And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
I thought it would be fun to do our own Blue Ribbon Awards for LSG'sTop 10 Favorite TOS Crew Products that we REVIEWED this year. These are not in any particular order, truthfully it hurt my brain way too much try to figure out which one particular product would be number one - there were just so many great ones!
Being on the TOS Crew has been a huge blessing for our family. We have been given treasures to review that we would not necessarily find on our own. Dive Into Your Imagination is one of those such treasures!!
Dive Into Your Imagination was started by Annie Crawley, A.K.A Ocean Annie. With her experience as an underwater cinematographer and scuba diving instructor, and her passion for our environment and ocean, Ocean Annie gives us a fabulous ocean education!
Members of the TOS Crew were given the opportunity to review one of the 3 Dive Into Your Imaginations DVD's. The choices were:
What Makes a Fish a Fish? - the first DVD in the Dive Into Your Imagination series. This DVD teaches children about astounding fish from around the world. How do fish take a bath? Learn the truth about sharks. Play hide and seek on the reef. The underwater realm provides boundless opportunities for parents to learn and laugh with their children. An upbeat original score celebrates the ocean and brings it to life. The DVD has three audio tracks.
Who Lives in the Sea? - teaches children and their parents about animals living in the ocean. Why do dolphins move so fast? What kind of noise does a sea lion make? Did you know turtles walked with the dinosaurs? Meet whale sharks, octopus and blue-footed booby birds! After your kids watch this DVD, they will want to swim like a dolphin and laugh at the nudi, nudi, nudibranchs!
Dive Into Diversity - teaches children about all the variety of life under the sea and how animals rely upon one another for survival. Take a ride to a depth of 1500 feet in the deep sea with a submarine pilot! Find out what happens on the reef at NIGHT. Learn what eating ice cream and brushing your teeth have in common. Answer questions like, why do crabs have claws and what can grow three feet in just one day?
While they all looked great, we chose the What Makes a Fish a Fish? DVD. I remember the first time I put it on. The kids were not in the science/ ocean video kinda mood for some reason but I, as Mom, over ruled and we watched it {smile}. With in about 30 seconds Little Bits was yelling excitedly about the different fish! Then, one by one, the other kids became glued to the video. They were calling off names of fish they knew, and were very interested in to learn the names of the ones they didn't. They especially liked learning about the Stone fish, that guy was super cool!!
We learned things like what makes a fish a fish {of, course}, about sea anemones and sharks, what fish eat and how they take a bath!
This is a great video and all my kids loved it! I would love to have the others in the series. We found What Makes a Fish a Fish? very informative. Not informative in a boring documentary way but in a fun and engaging I could watch this again and again kind of way. Annie is a wealth of knowledge and her passion the ocean overflows in the this wonderful video.
Included in our review, we were also given the PDF study guides that go along with the DVD we received. Can I just say W-O-W! I could not believe how much information was in these babies! We downloaded the Pre K - K and 1-3 grade guides. Just to give you an idea of how much is in this guide let me just tell ya that it is 374 pages long. They are full of lesson plans, discussion questions as well as coloring and activity pages {things that would fit nicely into a science or nature notebook}.
This series would make a great addition to any homeschool library. I believe that these DVD's are worthy on their own, would nicely compliment a study of swimming creatures and ocean life or they would also be great as a stand alone science curriculum for student in 3rd grade and under.
The PDF's are also available for sale. The guides are available as a printed version for $299 for the whole set of 6, which would the Pre K - K and 1-3 grades for each of the 3 DVD's. They can also be purchased as individual PDFs for $69.95.
As a special for the Homeschool Crew and The Old Schoolhouse Magazine and followers Annie Crawley of Dive Into Your Imagination, Annie is willing to GIVE you a set of PDFs with purchase of the DVDs, meaning for FREE!When you place your DVD order, just let her know in the notes that you are a Homeschool Parent!
One of our FAVORITE things that we have EVER reviewed is We Choose Virtues! This is the second time we have reviewed for them. The first time, we reviewed the Virtue Clue Cards and The Kids of VirtueVille Coloring Book.
