LaRocque Family

Judah Bible Curriculum Review

 

Judah Bible Curriculum was sent to me as a download for my review, access to their website and an 8 series lectures for teachers.  The idea of using the Bible as the key guide for a Bible course is certainly not original, but the way the author, Bill Burtness, suggest looking for specific themes and keys through the text is.

This curriculum is for all grades/ ages and every year the Bible is read and re-read. There is a suggestion for what ages study what and a break down into themes and keys to look for. The keys are: individuals, events, institutions and documents.

With the Bible as the textbook and concordance and dictionaries as support, the teacher and student make a notebook to record their findings.  The goal isn't necessarily to read the Bible through every year (though of course it is certainly fine to do so!), but rather to search for key people and events to support God's goal and intent for His kingdom through scriptures alone.

It is difficult to put down in words how to use the curriculum. At first, I read and read again the different ideas and printed out the entire curriculum. Initially, I hoped to read everything on the computer, but it just didn't work that way. I kept losing my place and finally gave in and printed it.

To explain further, I took this directly from the Judah Bible Curriculum website:

 

What is the Judah Bible Curriculum?

• A Principle Approach curriculum for Bible class.
• Develop a comprehensive knowledge of the Bible.
• Build strong, Godly character in your children.
• Study the Bible together.
• Study the hand of God in the lives of individuals and nations.
• For homeschool, Christian school, Sunday school.
• Teach your children living Biblical principles to guide their lives.
• Apply God’s word personally in every area of life.
• The Bible is the textbook.

 

Even though I did print out the pages for the keys- in the beginning- I knew for us that was going to result in many lost pages. So, instead I bought 5 subject notebooks for each and had a different page for each day's studying. This seemed to work well for us- even though we do have plenty of 3 ring binders. At the beginning of the school year, we get single subject binders for free or 10 cents each, but I thought the 5 subject notebook would work better.

This was confusing for me. I am not sure if I am the only one, but it took me weeks to grasp what it was we were supposed to do. I don't know how it could have been explained differently. However, I much prefer a curriculum I can just open up and use. I guess it is a combination of me not being a trained teacher and also being spoiled by many homeschool guides presenting the material in a very direct manner.

I did appreciate that each theme and key was identified for the teacher so I could make sure we were finding the right information. However, it frustrated me to figure out what was meant by institutions and documents. My children were definitely frustrated by that.

Would I have bought this for $44- for the download or $74 for the hardcopy? Most likely not. I am still not sure I am using the curriculum correctly. I strongly believe the Bible alone should be the textbook for every Bible curriculum, but this particular program confused me and I don't think it needs to be confusing. I loved the concept, though- now that I understand. I would suggest this curriculum to others, though, particularly if I felt it worked for them. But I will continue to incorporate this method in our Bible class from now on.

Below is contact information for Judah Bible curriculum:

Bill Burtness, author

Judah Bible Curriculum,

www.judahbible.com

 

bill@judahbible.com

217-344-5672 land

847-863-3421 cell

Disclaimer: This curriculum was provided to me for free in exchange for my honest opinion.

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Go Science sold through Library Educational Services review

Library and Educational Services (LES)  sent me 2 videos from the Go Science Series offered by their company. I chose to review Volume 2 and Volume 5 of the  6 DVDs in the series.

This series was originally  made for a spot on a  Christian TV program. Ben Roy still travels and presents live shows for Science Zone in his "over the top" manner that has earned him at least one Teacher of the Year award. The DVDs are copyrighted 2006 and are produced by Go Science LLC. While offered in other places online,  I doubt they can be found at this great price other than through Library and Educational Services.

Volume 2 covered the subjects of Simple Machines, Sound and Weather, in 14 demonstrations. Each demonstration is very short and would be easy to incorporate into a science lesson in place of working an experiment or just as educational entertainment  or the whole DVD can be watched as a stand alone item.

Volume 5 is nearly  50 minutes long and covers Air/ Flight  in 12 short, high energy demonstrations.

