This is the fascinating and very engaging story of an atheist who converted to Catholicism thanks to her affinity for literature and competitive saber sword-fighting. No really! I love the way she skillfully and accessibly takes us through the series of ideas and arguments she needed to work through in the process of conversion. I am also completely intrigued by the fact that she is a Catholic who now holds the chair of apologetics at Houston Baptist University. An excellent and fairly quick read for high schoolers and adults that will be especially enjoyed by book-lovers.

A Set of Guides for Four Novels Integrating Composition and Higher Level Thinking

Volume 2 carries on the tradition of excellence described in the review of Volume 1, with many additional features for the middle grade student. The 43-page Teacher's Guide is separate from the 136-page Student Book at this level. This volume includes literature guides for Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw, Warrior Scarlet by Rosemary Sutcliffe, The Tale of Troy by Roger Lancelyn Green, and Caesar's Gallic Wars by Olivia Coolidge.

The Teacher's Guide addresses the goals of literature study in general as well as specific goals and needs for this age group. In addition, the author has written a story synopsis and theme as well as detailed assignment instructions for the teacher for each of the novels. The numerous suggested assignments range from journaling and outlining activities to graphic organizers to compositions to discussion exercises to art projects. However, my favorite part by far is the appendix! The description of the writing process and instructions for evaluating various types of student writing are invaluable when used with the student writing samples. It is one thing to read a list of details that should be a part of a student's writing, but it is much more helpful to actually read the student's work alongside the lists.

The Student Book is a comprehensive literature study guide tailored to the developmental needs of the 7th to 9th grade student for each of the four novels as well as a section to complete at the end of the study of all four novels. Each novel's guide includes a "Before Reading" set of activities, "While Reading" set of activities, "Questions for Discussion at the End of the Story", and "Writing Prompts for the End of the Story". Especially appropriate to the target age group are the numerous graphs employed to help the student organize a pertinent information. The student is taught to use "Mind Maps", graphic-based webs for character analysis, and charts and Venn diagrams. My 8th-grade student found the chart formats to be very helpful and enjoyable to use. Writing activities taught include character essays, theme essays, speeches and scripts, autobiographical and biographical narratives, poetry, and opinion papers. The student's appendix also contains many examples of student assignments to help guide a more inexperienced student to a successful writing project.

This series is a terrific contribution to the curriculum now available for Catholic homeschoolers and fulfills a genuine need for literary analysis guides. It is so refreshing to be able to simply pick up the book and get to the work of educating my children without worrying about hidden bias and doctrinal errors. Congratulations to the author!

NurtureShock is a parenting book with a strong scientific foundation that's designed to have a big impact on breaking some of society's misguided conventions regarding parenting and education; which looks to be an exceptionally good thing. It focuses on a number of issues relating to parenting and education in which good science shows us a different view from current cultural assumptions. Here's a small sampling from the Introduction which will give you a little sense of what the authors' intentions and attitudes are:

We chose these topics because the research surprised us - it directly challenged the conventional point of view on how kids grow up. However, once we parsed through the science and reviewed the evidence, the new thinking about children felt self-evident and logical, even obvious. It did not feel like we had to raise children "by the book." It felt entirely natural, a restoration of common sense. The old assumptions we once had seemed to be nothing but a projection of wishful thinking. Once we overcame the initial shock, we found ourselves plugged into children in a whole new way.

NurtureShock includes a fairly dense conglomeration of scientific studies on different topics which the authors have gotten heavily involved in. I loved how often they had actually sat down and observed studies conducted by experts in various micro-fields of child behavior while still sharing interesting stories about how their new-found knowledge had impacted their own families. Lots of cool stuff! It's a book designed for the masses, so it's a relatively quick read, but weighty nonetheless. Incidentally, it never mentions homeschooling (and is completely secular in so far as it never mentions religion or spiritual dimensions - though good science will, naturally, have to take into account things like fallen human nature when studying human behavior), it may end up providing a morale boost to homeschool parents both because it provides pretty broad coverage of some of the things schools struggle with and because it highlights some of the things children need that are relatively easy and natural to provide at home. The thing that perhaps struck me most about the book was the utter honesty of the authors and scientists, who were sharing information even when it wasn't what they *wanted* it to be; they were incredibly up-front about their own biases. Among other things, this makes it a sort of incomplete - in a natural and healthy and refreshing way. There's lots of stuff to stew on, some of which is quite paradoxical, and it's certainly a book I plan on re-reading and look forward to discussing with others. Also, if you've read the New York Times' article on "How Not to Talk to Your Kids: The Inverse Power of Praise" (And if you haven't yet, you should!), you'll get a little taste, because this article (which debunks conventional thinking about "self-esteem") is written by one of the authors of NurtureShock and the subject matter of the article is part of what's covered in this book. Here's a list of basic topics covered in the book (each chapter stands on its own): 1. "The Inverse Power of Praise": Basically, the self-esteem movement was somewhat misguided in thinking that children would feel better about themselves and do better if we just told them they were smart. The truth is, children (and likely adults too!) work better with specific praise about things that they have some control over - like putting good effort into something. Some of this material is found in the New York Times article above. 2. "The Lost Hour": A collection of studies on why children, especially teenagers, need more sleep. The surprising thing is how big an impact this can have on their school performance. 3. "Why White Parents Don't Talk About Race": A very interesting discussion on the negatives of assuming that children will learn appropriate social behavior and attitudes simply from hanging around other children. In addition, we are strongly reminded that parents need to be open (and even brave) about talking to our children about important issues - especially if they are sensitive ones that might make us uncomfortable. 4. "Why Kids Lie": An exposition on current research on lying and some helpful hints for parents - including the vital importance of truly acting like we value honesty. The comparison on various morality tales and how they impact children's behavior was quite fascinating. 5. "The Search for Intelligent Life in Kindergarten": This chapter details serious flaws in the way (and especially the age) in which children are being admitted (and not admitted!) into gifted programs in both public and private schools. This chapter also provides some helpful background on the intellectual development of children. 6. "The Sibling Effect" (Delightfully subtitled: "Freud was wrong. Shakespeare was right. Why siblings really fight."): The basic point is that sibling fights are almost entirely not about struggling for more parental attention. You can read a little more about this chapter in this ABC News article on "The New Science of Siblings". 7. "The Science of Teen Rebellion": This has a lot about the nature of arguments, some of which I'm still processing, but here's an interesting quote - a conclusion regarding a particular study - to give you a sense of it (Hurray for balance!):

