Joyce Herzog: Luke's School List & Luke's Life List (TOS Review)

 

Recently, I've been reading through two very unique homeschool help books for review from JoyceHerzog.com. The first book is Luke's School List and the second is Luke's Life List both written by Joyce Herzog.

 Luke's School List (sample) is a K-8 list of topics that are covered in elementary and Jr. high grades that a parent can use as a daily planner, IEP (Individualized Education Plan), scope and sequence, and lesson planner all in one. It covers such topics as language, math, history, science, geography, and cultural skills. Language arts includes such reading, comprehension, writing, speech, along with study and research skills. 

 

This guide is to be used as a general guide for a family and since the lists have a LOT of information in them, way too much to cover for a lifetime, they are meant to be used as a buffet--picking and choosing what is relevant for your child to work on. This is really a tool to help you reach goals that you want to see your child accomplish.

 

Included in the book is also a handy Worldview Comparison Chart with 12 points that compares the Christian worldview with Secular worldview. The author also shows how to create an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) and also provides a sheet to copy for each child and additional forms for keeping track of books read aloud and/or independently, outstanding projects, and more.

 



 

Luke's Life List (sample) is very similar in its set up including the worldview chart and IEP, though it's focus is different. I can best describe the book by quoting the author's words:

Luke's Life List...is a list of knowledge, skills, and decisions which are important to consider. It is based on Luke 2:52, the only record we have of Jesus between infancy and the age of twelve. Luke 2:52 says: "And Jesus increased in wisdom, in stature, and in favor with God and man. p.v

This book is for ages infant through high school and deals with such topics as Early Childhood, Wisdom - Growth of Discernment, Stature - Physical Growth, Favor with God - Spiritual Growth, Favor with Man - Social Growth, and Life Skills - Maturation.

Again this book has a lot of information to be used as a guide. The author felt to write this to help parents find balance between academics and life skills.

Luke's School List is a wonderful resource, especially for the homeschool mom who likes to make her own school plans or units of study. The history section alone is broken down into time periods from Creation to modern day and are then broken down by country. The goal are broken down into smaller chunks of history that happened in that particular country or time period.

The cultural skills section is broken down into music, literature, evangelists and missionaries, heroes and more. All of the lists are very comprehensive and could be implemented for years with your children.

As I mentioned earlier Luke's School List would be a great asset for the do it yourself homeschool mom and would dove nicely with other homeschool resources that give historical and literature book lists for every time period. I also think it would benefit the homeschool mom who uses and curriculum to give her a guide to see if the curriculum is covering important academic skills and knowledge.

Now as much as liked Luke's School List, I just about jumped up and down while reading Luke's Life List. My first impression was "Wow!" The author has complied such a great list of life skills and Bible Study resources that I can't complain that I don't know what to work with my kids on.

Again, these are broken down into small, manageable skills. Under Food: Meal Planning the list is first broken down into the topic of Measuring and under that top is a list of items such as "can measure and level, can measure and pack down, can measure and pour liquids, etc."

Also, included in Luke's Life List are the topics of Government, Economics, and my favorite part--Bible Knowledge, which includes such topics as studying character, analytical Bible study, knowing where to find scriptures on certain topics, Bible memorization, Biblical principles, and prayer. Personally, I could keep myself busy with just that section alone.

If you are looking for someone to hold your hand while trying to educate your children and teach them life skills, I highly recommend Luke's School List and Luke's Life List. If you want someone to tell you exactly what to use then these won't fit the bill. These are exactly what they say they are, lists, yet such a great guides to help you in educating and disciplining your children.

Luke's School List is available for $30 and Luke's Life List is available for $30 at JoyceHerzog.com.