to be in the Christmas pageant more than anything else but none of the parts fit him. As he tries for each role and each role doesn't fit him just right, his friends encourage him to keep trying until he finds the very best part in the pageant and it's just perfect for him. We all love this book.

The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree by Gloria Houston, pictures by Barbara Cooney
It was the year that Ruthie's family was chosen to provide the town with the Christmas Tree. Early in spring, Ruthie and her father went up high on the ridge to pick just the right tree. Later that year, Ruthie's father had to go away to the war and as Christmas was getting closer the town people were getting worried there would be no Christmas Tree that year. Ruthie's mother told the preacher they would have a tree, provided by their family and that's what she and Ruthie did. A sweet story of Christmas in the Appalachian mountains and how a little girls dreams came true one Christmas, the year of the Perfect Christmas tree.

If you Take a Mouse to the Movies by Laura Numeroff, illustrated by Felicia Bond
From the same author and story line of If you Give a Mouse a cookie, with a Christmas slant. :) Cute and fun book.

That's it for this post! Stay tuned for my next installment of Christmas books we read this year. :)

Christmas books!

I got behind on posting what we read every night so I will have one super duper long list of the remaining books we read this Christmas season. If this is your kind of thing, grab some hot cocoa and sit back to enjoy. If it's not, go ahead and just move on to the next blog. :D

These are in no order, beyond how they are sitting here on my desk! haha  I'm probably going to be missing some as the kids have dragged them around the house to read and didn't return them to my desk. How unusual of them. ;)

The Night Before Christmas illustrated by Jan Brett
Another fun, beautiful illustrated book retelling the famous poem.

Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer by Eileen Daly Illustrated by Mill Jancar
This is a small Golden Book my girls received one year when they went and saw Santa at the mall. Something we don't typically do (in fact, that might have been the one and only time) but a fun spur of the moment thing. :)  It's just another version of the familiar Rudolph story.

Henry Van Dyke's The Other Wise Man retold by Pamela Kennedy Illustrated by Robert Barrett
A beautiful retelling of Van Dyke's story of Artaban, one of the Magi who sells all he owns and buys three jewels to give the Christ Child.  He sees the sign in the sky and starts out on his journey only to be stopped along the way. He searches for the rest of his life to find the King and as a result, serves him for his entire life.  Beautiful color illustrations help tell the story of this beautiful old tale.

I Spy Christmas A Book of Picture Riddles by Jean Marzollo, photographs by Walter Wick
A fun, classic I Spy book with a Christmas theme to the pictures.

The Nutcracker illustrated by Michael Hague
The story of the Nutcracker put to Michale Hague's imagination. Wild illustrations that scare my 9 year old! LOL

The Night of the Child text by Robert Benson, photography by Dean Dixon
A collection of photographs of nativity scenes from around the world. The collection is from The Upper Room Museum Nativity Collection. This is a book we just look at throughout the season. Beautiful pictures and really fascinating to see all the different nativities from around the world.

All You Ever Need by Max Lucado illustrated by Douglas Klauba
Not exactly a Christmas book but it was put in w/ the Christmas books, so we read it one night. :)  This book tells the story of a Watermaster giving freely to the people of the land and what happens when He and His Son go away for awhile leaving a trusted friend in charge. It's a reminder of how Christ is all we need and how He gives his love to us w/o conditions or strings attached.

The Crippled Lamb by Max Lucado, Illustrated by Liz Bonham
The story of the crippled lamb who doesn't see the purpose in his life until he is left in the barn on the night of Christ's birth. He is the only thing to warm the Christ Child and sees how there was a reason for his disability.

Father Christmas and the Donkey by Elizabeth Clark, illustrated by Jan Ormerod
I love this book. The story starts on a cold, snowy Christmas Eve. A poor, lame donkey is left out in the snowy field. He's looking for a warm place to rest when he hears sleigh bells and gets a very special visit from Father Christmas. Father Christmas has a special present just for the little donkey. The illustrations in this book are beautiful, a shimmery silver and muted colors that give the feeling of a cold, magical Christmas Eve.

More in the next post! :)

TOS Review - IEW's Teaching Boys and Other Children Who Would Rather Make Forts all Day DVD

We received Andrew Pudewa's DVD, Teaching Boys and Other Children Who Would Rather Make Forts All Day from Institute For Excellence in Writing for review as part of the TOS Crew.

