St. Bartholomew's Eve from Heirloom Audio REVIEW

If you haven't read any of my previous reviews on these wonderful G.A. Henty audio dramas, or if you are not familiar with these wonderful stories, then let me introduce you to Heirloom Audio who creates these wonderful audio dramas of the stories from G.A. Henty.  We were so excited to have a chance to review their newest adventure in St. Bartholomew's Eve.  I received a physical 2-disc CD set of this Christian audio drama.  It is created for ages 6-16 but recommended for all ages 6 and above.
We popped the CD into my computer and listened away at the wonderfully dramatic retelling of this sad time in history.  It was just my 9th grader and myself this time as I felt it was a little too much for my just turned 6-year-old daughter.
The story begins with Mr. George who tells a story of the Huguenots.  The Huguenots were French Protestants who followed the Reformed tradition.  The story begins in 1567 with a young English boy who would fight in the French wars of religion, only 15 years after Martin Luther introduced his ideas on the Reformation (which became the Protestant faith).  Even though the Catholic Church persecuted the Huguenots, there were some Catholics who believed as the Reformers did.

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Francois and Philip are two of the main characters throughout the story.  As they work together to join the religious wars with the Huguenots, they survive through many battles.  Several Huguenots are captured and imprisoned.  Philip meets a young boy, Argento, along the way who helps in many ways.   Argento leads Philip and his small army to key officials all of whom they capture as their prisoners.  Philip then has them sign a document that would free their imprisoned Huguenots, including Francois.
We really liked it when Philippe prays before a battle.  The enemy was almost upon them but he took the time to pray and ask for protection.  This meant a lot to my son.  The battles continued, and even children were persecuted and hung.
During one of the battles Argento is shot in the leg and a Monsieur DuBois brings Argento to Philip.  Argento heals but does have to have his lower leg amputated.  As the battles continue Admiral Gaspard de Coligny comes to their aid with his army.  After Francois and Philip are injured in a battle,  Admiral Coligny grants knighthood to Francois and Philip.
King Charles' mother, Catherine, starts a rumor that the Huguenots have a plot to overtake the court, and it spreads to King Charles.  Even though King Charles had promised peace, they convince him to strike against the Huguenots.  He orders Admiral Coligny and his forces to be annihilated.  So many Huguenots lost their lives.  Philip loses Francois but Argento survives.  Philip continues to fight for the cause and marries Claire and they have two children.  It is a wonderful story of persistence, faith, and sacrifice.  So many lost their lives to stand for their cause and belief in God and that they could interpret what God had to say to them through the scriptures and that they did not need a mediator (the Catholic Church) to dictate it to them.
It goes without saying that we wholeheartedly recommend you check out St. Bartholomew's Eve from Heirloom Audio.  It will keep you on the edge of your seats while teaching you yet another important story from our history.

You can connect with Heirloom Audio on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, GOOGLE+, and INSTAGRAM (@HeirloomAudioOfficial).
Please be sure to also check out what my fellow crew members have to say about this wonderful resource.

Another Brinkman Adventures REVIEW

I don't think it needs much introduction but in case you haven't seen my previous reviews let me introduce you to Brinkman Adventures.  This company produces wonderful, fact-based audio dramas that allow you and your kids to enjoy exciting and intriguing experiences with real-life missionaries through the stories of a fictitious family, the Brinkmans.  I had the privilege once again to review one of their newest products, Season 6: Underground Rising.  I received a digital copy of this audio drama.  It was quick and easy to download.  If you purchase the physical CDs there are 2 in this set.
Season 6 opens during World War II in a time when the Nazis were persecuting the Jews.  It contains six approximately twenty-six-minute episodes (a little over 2 1/2 hours total). The stories are based on biblical themes that your children can learn from while enjoying them. They are fun and exciting to listen to. The audio and dramatic effects are wonderful.  You definitely feel immersed in the story.  Each episode can be listened to independently (except for those with two parts) and in any order you choose.
The episodes and their related themes include:

• Dutch Underground Part 1 - Help those being led away to slaughter, even when doing so is costly.
• Dutch Underground Part 2
• Twice Born Fly - We don't need to fear death with Jesus as our Savior.
• I Wonder Why - We obey God even when the plan doesn't make sense.
• Free Burma Rangers Part 1 - God uniquely prepares us for our mission.  God isn't a killjoy.
• Free Burma Rangers Part 2

The Dutch Underground story begins with Kate and Kitri Brinkman visiting their great grandmother Lynn VanKesteren (Omie) in Canada. Lynn was born in Holland and immigrated to Canada.  This story is based on a book written by Lynn (Great is Thy Faithfulness).  They begin by enjoying coffee and cookies with Omie.  Omie tells the girls a story of her past during the war before she met her husband.  We really liked this story because it reminded my son of the Harriet Tubman story and we have also covered Corie Ten Boom and the Hiding Place so this brought back to remembrance of that story for him.  It was neat to learn in the REAL STORIES section of the website that Reng most likely stayed in the same place as Corie Ten Boom at one point!

