Review: Considering God’s Creation

I have had the opportunity to review a wonderful natural science curriculum written from a biblical perspective.

Grade: Adaptable for grades 2nd – 7th

The program is set up with lots of fun learning through games, experiments, poems, songs, crafts and notebook pages.

 

Cost: Only  $29.95 – includes Teacher’s manual, student book and audio CD for a year’s worth of science (or more). 

For ease of use, buy an additional student book packed full of 272 pages for only $13.95.  You may copy the student book for each of your kids, but having the second book for such a cheap price is much easier than copying so many pages.

Topics:

• Universe
• Stars
• Solar System
• Earth
• Light
• Sound
• Wind
• Weather
• Clouds
• Rocks
• Plants
• Insects
• Mammals
• Reptiles
• Birds
• Fish
• Amphibians
• Food Chains
• Reproduction and Genetics
• Human
• Animal Anatomy
• Physiology

My thoughts:

I really enjoyed the hands-on approach to Considering God’s Creation.  It’s adaptable to multi-age children. The projects keep the family learning together.  I enjoyed the author’s biblical approach to science as well.  CGC is a very affordable, family-friendly, natural science program that takes a year to complete if you do one lesson per week.

My girls loved the songs and experiments best.  I enjoyed how the Christian author’s, Sue and Betty, did all the research for me and filled the program with lots of prepared notebook pages.  The projects are simple too - for both the kids and mom! 

What other supplies do you need besides the CGC books? A three-ring binder, student pages, scissors, glue, crayons and a few easy-to-find household items.

How do you teach the lessons?  There are 36 lessons.  Each lesson can be taught in one week for an entire school year.  If you children are younger,  you may take several weeks for some lessons and the program can take 2 or 3 years to complete.  I did several lessons that took two weeks each.

If you children are older, you can use the DIGGING DEEPER for ideas to keep them challenged.  There are also 12 crosswords for review or testing older children. 

More details about Eagle’s Wings curriculum Considering God’s Creation on their website here.

Eagle’s Wings also has other homeschool curriculum – Science, History, Bible, Phonics, Geography and Math.

Do you want to see how other mom’s use Considering God’s Creation? Check out Kattie’s blog - 2 Ladybugs and a Lizard – Tree Study and Flower/Plant Study and the TOS Crew’s Reviews.

 

Blog Makeover!

I am so excited to share with you that my blog Discover Their Gifts has just undergone a blog makeover!!! woo hooo!

I asked Jolanthe from Relevant Designs to redesign the look and feel of my blog.  Can I just say… I am so delighted and pleased with her work!

Since I primarily blog about my family and homeschooling, I wanted the blog theme to feature the look and style of each of my girls next to their pet buddies. 

My blog tag line is .. “homeschooling adventures in the country’.  I derive most of my blogging ideas from our adventures in the country around our own home. Our curriculum, My Father’s World, assigns nature walks each week. 

The girls spend a lot of time outdoors riding their 4-wheeler, jeep car, swinging with friends and chasing run away pets.  This is one of the greatest benefits of homeschooling: my kids get to spend a lot of time playing with their toys, enjoying their siblings and friends, and exercising outdoors in our wooded acreage.

Back to my blog header …

My oldest daughter, Arianna, is featured in pink. She stands along side her sweet dachshund, Lola.  Her puppy has been her best buddy and companion.  Lola loves to go on walks, chase the neighborhood cats and deer, and sit in the kid’s wagon and jeep car.

Arianna will soon be 8 years old.  She is shy, intelligent, discerning of people, nurturing, gifted in organization, and asks a million questions in any given hour!  She is a joyful gift from our Lord!

Check out her earrings.  She saved her own money to get them pierced.  I cringed but she’s been a trooper at caring for them!

 

 My youngest daughter, Marissa, will soon be 6 years old.  I told her we were not going to celebrate her birthday so she would remain 5.. not sure she agreed with me.

Marissa loves glitter, sparkle, high heal shoes, and dressing as a princess.  She is standing next to her rotten main coon cat, Gilbert.  His job is to catch moles from our yard, but instead he must just hang out with them. 

Marissa is free spirited, impulsive, single focused, charming with two big dimples, sensitive, intelligent and very confident.  Also, she can’t seem to keep her shoes on outdoors not matter what the weather conditions are for the day.

Well ~ that’s a little bit about why I chose the look and feel of my new blog!

 

Don’t forget to grab my button for your blog

 

<a href="http://discovertheirgifts.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g421/m_wharton/DiscoverTheirGiftsButtoncopy.jpg" alt="Discover Their Gifts" /></a>

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Drop by Jolanthe blog Relevant Designs blog                                

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

Review: Mad Dog Math

Mad Dog Math was developed by a third grade teacher, Julie Kotoff, to help her students with multiplication and division facts.  The ‘pencil – paper’ program soon evolved into computer software enhanced with all four math facts, including addition and subtraction.
It is designed as a supplement for grade K – 5th and students older who struggle with their math facts.  Mad Dog Math has taken the basic math facts and broken them down into bite-size pieces for mastery.

1. All four math operations (- + x /) – just chose what your student needs
2. Bite-size pieces of facts for mastery – less frustrated kids!
3. Progress through a series of timed practice sheets at the child’s pace
4. Tracks the progress of multiple students through all levels
5. Allows students to earn ‘Student Club Stickers’ as they pass levels
6. Brief, timed lessons – only 5-10 minutes each day

Mad Dog Math levels: There are three levels and a challenge level.  The student can take the school year to progress through one level. 

My thoughts:  My girls used Level One which is broken down by ‘fact family’ – addition or subtraction. There are about 20 problems in each lesson.  The lessons are brief and fun for them.  I had them do 3 of the “2 Minute Club” lessons.  They enjoyed being timed and we motivated to try and beat their time next round.  Mad Dog Math is the first and only math drill program my girls have enjoyed.