This time around we received the Parenting Cards {faith based}, which are AWESOME! My kids were so excited to be hanging out with the Kids of VirtueVille again! They enjoy the fun characters and really do try to emulate them - which is totally the point!
We Choose Virtues is a tool for Parents, Homeschoolers and Teachers to use to teach character traits to children. The genius of We Choose Virtues are the catch phrases!
The Virtue: Each Virtue is preceded by the words “I am.” Not “I hope to be” or “I wish I was”. “I am” creates positive momentum and a sense of personal ownership. “I am Content” for example.
The Catchphrase: More than just a definition, the catchphrases are positive, practical and precise action statements that form the core of this system. Use them throughout the day to reinforce right attitudes and actions. “I am Content. I have my ‘Wanter’ under control”.
The Antonyms: The antonyms are a glimpse into the person they no longer want to be. These explain the negative form of the Virtue by using the phrases “I am not” and “I don’t”. “I am Content. I have my ‘Wanter’ under control. I am not bored, greedy or always wanting more and I don’t beg or whine!”
The VirtueVille Kids are cute, colorful and great role models. Their catchy names help the children to remember them and their character quality. Even my 3 year remembers their names and character qualities that they promote.
Meet the Virtueville Kids and the virtues they teach:
Airplane Betty Jane - Attentive
Piggy Bank Frank - Patience
Feather Heather - Forgiving
Cake Jake - Content
Kettle Gretel - Kind
Gerbil & Jill - Gentle
Duck & Chuck - Diligent
Hat Mat - Helpful
Stop Sign Madeline - Self Control
Oboe Joe - Obedient
Hockey Stick Nick - Honest
Penny Jenny - Perseverance
The Parenting Cards have been a wonderful addition to our day. Each day we pick a new VirtueVille Kid to talk about and be like, we alternate boy and then girl. I introduce each of the Kids, we read the corresponding scripture verse and the story about each kid.
We really enjoyed the Virtue Clue Cards {very much},but I am really glad that we have the Parenting Cards too. The Virtue Clue Cards are small, like a business card - great for keeping in our memory box to go over daily along with our memory verses. The Parenting Cards, which I laminated, are larger and allow for more information. The larger cards have the story of how/why each VirtueVille Kid got their name, teachable moments that give ideas to incorporate the current character quality, a Virtue Challenge and more! I think that the Parenting Cards and the Virtue Clue Cards work very well together.
We Choose Virtues Family Kit
My kids informed me yesterday that they want to go back over each child, again! They asked if when doing Stop Sign Madeline they could play Red Light, Green Light and have a tea party when we get back to Kettle Gretel. And of course, they want to bake a cake with Cake Jake!!
Now that we have them hanging up, we are going to just continue focusing on one VirtueVille Kid and character trait per week!
I would absolutely recommend We Choose Virtues! The prices are reasonable and their products are definitely worthy. There are several products to choose from:
May is free Shipping Month at WCV, so you better hurry! You can also join the WCV Facebook Page to keep current on new products and promo codes.
What does your family do for Character Training?
Disclaimer: I received this product, at no cost to me, in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are mine. Also note that I am an affiliate for We Choose Virtues and there are affiliate links in this post : )
I had such a great time putting together my Bringing Books to Life posts for the TOS Crew's 5 days of Series. I thought I would go ahead and put them all together in one post for easy reading and for those of you that missed it.
After reading with your kids, here are some fun things to do that they will not soon forget!
Heritage History is a homeschool curriculum company based on classical children's history books. This company strives to produce the easiest, least expensive and most enjoyable way to learn traditional history. They focus on living books instead of textbooks -which we love!
Here is how The Heritage History company explains the approach that they take to teaching history (from their website):
•Takes a Living Books rather than a textbook approach to
history—students read a variety of engaging biographies and historical sketches
rather than one comprehensive text.
•Is based on national histories rather than epochal
histories—students study one civilization at a time, rather than contrasting
contemporaneous civilizations.
•Is narrative rather than analytical—students are introduced
to the great characters and events of history without being required to make
comparisons or draw conclusions.
•Focuses on studying the most important periods of Western
Civilization in depth, rather than touching lightly upon dozens of unrelated
cultures.
