Book review: Love Finds You in Aman, Iowa

Love Finds You in Amana, Iowa Summerside Press (June 1, 2011) by Melanie Dobson


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Melanie Dobson is the award-winning author of The Black Cloister; Love Finds You in Liberty, Indiana; and Together for Good, and she has now authored nine contemporary and historical novels including Love Finds You in Nazareth, Pennsylvania which releases in November 2011.


Prior to launching Dobson Media Group in 1999, Melanie was the corporate publicity manager at Focus on the Family where she was responsible for the publicity of events, products, films, and TV specials. Melanie received her undergraduate degree in journalism from Liberty University and her master's degree in communication from Regent University. She has worked in the fields of publicity and journalism for fifteen years including two years as a publicist for The Family Channel.


Melanie and her husband, Jon, met in Colorado Springs in 1997 at Vanguard Church. Jon works in the field of computer animation. Since they've been married, the Dobsons have relocated numerous times including stints in Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Colorado, Berlin, and Southern California. These days they are enjoying their new home in the Pacific Northwest.


Jon and Melanie have adopted their two daughters —Karly (6) and Kinzel (5). When Melanie isn't writing or entertaining their girls, she enjoys exploring ghost towns and dusty back roads, traveling, hiking, line dancing, and reading inspirational fiction.




ABOUT THE BOOK:

With a backdrop of the community of The Amana Colonies, the Civil War, and a great love story, Melanie Dobson’s new historical fiction title LOVE FINDS YOU IN AMANA, IOWA both enlightening and entertaining.


The novel is set in the United States during the turmoil of the 1860s. As the rest of the nation is embroiled in the Civil War, the Amana Colonies have remained at peace with a strong faith in God and pursuit of community, intertwined with hard work, family life and the building of their colony.


Amalie Wiese is travelling to the newly built village of Amana in 1863. When she arrives in the colonies she finds that her fiancée, Friedrich has left to fight with the Union Army. Amalie fears for his safety as she also struggles with his decision to abandon the colony’s beliefs. Matthias, Frederick’s friend, stays back in Amana to work in the colonies. But there is something wrong with Matthias; he always seems angry at Amalie when there is no simple explanation for him to act that way.


The goods that colonies manufacture are much needed supplies for the war effort and Matthias decides to deliver the goods to the soldiers. When he leaves, Amalie realizes that her fear for Matthias’s safety is equally as strong. What will become of Friedrich, will Matthias return safely, and will Amalie marry Friedrich? LOVE FINDS YOU IN AMANA, IOWA is a richly told story of life in the Amana Society and the people who live and love there.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Love Finds You in Amana, Iowa, go HERE.

Speech therapy for homeschoolers

The timing was perfect. Just as my sweet baby, Adam, was starting speech therapy with a speech/language pathologist, I was given the opportunity to review a Super Star Speech book.

Super Star Speech materials were developed by Deborah Lott, a licensed speech language pathologist with a master's degree in education/speech pathology. There are plenty of speech therapists around, but what makes Deborah special and endeared her to me is that she is also a mom who has been homeschooling her four children for the past 16 years. Her focus in her job as a part-time speech therapist has been on articulation disorders, which is the area Adam needs help in.

You may not realize it if you've never homeschooled children with special needs, but finding a good speech therapist (and paying for it) isn't easy. Most states offer speech at no charge via the public school system. That's great, but what is a homeschooling mom to do when her child has a speech disorder? We had to jump through some hoops but eventually our insurance company agreed to pay for speech therapy through an outside company.

Super Star Speech is great for homeschoolers who are not receiving speech therapy or as a supplement for those who are receiving therapy through the public school system or a private company.

Adam loves his speech therapist, but one thing she requires is that we practice at home as well. Super Star Speech allows us that opportunity. I was able to review Super Star R & L. I choose that particular book because those happen to be the same two sounds that our speech therapist started on with Adam.

