May is here! I know many of you are longingly gazing out the window at the sunshine and flowers while trying to crank out the last few school days!  You can do it!! 

I also know that while you are working to finish this year’s school you are day-dreaming of ripping open your boxes of new curriculum and books for next year. (We are all alike.)

In thinking about next year, have you checked out NotebookingPages.com?  Starting TODAY, my sweet friend Debra is offering a HUGE sale on all of her materials for the next three days – and if you spend $40 or more, you receive nine other products free. And one of them is one of Epi Kardia’s e-books, Designing a High School Class Using Real Books!

Have a blessed Mother’s Day!

I attended public school and if you looked at my grades, you’d think I was pretty successful at it. However, I remember almost nothing from my history courses. That may be a reflection on my attention span at that time or my teachers. Nevertheless, one unique historical memory I recall is that the Renaissance was taught as a time period where man moved away from God and discovered himself. When we started writing Epi Kardia, I was concerned about incorporating this time period material because of my own limited, and somewhat stereotyped knowledge. However, now God has shown me the truth of His elegant history, of His generous gifts bestowed upon men and of His revelation that church is not necessarily synonymous with Lord.

Renaissance, a time of enlightenment and beauty, brought out not only artistic light and color after a long dark period, but also opened men’s minds to what church was and what it should be. October 31^st, has significant historical precedence, and Halloween has nothing to do with it. It was on this date that Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door. His writing caused an explosion within the community that previously hadn’t been seen since men dared to declare Jesus as Lord. With these theses, Luther revealed truths about men, not God. He condemned those in the church taking advantage of the average man, who was unable at the time to even read the Word of God. So, this October, let us celebrate the audacity of a monk who valued his faith over his religion and glorify our God who gave us the artistic beauty, astounding scientific discoveries and the His truth revealed during this time period.

There are some outstanding children’s books about the Renaissance/Reformation time period. You can find all of these books in our Complete Daily Lesson Plans in various grades as noted below.

Galileo by Leonard Everett Fisher (1st grade, 3rd grade) – Although out of print, this book is readily available used. Fisher not only writes, but illustrates this concise and interesting life story of Galileo. His expression-filled black and white illustrations seem larger than life. He also includes a valuable map.

Leonardo and the Flying Boy (Anholt’s Artists Books for Children) by Lawrence Anholt (1st grade, 3rd grade) – Based on documented accounts of Leonardo da Vinci’s apprentices, this entertaining book offers a delightful way to expose younger children to Leonardo’s works. It is unusual in that it’s not a straight biography as is typical of children’s historical books. Anholt’s illustrations captivate young imaginations as well.

Martin Luther: A Man Who Changed The World by Paul Maier (2nd grade) – our second grade curriculum is currently in development, but this book will definitely be featured. Picture books about Luther are rare and this one is beautiful!

William Shakespeare & the Globe (Trophy Picture Books) by Aliki (3rd grade) – this book focuses less on Shakespeare as a person, and more on his plays and theatre. Creatively written as a play of five acts, Aliki weaves Shakespearean quotes, timelines and vocabulary with gorgeous illustrations!

I, Juan de Pareja by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino (3rd grade, middle school) – Dana loves this book! The story, beautifully written, is told in autobiographical form from the perspective of a talented slave who serves painter Diego Valazquez. Juan discovers that he too is talented but due to laws governing slaves, he cannot be a painter in his own right. This Newberry Award winning book will captivate younger readers as a listening book and enthrall older students as an independent reader.

Leonardo da Vinci by Diane Stanley (4th grade) – Diane Stanley, one of our favorite writers and illustrators, honestly portrays da Vinci from birth through adulthood and incorporates both his artistic and his scientific accomplishments. Her intricate illustrations are integrated with miniatures of da Vinci’s work. It is definitely designed for older elementary students as some of the content is challenging. We also utilize many other Stanley books such as Michelangelo,  Good Queen Bess : The Story of Elizabeth I of England,  Joan of Arc and Bard of Avon: The Story of William Shakespeare.

