Ireland By The Way (Review)

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Is it a book? Is it a unit study? Is it a Bible lesson? Is it a geography course? Is it a fun family activity? I found that Ireland By the Way from the By the Way Book Series was all of this and more! This is the first time I had read any books from By the Way and I was really impressed. It felt like so much more than a story book but yet it was still a fun read aloud for the whole family.

We started reading this book under very normal circumstances as a family read aloud and we were really enjoying it. When we were about half way through the book a major hurricane hit our town and caused a lot of stress and power outages for multiple days. We would sit in our living room at night and read pages from this book by lantern light. The children loved hearing it and it was a welcome break from the stresses that were going on around us.

While I sometimes find things that try to include too many subjects become confusing or seem disjointed, in this book the author did a wonderful job of including them in a very natural flow that did not make us feel like she was jumping around from topic to topic. We used this book as a family read aloud and discussion starter. However, it could honestly easily be turned into a unit study because it includes so many different topics woven into the story but maybe I’m getting ahead of myself.

I should first tell you that this is the story of two children and their mother on a trip to Ireland to meet extended family members and see all the sites of that beautiful country. We journey with them from Wicklow Mountains (and the wonderful wildlife) to a 5th Century Lighthouse and then on to a castle. They continued their tour through Ireland visiting other castles, cottages, cliffs, and even doing one our families hobbies, geocaching. My twelve year old son even said, “she wrote it so that I felt like I was traveling with them and with the pictures I felt like I could really see the places.”

Along the way we learned about a variety of subjects. At the lighthouse we learned not only about the lighthouse but about the whales and dolphins that live in the waters there. Then at the cliffs we learned about the birds and other animals that are common in that area. In another place we learned more about the history of the Titanic and even legends of fairies and leprechauns. Intertwined into the story were many Biblical lessons such as the power of the tongue when they saw the Blarney Stone to the wonder of God’s creation as they visited the Cliffs of Moher. As we went through the book there were many great discussion topics. We enjoyed a good conversation about how we can use our tongue for good and needing to be careful not to use it to cause harm.

There were fun facts about the animals, rivers, and other places they were visiting in sidebars along the various pages. These easily could have been used to expand the learning and be the jumping off point for a larger lesson. For example, when we learned about Puffins the children thought they were very interesting and so we may go back and study them further. They also enjoyed learning that Ireland has dolphins which were already a favorite of theirs because we have them here in North Carolina as well.

Ireland By the Way is part of the By the Way Book Series and each one is set in a different geographical location and includes information to help teach a Christian worldview. I hope to continue reading these with my children for fun family read alouds that spark great discussions. To check out some of the other great titles in this series or see how others used the book make sure to check out the other Review Crew reviews! I would love to hear in the comments which of the locations you would like to read.

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Rescue Me! What Superheroes Can Teach Us About the Power of Faith (Review)

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This past Christmas my 12 year old son received his first comic book and really enjoyed it. So, he was very excited to get the chance to read and help me review Rescue Me! What Superheroes Can Teach Us About the Power of Faith by The Captain Sun Adventures. This comic book is more than your average comic book, it is part comic book and part devotional written by Bryce Morgan and illustrated by Mitch Martin.

The comic is not a Bible story but in the words of the author, “a Christian Worldview tool”. The comic gives the story of the hero’s origin and how he used his powers against the villain. Throughout the book there were pages that looked like the front of a newspaper. These pages have devotional like information that connected what was going on in the story with a Biblical lesson. For example the first one was titled “The Origin Story” and talked about how we were created by God and are given a new identity in Christ. There is a question for them to think about and a Bible verse to connect it all together on each of these pages.

At the end of the book there is a list of questions that correlate with each chapter for parents to discuss with their children. For each chapter there is a question that relates to the story, such as “What did the story reveal about where Captain Sun came from?” and also follow up questions about the lesson/devotional. An example of a devotional question that goes with that chapter is, “What does the Bible reveal about where we came from?”

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My son really liked the illustrations. He felt that they did a good job portraying the story. He felt that the comic was very easy to read and understand; even asking if there were more in the series. I was happy to be able to tell him that there are indeed two more books in this series. This was a fairly short read for him and only took him about an hour to complete.

He said his favorite part was how everyone was waiting on Captain Sun to appear and he just came out of nowhere. He was able to fly in and save the city. When I asked him what he learned from this story he said that evil never pays off.

