Archive for Education

School’s Coming! – Avery Products Review

School’s Coming!  Are you ready? Avery graciously sent me 3 products to review.  Here is product #1.

Avery® Heavy-Duty View Binder with 1″ One Touch EZD™ Ring

One-touch operation, no-gap rings and everyday durability—that’s what you get with this Heavy-Duty View Binder. The One Touch EZD™ rings’ special design makes opening and closing the rings easy. And Gap Free™ rings close up firmly to keep your important paperwork securely inside. Even when filled to its 275-page capacity, this binder still has four stacked pockets for a bit of extra space inside the covers. Cover material is PVC-free polypropylene. Made with 100% recycled chipboard. With sturdy construction and innovative features, this binder has a lot to offer.”

“ONE TOUCH EZD Ring for Extra Capacity, Holds over 40% more paper than round ring, Gap Free Guaranteed, Smooth page turning, Four Pockets available in most versions, easy open and close with one touch, cover material is PVC free”
Product #2

Avery® Big Tab™ Two-Pocket Insertable Plastic Dividers, 8-Tab Set

Strong organization and storage capabilities are yours with the help of these Big Tab™ Two-Pocket Insertable Plastic Dividers. Each divider features double plastic pockets, one on each side of the divider, to provide extra storage space for your important papers. The Big Tab™ design allows you to use larger fonts or more lines of text than on typical inserts for easier reading or more detailed labeling. Use a free template from avery.com to print tabs titles onto the included label sheets using your computer and printer. The tabs’ unique design keeps inserts from falling out, so your dividers stay securely labeled. Constructed with durable plastic, these dividers offer lasting organization in a big way.”
Product #3
“Avery® Desk Style HI-LITER® , Yellow, Pack of 2
Call out bright ideas with appropriately bright color. With this HI-LITER® set, you can mark key words and phrases with brilliant fluorescent yellow that is nontoxic. The molded chisel tip lets you highlight or underline, and the durable plastic tip won’t fray or mush. A faceted barrel provides a comfortable grip, so you can wield the highlighter with ease as you mark documents, notes, books and more. And, the improved formula means you can leave the cap off for up to a week and still highlight with ease. Trust the original highlighter.
My Review:
I always cringe with I snap the rings on a binder back together.  If you’ve ever gotten your fingers in the way, you know what I mean.  With this Avery binder, no cringing needed!  The binder closes very smooth and opens easily.  Paper fit nicely even with the binder tabs.  Moving on to the Binder Tabs the bigger tabs to write or type on are great!  I would always run out of room or have to squish a word.  Not anymore.  And who doesn’t love Hi-Liters!  I’m always using them for one purpose or another.  I definitely recommend Avery products!  Please visit their website at avery.com
Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

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Book Review ~ You Can Count on Monsters

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

 

You Can Count on Monsters by: Richard Evan Schwartz

You Can Count on Monsters by Richard Evan Schwartz: Book Cover

Theresa already reviewed this book…but we thought it would be nice to do a second review, since I was also given a copy for our family.

 

OUR REVIEW:

This is a cute little book! The premise of the book is to teach about prime numbers and factoring…the book goes through the numbers 1-100. The author states that the only thing you need to know in order to enjoy this book is how to multiply whole numbers together, like 2 and 3. My daughter (7) is just getting into multiplication so this book is a bit conceptually advanced for her…but we did find that it could be used for simple counting lessons for my 2 and 5 year old. My children LOVE the pictures of the monsters…this is what got them interested in the book and numbers. I think that they would have been disinterested had there been simply numbers and facts. The monster theme made the book for my children.

 

As a mother I liked the book immensely! I was glad that the book had a use for my 2 and 5 year old as well as my 7 year old! I like that the book has a second use of numbers and silly pictures to entertain my younger children while being able to teach my older child about simple mathematical facts. This book gets 5 stars from our family!

Check out the authors website for more information as well as other published books.

http://www.richardevanschwartz.com/

 


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You Can Count On Monsters

You Can Count on Monsters is a fun new educational book for children that is designed to teach children math.

My children really liked this book. They enjoyed the fun illustrations and they liked the concept of finding the monsters. Inside this book the author gives the number for the monster and then children have to look for that monster in the pictures. I found the pictures confusing, but perhaps that is because I’m not used to abstract art.

