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Book-By-Book Bible Printables from Teach Sunday School: A TOS Crew Review

October 3, 2018 Grace-Filled Writer

My husband and I both went to Bible colleges and we are always interested in new resources for learning about the Bible, especially those which aid in understanding the historical and cultural contexts of the Word. We can only fully understand the meaning of the inspired Word of God if we understand who wrote it, when it was written, and the overall structure of the book itself as well as within the context of all of the Bible. The Printable Books of the Bible “Summary Sheets” from Teach Sunday School are and excellent way to have this information at your fingertips.

This is a really fun way to get an overview of all of Scripture! You could use these in a variety of ways anytime you are teaching or studying the Bible. Whether you are leading a Bible study or Sunday school at church or studying with your family in the privacy of your own home this set of resources will provide a wonderful foundation upon which to learn. I love the idea of using these to introduce a Sunday School Lesson or other Bible study. I teach on on a rotational basis and when my next turn comes around I look forward to introducing my students to Exodus with these.

Rose especially enjoyed studying these on her own. She enjoyed checking to see if I knew the information, almost quizzing me! She was pleasantly surprised at the times when I didn’t remember something specific. It was a wonderful way to reinforce the reasons why we need resources like this to help us in our studies. She knows I’ve studied the Bible a long time and enjoy doing so. She is used to me explaining a lot about the historical background and this was the perfect time to talk about some of the resources that help me know these things, and that I haven’t memorized everything. I love when I have the opportunity to explain the only way to continue to grow in the Word of God is to continually study!
My husband has been preaching through the book of Mark. We spent one evening chatting about what we have learned so far and reading through the page on the Book of Mark. We discussed how old Mark might have been and how many years after Christ’s resurrection the book was written. We also talked about the important things to remember from Mark and the key verses. It was a great way to review the sermon series as a part of our evening devotion time.
We do not typically have a group Bible time as a part of our School day. Each of the girls studies their own personal studies. Sometimes I help them choose, sometimes they choose on their own what to study. What I love about this resource is that no matter what they are studying, they are going to have a wonderful resource at their fingertips to dig more deeply and have a fuller understanding of God’s Word.

I really love the structure of the diagrams themselves. They are beautifully crafted and yet simply organized in a way to help retain learning. The visual layout is similar for each page and so makes it easy to locate information. The colors are easy on the eyes and compliment one another beautifully. You will enjoy using these no matter your age!
Take a look at what my Crewmates have to say!

Rescue Me! What Superheroes Can Teach Us About the Power of Faith from The Captain Sun Adventures: A TOS Crew Review

September 17, 2018 Grace-Filled Writer

The idea of good verses evil is fascinating our current culture. Superheroes permeate everything from movies to television to books and along with them toys, games, and clothing. It is a truth as old as creation itself, from the beginning of time in the Garden of Eden. We know this battle well and I believe it is what has fascinated the rest of our culture. We were very excited to read a super hero story with a biblical core. Rescue Me! What Superheroes Can Teach Us About the Power of Faith from The Captain Sun Adventures was enjoyed by all three of my daughters, ages 13, 11, and almost 9.

The idea behind this fantastic little book is a great story of good vs evil, woven together with truth from God’s Word creating a wonderful devotional with will teach and inspire children of all ages. Each short chapter is created as a comic book. At the end there is a devotional which is fashioned as a newspaper. I love this creativity!

Rose is an artist and snatched this out of my hands almost as soon as it arrived in the mail! She told me she thought it was so much fun that it was a comic, but also a devotional. She read through it very quickly that afternoon and told me she thought she would like to write her own devotion in the style of a comic book. The graphics are beautifully crafted and compliment the story in a lovely way.