As a mom, I love that they provided a fun and entertaining story that reflected our faith and worldview. There are some comics that we feel send the wrong message in their stories and values but this one clearly pointed back to Christ. We love finding resources like this that can engage our children in a fun way.

If you have a child that enjoys comic books and graphic novels or maybe struggles with the length of many typical novels this maybe a great fit for your family. My son doesn’t mind long novels but I know many children who struggle with the length and this may be a great way to give them something shorter but still age appropriate to read. You can find out more, download coloring pages, and check out the other two books in the series at The Captain Sun Adventures. Also, don’t forget to check out the other reviews of Rescue Me! What Superheroes Can Teach Us About the Power of Faith by Review Crew members.

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Guest Review: Easy Peasy and Genesis Curriculum

I am pleased to bring you this wonderful guest post review by Emmy Daniels.

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This review is about two different curricula, Easy Peasy All in One Homeschool, and Genesis Curriculum. The same person created both of these, but they are two different curricula with completely different styles. I am going to give an overview of each one, what I like and dislike about each one, and how I personally am going to be using them this coming year with my four children.

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Easy Peasy is an all-in-one complete curriculum that is free to use. It goes from preschool (learning to read) all the way through high school. The content is based on what the creator, Lee Giles, was using for her own children. She saved all the books and sites, links to videos, worksheets, etc., that she was using so that she could re-use the same things for her other children. She then decided that she could make it available for others to use. I love that she keeps her curriculum free, and she does that because she has a desire to make home schooling easy and possible for more people.

Easy Peasy is divided into levels and years. The levels are roughly equivalent to grade levels, but they tend to be a bit advanced in the reading, so there are placement tests available. The years include math, reading, writing, and LA (grammar and spelling), with thinking and computer every week or so. At the middle school levels, Foreign Language is added. Everything is online, but Lee has started to make LA and the readers available in book form. There are also four “years” to choose from, and those cover Bible, history, and science daily, with health/PE, music, and art every week or so. There are two levels in the years: L for 1st through 4th grades, and M for 5th-8th. This is designed to be done together, so that all levels are learning the same things, with the higher “M” level going a bit more in depth. You cycle through the years twice, once at the L level and once at the M level. The year subjects are: Year 1 — Biology, Ancient History, Matthew and historical books of the Bible; Year 2 — Animals, Early American History, Mark and New Testament minus the other gospels and Revelation; Year 3 — Earth Science, Geography and Cultures, Luke and Psalms and Proverbs, and Year 4 — Physics and Chemistry, 20th Century History, John and Prophets.

The best thing about this curriculum in my opinion is the lack of lesson planning involved. I love that it is laid out day by day, with instructions for each day. My kids like that they can do it themselves and work at their own pace. There is enough variety with online games thrown in, an occasional video, and a few projects as well. The curriculum is challenging enough without all the extra busywork that can drag a subject out. I don’t love all the screen time, but I have started to buy the readers, which cuts out a lot of the online reading. My husband and I own a computer repair

business, so luckily we always have computers that he can refurbish and we have enough computers for each kid to use. Others families with several children and not as many computers may have to take turns, which could make for longer days. My younger two especially like the online games that are included in the curriculum.

Genesis Curriculum

Genesis Curriculum is a completely off-line curriculum designed to be used as a one-room schoolhouse type curriculum. The parent reads the material to all students. It is best for about 3rd grade until 8th, although it can be used for high school as well with more in-depth study added. The main curriculum book includes Bible, Greek or Hebrew, spelling, vocabulary, grammar, writing, science, and social studies. (Reading is not included). There is also math you can purchase separately, along with workbooks for each child, an answer book, and a map book. What I love about this curriculum is that all of the lessons are based on the Bible reading. There are 4 years in this curriculum: the Book of Genesis to be followed by the book of Exodus, and the book of Matthew to be followed by the book of Acts. In each one, you will read through the book of the Bible, and the science and Social Studies lesson will come from something in the reading. Each week there is a memory verse to learn together. In the Old Testament books, you will learn some basic Hebrew, and in the New Testament ones, you will learn basic Greek. I love this style of teaching! I read to the kids and we can all have a discussion about what we learned. I also like that the lessons are varied. One day you may learn about a type of animal, and the next you are learning about how an engine works. I tend to get a little bored when studying one subject for too long, so I personally like the variety that this curriculum provides. The vocabulary will generally come from the Bible passage of the day, with review days thrown in, and the writing assignments are based on the things you are learning. This curriculum is extremely affordable as well.

