TOS REVIEW: Judah Bible Curriculum

Education for liberty

This is a K-12 Bible curriculum. The curriculum allows for lots of adaptability in your design of the daily study.

We received, as a download:
    1) Judah Bible Curriculum K-12 Manual;
    2) Elementary Notebook Ideas booklet;
    3) Eight-lecture Teacher Training Seminar.

Available as a download for $44, no shipping charges, or as a physical product for $74 (includes shipping), with lectures on CD. Also access to the website where you can find blank Key Sheets and samples. The website also has a very helpful Teacher Walkthrough page. Click here to go to the order page.

The Principle Approach (from the website):

• The BIBLE is the textbook. The student studies and learns the Bible.
• The student learns God's purpose in history, studying the hand of God in the lives of men and nations through the Bible.
• The student develops his reasoning ability, helping him to apply Biblical principles personally.
• The curriculum helps you shift from rote learning to Biblical reasoning.
• The student learns the relationship between the sovereignty of God and the personal responsibility of the individual.
• The student learns the relationship between individual character and national liberty.

See the Judah Bible Curriculum Scope and Sequence

When first starting this curriculum, I think it is important to read through the entire Manual but not to listen to every audio. There are 515 minutes of audio!

The themes covered in this are (from the website):

1. THEME 1. CREATION God creates man to bless.
   Creation, fall, flood
   Genesis 1-11
2. THEME 2. THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION BEGINS God prepares a people for Godly self-government and liberty.
   Abraham, Moses, Joshua
   Genesis 12-Ruth
3. THEME 3. THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL The people want an earthly king and slavery.
   Saul, David, Solomon
   I Samuel – Malachi
4. THEME 4. THE KINGDOM OF GOD God’s New Covenant, an internal kingdom.
   Jesus, 12 Disciples
   Matthew – John
5. THEME 5. THE EARLY CHURCH The increase of His government and peace will have no end. (Is. 9:6)
   Pentecost, Apostles, Paul
   Acts – Revelation

We received this and it took me 2 1/2 weeks to feel that I could actually do it. {I will be honest with you, I did not do the very first step: Pray. I really think that if I had of done it *first* my head would not have been so confused.} The Teacher Walkthrough page on the site has ‘examples’ of every lesson (for the most part) and I used that as a loose guide.

Here is how we did our study of the Bible using the Judah Bible Curriculum, for the first week:

• Each day begin with a prayer for guidance (we take turns).
• Day #1: Read Genesis 1:1-25 (recite Genesis 1:1 {a verse that’s been long memorized}). Discussed the different creations of God. On the Key Events, we fill in the columns, addressing each point in the column. {we used the whiteboard, not a notebook page}
• Day #2: Read Genesis 1:26-2:25 (recite Genesis 1:27). Discuss the key verse (made in God’s image). We use Key Individuals for this and discuss the points in each column, filling in our answers.
• Day #3: Read Genesis 2:16-17. Discuss self-government as put forth by God; free will. I read some of the article posted on the JBC site dealing with this particular theme and we discussed more. We used  Key Documents for this and filled in our columns. (You can see sample Key Sheets at this page)
• Day #4: Read Genesis 3:1-24. Using the Key Event and Individuals sheet, we discuss the passage.
• Day #5: Review the weeks readings and Key topics. Discuss application of what we covered during the week.

Each day it took about 30 minutes (give or take a few minutes). Subsequent weeks will be done the same way, with Friday being a day of review and application. I’ve not had the kids do any writing assignments except for the Key Sheets. That could change later.

For resources we have Matthew Henry Commentary, various translations of the Bible but we use the KJV predominately bordering on exclusively, and the concordances and Bible dictionary from biblestudytools.com or blueletterbible.org

I was surprised how this facilitated such animated and heartfelt conversation and discussion. Also, attitudes, which were not always great at the start, always improved greatly by the end.

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Bill Burtness, the creator of the Judah Bible Curriculum, also has written two books that are available at the website: The Third Alternative and Self-Evident Truths

Contact information for Judah Bible Curriculum:

Mail:
Judah Bible Curriculum
PO Box 122
Urbana, IL 61803
Website:
http://www.judahbible.com
Email:
Contact via email here.

