TOS Review Crew

George Washington: True Patriot from YWAM Publishing: Review

October 8, 2013 Grace-Filled Writer

I have known about Youth With A Mission since I was in college. I attended a Christian college with a strong missions department and many of those within the major had worked with YWAM prior to their admission. What I didn’t realize was their ministry reached beyond mission trips. I have sense thoroughly enjoyed browsing through their many books for children and adults on their website.

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We got the chance to review George Washington: True Patriot ($8.99) and the accompanying Unit Study Curriculum Guide ($9.99) by Janet and Geoff Benge from YWAM Publishing. Rose very much enjoyed this study! She really likes history and she started the book before our trip to Williamsburg in September which was perfect timing. I love all the opportunities we have while homeschooling is wonderful. We really have time to explore what aspects of history interest my girls the most. This and the other biographies in the series are ideal for read-aloud material for elementary students and

Many biographies for this age focus on the highlights or the things for which they are famous. I liked that this biography takes the reader back to the beginning, yet does not feel like heavy reading. Fact are given in an interesting way and kept Rose wanting to read more!

The accompanying study guide gives chapter questions and opportunity for further investigation into the life of George Washington. I appreciated that the answers were included. Although I do read what my girls are reading I have three I’m keeping up with each day. It is nice to have some help along the way as we study together!

I also liked the accompanying student pages which gave Rose something to complete as she read. I usually have my own page of information she completes for her literature studies, but it was refreshing to have one already made. These pdf files are easy to print or read off a digital device with a larger screen.

There are so many options for learning included in the study guide which will fit your learner no matter their ability level or learning style. The directions for the teacher are extremely clear and helpful. Many other unit studies I have looked at are geared towards the student, but can leave me as the teacher a little confused and lost. There is definitely not a problem with that here! Directions are concise and clear.

My favorite part of the guide was the student explorations. There are so many creative options here there will definitely be something to grab you child’s imagination. There are detailed descriptions of each. There were some I hadn’t ever thought about doing for a unit study like giving my daughter the chance to make a movie about George Washington’s Life. She is working on a cross-stitched picture which was another idea given since girls were expected to practice their sewing. I’m going to keep this list handy for future unit and literature studies. I’m sure I can adapt them to just about anything we do with how versatile they really are.

This high-quality series is one we will be coming back to for more biographical studies. I know I can count on them to be interesting, accurate, and I am provided with more options than I could imagine to engage my girls as they learn through the study guide.

You can read more reviews of this and the biography about Jim Elliot which my Crewmates reviewed below!

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Fundanoodle: Review

September 30, 2013 Grace-Filled Writer

When beginning homeschooling for kindergarten one of the first things everyone looks for is a handwriting curriculum. There are so many to choose from! With so many choices it can be hard to know what is best. There are many, really good ones, but I’m really excited to share something brand new to me and what I think I’ll continue to use with Grace through Kindergarten.

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Fundanoodle is a really neat company I was not familiar with before this review. Their learning activities are very hands-on and all about experiencing while learning. When you have time, take a minute to read about their company and philosophy. You’ll see why I’m really behind this company. We reviewed the I Can Build Upper Case Letter! activity kit ($29.99) for ages 4-5 (Pre-K-Kindergarten). What a blessing it has been for Grace!

This is such an amazing value! The kit includes a magnetic dry-erase board, a set of magnetic curves and lines for buildling letters, a dry-erase marker, activity cards for gross motor skills, and a wooden dice. There are other handwriting systems which incorporate building the letters with a set of basic curves and lines, but not for this price with everything included. The magnets are very high quality and sturdy. Directions for building the letters are also included.

Upon opening the box I hadn’t even taken everything out before Grace was trying it out! She knew it was for making letters and without any guidance she built D and was so very proud of herself. I know it wasn’t exactly how it was intended to be built, but she was discovering on her own and loving it. I knew she was hooked and this was going to be fun!

Although many schools are doing away with recess researchers agree physical activity throughout the day is vital to stimulating the brain and provide more focus. Fundanoodle provides a very easy way to incorporate gross motor skills with this program with the gross motor cards. These were soooo fun. I honestly didn’t know how they would go over. They seemed so simple, but this was one of her favorite things! She simply rolled the dice to choose which card we would do, flip it over, then follow the directions, which was always moving the same way as a specific animal.