These two gals enjoyed reading the devotion together. They too read it all at once. Because it is short and simple, I really liked that they wanted to read it on their own. One of the things I’ve attempted to instill in my daughters is the desire to study God’s Word for themselves. As they grow and mature in their faith I look for ways to show them just how exciting the Scriptures can be. This is a wonderful tool to develop a perspective of excitement as they read.
I LOVE the idea of this for personal devotions. While it would work well for group family devotions as well, I think it served us the best as personal quiet times, even though 2 daughters read together. I really like that in addition to explaining the biblical truth behind a Scripture, a question is also posed in each devotion directly to the reader to ponder. The best part about this book is that while secular super heroes point the glory to themselves or their teams, everything about this book points the glory back to God. This very biblical, but very uncommon perspective makes this a valuable resource for kids. I and my daughters all highly recommend this whether you are looking for a way to spice up your family devotions or to encourage your children to have quiet times with the Lord on their own. You may even use it for yourself and explore a different way of studying the Scriptures! Don’t forget to take a look at what my Crewmates have to say!

Unauthorized from Chara Games: A TOS Crew Review

September 13, 2017 Grace-Filled Writer

Our family really, really loves games. From before the girls could even speak they were sitting on our laps, or the laps of their grandparents, watching us play all variety of card, board, and strategy game and they have been participating as game players since they were each about 18 months old. They are always ready to play a new game, especially when they think it is more grown up! They were especially excited that their Grampy and Grammy were in town from Florida to try out Unauthorized from Chara Games.
The premise of this compact card game is to role-play life for Christians in a country where Christians are persecuted. The rules are fairly straight forward, although there is a learning curve which is best worked through by actual game-play. It is also pretty short. All of the games we played took 30 minutes or less. My in-laws came into town for an over-night visit on their way to visit more family, but they were here long enough to join in the fun! We played several times with all 7 of us! The fast-paced momentum kept all of us interested. Although recommended for 12 and up on the box, Grace (7) and Beth (10) both really enjoyed it. One of their favorite parts was choosing the character to be. Sometimes we did this randomly, but we also let them pick characters. Each of the character cards had a female side and a male side so each would work no matter who was using it.

My husband is excellent at rule-reading and then at providing subsequent explanations. So he played a mock round with himself to see how it all worked. This was a really great idea since we were playing with kids younger than the target age who may have been bored as they waited for us to understand the rules enough to explain them.

There is one designated pastor and one designated state policeman. They are on opposing sides and each is trying to gather the most support. Their loyalty is based upon how many of which color action cards they have. If the player has more green cards, they are on the pastor’s side. If they have more red cards they are on the state’s side. As each player has opportunities to play their cards or take actions they must act in the best interest of whichever side they are loyal. If they happen to have equal of each color they are considered neutral and may play in whichever way they want. Every action made is intended to help sway more people to be loyal to your own side.

The goal is to be on the winning side whether that is the state or church. The side wins when they all the rounds have been played and they have the most people loyal to them. My girls of course always wanted to be on the church’s side, but the adults understood they wanted to be on the winning side. We all felt like this was a fun game. It did take a couple of rounds to really get the hang of it, and Grace (the youngest) needed some guidance, but she did quite well on her own by the 3rd time we played! They also have asked to play it several more times. It is important to note that this is intended for 6 or more players. There are special rules so it can be played with 5. We did not try these, but basically one person takes on two separate roles and it could definitely work well with someone who understood the game fully.

The girls and I have been having conversations about how to pray for people in these real-life situations. While this game is indeed quite fun, it has also provided wonderful opportunities to discuss more deeply some of the trials persecuted Christians face. We have friends serving in these nations and this was a great reminder to pray for them and to know exactly how to pray for them. It has also provided reflective moments that really caused us to pause and consider just how blessed we are in this nation and exactly how much we take these freedoms for granted. I highly recommend this interactive and fun game. Be sure to click below and see what my Crewmates have to say!

The Bears on Hemlock Mountain E-Guide from Progeny Press: A TOS Crew Review

September 11, 2017 Grace-Filled Writer

Literature is one of the most important subjects for me as a homeschool teacher. That is probably because my background is in teaching literature and writing. I love good books, especially classic children’s literature that has stood the test of time. We usually take a very relaxed approach to literature, simply reading and informally discussing the work through elementary school, but I have several friends who use Progeny Press and I was very interested to give The Bears on Hemlock Mountain E-Guide (Grades 1-3) a try with Grace. She was eager as always and really enjoyed the study!