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Pros:

The Bible is the textbook. I really enjoyed that the focus is on God’s Word. The Bible is the primary focus “expanding the study with commentaries, concordance, Bible handbooks, and other reference material”.

It really got us discussing the Bible. Before it seemed to be just reading and memorizing, really no worthwhile discussions. We also talked more of God, his personality, his design and purpose.

It can be used with all ages and as a family. It can be used in a class or with only one student. I do like that it is not ‘flashy’. The only color added is what you or your students add to it (literally!).

There isn’t a ‘set’ way of doing this curriculum. It lays out a basic outline (each year cover 5 themes, rotate the themes every 6 years, all ‘new’ users start with Creation, etc.) but it doesn’t have a “Day #1: Read Genesis. Teacher script: On the first day…” It does have a Teacher Walkthrough on the website that is very helpful, but it is only a suggestion. It is open for adaptation. They make the statement to pray before beginning and do not worry about how “he” (the creator of the curriculum) intends you to use it but how God intends you to carry it out.

This is a k-12 curriculum that can be used again and again; it would pay for itself in short order especially if it is used with a large family or a group year after year.

Cons:

This is/can be very confusing and overwhelming. It might seem more like a teacher preparation program rather than a curriculum (the regular or a particular course of study in a school,college, etc.). Because it has no books to add to the study some may feel that there has to be ‘more’ {I did}.

The audios aren’t going to be a great resource to those who are visual. I’m a bit of both so as long as I was reading/looking at something pertaining to the audio, I was okay. When the audio had not companion visual material, I had to replay it a few times. Also, there are questions asked in the audios of who I would guess are the speaker’s audience but we cannot hear their replies. These would be great as videos, I believe. Or perhaps a text file of the audios would be a plus {I’d like to see that}.

Some may feel that they have to go through this entirely before starting but that is not the case. Definitely read the manual and perhaps a couple of the audios. Look at the sample Key Sheets, pray and begin. Of course, if you get this during the summer months and wish to use it the following school year, by all means, read and listen to everything! It can’t hurt.

Other points:

It uses the Principle Approach, which shows a direct relation of God’s Word and the actions of man, of ourselves. God is the focus.

There are use of words that make me cringe when they are said in the audios (stupid, idiot) and I see them throughout. It’s a little thing that really doesn’t really detract from the program but grated on my nerves every time I heard the words. A better and more impressive choice of words could have been chosen, imho. We try not to use those words.

Bottom line:

How we had been doing our Bible study is by reading a chapter a day and narrating from it, along with memorizing verses and dd has been reading a commentary on select books. But really we lacked guidance and direction, I suppose. I think this curriculum does help with that. And God should be in every part of our lives- including, and especially, our ‘government’.

Would I personally have purchased this? Most likely not. Unless I had someone to tell me that this was a great program that they had used/were using. The reasons are there is simply not enough information the website to give a perspective buyer a good idea of what is included {I don’t mean physically- that is clear} in this product, there are not enough samples to give a possible buyer an idea of how to use the curriculum and many are likely to think it is nothing more than reading the Bible and discussing (which many do already).

Now that I’ve reviewed it, would I recommend it? I would definitely tell others about it but I wouldn’t want the frustration of trying to understand what to do with this to get in the way of actually focusing on what is the main idea: to study the Bible, to understand God’s Word. I would recommend it to families that are serious about digging deeper to see how and where God will take them, according to His Will. Also if someone already follows or is looking into the Principle Approach, this would probably benefit them. If someone is looking for a ‘fun’ and ‘exciting’, colorful, game-driven curriculum that includes all the mentioned then no, I would not recommend this to them.

Be sure to read other reviews by my fellow Crewbies at the TOS Crew blog.

***Disclaimer: I received the above downloads from Judah Bible Curriculum via the TOS Homeschool Review Crew for free in exchange for an honest review. No compensation was given. All opinions stated are my own or those of my family. I only recommend products that I truly feel will be beneficial to others based on my experiences. See Disclosure/Policies.***

TOS REVIEW: Amazing Science!

Science can be pretty awesome. It can be pretty amazing.

Unless you are my homeschooled kid.

