The Curriculum Choice

Angie W

If you are vacationing on the Oregon Coast and happen upon a gal with a camera around her neck, a pink Letterboxing/Nature Journal backpack on her shoulder, and two handsome boys running along the trail - chances are you've found Petra School on a nature walk. Feel free to join on their adventure as they might be looking for a rare bird, a mushroom, or a good paved path to longboard. Angie is learning to incorporate Charlotte Mason learning into their Notebooking throughout the Middle and High School Learning Years.

Anomia (uh-NO-mee-uh) – Noun - Problem with word finding or recall. 2. Chaos. 3. The game where common knowledge becomes uncommonly fun!

I was in a Toy Store in Newport, Oregon, looking for Chemistry supplies while the boys played with all of the board games. You could hear them exclaim over games we no longer have, favorites of their friends, and their current champion status at a few. I ended up buying a Magnet set, and at the checkout the lady says, “You seem like a family that enjoys games, I bet I have one that you haven’t tried.” She whisks out a deck of cards and tells me the best way to learn, is to just start playing. In a few moments, we were all hooked!

What is included:

Anomia is for Players: 3-6 players, Ages 10 and up.
Goal: To win the most cards by facing-off with other players.
Cards: 2 decks. Each deck has 92 unique playing cards and 8 Wild Cards.
Duration: One round lasts about 30 minutes. Two rounds are suggested.
Vibe: It can be your turn at any time and anyone can be your opponent!

How we use it in our home/what we like about this curriculum:

The directions are simple. Draw a card from the center pile and flip it over. Does the symbol on your card match one on another player’s card? If so, you must quickly face-off with the other player by giving an example of the person, place, or thing on their card before they can do the same for yours. If you blurt out a correct answer first, you win their card and drawing continues. Sounds simple, right? Wrong!

We like the twist of vocabulary and quick thinking.
I like hearing the transition of players thinking they can’t – and then being challenged that they Can!
It is equally challenging (see definition of Anomia above) for all ages, it sort of levels the playing field. Reading Fruit on your card, and then Sci Fi Movie on the other, You are supposed to blurt out something like Star Wars, but all you can come up with is Banana.

Anomia is available at http://www.anomiapress.com/. We’d love it if you peeked at their Facebook Page and “liked” them! Anomia has won several awards, including: the Mensa Select Seal, the American Specialty Toy Retailers’ Association’s Best Toy For Kids 2010, The National Parenting Center Award and the Major Fun Award.

In summary:

We have played Anomia several times as a family, brought it to our home group time and played with the parents, and have played it with friends when they visit. Not one person has been unable to quickly grasp the game, and each player had huge smiles and grins while playing! We are always looking for ways to incorporate language, vocabulary and fun. Anomia fits the bill.

Now for the giveaway!

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You can find Angie and her boys at Petra School creating ways to fill the time between Math and bedtime, usually playing fun games!

Other related titles:

Rock and a Hard Place

I Will Carry You: The Sacred Dance of Grief and Joy

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From the Publishers:
For Instruction in Righteousness is a valuable tool that will help you, in specific ways, to fulfill each of these duties God has given us. Most chapters include each of the following sections:

What the Bible says will, or should, happen to a person who sins in this way, with ideas for discipline that parallel these Biblical consequences.
Instructions the Bible gives for repenting of this sin (newly added in this edition!)
What the Bible likens a person to when he indulges in this sin, and ideas for practical object lessons using these examples.
How God blesses the person who resists temptations to this sort of sin, with parallel ideas for “rewards” and encouragement when children show progress in overcoming this sin.
Stories and people in the Bible that illustrate obedience and disobedience in this area.
Fully quoted memory verses.

How we use it in our home/what we like about this curriculum:

It was in obedience to my mentor, and not confidence in the results, that first day I opened the shiny spiral bound inch-thick Topical Reference Guide for Biblical Child Training. My boys were ages two and five. So far, I had focused on disciplining their outward behavior, demanding obedience, “Because Mom Said”. I didn’t realize it at the time but I was raising children to look good to others in public. However, I spent little time training them to think of what God wanted them to be like. They were tiny, they didn’t know, boys would be boys, they were young, they were. . . well, I was filled with a zillion excuses.

The day I opened For Instruction in Righteousness, our parenting was changed forever. I can’t remember that first topic we looked into but I can imagine it might have been Complaining/Ingratitude. What I do remember was the response.

As we read Hosea 13:6 and wondered if we were forgetting about God when we complain, or 2 Timothy 3:2 when we talked of being lovers of ourselves which leads to not being thankful.
When we read the instruction of Philippians 2:14 and learned that we should do all without murmuring or disputing.
I could physically see the eyes shift from rebellion, to receiving instruction, to a change in awareness. The surprising thing, was that the transformation was almost instant – in my two-year-old son.
We talked through the “What happens or should happen to the complainer” and came up with a few consequences that would be established in the home to help them remember. We also read through “What Should the Complainer Do?” to give the children ways to overcome. Simple examples, like singing and giving thanks.
Throughout the week we read stories of those in the Bible that had dealt with complaining and ingratitude, and we emphasized the “Blessings of Gratefulness”.

I was astounded. I didn’t point fingers, raise my voice, threaten discipline, belittle, or heap on guilt and shame. It was just a wonderfully quiet time in the Word. The two-year-old got it – and I was hooked.

For Instructions in Righteousness is available at Doorposts – Bible-based parenting and character training material.

A Topical Reference Guide for Biblical Child-Training
Author: Pam Forster
Age: All ages
Spiral bound, 3rd edition
ISBN: 9781891206290
Pages: 376
Price: $36.00

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In summary: We have used this product for eight years, and continue to find it helpful on a regular basis. Join me, Angie Wright, at Petra School as we discuss how we looked at Laziness in the home using this resource.

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