In the Storm

a pearl in the sand l a small book review

i was in the library a couple weeks ago and had a goal in mind: 2 books to read in february. it was on my list of goals for february. where to start? i went the fiction section and started alphabetically. i didn't get very far before i spotted a pearl in the sand.

do you know the story of rahab, the harlot? i know the truth of God's words about rahab. she is a harlot. she is used by God to secure safety for two israelite spies sent into jericho. she asks for her and her families freedom before the israelites destroy her city. she is the mother of boaz - and in the book of matthew we find the geneology of Jesus, the Christ. and there she is - rahab; worthy to be in the geneology of the Savior of the world. and in Hebrews, chapter 11 there she is again - accredited for her faith.

one of the frustrating things about the word of God is his mystery. one of the amazing things about the word of God is his mystery. we, in our finite minds limit God so often. even when we ask how can a harlot be thought worthy to be in the lineage of Christ, our Lord.

the author, tessa afshah, of a pearl in the sand has no other information regarding rahab than what God has laid before us in his Word. it is enough that we know what she was and who she became. but afshah weaves a story of possibility for the life of rahab. a story of faith, of forgiveness, of unconditional love. i had to smile when fairly early in the novel, one of the characters (one of the spies actually) speaks to rahab about her faith. he tells her that she will someday be known for her faith; but, all she wonders is will everyone always see her as a harlot. 

because i enjoyed this book so much i was intrigued by what others thought. amazon had a plethora of reviews but i was struck by the words written by one of the reviewers; i saw exactly what she saw but could not express it so poignantly. these thoughts are in regards to the latter part of the story, "the couple can't figure out how to chip through the bricks of pain and insecurity that Rahab has erected, fortified by Salmone's judgment. Metaphorically, the fate of Jericho's and Rahab's walls are the same when God razes years of history and purges the past. It isn't until the dust clears that Rahab can see herself as a treasure, just like the pearl in the earrings given to her by her husband - a gem formed by years of protective layers protecting an initial hurt' (yarger, 2010). 

i love how afshah infuses biblical truths throughout the story. she takes each situation, each sin, each nugget of possibility and places it at the feet of the cross for us to see through the eyes of the Lord. just like when joshua, the leader of israel says to salmone,'"Pride is the bane of the righteous; on the outside you may seem more upright than a woman with such a past, but God sees us from the inside." we might have heard something similiar from nathan regarding david, the king, 'man looks on the outside but God looks at the heart'. because God has told us in Hebrews 11 rahab was remembered for her faith, generation after generation knew her as such. they might have known what she once was, a harlot, but they know, more importantly who she became in the Lord.

 

Homeschool 101: The Last of the Mohicans

For the last couple months, and I really do mean months, our read-a-loud has been the classic by James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans. Even though we are on our break from school there have been a few things we need to finish up or continue and reading is one of them. We had missed alot of reading time when I was sick in June so I knew we'd need to continue it in July.

Let me say that The Last of the Mohicans is a very difficult read. What can be said in a few words Cooper said in as many words as he could. I really don't think the Georgia Boys would have enjoyed it as much as they did had I not read aloud to them.

They truly love me reading aloud. And their comprehension and retention is enhanced because of it. So anyways, my mom has been here for a couple weeks and she loves to read. I asked her if she wanted to finish out the last paragraph of the book.

 
So she did. She is a very good reader too - like me (no really I do read well) and yet strangely she too stumbled over some of James Fenimore Cooper's word choices.

 
I didn't have the boys do any sort of paper on the book because we really did alot of discussing of the book while I was reading it. Mostly, because I needed to know they were understanding what I was reading. (Don't tell them but I even had to concentrate to figure some of the scenes out). Yikes! I'm telling you it was a difficult read.

But I have to say that I felt a great accomplishment for myself and my Georgia Boys having read it.

 
Then we watched the movie. Again, I verbally asked them to compare and contrast the book and the movie. The movie is nothing like the book except for the names of the characters and some of the historical use

But both are fabulous. I would recommend the book first then the movie to any middle school or high school student.

Oh, and definitely read the book aloud. Enjoy it.