Bears on Hemlock Mountain, The - E-Guide

We took one week to use this unit because Grace is a very fast reader. It could be stretched out longer without any problem, but since I knew she would want to read the short book quickly I wanted to make certain she completed it at the same time she read the novel. I wasn’t sure how she would respond to completing the reading questions because of our typical way of studying literature. I shouldn’t have been surprised that she was eager for “more work” as she puts it. This little girl loves school and eagerly jumps into new learning styles. She seemed to like writing the answers write on the worksheets I printed. There were a couple of frustrating moments for her when she could not find the answer to a question.

I really love it when resources are available in a downloadable format because that means I can use it with younger children. It also saves shelf-space which is a huge benefit for us. I also really like the option of printing the entire file or a selection of needed pages. Since some of these are for the teacher and some are for students this is a great option when you may be studying the novel with more than one of your children. Please note the downloadable files are for an individual teacher or parent to use within their home or classroom. You should always strictly follow the company’s guidelines and use the material in an ethical way.

I really liked the reading questions. Some were straight forward and factual, but others were deeper and provided more thought or inference. I’ll be honest, Grace was not a fan of these more thoughtful questions in particular. She is still only 7 and very concrete in her thinking, but it is time for her to be able to delve more deeply and be able to make inferences about motives or emotions. This was exactly why I loved the questions. Not only did they serve this purpose, but they also showed me an area of weakness in her literature studies I had not yet pinpointed.

In addition to the literature questions which I found to be so valuable, there are a number of other fun resources and activities. There a number of pre-reading activities which are all highly engaging and Grace particularly liked the mystery word work page and the vocabulary word pages. She adores learning new words so this was perfect for her. There are also several post-reading activities and even a recipe to go along with the unit! The easy to navigate answer key is another plus in this wonderful unit!

I was highly impressed and am exploring some other studies from Progeny Press. I appreciate their solidly biblical world-view and the inclusion of this via Scripture study themed to the novel. It was a great way to help my daughter look at her literature through a Christian worldview.

There are several other levels and titles my Crewmates have reviewed including Charlotte’s Web E-Guide (Grades 4-6), The Silver Chair E-Guide (Grades 5-7), and Macbeth E-Guide (Grades 9-12). Make sure you click below to see what they have to say about these excellent units!

Is There Anything Better Than Candy Box-Tract from Let the Little Children Come: A TOS Crew Review!

September 6, 2017 Grace-Filled Writer

We are a family who believes that our purpose here on earth is to glorify God in all that we do and to take every action possible to further His kingdom. My husband is a pastor of a small church and we absolutely love the people we serve and our ministry here. Those who aren’t a part of our church probably think we are a little weird. We don’t follow the world’s ways in most things. We don’t watch all the latest movies and when we do it is almost always with a filter for content we find distasteful. Our kids do not know the popular music and aren’t familiar with many of the television shows most kids watch. Hey, we homeschool after all…we must be rebels! We do allow our girls to participate in non-scary and gory Halloween activities, including passing out candy from our home. When we lived in Florida we gave away quality candy, tracts, and radio dramas to the families who came to our home. Once our girls started getting a little older and we didn’t do this as much, but this year is going to be different thanks to this adorable little pumpkin! The Is There Anything Better Than Candy? Box-Tract from Let the Little Children Come has my girls already thinking about Halloween and how to use this Halloween tract as an opportunity to spread the gospel! This little pumpkin really is adorable and incredibly easy to put together for the girls! We first spent time reading what each of the leaves. My girls have all accepted Christ as their Savior and this was a wonderful opportunity to remember. Just like Communion serves as a reminder of our salvation story, this was a perfect opportunity to do the same.

It was very easy to punch out and only took a couple of tries to figure out how it went together. The directions are all visually explained without any words, but were quite clear. It took us a couple of tries because the girls started punching and trying to put it together without first looking at the directions! I thought it was pretty easy although I was a bit too rough on mine and popped off the stem. My girls didn’t have this trouble at all and the next one I did was fine.