The book started off great with some really good tips for doing speech therapy at home. It also included five therapy steps that should be used for each sound. I sort of tested the book by seeing how closely it followed along with what Adam's speech therapist was doing, and I have to say it was perfect. It was almost as if his therapist had read the book and was following it step by step, but of course I never told her about it. This was reassuring to me, as it gave me confidence that the writer really knew what she was talking about.

The book included an overall sample lesson plan as well as a specific word list for each sound. The word list came in really handy. When your child is sitting there looking at your all wide-eyed and waiting, it's hard to think of tons of different words that start with the same sound. With the list, I was never stumped.

The book included tons of games, worksheets and flashcards we could use for the sounds. All the games and activities made our practice at home fun!

Nothing has surprised me more than the fact that Adam loves speech therapy and his at-home practice. Since he loves his therapist so much, we will continue to receive therapy from her, but with Super Star Speech I really feel confident that I could do it at home on my own if I really needed to.

Oh, and in case you didn't know... Super Star Speech was voted "Favorite Special Needs Product" by The Old Schoolhouse Crew in 2009/2010.

I was e-mailed a free pdf copy of Super Star R & L via Mama Buzz for purposes of this review. You can get a pdf for $12.95 or a spiral bound edition for $18.95. The book was 61 pages long, which is a lot to print out, so I would recommend the spiral bound edition.

If you have a child with speech difficulties, you should visit the Super Star Speech Web site. You can find helpful articles and free practice pages and game downloads here.

You can use the coupon code "mamabuzz" to receive a 20% discount on purchases from www.superstarspeech.com.

Book review: Shadows on the Sand

Shadows on the Sand Multnomah Books (July 19, 2011) by Gayle Roper



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Gayle is the award winning author of more than forty books. She has been a Christy finalist three times for her novels Spring Rain, Summer Shadows, and Winter Winds. Her novel Autumn Dreams won the prestigious Romance Writers of America's RITA Award for Best Inspirational Romance. Summer Shadows was voted the Inspirational Readers Choice Contest Book of the Year (tied with fellow author Brandilyn Collins).


Gayle has won the Holt Medallion three times for The Decision, Caught in a Bind, and Autumn Dreams. The Decision won the Reviewers Choice Award, and Gayle has also won the Award of Excellence for Spring Rain and the Golden Quill for Summer Shadows and Winter Winds. Romantic Times Book Report gave Gayle the Lifetime Achievement Award.


Her Amhearst mystery series, Caught in the Middle, Caught in the Act, and Caught in a Bind, originally published by Zondervan, was reprinted in 2007 by Love Inspired Suspense with a fourth original title added, Caught Redhanded. Another original single title, See No Evil, was also released. Caught in the Middle has been optioned for film.


For her work in training Christian writers Gayle has won special recognition from Mount Hermon CWC, St. Davids CWC, Florida CWC, and Greater Philadelphia CWC. She directed St. Davids for five years and Sandy Cove CWC for six. She has taught with Christian Leaders, Authors and Speakers Services (CLASS), serving for several years as their writer in residence. She enjoys speaking at women's events across the nation and loves sharing the powerful truths of Scripture with humor and practicality.


Gayle lives in southeastern Pennsylvania where she enjoys her family of two great sons, two lovely daughters-in-law, and the world's five most wonderful grandchildren. When she's not writing, or teaching at conferences, Gayle enjoys reading, gardening, and eating out.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Carrie Carter’s small café in Seaside, New Jersey, is populated with a motley crew of locals although Carrie only has eyes for Greg Barnes. He’s recovering from a vicious crime that three years ago took the lives of his wife and children—and from the year he tried to drink his reality away. While her heart does a happy Snoopy dance at the sight of him, he never seems to notice her, to Carrie’s chagrin.


When Carrie’s dishwasher is killed and her young waitress disappears, Greg finds himself drawn into helping Carrie solve the mysteries … and into her life. But Carrie has a painful past, too, and when the reason she once ran away shows up in town, the fragile relationship she’s built with Greg threatens to implode from the weight of the baggage they both carry. Two wounded hearts struggle to find a way to make one romance work. Failure seems guaranteed when Carrie locates her waitress but is taken hostage...


