Isaiah 40:8

Monday Musings

The benefit of taking the same walk with time between, and re-reading Scripture~ sometimes the illustrations become more clear. :)

Blessings~

Creation Illustrated~ now available in both Print and Digital editions!

I was first introduced to Creation Illustrated a number of years ago and was impressed with the beautiful photography (reminiscent of National Geographic), and articles written from a Christian Worldview, so I was delighted to check out two of their new Nature Unit Studies which I was sent for review, along with the corresponding newly available Digital versions of their magazine.

The Unit Studies are a natural complement to the format of the magazine, which is set up in three different coordinating sections~ here is an example of the table of contents taken from one of the issues we were given access to (Offered free for your perusal as well), the Fall '17 Digital Edition, which is the issue corresponding to the Pine Trees Study, one of the two studies we were sent to review.

Creation Illustrated
           

There are currently eight Nature Unit Studies available:
Badgers, Black Bears, Dragonflies, Fragrance
Joshua Tree National Park, Manatees, Pine Trees, Snow
and the 9th study on Butterflies (which corresponds to the latest issues, Spring '18 Digital Edition), will be available soon.

PINE TREES UNIT STUDY

The Pine Trees Unit study is the one that we chose to look at more in depth, in part because we have already covered snow in our studies, (perhaps to a greater degree than some, because my daughter takes amazing macro snowflake photos... ;), so Pine Trees was the more natural choice for us. 

The Lessons included in the Full Unit Studies include a list of Reading Resources, Educational Video suggestions, Vocabulary and Spelling pages, a Bible Study, Geography, Science, Math, Writing and Penmanship, Art, a Puzzle (Wordsearch), and Teacher's Answer Keys. 

 I had my son do parts of this study independently, and the lessons vary in difficulty. He was able to complete the Vocabulary, Spelling, Geography and Puzzle pages with ease (he chose not to complete the pine tree drawing on the Art page), but the Bible Study, Science and Math pages required a little more time, and/or some hands on help from mom. This tells me that the age range of 5th-8th grade is pretty accurate. 

We were also sent the Snow Unit Study from the Winter '18 Digital Edition.

 

In looking it over, I can say that I really like the Art page in the snow study, and will probably pull that out next winter~ he can go through his sister's photographs and see how many of the 35 snow flake shapes she has captured with her lens (did you know there were that many different basic shapes???!!!).

I will note that each issue already includes a study guide that covers many of the articles in the issue, but they are different from those in the full unit study (that addresses one topic in depth from the issue). The Full Unit Study is appropriate for grades 5-8.

A few more general bits of information about each Creation Illustrated issues~
They include coloring, photo, and poetry contests for homeschoolers, as well as Genesis Cuisine recipes to try out. You can subscribe to the Print Editions (which come out Quarterly ~ currently 25% off) and subscriptions to the Digital Editions will be available soon. In the meantime, there are some print back-issues available and the digital back-issues are being made available as they are uploaded ~ you will find all of that including another Sample Digital Back Issue, a Sample Unit Study on Fragrance, a character-building lesson, and more at Creation Illustrated. 

Not So Nutty Nitty Gritty 

• Company: Creation Illustrated
• Product: Pine Trees Study and Snow Unit Study
• Ages: Unit Studies 
• Price: 
• Unit Studies ~ Regularly $9.95, at the time of this post, 30% off at $6.95
• Print Magazine Subscription $14.95/year (Quarterly) 
• Digital Subscriptions (soon) $9.95/year
• Limited Print Back Issues also available $4.99 each

You can visit Creation Illustrated in on their Social Media Pages on
Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter

Please click the banner below to visit the TOS Homeschool Review Crew and see what others had to say. As always, I hope that this review was useful to you as you choose where best to spend your homeschool budget.

Blessings~

Friday Foto...(Foliage)

Days like today make me appreciate the beauty of New England living...

Blessings~

By the Way Book Series, Pennsylvania ~ Here We Come! (Review)

My Youngest is an avid reader, history buff, and nature lover, so our latest review was right up his alley! Introducing the By the Way Book Series. Currently there are 6 titles available, with more on the way. We chose to review Pennsylvania ~ Here We Come! because we wanted to learn more about Pennsylvania for a few reasons. One reason is because Pennsylvania is where my oldest will be attending college next fall. The other is because my youngest has already formed an attachment for Pennsylvania, as one of the few states that allows capybaras to be kept as pets, so learning more about the state was high on his priority list. ;)

The By the Way Book Series is intended to offer parents and other caregivers the opportunity to incorporate the directive from Deuteronomy 6:7 to diligently teach our children to "love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength" while we "walk by the way" with them. The authors have determined that one way to do this is to point out the goodness, beauty, and diversity shown by our Creator in a variety of locales.

Each story follows two siblings (Alex and Lexi) as they discover items of geographic historical, natural, and scientific interest in a specific location. In Pennsylvania ~ Here We Come! the children are chosen as ambassadors for a special July 4th "Celebrate Pennsylvania" trip around the state, where they visit a variety of locations. They learn about some of the special things that can be seen and experienced, all with a Biblical Worldview.