Ben Roy demonstrates in front of a classroom type settig with the help of children volunteers. It is refreshing to see his class is made up of average seeming children. It seemed the volunteers  weren't overly  rehearsed and most of the children appeared clearly interested in the lesson being taught.  At the end of each lesson, Ben Roy points out all Science teaches us more about our Creator, God . A sample lesson can be viewed here:

My 2 younger school aged children watched these DVDs  over and over. My 8 year old described both DVDs as "awesome" and hopes we will get the other DVDs in the series. My 7 yo daughter especially loved the egg in a bottle demonstration, and also liked watching the lessons repeatedly.  However, even though the age range is stated to be 6- 14, I think this series would not hold the attention of many 14 yo's. My 10 yo has read a lot of science books and experiment books. He didn't feel the DVDs taught him anything new. He stated he would not want to watch them again and would not be interested in me getting more.

In fact, he opted to not watch anything instead of watching the lessons again with the 7 and 8 yo this afternoon.

Personally, I had a hard time watching or listening to much of this DVD . However, I have never really enjoyed programing geared specifically for children.  So, I am really not the best judge. I believe these DVDs would be great for many families and for children in the 6- 10 age range. Some of the subjects covered are appropriate for older children, but I feel they would think the DVDs are below them. At only $8.97 for an individual DVD or $47.95 for the set of 6, they are in the very affordable range- I feel.

It was a pleasure getting to know more about the company Library and Educational Services  (LES) and what they have been offering  the homeschool community for 35 years. LES is  a wholesale company selling directly to educators (including homeschoolers),  librarians, church leaders, missionaries, resellers and  licensed day cares for 30 - 70% off list price. Almost all the products offered are completely free of evolution references.

While I don't think we will be ordering more of the Go Science DVDs, I do expect to order from Library & Educational Services again in the near future.

There are several ways to contact LES. If you qualify to purchase from this company, you can simply set up an account and order online. However, here is also a link to alternate ways of reaching LES.

Disclaimer: As a member of the TOS review crew, I recieved these DVDs for free in exchange for my honest review.

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Ctitical Thinking- Balance Math Teaches Algebra Review

The Critical Thinking Co.'s  Balance Math ^tm Teaches Algebra written by Robert Femiano has been a fun review for us.   All 4 of my current school aged children liked this product.  Since the owner of the book is allowed to make 35 copies per page (per year)  directly from the book , this book is not consumable (though I guess it could be).

This 50 year company outdoes itself over and over again- in my opinion.  We own many items by this company and I was happy to be chosen to review. In fact, we are using 2 other books currently along with our other work.

This book is the latest in a series of 4 books that contain picture puzzles and activities as a way to teach Algebra.  Because of the visual approach, children seem to grasp and make sense of the concepts easier than traditional Algebra problems. The problems start out very easy and increase in difficulty- as would be expected.  A picture shows a scale. On one end is a symbol or symbols and on the other side is a number or a combination of numbers and symbols that help the child figure out  the number each symbol stands for.

Balance Math Teaches Algebra is available online at www.criticalthinking.com for $14.99. Don't let the thinness  fool you,  a lot of ground covered in these lessons. Level 1, 2 and 3 deal with addition, subtraction and multiplication and are $9.99 each. It can also be ordered by calling the company directly- at 800-458-4849. If you would like free shipping, please follow this link!

 

My 7 yo loves math and while this was definitely not at her level, she does work above her grade level in math and was able to do some of the first  lessons. My 8 yo didn't love it, but he did still like it. I am not sure how to make math click for him or if he just doesn't want to think- so this company isn't about finding the right answer and putting it in a blank. My 10 was very matter of fact and analytical- as he tends to be in most things. My 14 yo started out hesitant and expected to be frustrated. When he found out the puzzles were fun, I could see him gain confidence. Algebra hasn't been his favorite subject. He started out well, but seems to get lost easily. So, we have started and backed up more than once. Math is certainly not a good or favorite subject for him. You can also look inside the book to see what it is like.

