Review: Creation Illustrated

Creation Illustrated is a Bible-based nature journal published by Tom and Jennifer Ish, a homeschooling family. Published quarterly, this magazine has been referred to as "The Christian answer to National Geographic" due to the fabulous photography.

About Creation Illustrated

Mission Statement

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 bering 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.  

**Each edition is divided into three sections: Creation Illustrated in Nature, in Scripture, and in Living -- to provide the mental, spiritual, and physical enrichment that everyone needs for balanced growth and education.

**There are uplifting spiritual, character-building lessons for students and family members of all ages in every feature -- Christ's method of teaching eternal truths through the things He made.

**The Instructional Guide in the back of each edition helps homeschoolers glean facts and spiritual lessons from each story.

**Garden features, activities, and a youth nature photo contest help youth and families unplug from the computer and get out into God's Creation to build a meaningful relationship with Him and each other.

**There are even Genesis Cuisine Recipes for homemakers to be creative in the kitchen with their children.

Our Experience

When we opened the package and found these four beautiful magazines were inside, we were excited. The magazine itself was on thick, glossy paper. The photography is simply stunning. The articles are captivating and, as my daughter described them, touching. With scripture woven throughout each page, it's like getting a devotional and a science lesson all rolled into one. And they are a great spring board for deeper discussion.

The instructional guides are also wonderful. They give you suggestions for devotional readings for your students along with comprehension questions for the articles. There is also a word search, youth photo contest, and suggestions for more hands-on activities.

My daughter is really enjoying the articles and discovering the many beautiful places that God had created. She is compiling a list of places to visit based on what she's been reading. She has also requested another subscription as a gift.

This beautiful magazine would be a welcome addition to any home.

F.Y.I.

Website: www.CreationIllustrated.com
Age Range: Great for the Whole Family
Price: $19.95 per year (4 issues), deeper discounts available for extending your subscription time out

Great News!!! Creation Illustrated is offering a FREE ISSUE as part of a subscription offer.  Just go too. www.CreationIllustrated.com/TOS

Disclaimer: I received a free subscription to this magazine for review purposes. All opinions are my own

Brain Fluid...We Like It!!

Mackenzie has been studying the nervous system these last few weeks and we've been wrapping it up by focusing on the brain. The topic of the brain has been fascinating. The brain is truly a testimony to the perfection and intricacy of God's amazing design of our bodies.

Some interesting facts that we learned:

**The brains neurons cannot repair themselves.  Uh-oh!!!!

**While recent evidence shows that people can add a few neurons to their brains over their lifetime, the neurons that you have at birth will be the large majority of what you have to sustain you your entire life.

**The skull, while an important part of God's plan for protection for this fragile organ, is rough on the inside.  Rough enough to cut the brain.  (Who knew?  Well probably Derek Shepard. lol)

Wow!  This organ is vital to our daily lives, clearly it's important to take care of it.  It just re-enforces our stance on the importance of wearing helmets when participating in activities involving wheels or flying down a mountain.

Thankfully, our skull is only our first line of defense for our almighty brains.  God, in His infinite wisdom, also carefully packaged our wonderful brains in cerebrospinal fluid.  Or as I refer to it, brain fluid.  This amazing fluid, between the brain and skull, cushions and cradles the brain and keeps it in place.  It also helps to distribute the force of an impact on our brains when we take a blow to our heads.

Have you ever hit your head so hard that you can feel your brain sloshing around in there? Not fun but thank goodness for that fluid, now that I know about the rough inside of my skull.

So today we did an experiment to show just how important that fluid is. We used 2 eggs, a plastic Easter egg slightly bigger than the eggs, and corn syrup.

This is your brain.

This is your brain inside a skull without cerebrospinal fluid.

This is your brain experiencing an impact of the unpleasant variety.

Awww Snap!!!
And the inside of this skull was smooth.

This is your brain inside of a skull with cerebrospinal fluid.
(If there are holes in your egg, tape them up.  You don't want your brain to leak.)

This is your brain experiencing another impact of the unpleasant variety.
Poor brain!

Hooray for brain fluid!!!

Review: Christian Kids Explore Chemistry

If there is one thing that excites me, it's seeing Bright Ideas Press on our list of possible reviews.  I have a few of their products and I love them all.  I was practically giddy when I learned that I was getting the opportunity to review one of their science products from the Christian Kids Explore series.