•Explicitly encourages students to pursue historical topics
of personal interest in addition to making selections from directed reading
lists
Three books in one!!
With history being one of our favorite subjects, I was very excited to be able to pick one of Heritage History's Classical History Curriculum CD's. Our choices were:
Young Readers - includes easy-to-read, introductory selections from many historical periods and provides a broad introduction to Western Culture suitable for grammar school age students. Specially featured are short stories from American, European, Ancient, and Biblical history.
Ancient Greece - covers Greek history from the earliest days of myth and legend, through the Golden age of Athens, to the Greco-Roman Era. Of special interest to older students is a selection of simplified classics based on the works of renowned poets, historians and playwrights.
Ancient Rome - includes romantic stories for students of all abilities, from legends of early Roman heroes that fascinate youngsters to stories of political turmoil in the imperial era that provide food for thought to older students. Stories from Gothic, Carthaginian, and Byzantine history are also included.
British MiddleAges - features books that cover the 5th through 17th centuries in Europe and the British Isles. Topics include barbarian invasions, Christian conversion, feudalism, medieval war-craft, church-state conflicts, and the Reformation, all covered with a special focus on British history.
BritishEmpire - focuses on 18th and 19th century world history, with a special emphasis on colonial development. Stories that highlight scientific discovery, exploration, invention and industry are featured, along with those that cover regional histories of Ireland, Canada, British Africa, India, and East Asia.
I felt that Young Readers was the best choice for our crew, it was well rounded and fit the age of our children pretty well (3,5,8 and 11). Along with a Teacher's Guide, there were 86 stories included. The stories included Joan of Arc, American History Stories, Vikings Tales, Napoleon, Nursery Book of Bible Stories and Aesop's Fables.
I liked that the Young Readers Curriculum had a such a wide variety of stories that we could choose from no matter what time period we were currently focusing on. The stories included are exciting, interesting and very informative!
I believe that the variety of this particular CD makes it a very useful resource that we can use over and over through the years.
I found the Teacher's Guide that was included on the CD to be very helpful.
The Curriculum CD's allow the user to view the stories as a PDF file, which is what I did right on my computer, as well as EPUB and MOBI files for e-readers.
We were blessed with the opportunity to do a review for the WriteShop curriculum for the TOS Crew. The WriteShop is an incremental writing program that was written by Kim Kautzer and Debbie Oldar. This curriculum teaches students how to write through a series of engaging lessons.
Students learn the four most common kinds of writing—descriptive, informative, narrative, and persuasive, with the WriteShop Curriculum. By following the four basic building blocks of writing - brainstorming, writing, editing and revising, students learn how to write while build the confidence they need.
While not a grammar program, the WriteShop does however, encourage growth and awareness in vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, and spelling. WriteShop offers several levels of curriculum choices:
We received the WriteShop Primary Book C (Teacher's Guide) as well as the Activity set. Both of these are available in ebook form but we received the print editions.
Computer Girl has enjoyed working through the WriteShop book very much. She enjoys the lessons as well as the writing assignments. We had not really focused on writing for Computer Girl before now and so far, I have seen an improvement from when we first began and a greater desire to write. The has now claimed serveral new notebooks and is writing stories for fun! Yippee!
One thing I'd like to mention is this not a hum-drum boring program. The authors of this program knew what they were doing when they created it, they have added in an extra element of fun amongst the writing lessons. There is joy in my child's face when the yellow Primary C book comes out.
Would I recommend this program? ABSOLUTELY!!
Will we continue to use this program? Yes indeedy! I think I would even like for my older daughter to do one of the older levels next year.
Not to sound all commercially or anything, but if you are looking for a new writing curriculum for next year, look no further! Folks, I think we have a winner!
The WriteShop Curriculum ranges in price. The Primary Book C, printed edition, that we received is
$32.95 and the Activity Sheets are $4.95.
Currently, the WriteShop is offering a 15% discount off of any WriteShop Primary and Junior products in the WriteShop store (including e-books)
for TOS Crew readers. Use the coupon code CREW15 at checkout.
Offer valid through June 15, 2012.
Disclaimer: As a member of the TOS Crew, I received the WriteShop Primary C Book and Activity Set, at no cost to me, in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are mine.
