Apologia--Who Is God? TOS Product Review

"If Jesus Christ came to this planet as a model of how we ought to live, then our goal should be to act like Jesus. Sadly, few people consistently demonstrate the love, obedience and priorities of Jesus. The primary reason that people do not act like Jesus is because they do not think like Jesus. Behavior stems from what we think - our attitudes, beliefs, values and opinions. Although most people own a Bible and know some of its content, our research found that most Americans have little idea how to integrate core biblical principles to form a unified and meaningful response to the challenges and opportunities of life. We're often more concerned with survival amidst chaos than with experiencing truth and significance."

George Barna describing the outcome of a national survey of 2033 adults that showed only 4% of adults have a biblical worldview as the basis of their decision-making.




The word Apologia appears eight times in the New Testament, in the context of people defending their faith or actions by reason and logic.

"But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you..." 1 Peter 3:15

Apologia Press

Who Is GOD? And Can I really Know Him?

Biblical Worldview of God and Truth

Volume 1 in the What We Believe Series

Written by John Hay and David Webb

Cost: $39.00 (252 pages hardbound book)

Recommended for children ages 6 to 14

When Who Is GOD? arrived, I was immediately struck by the quality and beauty of the actual book. We have used textbooks published by Apologia for years and this book falls right in line with the high-quality products for which they are known.

Let me just start by saying that by God's grace we have been raising our children under the influence of a biblical worldview since they were old enough to understand language. We have always tried to filter what we read, what we see, what we hear, and what we do through God's Word, the Bible. I can remember when my children were very young (even as teenagers today) and asking difficult questions. I have great comfort in saying the words, "Well, God says..." or "Well, when God created..." The biblical lens through which we look at the world allows us to see with eyes focused on the Creator God. Otherwise, chaos oftentimes rules our lives.

And so Who is God and Can I Really Know Him?, introduces the concept of worldview while laying the foundational truths upon which the evangelical Christian worldview is built: God is truth and He reveals His truth to people; He is the one true and almighty God; He is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; He created everything; we are God’s children and are made to love and to praise Him; God meets all our needs; sin keeps us from God; and Jesus is the only way to God.

View a sample lesson here. See the Table of Contents here.

We have been using this curriculum for the past six weeks and have found it to be very well presented, easy to read, and easy to use each day. Like every Apologia book we have read in the past, this text reads like a story, is engaging and thought provoking. With the purchase of the book, a link and password are provided to allow users extensive resources. These resources include optional teacher helps, student notebooking pages, and House of Truth inserts, along with links to on-line Bibles, Bible study tools, Christian Apologetics, Movie, TV and Video Game Reviews, and book reviews. Apologia thought of everything you might need or want to have access to while using this book!

The introduction includes a lesson plan, designed to be flexible and adaptable to each family's needs. While their schedule recommends one lesson every two weeks, three days per week, we adjusted our schedule slightly so we could use the curriculum five days a week. Each lesson is divided into a very specific and consistent structure:

The Big Idea: Main topic of the lesson and a brief overview of what has been learned up to this point.

What You Will Do: Lesson objectives.

Short Story: A story featuring characters with different worldviews. The characters work thorough their differences by seeking council through the bible and their parents.

Think About It: Thought-provoking questions to check for understanding and comprehension.

What You Need To Know: Important vocabulary words and definitions that students can write in their notebooks.

Hide It In Your Heart: Two specific Bible verses to be written in the student notebook for memorization. The first verse has to do with the main theme of the lesson while the second verse pertains to a character trait.

Integrated Learning: Articles related to the main text across the fields of art, math, science, history and more.

What Should I do?: Highlights a specific character trait that should be demonstrated bu the student in response to what he or she has just learned about God.

Prayer: Each lesson concludes with a prayer.

Worldview Study: Introduces the student to the concept of worldview.

House of Truth: Intended to be a hands-on memory aid, the House of Truth is a visual model constructed one step at a time. In this book, the student will complete the foundation and the first wall of the house. A new wall will be added in the second, third, and fourth volumes of the series.

Scripture is used and referenced throughout each lesson. If there is one thing I would change, it would be the use of different versions of the Bible. I wish scripture references were consistently NIV or ESV. Although I understand the desire to want to please its variety of readers, I found verses on the same page citing NIV and NLT a little bothersome. But you can't please everyone!

