Introducing DKfindout

About a week ago, DK has launched an exciting new online learning resource for kids, parents, teachers and educators of all kinds.    Personally, I think it is a fabulous website for homeschoolers.   The site is called DKfindout   and between you and I, I think the name fits perfectly.    This website took nearly two years in the making.   DKfindout is a global education website that brings together DK's unrivalled collection of amazing images and expertly researched text to create a safe - and useful - online learning environment!   It caters to visual learners of all ages – and is perfect to learn more without the kids realizing…   This amazing free website allows people to create their own journey of discovery and learn remarkable facts along the way.

The best part is that it is accessible on all devices, iPad, phone, laptop and computer!  So no matter where you are, you can easily swing by DKfindout and learn (assuming that you are in a free wifi area or you have coverage on your device). 

When you get to the website you will see this screen.  You can either select a theme or type in what you are looking for. 

  Further down the page, you can go to videos, answer questions on quizzes, what galleries of photos, discover what’s new on the site, learn fun facts and even have your own folder of stuff to read about.

Since we are going to study China with our coop at the end of March, I thought it would be interesting to do a search on China.   Here’s the different subjects we can explore on China on this website – The Great Wall today, Kingdom of Ancient China, more Chinese inventions, Ancient China, The Great Wall of China, Chinese printing, more Chinese pottery, Chinese farming, Chinese trade, what the Chinese traded, the First Emperor, Chinese pottery, the Terra-cotta Army, Chinese junk, Confucius, Chinese writing, Chinese paper-making, Chinese Dress, Chinese family life, Chinese inventions, giant panda, and Chinese medicine.     The search also brought up Richard Nixon, measuring earthquakes, parts of a flower, what is a fish?, what is a mammal? and leaves.  I suspect that China is mentioned in these articles. 

Below is an example of my search on China – more specifically how the Great Wall of China was built.   On the image, you can see labels which allows the person navigating the site to discover more about specific words related to the search.

I am very impressed with this site and I think it is a wonderful site to explore with your kids when studying a specific theme.    I highly recommend DKfindout to anyone who love to learn.

CONTEST TIME…

One of my readers will be able to get a DKfindout tote bag.  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

Disclaimer: Thanks to DK Canada for the opportunity of having a giveaway. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.

Esther

Esther – Royal Beauty
Written by Angela Hunt
Published at Bethany House

About the book

When an ambitious tyrant threatens genocide against the Jews, an inexperienced young queen must take a stand for her people.

When Xerxes, king of Persia, issues a call for beautiful young women, Hadassah, a Jewish orphan living in Susa, is forcibly taken to the palace of the pagan ruler. After months of preparation, the girl known to the Persians as Esther wins the king's heart and a queen's crown. But because her situation is uncertain, she keeps her ethnic identity a secret until she learns that an evil and ambitious man has won the king's permission to exterminate all Jews--young and old, powerful and helpless. Purposely violating an ancient Persian law, she risks her life in order to save her people...and bind her husband's heart.

My Thoughts

In this biblical fiction, you will discover how Angela Hunt views the life of Hadassah a.k.a. Queen Esther was in the time of the ruling of Xerxes, King of Persia.   Through the pages of the this book, you will be transported in the time of the ruling of Xerxes and the event that will bring young Hadassah to become Queen Esther.   This book also novelize the story behind the plot to kill the Jews and ultimately how Esther herself put her life in danger in order to save her own people.

I don’t mind historical fiction but I am a bit uneasy on taking a biblical story and novelize it.   Though I must admit that reading this book makes you wonder if her life was like the one portrayed in the novel.   The author was able to portray the life in Persia and compared the Persian women with their Jewish neighbors.  You can see the differences of lifestyle and almost smell the odors from the market.  You can close your eyes and visualize the life of the queen, how the parties were thrown and even be a witness of the life of the slaves in the palace.