Don’t these shots just say it all? Grace loved roaring like lion and hopping like a kangaroo. Just as expected, her focus and attention was increased when we got down to the core of the program.

First Grace built the letter we were working on. I chose to have her do the same letter every day for a week because of her age. I’ll explain why below. I would hand her the pieces needed for the letter and let her do the best she could…which was pretty good as you can see! For some letters I had to help her align them a bit, but she got the idea from the start and this was something I really liked. Having her tangibly form letters with these basic shapes seemed to cement them in her mind.

I really like that the straight-lined letters are taught first. Some handwriting programs teach the curved letters first. Some teach them in ABC order. Others teach consonants and then vowels. To me, this makes the most sense.

You can see there are several rows for the students to practice on. Because of her age (not quite 4) I felt it would be best for Grace to work on one line each day. The first three rows are in boxes which really helped her form her letters better. Again, I’ve seen other curriculum use this method, but not with as much clarity as is used in this book. I also like that the last two lines are traditional practice paper for her to use. This was much harder for her, but she gave it her best and really did quite well. This is the first time she’s really used handwriting paper even though she’s been writing letters for a while.

Another really fun aspect is each letter has its own special sticker for her to place on each page when she is done. She loved these I like the reward. It was something to work towards which was very simple.

This program is good…so, so good. I hadn’t disliked any of the other handwriting curricula I’ve used with my girls, but I hadn’t yet found one I loved. Now I have!

Read about this and the many other wonderful products from Fundanoodle from my Crewmates!

Seed Sowers: Review

September 16, 2013 Grace-Filled Writer

My husband is a pastor with the Christian and Missionary Alliance. A. B. Simpson did not set out to found a denomination, but rather a movement of God’s people to pray for, financially support, and send out missionaries to further the gospel all around the world. Now, more than 125 years later, our denomination still views its primary purpose as spreading the gospel around the world by equipping its members within our nation at the same time as equipping our international workers abroad. My girls have grown up within this culture and deeply love our times with international workers and hearing about God’s work around the world.

We also love to teach them about those who have gone before us in this endeavor. Seed Sowers: Gospel Planting Adventures by Gwen Toliver ($13.95) from Seed Sowers is a beautifully written book. It is also available as a hardback ($30.95) and in an Kindle format ($3.99) which we reviewed. Each section focuses on a different missionary who is now retired and some of their adventures focusing around their work with translating the Scriptures into the heart language of the nations. I love Gwen’s perspective as a current translator with Wycliffe. It is clear she has a true passion and love for seeing the Scriptures written in the heart-language (the language they most relate to) of groups all over the world.

We have loved reading this together, especially on Wednesday evenings. Children are welcome in our mid-week service and stay in during my husband’s Bible study. During the prayer time I take any children there to a small room just off the sanctuary to pray with them. If there is time after our prayer time I will have been reading to them from Seed Sowers. This is often just our three girls, but they love it and beg for more! They are disappointed when the adults are finished with their prayer time because it means I’m done reading.

Her writing drew my girls in and captivated their attention from the first sentence. I have aimed to read aloud more to the girls and this has been a perfect place to start. I have had to, “Read just one more Mommy!” more than once as my eager little sweethearts soak in the spiritual heritage of those who have gone before us. Rose has tried to sneak off with my Kindle to read ahead and Beth has been playing missionary as she pretends. Anything which brings excitement to my girls makes me happy. When it causes them to grow more deeply in their understanding of God and His work, it thrills me.

I love that these captivating stories were written after the author was able to interview many retired missionaries. They are first-hand accounts and this is invaluable. So many books of missionaries are written from research. This is not necessarily bad, but using primary source material for historically accurate books is vital. As I read I watch as my girls are transported to jungles, islands, and other far-away places. I typically allow them to draw while I read. More often than not they are listening spellbound as the crayons and pencils lay unused on the table and eager faces lean in waiting to hear what comes next.