The math that is taught in this book is basic multiplication and the building blocks of numbers. Children will be taught prime numbers and fractions in a fun, yet educational way that all parents can appreciate.

All in all my children like this little book and it’s a great way to teach your children math.

You can find this book online at- amazon.com

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.


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Math Blaster Giveaway

Most people either love Math or hate it. I fall somewhere in between. However, I have children who fall on either side of this love-hate relationship with Math. That’s why I try to come up with different ways to teach basic Math skills so that we can keep as fun as possible. It works most of the time.

Math Blaster is one of those new different ways that we have discovered that our children love to do Math on! Well, at least the section that has the Math problems on it, as there is a section that seems to be rather lacking in the Math department. My boys have found away around the math problems (they always do!), but they did have fun doing the math problems.

Math Blaster is very easy to use. My sons go on it with no help at all. It’s a great way to get your kids to do “extra” math while having fun!

Our children were eager to play Math Blaster and enjoyed it very much. Now you have a chance to win this fun way to help your children have fun while practicing their Math skills!

Giveaway!!


Enter to win A three month membership to Math Blaster!!

Mandatory Entry: Tell me why you want to win!

Extra Entries (Please be sure and leave a comment and link for extra entries):

1 Entry:Follow Faith and Family Reviews On Twitter

1 Entry:Like/Friend Faith and Family Reviews on Facebook.

2 Entries: Follow Faith and Family Reviews on Google Friend Connect (on the our right side bar).

2 Entries: Tweet about this giveaway. Up to three tweets per day. Include a separate comment for each and your tweet url with your comment. You may write your own tweet or use this one:

Enter to win a 3 month membership to Math Blaster! http://bit.ly/mMTs8L @faithfamilyrevw! Please share!

5 Entries: Blog about this giveaway and link back this post.

1 Entry: For every comment you leave anywhere else on this blog, but please leave a link with your comment!

Details:

This giveaway will run from June 4th-to June 19th, 2011 at midnight CST. The winner will be chosen through Random.org. Math Blaster will send one winner their prize. Winner will be contacted via email on or before June 19th, 2011 and will be asked for their contact and other pertinent info. Winners will have 48 hours to send me their e-mail at [ffr] [giveaways] [at] [gmail] [dot] [com] (without spaces and parenthesis). Please note: This giveaway is offered to USA and Canada only.

Thanks and have fun!

I was provided with a membership good for Math Blaster and Knowledge Adventure at no cost by Knowledge Adventure in order to test the products’ abilities and give my own personal opinions on it. The opinions I have given are mine and may differ from others but were not influenced by the company or the free product provided.”


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Van School – Wordless Wednesday

And time for riding bikes, playing cards and just relax’n…


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The Night Night Book Review

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

“Bestselling author Marianne Richmond, continuing in the vein of her other books such as If I Could Keep You Little, creates vibrant, eye-catching art and beautiful verses in The Night Night Book (Sourcebooks: ISBN 978-1-9340-8290-4).  This tender, evocative picture book brings the entire family together as the perfect story before bed.”

“Sure to become a new bedtime classic, this book takes readers on a tour of the house as everyone settles in.  Whimsical artwork and comforting scenes show kids it’s time to say goodnight.  Filled with text and illustrations that exemplify Marianne’s real insights into the human spirit, The Night Night Book is a must have bedtime accessory for any parent.”

“Comfy bed,

all tucked in.

Cozy blanket,

toes to chin.

Night night sky.

Night night moon.

Dear tomorrow,

see you soon!”

“The ideal way to wrap up a day with your child, The Night Night Book is an adorable bedtime story the helps kids and parents bid farewell to the day, settle in for the night, and rest up for a new tomorrow.”

About Marianne Richmond:

“Marianne Richmond started her own greeting card company (Marianne RStudios, Inc.) and has become a recognized creator of numerous books that celebrate milestone in life, memorable journeys, and relationships.  Since her first book in 1997, Gift of An Angel, write and artist Marianne Richmond has touched the lives of millions over the past decade through her line of greeting cards and gift books.”

My Review:

My, daughter, husband and I sat down last night and read this book before bed.   This book was perfect for us because we say night night and our daughter understands what it means.  We all enjoyed it!  My daughter loves the illustrations as she pointed out various object and animals throughout the book.  It was a good learning tool also.  We asked her where the stars were on a page and she would point them out.  It was just long enough to keep her attention and start relaxing for the night.