Last year I used the Book of Matthew with all four of my kids, having the older two do the “Explore More” section, which is an option for further study for each day. I didn’t use the writing part of Genesis curriculum; instead, we used Easy Peasy language arts along with the reading. We did do the spelling, vocabulary, and grammar in Genesis curriculum, though, so my kids were sometimes getting double language arts. I am ok with that, though, and I am amazed at the progress my kids showed in those areas last year. My kids enjoyed the time spent together with this curriculum.

This year, I am using Genesis Curriculum Book of Acts (it follows the Book of Matthew and will continue where we left off with the Greek lessons) with my younger two children (ages 8 and 10) and my older two are using Easy Peasy High

School (ages 12 and 14). My 12-year-old daughter is a bit ambitious and wants to do high school level classes for credit during middle school and get college credit while in high school, so she is doing the Easy Peasy High School level courses. Although you can use Genesis Curriculum in high school, I personally think Easy Peasy is a better choice, because they provide everything needed as far as how to grade and how many credits to give for each course. One thing I’m excited for this year is a Learning to Draw class my oldest will take, available on the high school site. My younger two will use Easy Peasy for LA and writing, and my 8-year-old will also use a cursive handwriting curriculum. All four kids use MathUSee for math.

If you are looking for a comprehensive and affordable curriculum, both Easy Peasy Homeschool and Genesis Curriculum are excellent choices! They are easy to use, complete enough without a lot of “fluff,” and they both have a lot of support with Facebook groups and Lee Giles herself available to contact through Facebook or email. I highly recommend both of these, and I am so thankful to have found them to use in our home school journey!

About Emmy Daniels:

This is the start of my 10th year homeschooling. I have 4 kids who are currently 8, 10, 12, and 14 (later this month). My husband works from home as the owner of a computer repair shop, and I am a mostly stay-at-home mom who works a few hours a week at our local recreation center and also takes care of my disabled mother in my home. With so much going on, we love that home schooling can be flexible to fit the needs of our family! Our family loves the Lord and we like to read, hike in our beautiful mountains, hunt, camp, and participate in 4H.

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Deals and Freebies!

Last Call! Apologia Digital Back to School Sale 25% off through 9/15!

The World of Peter Rabbit and His Friends Only .99 on Kindle! We love Beatrix Potter’s stories and this one includes her original illustrations.

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Alice in Wonderland on Audible for less than $1!!

FREE: Check out this great new FREE resource for classical and Charlotte Mason education! Classical Christian Education & Charlotte Mason. Great for folks already homeschooling or if you have friends that are looking into it!

FREE Fantasy and Fairytales StoryBuilders from Write Shop!

Barbour Publishing Kingdom Files Biography Series (Review)

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We wrapped up what we came to call our ‘summer of reading’ with a read aloud of Who Was Jonah? which is a part of the Kingdom Files series by Barbour Publishing. This review book along with another book in the series Who Was Mary, Mother of Jesus? proved to be a great fit for our family. These are fun and fairly short chapter books that feature a biography of a Bible character, an investigation into their lives, and lessons that we can learn from those stories.

We read Who Was Jonah? together and really enjoyed it. The book starts with a Fact File that gives basic information about Jonah. I really appreciated this because even as an adult I sometimes struggle with the timeline of events in the Bible . Then comes the Action File. This section of the book was the story of Jonah and included great illustrations and clues that you could apply to your own life and to help you understand the story of Jonah. For example, “No matter what you’re going through, your heavenly Father sees you and accepts your prayers. That should be as comforting to us today as it was to Jonah. ” There were also some very well done black and white illustrations of the story in this part of the book.

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Another feature of the book that I really enjoyed are the scripture references for the portion of the story that he was telling. The story of Jonah was told through the words of the author but the references allow you to go and read the actual scripture for yourselves and compare it to the book. I found that the book did a great job of following scripture while also using a writing style that was very engaging for the children. In the Power File section, each ‘Power Up’ or lesson has a memory verse as well.

