TOS Crew: Library and Educational Services

I was very excited to have the opportunity to review for Library and Educational Services (LES for short).  LES is a wholesale supplier of wholesome, educational books, DVDs, CDs, and more. It doesn't get much better than that! 

LES gave us the opportunity to review 2 DVD's of our choice from the Go Science Video Series that they sell.  These were our options:

Volume 1 - Motion: Discovering the Laws of Gravity and Motion

Volume 2 - Simple Machines, Sound and Weather

Volume 3 - Magnetism, Engineering, Electricity, and Design

Volume 4 - Chemistry, States of Matter, and Life Sciences

Volume 5 - Air and Flight

Volume 6 - Water, Space, and the Solar System

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!! 

Check out what others from the TOS Crew have to say about LES and the Go Science Video Series.


Disclaimer: As a member of the TOS Crew, I received 2 Go Science DVD's, at no cost to me, in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are mine.

Bringing Books to Life - Build It!

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.
• Have you seen the FloraCraft Styrofoam craft bricks?  I bought these to build a Colosseum when we were reading Twice Freed.
• 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.

What do your kids build with?

TOS Crew: Judah Bible

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 relationship between 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
• Key Documents - Garden Command, Curse, Noahic Covenant

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!

Now that you've read what I think about the Judah Bible Curriculum, check out what others on the TOS Crew think about it.

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.

Bringing Books to Life - Books in the Kitchen!

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.

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.

What do you do to Bring Books to Life?

Chicken Pot Pie Cupcakes

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. 

ENJOY!