I know I’ve said and I’ll say it again, great baby shower gift!  I would recommend this book for you and your little ones as a great bonding tool!  It’s available now!   We will be reading it again tonight and in the future for sure.


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Yoga by the Dozen DVD Review & Giveaway

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

“Discover an exercise that fosters respect, coordination, and self-confidence for kids!  It’s Yoga, of course!  Children are natural yogis because of their “in the moment attitude”.  Yoga nourishes their mind, body and spirit and paves the way for a life-long tradition of health and fitness.

Yoga By The Dozen™promotes a healthy lifestyle for kids through their highly acclaimed ‘Yoga By The Dozen’ DVD and their complete line of lifestyle products for yoga.  The top-selling DVD is a fun, interactive children’s yoga video, designed especially for kids ages 2-6.  JoAnna and her 12 friends demonstrate a ‘dozen’ fundamental poses that will introduce your children into the exciting world of Yoga.”

Key Benefits:

  • Increase Cognitive & Motor skills
  • Confidence, Courage and Self-Esteem
  • Balance & Coordination
  • Memory Retention and Concentration
  • Nurture Creativity and Self Expression
  • Respect for themselve and each other
  • Proven therapy for kids with ADHD and Autism

About JoAnna Ross:  “Founder of Yoga By The Dozen™ was trained at City Yoga in Anusara teach-training program.  A life long performer, having danced on Broadway for years, found her natural charisma as a performer instantly clicked with kids.”

My Review:  I discovered a few things about myself when reviewing “Yoga by the Dozen”.  I need A LOT of practice, I have little balance and no flexibility. 

My daughter (2 years old) and I put on “Yoga by the Dozen”, she loved it!  Watching the children on the DVD (who are little older than her) bend and stretch their bodies into poses.  She was following along (she’s needs to work on her balance too, must be a family trait) and trying to say the different poses on the DVD.  She’s a big fan of the Virabhadrasana #3 (Warrior #3 Pose).   The DVD is approximately 30 minutes.  JoAnna demonstrates the pose first and then one of the children replicates the pose to refresh the other children.  Then the whole class does the pose together.  I enjoyed watching the kids, they are all really enjoying themselves in the DVD.  We are going to continue practicing our yoga!

This is a wonderful DVD for beginning adults and children of all ages.  On the “Yoga by the Dozen” website www.yogabythedozen.com, you can also visit their store, they have yoga mats and yoga t-Shirts for kids and adults; and don’t forget your video for only 17.99 (plus s&h). 

“Yoga by the Dozen” was generous enough to enable Faith & Family Reviews to host a giveaway!!

Giveaway

Enter to win a Yoga by the Dozen dvd! Estimated value $17.99

Mandatory Entry: Tell me why you want to win!

Extra Entries (Please be sure and leave a comment and link for extra entries):

1 Entry:Follow Faith and Family Reviews On Twitter

1 Entry: Follow Yoga by the Dozen on Twitter

1 Entry:Like/Friend Faith and Family Reviews on Facebook.

1 Entry: Like Yoga by the Dozen on Facebook and leave a comment on their wall saying- Faith and Family Reviews sent me.

2 Entries: Follow Faith and Family Reviews on Google Friend Connect (on the our right side bar).

2 Entries: Tweet about this giveaway, but only one tweet per day please. Include your tweet url with your comment. You may write your own tweet or use this one:

Giveaway: Enter to win a dvd from Yoga by the Dozen! http://bit.ly/h5C1CB @faithfamilyrevw! Please share! Thx!

5 Entries: Blog about this giveaway and link back this post and Yoga by the Dozen

1 Entry: for every comment you leave anywhere else on this blog, but please leave a link with your comment!

Details:
This giveaway will run from April 8th, 2011 to April 21st , 2011 at midnight CST. The winner will be chosen through Random.org. Yoga by the Dozen will send one winner their prize. Winner will be contacted via email on or before May 1st, 2011 and will be asked for their contact and other pertinent info. Winners will have 48 hours to send me their e-mail at [ffr] [giveaways] [at] [gmail] [dot] [com] (without spaces and parenthesis). Please note: This giveaway is offered to USA only.

