Growing Up Wild {Review}

We love reading about missionaries.  It is very exciting to read about how they live, the people they are are sharing the gospel with and how God is using them for His Kingdom. 

Imagine our excitement when we got Growing Up Wild to review for the TOS Crew! 

 

Growing Up Wild is a video series that consists of 15 episodes spread out over 5 DVD's.  Each DVD also includes an activity guide CD ROM for teachers to use along with the DVD's.

The main characters of this DVD series are the Wild Family.  They are a homeschooling missionary family living in Papua, Indonesia.  Most of the show revolves around the four sons, The Wild Brothers. 

We were given 2 DVD's for review:

 

 

Volume 1:
Home Sweet Hut - This episode gave us a glimpse into the home life of the Wild Family.  We got to see their home and how they live.
Supply Trip - Here we got to see how this family in the jungle gets the supplies that they need for everyday life.  It is a lot different then running to the local Walmart, that's for sure!
Sun & Water- We got to see how the Wild family creatively uses the resources around them to have power and running water. 

Volume 4:
Amazing World Around Us - The Wild Brothers explore God's marvelous creatures around them!
Adventures in Culture - This episode gives a very good picture of the Indonesian culture.  The boys learn about war, hunting, red fruit and noise piercing.  Heads up: The boys actually get their noses pierced.
Tribal Calling - The Wild Family shares about how they knew the Lord was calling them to be missionaries to a tribal group. 

 

 

We enjoyed watching the Wild Brothers.  It was a lot of fun and very interesting to see how they live and the adventures they have.  I felt that the Growing Up Wild series gave us a wonderful picture of how missionaries live in the jungle.  It was a very good visual for us to have.  It kind of brought missionaries to life!

Growing Up Wild Volumes 1-5 are available for purchase for $18.99 each.  Currently, you can purchase them as a set for $80.99, which is 15% off the total price if they were purchased separately. 

 

There are lots of other reviews from the TOS Crew about Growing Up Wild.  Check them out!
Disclaimer: We received this product at no charge to us for review purposes only. 

 

TOS Crew: Dive Into Your Imagination!

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.

Each video is available directly through Dive Into Your Imagination for $19.95. For the months of May and June, Annie is offering FREE Shipping!

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!

Take a peek at what others on the TOS Crew are saying about the Dive Into Your Imagination DVD's!

Disclaimer: As a member of the TOS Crew, I received this product, at no cost to me, in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are mine.

Holiday Movies to Watch

I love a good holiday movie.  Holiday movies are some of the best around.  Tthey are so warm and cozy, don't ya think?  I love them so much that I have compiled a list of the ones I really want to see between now and the New Years, time permitting of course.   

I went to my handy dandy DVR and scheduled several movies to be recorded.  I plan to cozy up a bit with the crew in the evenings to watch them.  Thought I'd share my list with you all:

The Christmas Card - his is one of my favorites.  We actually watched this one this evening : )
The Christmas Wish - We also watched this one tonight, another keeper.
Christmas in Canaan
Christmas Comes Home to Canaan
A Dog Named Christmas
The Note - not really a holiday movie but it's still on my list
A Princess for Christmas  - This one was VERY good!!
Christmas Pageant
Christmas Snow - We saw this one last year and it was a WOW!  I purchased this one on sale at the Family Christian bookstore. 
November Christmas
It's a Wonderful Life - My mother used to watch this movie EVERY year and somehow I think I still have not seen it all the way through.
A Christmas Wedding Tail
Call Me Mrs. Miracle - This is the sequel to Mrs. Miracle, which we recently watched and really enjoyed.
Trading Christmas
You may have noticed that there aren't any Santa Claus movies on my list, that is not by accident.  We simply do not do Santa Claus.

What are you favorite holiday movies?

Gather the Family Review & Giveaway!

We were recently sent a copy of the video Gather the Family, from Franklin Springs Family Media.  Gather the Family is a film about gathering your family to worship.  It is about making dads feel confident and not inadequate.  It is about reminding us that this world is full of things that use up our time and that we need to purpose to carve out a special time to worship the Lord in our homes with our family each day.

I have to tell you that this film was a huge encouragement to me.  I watched it with out The Hubs, but hope to watch it together soon.  This film was full of encouragement from several fathers, including R.C. Sproul Jr, mothers (even a single mother) and children to faithfully have a family worship time.  It was a great blessing to hear some of the older children talk about how the Lord has used family worship to grow them in the Lord and bring their family closer together. 

One of the best things about this film in my opinion, is that it made family worship a very simple thing to do.  These families encourage you to worship as a family even with very small children, even if you are a single mother and even if dad isn't a professional theologian.

I read Bible with my children during the day while dad is at work.  The Hubs and I have discussed reading the Bible together as a family, but we have yet to put this into practice.  I am so thankful that Franklin Springs allowed us to review Gather the Family and I am prayerful that the Lord will use it grow our family in this area to honor Him! 

I think that every home should have this video and WATCH it.  You can purchase your own copy directly through Franklin Springs Family Media for $18.95

If you have seen this film before please comment and let me know what you thought about it and how it impacted your family.  Thanks!

Franklin Springs Family Media has offered a copy of Gather the Family to one of Y O U ! ! The giveaway will end on July 22, 2011.  Here is how you can win....

Please leave a SEPARATE COMMENT for each way that you enter and YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS!