My favorite response from my girls came from Beth as we prepare for our recent conferences where two married international workers shared about their work in Russia. When I was telling the girls about the services we would be attending each night Beth twirled around the room and said, “I’m just so excited! It will be just like our missionary stories!” To hear my six-year-old proclaim her excitement over hearing about God’s work in other lands brought tears to my eyes and joy to my soul.

I can only hope there is a sequel to this book. I know there are so many more stories of God’s faithfulness as many before us made so many sacrifices to bring God’s Word to then nations.

Read more reviews from my fellow Crewmates!

Time4Learning: Review

September 4, 2013 Grace-Filled Writer

Online resources for homeschooling is becoming a huge trend in the home education world. You can find anything you need from supplements for fill in the gaps to full course curricula. The difficulty comes in trying to weed out the useful from the time wasters. I typically aim to keep our learning environment as focused on literature and hands-on activities as possible. Computers and screens are usually reserved for supplementation, so I’m pretty picky about what my girls use.

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Time4Learning is a company who has made its presence well-known both within the homeschool world. Simply search for online homeschool resources and Time4Learning pops up very quickly! All of the core areas are covered including language arts, math, social studies, and science for $19.95 each month for k-8th grades. Discounts are given for each additional student signed up. Courses for high school students are also available. The learning environment definitely has more of the feel of a game and Beth, a six-year-old 1st grader, definitely saw using this as playtime. This is a great benefit when you have reluctant learners. Sparking interest is vital with any program whether a traditional approach or computer-based.

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Beth was the primary user for reviewing the program and used the 1st grade level, but her sisters were right there along with her and thoroughly engrossed! She tried out all of the subject areas and was able to quickly complete all of the language arts and math material. Her official grade-level is 1st, but her ability level is second grade or higher. One of the nice things about Time4Learning is if you find the material is too easy (or too difficult!) you can request a grade-level change. This takes about 24 hours, but I’m glad it requires confirmation so parents have plenty of time to consider.

One area which we were concerned about was how science information would be presented. Our family’s world-view is that all of Scripture is true, including a literal 6-day account of Creation. I appreciate that although Time4Learning is not a Christian-based curriculum, they have taken time to address these concerns and even have a specific board within their forum to address this. Click here to see what they have to say.

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Another wonderful aspect is the availability of lesson plans. We are blessed to live in a state where the regulations are easy to follow. Some states are a bit more challenging and require lesson plans. Time4Learning is a huge help for this. It is set up to be a full course curriculum. This can be reassuring for parents who are feeling unsure of themselves as they embark on their journey of homeschool can rest easy knowing their children will be able to meet what is considered grade-level requirements. My personal feeling is it is a little less rigorous than I like our curriculum to be, but my girls tend to be a bit advanced so I’m always searching for more challenges.

Whether you are searching for a full-online computer-based curriculum, fun educational or a supplement for any particular subject, you should check out Time4Learning! This is definitely a high-quality option for any of these scenarios. My daughter asks frequently, “Can I play my mousey game now?” Getting her to agree to play is never a chore and the bonus is she is all the knowledge she is gaining.

Click below to see what others on the Review Crew had to say!

Look Left, Look Right, Look Left Again from Greene Bark Press: Review

August 30, 2013 Grace-Filled Writer

My girls are always so interested in the why of everything, especially safety rules. We have been very strict to teach our girls they must obey, even if they don’t understand why at the time for their safety, but explaining why has also been a very important part of our teaching. They need to obey, sometimes blindly, but teaching safety should occur other times as well.

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This sweet little book by Ginger Pate is a wonderful tool for gentle instruction of safety rules and the reason why we have those rules. Look Left, Look Right, Look Left Again ($8.50) from Greene Bark Press Inc. is beautifully written and engaging for my girls who are in just the right age range, 3-8. I think the format is best suited for preschoolers simply because it is a board book. Most grade-school kids will balk at board books, although my girls are an exception to this! I’m not sure if it is because they don’t experience the peer pressure to fit-in, but so far I have yet to hear one of them complain a book is too little for them.

My oldest, who is eight, grabbed it right out of the box and settled down to check it out. She is obviously past the board-book stage, but my girl will read anything she can get her hands on. I think she secretly wanted to check it out before her little sister got to it! It wasn’t long though before Grace found her new book and immediately fell in love with the little duck, Wally. What an adorable protagonist!