About the Christian Kids Explore series

The award winning series includes four books that cover one year of Biology, Earth & Space, Chemistry, and Physics.  Designed to be used twice a week, these books are specifically tailored to the homeschool audience - multi-grade, easy prep, and a combination of reading/research and hands-on projects.  

Our Experience

We were given the chance to use the PDF version Chemistry program.  I don't believe that the PDF version is currently available for purchase yet but I hear it's in the works.  It's worth the wait.

I love the way they set up the program via the PDF.   It so user friendly and easy to navigate.  Instead of having having to scroll your way through the book they offer this handy dandy resource CD so all that you can find what you need with just a simple click.  Just check out this screen shot.  They are genius!!  I heart the set-up.  A lot!

Love!!!

The lesson plans themselves were my next favorite thing.  They include memory work, review items, required reading, supplemental reading, vocabulary, hands-on projects with materials list.  All neatly organized on one page.  So fabulous!!

Christian Kids Explore Chemistry is made up of five units with 5 lessons per unit.  Near the end of the study there is a wonderful literature guide for the book, Piece of the Mountain.  I love using literature to help cement concepts.
Reproducibles include Review It! pages, Activity charts, follow up questions, and coloring pages.

 The text itself is well written and easy to understand. The lessons were short and informative.  My daughter looked forward the readings and often volunteered read them on her own. LOL No my dear, I can't review it if I'm not involved.

Supplies needed to complete the hands-on portion were easy for this hate-to-find-supplies momma to find.  Yay!  The directions were clear and we were able to complete them without any problems.  The only thing I would've liked to have seen was a section that explained what we were supposed to see.  There was one activity in particular where we questioned whether our results were correct and could've used some further explanation.

Separating compounds

Learning about the periodic table

All-in-all, we were very pleased with this product.  We were only able to complete the first unit during the review period and are thinking about finishing it up at a faster pace this summer.  I think the idea of Mackenzie having a bit of a chemistry background before she hits high school.   

F.Y.I.

Website:
main site  http://www.brightideaspress.com/
Chemistry page https://www.brightideaspress.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=6_54&products_id=98
Age Range: Fourth through Eighth grade
Price:  $39.95 for printed text
Samples:  Text, Table of Contents, Materials List

Click the Crew Banner to read more reviews on this series.

Disclaimer:  I received a free download of this product for review purposes.  All opinions are my own or that of my daughter.

Review: AIMS From Head to Toe

You know what I love?  I love it when a review item fits right in with what you are currently studying.  And that's what From Head to Toe by the AIMS Education Foundation was for us.  Here we were in the middle of a year long study of anatomy when we were blessed with this wonderful guide to add to our study.

About AIMS

AIMS is a non-profit foundation dedicated to helping teachers give students a solid conceptual understanding of math and science.  



We create hands-on math and science activities that engage your students in learning and deepen their understanding. See how in these free sample activities.


As a non-profit foundation, we're committed to doing what's best for students. Join us and rekindle the joy of learning.


They promise to...

• - make learning engaging.
• - make our activities affordable, and the required materials will be readily available.
• - make our activities easy to use, without compromising their conceptual development or    effectiveness.

Our Experience

We received a print copy of From Head to Toe activity book.  It came with a cd of the printable pages.  I loved that I could just print what I needed right off of the cd instead of having to copy pages from the bulky text.

From the website:

This revised edition of From Head to Toe, which includes 25 new activities, will guide students in explorations of the systems and senses of the human body. Students will look at how the nervous, circulatory, respiratory, digestive, urinary, and musculoskeletal systems work together to keep us alive. They will also explore how our sensory organs provide us information about our world.

Students will be engaged as they create models for each system and see firsthand how things really work. In the activity “Breathe In, Breathe Out,” students will use a two-liter bottle, balloons and straws to build their own set of “lungs” and to see what happens as air is inhaled and exhaled. In the activity “The Food Tube,” students will work as a team, creating a life-size tracing of a classmate and calculating the length and location of the digestive tract; they will be amazed as they discover the crepe paper used to represent the small and large intestines measures up to five times the height of the body.

Teachers will enjoy the flexibility that From Head to Toe offers, as they can adjust the depth of each unit to fit the needs of their class. They will also find the rubber band books—small books the students assemble and hold together with a rubber band along the spine—ideal in providing necessary content and relevant information.
Whether building a model heart or acting out the actions of neurons as they transmit messages to and from the brain, From Head to Toe provides a broad, complete look of the human body that will engage students as they learn about their magnificent bodies.

Creating a model of the
circulatory system.

