Homeschool Theater » Teens

Book Review: The Teen’s Guide to World Domination

HomeSchool Staff — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 07:36:08 +0000

(Editor’s Note: Our reviewer is a 14-year-old homeschooled teen. She shares her thoughts on review from a complimentary copy of the book.)

It isn’t very often that a book changes my perspective on things. However, The Teen’s Guide to World Domination by Josh Shipp was one of those books.

Right off the bat, Shipp tells you that the goal of the book is not about helping you dominate the world- but to help you dominate your own world by rocking at what you do and defeating the “villains” in your life.

Generally, the problem I have with most teenage advice books is that they try too hard either to appeal to teens, or become more of a cheesy life-coaching session than an advice book. Luckily, The Teenagers Guide to Dominating the World strays far away from these two pitfalls. Josh Shipp writes in such a way that when reading, you really feel as if that is how he would talk to you if you were sitting down together in person, making the book easy and fun to read.

In the book, Shipp talks about his often-painful childhood, but rather than looking for pity, he wants the reader to learn from his mistakes, and use them as examples, telling stories from his past as ways of showing you how he dominated his own world, and defeated his own villains.

The “villains,” as Shipp calls them, are described with names such as Pirate, Ninja, Puppy and Robot. Further into the book, there are step-by-step introductions to each of the villains. Josh describes how to know one when you see one, what their intentions are, and how to defeat them.

This book offers up witty humor, funny stories, and good, solid advice. It’s definitely worth the reading.

(Editor: You can find this book and others in our Home School Theater Bookstore.)

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Kieran is the guest author of today’s post. She is a homeschooled teen in Arizona. In addition, she and a friend are the creators of their own fashion, fashion, makeup and beauty blog.

Book Review: Five Minute Tales

HomeSchool Staff — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 05:34:54 +0000

Five Minute Tales: More Stories to Read and Tell When Time is Short. By Margaret Read MacDonald

Every storyteller, whether a paid professional or someone who uses story as an addition to their primary job or activities, needs to have quick stories to tell in any situation. On the heels of her “Three Minute Tales” book, Margaret has gathered even more quick-to-tell stories from all over the world.

The stories are divided into nine loose categories such as “Origin Tales,” “Lessons to Be Learned,” and “Riddle Tales.” One of the most useful categories is “Tiny Tales” with stories that can be told in under a minute. Storytellers must always be ready to demonstrate their art form to others and these quick tales are great fillers to have in your repertoire.

Dr. MacDonald is one of the leaders in the classification and understanding of world tales, so one of her expanded comments regarding the type and origin of the story follows each tale. This provides excellent material for research for storytelling for teachers or storytelling in the education.

Margaret has written a number of “must have” books for the potential libraries of storytellers, public speakers and teachers of all types of groups. “Five Minute Tales,” too, will be a book you use often to fill in that “just right” space in your programs and presentations. -Storyteller.net Reviews

Crafting Supplies for Homeschooled Kids

HomeSchool Staff — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 03:26:43 +0000

What crafting supplies work for kids?

The number one category is paper. A good all-purpose assortment of papers include construction, drawing, cardstock and tissue.

Construction paper comes in different thicknesses, or “weights,” from the thin dollar-store variety which works well for cut-and-paste to a heavier weight that is better for making greeting cards and stand-up figures. The most common size is 9″ by 12″, and many stores also carry 18″ by 24″ The paper comes in either pads or loose sheets. Construction paper’s color tends to fade over time, so look for “fade resistant” or “light stable”on the package for a project you wish to keep around for a while. If you will be attaching photos to this paper it should be “acid-free” and “lignin free” to prevent damage to those pictures. This is becoming increasingly easier to find.

White drawing paper can be found in many varieties and prices, such as children’s or artist’s sketch pads, from the dollar- to the hobby store. It is available in different forms, such as loose sheets, pads, rolls and spiral-bound books. A ream of printer paper can be an inexpensive and plentiful supply of paper.

Cardstock is an immensely useful crafting item. It is thicker than paper but not as thick as cardboard, is easy to cut with scissors, and will hold its shape well. It comes in a variety of colors and surface textures. Use it for making patterns, stencils, cards, frames, cut-outs, etc.

Tissue paper has many crafting possibilities, such as collage, suncatchers, papier-mache, paper flowers, decoupage, and so on. It comes in many colors and designs, by the single-sheet or in quantity. Some tissue paper colors bleed, which means that when wetted by glue or water, the colors will run together. This can produce an artistic effect for your project, but if you need the colors to remain stable, look for paper that says “color-fast,” “non-bleeding”or “bleed-proof.”

This selection of paper will see you through many forms of crafting, but of course some projects require specialized papers. Handmade papers, newsprint, surfaces that are speckled, metallic, striped or printed, recycled, scrapbooking, giftwrap, cotton, wallpaper, wax paper- the list goes on forever!

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