I feel like I should give you all a disclaimer before you read my review. I feel that I should let you all know that if there were an Andrew Pudewa fan club, I'd be a charter member. :)  Whenever he comes to our states convention, I try to sit in on every lecture that he is presenting and am disappointed if I miss one.

So, with that said, you know where I'm coming from and it will be no surprise that I thoroughly enjoyed this DVD. :)  The information presented was fascinating and eye opening. This DVD isn't just for parents of boys, and having girls that easily fall into the category of day dreaming, wannabe fort builders, I found the information presented to be very helpful in how we structure our homeschool day.

This DVD discusses the scientific data that conclusively shows there are differences between the genders.  What a shock, eh? Not to those of us with children that fit both genders but one that is propagated through many arenas, education being one of them.

The nitty gritty info:
Teaching Boys and Other Children Who Would Rather Build Forts All Day retails for $10.00

Run time is 80 min.

Quality of the product:
It should be noted that this is a taping of an actual lecture. As such, I would rate the quality of this product as very good. You can hear people laughing, coughing,  and moving around.  Also the volume of Andrew speaking  fluctuates.   I only mention this so you know what you are getting. :) None of the above detract from the overall message in any way and I still think $10 is a very fair price. 

Would I recommend this product?  Yes, and I have already to my homeschooling neighbor across the street! :)

IEW has many other products from spelling to writing to poetry memorization. All are excellent in quality and content. Check them out and if Andrew is speaking in your town sometime make sure you check out his lectures. You will be entertained and enlightened.

To see what others on the TOS crew thought of this DVD, or to see what they reviewed, we reviewed a variety of products :), click here.

 I received this product free for the purpose of reviewing it.  I received no other compensation for this review.  The opinions expressed in this review are my personal, honest opinions.

Holiday Traditions - Christmas Baking

Today is cloudy, cool and rainy. Sounds like a perfect day for baking some Christmas treats!

We have nowhere to go and nothing scheduled until this evening, which makes a perfect set up for some Christmas tunes and treats! (maybe I'll even get those Christmas cards out!)

Stay tuned for yummy, messy fun!

I'll also be catching up on all the great Christmas books we've been reading this past week!

TOS Review - ALEKS Math

We were given a one month subscription to ALEKS Math as part of the TOS crew.  I had never heard of ALEKS math prior and all I can say is, WOW!  There is so much to this program it will be hard for me to put it all into my blog post without missing something. So I'll be quoting a lot from their website and providing links so you can check out this incredible math program.

I'll start with what ALEKS is and, since it's rather technical, this is quoted from their website:

  What is ALEKS?

Assessment and LEarning in Knowledge Spaces is a Web-based, artificially intelligent assessment and learning system that uses adaptive questioning to quickly and accurately determine exactly what a student knows and doesn't know in a course. ALEKS offers truly individualized instruction that meets the student at her learning level and instructs her on the exact topics that she is most ready to learn. As a result, no two students will experience the same learning path while working in ALEKS. Learn more by watching a quick 2-minute video.

ALEKS can provide you with the instruction and support that you need to homeschool your children in mathematics for grades 3-12. With a comprehensive course library ranging from elementary school math to complex subjects such as PreCalculus, ALEKS acts much like a human tutor to help take the stress off of homeschooling parents.

ALEKS offers highly-targeted, individualized instruction from virtually any computer with Internet access, making it a comprehensive and mobile education solution for your children. A subscription to ALEKS offers access to all courses and your child may take as many courses as needed during their subscription period.

ALEKS is a Research-Based Online Program:

• Complete Curriculum Solution for Math with Access to Full Course Library
• No Textbook Required
• Artificial Intelligence Targets Gaps in Student Knowledge
• Assessment and Individualized Learning for Grades 3-12
• Master Account Includes Quizzing and Automated Reports to Monitor Learning Progress
• Unlimited Online Access - PC and Mac Compatible
• QuickTables - Complimentary Math Fact Mastery Program for Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction
• Learn More
• ALEKS has been used successfully by homeschoolers, as well as by millions of students at schools and educational institutions throughout the world. Additionally, some ALEKS course products are American Council on Education (ACE) credit-recommended, meaning that your student may be eligible for college credit at participating colleges.