I love for the kids to have different ways to practice their math facts, and computer games are one of their favorite ways to do that. So, when we were offered the opportunity to review the CapJaxMathFax game we were all over it!
CapJaxMathFax is a learning game that allows children to learn their math facts from the beginning all the way to mastery!
Here's what I liked about the program:
This program is suitable for children as young as kindergarten all the way up to adults.
CapJax allows the student to work on addition, subtraction, multiplication, division or any combination of them at once.
The students progress is recorded and their skill level is automatically set accordingly.
The children like the positive feedback after getting a correct answer.
They also like that they can earn merit badges!
Progress and scores are kept for each child so I know where they are and what they need to work on.
They like being timed so that they can beat their last score.
I like that this is a one time purchase.
I like that it is affordable. It's only $29.95 to download the CapJaxMathFax. This purchase covers up to 10 users.
It is a math drill that all the kids can use.
I do think that this is a good program to learn and practice math facts, and I would recommend it. It's affordable, it keeps track of the students progress and it gets the job done!
I would say that it is best suited for children that like are motivated by beating the time, high scores, and word of praise. If you are looking for something with a lot of cutesy characters and fluff this might not be the best choice.
This week has been lots of fun and sort of an encouragement to me. I can tend to be on the check it off the list side and at times forget to add in the fun things that kids connect with. We do these sort of things, just not as frequently as I would like.
I think I saved the best for last! One of the very most fun things to do after reading a book is to make a craft or art project out of it. There are so many great books out there that make a great spring board for a craft/ art project. Here are some suggestions:
The Snowy Day - Draw falling snow on dark blue paper with white chalk. Use use cotton balls for snowmen and snow on the ground. Make snowflake cut outs.
American Girl Books - many of the girls in this series also have a craft book to go along with the time period of their stories, we have found these at the library.
Let the children draw or paint a picture from the book and then frame it. I have found some decent black frames at the dollar store to frame my kids art work.
Notebooking can be a fun way to keep track of all of the children's drawings for all the books they have read in a school year.
They can make a diorama of a scene in the book.
Making paper bag puppets or sock puppets of characters in the book would be lots of fun.
If the kids are making a picture from an illustrated book encourage them to use the same technique that the artist used. If the artist used watercolors allow then to try the same. We have some fun picture books where each picture is made up of different scraps and textures of paper and fabric, kids would love to try to do this too.
There are so many great ideas online and on Pinterest, it is pretty easy to find a craft to go along with a book.
Let's just say that you and your kids just finished reading Detectives in Togas or about Romans in general, it would be lots of fun to do as the Romans did. Dress in togas, act like a Roman, eat like a Roman, with your hands while laying down! I bet your kids will never forget the day they all dressed in Togas (sheets) and had a Roman Feast!
After finishing a family read a loud, allow your children to put on a play of the book that they have just read. This would be a great for the family to do on a Friday night. Don't forget to invite grandparents, family and friends. My kids love to do little plays for their daddy and I, we are usually greeted by an usher who takes our tickets and shows us to our seats.
As I have mentioned in the last couple of posts, we have just about finished studying nights. Can you guys guess what my boys have been dressing up as ALL WEEK LONG? Knights! Back in October when the dollar store had their costumes for sale I scooped up about $10 worth of "armor" for my boys. I knew we were going to be studying knights and they would be needing some gear! Alpha Boy has been bugging me patiently waiting for us to study knights all year. Not only has he been dressing like a knight all week, I think everyone in our neighborhood has been dubbed Sir Such-n-such! This child WILL remember studying knights, because he was one.
Another thing my kids like to do is a little Thanksgiving play. My kids love the story of the Pilgrims. Every year we take the week before Thanksgiving to study them. My children rehearse all week long to do the play for us. They make costumes, some of which are stapled together instead of sewn - but we won't talk about that : ) Lord willing, one day they will be sewing them! Anyway, the point is, the kids really get into this. When I allow them to just do, they go and do! They even take popcorn kernels and paper fish and do the whole scene of the Indians teaching the Pilgrims how to plant. They really enjoy acting out the new things that they learn each year.