For Who Was Mary, Mother of Jesus?, I had my daughter read it independently. The short chapters and engaging narrative made it an enjoyable read for her. This book was set up in the same style as Who Was Jonah? with the Fact File, Action File, and Power File. While she enjoyed reading it and I think these books are fine to be read independently, I really think that they worked best for our family when we read them together. There were so many great lessons to be learned that I felt it was ideal to be able to pause after the chapters and have family discussions about what we were learning. I did not get a chance to use them for this reading (which we began while we were on vacation) but Kingdom Files has some great educator resources and games that you can print to take your study even further. These include word searches, creating trading cards, and mapping activities just to name a few.

These biographies can be read independently (recommended for ages 8-12) or used as a family read aloud or part of your Bible study time. I highly recommend checking out this great series. Our family is hoping to purchase some others in this series, particularly Who Was David? and Who Was Esther? Tell us in the comments which book you think your family would most enjoy and check out the other Crew Reviews below!

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Reading Eggs Review and FREEBIE!

When I agreed to review Reading Eggs, I thought I knew exactly what to expect because my daughter had used this program several years ago. We enjoyed the program then, but I was very pleased and surprised to see how much more it included now.

For this review I was using Reading Eggs with my four year old son. I was a little concerned about whether or not it would be too difficult for him as he has just recently started expressing interest in letters and numbers. However, when I logged in I found that not only could he work on the reading eggs program that I remembered but they have a new section that is designed for ages 2-4. This gave us a lot of flexibility.

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When we tried the first lesson of the regular reading eggs (designed for ages 3-7) my son was able to do it but it was a little more difficult and he honestly did not really enjoy it. I feel that it is a great program and some children may be ready for it at age three but some children will need to be a little older before they are ready for that component. It started with the letter m and was teaching the sound (not the letter name) using a variety of activities related to m. He did the first activity or two but grew tired of it before the lesson was over, but he could easily go back and finish at his own pace.

Though my son was not quite ready for that portion of the program it is still a great program. Reading Eggs starts at the very beginning with letter sounds and continues through fluent reading, their highest levels Reading Eggspress works on reading comprehension and fluency for children ages 7-13. It is a fun and thorough program that works great to help improve a child’s reading ability. Luckily for us, they also now have Reading Eggs Junior.

When we tried the Reading Eggs Junior section (ages 2-4), we knew we had found the right fit. He absolutely loved it and could not get enough. They had books that he could look at and listen as they were read aloud, short videos that worked on letters and other educational concepts, and lots of different games to help him with preschool level skills.

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He knows all of his colors but really enjoyed playing the color games where he would match part of an object to the rest of the object in the same color. For example, they might have a purple and a pink car and two cut out circles form the cars (one in each color). He would then have to move the colored circle into the right spot. He enjoyed a game where he had to sort butterflies onto flowers based on their color.

They also had counting games, alphabet games, puzzles and more. The one thing we noticed with the games is that you needed to be used to using a mouse in order to successfully complete the activity. While many children have this skill, it was not something that my four year old had mastered because most of the time he does his activities on the kindle and uses a touch screen. He did get more proficient with the mouse as he worked through various activities.

Each game/activity is done in a map style layout (see the pictures above) and gets progressively harder. They program will let him return to one he has already completed but it will not let him move ahead until he completes that level. This helps keep the children from getting frustrated by the difficulty level. I should also note that in the regular Reading Eggs program it is set up in a similar manner but children can take a placement test to determine where they need to start so that they do not have to go through the lessons from the beginning.

My one real complaint about the program is that it is not compatible with Kindle. While this will not be an issue for many families, we find that logistically it is better if my son’s programs can be done on our kindle. He is better able to navigate the kindle than our desktop and can be more independent. However, this is still a wonderful program and we will work around the kindle issue using it on our desktop. Thankfully, my older children enjoy helping him and can assist him when I am not available.

If this sounds like a program that might be a good fit for your child, I have a wonderful offer for you. Reading Eggs has agreed to give my readers a FREE four week trial of the program. This is a great way for you to try it out and see if it is a good fit for your family.

In addition to the wonderful online program, Reading Eggs has just released new workbooks to accompany the program. While we did not personally use them I am hearing some great things from the reviewers that used the new workbooks and I encourage you to check out the other reviews to learn more about those.

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God Schooling: How God Intended Children to Learn (Book Review)

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This was our ‘summer of books’ so I was delighted to add God Schooling: How God Intended Children to Learn by Julie Polanco to my list when the review opportunity arose. As I share my thoughts on this book, it is important to note that I do not believe that education is one size fits all. There are many educational philosophies and different styles work for different families and sometimes even different children with-in those families. That’s one of the beautiful things about homeschooling!

