Review: Mosdos Press Literature - Pearl - 6th Grade

Literature is one area that I've struggled a bit to find the program that fits for our youngest child.  When I saw Mosdos Press Literature - Pearl - 6th Grade I thought this program might be a good fit for him. He struggled with reading for years, but now seems to be doing pretty well. The problem is that the writing aspect is now behind. He's also gotten into that phase that he doesn't like to read because it's "boring" which is so hard for me to understand because I love to read. I thought because this program has such a wide variety that we might find some things he'd enjoy that he might not otherwise think he would.  The Pearl set is part of the Timberdoodle 6th Grade Kit These kits are easily customizable to work with all families.  This program arrived with a two book set for the teacher's edition, a student reader and an activity workbook.  

The Pearl set includes: 

** 36 short stories

** 3 plays

** 15 nonfiction selections

** 46 poems

** 4 dramatic poems

** 2 songs

** Brief author biographies

How we used this program.  

* My son has gotten better about his reading, but just like his older brother more than about a page seems to stress him out. I decided that I'd go through the program and pick out the stories and poems that I felt would best fit us size wise.  I think his favorite story by far was The Race by Victoria Furman.  

* I did most of the reading to my child and then asked him the comprehension questions. He did really great answering the questions and always seems to better answer them when I have read to him. If he focuses too much on the length of the story he doesn't seem to remember what happened.  

* I'll be honest that we did very little of the student workbook. Most of the work was just above where my son currently is working.  His writing skills just aren't where they need to be to do all the writing included in the workbook.  

* My goal was to work in this program 4 days a week and that happened most of the time except for a month after my son has surgery when we didn't do any school.  

What did I like about this program??

* At first glance you immediately see how beautifully illustrated these books were made.

*  The student really learns about the characters, themes, settings, conflicts, etc. There were also stories, poems, different genres, etc.  

* The workbook is packed with activities that help further the students learning. There are writing activities, comprehension questions, vocabulary as well as other activities.  There's a great mix, so that you can pick what you want your child to do and skip others if you feel the need.  

* The teacher's guides have a plan of how to use the program and which activities to do on which days.  

* It's got all the answers you need as well as any additional information you might want to help your child complete the lessons. 

What didn't work for my child.  

* I feel this program is very advanced in the reading and work and therefore the grade level my child was in was really too hard for him. In this type of program he'd be better off probably 2 grades behind due to his writing abilities and ability to read long stories.  

* While I like having a suggested plan in the teacher's edition to give me a starting point I felt that the overall teacher's edition just had too much in it for most homeschoolers. It felt like it would work better in a public school setting. That being said I pretty much just didn't use the teacher's book other than looking at the answers.  

* If I could turn back the clock I'd probably try the Opal set, which is 3rd grade, or the Ruby set, which is 4th grade. I think the writing activities in those would have been more where my son currently is working.  

All in all I have been super impressed with the Mosdos Press Literature-Pearl set.  It's beautifully written and illustrated as well as just jam packed with wonderful stories and poetry that I didn't feel I had to worry if my child read without me. In this day and age it's hard to find good literature and often we as parents feel we have to read stories or books before our child can. As homeschooling parents we already care a heavy load and we don't need any extra work. Mosdos has made it easy for us by giving us great material, wonderful activities and all the answers that we might need.  For additional information on the program there is a great video that explains how to schedule the 3rd grade opal set.  There is also another nice video that just shows the basic 3rd grade opal set and gives more information on how to use it. The information in these two videos can easily be transferred to help you with any of the sets.  

** I was given a free copy of this program from Timberdoodle for my honest review** 

Review: Delayed Justice by Cara Putman

Wow, what a powerful story! In Delayed Justice Jaime Nichols has spent years working in counseling to be able to speak up for the wrong done to her as a child. She chose a profession in law to stand up for others that couldn't stand up for themselves. When she was a child and her father was stationed out of the country her mother often needed help. Jaime's uncle happily offered his assistance, but sadly her mother didn't know what was happening on those visits. Jaime never felt she could tell, but as she grew older she worked hard to have the voice to stand up and accuse her uncle of his wrong doings. Shortly after Jaime went to the local prosecutor she found out her uncle was in line to become a 1 star general. She knew that he wouldn't let anything or anyone stop his career path and she realized she'd have the fight of her life on her hands. Thankfully Jaime's parents were supportive when they learned the truth. The pain they felt at not protecting their child was terrible, but they weren't going to let her uncle get away with it again. As Jaime struggles through this process she meets Chandler, a military veteran, that lives in her building. She tends to shy away from people in the military due to what her uncle did to her. Chandler uses a therapy dog, Aslan, to help other veterans and realizes that maybe Aslan can help Jaime. He sees the pain in her eyes, but doesn't know the reason. When he does learn what happened to her at the hands of her uncle he knows that he won't stop helping her until she learns what a special person she is to others.  As Jaime is dealing with the case against her uncle she is relieved of her job pending an investigation for misconduct. Thankfully her friends jump in to help her with a special project to keep herself busy. Tiffany is a little girl that has suffered the same terrible pain that Jaime did as a child. Her mother's boyfriend abused her and threatened her mother if Tiffany told. Thankfully she told her mother and her mother was trying hard to get justice for her daughter. Jaime's  friends are fighting passionately for the little girls protection and justice and ask Jaime to help. Knowing her past they know it will be hard for Jaime. They also know that she can reach Tiffany in ways that others can't. As she fights for Tiffany to regain any type of normalcy to her life and not struggle as Jaime did she learns that she is stronger than she thinks.  

Cara Putman starting writing in 2005. She's now written 21 books with more on the way. She was homeschooled back when homeschooling was still in the new stages.  I truly enjoy her books because they are a mixture of suspense, romance, struggling faith and social issues. She writes a blog as well as can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.  You can check out all the books she's written as well as follow the progress on her blog for her upcoming books.  

Review: once we were strangers by Shawn Smucker

The United States was founded by immigrant families, but in this day and age with all the terrorism we seem to be afraid to have immigrants continue to come to the US.  Once we were strangers is a wonderful story about a friendship. A friendship between a struggling writing in the US and a Syrian refugee new to this country.  Muhammad and his family fled their village in Syria in 2012.  Several years later he meets Shawn Smucker in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  As Shawn and Muhammad spent time together a friendship starts to emerge. For those born and raised in America it's hard to imagine having to flee your home because it is no longer safe. It's hard to imagine that in your new home you struggle to communicate with others because you don't speak the language.  It's hard to imagine leaving behind everything to flee and keep your family safe.

Muhammad's story truly touched me and truly made me wonder how I'd react to a Syrian refugee family moving in next to me. Would I reach out to them and offer friendship or would I ignore them as we so often do in this day and age. I like to think that I would offer whatever help that I could despite the language and cultural barriers.  I think what we all need to remember is that we could some day be a refugee in another country and wouldn't we want someone to reach out to us? Reading Muhammad's story about how he and his wife both worked in a dry cleaners to be able to take care of their boys. How hard it was when they wanted to move because even though they had paid their rent on time for an entire year most people didn't want to rent to a Syrian refugee. Muhammad reminded us through his story that people don't take the time for coffee and conversation like they once did. Once we were strangers is a truly moving story about a friendship between two men and really between two families that pushed through all cultural barriers.  

Shawn Smucker lives with his wife and children in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  He has also written The Day the Angels Fell as well as The Edge of Over There He can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ as well as his blog.

**I received this book free from Revell for my honest review.**