Thanks and have fun!


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ABCmouse.com Review

This past year we have streamlined our homeschooling to mostly online programs (approx. 80%). It has helped tremendously since I have been working more. Recently we had the opportunity to try ABCmouse.com – Kids Ages 2-6 – Click here to get your First Month Free!, a subscription based site that allows for up to four children’s accounts on one parent account for about $7.95/month. I have to say that I am mostly impressed with ABCmouse.com. It is geared towards preschooler and kindergarten age children, but all my children under 10 have been very eager to help the younger children! It is not only educational, but fun too! A bonus since we want our children to love to learn.

The pull for the children is the fact that they can earn tickets for the school work they do and then use those tickets to buy things for their virtual bedroom or other rooms. They have so much fun decorating and shopping! This reward system does not cost anything extra, it is just a part of the ABCmouse.com – Over 3,000 Educational Activities – First Month Free – Click here!. Therefore, our younger children are learning about money too, even it it is with a materialistic slant.

The school work includes learning sounds, letters, colors, numbers and counting. There are different subjects (reading, math, the world around us, art & colors, music, library, puzzles, games) to choose from or the parent can assign lessons for each day. There are six levels on ABCmouse.com: Levels 1-6, which a couple of my children are starting over. Very good for my now 4 year old son in preparation for teaching him to read. (Updated 3-18-12)

The music and voices on ABCmouse.com are very uplifting and encouraging. There is no condescension in the instructors at all. There are a lot of the old nursery rhymes that I remember my grandmother singing to me on there that bring back fond memories.

Samples of songs, like the “A” song are available on iTunes.com if you would like to preview the music.

The So-Called Negatives

The only so-called negatives in our minds are the requirement of the children’s birth dates when you sign your child up, which my husband and I are very reluctant to provide and would rather not give at all. Then the children showed me a tiki in the fish tank, which they call a tiki god and I liken it to a totem pole. These are very minor things and do not affect the overall success of the learning my children have gained from ABCmouse.com. My four year old knows her abc’s much better than she did before she started the program and she knows how to count better too. She has consistently earned high marks on her work. (Update 3-18-12: I really believe this program fully prepared my daughter, now 5, how to read. I started her on our reading program in January 2012 and she is half way done. She is doing extremely well and I credit ABCMouse for the success we have achieved so far!)

ABCmouse.com - Kids Ages 2-6 – Click here to get your First Month Free!

My three year old still needs help with using the computer mouse, but I think he is just so easy going that it is second nature to him to let his older siblings do it for him while he tells them the answer. My four year old and seven year old both knew how to use a computer mouse at age 2!

Overall Grade

Our children simply love it and are eager to do “school” with ABCmouse.com and as I said, I am very impressed with the quality of the program as well as the content. We give this educational site a two thumbs up for an overall grade!

For more information about ABCmouse.com – Full Online Preschool-Kindergarten- First Month Free – Click here!

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.


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St. Patrick’s Day!

I’m far from Irish, but like many other people I will be Irish for a day!  I’ve got my corned beef & cabbage in the slow cooker.  So, join in on the fun!  

Who is St. Patrick?

http://familyfun.go.com/st-patricks-day/st-patricks-day-history-971546/
People all over the world celebrate on the 17th day of March in honor of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. Some cities have parades, most revelers wear green, and a few families commemorate the day with traditional Irish fare for their meal. However, everyone may not know who St. Patrick is.

Born in Britain during the 4th century, St. Patrick was kidnapped and enslaved by Irish raiders when he was a teenager. Although he was able to escape after six years and become a priest in Britain, he later chose to return to Ireland as a missionary, in order to help spread the teachings of Christianity to pagans. According to Irish folklore, he also used a shamrock to explain the Christian concept of Trinity to the Irish. In spite of continuous opposition from pagan leaders, he continued to evangelize for thirty years while baptizing newly converted Christians and establishing monasteries, churches, and schools. He died on March 17th and was canonized by the local church.

St. Patrick’s Day was first publicly celebrated in Boston in 1737 where a large population of Irish immigrants resided. Nearly 200 years later, the first St. Patrick’s Dayparade in the Irish Free State was held in Dublin in 1931. During the mid 90’s, the Irish government also began a campaign to promote tourism in Ireland on March 17th.

