Homeschool Legacy

 

 

 

Over the years I have really come to love unit studies.  I like taking a topic and totally immersing ourselves in it, covering most if not all of our subjects.  So getting the opportunity to try a new unit study definitely appealed to me.  

The TOS Crew introduced our family to Homeschool Legacy, a company that currently offers over 10 Once-A-Week Unit Studies based mostly on history and nature.  The Once-A-Week Unit Studies were created by Sharon, a veteran homeschool mom of 16 years.  Her desire was to create easy to use unit studies that were not only educational and fun, but helped parents build a strong, Godly, family legacy while educating their children.

Since we love all things nature over here in the LSG home, when I was asked which of the Once-A-Week Unit Studies we would be interested in doing, it was a simple decision.  We choose Birds of a Feather.  Each of the unit studies range from 4 to 8 weeks, Birds of a Feather lasted 4 weeks. 

 

 The Once-A-Week Unit Study is designed to go along with your regular daily studies.  You simply add in reading each day and one day of activities, which also includes a family devotional.  Family movies and field trip suggestion are also listed each week. 

I really liked the feel of the Once-A-Week Unit Study.  It is jam packed with book, movie and field trip ideas and yet it did not feel overwhelming to me at all.  There were many activities in this study that we were able to pick and choose from.  I loved having everything at my fingertips, all the work was done for me, all I had to do was choose what our books, movies and the fun activities we were going to do. 

The Once-A-Week Unit Studies cover:

family devotionals, quality library reading selections, family read-alouds, history, science, geography, language, life skills, research, art, crafts, music, classic literature, documentaries, field trip suggestions, family game and movie nights, and even some fun "Stump Your Dad Trivia."

 

Let me give you all a sampling from the first week of our Birds of a Feather study. 

• The book selections were great. My suggestions were favorites like Are You My Mother, The Story About Ping and The Little Red Hen, as well as some new ones like If You Were A Parrot and The Luckiest One of All.
• Our Family Devotional took us to Genesis chapter 1.  In reading the suggested portions of scripture, the kids are reminded that birds are part of God's marvelous creation.  We also got to talk about what the birds need to in order to survive.     
• Two of the neat, yet simple, activities from Bird's of a Feather is to set up a bird feeding station and a simple birdbath.  I did not feel like I had to run out and buy a ton of supplies for these activities.  I felt that Sharon did a great job at keeping homeschoolers in mind, the items were mostly simple things from around the house.   
• For family movie night she suggested the movie Fly Away Home, which is a really good movie BTW!   
• Another thing that I thought was pretty cool was that she includes a little section called Stump Your Dad Trivia.  I thought it was a great way to include dad and let him know what they are learning about.   

If you are anything like me, there are so many things that you want to study with the kids.  So many topics, so little time {smile}.  For me, I feel like the Once-A-Week Unit Study is a great way to a incorporate a topic of interest with out overwhelming my regularly scheduled program.  It adds that fun learning element with out too much planning and effort on my part. 

The Once-A-Week Unit Studies range in price from $15.95 to $19.95.  Each of the studies are suitable for students in grades 2-12.  We The People, being the only exception, is recommended for grades 4-12.   As I mentioned, there are currently over 10 Once-A-Week Unit studies available

• Horsing Around    
• Knights & Nobles   
• Forest for the Trees   
• Birds of a Feather   
• Native America
• Lewis & Clark: From Sea to Shining Sea
• Early Settlers in America
• Revolutionary Ideas
• Weather on the Move
• We the People: Getting to Know Your Constitution  

I like and would recommend the Once-A-Week Unit Studies.  I think they are great for a unit study veteran as well as a newbie! 

In the near future I am hoping to do the We the People: Getting to Know Your Constitution study to go along with our American History studies. 

Check out what others on the TOS Crew have to say about Homeschool Legacy! 

  

Disclaimer: We were given a copy of the Bird's of a Feather Once-A-Week Unit Study free of charge  in exchange for an honest review. 

Creation Illustrated

As nature lover's, we were pretty excited to receive 4 of the most recent Creation Illustrated Magazines for a TOS Crew review!