If you would like to read the first chapter of Shadows on the Sand, go HERE.

The last surviving tomato

I'm sad that there will be no garden vegetables this year. Nancy and Ronnie planted a garden, and their 3-year-old managed to pull up every plant when he was outside by himself one day. You can read about it on her blog here. Then I helped Nancy plant the garden again... and I'm not really sure what happened. I think Nancy said it was taken over by weeds or something.

Our only hope is this one lone tomato plant. When we planted the tomatoes in the garden I asked if I could have one to plant in a pot. I thought I was going to lose it to what looked like some kind of black spot disease at first, but it soon perked by up and started growing like crazy.

It has survived being invaded by fire ants, being pulled half way out of the dirt by the previously mentioned 3-year-old, and temperatures of more than 100 degrees. But it is flowering, so maybe we'll get some actual tomatoes at some point. At least we can hope!

Just to give you an idea of how humid it is here in the south... when I took my camera outside from the air conditioned house, the lens kept fogging up. No sooner would I wipe it off and focus before it would fog up again.

New job, new homeschool curriculum

Before I do anything else, I have an announcement. Are you ready?

I GOT A JOB!

I start tomorrow at a hospital in a county about 25 minutes from where I live. I will be working as a secretary in their professional services department. It's only PRN (part-time) right now, but the pay is good.

I want to thank everyone for their prayers. I have been looking for a job for a year but couldn't even seem to get a minimum wage job at a restaurant or retail establishment. That's because God had this job already in mind for me!

Although I am so happy to have a job, I am concerned about trying to homeschool, work, and be a single mom. Don't worry, though, with God's help I will do it! The great thing about homeschooling is that it can be done any time of day. My niece graduated from our homeschool this year and my oldest son will be 16 next month and is able to do most of his work independently. That means that my main concern is my 8-year-old son.

This was Adam a couple of years ago as he was learning how to use a calendar.

If you homeschool or are considering trying it, you have probably already started thinking about your curriculum for next year. I know I am, especially since I have to reconsider our schedules.

One of the things I have always been concerned about is instilling a love of learning in my children. My oldest son was in public school until half-way through his sixth grade year, and he hates school. Always has, and always will. I am not saying that every public school child will hate school... I know many who love it. I'm just saying it wasn't for him.
Unfortunately, since he is now working on high school courses like algebra, foreign language, and chemistry, there isn't a lot I can do to instill this love of learning if he hasn't found it already.

But I have a chance with my youngest son, who has never been to public school. When we first started homeschooling we used unit study courses. For the past couple of years we have been using more workbook/textbook oriented courses. These are okay, and they teach well, but I don't think they instill that love of learning as well.

I would love to go back to unit studies but unit studies take a lot of time and, let's face it, time is not going to be on my side now.

Still... I can't sacrifice my children's education. So I have decide to try out something new next year. Adam and I are going to do Beyond Five in a Row. It is a literature-based unit study curriculum that is also very economical for homeschoolers. I have met several homeschool families online who use this curriculum and they all seem to love it.

The Web site says this:  This is truly an academically rich curriculum taught in a way that encourages students to think, wonder, research, and quickly find a place to apply what they have learned. Best of all, Beyond Five in a Row students want to keep learning—no burn out here!


Beyond Five in a Row uses classic, but fun, chapter books as jumping off points to teach children about science, history, geography, and pretty much everything we will need except for math and phonics/grammar.

For those two subjects we will continue to use School of Tomorrow's Accelerated Christian Education. I'm not sure how I am going to find the time but I promise you... I will!

In a way it's a good thing that this new job is only part-time. It will enable me to ease into being away from the children again, and will allow us time to figure how to use our new curriculum. In time, I will look for another part-time job to supplement my income.

If anyone knows of any homeschooling resources for single parents, please let me know. I haven't found any but surely some exist.

So, has your family had any experience with Five in a Row? How has it gone for you?