One of my favorite aspects is howWally is instructed by his mother about safety rules when crossing the street. In a society where a good portion of the media portrays parents as irrelevant and often idiotic I am pleasantly surprised when books or other media put parents in a positive light. Mama Waddlewater is protective and wise. She instructs her son and gives reason and makes sure he is safe.

I also liked how Mama Waddlewater teaches Wally to practice. He insists he was going to cross the street the right way and tells her indignantly he knew better. Mama says it is still her job to make sure he is safe. What wonderful words from a storybook which have echoed my own so many times!

Beth enjoyed reading this to her little sister. It was fun to hear them discussing the pictures and enjoy the book together. They both said this book was fun and I found them reading it several times.

This is really just such a pleasant story and so sweetly written! To see what my Crewmates had to say click below!

Under the Microscope Lapbook from Hands of a Child: Review

August 20, 2013 Grace-Filled Writer

My oldest daughter loves to learn and is completely fascinated by science. We do not have a regular science curriculum I follow at home because from September through May my girls attend a learning center which covers a wide variety of science topics. At the same time science has always fascinated me and I encourage my girls to engage in what interested them scientifically. I even have a science corner built into our homeschool room to encourage investigation.

Additions to our schoolroom this year included instruments for investigation. Although I was extremely excited about getting a microscope and telescope into our room, but I have to be honest…it has been a while since I’ve used a microscope and I don’t know if I’ve ever used a telescope!Reviewing the Under a Microscope Curriculum (K-3rd grade) from In the Hands of a Child seemed like a great opportunity to refresh my skills.

We don’t typically use lapbooks, but In the Hands of a Child is a company I am very familiar with. They are at the top of the list when searching for quality lapbooking materials. For those unfamiliar with how lapbooks work I like to think of it as scrapbook learning. As students read, learn, and investigate they construct a miniature scrapbook of the information usually kept in a manilla folder. Instructions are included at the beginning for how to construct this lapbook although I was a little confused about where exactly to place the information. This is probably because lapbooking is still more out of my comfort zone than most learning activities. This particular company offers lapbooks in a variety of formats including e-book ($10.00), CD ($15.00), Printed ($18.00), Print+CD combo ($16.00), and a Lapbook It Pack ($12.00 – Does not include the teaching materials). This and other titles are currently on sale right now!

One of the reasons lapbooking isn’t typically our learning format is the time it takes to construct the lapbook. It is difficult to do this with multiple ages of children, but In the Hands of a Child helps by gearing their units to a wider age-range with multiple book options and activity choices. My oldest daughter mostly worked on this, but my other girls were excited to check out the microscope as well.

Matching up the scientific vocabulary used when talking about microscopes to their kid-friendly definitions was one of the first activities we did. This was a great way to start out the study so as we went through our learning she would have a good understanding as well as a reference dictionary along the way.

Although many lapbooks I see use lots of multicolored paper I like having the option to print on what I want to. This way my girls can decorate and color the pictures as they want. I particularly liked this how to focus the microscope step-by-step clipboard. It turned out really cute an looked “scientific” to Rose. It also gave very clear instructions for even a newbie scientist.

In addition to information on how to use a microscope and the various types which exist, there was quite a bit of historical information as well. It was fun learning about who created the first microscope.

Rose was so excited to be able to follow the directions and focus the microscope on her own! We have a set of 15 slides I purchased at the same time as the instrument and she has been waiting to learn how to use it on her own. Her favorite slides to look at were the pine stem and human blood. “Ewwww! Blood!” That was my almost-four-year-old Grace’s response. She still enjoyed looking at it though!

While working on this unit we had a friend who was over for the afternoon. Rose was very happy to teach her how to use the microscope and share all she had learned.

If you enjoy lapbooking, this is a high-quality lapbook at an affordable price. They also frequently run specials and offers with steep discounts. I personally do not care for this learning medium, but I know many families who do. If you like the idea of project-based learning and hands-on instruction I encourage you to take a look at In the Hands of a Child and their many resources which cover all subject areas.

You can see some other products from this company reviewed by my Crewmates below!