Did I just say that out loud?! Ack! That I did. And it is true. I can’t seem to help it. If it makes a mess, I don’t want to do it; if it makes a lot of noise, I don’t want to do it; if it makes a mess –oops said that already… Well, perhaps you’ve gathered that I’m not too big on experiments. Actually, I think it is *science* in general. If there was just one class I’d have my kids do outside of homeschooling, science would be it.

Enough about my faults. Through the TOS Homeschool Review Crew I was one of the chosen to review Amazing Science, Volume 1, from Science and Math.com  And I am so very happy that I was one of the chosen. I love these DVDs!!

I think I might just like science experiments after all…

This set of 2 DVDs covers 23 different experiments. In those, you will learn, I mean your kids will learn *wink* about air pressure, electricity, heat, surface tension, magnetism, and much more. These experiments will make your jaw drop. No joke.

Here’s the experiments on these DVDs:

Disk 1

1. Color Changing Milk
2. Egg in a Bottle
3. Exploring Air Pressure
4. Build a Lemon Battery
5. Inverted Cup of Water
6. Candle Suction Power
7. Amazing Magnetic Force
8. Lift an Ice Cube with String
9. Unburnable Money
10. Matchstick Speedboat
11. Cloud in a Bottle
12. Reversing an Image with Water

Disk 2

1. Floating Eggs
2. Keep Paper Dry Underwater              
3. Dry Ice Bubbles
4. Balloon in a Candle Flame
5. Ocean in a Bottle
6. Build a Motor with Lights
7. Simple Lava Lamp
8. Invisible Ink
9. Density Tower
10. Soda Can Fizz
11. Build a Motor #2

We watched a few (probably at least 4) before we even attempted any of them. One of the things I really like about these is that the materials needed are easily acquired. You probably have quite a few already in your home or garage. And these can include all ages of the family (many do require adult supervision and/or assistance).

When the experiment starts, Jason Gibson, our ‘tutor’, gives a nice rundown of what is going to happen. He also makes sure to put safety first (always wear your safety glasses- just in case). The materials needed are right on the screen as he describes what is needed. The only thing I noticed in regards to the materials is that once or twice he uses something that is not on the list (such as the lemon battery; he uses a knife but it is not included on the list). After the experiment (which is covered by different camera angles, allowing us to view it from at least three different views), he explains what happened and why. I did notice that he repeats himself a few times while giving explanations but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. We get the point.

The first we tried was the Color Changing Milk. I was so excited when we did it that I totally missed my photo op. But here is a quick collage of the experiments included in the DVDs (and if they look amazing- it’s because they are!):

This volume of 2 DVDs is available for $19.95 at the time of this post. Or you can purchase them as a download for $17.95

ScienceAndMath.com also offers Chemistry, Physics, Basic Math, Algebra 1, Algebra 2, Advanced Algebra, Geometry/Trigonometry, and Calculus DVDs. Check out their Ultimate Science and Math Bundle!

Bottom line:
Amazing! The title of this is accurate. I love these DVDs and will recommend them to anyone who is looking for a way to make science more fun. The price is great (imho) and these can be done again and again. I will be watching anxiously for Volume 2 of Amazing Science!

Here is one video you can watch on the website (it’s almost like it’s magic!):

This gets multiple thumbs up from our family. Be sure to check out other reviews for this item by my Crewbies at the TOS Crew blog.

***Disclaimer: I received the above 2 DVD set from ScienceAndMath.com via the TOS Homeschool Review Crew for free in exchange for an honest review. No compensation was given. All opinions stated are my own or those of my family. I only recommend products that I truly feel will be beneficial to others based on my experiences. See Disclosure/Policies.***

TOS REVIEW: Reading Eggs

Through the TOS Homeschool Crew I was given a free trial from Reading Eggs in order to give an honest review. Since my son is on the tail end of the age range this is designed for, he used Reading Eggspress much more than the base program, Reading Eggs. This review reflects that.

I hope you like images, because this review will have quite a few! If you cannot see them well enough at their current size, click on them to enlarge. Use your browser’s back button to come back here (or open images in a new tab/window). 