The River of Grace: The Story of John Calvin by Joyce McPherson (Middle School)- this unique and well written biography of Calvin is a must have for every homeschool library. Beginning with Calvin’s early years and working through his work as a significant leader in the Protestant Reformation. Although written on a middle school level, anyone could benefit from reading this outstanding biography.

Happy reading!

In Christ,

Beth

Have you ever wished that you could customize worksheets for phonics or other skills easily and quickly, as you need them? How wonderful would it be to have those worksheets in the same handwriting style that you’re teaching your children, allowing you to teach a skill and have your children practice handwriting at the same time? We’ve found a reasonably priced program that allows you do all of the above and more. You can download Startwrite directly from the internet to begin using immediately!

Startwrite works similar to a word processor making it very user friendly. Some of the features that we found attractive include:

• Fonts, in a variety of sizes, that are actually handwriting styles: manuscript, manuscript-simple, modern manuscript, italic and cursive.
• Handwriting helps such as guideline lines, again in various sizes and colors; dotted, dashed and solid letters; starting dots and directional arrows.
• Clip art to make pages interesting and unique.
• You can design relevant copy work and handwriting materials to integrate subjects and books.
• You print out the portrait or landscape worksheets on your own paper instead of having to buy handwriting book and copy work books that aren’t as relevant to your history and science topics.
• Spell check allows you to make sure your worksheets are accurate.

Initially, we viewed this software as a great resource for phonics. In fact, we used Startwrite to create all of the phonics worksheets in our Kindergarten curriculum. Eventually, we realized that there were so many other opportunities to use this software! Some ideas we have utilized, other than phonics, are as follows:

1. Copy work – with my son, I pulled sentences and paragraphs out of the living books we were reading (for history, fine arts and science). I looked for material that emphasized a specific event or accomplishment, a concept or a language arts skill that my son needed to learn. I printed it out in the handwriting font he was learning. Early on, I simply used the lightest font or dotted letters so that he could trace the words. As he grew, I used the regular handwriting font and printed out lined blank paper so he could copy onto the same size lines as he was reading.
2. Creating books – by printing out the pages half lined and half blank, you can have your child write on one part of the page and illustrate on the other half. You could put photos on the other half and have your child write about each. For a very young child, you could type up what he tells you and let him trace the writing. One idea we did that I really loved was taking poetry selections and making our own anthology to give away at Christmas.
3. Letter writing and other models – I still have a thank you letter from one of my dear friend’s children that was created on Startwrite. Any type of written model may be created with this program from a basic friendly letter to addressing an envelope to learning to write the heading on an assignment. We used this software to model how I wanted vocabulary set up. By having my son trace the first few words and definitions, it instilled how vocabulary should be completed when writing on his own.
4. Worksheets for any subject – You can create all kinds of worksheets for any subject using creative and fun clip art to assess your child’s learning. This program is so flexible that it even includes Spanish letters and math fonts!

While there are many tools and resources for homeschooling, we feel strongly that Startwrite has the attributes of a resource that every homeschool mom needs because it: saves money (no more workbooks to buy!)

• saves time (you can quickly and expertly put together the specific materials you need when you need them)
• integrates subjects (working smart rather than hard)
• makes learning relevant (you choose the skills that your child needs to learn).

It’s not often that you read one of our blogs and we’re endorsing specific products. However, with this program we felt that too many moms had never heard of it and were missing out on its value.  Incidentally, we never endorse something we don’t own and use ourselves.

If you currently use Startwrite or decide to try it after reading this blog, please comment and let us know what you think. We’d love hear about any creative ways that moms use the program. If you have a Startwrite worksheet that you liked to share with other moms, email it as an attachment to info@epikardia.com and we’ll forward all worksheets to our mailing list of Epi Kardia moms.

I hope this product review was helpful and that you’ll find the program as useful as we have. May all of your homes be Christ-filled and joyful!

In Him,

Beth