Their mission statement is:
Our purpose is to share the wonders of God's creation. By revealing fresh insights of His infinite wisdom, gentle touch, undeniable justice, redeeming love, and flawless design, pure truth shall bring renewed peace. Each part of this publication is offered as a reprieve from the daily rigors of life so that all can look to the future with unbridled gratitude and hope.

These magazines are full of beautifully detailed pictures of God's Creation that almost take your breath away.  Each issue is focuses on nature, scripture and living. 

For example, the latest Spring edition includes:

In Nature

• Giving Thanks
• Flying Jewels {hummingbirds}
• Yellowstone
• A Lens on Creation

In Scripture

• Creation Day 6 - The Creation of Humans {an ongoing series}
• Creation Highlights
• Creation Stewardship

In Living

• Bloom Where Planted {a wonderfully encouraging article}
• Genesis Cuisine {this month featured 3 yummy smoothie recipes}
• Children's Story
• Youth Photo Contest
• Resource Guide

In addition to all of those articles there is an instructional guide for homeschoolers and teachers to glean key glean key spiritual and character-building lessons from each article.  There are also creation activities and a word search puzzle.

Amazing pictures!

You can order your own subscription, which is delivered quarterly directly through Creation Illustrated. 

$19.95/ year
$37.95/ 2 years
$53.95/ 3 years

Add $5.00/year for Canadian postage
Add $10.00/year for Foreign postage

You can also try before you buy by requesting a free trial issue.

We think that Creation Illustrated would make a wonderful addition to any family's reading list, nature lover's especially! 

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.

 

 

Be sure to check out what other TOS Crew members are saying about Creation Illustrated! 

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.

A Quest for Shark's Teeth - An Educational Outing

It all started a few weeks ago when I bought the kids some shark books from a yardsale.  Alpha Boy immediately claimed them for his personal book box. 

The LSG Kids, my niece and nephew, on an anchor outside of the Calvert Marine Museum in Maryland.

One day Alpha Boy was looking at the shark books and we were discussing facts about them.  I had told him that they are always losing their teeth and that there was a place nearby (well about an hour away) that we could go and find some.  And keep them. 

You how you can tell your kids something and then you see a certain light in their eyes and total excitement?  This was one of those moments.  I knew that really wanted to make this happen. 


Today was the day.  I took my kids, my niece and nephew and off we went.  An hour away, 5000 punch buggies, 2 million yellow cars (you had to be there) and 2 quiet game winners later we were there. 

Arrr matey!

Our first stop was the Calvert Marine Museum (which is very inexpensive BTW).  I thought we'd be in and out in 30 minutes tops.  Boy was I wrong, the kids loved it here plus there was lots of stuff to do. 

Looking at the sting rays and skates up close.

We started off looking at the sting rays and skates.  There are very cool.  I got to tell the kids how I caught a skate years ago when I was fishing in the bay with friends.  : )  We got to see skate eggs, which was REALLY cool! 

The boys playing with an interactive trivia game screen.

Lots to see and learn!

The life cycle of a skate egg.

Real live skate eggs.  This picture doesn't do this exhibit justice.  It was really neat how you could actually see the babies moving inside the eggs.  Have you ever seen an egg like this?

 They had an awesome mural which captured Little Bit's attention.

Next we went to the discovery room.  I think we were in there like an hour or so.  There were sea hermit crabs, star fish, turtles and other cool critters.  There was a light house and a really cool boat the kids could go in.  The very best part of that room was the Dig Area where the kids could look for fossils and teeth.  And keep them.  One per kid to be exact.  Alpha Boy hardly left this spot other than running back and forth to ask the lady at the desk "Hey, what is this?" 

The Lil' Chef checking out a small diamond back turtle.

One of the tanks in the discovery room, that contains star fish, sea hermit crabs and several other critters.

Alphaboy was so content to stay at the Dig Area and dig and dig and dig!  The kids could keep one fossil of their choosing.  After finding several things worth to keep he finally settled on a Tiger Shark's tooth.

We got to walk thru the rest of the museum looking the different exhibits, including the many aquariums.  We got to see blue crabs, sea horses, lots of fish and my personal favorite, the jellyfish.  I was asking my little peeps, "How can anyone look at these jellyfish and wonder if there is a God?"  God is just such an awesome Creator! 

Just one of the neat exhibits we saw.

