I have three kids of varying ages, and so far, Book 1 is a hit with all three! They've already shared how much they are enjoying doing a collective Bible class for our homeschooling, rather than each their own.
With its suggestions on structure, rhythms, and teaching aids, it's been a fantastic aid! Everyone is genuinely looking forward to diving deeper into the core catechisms of our faith.
I’ve been homeschooling for 15 years and this is my favorite science curriculum so far! I love that the lessons are short and simple and include living books. My only complaint is that there has been the occasional experiment that we didn’t have the supplies we needed. The kit comes with most everything, except what it expects average people to have on hand. For example, I didn’t have styrofoam or a pie plate, so we had to skip that experiment. Totally my fault for not checking the supplies list ahead of time, but I will for future experiments. Again, that is the only negative…otherwise this science is perfect for our family!
As a Christian, who goes back-and-forth (somewhat confused) between verses like “turn the other cheek” and preaching the word boldly”, Loser Theology has been a big eye-opener for me.
First off, starting with the foundation of the Parable of the Minas in Luke 19, Clary makes it abundantly clear that our culture has been completely duped into believing that we need to be “losers for Jesus”. To be godly, we must be docile, quiet, and weak. We have been hoodwinked and how pleased the Enemy must be! Especially because, as Michael points out, “If we think that all power should be dismantled for fear it can be corrupted, we simply create a vacuum that evil power can more easily occupy because it finds no resistance.“ This is what has happened to our culture. We have created a vacuum for evil and we can, unfortunately, see that as evil is filling more and more vacuums of power that Christians have abandoned.
Because the devil has convinced so many Christians to give up their power and influence in our culture, we are reaping the effects. Satan has used our own virtues against us. He has used our compassion as an excuse for cowardice. Furthermore, ironically, the Christians, who subscribe to these “virtues“ turn all of their boldness against other Christians. It makes me angry and as the parable points out, at the end of the day, we have no excuse.
Michael uses so much scripture in Loser Theology. In a culture that highly values emotions and feelings more than anything else, it is of utmost importance that we as Christians base our beliefs and arguments on the foundation of scripture, of which Michael does a beautiful job.
Loser theology has been a convicting read for me. It unmasks the true motivation for my silence along with the intentions of other Christians who have been silent in our culture. Fear. Namely, the fear of man. Over the last few years of my Christian walk I started to see the need for me to at least get out of the way of other Christians that were saying and doing the hard things and I’ve been trying to do that by the grace of God. However, this book is challenging me to go beyond that. To not be ashamed of Jesus or what His Word says. Our world needs Christians who are not afraid of truth. Our children’s futures need people to stand boldly in the way of the agenda of evil. “Righteous authority is not oppressive. It is a glorious gift, filled with potential wonder and beauty of things we might build if we are willing to use it.“ as Christians, we can and should be building beautiful things.
Clary also uses examples of Christians in history. Men and women who fought for the freedoms, rights, and even luxuries that we have today. How could we be so blind to think that we are better than the martyrs of the first century and beyond and all because we are more afraid to stand for truth? What a sham! They weren’t killed because they were silent. They were killed because they wouldn’t compromise. We can’t compromise either.
For me, the icing on the cake is that I get to call Michael Clary, my pastor and my friend. I don’t get an inside look at the lives of most of the authors that I read. I have seen Michael’s life and his character, and that makes this read even more real and sweet. I know that he practices what he preaches. I have seen him forfeit a lot of comfort, popularity, relationships, etc., in his pursuit of the heavenly prize. He is a godly man.
I also wanted to mention a couple details about the construction and set up of the physical book itself. As a mother of four who has towed the book along with me so that I could read it whenever I got a chance, it has stood up to all the physical abuse that I have inflicted on it. It is very sturdy and I appreciate that as someone who can tear books up pretty easily. The dustcover is so durable that I can thankfully say it has withstood all of its adventures with me. Lastly, Michael has put discussion questions at the end of each chapter, which I love. I’m someone that needs to talk through these things. With a desire to not always take what I read as 100% gospel (except the gospel itself) but to approach everything like the Bereans, I want to search the scriptures to see if what is being said (or written) is true, and being able to talk with other believers about the concepts of this book makes it easier for iron to sharpen iron.
One of the bottom lines I take from Loser Theology is this: Positions of power will always exist in this world. As Christians, who do we really want them to be filled by? Those who have a desire to bring the kingdom of God to earth or those who don’t?
Get to work, Christians! Build beautiful things for the kingdom of God with the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit! We are gaining ground and the gates of hell will not prevail!
I love that the curriculum is open and go but still uses a variety of books. It makes it easy for me to facilitate and keeps my 8th grader's interest.
Math Mammoth has worked really well for my oldest son/student. We've used MM since 2nd grade. The resources (videos/online practice) help with new concepts and the workbooks provide ample practice. As a homeschool parent with many children, making the time to grade his work is a challenge. HOWEVER, I prefer to do this than outsource math (for now).
It was a good study overall. However, my daughter and I found some spelling and grammar errors while she was working on her sheets.
Overall, very good. I wish there had been a few more creative writing options.
I read this a few years ago. Everything that’s happened here since has only confirmed the reality it describes.
nothing to review, i havent received anything
Beautiful book on the shelf, with and without the dust cover, and of course the illustrations are great. Plus it’s a fun classic story. I cant wait to read it to my kids when they’re old enough!
I have been playing these songs for my students each morning and it is incredibly helpful catechism. The songs are paired beautifully with the content that we are covering for each week’s lessons. I’m finding that the kids are able to pick up the songs quite quickly and have even heard my own kids singing them at home.
I loved the way they were set up and they were very helpful.
This was shipped quickly and includes everything I need for science this year. Very clear instructions.
This is my 3rd year using LOGOS. I really like everything until last year, the daily lesson plans lists English books that aren’t even available to purchase. I realized later that there’s an updated version of the lesson plans that list the correct books, but was very frustrated looking for all the materials needed for each lesson and was confused to not locate the English lessons. I got a free PDF online and noticed this discrepancy. In the PDF version it shows a completely different text book that’s needed over the physical book copy. I hope logos notices this and updates their books. This was with the 2nd grade and 3rd grade English / composition portions. All other subjects seem to be complete and each lesson laid out correctly. We’ve enjoyed this curriculum, minus a few hiccups and errors / wrong page #’s and often times things are sold out. You have to buy months ahead. I will plan accordingly next year and make sure to buy for the following year so all items are in. Shipping this time was very fast, but it took 3 months last year to get to us making us start school in OCT. which was no ideal. Overall we are happy with the quality. Jsut a few things to improve.
Cut and easy to read. My son loves it. Love the illustrations.