Reading Eggspress is a unique learning environment for 7-13 year olds, designed to boost reading, comprehension skills, spelling and grammar. The spinning world gets students involved and motivated to learn. Children love the games, songs, golden eggs and other rewards which, along with feeling proud of their reading, really motivate children to keep exploring and learning. from the website

The website includes a variety of games and lessons that engage the reader. It is set up in a fashion where it all feels like a game yet learning is the goal. From the website on “Why it Works”:

• This powerful educational program is based on the most up-to-date research on how children learn to read.
• The lessons use animation, activities and reward games to keep children motivated.
• The program is completely interactive to keep children on task.
• Children want to come back because they are having fun as they learn.
• When children start the program, they can complete a placement quiz to ensure they are starting at the correct reading level.

Reading Eggs offers a free trial for parents or teachers. If you would like to purchase a subscription, they offer these options:

• Monthly- $9.95
• 6 Months- $49.95
• 12 Months- $75.00

They also offer book packs to go along with the online subscriptions {check the website to see what each includes}:

• Level 1- Matches the first 40 lessons of the program- $65.00
• Level 2- Matches the second 40 lessons of the program- $65.00
• Level 3- Includes all 80 lessons books- $114.95

The set up is fairly pain-free {super easy}. There is an assessment for the Reading Eggs portion {which is for beginning or struggling young readers} but not for Reading Eggspress that I could find. I had Fox take the assessment anyway. It placed him as a 5.5 year old. Below is a shot of one of the assessment screens.

From that point on, Fox was allowed to enjoy himself on the site. And he did. Immensely. So much so that he could spend hours at a time playing on Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress. The shot below shows the Floating Island where the student chooses a place to learn, play or buy stuff with earned golden eggs.

When first starting out, the student can choose who they want to ‘be’ {their avatar}.

From the parent screen I can look to see what Fox has been up to while on Reading Eggs. The shot below shows his achievements.

And actually above that is the students reading age and comprehension age {you can see this on the parent’s homepage, at the bottom of the page, as well}. Here is Fox’s according to Reading Eggs.

 

Okay so if the student wants to go to the library to read a book, they will go here:

I took a screenshot of the books available for my son’s age range in a particular genre in the library. Comedy is what I chose to capture here.

After the student reads their choice of book, they take a quiz. They have to pass the quiz in order to get gold eggs and a trading card.

A student can also go to the Stadium to ‘compete’ {with another person or with the computer- Fox only ever competed against the computer} in different games dealing with reading, spelling, and such.

All of the things that are done on Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress can earn the student gold eggs. These gold eggs are like currency. With them the student can go to the mall and purchase things for their apartment, clothes, and other items. One thing {no, the main thing} that Fox has used his gold eggs for is trading cards.

I hope I have given you a general overview of the program. Now here are the Pros and Cons as I see them for our family.

Pros:

• Colorful- as you can see from the screenshots, there is a lot of color in is this website. It is ‘appealing’ and draws the student in and makes them feel that they are having fun {like playing a game}.
• Fun- a lot of the activities are fun for the student, while still attempting to get them to retain important information.
• Engaging- the students want to use this program.
• My son loves it!

Cons:

• Inaccurate- on a few occasions although the lessons that were presented had accurate information, the answers that the student had to choose from were incorrect {so if Fox chose the right answer- it said it was wrong}. Also the assessment is extremely flawed. Reading Eggs is intended for beginning readers or struggling young readers. Reading Eggspress is for older, more experienced readers {although they may be struggling}. When Fox took the assessment for Reading Eggs it placed him as a 5.5 year old reading level. Even before he missed answers on the lessons, he was placed at an 11 year old reading level with a 9.5 year comprehension level. He is 12 and reads at a high school level {standardized testing has shown this consistently}. So something somewhere is not right with the assessment.
• Twaddle- the books that the students have to read from are not original works; they are edited and abridged {from what I read}. I just felt that they were not high quality works.
• Strange characters- the avatar that my son chose {since he is a boy} looks like a little man- not a boy. Also there are very odd characters throughout the program that sometimes we were just so distracted by. I think there was a centaur lady with a half-shirt-vest-type-thing. The trading cards, although my son’s absolute favorite part of the whole program, also have questionable characters on them- some parents may find them inappropriate.