Something fun about this is that I didn’t tell the girls what it would be once we put it together. I wanted to see their reactions. I wasn’t disappointed! The girls were quite pleased with the finished product and came to the conclusion on their own that this would be great fun for Halloween.

The girls repeatedly said, “These are so cute! I can’t wait to give them out!” There has also been considerable discussion about what to put into each of them. Some ideas put forth were candy, bracelets, and more candy.They are more than eager for the upcoming holiday this year and the reason is not for their own candy consumption or costumes, but because they are going to have an opportunity to share their faith and the gospel message in a fun way with those who come to our doorstep. Take a look at what my Crewmates have to say!

Hey, Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek! – Level 3 Set fromGreek ‘n’ Stuff: A TOS Crew Review

August 7, 2017 Grace-Filled Writer

When your grandfather is a professor who teaches Greek in seminary, it may mean you have a keen interest to know more about biblical languages at a young age. My dad has been teaching Greek for years so it did not surprise me when Rose came home having learned how to spell her name in Greek letters when she was in 2nd grade. She began writing her name this way on everything she created and for her science class as well! While she has had a keen interest in learning Greek, we have not had an opportunity to pursue it yet. She was very excited when our package with Hey, Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek! – Level 3 from Greek ‘n’ Stuff arrived! I have heard wonderful things about this curriculum and when I mentioned it to my dad he was already familiar with it. I was surprised to learn that my daughter would start in level 3, but this is because the first two levels in the series are for elementary aged students. Since Rose is in 7th grade now, this was the best fit for her.

I love that the first lessons focus on Greek alphabet recognition, writing the letters, and memorizing their pronunciation. The pronunciation CD is quite helpful for beginning students and parents who do not have a base knowledge. While 1 page a day is the intended use, it is strongly encouraged to not move faster than mastery will allow. This was very important for Rose because this was her first formal instruction in biblical Greek. As she filled the practice lines with the Greek letter she was studying, Rose would also pronounce the letter to aid in memorization. This worked well for her and she found learning the alphabet less tedious. For students who have already completed the first two levels or have previously learned the Greek alphabet the beginning lessons would act as review.

Rose completed 1-2 pages a day when she used studied. I really liked that the memorization of the alphabet included visual, tactile, and auditory components. I use this type of method for note memorization while teaching music and I think it is highly valuable. She did feel a little awkward speaking out loud while writing I think, but quickly noted the benefits of learning the letters this way.
I also very much appreciated the handwriting lines given for writing. This provided clear guidelines for how to correctly write the letter. Three lines of writing space were adequate for this activity.

Each lesson is expected to last about a week, but the first two lessons took her a little longer than I expected. Because she was learning the letters for the first time and it was important to master them fairly well, we took our time. I was excited to see her move into the next lessons where she began mastering specific Greek words. Some of the things I love about these lessons is that there is explanation in the student book for pronunciation and a place to draw a picture. My girl loves art and this is a wonderful component for her and her learning style.

The teacher’s guide is an incredibly helpful tool. My dad is an expert in Greek, but I am not! I have never taken any classes or studied Greek in any way. Still, I feel completely confident in guiding Rose through this course because of the teaching guide. In addition to teaching tips and explanations, it is a full answer key with even the handwriting portions completed! I personally am intrigued for myself and am considering getting my own guide to learn biblical Greek.

The last portion which I absolutely love is the inclusion of flash cards and copywork from the Greek New Testament. These are two components which will help ensure mastery of the language. The flash cards are available in the back of the workbook, but may also be purchased separately for convenience. For the copywork you will need your own Greek interlinear Bible, but this is easily obtained whether in a digital format or hard-copy. We are very pleased with this course and Rose is eager to continue as we will soon begin our traditional school-year. I’m excited for her to learn biblical Greek as a foreign language for her own benefit as she continues to study God’s Word on her own.
Take a look at what my Crewmates have to say!