Home School Book Review

You are invited to check out our sister blog, Home School Book Review ( http://homeschoolblogger.com/homeschoolbookreview/ ) every day.   Books, primarily for children and teens, are reviewed from a Biblical worldview.  A new book is added nearly every day.  You can use the search feature to check for specific titles or favorite authors and also browse different categories of books.

Some of the books that we are reading right now and will appear on HSBR in the near future are Heidi St. John’s The Busy Homeschool Mom’s Guide to Daylight, Alan N. Kay’s Off to Fight (#3 in “Young Heroes of History”), Allen French’s The Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow, Tui T. Sutherland’s The Dragonet Prophecy (#1 in the new “Wings of Fire” series), Christopher Paul Curtis’s Newbery Award winning Bud, Not Buddy, and Isabella Mcdonald Alden’s The Prince of Peace or The Beautiful Life of Jesus: A Life of Christ by Pansy.

Books reviewed this past November include the following:

Nov 29th, 2012: Orphan Train West Collection

Nov 28th, 2012: The Hatmaker’s Sign: A Story by Benjamin Franklin

Nov 27th, 2012: A Drake A. Halifax Chronicle: When Darkness Falls

Nov 26th, 2012: The Giver

Nov 25th, 2012: Knights of the Round Table

Nov 24th, 2012: Gettysburg

Nov 20th, 2012: The Adventures of Charlie Pierce, Volume 3: The Last Calusa

Nov 15th, 2012: Twelve Bright Trumpets

Nov 14th, 2012: Smoky the Cowhorse

Nov 13th, 2012: War Horse

Nov 12th, 2012: Game Changers: Book 1

Nov 6th, 2012: The Extralife Chronicles: The Slayer and the Ruin-er

Nov 5th, 2012: Save the Lemmings

Each month we give a “Book of the Month” Award.  For November, 2012, the prize goes to:

Twelve Bright Trumpets by Margaret Leighton (published by American Home School Publishing).  The runners-up were The Orphan Train West Collection by Jane Peart, The Last Calusa by Harvey Oyer, and Game Changers (Book 1) by Mike Lupica.  Happy Reading!

December, 2012, “Biblical Homeschooling” Table of Contents

     BIBLICAL HOMESCHOOLING is a free, monthly e-mail newsletter of general interest, encouragement, and information for homeschooling Christians published by Wayne S. Walker of Salem, IL.   Anyone who is interested may subscribe by sending a blank e-mail to biblicalhomeschooling-subscribe@yahoogroups.com and then following the instructions that will be sent, or by signing up on the web at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biblicalhomeschooling/
     The table of contents for the December, 2012 (Volume 15, No. 5) issue is as follows:

December, 2012

HOMESCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Table of Contents

1. EVERYBODY IS DOING IT!? Top Ten Reasons “Cussing” Is Not OK For My Family

By Lisa Cherry, frontlinemama, August 6, 2012

2. THE GAYING OF AMERICA: DID JESUS CONDEMN HOMOSEXUALITY?

By Carl Gallups

3. HOMESCHOOLING SURGES ACROSS TEXAS PANHANDLE

By Mark Haslett (August 17, 2012) mark.haslett@amarillo.com

4. CHANGE IN THE WEATHER:

Upcoming national science standards squelch alternate views on climate and Darwinism

By Daniel James Devine

5. FAMILY’S HOMESCHOOL RIGHTS DEFENDED (Illinois)

from Home School Legal Defense Association August 20, 2012

6. STATE BOARD DISCUSSES HOMESCHOOLING REQUIREMENTS

By Scott Rothschild (August 14, 2012)

7. KANSAS BOARD OF EDUCATION HAS NO AUTHORITY TO CONSIDER HOMESCHOOL LEGISLATION by Shane Vander Hart (August 15, 2012)

8. WHO WILL TEACH MY CHILDREN TO READ?

By Sue Patterson

9. THE REDEEMED OF THE LORD

by Wayne S. Walker

10. THE APOSTLES BEFORE THE COUNCIL (Acts 5:24-42)

By Wayne S. Walker

11. TWELVE WAYS TO LOVE YOUR HOMESCHOOLING WIFE: Practical ways to say “I love you”

By Heather Miller

12. SELF-REFUTING SKEPTICISM

by Roger Patterson, AiG–U.S. (July 14, 2009)

13. PARENTING: DON’T EVER QUIT—EVEN IF YOUR TEEN HATES YOU

By Mark Gregston, One News Now Guest Columnist (6/17/2009)