Bottom line:

When we first started this, I felt it was going to be too young for my son. It never hurts to have fun when learning, though. It was good at first because he really wanted to get on it and do the lessons, play the games, hit his targets, etc. But as time went on, it’s just a game and his reading level and comprehension has gone down. Granted, I understand that this is partially {perhaps even mostly} due to the fact that my son is not applying himself as completely as he could. However, I feel this is just too much of a distraction to be continued with as anything other than a for-fun thing after his other work is done. He still loves this program and wants to play it everyday- but the results have not be as desired.

As for the cost: that is something that each family/teacher would need to decide for themselves but I think this could be considered reasonable for what is offered.

I might recommend this to others if they have a struggling child- one who is uninterested in reading and/or one that needs to have the visual stimulation. I would not recommend this to families that have strong readers.

Make sure to read other reviews by other TOS Crew members to get a better feel how it might work for your family/class.

***Disclaimer: I received a free trial to the above program as part of the TOS Homeschool Crew. All opinions stated are my own. I only recommend products that I feel will be of benefit to others. No compensation was given. See Disclosure/Policies.***

TOS REVIEW: Beeyoutiful!

Through the TOS Homeschool Review Crew, Beeyoutiful sent me two items to review: Hair Shine All-Natural Leave in Conditioner and Beeyoutiful All-Natural Lip Moisturizer {makes the acronym B.A.L.M.}.

I will start with the Hair Shine product that I received. I’ve tried quite a few different shampoos and conditioners in order to get my hair ‘nice’. My problem is that usually the shampoo dries out my hair and the conditioners are too heavy and leave a residue. I have fine, thin hair {sadly, yes, it’s true}.

The bottle says it is a leave-in conditioner that detangles and gets rid of snarls. With the simple ingredients of aloe vera, water, sweet orange eo*, lavender eo and rosemary eo, I couldn’t imagine there would be anything to weigh my hair down. And I was right. It is very light and for me stayed that way. I used it on both damp hair {towel dried} and dry hair {especially when it started to get static}. It didn’t leave me feeling like my hair was dripping in oil. As for the detangling effects…well, it wasn’t too bad. I don’t recall the last time I used a detangler, though.

As far is making my hair shine, I didn’t notice a real difference. Although I did like it for it for something else: my hair resists curl but after using this, it held soft curls- all day. It isn’t like hairspray but it seems to give curl an advantage against the stubborn hair

I give the Hair Shine two thumbs up for the smell, the way it makes my hair feel and for helping me finally get some curl! I’d have to give it no thumbs {as opposed to thumbs down} for detangling and shine- I just didn’t notice that as a benefit. 

Two things that I must mention however: 1) if you are sensitive to scents, you may not like this one. My ds, bless his heart, really dislikes the scent. He says that he gets an instant headache from it. I think that is because I make my own cleaner and lavender oil is the main scent- he just is reminded of work {workitis?}. 2) I wouldn’t recommend using this after using a strong scented shampoo/conditioner. The smell you end up with may be, um, quite interesting {and not always in a good way *wink*- personal experience talking here!}.

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The second item that the folks at Beeyoutiful sent me was their All-Natural Lip Balm. The scent/flavor of the balm is orange- but the product itself is…wait for it…GREEN. The smell is like an orange creamsicle.

We {my daughter and I} have a bit of an obsession with lip balms. We have a collection and we carry around various ones all the time. I was super excited to have a new one!

This lip balm contains only four ingredients- super simple: organic grapeseed oil, organic shea butter, beeswax, and orange eo. It glides on smoothly and I think {and I’m no expert!} that the grapeseed oil keeps it from feeling like it ‘glops’ on your lips. I don’t have a lot of experience with either grapeseed oil or shea butter but do with beeswax. Sometimes if the ratio is not correct that beeswax feels like it’s a wax layer on your lips {until it warms up sufficiently}.

I left my lip balm near a computer at work, however, {in my jacket pocket} and although not terribly hot, it caused the orange oil to ‘leak out’ more than usual. It made quite a mess in my pocket and it made the canister sticky. After that it has felt like using one of those roller lip glosses; my lips felt like there was an excess of ‘flavor’.