This book does a wonderful job of explaining and exploring the unschooling approach to education. While I do not think that unschooling is the approach that best suits our family, I enjoyed hearing about what works for her children and the research behind that methodology. I also gleaned a lot of great information and tips that will work well for our family.

One of the points that really stuck out to me in the beginning is how she explained unschooling. Julie says, “Unschooling can be a very deliberate endeavor, not necessarily haphazard.” She spends a great deal of time explaining how she deliberately sets out to provide her children with a good education in this manner. Sometimes unschooling is assumed to be doing nothing but letting your children play video games all day while you go about your business. However, she talks extensively about how she interacted with her children and helped guide them while providing natural learning opportunities and plenty of time for play.

She talks about how children, particularly children under eight, need a lot of free time and play. I wholeheartedly agree. They learn so much through play and exploration and if we are not careful we can fill up their days with school work and not allow them the time needed to play and explore.

Her chapter on children ages eight to twelve touches on many areas but I really liked what she had to say about entrepreneurship and service. In our family we believe that serving others is a Biblical command and we try to teach our children to serve from a very young age. During this eight to twelve range, they become capable of more complex service and taking more ownership in serving others. It is an important part of learning and development. Entrepreneurship is another important component of education for that age group. Learning to do meaningful work and contribute is a vital skill for successful adulthood. It is also a Biblical command and she shares several scriptures including 1 Thessalonians 4:11 and Ephesians 3:28 which talk about working with your own hands.

She also goes into experiential learning in that chapter. Children learn much better when they can experience that which they are trying to learn. She gives multiple examples from field trips and nature walks to living books and hands on crafts. These have been a vital part of our educational experience and I appreciated the encouragement to continue with this type of learning even as my children get older.

The section of the book that I needed to read most was probably the chapter titled, “Giving Teens Wings So They Can Fly”. My oldest son is twelve and so the teen years are very near for our family. Unintentionally, three of the books that I have read this summer have discussed how the modern age group of ‘teenagers’ is really a new lifestyle/category. Before somewhere around the late 1930s you did not see ‘teenagers’ as a separate culture. Most often once a child reached that age he/ she began working or contributing to the family in some way. Popular culture today paints teens in a negative light and holds them to very low expectations. However, Julie Polanco shares how she provided her children with opportunities to be involved in real life and contribute. It is important that we have high expectations for our teenagers and give them the opportunity to succeed and do great things.

If you want to know more about what unschooling looks like, especially from a Christian perspective or if you just want some encouragement and ways you can integrate more real life learning into your student’s education God Schooling: How God Intended Children to Learn is a great book. ** Also, she has a 1/2 price sale on the e-book version until August 22nd**

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Branch Out World Paddington Literature Study (Review)

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Our summer break was finally beginning and I was honestly not sure if I wanted to review the Paddington Bear study by Branch Out World. I asked my daughter how she felt about it, since it would mean doing school work on her first week of break. Looking back I’m so glad she said yes! I have loved the book Paddington for a long time but always thought of it as a book for young children so it had been several years since my 10 year old daughter had read the book. I was a little concerned that it would be to ‘babyish’ for her but my concerns were unfounded.

I used this study primarily with my 10 year old but also included my four year old son in many of the activities. We all enjoyed the book and they were excited to complete the activities. My daughter did more of the research activities but the four year old joined in for coloring and cooking. He also enjoyed looking at the pictures and talking about the book.

I was very curious prior to receiving the study about how much they would be able to do with what is a fairly short picture book but the study included geography in relation to the setting, science, vocabulary, pictures study/architecture, cooking, crafts and even math. There were a variety of activities to choose from and if you did them all this could easily have been your entire week’s school work. However, it was also laid out in such a way that you could pick and choose which activities worked best for your students. So if you had younger students you could choose the activities that worked best for that age and older students could do the more in-depth and research based ideas.

Once we read the book together, we started on our day one activities. The theme for the day was setting and the activities focused on learning about both London and Peru as they were important settings in the book. They included map work, flags, timelines, and even a lesson about migration. The study also included a tourist brochure project that students could complete to demonstrate reinforce the geography components of the lesson. My four year old enjoyed hearing about the areas and coloring the flags. My daughter went more in depth, using her atlas and other tools to research the area, find it on the map, and share with us what she learned.