While the short stories helped develop the main theme of the lesson, we found them to be more in line for younger-aged students. My teenagers were a little, um, tortured by the simplicity of the stories. On the other hand, I can see how they would appeal to younger readers.

We enjoy the notebooking aspect of the curriculum since we use notebooking in other areas of our school day. Not only does notebooking reinforce each lesson, it provides a great vehicle for future portfolio reviews, if needed.

Overall, I think Who is GOD? is a great way to introduce a biblical worldview to parents and students desiring to know more about God and His truths and highly recommend Apologia's What We Believe series of books.

Additional products in this series What We Believe include Who Am I?, Who Is My Brother?, and What on Earth Can I Do?

Truth is eternal, knowledge is changeable. It is disastrous to confuse them.
Madeleine L'Engle

1918-2007

I am a member of The Old Schoolhouse 2010-2011 Crew and receive free products and services in exchange for a thorough and honest review. Though I am compensated with free products, I am not compensated in the form of cash for my reviews. My reviews will always reflect my honest opinions, findings, beliefs and experiences on the products and services that I receive.

Monday's Maybe

I'm on the run (what else is new, right?), but wanted to get something posted today. Here's a little photo of Mr. Wonderful's fleece blanket. He selected the fabric. We thought it was adorable. What's not to love about chubby-faced zoo animals smiling back at you?



It wasn't until everything was cut out and I was well on my way getting this blanket put together that Rachel discovered a tiny little typo. Do you see it?

I don't suppose the people in China (who manufactured the fabric) know how we spell the word funny. I mean, a "u" and an "n" look exactly alike depending upon which side of the fabric you're on, right?

We thought it was funny, er, funuy.



I hope this finds you smiling today!

Happy Monday to you,

A Little Girl, A Big Train, and Cookies

Rachel, our resident engineer

It was her goal to use every single train track, every single train and car, and bridge and tree and building and stop sign and, well, you get the picture. I would have had to take a panoramic view photo to capture the entire layout. The track actually ran under the chair behind her and swirled around in front of the fire place before heading back into town!

I just love this girl! She's amazing. Last night she made homemade chocolate chip cookies (which, I might add, were sent to work with Daddy who notified us this morning that they are almost gone and were receiving rave reviews!). I happened to be walking by when she placed a cookie-filled baking sheet into the oven and then set two timers. The one on the stove was for 12 minutes (for how long the cookies needed to bake). The one on the microwave was for two minutes. Now the timer wasn't actually turned on, it was just set for two minutes and blinking, ready for someone to press the Start button. Needless to say, this threw me for a loop. "What's that for?" I inquired. "Oh, after I take the cookies out of the oven, I need to wait two minutes before moving them to the cooling racks. This is my timer for the two minutes." Really? Really!

She's a machine! Did you know that 1/8 cup is equal to two tablespoons? She had to cut this cookie recipe in half (it makes 80 cookies) and discovered several instances where the recipe called for 1/4 cup. Well, I don't think they make a 1/8 measuring cup, so she went on-line and found a conversion tool. She also discovered that one-half an egg is equal to 2 tablespoons as well. I probably would have just eye-balled the 1/8 cup, added a whole egg and hoped for the best. This usually doesn't work out too well in the world of baking.

But Rachel is all about the details. And that, my friends, is why her cookies were absolutely amazing. Honestly, they were the best chocolate chip cookies ever. Ever.

This little girl wants her own blog. I'm thinking she's ready! Details to follow soon.

Happy Wednesday!

Happy One Year Blogging Anniversary...to Me!

It's easier to handle all this snow when there's blue skies and sunshine

There's so many things on my mind as I sit here to reflect on my one year blogging anniversary. You can read my original post here. After reading the original post again, I think I have stayed true to what I imagined about having a blog...at least for the most part.

I have noticed a pattern of late, however. My days seem to be so full that I just don't have the time I'd like to journal my thoughts. I'll be honest to say that it bugs me. There's not too many nights that I don't find myself getting into bed and thinking, "I didn't blog...again." By the time I finished today's To Do List, it was already past 6:30 this evening. And I get up at 6 a.m. most mornings. I'll attribute it to a very busy school year and a very busy home-life schedule. I guess I'll just have to roll with it for now and hope things will slow down a little in the very near future. I hope so anyway.