Homeschool 101: The Iron Peacock

 
We finished The Iron Peacock yesterday. My two 13-year old boys, 7th graders loved this book. Although it may be deemed a 'romance' novel by some because there is some of that intertwined with in the story it is even more so a story of courage. This novel delves into the life of a older teenager girl who, after the death of her father faces a life of indentured servitude to a family of the Massachusetts Bay colony. Joanna, along with the many Scotsman aboard the boat bound for the New World sell themselves into indentured service to the Iron Master, the owner of the Iron Works. This book is also rich in Puritan history, history of the Iron Works, Indian-White Man relations, some Scottish history, and Christianity.

I would recommend this book be added to any homeschool library. What an awesome why to learn history! This is just one of many books that came with our Sonlight, Core H curriculum for history/literature. We are happily continuing our learning.

Homeschooling with Saxon Math 8/7 with Pre-Algebra

 
Saxon Math 8/7 with Pre-Algebra (Purchased at Christian Books because of the price)

After several months of working with Saxon Math 8/7 my Georgia Boys are very happy with it. Reviews I read when seeking out a math curriculum when we began homeschooling all centered around the repetitive nature of Saxon Math. This seemed like a good idea to me. I really didn't know what we were getting into. I ordered everything, the textbook (which really isn't like a textbook), the solutions manual for me, and the practice sheets and tests manual as well as the Saxon Teacher. We use all but the Saxon Teacher.

Likes: We like the repetition. Each new concept offers practices on those new concepts then offers mixed practice on all concepts up to that point. Thus, the repitition - or reinforcement!! In other reviews I've read some homeschool students do all the practice problems but only every other one of the mixed practice. I have assigned all 30 problems each math day. My Georgia Boys have no problem with completing 30 problems and after checking their work I know what they know and what they don't.

Dislikes: 1) Saxon Teacher! Oh my, this is the worst. It goes word for word from the text book - what's the point! We've never used it. I will not subject my boys to that. 2) Not enough varied new concept instrutions (Note: at this point this isn't an issue because I can handle the concepts but I'm concerned when we move into heavier algebra. While I've taken Algebra and Calculus for that matter teaching it is a different story).

If you want to know your child is learning the concepts and they don't mind the repetitive nature of the problem sets this is an outstanding Math curriculum. I have noted that my boys have already had some of the concepts (although not all of them prior to beginning homeschooling) so overall the Math 8/7 with Pre-Algebra seems to be in line with a 7th grader.

 

Homeschooling - Logic and Reasoning (A Review of the Fallacy Detective)

It isn't taught in public schools. But because we are now homeschooling we can add wonderful little nuggets to our curriculum - like Logic and Reasoning.

 
The Fallacy Detective is a wonderful little book of lessons on identifying bad reasoning. The authors of the curriculum write with a Christian worldview and I've read nothing but rave reviews. In my research for curriculum from other homeschoolers I noticed many adding logic and reasoning and I must say that 'I had no idea'! When the world looks at everything from a secular worldview I want the boys to look at the world from God's spy glass and be able to pick out fallacy's - errors in logic.

We all like this curriculum so far. I will probably add The Thinking Toolbox by the same authors to our curriculum for next year. To enhance their thinking skills we have already been using Mind Benders

 
There are many of these little books and I'll definitely keep the boys working in these. They don't take very long but certainly excersize the mind.

Bananagrams - A Review

 
How can anyone not love a game with a bunch of letter tiles (similar to Scrabble tiles but no points)? I love Bananagrams. I bought the deluxe edition with double set of tiles (although we haven't used them yet. We've played several times and the boys are thankful for the approval to use the dictionary to make words. Obviously, the idea is to learn enough not to use the dictionary and make words without it but at this point I love the fact that John and Jarrod are pulling out the dictionary and searching out words to match their tiles.

The idea is to make a 'crossward puzzle-like' or 'scrabble-like' arrangement of words of your letter tiles. You begin with as many tiles (depending on the amount of people playing). We've started with 21 tiles that we've picked from a pile of tiles that the letters are hidden. 'Banana' words like split, peel, dump are used throughout the game and directs the players to action. The idea is to use all your tiles and all the tiles in the pile to make words before someone calls BANANAS.

For homeschoolers this is a must-have game. The dictionary gets used. And their spelling is improved. Once someone calls BANANAS they don't win until their spelling is checked. The first time we played and I called BANANAS the boys checked my spelling. I had a word spelled wrong! Say it isn't so! Because I had a word spelled wrong the game proceeded - without me!

Fun, and educational game.