Now how all the above related into actual reality of day to day homeschooling and math in particular. :) 

I used ALEKS with my three oldest as well as creating an account for myself.  We all took an assessment test that shows what we already know and what we are next ready to learn.

After being assessed a pie chart, unique for each individual student, is created. The pie chart shows a students current knowledge and areas where they need work. As the students work through the problems, the pie chart is completed and the student is able to move on to the next level in the course.

There are really cool tools used for graphing, drawing lines, etc. Each problem has a link where your student can click to see how to use the tools for the problem they are working on.  

Having the tools for the students to use, as opposed to multiple choice questions, forces the student to show mastery of the topic. They need to actually work the problem not just guess. Plus, my kids just really thought they were cool and fun to use. :)

The student is given a problem to solve, one problem per page with links to define terms they may be unfamiliar with.

If your student doesn't understand the problem or how to work it, they click on the "explain" button. They are taken to another screen where the problem they were just looking at is worked out, step by step, so they can see exactly how it is to be done. If they need more explanation, they click on "Another explanation" at the bottom of the page that takes them to a page with a much more detailed explanation of the problem.  After they feel they are ready they then go back to "practice" mode and get another problem, similar to the last one to solve. Again, if they are unsure of how to work the problem, they can click on "explain" to see how to work it out.  

Once they work out a problem they click on "next" and the problem is instantly graded and they are given immediate feedback. If it is correct, they move on to another practice problem. If it's incorrect, they are given another attempt to fix the problem. At any time they can click on explain and it will show them the correct procedure to follow to get the correct answer.  Depending on how many incorrect answers given determines how many problems a student is given on any one subject area. I found that if I got two correct in a row, the program moved me on to the next section. It does give you the option to continue practicing those problems or to go ahead and move on. So if your student thought they needed more work, or simply enjoyed doing that particular type of problem, they could keep on working them until ALEKS determined mastery and moved them on to the next section.

If your student needs more practice on a concept, or you want to mix up computer based with paper and pencil, there are worksheets you can print for your student to work problems the old fashioned way. ;)  The worksheets are developed uniquely for your child and what they need to be working on. Pretty cool. :)

 Quick Tables are for mastery of math facts. They are timed which requires your student to know their math facts! There is one drawback for my students with this aspect. They know the answer but they aren't great typists. Which means, they might time out before they figure out where the number is to type it! A minor problem and one that can be easily overcome with typing practice.

Once they've worked through a certain number of quick tables, they earn games!  They are only allowed a certain number of games and quick tables before the computer tells them they are done for the day. Gotta love that. :)

Now for the Teacher side of ALEKS.

 When signing up, the teacher creates a Master Account. From here you add your students and you can track all of their progress and attendance which includes how many hours per day they are working on the ALEKS math program.

This shows the attendance sheet for a "class".  You can click on the individual students topics covered section to see what they were working on.

The Student Progress Report enables the teacher to track their students progress throughout the course. The blue bar shows the percent of course material that has been mastered through ALEKS assessments, the green bar shows the new material your student has mastered through the course and the yellow bar shows what's yet to be mastered.

Quizzes are automatically generated at various intervals based on your students progress. They are graded immediately and the results are provided for both the student and the teacher.


The verdict in our house, ALEKS math was fun and something the girls actually asked to do. I asked my oldest, 13, if she really felt like she was learning and retaining the material. She answered with a resounding, "Yes!" and proceeded to tell me what new concepts she has learned since starting this program last month. She even asked if she could switch to using ALEKS from her current program.

If you'd like to give ALEKS a try, they are offering an incredible deal for fellow homeschoolers.  On their website they offer a free 48 hour trial. But for those reading our reviews here at TOS they are offering a free month of ALEKS (a $19.95 value).  Wohoo!





A subscription to ALEKS is

• $19.95 per student, per month, or
• only $99.95 every 6 months, or
• only $179.95 every 12 months.

Have more than one student, like I do :), check out there discount rates for families here.

To see what others on the TOS crew thought of ALEKS Math, click here.

 I received this product free for the purpose of reviewing it.  I received no other compensation for this review.  The opinions expressed in this review are my personal, honest opinions.