• You must be a Follower or Subscriber of LSG to Win! Please leave me a comment and let me know how you follow.
• If you have just become a new Follower or Subscriber please tell me how you heard about this giveaway.
• Spread the Word! If you have a blog and post about this contest please come back and leave me a link to your post.
• Please visit the Franklin Springs Family Media website, let me know which of their other family friendly videos you would be interested in.
• Facebook or Twitter about this giveaway and leave me a comment to let me know about it.
• Like Franklin Springs Family Media on Facebook.

Please note that Franklin Springs Family Media provided me with a free copy of the film Gather the Family for review purposes only.  I was not in any way compensated  for my review.

Kids Love Spanish DVD's Review & Giveaway!

My kids have dabbled in Spanish a bit and have really enjoyed it.  So, they were pretty excited when we received the Kids Love Spanish DVD Box Set for review.

Kids Love Spanish was was created by two mom's that have a love for Spanish and as well as teaching.  With a desire to teach their own children they created this wonderful interactive Spanish DVD series.

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Krisse & Julie, the creative mommies that created Kids Love Spanish!

The Kids Love Spanish Box Set consists of 7 Volumes, each lasting about 30 minutes.  These DVDs will teach your children:

• Volume 1 - Basic Words
• Volume 2 - Alphabet & Numbers
• Volume 3 - Family
• Volume 4  -Food
• Volume 5 - Colors & Shapes
• Volume 6 - Animals
• Volume 7 - Basic Phrases

Kids Love Spanish is geared for children between the ages of 1 and 8.  My 10 year old loves it as much as the other 3 kiddos, if not more. 

My kids love the upbeat tone of the series, the music and the variety of words that they can learn.  You can see a sample video here.  One thing that my kids have really enjoyed is copying down the words as they are learning them.  They like to test each other and then come and test my knowledge, which is usually not great.  I suppose I need to be watching Kids Love Spanish too!  : )

We think that Kids Love Spanish is a great tool for kids who are learning Spanish as well as those who are a tad reluctant to learn.  This series is fun and exciting for the kids.  Even though it is repetitive, for obvious reasons, the kids love it and do not get tired or bored with it. 

If you would like to order your own Kids Love Spanish DVDs you can do so two ways.  The DVDs are available separately for $17.99 or you can purchase the Box Set for $99.99 (a $25 savings).  Which ever way you decide to purchase, these will make a great addition to your home school video library!

The wonderful ladies at Kids Love Spanish have offered to GIVEAWAY a WHOLE 7 DVD Box Set of the Kids Love Spanish Series to one of YOU!  The GIVEAWAY will end on May 20 , 2011.  Here is how you can enter to win:

• You must be a FOLLOWER of LSG, so let me know that you follow. 
• If you are an email subscriber also, please let me know.
• Visit the Kids Love Spanish website.  Watch the sample video and tell me what you liked best about it!
• You can follow Kids Love Spanish on Facebook.
• Share this giveaway on facebook, Twitter or your Blog and leave me a link to it for an extra entry.

Thanks For Entering!

The Kids Love Spanish Box Set was given to us free of charge for review purposes only.  Please know that the opinions stated here are mine and I was not at all influenced by the free product. 

What's in the Bible DVD's

We were given a copy of the first and second episode of the What's in the Bible to review.  The What's in the Bible videos were created by the same creator of VeggieTales, Phil Vischer.  This video series currently has out 4 DVD's, which each have two 25 minute episodes. 

The first video, In the Beginning starts off in Genesis and explains how the Bible came to be and who wrote it.  We also learned about Adam, Eve and their sin in the garden. 

The second DVD, Let My People Go, explains who choose the books in the Bible and about salvation.  The kids will learn about how the Lord saved the Israelites out of the hands of the Pharaoh. 

The third DVD called Wanderin' in the Desert has such a cute title for the first episode, Don't lie, don't cheat and Don't TRIM YOUR BEARD?  Funny right!  Here we learn about God's rules, why He gave them to us and which ones still apply to us in today's world.  We finish learning about the first five books in the Bible and about Israels time in the desert or Israel's "time out" as they call it. 

The fourth video is called Battle for the Promised Land and it takes you though Joshua, Judges and Ruth.  Although there are only four dvd's available at this point, they have plans to make this a 13 DVD series. 

At first, for some reason, my kids did not seem real excited about watching these videos.  But once they started watching them they really did enjoy them. 

Here are some things that we really enjoyed about the What's in the Bible Videos:

• The kids and I liked the comedy in them, the characters are really cute and funny.   It starts of as a news show with this guy Buck Denver and some of the cartoon characters want it to be their show and, well, you just need to watch it. 
• Lots of great Bible history and facts.  Phil Vischer is in the videos along with the cartoon characters and he gives lots of insight on many bible truths.
• We really enjoyed the fun songs that the different characters would sing.  I especially enjoyed the Bentlly Brothers.

For a limited time, you can purchase What's in the Bible Vol. 1 for ONLY $5!

One thing that I noticed and felt it was worth mentioning was that these videos seem to have more doctrine in them verses just bible stories.  There were a few things that I didn't agree with and was glad that I was watching with my children so that I could explain.  These were not things that would prevent me from letting the kids watch them but I just feel that I would need to preview them with the kids first.

All of the What's in the Bible videos can be purchased directly from What's in the Bible.

We were given this video for review purposes from What's in the Bible.  The opinions stated here are my own.  I was not compensated in any way to sway opinions.