 

We used Balance Math ^tm Teaches Algebra as a supplement to the math each child is currently doing. At first, we worked together on the pages, but it didn't take long before my children were asking me to make copies for them and wanting to work them on their own (except my 8 yo who can take even a fun subject and make it into work. Interestingly, he seems to have the capacity of being a great student and is very intelligent, but he seems to put his thought into things other than school time- unless it isn't school. If he is supposed to be setting the table, for instance, or tonight before bed, then he will likely be doing school… He can be a *little* contrary!

 

All in all, we loved this book and it made a difficult and frustrating subject more fun. This book is geared for 4th - 12th grade. I feel that is the perfect range for this book. We love this company!

 

Disclaimer: I was provided a free copy of this product as part of the TOS Review crew in exchange for my honest opinion.

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Cliffhanger

So... I am particularly horrible about starting a sentence and then not finishing it. My husband sometimes sits patiently and waits for me to finish, and other times, just wanders off realizing he might never know what I was meaning to say. Today, I was talking about how the kids didn't seem to miss the pepporoni on the homemade pizza (a red light food because of the nitrites). However, an email came in at the same time, so I was distracted. I ended up simply saying, "They didn't seem to miss......

My husband sat looking at me to see if I might continue, and then burst out in song, "Cliff Hanger, hanging from a cliff".

Who knows why I found it so funny, but have you seen the PBS Cliff Hanger? Because I think it is hilarious!

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God's Great Covenant- New Testament 1- Review

God's Great Covenant New Testament 1  ($26.95) is the 3rd in a series of Bible Courses offered  for Elementary aged children by Classical Academic Press ( www.classicalacademicpress.com ) Classical Academic Press'  motto is: Classical Subjects Creatively Taught ^tm

I recieved both the Student Guide- an impressive, consumable 351 pages in a 8 1/2 x 11 paperback book written by Claire A Larsen, and the Teacher's Guide. Throughout both, most scriptures are taken from the New International Version, but occasionally the New King James Version is also used. This particular book is targeted for 4th grade and up. Here is a link to a sample- if you care to see what is included.

This course consists of 4 units: Jesus, the Son of Man, Has Come… To Live Among His People, Jesus, God's Servant Has Come… To Proclaim the Good News, Jesus, the Messiah, Has Come… To Teach About God's Kingdom, Jesus, the Son of God, Has Come… To Conquer Sin and Death for a full school year's worth of material.

Each unit is further divided into chapters, for a total of 36 chapters. Each chapter is made up of the actual lesson, memory material, activities and a quiz and should take only a week to complete. 

At first, I wasn't sure if the Student Guide ($29.95) would be necessary, but  it does provide a lot of additional cultural  information, a place to keep notes and answers to all the questions asked in the student's  lessons . So, it is useful to have both the Student's guide and Teacher's guide- especially if you will be using this course with multiple children. However, if you work through the material directly with your students you might not find the  Teacher's Guide necessary- as it is basically a copy of the student guide and you likely won't need the answers if you work through the course with your student(s). Alternately, you might wish to purchase the Audio Files ($9.95) to this course. The text can be read to your student through this downloadable MP3 format and would be particularly helpful for auditory learners or struggling readers.

We initially used God's Great Covenant in our daily reading time. It might just be the first chapters, but I had a hard time keeping the interest of my 7 and 8 yo. So, my 14 yo -who was my only student who didn't have a Bible curriculum to work on- was given this book so he could work on it alone. Personally, I didn't feel  this was below my 14 yo because it is not written in a tone that speaks down to the children it is geared for. The character of Simon is written for a younger student, but my son didn't say he thought it was below him. 

This is a great program for multi-ages or a family devotional book. I could imagine this course would be excellent for a traditional classroom or even a Sunday School.  It really didn't fit what we were currently doing and I am not sure if we will finish the course. I can't quite put my finger on why, though. I think it is just a matter of timing and not a great fit for us at this time. It is a very thorough curriculum that is put together very well and I don't  have any complaints about the book. I like the various activities and depth of this course. We typically memorize scriptures out of the  New American Standard Version and I personally prefer King James Version, but those aren't things that would keep us from using this course either. We will probably revisit this course in the future and see if the fit is better at that time.