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The second day focused on exploring words. We learned about the author, discussed the story using questions and narration, and worked with some vocabulary words. There was a lapbook style activity with the vocabulary words that my daughter enjoyed because she loves the cutting and pasting of lapbook pieces. We also could have done a great creative writing activity but skipped it since it was summer and she was on break. I may go back during the school year and assign the writing prompt because I think it was a great way to encourage creative writing. It involved them writing and adaptation based on the novel.

The third day involved learning about the illustrator, studying the pictures and then learning about architectural design and several artistic techniques that were used in the illustrations. There was an art activity, a lapbook component, and a game that could be used in working with these ideas and concepts. Illustrations are such an important but sometimes overlooked part of picture books and I was glad to see a day devoted to their study.

The fourth day was exploring science. There were several fun science experiments in this section, even one that was edible. I think edible components tend to always be the favorite in this house! There was also a nature study component which I really appreciate. My son enjoyed observing nature and then telling me all of the things he saw that he wanted me to write in his nature journal (since he is four and not yet writing on his own). We are planning on expanding that study over the next few weeks at various locations to talk about how different places have different plants and animals.

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The final day was exploring maths, crafts, and more. This was probably our favorite part of the study. There were several activities with math from learning about parallel lines to finding numbers in the illustrations (a great activity for my young son). Another activity that my son loved was the packing activity. He had to work on packing a suit case and deciding what he would need and what would fit. It actually worked out beautifully to coincide with an overnight trip that we were taking. Then came my daughters favorite activity: baking. They had a recipe for Strawberry Tart. She worked on these and made them as a special afternoon treat when her grandmother came for a visit.

There were a variety of other activities from field trips, tea parties and other fun snacks. Some of them were quite simple (popcorn) and others were a little more involved. I will note that this is a British company and since we are in the United States there were a handful of supplies and ingredients that I had to adapt or look up to determine what they were as they were terms (and spellings) not commonly used here. This was a great learning opportunity for the children and did not hinder our ability to use the study.

This was a fun unit study and I think we would enjoy using other literature studies in Branch Out World‘s Picture Book Explorers series would be a great way to bring a little excitement to our school year. Check out their site and let me know which study sounds like fun for your homeschool and don’t forget to click below to check out the reviews done by other Review Crew members.

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Project Passport: Ancient Egypt (Review)

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How do you know you have found an awesome product?

When the children enjoy working on a review product even though it is supposed to be their summer break.

I knew that we had enjoyed the history game that we reviewed from Home School in the Woods this spring and was excited to try out one of their Project Passport World History Studies. I knew that we were going to be doing ancient history this fall and so I thought that the Ancient Egypt one would be a good fit.

The Project Passport World History Studies are exciting history studies that include 25 lessons or ‘stops’ that you would complete over 8-12 weeks. These ‘stops’ include Guide Book Text which is the reading for that particular topic, a ‘travel itinerary’ which gives you all of the projects and directions for each stop, and the masters that are needed for the projects. There are also audio components at eight of the stops.

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At first glance, this can seem a little overwhelming. There are so many files and so much information. However, once you understand the system it is actually very simple to use. There are two different ways that you can get the information that you need. I started by extracting the files from the download and then going into the PDFs and printing what I needed. This works fine and is the preference for some people, but I think it is why I was a little overwhelmed at first. After we had been using the study for awhile, I realized that there was a start ‘button’ in the extracted files. This was a total game changer because when you use that link, it opens up a page in your web browser that has each ‘stop’ on the itinerary and clickable links for the files you need for that stop. This helps keep all of the files and information organized and was a great way for me to access what I needed.

While we are talking about overwhelming, I think it is important to note that it is not necessary to complete all of the activities with each stop. There are multiple options for projects which is a great way to give your students the opportunity to choose the ones which appeal to their interests. I do suggest taking a look over the course before you get started and gathering materials that you might need. Most of the materials were basic school/office supplies that you may already have on hand but there were a few things that I needed to find and looking ahead gave me the opportunity to have those ready when they were needed.

The first stop is mostly about getting everything set up. You do get a little background information about Ancient Egypt, but this is the lesson where you set up your notebooks, passports, and other materials that will be used throughout the lessons. One of our favorite parts of this lesson was the ‘luggage’ that they made using simple folders. It looked like so much fun that even my four year old had to make one. These are used to store materials and completed projects throughout the study.