Understanding Child Brain Development from Family Hope Center: Review

August 14, 2013 Grace-Filled Writer

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The brain is an amazing thing. It still holds so many mysteries for doctors, researchers, and therapists, yet amazing understanding of our central processing organ has developed over the last few decades. So much understanding of new ways to manage and treat abnormalities are being understood so families can succeed. Not too many years ago we would in our history a push to lock away those who did not function “normally” in society. We still refer to many issues as illnesses, indicating medication alone is needed to treat the individual. Family Hope Center has a different approach, a unique approach…a successful approach.

The DVD Understanding Child Brain Development will take you on a journey to understand the workings of the brain. Because Family Hope Center looks at different developmental issues as an injury rather than an illness their therapy is much different, yet you cannot begin to understand the treatment programs until you understand the how and why of brain function. This DVD gives hope to families who may have felt hopeless otherwise.

Although my daughters are not affected by any developmental delays, this has been a profoundly interesting seminar giving me great insight into how the brain actually functions. Matt and Carol Newell have taken complex research and science and presented it in a format which is understandable and manageable for those of us not familiar with the inner-workings of the mind. Terms like mid-brain and pons are now words I understand and can talk intelligently about. As I watched this DVD many families with kids who struggle came to mind and I would love for them to view this. I have had so many conversations with parents who feel hopeless as their child is evaluated and medicated each year with little to no progress academically. This DVD shows another way, a way without medication and away towards healing.

There were two particular parts of the DVD which intrigued me in particular. The first was the effect of crawling. Our society pushes children to move very quickly through the crawling phase through the use of walkers, exer-saucers, and doorway jumpers. While my kids used those, they were often on the floor crawling around, yet some children get very little time doing this. One of the interesting treatments used to help heal the injured area of the brain is to practice crawling. I was completely fascinated by this news.

The second thing which intrigued me was the reference to research by Dr. Masaru Emoto about how water molecules are affected by different outside forces. Seeing highspeed photographs of frozen water crystals after water had been exposed to television radiation and microwaved has given me pause. If you haven’t heard of this yet, take some time to research. I’m not in any way advocating all of his theories, but it is a very fascinating topic and makes me wonder how much harm we may be doing our bodies because of technology.

Take a moment to watch an introduction from Andrew Pudewa from the Institute for Excellence in Writing.

I would encourage all parents, no matter the state of your child’s abilities, to view this DVD. It will definitely open your eyes to what is going on within your child. It costs $19.00 and can be ordered by calling 610-397-1737 or online Understanding Child Brain Development from IEW.

Check out more reviews from my Crewmates by clicking below!

Reading Kingdom: Review

August 12, 2013 Grace-Filled Writer

This year I’m getting ready to teach reading for the third time. The first time I began reading instruction with my oldest I felt completely inadequate and unprepared. My background is middle school education and so even though I took a reading class in college, I never thought I’d be teaching it. Then both of my oldest daughters, always eager to learn, started ~~asking~~, begging to learn at age three. While I didn’t start their reading instruction that young, they were reading on a 1st grade level before they turned five.

And now there is almost four-year-old Grace. The sweet little thing is so incredibly distraught she doesn’t know how to read yet, but repeatedly tells me she doesn’t want me to teach her. I’m not a fan of teaching reading to very young children, but when children show an interest in any kind of learning I do not want to hold them back. She is incredibly advanced and her hesitancy has surprised me. I had decided to hold-off on her reading instruction for a while until I had this chance to review Reading Kingdom. This is a computer based reading program to be used with pre-readers through a 3rd grade reading level. I hesitate to list an age because kids learn at such different paces, but the website says it is intended for ages 4-10. It allows children to move at their own pace, requires mastery of a skill before moving forward, and as excited my little reader. The price is $19.99 per month or $199.99 for an entire year with discounts for multiple children. A 30-day risk-free trial is also available to try out first.

Grace has enjoyed using this almost every day…so much in fact she asks, “Can I play my owl game?” even after school has finished for the day. She started by taking an assessment which placed her where she needed to be. Parents are firmly instructed not to help at all with the exception of helping with hand control. This assures the child is accurately placed and will be able to work on their own. I followed this guideline and since Grace is used to using the computer I didn’t need to help her with the mouse at all.