Here are some ideas to dramatize books at home:
Play the part, have a feast or meal to represent the book you've read.
Let them make a video of either people, action figures or Legos to act out the book or a scene from it.
Make a costume! Pull out your staple gun, glue gun or sewing machine and go to town! All those craft supplies that you are to busy to use now that you have a house fun of kids- hand'em over to the kids and they will make great use out of them - trust me on this. FYI: Tin Foil and Cardboard could help to make a sweet looking knight's costume.
Give them a video camera and let one of them be a news reporter interviewing their siblings to get the facts of "what just happened."
A play, simple or elaborate either will do!
Rent the movie (this counts, right?) and compare it to the book. Movies definitely give kids a visual. We just read about Robin Hood and then borrowed the cartoon version from the library. Just today we watched one of the Nest Family Videos about Marco Polo and tomorrow we will read about him in Story of the World.
I believe that when children are given the opportunity to recreate and dramatize what they have learned or read, then it reinforces what they have learned. I just feel like dramatizing helps what they have just learned to stick to their little brains so much better!
5 days, 65 bloggers, 325 blog posts! Check out what others on
the TOS Crew are writing about for the 5 Days of Series here.
One of the standard run of the mill things to do after reading a book is to do a book report, right? A regular old book report sounds a little bor-ing! Why not have a little fun and focus on the joy of writing, especially in the elementary and middle school years. I am not saying to not correct, teach and guide children in writing, just have a little fun with it. Adding a WOW-Factor or a little pazzaz is a great way to Bring Books to Life!
Here are some ideas to spice up book reports:
Instead of a book report why not allow the kids to write a song, rap or poem. My kids have really enjoyed doing this. Once they have completed their song and sung it to me two things usually happen 1) I see what they have learned and 2) we all usually have a good laugh and a smile!
Have you tried lapbooking or notebooking? We notebook, ALOT! They usually have a page that they have drawn or colored from what we have read for Bible, history and science. We also like to do this as we are reading through a book. There are tons of FREE lapbooking and notebooking pages to get you started on Homeschool Share, which is one of my FAVORITE websites BTW!
How about allowing the kids to take what they know from the book they've just read and write a sequel or even a different ending.
There is a wonderful little book called The Creative Teacher, that I borrowed it from the library. It has wonderful ideas in there for creative book reports. One of my favorites is making a Book Report Sandwich. Basically, you take pages that are shaped like bread, lettuce, tomato, cheese, mayo, and ham to build a report. Each piece represents a different part of the story like title & author, plot, characters, etc. Here is a Book Report Sandwich Maker and a Book Report Sandwich template to get you started.
Another great idea that I got from The Creative Teacher was to make a book report puppet. You start by taking a brown lunch bag and then make a face out of contruction paper or card stock that "resembles" the main character and glue it on. For the arms and legs the child would write different parts of the story like the plot, character, setting, etc. Then for the "main body" you can illustrate the front of the book on the paper bag. I thought this was pretty cool!
Let them draw a picture or a comic strip. How about letting them design a board game around a book.
They could pretend that they are the character of the story and write a few diary entries as the character.
Writing a newspaper article about the story would be fun. They could be the head reporter!
There are sooo many ways to make writing fun!
In case you missed them, there are tow other posts so far in the 5 Days of Bringing Books to Life series, Books in the Kitchen and Build It!
5 days, 65 bloggers, 325 blog posts! Check out what others on the TOS Crew are writing about for the 5 Days of Series here.
It was not easy choosing from this series, they all looked really neat! But we settled on Volume 4 and Volume 6. Volume 4 - Chemistry, States of Matter, and Life Sciences seemed to be a good choice considering the children were glued to the television. They had those really focused faces, you know the kind you can way your hand in front of and they don't even realize what you are doing. The demonstrations that they watched were:
Chemical Luminescence
Exploding Bottle - they loved this one!
Exploding Balloons - and this one!
Flash Paper
pH
Root Beer Float
Liquid Nitrogen
Single Cell
Optical Illusion
Lycopodium Powder
Camouflage
Volume 6 - Water, Space and the Solar System seemed to have the same effect that Volume 4 had {smiles}. The demonstrations included in Volume 6 are:
Water Disappear
Boil Water in a Paper Cup - they really enjoyed this one!