While many Catholics still quietly celebrate this day of religious observance by going to mass, St. Patrick’s Day slowly evolved to become a celebration of Irish heritage. Through the years, along with legendary shamrocks, many symbols were included in festivities that are reflective of Ireland’s folklore, culture, and national identity (think leprechauns, ethnic cuisine, and wearing green).Other places that join in on this celebration include Japan, New Zealand, Argentina, and Canada, along with many cities across the United States.

Here’s a fun family dessert for everyone to help out with also from Family Fun Magazine!  I’ve made them, and they are really cute!   http://familyfun.go.com/st-patricks-day/st-patricks-day-recipes/st-patricks-day-desserts/clover-cupcakes-687369/

Clover Cupcakes

 From FamilyFun Magazine

Clover Cupcakes

It doesn’t take the luck of the Irish to make these St. Patty’s Day treats look so sweet — just a clever baking technique.

Ingredients
  • Cupcake batter
  • Cupcake tins and liners
  • Aluminum foil
  • White frosting
  • Green food coloring
  • Toothpick
  • Green licorice (we used Twizzlers Rainbow Twists sold in a pack with other colors)

Instructions
  1. Place paper liners in 32 standard muffin cups, then fill each halfway with the batter.
  2. Clover Cupcakes - Step 2 For each cupcake, roll three balls of foil (ours were 2/3 inch in diameter) and insert them evenly around the perimeter between the liner and the tin, as shown.
  3. Bake the cupcakes for a few minutes less than the package suggests (because there’s less batter per cup than usual), or until a toothpick comes out clean.
  4. Allow the cupcakes to cool, then remove them from the tin.
  5. Cover each with green frosting (our ratio was 1 teaspoon of green food coloring to one 16-ounce can of white frosting).
  6. Use a toothpick to draw leaf veins, and insert a 2-inch-long piece of green licorice for a stem.

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Orchids and Greenhouses

by David Niblack

“We have someone new!”

The leader’s voice broke through the speakers. I had crept in late, hoping no one would notice me.

“Stand up and tell us your name and where you go to school!” the speakers boomed.

“My name is David and… I don’t go to school— I’m homeschooled.”

“What was that?”

“I said, I am homeschooled—I am taught at home.” I replied.

The leader squinted, trying to place me. After a pause, the voice resumed. “OK, cool! Did you say `homesachooled?’ Let’s give an applause!”

After the lesson, the assembly broke apart, drifting into little groups bubbling with laughter and exclamations that rose over the background music. I knew nothing of Jennifer Knapp and had not been to the high school football game. I was clueless of the upcoming prom or the latest air-filter add-on for 4×4 enthusiasts. My peers spoke a language that was nearly incomprehensible to me. Quietly, I escaped out the side door.

I didn’t realize at the time that what was causing my awkwardness in the popular youth culture would build a sanctuary for my faith. As a pioneer homeschooler I was “weird” to my public school counterparts, but little did I know I was on the front edge of a movement that would give a radically new freedom for young people to live out their faith.

Homeschooling has provided my generation with a greenhouse for their faith. Greenhouses are different than conservatories. In conservatories, plants grow all their lives indoors because they are never able to withstand life outdoors. Greenhouses serve a different purpose. The gardener places the plants he wants to grow strong into the greenhouse where fragile limbs and roots can grow form. When the plant is strong, the gardener can confidently move it outside where the plant will withstand even the harshest conditions.

After high school, I attended a liberal arts Christian college in southern California where I met Nathan. He was a greenhouse homeschooler. Raised in a logging town in northern California, I could tell he was more comfortable in the woods than in the trendy sunglasses-and-palm-tree life on campus. He wore plaid shirts, a big belt, and wire-rimmed glasses. His straight-leg blue jeans ended right above his ankle, creating an awkward gap between the hem of his pants and the top of his hiking boots.

I assumed he was a “sheltered homeschooler” until the day I slid my meal tray next to his in the cafeteria and spent half an hour hearing his story. Politics were his passion, and he had worked in elections and interned at the state capital. He had a vision of life that transcended the whims and trends of youth culture. Beneath his unassuming exterior was an articulate man of courage who as a freshman in college was already having a godly political influence in our state. I saw that he was out of tune with the popular youth culture; he simply played in a different orchestra.