So, here are some rambling thoughts...

Nineteen days until spring. Yes, I am counting down the days. This has been one of the longest and coldest and snowiest and drabbest gray and white winters I can remember in a very long time. Mr. Wonderful would tell you that this has been the worst winter driving weather he can ever remember...ever. I believe last week ended with our fourth blizzard in eight days. A week ago tonight it took him over three hours to drive home. We were all a little distraught about this until we learned that most people were stuck on the highway from 8 to 10 hours due to several jack-knifed tractor trailers just a few miles from our home.

We have discovered a baby squirrel in our backyard that has a strange anomaly. He has no fur on his tail. It's just a little stick-like looking thing that points straight up. Let me just tell you that squirrels look funny with rat tails! I don't know how long he'll survive soaring on tree tops without his tail to guide him.

For the past few days I've noticed the lovely scent of a skunk whenever I walk outside our garage. Yesterday we discovered that a skunk has chosen to make his path across our backyard and through the side woods, following the deer trail. We watched him marking his territory as he waddled through the trees. Great. Just great.

Caleb attended his very first Celtic Ball a little over a week ago. We walked in with him hoping to see some of the ladies in their beautiful gowns, but didn't want to be lingering parents so we quickly headed out. As we were driving away Mr. Wonderful asked me if I was OK. Me? Yes! I am so excited for him! I look over to find my husband with tears rolling down his cheeks. He cannot believe I'm handling this so well! He said that when we walked in with him, he quickly realized that Caleb was in his element. He's a people-person. He's confident. He's never met a stranger. He was comfortable. He didn't need us. And so my husband (who didn't cry when we dumped Caleb off in the middle of a mountain) found this event to be his heart-wrenching moment. Caleb is growing-up. Yes, yes he is.

I trust this finds you all doing well and having enjoyed this first day of March. Thank you for checking in on me from time to time. I am still here.

Much love,

Koch Snowflake (Base-Motif Fractal)

It warmed up late last week. It was wonderful! Virtually all of the old ugly snow melted over the weekend. It was great to look out the windows and see something other than white. The skies were blue, the sun was shining, and the birds were singing. It was great...while it lasted.

As I sit here this Monday afternoon in February, there is yet again another winter weather advisory. It looks like a blizzard, and from what I hear, the snow isn't supposed to let up until after midnight. Great.

Speaking of snow, here's a little diversion we took last week. Instead of getting out the Algebra books, we decided to try our hands at creating fractals. We each chose one and spent a couple of hours being creative. I have to say, it was a lot of fun!

This is a Koch Snowflake...

We neglected to take a photo of the first nine inch equilateral triangle, but I think it's easy to see it. During the first iteration, every side of the triangle has been substituted with a base-motif. The line you see running down the middle is where two pieces of construction paper have been joined. That line ended up helping keep everything plumb.

Because there's a lot of drawing and erasing required for this fractal, it's best to start out with light pencil lines. Light lines make erasing easy, but viewing photos more difficult. Sorry about that!

The first triangle is the first iteration. The photo below is the second iteration.


In the third iteration, each of the 12 line segments have been replaced with the base-motif again.


And again... (fourth iteration)


fourth iteration finalized...notice the inside corners?


and yet again... (fifth and final iteration)


Isn't that cool?! This is but a speck in the world of fractals! We could keep going except it's virtually impossible to erase any lines after this point. Be sure to look at this link to get a much better idea of base-motif fractals.


photo credit

Hey, have a happy fractals Monday!

P.S. I just noticed this is my 200th blog post. Wow Wee!

Homemade Deep Dish Pan Pizza

Homemade Deep Dish Pan Pizza

When I think about some of the new things I've learned to do over the past year or so, I'm surprising even myself! Besides learning how to bake a pie, quilting and sewing, I tried my hand at homemade pizza dough back in November. It turned out pretty good the first time. I tweaked it a couple of times and ended-up with this recipe. It's really good, if I do say so myself!

Keep in mind that you can put any assortment of toppings on this pizza. I have found that no matter if it's plain cheese or loaded with lots of goodies, it always turns out fabulous. The crust is golden brown and crispy. Yum!