The program then begins at the appropriate level. I wish there was a bit more indication of what the levels were, but this is not preventing her from moving forward. I do really like the reports which you can access at any point. She has moved on much more rapidly than I expected. I’m not certain how her progress is measured, but I can see she has completed 10% of the entire program and 17% of the current level which is working with letters. I would really like a better understanding of where she is, but I am pleased there is a report to see.

Grace works on her own needing no assistance beyond accessing the website. She loves the owl. I’m not sure what has captured her about the character exactly, but she is particularly fond of it. She will sometimes complete more lesson in one day, but since I know the program will not allow her to progress without mastery this is fine. This is an example of what she is doing now. She is asked to identify the letters listed on the top row in the same order on the bottom row using the keyboard. There is an option to use the actual keyboard or an on-screen mouse activated keyboard. I have chosen the latter at Grace’s request. I think this is better for her age anyway because she can keep her focus on the screen.

I would recommend this program to those looking for computer-based reading instruction, but from this point on I will only be using it to supplement the phonics curriculum I have already used for a couple of reasons. The first is I really do not care for computer-based only instruction for our family. Kids spend so much time in front of screens I prefer to do most of their learning through books and experience. The second is I disagree with some of the philosophy behind this reading program. While it is working well and Grace enjoys it I find some flaws in their assertions about reading instruction and why traditional approaches are failing the majority of students.

To read more reviews of this program from my Crewmates click below!

Draw to Learn from Notgrass: Review

August 9, 2013 Grace-Filled Writer

Bible is one of the subjects I never have to struggle teaching is Bible. My husband and I are both passionate about the Word of God and even more passionate about instilling a love for His Word in our girls. While I was resting after their birth I have vivid memories of my husband singing Jesus Loves Me and telling them the plan of salvation, just how much God loved them. We felt as if their baby dedications were more for us, a parent dedication if you will, as we committed before our congregation to train up our children in the ways of the Lord. It is with this mindset we entered into homeschooling, knowing our curriculum would always start with solid teachings in the foundations of Scripture.

The opening paragraph on the the Notgrass Company website talks about creating materials with a Christian worldview to teach the hearts, souls, and minds of our children. That one sentence sold me on wanting to review material from this family-run company. We were blessed to review their Draw to Learn Bible study material. This product is designed for use with children of all ages and encourages them to illustrate what they have learned from the Scripture they have studied. Available in both print ($14.95) and digital ($9.95) there are multiple options for your needs.

We used the spiral bound book on Proverbs. It seems quite simple at first glance with Scripture references at the top, empty space for drawing, and directions at the bottom. Although as simple as it may seem, it has profoundly deepened my oldest daughter’s thought process when it comes to Scripture. We have been using this in addition to our regular Bible material, and she doesn’t mind the extra study one bit! She is the one of my girls who loves all things artistic so this has been an excellent for her.

One aspect I really liked about this Bible study is it is very personal to her. She reads the passage and then illustrates what she has gleaned after reading the short instructions at the bottom of the page. It has been amazingly insightful for me to see what impacts her. I suppose up until this curriculum I felt the need to lead her to understanding. This may have been true to a certain extent up to this point, but at eight years old she is ready for me to let go of her hand and allow her to discover God’s Word on her own. This has been a beautiful way to start her on that journey.

There are no right and wrong answers for this. There are suggestions at the bottom of each page, but they are suggestions only. My daughter has taken on this curriculum with great joy. She’s used to me giving her new things to try out and she enjoys the change in routine from time-to-time, but she rarely asks to continue with a curriculum in particular. She generally loves school and like her sisters is incredibly easy to teach. This time, she asked specifically, “I get to keep doing this, don’t I? I really like it!” So be assured, this will continue to be a part of our weekly learning.

Click below to read more reviews of Notgrass products from my Crewmates!

Bible Study for All Ages: Review

August 7, 2013 Grace-Filled Writer

Learning Together…This is something I’m learning more about and seeking to do with my girls. I still want them to have their own age-appropriate studies for history, science, math, and language arts, but in other areas I am starting to appreciate more and more the benefits of corporate learning. Corporate learning in a classroom environment is completely different than in our home environment…thank goodness! I was a full-time classroom teacher for a couple of years and there were so many things which made me dislike corporate learning. What is beautiful in our homeschool is we are already learning corporately. I now have the opportunity to do it intentionally rather than haphazardly.