During the second stop and beyond it is much more focused on the history components. Each ‘stop’ includes reading about the different components of Ancient Egypt that are being studied. For example, some lessons were on everyday life such as clothing and food. Other lessons were on agriculture, famous women, kingdoms, and religion. Once you have completed the reading there were multiple projects and activities to choose from. You student could be working on completing a lapbook and there were various lapbook activities included throughout the stops. They could also assemble a notebook with different projects. One of the projects that we enjoyed throughout the study was the timeline. We printed off the pages of the timeline and placed them in our notebooks but they could have also been connected together as one long timeline. Then with each stop we would cut out new timeline components and glue them onto our pages.

There were postcards that had letters already printed on them from someone the students had learned about in the lesson. The students would then design a picture for the front of the postcard. There was also a mapping component that they could add to at each of the stops.

While the children enjoyed those other components the hands on projects and activities were the highlight of our study. Our whole family enjoyed an ‘Ancient Egyptian Feast’ using recipes from the cookbook that they made in one of the early lessons. Both of my older children chose recipes to make for dinner one night and then I helped the four year old make a salad from the recipe book as well. He was determined not to be left out and had so much fun making his salad.

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My twelve year old son enjoyed making bricks using mud and a straw/mud mixture. It was hands on an active, but what I liked most about it is that it helped him see how what were learning in history connected to the history he learned in the Bible. This program consistently showed how history and the Bible are connected without taking away from the face that it was a history curriculum.

If making bricks doesn’t excite you, you could dress a paper doll Egyptian woman, build an Egyptian temple, make a flip book, or even design a newspaper. There were a wide variety of projects which I find especially helpful as a mom who was using the study with multiple children. My children can use this program together but still chose projects that are more tailored to their interests. My daughter enjoys lapbooking projects, but my son does not. With this study I could have them each chose elements that they enjoyed while having them cover the same material.

This curriculum is designed for use with grades three through eight and in general I’d say that is a good age range, but I do think if you have children both in that age range and younger that you can certainly include the younger children. My four year old certainly did not complete all of the projects, but enjoyed cutting and pasting the timeline figures, listening to me read, coloring pictures, and making dinner. I found that he learned quite a bit from being involved.

We have not yet completed this study but are really enjoying it and plan to finish it up in September when we start back to school (the kids would finish it now but mom needs a couple weeks completely off before we start back). I believe Project Passport World History Studies would work well as a stand alone history curriculum, or can be used to provide a hands on supplement to other programs. In addition to Ancient Egypt they have Ancient Greece, The Middle Ages, Renaissance and Reformation and their newest product Ancient Rome. These studies are also available as a bundle!

Home School in the Woods also offers a wide variety of other hands on history products and timelines. The Review Crew had the opportunity to review quite a few different products and I encourage you to click the link below to check out all of the different reviews to see which products might work well for your family.

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Northwest Treasures Dinosaurs and the Bible (review)

I think most kids like dinosaurs, I mean, what’s not to like. Larger than a tractor trailer, small brain, constant teething trouble; I think kids relate to T-rex, I mean, they’re basically the same. So when we got the opportunity to review these online classes by Northwest Treasures I leapt at it!

We first watched Taking the Mystery out of Geology which is a twenty minute introductory course. This course focuses on the vocabulary of geology and gives valuable background and vocabulary that are used later in the other studies. The classes were done in a lecture/ slide format using Vimeo. There was a lot of good information but it was somewhat dense and dry., rather in the format of a college lecture. Honestly, after watching it I was concerned that my children were not going to enjoy the Dinosaurs and the Bible class that we were primarily reviewing. However, once we got into the Dinosaurs and the Bible lessons they found the content much more engaging.

The Dinosaurs and the Bible class included the following six lessons:

How We Got Our Modern View of Dinosaurs
The Classification of Dinosaurs
The Great Dinosaur Rush
The Extinction of Dinosaurs
Dinosaurs and the Ice Age
Fossils, Age and Soft Tissue

Each lesson included at 15-20 minute video (lecture/slide format) with worksheets and discussion questions available at the end. In our family we chose to watch each lesson together and then use the worksheets to guide our discussions rather than have the students complete them independently. We were using this as a family summer enrichment type activity and felt the less formal approach would be a better fit. However, if you were using these as a science class particularly with older students you could have them complete the worksheets independently to check for understanding and comprehension.