What you will need:

Medium-size stainless steel bowl coated with 2 tablespoons of olive oil;
plastic wrap

2 nine-inch cake pans
4 tablespoons olive oil

Ingredients for dough:

3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons of milk (or 7 oz.), heated in microwave for 30 seconds
2 teaspoons sugar
1 packet of instant yeast
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/3 cups flour, divided into 1 1/3 cups and 1 cup
Extra flour for rolling out dough

Topping:

3.5 ounces pepperoni
1 1/3 cups tomato sauce
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 200 degrees.

Coat the bottom of each of the 9-inch cake pans with 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

In a standing mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix together warmed 3/4 cup and 2 tablespoons of milk, sugar, yeast; add 1 1/3 cups of flour and salt. Mix on low until dough comes together, scrape down sides if needed. Turn off mixer and let set for 10 minutes. Turn on mixer to low and slowly add remaining 1 cup of flour. I have found that this sometimes needs adjusting (adding a little more milk or having to add a little more flour, if necessary). Increase speed to medium-low and mix until dough is shiny and smooth, about 5 minutes. The dough should pull away from the sides of the bowl. Turn dough onto a lightly floured counter, gently shape into a ball, and place in greased bowl, turning dough to coat with olive oil; cover with plastic wrap. Turn off oven. Place bowl on the bottom rack of the turned off oven until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.

While the dough is rising in the oven, place the pepperoni in a single layer on a microwave-safe plate lined with 2 or 3 paper towels. Cover with an additional 2 paper towels and microwave on high for 30 seconds. Remove from microwave and use your hands to press down on the paper towels (being careful as the pepperoni may be a little hot) to absorb the oil. Discard paper towels and set pepperoni aside.

Once the dough has risen, remove plastic wrap and transfer dough to a lightly floured counter, divide in half, and lightly roll each half into a ball. Working with one dough ball at a time, roll and shape dough into 9 1/2 to 10 inch round; gently place rolled dough into oiled cake pan. The dough will come up the side of the pan by a half an inch or so. Repeat process for other dough ball. Cover cake pans with plastic wrap and place in a warm spot until slightly risen, about 20 minutes.

Note: When I start rolling out the dough, I again turn on the oven to 200 degrees. When I'm finished rolling out the dough, I turn off the oven, cover each cake pan with plastic wrap, and place pans with dough back in the warmed oven for about 20 minutes or so.

Remove plastic wrap from cake pans and ladle 2/3 cup of sauce on each round (if your dough is slightly up the sides of the pan, take the sauce to the edge. If the dough only covers the bottom of the pan, leave a 1/2 inch border around the edges). Sprinkle each with 1 1/2 cups of cheese and top with pepperoni. Bake on the bottom rack of a 400 degree oven until the cheese is melted and bubbling, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven; let pizzas rest in pans for 1 minute. Using a spatula, transfer pizzas to cutting board and cut each into 8 wedges. Enjoy!

Another note: Use your favorite bottled or canned pizza sauce. I use Dei Fratelli Italian Sauce right out of the can. If you want to add sausage to the pizza, be sure to brown and cook thoroughly before placing on top of the pizza. I use Bob Evans Maple Sausage by pinching off small quarter-size pieces into a medium hot skillet. I don't turn the sausage until it's caramelized.

Enjoy!


P.S. Yes, this is what we're having for dinner tonight. After all, it's Friday! Did I mention that it hit a whopping 60 degrees today? And that the sun is shining? And that the skies are blue? And almost all of the dirty ugly snow is gone? Yes!

Happy Valentine's Day

This is one card Hallmark won't ever sell...

I'm one of those people who choke a little on spending $5 or $6 on a card that will eventually end up in the trash. And it usually doesn't matter if it's Valentine's Day or birthdays or special holidays. I'm a cheapskate. Over the years I've tried to be creative and will actually make something special. But sometimes it's easier to pick one off the shelf. That's what I did this year.

The card above is one I found from Mr. Wonderful a couple of years ago on Valentine's Day. It was right there for everyone to see. Right smack dab in the middle of the kitchen table! I left it there all day long until eventually I had to scoop it up and well, you know. There was a little love note left beside this card on the table, but the truth is, I've never forgotten this creative I Love You from my husband.

I hope your Valentine's Day is filled with love and many wonderful things that hold lasting memories. Long after the roses have faded and the chocolate box contains only crumpled papers, it's all the little things, all wrapped-up together, that make life special. Those things remain.

Hugs and kisses,