For the most part this has worked well for keeping my lips moist and free from dryness. They were slightly chapped once and I tried this to help with that. It only kept them from getting drier; I didn’t notice it taking care of the chappedness {it didn’t moisturize as I hoped}.

I would give this one thumbs up for consistency, scent and moisturizing quality. It’s not bad but I didn’t think it wonderful.
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Beeyoutiful is a company that has “Healthy Living for the Real World” as their goal. From the website you can find a forum for discussions and questions. Also find articles ranging in scope- but all dealing with healthy living; find videos, too.

They offer vitamin supplements, hair care, moisturizers, cleansers, essential oils, and etc- check out all of their products.

You can purchase the Hair Shine at Beeyoutiful for $12.75 (plus shipping). It contains 4 fl oz. and comes with a spray pump.
You can purchase the All-Natural Lip Moisturizer for $3.00 (plus shipping). It contains .15 oz.

*’eo’ stands for essential oils.
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Bottomline:
I enjoyed the products I received although I think I expected more out of them. Both have lasted quite a while and have been used extensively- the price for quantity is good. I like that the ingredients are ones I can pronounce and know what they are. The fact that they are organic doesn’t personally sway me towards their products, but I know there are quite a few people to whom this does matter. I would have no problem recommending this company {and its products} to others.

If I were giving stars for these products I would give a combined 4 out of 5. I like the aesthetically pleasing look of the products {with the exception *possibly* of green lip balm that has an orange flavor}, the exclusivity of natural, safe ingredients, the benefits of each of the products I used {even though they did not fulfill all the claims put forth- no real shine for Hair Shine; somewhat less moisturizing than expected from the lip moisturizer}, the cost is practical and affordable, and the company has many different avenues for educating their customers {and perspective customers}. It loses a star for not living up to all the claims put forth for the products that I tried.

Have a look at other reviews of products from Beeyoutiful at the TOS Homeschool Crew.

***Disclaimer: I received the above reviewed items from Beeyoutiful via the TOS Homeschool Crew free in exchange of an honest review. All opinions stated are my own or those of my family. No compensation was given. See Disclosure/Policies.***

A Few of My Favorite TOS Reviews 2010/2011

I’m going to take a moment to share what some of my favorite review items were from the TOS Homeschool Crew for this past year.  You can see which of the businesses/products that I reviewed were awarded the “Blue Ribbon” by TOS Homeschool Crew reviewers here.

Some I liked simply because my kids were so connected with the product, while others I liked for the quality and purpose behind the product.

Most Favorite:
Yesterday’s Classics Ebook Collection- I found this to be the most favorite review of mine because it was something that I had wanted to buy anyway. It’s always great when you can review something in exchange for an honest review that you were going to buy anyway. The collection itself is beautiful and contains such great classics. The customer service from Yesterday’s Classics was superb, fast and friendly.

Most Fun:
Wits & Wagers- This trivia game was easy to understand and it was a lot of fun. Probably the first game I want to play when the kids ask to play a board game

Math Favorite:
ALEKS- just wonderfully put together! This online math program was the favorite of my kids as well. They loved seeing their progress as well as getting to choose what they worked on for the day.

Computer Security:
PG Key- Keep an eye on your kids without hanging over their shoulder! Although, unfortunately my ‘key’ had an issue that hasn’t been resolved (hey have to be honest!), the idea behind this program is great! I truly believe that my kids were more conscious of there computer activities because of it. It’s like locking doors to keep the honest, honest.

Most Helpful:
TOS’ Help, Lord, I’m Getting Ready to Start Homeschooling My High Schooler Ebook- I received this ebook for tryouts for the TOS Homeschool Crew and it was perfect timing! The information is very relevant for those getting ready for homeschooling the high school years. It is encouraging and offers resources that are quite helpful. I’ll be going back to this ebook for help!

Most Fully Used:
Hey Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek Level 3- This is the only item (besides games) that have been completely and totally used to the full (generally due to the amount of time given to review). My dd used this and liked it so much we bought the next Level and she insists she is going to go all the way with the entire program!

I really enjoyed reviewing all of the products.

So the year of reviewing for TOS Homeschool Crew is done but soon it will start back up and I can’t wait!