This was a HUGE case full of different fossils, sharks teeth and such.

  

At the museum they have an open window to one of the labs. The kids learned ALOT.  She showed us how to tell the age of a whale by looking at parts of it's spine.
This women reminded me of my grandma because of her accent.  Come to find out they were both from Munich, Germany.  I told her, "I knew I recognized that accent anywhere."



How can one look at this thing and not KNOW there is a Creator.  I mean, REALLY??

Maryland is know for it's Blue Crabs (and Old Bay).

nce we walked outside we were greeted by two ADORABLE otters!  I contemplaited how I could take one home with me. I could have just sat there forever and watched these playful little guys. 

I wasn't the only one who enjoyed the otters.

We also enjoyed the view from the lower level of the light house that is at the museum.  The top was closed for lunch and we didn't get to make it back.  After the light house, we got to check out lots of really neat boats, some old and some really really old. 


This was a neat little light house, I really wish we could have gone all the way up.

Checking out some old boat.  One of the boats was a two log canoe from the mid 1800's.

Before we left I asked a lady that worked at the museum how far it was to one of the state parks that we were going to go to for sharks teeth.  I also inquired about how far of a walk it was from the car to the actual beach (one place was like 2 miles!!).  This super kind lady told us just to go to her beach.  she offered for us to just park in her driveway so we wouldn't get towed.  Her beach was free and about a 3 minute walk from her house.  She was SO nice.  She even offered for us to just go inside her porch and grab some shark's teeth that they had if we didn't find any.  I really couldn't believe how nice this lady was. 

We were all having so much fun, nobody wanted to leave. 

We really enjoyed the beach, other than a kind older man that helped us find shark's teeth we had the beach to ourselves.  None of us wanted to leave, myself included.  It was so peaceful and relaxing.

On the way home we stopped for sundae's.  It was supposed to be the prize for the quiet game winners but instead everyone got one.  Well except for Little Bits, he had already drifted blissfully off to sleep. 



I really just thought we'd go and dig in the sand for a bit.  I never imagined how cool the museum would be or how much we would learn.  I thought we were just taking the day off but actually it turned into quite the little science lesson.

It was a good day!

This post is linked up over at Let's Hit the Road - Field Trip Blog Hop!  Great blog for the field trip enthusiast!

Christian Kids Explore Biology

We were given the opportunity to review Christian Kids Explore Biology, which was written by Stephanie Redmond.  We have been using this biology book through out the year and have really enjoyed it.

I don't quite know that I would have called biology fun before using this book, but I do now.  All the kids have enjoyed going through this book, even Alpha Boy (who is 4) enjoys listening, discussing and coloring along with the rest of us.


There are several things that we really liked about this book.  Let me tell you what they are : )

• We love that this book touches on a wide range of topics, all fitting under biology of course.  The kids liked that we were always learning something new.  CKEB teaches on many aspects of Biology from plants and insects to birds and mammals to the human body.
• I felt that CKEB was very well planned out.  I did not feel like I had to do a lot of advance planning.  I could just open up our book and go. 
• There are oodles of hands on activities in this book.  At the beginning of each unit you are given a list of all the items that are needed to do the hands on projects.  This is really the only planning that I felt was needed.  The projects ranged from dissecting owl pellets to making pine cone bird feeders and a butterfly life-cycle mobile.  
• Although there were oodles of hands on projects I did not feel obligated to do them all and felt I had the liberty to pick and choose what worked for us : )
• I LOVE that there is scripture through out CKEB.  There is even memory verses for each lesson.  I felt that Mrs. Redmond was very good at tying in the fact that Biology and all it consists of is God's Creation.  When learning about Butterflies and Moths we also get to read Matthew 6:20, But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.
• We enjoyed Mrs. Redmond's writing style, she writes like she is having a conversation with you.  She is very good at drawing the kids in and keeping their attention.
• The kids liked the coloring pages and diagrams that went along with what we were studying. 
• In the back of the book the author gives an extensive list of supplemental materials.  Some are videos, some books and even games.  I didn't feel obligated to do these AT ALL, but we did take some of her suggestions, and we were glad we did.  If you are interested in seeing her list you can view it here.
• CKEB suggests that the kids do an Animal Kindgom ABC book as a year long project.  She even gives several animal suggestions for each letter of the alphabet.
• CKEB is geared towards students in grades 3rd through 6th, but I felt is was very adaptable for younger kids.  

