The Magic Stories–A Magical Supplementary Reading Resource! A Homeschool Review Crew Review.

I was raised in a reading family. My parents read all of the time and, because they modelled good reading habits, my brother, sister and I read all of the time. That’s why I try to read in front of my kids and teach my kids to enjoy reading. Unfortunately my youngest has a very difficult time reading. He wants to read and loves begin read to, but actual reading is very hard for him. Because it is difficult he doesn’t attempt to read unless it is something really interesting or exciting. That’s why I was so excited to be chosen to review The Magic Stories from Allsaid & Dunn, LLC, publishers of The Reading Game and authors of the Wordly Wise series.

When I was researching this downloadable pdf product I knew that, do to it being written on a 2nd or 3rd grade level that it would be a little above Jacob’s reading level but I thought it would be a great above level reading activity. Thankfully, Jacob loves the stories and, therefore, has loved reading them even though they have been challenging for him.

The main thing that interested me when I was looking over this product was that all of the books had to with something magical. Now, I’m not talking about black magic or witchcraft here. It is more crazy and mysterious things like a magic hole that appears at different times in different places as in book one. The six books are:

1. The Magic Hole
2. The Magic Ax
3. The Magic Joke
4. The Magic Hotdog
5. The Magic Boots
6. The Magic Box

Each can be read on virtually any electronic device including a tablet and computer screen. Jacob and I have been reading them off of my phone. They can also be printed out to form a book if needed.

Each short story is a fantastic tale that has a moral lesson. We were hooked on the first book that talks about a man by the name of Ping Ho and a hole that appears at the strangest times. At first this hole seemed disastrous to the family but, as the story develops, we find that it is what makes Ping Ho and his family rich.

The rest of the books are equally as fascinating. Each book also comes with a set of “naughty cards” that can be printed out and cut into flashcards. Each card contains a word from the story that the child probably doesn’t know and can be used to drill with the child. Since the whole book was above level reading for Jacob we didn’t use these as much but they are super neat to have and we’ll be sure to review them later.

Another great resource for each book is the worksheets. There are four worksheets for each book. A maze sheet, a finish the sentence page, an “imagine” sheet, and a finish the story sheet. I love how the worksheets help with reading comprehension and with creative writing in really interesting ways.

I am so glad that we were chosen for this review. The stories are very engaging and Jacob has loved them so far. They is really excited to find out what is happening next. I love the interesting worksheets and the flashcards. This is a winner for us.

To find out more about The Magic Stories just click on any one of the highlighted links above. To find what other members of The Homeschool Review Crew had to say about The Magic Stories click on the banner below. Happy Reading!

Yes! We Are “That Family”!

You know what family I mean. The family that everyone talks about. The family that is wacky and does things differently. '

It shouldn’t come as a surprise. I think that we have been different since the beginning. Sarah and I dated for three years and … Eek … there is 10 years difference between us.

Then God blessed us with an awesome son that was diagnosed with cancer at 15 months old and has an artificial eye. That was 20 years ago and he has been cancer free ever since. Five years later we were blessed with our second child and then, after another five years, we were blessed with our third.

In the meantime we became full time missionaries and became a homeschooling family. As you can see we do things just a little bit differently around here.

However, that’s not all! A year ago God showed us the perfect house he wanted us to have. We moved in and soon became foster parents to three awesome young men. Well, today we made it official. They are ours!

We also have another wonderful young man living with us that we call our son as well. So, within one year we went from a family of five to a family of nine!

Yes! We are “that family”! We are crazy! We are wacky! But we are all very much loved by one another. It hasn’t always been easy, but throughout the process we have never doubted God’s plan.

Thank you God! And thank you all for your prayers. Please continue to pray for us! This ridiculous family sure does need it! Also pray for some decisions that need to be made in the next few weeks. If you thought we were crazy before wait until you see what we think God wants us to do now!

Wow! Wow! Wow! Let The Little Children Come is Amazing–A Homeschool Review Crew Review!

As I sit here beginning to write this review and thinking about this product I have tears in my eyes. The tools that I have used from the Gospel Tracts and Evangelism Tools Sampler Pack from Let the Little Children Come has changed lives forever! Before I get too mushy though, let me explain what is going on.

A few weeks ago I talked about another product from Let the Little Children Come. Because they were sending us two different products for two different reviews they mailed both at the same time to save money. So, the Gospel Tracts and Evangelism Tools Sampler Pack was sent in time for me to use in my end of summer ministries including my trip to Canada to teach at Mill Stream Bible Camp. They were a hit! The kids loved them and these great products were used to tell children about the Lord!

 

Before I tell you what is included in this great pack of evangelism tools, let me tell you a little story. When people tell you that things come and go in cycles believe them. They really do. Even in the computer age where kids are fixated with iPhones and tablets, they can still be fascinated with old things. When I first received these items, my first thought was that these things were cool when I was a kid but I wonder how todays modern kids would respond to them. Well, as I said they were amazed. They had never seen things like this before. Things that actually looked like they were moving even without being on an electronic device. That made them seem “cool” to the kids and they all crowded around while they I was demonstrating them.

So what are these amazing tools. Well, we got three Animated Tracts, two Pop-up Tracts, two “FlipAbouts”, two Evangelistic Bracelets and a Wordless Book.

Now, most of the kids that I ministered to had seen the evangelism bracelets and the Wordless Books. I use these awesome items all of the time to demonstrate how the dark color represents sin – we all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory – and how sin separates us from God. Because we are separated from God, we can’t get to Heaven – represented by the Gold color because Heaven has streets of Gold. Jesus, however, didn’t want us to die in our sins, He wanted us to go to Heaven, so He came down to earth, lived a perfect life, and died on the cross for our sins to take our punishment – Red. If we believe that He died for our sins and receive his free gift of eternal life then our sins will be washed away and we will be white like snow – white. While we are still on earth, however, we need to continue to grow in Christ – green – by reading our Bible, praying, going to church and obeying what God tells us to do.

These items are excellent tools to where around your wrist or carry in your pocket to tell others about God and about Jesus dying on the cross for us.

However, it was the other items that really fascinated the kids and kept their attention. Items such as the flip books that magically “flip” to reveal different pictures that talk about salvation.

The Pop-up Tracts were also popular. Who would have thought that a simple but scripturally based tract that had pop-up pictures would be so attention getting. Those were big years ago for today’s kids they are new and different.

The items that kids just couldn’t put down, however, were the Animated Tracts. I don’t have a video of those, but I know you have seen them. They are the ones where you have a little piece of see through plastic with black lines on it. When you put it in front of a special picture and wiggle it back and forth it looks like the picture is moving. That really fascinated the kids! Who would have thought? That was the tract that was used to lead two kids to the Lord! What a blessing!

I am going to continue using the items from the Gospel Tracts and Evangelism Tools Sampler Pack over and over again! They are that great. In fact, all of the items from Let the Little Children Come are great. I am going to continue to go back to that company for evangelism tools over and over again. To find out more about their products just click on any one of the highlighted links above. To find what other members of the Homeschool Review Crew had to say about these items click on the banner below. I pray that God will use you to tell many others about Jesus by using these great tools!