14. YES, MY GROWN HOMESCHOOLED CHILDREN ARE ODD—AND YOURS WILL BE TOO!

By Diane Flynn Keith, http://www.homefires.com

15. RECRUITING CHILDREN?  YOU BET WE ARE

By Tony Perkins, Family Research Council (5/20/2011)

Nov., 2012, “Biblical Homeschooling” Monthly Meditation

Monthly Meditation

7. THE MIGHTY ACTS OF THE LORD

by Wayne S. Walker

     “Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD?  Who can declare all His praise?” (Psalm 106:2).  Psalm 106, which begins and ends with “Hallelujah” (or “Praise the LORD!”) is generally given an exilic or post-exilic dating because verses 46 and 47 mention being carried away captive and ask God to gather His people from among the Gentiles.  It is basically a confession of the sins of Israel.  “We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly” (v. 6).  However, it also expresses praise to God for His willingness to forgive.  “And for their sake He remembered His covenant, and relented according to the multitude of His mercies” (v. 45).

     The unnamed Psalmist remembers how the people rebelled by the Red Sea, yet God saved them (vs. 7-12).  He talks about how they forgot His works and lusted in the wilderness, yet God gave them their request for food (vs. 13-15).  He recalls how they envied Moses, made the gold calf, and constantly complained, yet God heeded Moses’s plea not to destroy them (vs. 16-23).  He tells how they refused to enter the pleasant land and joined themselves to Baal of Peor, yet God raised up Phinehas to stop the plague (vs. 24-31).  He reminds us of how they even when they entered the land they did not destroy the peoples but adopted the pagan’s idolatry and God allowed them to be oppressed, yet He still delivered them many times (vs. 32-43).

     Are we really any different?  “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).  Even those of us who have heard the gospel message of salvation, obeyed it, were redeemed by Christ’s blood, and are trying to live for the Lord continue to have a problem with temptation and sin (James 1:14-15, 1 John 1:8).  Yet, God continues to extend His mercy to us by offering us the chance to obtain forgiveness.  “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).  As we look back over our lives and the goodness that God has shown to each one of us, we can surely say with the Psalmist, “Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting!  And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’  Praise the LORD!” (v. 48).  And surely, as homeschool parents, we need to communicate this great truth to our children.

     (Biblical Homeschooling is a free, monthly e-mail newsletterof general interest, encouragement, and information for homeschooling Christians.  You can subscribe by sending a blank e-mail to biblicalhomeschooling-subscribe@yahoogroups.com and then following the instructions that will be sent, or by signing up on the web at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biblicalhomeschooling/ )

Former school, Marshall, Ohio, in Highland County

     The town of Marshall in Highland County, OH, located eight miles southeast of Hillsboro, was platted as West Liberty in 1817, with the name changed to Marshall in 1836.  A one-room school was located in the area from the time of the first settlers and was located on the same spot where later Marshall schools stood.  Around 1875, a larger one-room brick school was built on the site. A second room was added around 1890. In those days, high school students had to finish their education at Hillsboro or Greenfield.  In 1919, the old two-room brick building was demolished and a new four-room frame building was built on the present site. A year later, four new high schools were opened in Highland County at Marshall, Sinking Spring, Belfast, and Samantha. They all opened as two-year high schools, meaning students could complete their first two years of high school there, but still had to transfer to one of the larger schools for their high school diploma.  A couple years later, those four schools became three-year high schools. Students received a diploma when they completed their junior year, then received another diploma if they completed 12th grade at Hillsboro or Greenfield.   With more students, more class space was needed, so three more rooms were added to the rear of the Marshall building. Those rooms later became the cafeteria, industrial arts room, and fifth- and sixth-grade classrooms.   In 1926, Marshall was finally certified as a “first grade” high school, meaning students could complete all 12 years at the school.  In 1931 a separate gym was erected.  The Marshall community lost its school after the 1959-60 school year when the district merged with Hillsboro, which started using it for its sixth-grade classes in 1970.  Finally, the school closed to students in 2004 when it was turned over to the Marshall Township Trustees.  Township trustee Tim Sheeley said the building had not been used for several years. He said it had been broken into for copper and wiring, and it was just no longer feasible to maintain, so it was demolished at the end of 2011, with the remnants burned.  The gym will be preserved and continue to be used as a community center, according to Sheeley.  Harold Spargur was the last superintendent at Marshall, and he was my sophomore high school world history teacher.

http://www.timesgazette.com/main.asp?SectionID=18&SubSectionID=175&ArticleID=182758