Because my youngest is an avid reader, I set him loose with the book to start with. He was delighted to have something new and interesting to read. A week or two later, I sat down to read it aloud with him. He kept skipping ahead, telling me bits of information he found interesting from the times he read through on his own, before I would get to those specific pages or parts of the story.

I will note that for a book with quite of lot of photos there is also a remarkable amount of text, so it is not a "quick read" for children at the younger end of the age-range. It would be very easy to use it as part of your daily read-aloud time, reading about one or two of the places they visit each day (2-5/6 pages a day). There are 48 pages in the book, so you could take 1-2 weeks to read this book, and even use it as a unit study spine, looking up more information on each topic/location/event discussed.

Topics included:

• Things and places specific to Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania's State Dog (the Great Dane), the State Capitol (Harrisburg), the Jumonville Memorial Cross, Toll Roads, Brownsville Castle, The Bethlehem Star, Groundhog Day, Hershey
• Historic locations and events: Gettysburg, the historic "National Road," Fort Necessity, 1813 Battle of Lake Erie, Valley Forge, Philadelphia and Independence Hall, Missionary David Brainard
• Geographic Features: Pennsylvania Rivers and River Ferries, Lake Effect, Appalachian Trail, Mason-Dixon Line, Geocaching, Fishing
• People of Pennsylvania: Immigrants, Amish, American Indians
• Natural Resources: Coal, Oil Wells, Concord Grapes, Mushrooms, Farmer's Markets, and wildlife, including Chipmunks, Raccoons, Crickets, Caterpillars, Birds (including the Bald Eagle), Deer, Bears, Salamanders, and Elk (! this was of particular interest to me, as I grew up not far from Yellowstone National Park, and while Elk are fairly common out west, I didn't realize that there were herds as far east as Pennsylvania)

While most topics are lightly introduced, they really could become a springboard for mor in depth discussion are research.

My son definitely enjoyed this book, and I enjoyed learning a bit more about the state than I knew. Over the next four years I expect we will be able to combine visiting his sister at college and exploring a bit of the great state of Pennsylvania.

Other By the Way Book Series titles reviewed by the Homeschool Review Crew : 

  

 

You can also find optional items for purchase on the website which coordinate with each title: Posters, Trading Cards, Activity Books, and Stuffed Animals, so be sure to take a look at those if you like. ;)

Keep your eyes open in 2017 for new titles:  Ireland, New York City, Idaho, and Indiana.

Not So Nutty Nitty Gritty 

• Company: By the Way Book Series
• Product: Pennsylvania ~ Here We Come!
• Ages: 5-12
• Price: $14.99

You can visit By the Way Book Series on Facebook.

Please click the banner below to visit the Homeschool Review Crew and see what others had to say about this one one of the other five titles that are currently available. As always, I hope that this review was useful to you as you choose where best to spend your homeschool budget.

Blessings~

Spring (? in February?) Homeschooling...Ice Chimes?

We've had some crazy weather this week (I think just about the whole country has), with balmy to frigid temperatures. What was crazy was the extremely fast change.

Check out this screenshot of the temperatures on Wednesday evening (midnight-ish).
We were at 58 degrees and just barely north of us it was 38 degrees.

Yowza! Strong winds and thunderstorms accompanied the 20 degree weather change, but they brought us a lovely afternoon. 

Middlest headed out in his Kayak to do some early fishing, now that the lake is *mostly* unfrozen. 

For Eldest, Youngest and I, this homeschool moment was brought to you by ENO (hammocks ~ and my yellow/blue one is on sale right now for $59.99) Childhood of Famous Americans, and Masterbooks Science's The Fossil Book.

It was very pleasant until the wind started to pick up again. Much of our time was spent enjoying our books (I had my kindle with me) to the sound of these "Ice Chimes."

It took me a while to figure out exactly what it was~ waves from the wind (and sometimes the boy in the kayak) were hitting the remaining border of ice, breaking off small chunks of ice which were then thrown agains the larger ice shelf, which resulted in this pleasant sound...

The wind did pick up as you can hear towards the end of the video, so we quickly packed our hammocks up, and headed home, right before another rainstorm swept through.
How was your weather this week??

Blessings,
Lis

Hummers~ (Just a little photo)

My camera/computer combo haven't been playing nice with one another off and on, so this has taken a little bit of time to get this up~ Hope you enjoy! :)

Blessings~

Wordless Wednesday (Believe, Blue, Boys, Blooms, Blessings)

(ALMOST) WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

(Finding Beauty after Boston 4/15/13, and cherishing every bit)

BELIEVE

BLUE

~ BOYS~

BEAUTIFUL BLOOMS

Blessings~

Wordless Wednesday~ from nest to flight (Almost)

Wordless Wednesday

Last egg from the second batch hatched today~ 

We watched the first set much more closely~ (Daily)

Enjoy!

Blessings~

Progress~ and a pretty woodpecker

May 4, 2011

May 17, 2011

May 5, 2011

May 5, 2011 (in context)

May 12, 2011

 

May 12, 2011

May 12, 2011

Wordless Wednesday~

Blessings~