Drive Thru History Adventures {Homeschool Review Crew}

Are you looking for a resource to help make history come alive for your children? This homeschool video curriculum from Drive Thru History Adventures may be just what you are looking for!

The Bible History Adventures covers the time period of the Gospels. Our tour guide and narrator, David Stotts, brings to life the locations and times of Jesus. We start out learning about the historical landscape of Jerusalem and the surrounding area, as well as the political situation. From there, we go on to the announcement of the coming Messiah, His birth and the circumstances surrounding that, and on into His life on earth. We're given a glimpse of Jesus' ministry, some of His miracles, and how He taught with authority.

We get a close-up look at the possible location of the Sermon on the Mount, the regions around the Sea of Galilee, and of course, the Garden of Gethsemane and Calvary.

Along with the videos, the Bible History Adventures curriculum include summaries, scripture readings, side roads, discussion questions, dig deeper (which contain additional updates and articles relating to the topic), worksheets and answer guides.

I especially appreciate the photos of the actual locations and artifacts, as well as the artwork, some of it by famous artists, such as this one by Rembrandt. (Yes, I guess it's the graphic designer in me, who appreciates such fine art)

Besides the Bible History Adventures, there are Ancient History Adventures, and American History Adventures. Each of these has 12 episodes, whereas Bible History has 18 episodes. Each episode runs around 30 minutes. I look forward to having my youngest go through these as well.

This year my youngest (I used to refer to him as Little Bit on the blog; I can't really do that anymore since he is now taller than I am! LOL) is reading through the four gospels for his personal devotions along with a lovely book about the life of Christ. So these Bible History videos have been perfect for him, and have really brought to life what he's reading about. He finds them interesting; they captivate his attention.

Since SJ struggles with verbal and written communication, I haven't been having him do the worksheets, but we do go over the discussion questions verbally. Even that's a challenge for him.

We really enjoy this program, and we both would highly recommend it. Check it out for yourself.

SJ has been mostly watching the episodes using the Drive Through History Adventures TV on his iPad. It's also possible to watch the episodes on television using Chromecast, on Android devices, and of course your computer.

Currently if you subscribe for a one-year subscription to Drive Through History Adventures, you can receive a free Gospels DVD. Simply enter the code on the subscription page when you subscribe.

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Drive Through History is offering a 20% discount to readers of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. Look for the Drive Through History Adventures ad on page 19 of the Winter 2017/2018 edition.

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Sound for Life LTD: Forbrain {Homeschool Review Crew}

Well, here we are, the last review of this year. I guess the year seems to have gone faster than usual, since we came in part way through the year. Still, it has been a blessing...yet again.

My youngest child spent several of his early years in therapy: occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech therapy. We tried so many things to assist with speech therapy. I wish we could have had Forbrain to use those many years ago. A few weeks ago we received this headset from Sound for Life LTD for Steven to use.
This device uses bone conduction to deliver your voice directly to your brain. The ear pieces are placed on the bone in front of the ear, and you speak directly into the microphone. It is used to improve speech, attention, and even memory, using Forbrain for just a few minutes a day. Learn more about the auditory process here.

Does your child have difficulties with staying focused, or with his attention? Perhaps with reading or speech difficulties? Do you know someone who struggles with memory? Does someone you love sing out of tone? Forbrain can help.

Sometimes it's frustrating for me when I ask Steven questions about something I've just read to him, and he answers with "I don't know." That indicates to me a struggle with short term memory. That's another good reason to use Forbrain.

Currently he and Daniel have been working on memorizing Bible passages about prayer. I need to remember to have them wear this device while they are learning their verses out loud. This would be great if your child is in AWANAs, and is memorizing a lot of memory verses, or in the Pathfinder club preparing for the Bible Bowl.

Oh, another good use would be if your student is in speech and debate, or in drama, and has lines or speeches to learn! Have her use Forbrain about 3 times a day, for twenty minutes.

When Steven was not even two years old, we discovered that he had a conductive hearing loss in one ear. We even had a brainstem hearing test done (which was his first time under anesthesia). But that didn't explain all of his developmental and learning delays. Over the course of time, we were told he has expressive receptive language disorder, sensory integration disorder, and even that he was mildly mentally retarded (what?! I didn't think that term was even used anymore!).

I was excited to have him use the Forbrain device, to possibly help with his enunciation. He wears it for 15-20 minutes once a day, several days a week. He reads to Tiger, so quietly that I can't hear him, so at this point, I can't distinguish any improvements. Perhaps his sensory integration disorder affects his desire to even use it.

When the device first arrived, I had Daniel try it out. He barely spoke a paragraph before taking it off, and saying, no way! I guess it was set too loud for him, and he didn't even want to speak with it on. I think it would help him some with improving some of his enunciation.

I'm considering having Jen try it out while she's singing to see what improvements she might make.

If you're interested in seeing what other Crew members thought about Forbrain, and how they used it with their children, simply click the banner below.