As much as I admire the fact that the author has penned a great story around a well known biblical account, I ponder on the purpose of doing so.   I am torn inside between sticking to the book of Esther in the Bible and allowing my mind to venture into what might have been to be in her shoes, how life was in an harem, what Hadassah really thought so many years ago and what life was for her as a queen.  How did she really interact with the king?  Did she really loved him?    What was her feeling at every steps of her life?    Part of me would prefer to personally imagine it.  Part of me enjoys having the novelize version of Angela Hunt. 

If you enjoy historical fiction – more specifically biblical historical fiction – I think you will enjoy Esther – Royal Beauty.

Esther is available for purchase at your favourite bookstore, even amazon.ca and amazon.com.

  

Kindle Edition

  

Disclaimer: The book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. for review purposes. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.

Miracle on Voodoo Mountain

Miracle On Voodoo Mountain – A Young Woman’s Remarkable Story of Pushing Back the Darkness for the Children of Haiti
By Megan Boudreaux
Published at Thomas Nelson

About the book

"It took months of God waking me up in the middle of the night before I realized I was the one He was calling to leave my comfortable American life and move to Haiti."

Miracle on Voodoo Mountain is the inspirational memoir of an accomplished and driven 24-year old who quit her job, sold everything, and moved to Haiti, by herself-all without a clear plan of action. Megan Boudreaux had visited Haiti on a few humanitarian trips but each trip multiplied the sense that someone needed to address the devastation-especially with the children, many of whom were kept as household slaves on the poverty-stricken and earthquake-devastated Caribbean island.

God guided her every step as she moved blindly to a foreign land without knowing the language, the people, or the future. From becoming the adoptive mother of former child slaves, to receiving the divine gift of the Haitian Creole language, to starting, building, and running a school for more than 500 children, "the amazingness of what God did after I made the choice to be obedient is incredible," said Megan.

Three years later, six acres on Bellevue Mountain in Gressier is the home of the nonprofit Respire Haiti at the former site of voodoo worship, and in the area that many still come to make animal sacrifices, Megan and her staff of nearly 200 are transforming this community as they educate, feed, and address the needs.

Who is Megan Boudreaux?

Megan Boudreaux, at the age of 24, founded Respire Haiti, a non-profit to fight for the freedom of Haiti's estimated 300,000 child slaves. Megan followed God's call to begin a feeding program and transform a barren hillside into a refuge and a school for 500 children. A medical clinic is nearing completion with future plans for a church, community center, and library. Megan has adopted four Haitian children and in 2013 she married her best friend, Josh Anderson.

My Thoughts

When I saw this book available for review I was immediately curious because it was about how a young woman has decided to follow God in a country that was in turmoil in order to help kids.   She left everything that she knew about and move to Haiti in an area she had previously went to on a Mission trip.   I love real stories of people selflessly leaving everything behind and going where God has asked them to go.    So I didn’t hesitate a seconds and got the book in ebook format in order for me to immediately start the reading. 

And I got hooked from the first few pages I read.   I was able to read this book within a week – which is a miracle nowadays when you homeschool your four kids and incorporate regular activities in the mix.    And let me tell you that this book will allow you to see God on the move when we seem to doubt about it (well in North America anyway).   God was with Megan Boudreaux from the time she had the dreams through her moving in Haiti, giving her the gift of speaking and understanding Creole, providing for her needs above and beyond she could even imagine, giving her kids, a husband, a ministry that is thriving and much more.   

Reading this book gave me goose bumps and made me dream of bringing my kids on a mission trip in the future.  We have seen God moving when my husband and I were part of a mission trip in Dominican Republic back in 2005.  We know that He is faithful to provide for needs we have.  We believe that He wants us to bring our kids on a mission trip and I trust that He will provide for this to happen.  The story of Megan Boudreaux is touching, real and will bring you in awe of how God can provide.

If you like biographies and stories of how God move in order to bless kids and adults, this book is definitively one that I highly recommend. 

Miracle on Voodoo Mountain is available at your favourite bookstore, even amazon.ca and amazon.com.

  

Disclaimer: Thanks to Thomas Nelson for sending me the above mentioned product for review purposes . I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.