There are 35 lessons in CKEB, each having a Teaching Time and a Hand on Time.  Teaching time is where we did all of our reading about our topic for the week and then Hands on Time is where we did our, you guessed it, hands on project.  We normally brought the lesson into 2 sessions a week, we read one day and then would do our project the next time we did science.  Generally we do science at least twice a week.

In case you are curious what lessons are included in the 35, I've got ya covered.  Here there are:

1. Creation
2. Cells
3. Taxonomy
4. The Biosphere
5. Food Webs
6. Introduction to Plant's in God's World
7. Photosynthesis
8. Plant Reproduction
9. Fruit & Vegetables
10. Trees
11. Birds of the Earth - Taxonomy
12. Bird Diets
13. Bird Structure
14. Introduction - Mammals in the Wild
15. Monotremes and Marsupials
16. Canids, felines, and Bears
17. Monkeys and Apes
18. Aquatic Mammals
19. Introduction - The Human Factor
20. The Human Body
21. Our Five Senses
22. Human Reproduction
23. Introduction - Reptiles All Around
24. Snakes and Lizards
25. Alligators and Crocodiles
26. Turtles, Tortoises, and Terrapins
27. Introduction - Insects High and Low
28. Butterflies and Moths
29. Bees and Wasps
30. Introduction - Water Creatures
31. Mollusks
32. Sharks
33. Crustaceans
34. Freshwater Life
35. Amphibians

See, there is a lot to LOVE!! There was not anything that we disliked about CKEB, it was a great fit for our family.

You can purchase your own copy of Christian Kids Explore Biology directly from Bright Ideas Press for $34.95.  You and your kids can have fun exploring biology together too!


Please note that we received Christian Kids Explore Biology from bright Ideas Press for review purposes only.  I am an affiliate of Bright Ideas Press and if you purchase anything thru my link I will get a small commission. 

Watch Them Grow, Then Let Them Go! - A Butterfly Garden Review

For the last several weeks we've been really been enjoying ourselves.  Ever heard of a Butterfly Garden?  I have really been wanting to do one of these with the kids for a long time, I am so glad that we finally did!  We were given the chance to review the Butterfly Garden by Insect Lore. 

We got a whole butterfly kit - we got the Butterfly Garden, Butterfly Life Cycle Stage Figures and a Beautiful Painted Lady Butterfly Life Cycle Poster (which is laminated).

Remember how I said that I have my UPS man trained to NOT knock on the door (napping kids, barking dogs - you know the drill) when he delivers a package.  Ok, so the hubs comes homes and says "There is a package on the front porch that say LIVE INSECTS - Open Immediately!  What in the world are you all up to now?" So the kids and I ran, yes I ran too, to the front porch to get our catty's!  5 adorable teeny tiny caterpillars in a cute little jar!

 

The catty's had everything they needed - air, light and the special food that Insect Lore provided inside the jar.    For about a week, we got to watch them as they grew and grew and grew some more, this was so AWESOME!   We also got to watch them turn into a chrysalis, again VERY AWESOME!  We have never seen this process, to see the caterpillars spinning and turning into a chrysalis right before your eyes in an amazing thing. 

The hardest thing about having a butterfly garden is having to wait for the butterflies to emerge.  We couldn't wait to see them!  I think it took about a week and then out came the first butterfly.  I have to say, when the Lord creates, He goes all out!  These butterflies were beautiful!

One by one out they came, all five of them.  They were very simple to care for, I placed a paper plate on the bottom of the "garden" and put sliced fruit, fresh flowers and a sea sponge with sugar water on it.  We hooked them up!  We watched them for about 5 days and once it was a nice day we released them. 

This, I think, was the coolest part.  I know that it is not good to touch their wings so I put my finger to their feet and they would climb right on.  I was able to let each of the older kids hold a butterfly until it flew off! 

As you can see, they loved this!  This was a great experience for the whole family and I highly recommend Butterfly Gardens.  Beings that Insect Lore sells them for only $19.95, they would be great for Science, a Birthday gift or for no reason at all!