***GUEST POST BY 4TH GRADE CRAIG***

In September, when Darla reviewed the excellent book, The Secret of Wellington’s Map, the PR folks for Planet of the Dogs contacted us and asked if Craig would be interested in reviewing it, since he’s the perfect age for the series. This is Craig’s first book review. I hope you’ll enjoy reading it, as much as I enjoyed the fact he finally got his nose in a book.

Planet of the Dogs, by Robert McCarty is a great book. This book is about two people from planet Earth helping the dogs on Planet of the Dogs to harvest their food. Then the dogs on Planet of the Dogs decide to help make peace on planet Earth when the Stone City warriors attacked Green Meadow on Earth.

My favorite character was a man named BIK (pronounced B-I-K.) I liked him because he was very active and caring for his friends and family.

My favorite part was at the end when they were in the woods and then the dogs started barking and then troops started chopping down trees and BIK told BIC — another captain — that he was in charge. Then BIK ran out to his children and he saw a crash site over a hill into water. BIK knew they could not swim, so he jumped down and saw two vicious dogs. He thought they killed Nikki and Nik, then he took a sword out of his picket and heard a deep voice say they did not kill your children they saved your children. He turned around and saw troops armed and then he booked across the river.

His children were there and they said, “We will give them back if you declare peace.” BIK reached in his pocket and took out a horn and blew it and then he said, “I declare peace.”

People my age who dogs would love this book. I recommend it!

What does passing the torch mean to you? Is it teaching? Passing traditions? Or good news about youth? Join us each week for Pass the Torch Tuesday.Former PTT posts.

A couple years ago I found a lot of Harry Potter science kits on eBay. I think they were premium kits available to club members or something. For the past two years we’ve been picking away at the experiments, and the kids love it. The experiments require basic household materials in addition to the mild chemicals and ingredients included in the kits. This experiment created some kind of goo, and then explained why the substance changed form.

Of course, their favorite part of the experiment is using the wand and saying some Potter-like expression. I figure anything that gets them curious about learning is a good thing.

I know the kids will return to school again in three weeks - it makes me a little sad to realize we won’t have time to do this kind of thing again until next summer…

Good news about youth and the adults who empower them:
Leap of Faith
Creating Quality Time by Ignoring the Clock
My Way Isn’t the Only Way

What does passing the torch mean to you? Is it teaching? Passing traditions? Or good news about youth? Join us each week for Pass the Torch Tuesday.Former PTT posts.

After our letterboxing excursion in Mankato earlier this summer, our family visited the Jeffers Petroglyphs in southern Minnesota. The Petroglyphs are rock carvings that date back up to 12,000 years.

The petroglyphs are found on a large flat group of rock outcroppings on the top of a hill in the southern Minnesota countryside. It’s surrounded by prairie and cropland.

But on the surface of the rock, you’ll find hundreds of carvings. This is a thunderbird.

This one is a turtle. The ideal time to see the petroglyphs is at sunset when the shadows are long. In the bright sun, most of the carvings almost disappear.

Here Craig is learning to use the Atlatl, which predates the bow and arrow. This is how early American Indians hunted buffalo.

The educational center had many hands-on items for kids to touch and learn from. Did you know the early Americans used the lining of buffalo stomach to cook their food?

And who can hold buffalo horns without hamming it up for the camera?

For more information about the Jeffers Petroglyphs, visit the Minnesota Historical Society.

Southern Minnesota series:

Letterboxing in Mankato
Jeffers Petroglyphs
Sod House
Prairie Wildflowers

For More Wordless Wednesday, please go here or here.

Congratulations to our winners! And please consider asking your local library to carry these fantastic resources. Librarians are often looking for recommendations from their patrons.

The winner of Great Colonial Projects You Can Build Yourself is Comment #187 – Tamara Bennington

And the winner of Tools of the Ancient Greeks is Comment # 3 - Cindi

Thanks everyone for playing!

I have two outstanding Kris Bordessa books to give away this week. These are excellent resources for anyone wanting to boost kids’ interest in history. Both books are project-oriented and make learning fun. Kris writes in an easy-to-understand and interesting way, sharing little-known facts about each historical era. Illustrations make the projects straight-forward - most needing very few materials to complete.

I’ve written about the colonial decoding project Darla made with Pringle’s cans. This project was one of dozens of hands-on activities in Great Colonial Projects You Can Build Yourself. Did you know that spies were crucial to the colonists, and a large part of the reason we won the American Revolution? We also made a secret mask for messages and had fun giving each other notes to decode.

My son’s favorite project was creating and using an abacus. He learned how to do this by reading one of the 15 activities in Tools of the Ancient Greeks: A Kid’s Guide to the History & Science of Life in Ancient Greece. It was eye-opening to read about the incredible contributions the ancient Greeks made to science and technology.

Lucky for you, I’m giving away one copy of each of these books (two winners.) They’re recommended for ages nine and up. Our kids are 9 and 11, and both books were a perfect fit for reading level and interest.

To be considered for the contest, please leave a explaining which book you would like the most, and how you would use it. You can participate even if you don’t have a blog. Just make sure you leave a working email when you leave your comment. I’ll choose the winner at random after 5 p.m. CST on Friday, August 1. US addresses only. Thanks for stopping by!

We host regular giveaways for parents and educators. Please consider signing up for updates by email or feed. We will never spam you or give out your address.

Be sure to check out all the giveaways this week a the Bloggy Giveaways Carnival! This post is a part of this week’s Carnival of Homeschoolers, as well as the Carnival of Cool Homeschoolers. Both offer a wealth of information. Be sure to check them out!

When I was contacted to review Kris Bordessa’s excellent hands-on history books, I was thrilled. The timing was perfect, as we’d planned to do some light homeschooling throughout the summer months.

Earlier this week, I wrote about the decoding project we did from Great Colonial Projects You Can Build Yourself. But my son’s favorite project was this abacus he learned how to make and calculate with from Tools of the Ancient Greeks: A Kid’s Guide to the History & Science of Life in Ancient Greece.

My nine-year-old easily read the interesting Greek history behind the abacus, as well as the directions for gathering the materials and making one. It took us a little while to figure out how to calculate, but that was half the fun. And showing adults how he can use it is one of his greatest pleasures.

Fun project and awesome book! (Watch for giveaways for both of these books in the next week!)