Properties of Water
Floating Balls
As Cold as Outer Space
Make a Rocket - this one was also a big hit.
Living in Space
Solar System
Centripetal Force
The Go Science Videos are a GOD Centered, Creation Based science series that was originally produced for a religious television show. This series is directed toward children ages 6-14, I would like to mention that both of my boys enjoyed these videos and they are only 3 and 5. The teacher on the Go Science Video series is Ben Roy. Ben teaches science methods at the University
of Tennessee at Chattanooga and is the former director of a science program on
television. Ben is very enthusiastic about his demonstration and it great at capturing the children's attention and keeping it! He is an inspiration to kids to be excited about science, while teaching the kids to give the credit and glory to the Lord! We really liked these videos and would love to have the complete collection. You can purchase them for at the wholesale price of $8.97 each or the whole collection for $47.95. What a deal, what a deal!!
If you are like me then I am guessing that you try to encourage learning to continue even after the books have been put down. I like to ever so subtly suggest that my kids build something after we've read a book or studied a person, event or time period. I might say something like "Hey why don't you guys build a such and such." That's subtle, right?
I may be the occasional initiator but once they get going, they are totally into what they are doing. Building seems to make my kids happy, happy, happy! They build with big Legos, little Legos, those large cardboard brick block things, Lincoln Logs and cardboard boxes. If they can stack it, they will!
We've just about finished up our medieval times study that included kings, queens, knights and castles. In the mist of that study my kids built a really cool castle out of Legos (really wish we had taken a picture of that one). We also got some super sized boxes from a friend and they made a castle out of them, draw bridge and all (didn't get a picture of this one either)!
I have learned that if you let the kids go with their imagination, they will go. I have also realized that once they do or build something to correlate with what we are reading or studying it sticks much better. Have you noticed this?
Here are some ideas that we've come up with to do after or while we are reading a book:
If you are reading through the Little House on the Prairie series or studying American history build a log cabin with Popsicle sticks. Depending on your kids age and ability, they could either do something simple or more elaborate. If you have Lincoln Logs then you could encourage them to build a whole frontier. If you don't have Lincoln Logs save up cardboard rolls and use them.
Legos are great for building castles, forts, houses, scenes and such. If you have just read about a zoo let them build one. You could pick a scene out of the book your reading and let them go to town or build one! You can build just about anything from Legos!
Are you on Freecycle yet? It's a wonderful place to find moving boxes boxes for building houses and scenes. Let the kids recreate the The Three Little Bear's house and furniture with cardboard boxes. Go read Mike Mulligan and His Steam shovel then help the kids make a cardboard Marianne. Read the Little House and then build a cardboard version from the book.
Let them sculpt the characters that you are reading about from Playdoh or clay. Wouldn't it be fun to make the Cat in the Hat, Thing 1 and Thing 2 from Playdoh, I bet the kids would think so!
There are just so may options when it comes to building. As you are reading with your kids, think about what you all could build when the stories over. Even better, let them build quietly as you are reading, this seems to help my kids listen better!
If you missed my first post, Books in the Kitchen, you can read it here to catch up.
5 days, 65 bloggers, 325 blog posts! Check out what others on
the TOS Crew are writing about for the 5 Days of Series here.
We were recently given the opportunity to review the Judah Bible Curriculum through the TOS Crew. The Judah Bible Curriculum is a Principle Approach curriculum that uses the Bible as it's textbook.
The Principle Approach is a philosophy of education whose content and methods are designed to build character in teacher and student capable of sustaining liberty.
The goal of the Judah Bible Curriculum is to produce a comprehensive knowledge of the Bible, while building strong Godly character. It is suitable for all grade levels, therefore making it great for the whole family!
There are several things that drew me to the Judah Bible Curriculum:
The Bible is the textbook. I just love that it is completely Bible based since faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
I love that the whole family can be on the same page, literally.
This curriculum is a guide. I like that it guides and doesn't spoon feed information, instead it teaches you how to study the Bible yourself.
It involves notebooking! Need I say more on this?
