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.