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Innovators Tribe Thinking Like an Engineer {Homeschool Review Crew}

My youngest son is very much a kinesthetic, hands-on learner. When we were given the chance to review InnovatorsTribe, I was pleased to try it out. We received a 2-year subscription to Thinking Like an Engineer. We know a little about engineers already, since we lived with one for a few years (an electronics/broadcast engineer).
Innovators Tribe offers online courses for grades 6-12, which provide experience in applied math, science, innovation, design and construction. In fact, this course could provide a 1/4 credit for your high schooler.

The lessons consist of power point presentations, videos, hands-on challenge activities, design challenges, access to CAD (computer-aided design) software with instructions of how to use it. Your student will learn about what engineering is, some history, and what engineers do. There are numerous types of engineers. Your student will learn about fourteen, such as aerospace, agricultural, biomedical, chemical, electrical, environmental, nuclear, gaming, and sound & broadcast engineers.
The challenge activities use supplies that are easy to get, such as printer paper and masking tape. Steven had to use these to make some sort of support, to hold a stack of books one inch off the surface, and to see how tall he could make the stack...or how much weight his supports could hold. The full stack of books weighed 61 pounds, he said.

His first stack crushed two of the supports, and spilled the whole stack. So he had to start over again.

One lesson that really impressed both of us was the one on engineering clean water. It's astounding to realize that about 1/6 of the world's population doesn't have clean, easily-accessible water. We watched a video that showed how a team of engineers built and installed a water filtering system at a school in Mexico.

There was also a narrated slide presentation, showing the importance of having safe, clean water, and the steps in creating a purifying system.

The design challenge for that lesson is for your student to make a water filtering system of his own. A list of supplies is provided. Steven says we a have source of water that needs filtering: the little fish pond on our back patio! But we don't have the sources of the different types of sand, etc., on hand yet. We'll have to work on collecting them.

Another topic covered is the fourteen grand engineering challenges, such as making solar energy affordable, providing energy from fusion, providing access to clean water, preventing nuclear terror, securing cyberspace, and engineering better medicines. Maybe Steven could become an engineer and help develop a cure for Type 1 Diabetes, which will make life much better for his sister.

I've been having Steven do only one lesson or challenge a week, so we've only gotten through the first segment, the Introduction to Engineering, which means we just got the software downloaded the other day. Looking ahead, I see we will be learning about the software, and how to use it. Also in the future, Steven will be designing roller coasters, and bridges. That sounds fun! 

I'm learning from this myself, as I go through it with Steven. I think my other three offspring ought to go through the course as well. I wonder if any of them can be persuaded. Ha!

Some of the Crew members were able to review Thinking Like an Architect (the one I was hoping Steven would get to do). Innovators Tribe also has Thinking Like a Carpenter coming soon. 

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The Pencil Grip, Inc. Thin Stix Creativity Pack {Homeschool Review Crew}

Do your children like painting, but you don't like the mess that can go along with that creativity? The Pencil Grip, Inc., has a wonderful solution. The Thin Stix Creativity Pack provides 24 colors of mess free tempera paint. And best yet, it dries in 90 seconds!

These Thin Stix are solid tempera paint sticks, which are somewhat like markers. You uncap them; twist the bottom of the pen; and paint. They work on poster board, paper, wood, cardboard, and other surfaces.
When we left Mississippi and came here to Florida, we had to leave most of our stuff behind, including my art supplies. (Praying we can make the trip sometime soon to fetch some of our stuff.)

I was excited to get these Thin Stix to try out. This pack contains twelve classic colors: black, brown, white, yellow, red, orange, two shades of green, three shades of blue, and pink; six neon colors; and five metallic colors. The regular colors are vibrant. The neon colors seem almost thinner or fainter. The metalix seem bolder. All together, they are wonderful to use.

I never really had any specific projects in mind for the kids to use the Thin Stix. I didn't think of anything, either. So, one day I told my daughter to have my youngest work on something while I was gone one morning, taking the 17 year old to his GED preparation classes.

I handed her the pack of paint sticks, and a pad of paint paper. When I got home, this is what I found.

Little Bit still doesn't "fill the page" when he does any artwork. I guess I need to have him paint/draw/color more often than he does. With these Thin Stix, that just might happen!

My daughter also did some pictures. She tried doing some blending on the sunset picture. Her observation was that the paint doesn't blend as well as colored pencils to. She still liked using them, though.

I did the clown fish, using both the neon orange and the regular orange. I also used the white in the center of the bubbles. I tried blending a little with my finger tip, like I would with pastels, but this paint dries so quickly. There wasn't even any on my finger!

We are really enjoying using these. Maybe we'll use them for making some homemade Christmas cards, since my stamping supplies are back in Mississippi.

I can just imagine how great these would be for younger kids, like my friend's grandchildren. Next time we get to go spend the day, when she has her grand kids visiting, I'll have to remember to take these along.

I imagine the Sabbath school teacher at our church who teaches the youngest kids would be thrilled to have a set of these for the kids to use for any of the art projects she plans for them.

Several other members of the Crew received the creativity pack, so you will want to click the banner below to find their  reviews with their thoughts of the paint sticks, and get more ideas of how they can be used.