The book contains tons of activities that cover the following systems: Nervous system, Circulatory System, Respiratory System, Digestive System, Urinary System, Musculoskeletal System, and Sensory Organs.  This book is jam packed!!

Each lesson includes key questions, learning goals, and a materials list.  Plus a billion lists that include national standards and the like for traditional classroom settings.  (Deja Vu!  All that mumbo jumbo brought me back to my college and classroom teaching days. LOL)

Your student will make a rubber band book that contains facts and information about the topic at hand.  We made those books first and then dove into the activities.  And every unit contains an activity that will have your child building a model of that system.

Our model of a lung

Since we had recently finished studying the circulatory and respiratory systems, we worked on projects from those units.  You can just pick and choose the activities that you want to do.  No need to "go by the book."  Just pick a unit, select your activities, print out what you need from the CD, and gather your supplies.  You're ready to go!  Most of the activities require supplies that are easily found around the house or at your local craft store; yarn, empty soda bottles, balloons, paper, etc.

This guide is just a wealth of hands-on activities and a wonderful supplement to any science curriculum.  It really helps bring science to life.  I've got activity a huge list of projects that I plan on doing as we continue on with our regular science curriculum.  It is a fabulous resource to have for our homeschool.

And guess what?  AIMS offers dozens and dozens of these amazing guides to help supplement your math and science studies.  Just about every topic you can think of.  My wish list has grown quite long.

F.Y.I.

Website:  http://store.aimsedu.org/aims_store/
Age Range: AIMS offers guides for grades K-9, the one we reviewed was geared toward 5th-9th
Pricing: Depending on what you choose $18.95-$24.95.  From Head to Toe was $24.95


Click the Crew Banner to read more about these fabulous activity guides.

Disclaimer:  I received a free copy of this product for review purposes.  All opinions are my own or those of my daughter.

Review: The Curiosity Files-The Puffer Fish

I was given the opportunity to review The Old Schoolhouse’s science unit study, The Curiosity Files-The Puffer Fish.   

About The Curiosity Files

The Curiosity Files are science unit studies for ages 8-13.  They come in an e-book format for $6.95 each.  Each unit study contains activities for Bible study, math, history, geography, language arts, science, arts & crafts, experiments,   lap booking, and much more. 

Our Experience

My daughter and I both enjoyed reading the articles and learned a lot that we didn’t know about the puffer fish.  In fact, it was so interesting my daughter read it twice.

Mackenzie was easily able to recall the information need to complete the “Let’s See What You Learned” activity.

For math practice we chose the “Exchange Rate” activity.  I thought it was a great way to show the real world value of knowing your math skills.  Since we’d actually been to Japan, we actually had some “spare change” from Japan lying around, along with some from a few other countries that my husband has traveled to.  I guess that’s one of the perks of being a former military family.  LOL

Mackenzie loves to draw so she was thrilled to see a step-by-step lesson on how to draw a puffer fish. 

There were also a couple of activities that you could do with your under 8 crew.  Unfortunately, my tot is persnickety and wasn’t will to test the unit with us.  No surprises there!

We also recently had an opportunity to observe a live puffer fish.  Our dentist has a huge salt water tank and he has a dog-faced puffer fish that we like to call “Smiley.”  He doesn’t seem to be aggressive like we read though.  

The Pros & Cons

The Pros:

*Great for multiple ages
*Activities cover all subjects and a variety of learning styles
*E-book format makes for instant gratification and easy printing for multiple students
*Articles are well-written and fun to read
*There are lots of different units to choose from and they require minimal prep and supplies

The Cons:

*E-book format means either reading articles on the computer or using a lot of printer ink.  (I should mention that I have a love/hate relationship with e-books.  I love the “instantness” of them but I hate reading large amounts on a screen.  Thus I use a lot of printer ink.)
*The sheer number of activities can be overwhelming for someone who feels like they have to “check every box.”  (Or a plus for those of us who like to pick and choose.)

My Final Thoughts

I thought the unit was really well done and nice break from our normal school routine.   I really like the way the information was presented.  It was a fun, easy read for my daughter and I.  I also loved the way God’s hand, in the creation of these amazing animal's was woven through out the unit.

The was a huge variety of activities to choose from.  And there was something for every learning style.
I’m definitely going to be looking at the other Curiosity File units for some fun summer learning.

FYI…

Website: http://www.theoldschoolhousestore.com/
Free Samples are available on the website.
Price: $6.95
Age Range: 8-13