You go through the main themes of the Bible yearly. The student learns God's purpose in history, studying the hand of God in the lives of men and nations through the Bible.
Students learn the relationship between individual character and national liberty.
The student learns the relationshipbetween the sovereignty of God and the personal responsibility of the individual
As I mentioned, I really like that the Judah Bible Curriculum takes you through the Bible each year. This curriculum breaks the Bible into 5 Themes:
Theme
1: Creation (Genesis 1-11)
Theme
2: The Plan of Redemption Begins (Genesis 12 -- Ruth)
Theme
3: The Kingdom of Israel (1Samuel -- Malachi
Theme
4: The Kingdom of God (Matthew -- John)
Theme
5: The Early Church (Act -- Revelation)
Each of these 5 Themes are then further broken down into Keys and are studied by individuals, events, institutions and documents instead of verse by verse, chapter by chapter. The curriculum follows a six year cycle and then repeats. You can view the Scope and Sequence here.
Some of the examples of the Keys studied for the Creation Theme are:
Key Individuals - Adam & Eve, Cain & Abel, Noah
Key Events - Creation, Fall, Flood, Tower of Babel
Key Institutions - Pre Fall Society, Pre Flood Society, Pre Tower Society
The Judah Bible Curriculum also utilizes the Notebook Approach. This fits are family just right, seems we have a notebook for EVERYTHING and Bible is no different.
They suggest that each student have a 3 ring notebooks along with 5 dividers (one per theme). Each week the student will add one or two items into his/her notebook. They suggest that you allow your child write, draw and map to describe the weekly theme. They also suggest that you use their Weekly Key Sheets, which are included with the curriculum. It is suggested that students add to their notebook each year.
The Judah Bible Curriculum is a wonderful addition to any homeschool or family Bible study. It is very affordable and will last for years. It is available by hard copy for $74.00, shipping included. You receive:
1) Judah Bible Curriculum K-12 Manual;
2) Elementary Notebook Ideas booklet;
3) Eight-lecture Teacher Training Seminar on CDs.
You can also order it by digial download for $44.00, a 40% savings from the hard cover copy. With the download you get:
1) Judah Bible Curriculum K-12 Manual, e-book format to download;
2) Elementary Notebook Ideas booklet to view online or download;
3) Eight-lecture Teacher Training Seminar. listen online or download.
I do recommend the Judah Bible Curriculum. I love that it's one purchase and your set for a really looong time. I received the digital download, which was perfectly fine but I think if I was going to make a purchase I would suggest the hard copy. I just like the thought of having a hard copy in my hand when it comes to sitting down to read Bible. Whether you decide on the hard copy or the digital download,they are both very affordable considering the time you will be able to use this curriculum!
Disclaimer: As a member of the TOS Crew, I received a digital download of the Judah Bible Curriculum, at no cost to me, in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are mine.
Trying to decide what I wanted to write about for the TOS Crew's 5 Days of Series was pretty easy. We love to read! Reading to my kids, it is my favorite part of our day. So, for the next five days I will be writing about Bringing Books to Life.
To start with, I thought it would be fun to come up with some fun ways to incorporate food and cooking into the books we've read. Everyone likes to eat, right? I know my kids like to eat and they ALWAYS want to be in the kitchen, so these are mostly ideas to do WITH the kids in the kitchen after you've read a book.
Most of our family read alouds seem to fall in the historical fiction category. These books are very easy to cook or bake something to tie into the time period. For instance, if you've just finished reading Detectives in Togas a Roman Feast would be the ideal way to tie food into the book. We just finished reading The Door in the Wall so a Medieval Feast is in our near future. Next year we read about Pilgrims and the Mayflower we will eat some the things they ate.
You can bake a cake to represent your book. Our library actually has a contest every year called Devour a Book. You can make a cake that looks like the cover of your book or just a cake that represents it.
If your book takes place in another country eat the food that they eat! My girls just finished up Treasures of the Snow with their book club. Since it takes place in Switzerland, for the last meeting they had Swiss chocolate and Swiss cheese fondue, among other things. They loved this!