Disclaimer: I was given this product for free as part of The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew in exchange for my honest opinion.

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Bright Ideas Press- Christian Kids Explore Review

I am very particular about science for my children and it is very difficult to find a product that I like completely. Combine that with wanting a REAL science course that is unapologetically Bible-based for my younger children that doesn't water down facts, but doesn't overwhelm with too many scientific terms that leave a younger child feeling like they have left the planet earth and are now expected to know a different language entirely.

I was pleasantly surprised to find Christian Kids Explore (CKE) - Earth & Space  to meet all these criteria. I realize someone who does not believe in a world created in 7 days by a supreme God would not be interested in this curriculum, but if you- like me- believe this universe was spoken into being by a supreme God, and if you have children are roughly grades 3rd - 6th , this review might be of interest to you.

 

CKE - Earth and Space ( $34.95)is authored by Stephanie L. Redmond. She is a homeschool mom who saw a need for a science program and decided to write a series to fill that need. Her brother and sister are involved also by illustrated for her books. Bright Ideas Press (BIP) publishes the series (along with several other homeschool curriculum- some of which I have had the opportunity to review before.) I received the physical 360 page, paperback book. The size is 8 1/2 x 11 and the cover has a glossy finish- perfect for wiping free of jelly (I have been told. My angels would never have anything sticky around their school books…)

 

The textbook is broken down into 6 units are divided into a total of 24 lessons and each unit also ends with a review- called a "wrap up" for a total of 30 weeks of lessons. It is suggested to do all the reading one day of the week and the hands on activities on the 2nd day- for a total of 2 days a week taking  approximately 60 - 90 minutes of class time.

Each lesson has material to be read out loud- or by your child(ren) if they are old enough.  There are also vocabulary, coloring pages, and labeling exercises. The hands-on activities are a combination of experiments and instructions on making a folderbook that will serve as both a keepsake and review for each unit.

If you find it necessary, there are supplemental materials as well! It would be easy to add books on the non-science days that complemented the text book as well- if you wish. However, I find 2 days of a formal science curriculum at the younger ages is more than applicable. I would recommend reviewing the flashcards daily, though. All the material you absolutely need for this course is provided in this one book- including answer keys for the questions along the way. It is not consumable (though you might wish to have your child(ren) color in the pages in the main part of the book since the drawings are completely black and white). Don't worry if you decide to make copies of the pictures, since there is a whole section of reproducibles in the back.

While not actually necessary, I chose to purchase the Student Activity Book  of downloadable reproducibles to make it easier to print out copies of the many pages we will need to make the folders and assemble  notebooks. This month of April the downloads are available at a discounted rate of $7.95 (marked down from $12.95). It is hard to get a clean copy from this thick book- it seems. I didn't like the dark lines we got when using the book on my copier. Of course, if you don't own a copier, then I definitely recommend getthing the downloads.

This book spends about 24 weeks on the subject of Earth and the remaining 6 weeks on Space. It is easily adjusted down for younger children. I doubt I would use this with children too much older, but if you have a child who has no interest in science, then perhaps it could be used up to grade 8. I didn't use this with my 14 year old. But my 7 year old did benefit  as well as my 8 and 10 year old. My 10 yo even studied and read through this book on his own. Science is "his thing" and he loves to draw too.

Disclaimer: I received this product as a member of the TOS Review crew for free in exchange for my honest review.

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AIMS - Fabulous Fraction Review

Fractions are a struggle for my small scholars. So, I gladly volunteered to review a product offering to make fun out of fractions.

Included with the 185 page paperback Fabulous Fractions book  ($21.95) was a set of 5 Fractional Transparencies ($14.95) and also a CD providing  reproducible items in one convenient location. A pdf version of this book is available for $19.95. Fabulous Fractions is meant to teach 3rd - 5th graders more about fractions through hands on activities.

