My Everything Book is a resource guide for students of all ages. It contains information in the following categories:

• Life Management
• Bible
• Beginning Reading/Spelling
• Grammar
• Composition
• Mathematics
• Geography
• Government
• History/Time
• Science

The three-ring binder has each subject category separated by tabs for easy reference. In the beginning, students can scan the contents for each category using the table of contents. There is a great overview page with helpful snippets about each of the categories. For example, Science: “The Science section will help you remember your terms through charts and illustrations.” It is recommended that students add to their My Everything Book as they come across information that is important for them to remember. Students can also take out information that is not relevant to them. Christian Cottage Schools refers to My Everything Book as, “a personal living book.” My Everything Book costs $44.95.

My Everything Book is geared for students of all ages. This binder book would benefit students in both the school and homeschool settings. Students of all learning aptitudes would benefit from this book in that they could tailor it to their specific learning needs through adding to the book. I want to walk you through a bit of the Grammar section which covers grammar rules which include extremely helpful grammar charts. This section starts quite simple with capitalization rules. There is a chart telling what needs to be capitalized and then examples in a sentence form. For learning prepositions, there is a Preposition Mountain. It is really cool! The parts of speech have pictures to help explain them. For example, “A conjunction is a connecting word which joins words or groups of words in a sentence. (and, but, for, either)” They use train cars with conjunctions on top to help the student remember what a conjunction is. The Science section covers so much material. Some of the material that it covers includes:

• Animal Classification
• Life Cycle
• Animal Cell
• Bacteria vs. Virus
• Parts of a Flower
• Bones of the Human Body
• Body Systems
• Clouds
• Water Cycle
• Solar System
• Periodic Table of Elements
• Layers of the Earth

There are colorful pictures and diagrams explaining science material such as the Life Cycle of a Frog,  Animal Cell, Clouds in the Sky, Our Solar System, and Molecules and Atoms, to help students understand the material being presented. Definitions are highlighted in bold letters. Some of the diagrams have pages opposite the labeled ones that are not labeled so that the students can evaluate their skills. I loved the Mathematics section. It starts with the Hundred Chart and ends with Geometry Formulas. It gives quite easy, straightforward math helps. I know my kiddos always struggled with story problems! There is a page entitled, Math Terms to Look for in Story Problems. This page gives straightforward help in determining how to know how to decipher wording in word problems. From adding to percents they give step by step examples using not only written step-by-step instructions but also problems written out using color-coded numbers to help the student understand the steps more clearly. Important information to remember is in boxes such as, “Remember! When Dividing Decimals Move the Decimal to the Right in Both the Divisor and the Dividend!” There is plenty of space for adding extra pages to the three-ring binder. This was a fun and helpful guide for my 12-year-old, my 14-year-old, and my 17-year-old. From looking up quick Mathematic helps to the helpful information in the Government section there really is something for everyone.

This would be a great reference guide to use for your homeschool family. Looking up information is quick and easy. I enjoyed perusing the pages of the book at well. Christian Cottage is currently completing their Christian Cottage YouTube Channel Everything Book Playlist. Simply search on YouTube, Christian Cottage Schools. This helps students and parents find the hidden jewels in each section. I would recommend My Everything Book to both homeschoolers and educators.

Product review by Jennifer Ladewig, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, October 2020.