Creation Illustrated

“Dedicated to Sharing the Wonders of God’s Creation in Nature, In Scripture, and In Living.” We received the last four issues of Creation Illustrated magazine to Review. (A whole year’s worth!) The pictures in this magazine are absolutely breathtaking. The articles all have a Christian theme and element and scripture. Each 65 page magazine includes stories about Nature, Scripture and Living, three recipe cards,  a photo contest for youth, a Creation Stewardship section  (Providing helpful suggestions on how to better care for God’s Creation), and an instructional guide with guidelines for deeper study, recommended devotional reading, and a puzzle.

These magazines have a cover-stand price of $4.99, issued four times a year. (Save when you subscribe – 1 year subscription $19.95, 2 years $37.95, 3 years $53.95) Subscribe now and save an additional $5 when you pay by credit card. Or if you want to try first, request a free trial issue.

My kids and I loved looking through these magazines and reading some of the uplifting stories. I can see them as a wonderful resource for school time when we are studying animals or habitats or types of environments. We especially liked looking at the beautiful snow pictures and imagining we were there and trying to cool off from this Florida heat!

These magazines are beautiful.

We received these four issues free in exchange for an honest review.

Discovery Scope

When I saw that this was coming up for review I was very excited. I have curious children who love opportunities to look at things up close and personal. Discovery Scope is a neat system because it is handheld and cannot be broken easily (very important)! When we first received our Tupperware box full of goodies, I didn’t get it. But as soon as I started playing with it, it clicked, and the kids and I went on a hunt to see what we could find.

The scope is neat in that it has a pincher-type holder that you then move in and out, right and left to focus on your specimen, looking through the eye-cup. The kit also comes with an eyedropper, two clear boxes (clear-view chambers) and box holder, a small ziplock baggie type thing (bio-in-a-bag) and one quick slide. It is packaged in a plastic container with lid. This Basic Kit sells for $40. and more chambers, slides, etc. are available for purchase as well.

The first thing we found to explore was a dead spider. (Mama was glad for the pincher tool so I didn’t have to actually touch it!) Once we got it picked up, the kids and I took turns turning the holder post and looking at his eyes (“It has eight eyes”), his legs (“Why are they so hairy?”), his belly (“It looks soft.”) We put some collected rain water into the clear chamber box (I probably should have used the Bio-in-a-Bag thing, but the box was water proof, so it worked fine.) We looked at all the things that were floating in the rain water (“You see why Mama says not to drink it!”) We looked at soil from our tomato plants (“Who knew dirt was made up of so much stuff.”). We held up our fingers and looked at our fingerprints. It made for an exciting nature-full day.

We were excited about looking at things up close and liked the fact that it was quick and easy and that the children could all handle it individually with any worry of something catastrophic happening.

We did receive this free in exchange for an honest review.

We have been blessed.

Go Science

Another chance to review some great Science Experiment DVD’s! We were asked to review Go Science DVD’s from Library & Educational Services. LES is a wholesale company offering 30-70% off regular retail prices to schools, churches, libraries, etc. and to HomeSchoolers!! For instance, these Go Science DVD’s are regularly $14.95, but LES offers them for $8.97 each or $47.95 for the set of six!

These Creation Based Science DVD’s (for ages 6-14, although even my younger kids enjoyed them) are Science Demonstrations turned Object Lesson! We reviewed Volume 2 and Volume 4 (See Below). Volume 2 was about Simple Machines, Sound, and Weather. Some of the demonstrations included 1st, 2nd, and 3rd class LEvers, Incline Planes, Pulleys, Trebuchets, Singing Glasses and Singing Rods, Sound Waves, Pipes, Making a Cloud, Weather Balloon, Tornado Tube, and Air Pressure … After each demonstration, Mr. Ben Roy turns the science into an Object Lesson teaching a simple Bible Truth. Mr. Roy is very high energy and always uses a student helper. He gives a spiritual application with each Science Demonstration. Each short is about five minutes long.

We also reviewed Volume 4, Chemistry, States of Matter, Life Sciences and this one (of the two was my kid’s favorite). This DVD showed experiments of Chemical Luminescence, Exploding Bottle, Exploding Balloons, Flash Paper, pH, Root Beer Float, Liquid Nitrogen, Single Cell, Optical Illusion, Lycopodium Powder, and Camouflage. (See the words Exploding and Flash Above to know WHY this was the boys’ favorite!!) If I had to offer a criticism it would be that the experiments were not explained in a “how or why did that happen” sense, but basically just a watch and see. But I loved that each lesson was turned into an Object Lesson, and Mr. Roy ended each session with “Every Time we learn something new about Science, we learn Something New about our Creator, God!

My kid’s have already let me know I should have ordered Volume Three (Magnetism, Electricity, Engineering, and Design).

We did receive these DVD’s free in order to provide and honest review. Other home-schoolers reviewed these DVD’s as well and you can see their review as well as mine posted here.

We are so Blessed!

Amazing Science

Science is one of Brendyn’s two favorite subjects. (He doesn’t get that from me, because Science was one of two I liked least!) So I thought this would be a good review for us. On the day the Amazing Science DVD‘s came in the mail, we were headed out the door. I grabbed them and popped the first one into the DVD player in the car. The very first experiment, The Color Changing Milk had my kids enthralled. Drops of Food Coloring into a bowl of milk, Dawn Detergent onto a Q-tip, and then Wow! And even better was a full explanation about why it worked and how it happened. Onto Experiment #2. All of the kids were happy to watch the DVD, one experiment after the other and even listen to the sometimes lengthy explanations. I don’t know how much of the “how” and “why” the little kids caught, but they stayed tuned-in to see what cool experiment would be coming up next. I think that first day, running errands around town, they happily watched the whole first DVD!

I liked that a complete material list was given for each experiment, and most things are household or easy-to-find, even in the small town we live in, and for the harder-to-find things (like Dry Ice), we could easily see and get a feel for what was happening by watching the experiment on the DVD. The two-volume set is available from ScienceandMath.com for $19.95, and has a total of 23 experiments:

Disk One: Color Changing Milk*, Egg in a Bottle, Exploring Air Pressure, Build a Lemon Battery, Inverted Cup of Water, Candle Suction Power, Amazing Magnetic Force, Lift an Ice Cube with String, Unburnable Money*, Matchstick Speedboat, Cloud in a Bottle*, and Reversing an Image with Water

Disk Two: Floating Eggs, Keep Paper Dry Underwater, Dry Ice Bubbles*, Balloon in a Candle Flame*, Ocean in a Bottle, Build a Motor with Lights, Simple Lava Lamp, Invisible Ink*, Density Tower, Soda Can Fizz, Build a Motor #2

The experiments marked with a * were our favorites!

All the experiments were thoroughly explained and you really understand “why” it works. My boys couldn’t wait to get home to show Grammy and Daddy the Color Changing Milk Experiment and the Speedboat Experiment. (They were both impressed!) These DVD’s are both educational and entertaining and that really is Amazing!

We received these DVD’s for free in exchange for an honest review. Other homeschooler’s reviewed this product too, and their review, as well as mine is listed here.