spent with your daughter reading the
uplifting words or completing the sweet
projects.
Product review by Cindy West
The Martyr’s Victory: A
Story of Danish England
By Emma Leslie
Salem Ridge Press, LLC
www.salemridgepress.com
The Martyr’s Victory, historical fiction by
Emma Leslie, begins by introducing us to
Egbert, a young, frail Saxon living in the
country of Mercia. He continually is
scorned and laughed at by his family and
the world. Resolving to run away and die in
the woods, Egbert meets an elderly monk
who invites the boy into the church’s realm
of safety. Forsaking all he has ever known,
Egbert follows the monk, Osric, to a new
life at the monastery. There, he learns to
read, write, and copy the Scriptures.
But danger arises as the savage Danes
of the north threaten to destroy the
monastery and all of Mercia. A meeting is
held in the church, and it is decided that six
monks shall venture to the Danish lands,
bringing not only the seed of grain but also
the seed of truth found in the Word of God.
Egbert wishes to come along but cannot,
because he is too weak. Told that he and
several others may join the party of six in
about a year’s time, he is content to remain
at the monastery.
Upon arriving in Ea, an island in East
Anglia, the six monks meet a young girl
named Elswitha. They soon find out that
she has just escaped from being offered as
a sacrifice to Odin, their false god. Later,
in the village, Osric encounters a Danish
warrior who has been drastically wounded
in a single-combat battle and now believes
that he is destined to die. Osric is a skillful
leech, and he puts all his skill to work to
cure the unfortunate Dane. Will he
succeed? If he does succeed, will his
actions help Mercia be saved from the
warlike Danes? Will Osric’s faith impact
the Danish people? And what will happen
to Egbert? Find out in The Martyr’s
Victory!
Emma Leslie, whose actual name was
Emma Dixon, was a prolific Victorian children’s author. She wrote more than one
hundred books, many of which are
published worldwide. She was born in
1837 and lived in Lewisham, Kent, in
southern England. She died in 1909 and
was buried in St. Mary’s Parish Church, in
Pwllcrochan, Pembroke, South Wales.
Emma Leslie wrote with a strong Christian
emphasis in her books and encouraged us
to fight for faith and believe in God
always—no matter what the consequences.
Product review by Abigail Kessler
Computer Science Pure
and Simple: Using
MicroWorlds™ Logo
Software, Books 1 & 2
By Phyllis Wheeler, Don Sleeth, Virginia
Sparks, and Laura Breidenbach
Motherboard Books
www.motherboardbooks.com
1-877-366-2122
This is a set of two books that provide
computer science instruction for homeschoolers in grades five and up. It covers
basic computer skills such as word
processing, using spreadsheets, basic web
design, and basic computer programming,
including how to program your own
computer games.
Computer Science Pure and Simple
starts out with very basic, step-by-step
instructions and advances so that by the
end of the series the student can create
spreadsheets, do basic word processing,
design a simple webpage, and create his
own computer game. This series is
designed to be used during two years of
class instruction and should fulfill high
school computer science credits. It is to be
self-taught with some parental oversight.
The program language they use is called
MicroWorlds™ Logos Software. The
particular version we have used in this
series is MicroWorldsEX™. Although
Micro Worlds™ 2.0 is available, it doesn’t
work with Windows® Vista® or
Macintosh®. The language is a basic
programming language that many school-aged children learn at school. The software
disk (CD ROM) comes in a package deal.
You can buy the books separately, but not
the software. In order to purchase the software, you must order a package deal that
has a book and the software. (. . .)
As I understand it, this was started by a
woman who was teaching computer
science as part of a homeschool co-op; she
found that many homeschoolers would
benefit from the instruction she had put
together. With the help of others, this
program was born.
It is easy reading, because it reads as if
she is talking to you. It is not, “Do this,
next, do that.” She has a conversation with
the reader and explains what, and many
times why, we are doing what we are
doing. (. . .)
This series does have the students go to
the Internet, but my computer for the kids
can’t get on the Internet, so we talked
about what she was doing, and I showed
them on my computer what she was doing.
I thought she handled the dangers of the
Internet tactfully, but I still would advise
you to be with your child when he surfs the
Internet. For the most part, you don’t need
to go online very often.
By far, making the games has been my
sixth-grader’s favorite part of the book. He
could make the games all day if I let him.
The instructions are so well done that
rarely do we find ourselves wondering
what the teacher is talking about. (. . .)
If you have a child in fifth grade or up
and he likes computers, this would be a
great program to use. The child does need
to have some basic understanding of how
to use a computer, and he needs to be able
to type. Also, a lot of basic geometry (right
angle, triangle, 90 degrees, tessellation,
etc.) is used in the creation of the games, so