There are additional suggested material as an aid  to making fractions hands on and understandable. Some of these items I have on hand and others I didn't, but we made do with what we had! The suggested additional materials are: Fraction Cards, Tangram Puzzles, Plastic Pattern Blocks, Fraction Circle Transparencies (and the fractional transparencies I did receive). The projects we did can be done without these additional materials, but I suggest at least looking into getting everything recommended as they are all very reasonably priced and will make using this book very simple.

This book does an excellent job of explaining how to use each lesson for whichever age range you are teaching to. Teaching fractions has always been frustrating to me, and this helped take the worry out of the process.

By the end of several hands on lessons, my younger 3 students were seeing fractions in everything. I used this book as a supplement and not our main math. However, this book did help my children to see fractions around them.

I would not say all of my children now "get it". In fact, my 8 yo seems like he still doesn't have a clue. The 7 and 10 yo needed very little explanation in order to understand and this was below the 14 yo, but he actually still participated with many of the activities since he happened to be in the same room.

We have 3 students close enough in age to work together on the group projects. Yet - in my experience-  this particularly book works best for a group setting. So, for homsechoolers, I could picture this being a great product for a co-op. Since 200 copies of anything in the book are allowed per school/ home,  it would not be necessary to buy multiple books and makes this extremely affordable for even the smallest homeschool group/ co-op. There are 22 activities altogether. In the back of the book, answers to activities are provided. The book is more of a teacher's guide, but the pages can be copied directly out of the book, so the book is not consumable.

Fabulous Fractions retails for  $21.95 on the AIMS Education Foundation  site, www.aimsedu.org . You can also contact AIMS through their toll free customer service number: (888) 733-2467 during business hours Monday through Friday.

Here I have paraphrased the 3 promises AIMS makes to their customers: To make learning engaging,  make activities affordable (and supporting material readily available) and to make activities easy to use. I found all 3 of these to be true.

I loved the hands on component, straight forward explanations and clearly defined list of learning  objectives. For us, it worked out well to introduce the material a little at a time and not use this daily - but still often. I would recommend getting a bin and compiling all the items needed, then using this book - along with supporting materials- as a fun activity center.  I am not trying to suggest this product can only be used as supplemental activities, though. To me, the material just seemed to lend itself to that sort of application. It is a nice way to break up the monotony so common with the process of learning math.

 

Disclaimer: As a member of the TOS Review Crew, I received this product for free in exchange for my honest review. All the opinions expressed are mine.

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Write with WORLD review

Write with WORLD's incremental approach to the art of writing, guides your middle school aged child step by step through a year of lessons. It is a perfect writing program for transforming hesitant writers into purposeful writers, poor writers into better writers and excellent writers into professional writers.

Write with WORLD is (not surprisingly) published by the same company known for God's World News and WORLD magazines. If you parent, homeschool and/ or teach in a Christian worldview manner, I recommend getting a subscription to one (or more) of these magazines. Bringing current news into your home month after month that supports , not contradict , the Bible and Christianity is something foreign to today's media campaign.

What I received to review was the 1st year of a 2 year writing program called Write with WORLD, geared for 5th - 8th graders. Included was both a student manual and also a teacher's manual.There will also be a website/ online component to the program, but it isn't functional yet. In fact, this curriculum is currently only available for pre-order. The curriculum will be available for the 2012/ 2013 school year, though- as the books will be available in August of 2012. In order to get an idea of why Write with WORLD was conceived, it would be useful to read the introduction to the program. Several journalists, professors and editors worked together to make this curriculum available. It is not necessarily homeschool specific, but it definitely is homeschool friendly and no modification is necessary to use in a homeschool program.