The “independence” of today’s adolescent is a misnomer. So often breaking away of the emerging generation is not fresh independence but simply a transfer of the old dependence; from family and parents to the popular dictates of the youth culture. Few are free to be who they really are, and I had met no one as free as Nathan. As I listened, I realized that his plaid shirt and too-short blue jeans were not a mark of oddity, but a badge of freedom. This young man was free. Free to wear what he wanted, free to act as he wanted, and most importantly, free to live his faith unhindered by the pressures of the popular youth culture.

The next spring I discovered how God used this same freedom in my life. I was invited to speak to the staff at a summer camp the week before camp started. The staff lounge was quiet, and my hands were trembling as I awkwardly opened my Bible to give the message. Camp counselors intimidated me; they were often the loud, popular types, full of energy, jokes, and spiritual savvy.

I was nervous, but started speaking. Stillness came over the room and I noticed the counselors’ expressions change. Their faces are unforgettable; the deep look in their eyes, brows furrowed in thought, and I could tell something was stirring a deep spiritual hunger. I closed with a prayer. The room was quiet and hushed. “So that is what they are teaching you at Bible school, eh?” one of them asked me. What a hard question.

I only said, “Yes, I have some very good classes and I’m learning a lot.” But the answer was hollow. I wish I could have told him that in fourth grade my parents took me out of school and taught me at home because I was bored with the tedious pace at school. I wish I could have told him what life was like growing up in an environment set apart from the world of my peers. I wish I could have told him how, when camping with the Boy Scouts, I was so shocked at the locker-room jokes and stories of the other boys that I buried my head in my sleeping bag clutching my little New Testament close to hide my tears for friends that did not know God.

I wish I could have told him how difficult it was getting older and reaching the place where I was starving for an identity, rejecting the identity of my parents, and yet unable to find one with my peers or my school and being driven to find the purpose of who I am in God. I wish I could have told him what it was like being homeschooled in a house with no TV and being clueless of Seinfeld, Friends or Jim Carrey, and instead discovering Dickens, Shackleton, and John Piper.

I wish I could have told him how it felt to hear the stories of high schoolers – their stories of proms, of dating, of honor classes – and to go home and do school work that night with my parents. I wish I could have told him what it meant to have a life where God had drawn me to live away from what was popular so that I could learn to listen to Him long enough to find the freedom of being different. Homeschooling may have made me “weird” but it gave me the chance to find joy in the voice of God. This is what gave me the heart to preach; Bible school gave me the tools to make it possible.

At a volume unparalleled in history, our world screams with distractions into the lives of young people. Under the mask of “be independent!” and “be yourself!” is a machine-like pressure to conform to cultural norms set by TV, advertising, and peer pressure. Add to this the educational “success-at-all-costs” philosophy of a materialistic worldview and my generation is driven to live lives of shallow busyness that produce spiritual deafness to the voice of God.

We have loud worship music, dynamic youth speakers, and engaging cell groups, but where is the place of silent isolation where the heart can yearn for the presence of God? The explosion of homeschooling in America, with now over a million participants, can create that sacred ground, and is doing so in the lives of hundreds of young people in my generation.

But this explosion doesn’t mean homeschooling is a quick-fix fad. In fact, the trend is thousands of years old. King David was homeschooled. His brothers attended the King’s the best generals. David was taught by the bleating of sheep. But between the lectures of sheep and the whisper of the Judean wilderness winds, David learned to hear something else. He learned to hear God.

He grew so strong in the greenhouse of the lonely pastures, that when he went to the battlefield not even Goliath was a match for his fibers of faith. The author of the best-selling devotional book of all time did not attend a prestigious Bible school and was not accepted by his peers. But he had learned in the wilderness what it meant to hunger and thirst after God.

Two years later I was invited to speak in the youth group. I preached my heart, and to my surprise the kids listened. Eyes wide open, brows furrowed, and that same yearning depth dancing across their faces. I later overheard one of the kids talking. “Whoa, we normally go to youth group to have fun, but he made it so real it was scary…” His words were satisfying. I felt I had connected. Almost like a mini homecoming. I chatted for a while before I left. And this time I used the main doors.

This article was republished with permission. David Niblack is a homeschool graduate and now a Chicago area pastor. You may read more about David Niblack at his website: http://davidniblack.com/site/?p=21


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