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Let the Little Children Come: Gospel Tracts and Evangelism Tools Sampler Pack {Homeschool Review Crew}

Child evangelism has been a strong interest of mine most of my adult life. It is always a blessing to find tools that can help in this mission field. I was pleased to receive the Gospel Tracts and Evangelism Tools Sampler Pack, from Let the Little Children Come.

The Sampler Pack contains 10 of the most popular Gospel Tracts and Evangelism Tools by Let the Little Children Come:
John 3:16 Animated Tract
The True Story of Christmas Animated Tract
Where's Everybody Going Animated Tract
The Most Amazing House Pop-up Tract
The Lost Easter Egg Pop-up Tract
John 3:16 FlipAbout
Gospel Buttons FlipAbout
Wordless Bracelet Kit
Silicone Salvation Bracelet
Wordless Book

The Animated Tracts are fun. There is a little screen you slide back and forth over the pictures, which creates the illusion of movement. The earth spins. People walk or run. The cross twirls. The hearts swirl. The heavenly city spins.

The FlipAbouts are also captivating. As you fold, and flip, you talk about each picture as you unfold it.

"God loves us and wants us to be with Him in heaven. But sin separates us from God. Jesus paid the price for our sins on the cross. We can be made clean by believing in Jesus."

One of the teen girls in our church has been working hard the past few months organizing to prepare and ship Christmas Shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. She had a yard sale to raise funds for toys, as well as requesting church members to provide toiletries, etc., for the shoeboxes. I offered the items from the sampler pack to be used in the shoeboxes.

She raised enough funds to provide supplies for 12 boxes. A couple weeks ago, the teens in our church helped her back the boxes after church and potluck. That was a lot of fun. We look forward to seeing where they end up.

These tracts and tools would be great to hand out to Trick or Treaters who may come to your house. Or they would also be excellent tools at Vacation Bible School or Bible camp. With Christmas coming, the True Story of Christmas Animated Tract would be excellent to have on hand.

Be sure to check out the rest of the reviews by my Crew mates, to see more suggestions of how to use the tracts and tools. Just click the banner below.

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(Our previous review of the Is There Anything Better Than Candy? Box-Tract)

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Abby Ludvigson, Sex by Design {Homeschool Review Crew}

We parents know that some topics are challenging, or even uncomfortable, to discuss with our children. Often those are the ones we need to discuss the most, and the most often. Sex is one of those topics.

Abby Ludvigson makes the topic of God's plan for sex easy and much more comfortable to discuss with your teens, using her Sex by Design course. This is a DVD-based course, which also includes a student workbook, and a parent/teacher guide.

The video contains 7 presentations, each approximately 20-25 minutes long. Abby is a dynamic speaker, and very engaging. She held my boys' attention (well, for the most part, where my 15 year old is concerned; definitely for my 17 year old).

The topics covered are:
Plan Ahead: Living Pure in a Sex-saturated Culture
Counting the Cost: Every Decision Has a Price Tag
Dating: Doing Relationships God's Way
Sex: God's Purpose and Plan
Modesty: God Cares What I Wear
Pornography: It's Deception & Steps to Get Out or Stay Out
Secondary Virginity: Running Back to God

The first step is to watch the video, together with your teen/teens. Then you will continue the discussion, using the guide books. There are also online resources to further assist in the discussion, and tools for implementing the "head knowledge" and turning it into "heart conviction." Only you and your child/children will know how long it will take to cover each topic; and you will probably come back to each topic several times over the course of their teen years anyway.

The student book has a film outline for each session. Your teen can follow along, taking notes by filling in the blanks along the way. Scriptures shared during that segment are listed, as well as Truth Statements. Then there is a follow up section, with suggestions for discussion. Following that is a section providing suggestions of how your teen can Personalize It, and ending with suggestions of how to apply it.

At the back of the student guide is a section called The Bible: Your Sword in the Battle. This will have you and your child digging deeper in God's Word, and developing a battle plan to combat temptation and develop convictions to remain pure.

The parent's guide provides suggested answers, as well as listing further resources.

Online resources include printable downloads, suggested books and articles to read, and key topics.
We watched through all of the videos together, just to get an overview. Now we plan to go back through, and work through the guidebook together (I may need to purchase another student book, so each boy has one of his own). But my 17 year old wanted me to immediately print off the purity pledge, for himself and a couple of his friends. This is a conviction he has already set in his heart; I am glad now he will have resources to further cement this in his heart.

I had thought I might share this series with the teen class I help teach at church, but I just haven't gotten around to making the arrangements yet. We may go through it with at least one of the families, our closest friends, who are also homeschoolers.

At the age of 12, Abby attended a True Love Waits conference, and pledged to remain sexually pure until her wedding night. When these sessions were video-taped in 2014, she was still single, and a 33-year-old virgin. In 2015, she married the man God had prepared for her, and for whom she had waited.

There is a purity crisis in America (and the world!). Are you prepared to respond? Click the banner below to read more reviews by the Homeschool Review Crew.

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