The type of parents who were lied to the least had rules and enforced them consistently, but they had found a way to be flexible that allowed the rule-setting process to still be respected.

8. "Can Self-Control Be Taught?": Many interesting insights from a new preschool program/method that's showing great potential. 9. "Plays Well with Others": This covers a variety of parent and family issues that have an effect on how children behave. One of the most important overall themes is that as parents, it's not our job to protect our children from conflict, but to help them learn to deal with it - in large part by dealing with it reasonably ourselves. Discussions of "zero-tolerance" and the paradox of "socially savvy" children (both primarily focused on the school setting) were particularly valuable. Here's a telling paragraph:

We thought that aggressiveness was the reaction to peer rejection, so we have painstakingly attempted to eliminate peer rejection from the childhood experience. In its place is elaborately orchestrated peer interaction. We've created the play date phenomenon, while ladening older kids' schedules with after-school activities. We've segregated children by age - building separate playgrounds for the youngest children, and stratifying classes and teams. Unwittingly, we've put children into an echo chamber. Today's average middle schooler has a phenomenal 299 peer interactions a day. The average teen spends sixty hours a week surrounded by a peer group (and only sixteen hours a week surrounded by adults). This has created the perfect atmosphere for a different strain of aggression-virus to breed - one fed not by peer rejection, but fed by the need for peer status and social ranking. The more time peers spend together, the stronger this compulsion is to rank high, resulting in the hostility of one-upmanship. All those lessons about sharing and consideration can hardly compete. We wonder why it takes twenty years to teach a child how to conduct himself in polite society - overlooking the fact that we've essentially left our children to socialize themselves.

10. "Why Hannah Talks and Alyssa Doesn't": Fascinating information on research about how babies learn language, and particularly, learn to talk. Basically argues for natural responses from reasonably attentive parents as the ideal. There were certainly a few things here and there that bothered me a little or set off my skeptometer (not so much regarding the scientific data as the commentary and even some minor assumptions surrounding it), but on the whole I rejoice at the publication of this very helpful book! Overall, I found it to be a very helpful and worthwhile read. It would be particularly good for reading AND discussion (at least with your spouse - perhaps with a little group as well). Enthusiastically recommended!

This Bethlehem Budget Book contains two books in one softcover volume: Old Sam, Thoroughbred Trotter (copyright 1955) and Old Sam and the Horse Thieves (copyright 1967).

Old Sam is the story of two young boys (ages 10 and 12) living in the wild Dakota Territory of the 1880s and their crippled - but extremely capable - horse named Old Sam. They are based on the author's own homesteading experiences as a young boy. Although there are similarities in time and location, unlike the Little House books which focus so much on family life, the Old Sam books are more like adventure stories about the two boys and their horse exploring the strange untamed land around them, "hunting" for wild animals and "bad guys" and proving to others how great Old Sam really is. A delightful story even on a very simple level, with many funny and interesting plot twists (I had to re-read favorite chapters aloud to Daddy at dinner time under persistent urging from my children), the book also portrays an important historical look at pioneer life and the author shares wisdom in experiences relating to using one's head, dealing with neighbors and the importance of courage, fortitude and basic competence. Naturally, the book makes especially great reading for boys and horse-lovers. Our family enjoyed this book so much as a read aloud that my husband and I ordered a number of copies for Christmas presents for our godchildren.

The second story focuses on Johnny and Old Sam's role in unraveling the problem of a band of horse-thieves plaguing the neighborhood. Although still quite young, Johnny's competence and fairness earn him the respect of the Sheriff and other important men of the town. A really great story, this is bound to be a family favorite. It is the sort of story that will likely help reluctant readers (especially boys in mid-grade school) learn to appreciate a really good book. It also touches upon some tough questions about fairness and justice that young readers can grapple with alongside the hero of the book.