1. Brief lessons that are fun
2. Simple program and easy for the kids to use
3. Easy key strokes – key the answer and the tab moves to the next fact
4. Super for kids who are competitive   

I enjoyed that I could check their progress by clicking the ‘progress’ button.

Mad Dog Math at Home – click here for more details
Watch a video about the program on their website here

• 1 year license download for ALL levels – $19.99
• 2 year license download for ALL levels – $29.99
• Perpetual license download for ALL levels – $39.99
• (available in both a 32-bit and 64-bit format)

Check out the Mad Dog Math website  - http://www.maddogmath.com/

Don’t forget to check out what others on the TOS Crew had to say about Mad Dog Math over here!

TOS Review: Circle C Beginnings #4…. “Andi’s Scary School Days”

Written by: Susan K. Marlow, Illustrated by Leslie Gammelgaard

“Andi wants no part of school. School means being away from the ranch all day and sitting next to a boy who throws dead flies at her. Andi didn’t think she was afraid of anything—until now. Being sent to the corner for something she didn’t do is the last straw. Andi’s leaving. And she’s not going back.”  

 

What are Circle C Beginnings Books?

The Circle C Beginnings books are the early readers to Susan K. Marlow’s Circle C Adventures series.  The early readers are written for children ages 6-8 years old who are ready for their first chapter books. 

 

Andi is 6 years-old and she lives on Circle C ranch in 1874 with her horse Taffy, and her family and friends.

 

 

 

There are free printable activities for each book, as well as, lapbooks you can purchase, free online puzzles, and free printable coloring pages.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What did mom like about Circle C?

I loved how my daughters were so excited to read this book.  The activities pages were also a great addition to the story. I would definitely recommend these books to anyone ready for chapter books. We are looking forward to continuing to read the whole series.

What did the kids like about Circle C?

The girls loved the story and were excited to read about Andi.  They also really enjoyed the activity and coloring pages.

Where can you get the books?

You can purchase them off the Andi and Taffy Website, Christianbook.com, and Amazon.com.  Prices vary.

Check out the Andi and Taffy Website -  Each book costs $4.99 each.  They also offer package deals: 2 books for $9.98 or 4 books for 15.96.

 

Check out what others on the TOS Crew had to say about Andi and Taffy books!

 

Disclaimer:  I received this product free of charge from the vendor.  The opinions expressed are mine.

Review: Yesterday’s Classics

 

 Are you looking for living books for you family?  What about the classics?  Are you searching for books out of print?

Well, look no further.  Check out this wonderful collection of the BEST classic literature for children.  Yesterday’s Classics republishes books for children from the era of 1880 to 1920.  Many of their titles are out of print and are hard to find.

They offer history books, poetry, hero tales, nature books, fables, legends, Bible stories, Christmas stories, Fairy Tales, science, literature, Shakespeare, world history and more!  Check out the titles in more detail on their website.

Here are just a few of our favorites.

Special pricing for 225 titles only $99.95 through May 31st!  

Pricing:

Purchase 225 books for only $99.95 (Regular price is $149.95).   Purchase individual books for $2 – $12 each.

Format:

The E-books are available in both the Kindle and EPub formats.

EPub format works with E-Reader apps that you can use on your PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, etc. 

The files are easy to download from 13 zipped files… yes all 225 titles!

My thoughts:

I was so excited for the opportunity to review these books.  What an amazing blessing in our home.  The girls and I absolutely LOVE their books.  I think our family has seen so many books from the library over the past 7 years that the classics were exciting to explore.

It was nice to read books from the computer during our lunch.  I also downloaded the free Natural Reader software.  Then I opened the book the girls wanted to listen too.  I just highlighted the text and listened.

I downloaded the e-reader app on my PC.  The 13 zipped files containing 225 downloaded easily. 

Yesterday’s Classics e-books are very organized too.  They have a list of their books sorted by level, genre, author, title, grade range, and age range.  This file really helped me know what books I should choose from depending on my girls age and interests.

Yesterday’s Classics is a beautiful addition to all households.  You don’t even have to clear off a book shelf to store them!

Don’t forget to check out what other members of TOS Crew had to say about Yesterday’s Classics!

 

 

Disclaimer:  I received this product free of charge for review purposes only.  The opinions expressed are mine.

Curriculum Clean Out: Winner !

 

Congratulations Winston Manor for winning Considering God’s Creation science curriculum!

 

Giveaway #1: Considering God’s Creation

Curriculum Clean Out #1 for Discover Their Gifts is a Considering God’s Creation  -Teacher’s Manual.

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Considering God’s Creation details -

Website:  Considering God's Creation “A creative biblical approach to natural science”

Science curriculum for all ages – geared towards grades 2 – 7th

A year’s worth of science covering topics like: creation, the universe, the earth, rocks, weather, plants, animals, man made in God’s image and much more!

What do you need to buy?  A student notebook for only $15

Here’s how to enter:

1. First entry, leave a comment telling you would like to win
2. For an additional entry, subscribe / follow me, make another comment by telling me you did.  If you already do, just make a comment that you do – thank you!
3. Check out Eagle’s Wings website and tell me what lesson you think your kids would enjoy the most -- CGC website.

Be sure to come back tomorrow.  I will be offering Giveaways all week!  Don’t forget to drop by Homeschool Creations blog for a HUGE list of Giveaways this week!

All my giveaway’s will end on Saturday, April 30th.  I will use a random generator to pick the winner on May 1st – US shipments only.  Please make sure I can contact you via email. I will mail your prize via media mail upon receipt of your address.