In Twice Born Fly Charlie accidentally swallows (inhales) a fly and has cause for fear. He goes to his dad for assurance that he will be okay.  They discuss a trip Charlie is getting ready to take to visit his Oma.  He now has fear about the trip and whether everything will be okay.  But his dad tries to assure him that with Jesus he will be okay no matter what happens.  I really like the theme behind this story and that "Jesus saves us, not our own goodness or efforts."  The science aspect of the fly larva pupating had my son's interest at the get go.
I Wonder Why is a story about the Wonder family and their decision to sell most of their possessions and go to be missionaries in India at an orphanage there.  The characters in the story are Samantha (Sam) and her family.  Her mom recently lost a baby and her dad explains that "all things work together for good to them who love the Lord."   It has a glorious ending of salvation and healing!  We really resonated with this story because we fostered kids for about 6 years and it was pretty difficult on our son.  He experienced a lot of rough kids too that were not very kind, but needed love more than anyone.
Finally, in Free Burma Rangers we learn about the real-life missionary Dave Eubanks and his life as a Green Beret in the Special Forces. The story opens in Burma (Myanmar) (his parents are missionaries) with Dave telling his mom he is going to be a soldier and then a missionary.  There are some intense scenes so you might need to preview this one as it may not be appropriate for those 10 and under.  I really liked this story and it has so much depth to it, including his courtship of his wife Karen.  It really shows how persistence can pay off and that when you seek God and ask him for direction, he will surely direct your paths!!
  I highly recommend you consider purchasing Season 6: Underground Rising from Brinkman Adventures.  You can go to their website and check out the information about the real stories and hear podcasts of the actual people and watch videos about the stories on the REAL STORIES tab.  I have also been given a coupon code, FALL10, for you to use for 10% off of your purchase from October 10 - October 31!

You can connect with Brinkman Adventures on FACEBOOK.  Also be sure to check out what other reviewers are saying by clicking on the link below.

CashCrunch Careers REVIEW

Do you have a high schooler that is just not sure what they want to do after they graduate?  Are they unsure of their college plans? Have they thought of what career they would like to strive for?  I was excited to be able to try out CashCrunch Careers from CashCrunch Games recently.  My 9th-grade son is really just not sure what he wants to do.  The thought and premise behind this program are to help guide you or your students to think about some options that might work for them based on who they are and what job might best fit them.  We tend to spend about 50% of our life at a job and it sure does make sense to try to do something you really enjoy doing.  This is an online program that I received a link to register for an account.  The results and research area are available 24/7 for a lifetime membership.  You can see a brief overview of the program in the video below.

Once registered the first thing my son needed to do was take the 75 question survey which only took about 10-15 minutes to complete.  Once completed it produced a report that included the following:

• Career Work Styles - covers what he can do, what he would like to do and how he is able to do it.
• Motivators & De-motivators - what gives him a reason to do or not do something
• Career Attributes - what is characteristic or inherently part of you
• Career Match - jobs that are most suitable for your career
• Matching Jobs - links to career categories and jobs for you to explore

Dashboard menu from his account

Summary page on the computer of his report

Screenshot of a part of his actual report page

I must say I was pretty surprised at my son's report.  We are working on doing the research and have a long way to go, but it has been very interesting.  His career attributes included innovation (displaying creativity and alternative thinking to come up with new ideas for and answers to work-related problems), adaptability/flexibility (being open to change and to considerable variety in the workplace), initiative (willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges), independence (being willing to develop his own way of doing things requiring little supervision, and not depending on others to get things done), and finally leadership orientation (being willing to lead, take charge, and offer opinions and direction).  I'm not sure I exactly see all those attributes in him, but it does match with what I know God has in store for him and as we do further research on possible careers I am excited to see what the end result will be.  Most of his matching jobs had to do with management and that really surprises me with him.  But again, I know that God gave him a strong personality for a reason, and I do know that it is needed in management along with his inherent compassion for things and people.

I did get a kick that one of his job matches was farmers and ranchers!  That is delightful to me since I am into homesteading and would love to have a partner in my endeavors.  Pretty sure he won't choose that one though, LOL. As you select the different categories under matching jobs you find further links that go into SO MUCH more detail about the job category and individual jobs.  His report gave him the top 20 job categories that best matched his profile.  His number one category was General and Operations Managers.  Just not something I would think for him right now, but certainly worth him researching.

His top job match

You can also see from the graphic above that there are tabs for colleges and video.  The college tab has a huge list of colleges for him to consider for his career suggestion with links included and brief information on each college.  The video tab has a 1-2 minute video about what it's like to work in that particular field.  I really like that for him.  Just something else to get those wheels in his head turning and thinking about what he might like to do.  This is not something you figure out overnight.  I imagine over this next year and beyond we will keep coming back to this report for more research and thoughts on what he would like to pursue.  I am glad that we decided to give this a try and I think CashCrunch Careers by CashCrunch Games has some very good merits that can really help guide you and/or your child to some interesting career prospects.  

CashCrunch 101 FREE online game

I will close with a quick mention about CashCrunch Games from their website.  You can currently play the CashCrunch 101 game online for FREE.  It is geared for high school and college students to work on their finance skills.  A fun, innovative way to get in some wisdom when it comes to finances.

You can connect with CashCrunch Games on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, PINTEREST, INSTAGRAM, and YOUTUBE.

Please also take the time to see what my fellow crew members have to say about this program.  Just click on the graphic below.