Students can work at their own pace of one the teacher sets for them. Each lesson consists of 5 capsules written directly to the student in an easily understood manner. There are 4 lessons in each of the 4 units. Feasibly- if you have a very motivated student- it would be possible to complete this program in 4 months. Since our school year runs year round, we will likely do 3 capsules a week . However, I wouldn't be surprised if my 14 year old starts moving through faster once he gains more confidence in his writing. Vocabulary, critical thinking, writing assignments and check ups are included in each. Instructors are encouraged to take a soft approach to correction and be light with the red pen. I am not sure i have personally found the right balance in that!

To introduce this writing program to my children, I read the first capsules out loud during our daily reading classwork time and assigned the first capsule. My purpose was to see if my younger children would also benefit from this writing program- even though they are all below the recommended reading age. They certainly enjoyed the lessons, however, my 8 year old clearly was not ready. My 10 year old shows some natural talent for writing and he seemed to grasp what was going on, but it was still not quite suited for him either. In one or 2 years he should be ready for this program and I look forward to using the program with him. I think it helped that we did cover the first several days together before simply turning the book over to my 14 year old to work through on his own. That being said, it is certainly written in a way that could be handed to a student with very minimal input. Encouragement and acknowledgement of well written work and coaxing to flesh out writing is expected- of course.

Perhaps others would take this course at a faster pace and finish multiple capsules in one day. Since my student is not an eager writer, I want to set him up for success and start at a slow pace and let him decide to move faster if he wishes. I love the way the presentation of the material and am very hopeful this program is going to fit a need for our family.

While not absolutely essential to using the course, I decided to subscribe to News Flash and Top Story magazine for my children. There already are some references to using WORLD magazine for particular capsules, and the assumption seems to be the student will have these available to them. I believe this writing program- which I have decided to continue with- will be enriched by using these materials. We do not currently get a newspaper at our home, yet I know it is important for my children to be aware of world events. It is also important they be able to express their views in a God honoring way. I do not often feel compelled to continue using the review items we receive, yet this particular product filled a need and void in our school program. Needless to say, it is not for a lack of looking! I plan on buying the second year as well.

What would I change? Well… not anything about the program itself, but I would change the font for the student's guide. It is not - technically- too small for my 14 year old, but even I prefer to read a larger font. I understand the font of the teacher's manual being on the small side, but feel at least the student's manual would be more inviting for a child if the font were larger (particular for a younger student or one hesitant/ self conscious about the program ) . Second, I feel the first units had a pop of color and interest with the pictures added, but after the 2nd lesson of the 1st unit, there aren't any more pictures. Granted, I imagine they are not technically needed (or they would be there) and the author uses highlighting and blocking to clearly differentiate material in the unit.

I realize smaller print and fewer pictures means cost effective printing making this curriculum-perhaps- more affordable, but would probably personally prefer/ hope for an online interactive type program to a book with such small font. Possibly, since this is a prototype of a product, there will be more "flash" in official version. The teacher's manual is awkward to hold. The paper is too thin to support itself and it is floppy and unusual. It is nice to have a different look to the book so the student guide is not confused for the teacher's guide and vice- versa. So far, I have not needed to refer to the teacher's guide. Since a website and forum will be part of what is offered in the price of the curriculum, I wondered if a teacher's print manual will truly be needed? It is nice to have the option, I am sure. I just haven't needed it yet since it is easy enough to read the objective and see if my student has done what was asked.

The price of $95 a year ordered individually or $165 for both years is higher than I would normally spend- particularly if I knew nothing about the product- yet I believe this product is worth the expense and I do highly recommend it. Eventually there will be a website where teachers and students can interact and post in a forum as well as have their work evaluated (I hope I have that right! Since it isn't live yet, I did not use this part of the program). Write with WORLD offers a 30 day return policy on their curriculum- but not on the shipping costs- which is understandable! Hopefully through the online examples and other reviews, it will be clear to you if this is something that would be useful- or not- for your home.

Plus, neither the student or teacher's guide needs to be consumable- a fact we consider to be very important in our household. I can see this program being useful even for older writers looking for a starting point.

Disclaimer: As a member of the TOS Review Crew, I received the first year of Write with WORLD for free in exchange for my honest opinion.

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