Picture books are fun to cook or bake from, here are a few ideas: Green Eggs and Ham - make green eggs and ham! (as much as I am opposed to food coloring I would splurge for this one) Blueberries for Sal - make blueberry syrup, pancakes, muffins or cobbler Diary of a Worm - make a dirt cake The Snowy Day or any other snow related book - make a marshmallow snowman Cloudy with a Change of Meatballs - make homemade meatballs and have spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish - eat goldfish snacks. Let the kids help you make fish sticks for lunch or fish fillets for dinner. How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World - make APPLE PIE!
You get the picture, there are lots of things that you can do to tie food into a book. Be creative and involve your kids!
I am by no means saying that things should be done daily or even weekly. They should not be an added burden, just something fun to throw in when you can. We don't always get to this kind of thing with everything else, but we really enjoy it when we do.
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Yes, you read correctly, Chicken Pot Pie Cupcakes! or you could just call them Mini Chicken Pot Pies. Whatever you decide to call them you absolutely M-U-S-T make these little babies and eat up!They are scrum-diddly-umtious!! Not sure if that's a word or not but it seems to fit.
Here's whatcha need:
2 cans of Refrigerated Biscuits
2 cups of cooked and diced chicken (breast or thighs)
2 cans of Cream of Chicken Soup
2 cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese
2 cups of Frozen Mixed Veggies
1/2 tsp Onion Powder
1/2 tsp Garlic Salt
1 Tbsp Rosemary
1 Tbsp Thyme
Preheat to 350 degrees.
Lightly grease muffin tin/s. Flatten biscuit in your hand and then place inside of the muffin tin, press down in the bottom and up the sides. Make like a little bowl inside the muffin tin and set aside.
Mix all other ingredients. Scoop mixture into the well of bisuits. Bake until biscuits are a light golden brown, about 15 minutes or so.
This past week we finally learned about castles, cathedrals, knights and the code of chivalry. We have been meaning to read about them for the last two weeks but for one reason or another we had not gotten to them.
We read a great little picture about knights called Knights in Shinning Armor by Gail Gibbons. The kids really enjoyed it. I thought it gave a pretty detailed picture of the life of a knight. During the reading of the book all the got dubbed a knight and had the title Sir added to their names. They must have really enjoyed this because they continued it even when the neighbor kids came over the play later in the day.
After reading the book the kids decided to make their own swords and shields from all of the Stampin' Up! card stock rotting away in my craft room : )
Today they are going to mount their horse (bikes) and practice jousting with lances (pool noodles of course!). They really looking forward to this, I am just going to be praying that they are no casualties.
This week we also read in Story of the World 2 about the code of chivalry, which I thought was pretty interesting. Then in Medieval World, we read more on castles and cathedrals. We had read a little about castles last week and we were blessed with some huge boxes which the kids used to build a castle, draw bridge and all. Thanks again Erica!
This is kinda the only shield that survived the battle long enough to have it's picture taken.
As we read this week, the kids colored print outs from a medieval times coloring book for their history notebook. We also did oral narration and discussion.
The kids watched the cartoon Robin Hood. We discussed the stealing that Robin and his men did and whether it was pleasing to the Lord. I was happy to hear them say that even though giving to the poor is a good thing, stealing it not. Yay!
We also got back into our Apologia Astronomy book, we finished up lesson 1 and did most of lesson 2. We just started this not to long ago and I plan to continue this in the summer. If you have ever done the Apologia Astronomy, then you know that lesson one has you use balloons to make the planets to hang from your ceiling. Yeah, that didn't work out so well for us - me lovely kids used up all the balloons for a water fight so I resorted to paper planets. Such is life I guess.
The girls had their last book club on Wednesday evening, they just finished reading Treasures of the Snow. Their WONDERFUL book club teacher invited a couple from our church that had lived in Switzerland AND knew Patricia St. John (the author). From what I hear, they also knew
Corrie Ten Boom, a favorite of my girls, so that was an added bonus.
Last but definitely not least, we started a new read a loud called Mr. Pipes. I am diggin' this book! We are reading the first one in the series (there are 4). It is a historical fiction, with a good story line, that teaches about hymns and where they originated. It is put out by Christian Liberty Press. So far so good!
We also managed to accomplish math, phonics and grammar! Praise God for a productive week.