The class is geared towards grades 5- adult. I personally think that most students in the lower end of that age range will need some adult assistance in fully understanding this information. There is a lot of geology and science history in the course that may be a bit dense for the younger students. They will gain a lot from the course but may need some adult assistance in understanding everything that is being presented.

If you are looking for geology from a Christian Creationist viewpoint Northwest Treasures has some great options. In addition to the online classes like I reviewed above they have some kits and physical courses available. If you have younger children you may want to check out their Geology for “Little Eyes” which is designed for children in grades Pre-K through 3rd. If you have a high school student that needs a full Earth Science course you might consider checking out Northwest Treasures Curriculum Project which is a series of four studies. Each of those studies is a stand alone semester course for high school level students.

If those programs are not hands on enough for your tastes they also offer geology field trips. I think it would be amazing to be able to go to Yellowstone National Park for a guided tour focused on Young Earth Creation and geology. That would be an experience of a lifetime.

Northwest Treasures offers a wide variety of resources for all ages including online courses, fossil collections, physical courses and even field trips. If geology is an area of interest for you or your children I highly suggest taking a look at what they have to offer. You can find out more about their other online courses by checking out the other Review Crew reviews!

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Progeny Press The Scavengers eGuide (review)

While I had heard the name Progeny Press, I was unfamiliar with the company prior to this review. The Scavengers sounded like a book my son would really enjoy so I purchased the book and requested the opportunity to review the The Scavengers – eGuide that Progeny Press created to accompany the book. Knowing that we would be reviewing this over the summer when we would normally be taking a break, I really hoped the book would be good enough to really hook my son and keep him interested. Thankfully, he absolutely loved the book and enjoyed the format of the eGuide. This particular book and guide are recommended for grades 5-8 and my son is entering the 7th grade.

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The Scavengers – eGuide starts out with prereading activities that you can choose from. They were quite varied and covered a variety of learning styles. For this book there were options that included a Bible study, a research project, a cooking project, and even a field trip. We completed the research project as a family discussion as well as talking about the hands on the project. In this instance, one of the hands on options was using a book on edible plants and trying to locate some of them near your home. Since we had already done this as a family, we simply discussed when we had done it and what we learned.

They made a suggestion at the beginning of the guide that made a huge difference for my son. He loves to read but often gets really frustrated with study guides and such because he does not like to have to pause at the end of every chapter or section to answer questions. Progeny Press suggested reading the entire book and then going back and rereading the sections as necessary. He really appreciated that and felt like it helped with both the flow and enjoyment of the book.

Once he had completed the prereading activities and read the entire book, he went back and started completing the questions for each section. There are two different ways to approach having a child answer the questions. This is a self-guided study and you can have the child answer the questions on the computer in adobe or you can print it out and have them answer the questions on paper. My son preferred to answer them on the computer and appreciated that many of the questions offered drop down boxes with choices.

The book was great. I really liked the drop down boxes on some of the questions. I did not like that there was so much grammar/vocabulary study included.

He is a student that prefers book studies to be more focused on the content of the book and was not as fond of having to deal with vocabulary and grammar in the form of synonyms and antonyms and literary terms. As a parent/teacher I see the value in including those components and feel that they are an important part of a well rounded education.

Once the questions in the guide are completed there are writing and ‘after you read’ activities that you can use to wrap up your study. Many of these offer opportunities to think more deeply and critically about the content and themes of the book. For example one of the prompts for this book has them looking at times and ways in which people groups have been dehumanized throughout history. There are also hands on activities like painting a scene from the book or creating a diorama. My son is going to create a painting but has not finished that part of the study yet.

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At the end of the study Progeny Press includes a list of additional resources that the student can use to continue the learning. There is also an answer key to make grading easy for the parent. While we did discuss the book as a family, it was very easy for my son to work independently and for me to grade his work without me needing to actually read the book. With four children, this is definitely a benefit because I can not keep up with reading everything they read.

I think it is important to note that these eGuides are written from a Christian perspective. There are tie-ins to scripture and discussion questions that have the student analyzing how different parts of the book line up with scripture. However, the books themselves are not necessarily written from a Christian perspective. The Scavengers – eGuide was a really interesting experience for us and while I do not plan on making these our entire curriculum, I could certainly see us using some of their other eGuides in our literature studies.

I encourage you to check out the many eGuides available at Progeny Press and other Review Crew reviews about some different titles below. I’d love to hear in the comments which one most interests you.

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