Bible is one area where corporate learning just seems natural, especially with my youngest turning four in just a couple of months. Bible Study Guide for All Ages is a wonderfully simple and easy way to start doing this if you are looking for something more in depth than just family devotions. We have been starting our homeschool day with this a few times a week. It took some time for me to adjust to using both the Beginner and Intermediate levels at the same time, but I quickly worked out the logistics of the process and found this to be a very enjoyable part of our day!

Considering the range of uses and ability to reuse of many of the products (with the exception of the student pages) the prices are very reasonable.

Beginner Student Pages (grades K4-Kindergarten)

$5.95 per set of 26 lessons

Beginner timeline (grades K4-Kindergarten)

$24.95

Intermediate Student Pages (grades 3rd and 4th grade)

$5.95 per set of 26 lessons

Bible Book Summary Cards (grades 1st – 6th grade)

$24.95

Children’s Songs CD Set (grades K4-6th grade)

$19.95

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Studying the Bible more in depth than family devotions is something the girls have been doing individually, but not together. This was a really fun way to start doing this all together. It took about 20 minutes to complete a lesson if we did it all at once, but it could easily be broken into sections. Each of the pages is divided into smaller boxes with Scripture references and activities which are age appropriate.

I love that the core was actually reading Scripture instead of just a Bible story. I think Bible story books are wonderful and incredibly helpful for beginning to teach children about the truth of God’s Word. However, they frequently fall short of getting into the deeper understanding and theology learned when studying God’s Word directly.

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One fun aspect with the Beginner Student Pages is the inclusion of the age-appropriate Beginner Timeline. This timeline starts with a picture of the Bible and explanation of the two parts of Scripture. Foundational teachings such as these are often neglected at the youngest ages, but why? Children at a very young age can understand and comprehend things on a much higher level than we often give them credit for.

Grace really liked learning what her sisters did and having her own page to work on rather than just looking at her sisters’ papers. I loved the inclusion of other skills such as color recognition and counting. These pages are very well-written in way even the youngest children can understand, but also challenges them to think critically. She also was very good about waiting patiently while her sisters finished their more challenging pages.

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Instead of a timeline the older children have Bible Book Summary Cards. Wow! I can’t say enough about how much I love these. Each card summarizes a book of the Bible so fully, do in depth, even adults will find themselves learning from them. I feel like the word summary really doesn’t do them justice. Something more along the lines of In Depth Understanding of Theological Highlights and Biblical Truths would be more accurate…but I suppose it would be a bit much!

I chose to go up a grade for the Student pages for my older girls even though Beth is technically only in 1st grade. Her reading level is well beyond her grade-level as is her biblical knowledge and understanding. The latter is because we have been teaching the about the Bible from the time they were just infants. Some would say it is because my husband is a pastor, but no matter what his vocation we would still have trained our children in God’s Word from an early age. Beth was saved a year ago and has continued to grow in her faith. I love how these pages disciple and train more than most material for this age.

Rose is the one of my girls who shows a great love for the Word of God. She would do Bible studies all day long if I would let her! She has such a sweet spirit and sensitivity to Scripture. She is always up for trying new things. She is right in the target grade range of 3rd-4th grade as she has just entered her 3rd grade year. She said her favorite part was, “Everything!” You can’t beat that endorsement!

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The last item we reviewed was the Children’s Song CD Set which is intended for use with all of the levels. I am a huge advocate for teaching through song as much of my knowledge, biblical and otherwise, comes from tunes I learned as a child. These are simply written songs, some familiar and some new, which will aid with memory of many biblical lists such as Jacob’s sons and the apostles. Also included are some of the classic Sunday school songs I grew up with like Climb Up Sunshine Mountain. These are songs I have taught my girls, but it is getting harder and harder to find them recorded.

For the future I plan to do one page a week and just do one-two boxes on that page a day. Our days are already full and I don’t want to rush through this great teaching tool. Going at a slower pace will allow for more discussion and for the truth of God’s Word to penetrate more deeply into their hearts.

Click below to see reviews of these and other levels from my Crewmates!