A Final Review - Dive Into Your Imagination

Our most recent review for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Review Crew is from Dive Into Your Imagination.  


The creator of this product, Annie Crawley, is an undersea photographer, dive instructor, and boat captain.  Her mission is to help children fall in love with the sea.   


Three DVD titles are available from Dive Into Your Imagination:


1.  Who Lives in The Sea?
2.  Dive Into Diversity
3.  What Makes a Fish a Fish?  

  


What Makes a Fish A Fish? (the video we reviewed) will teach your children all about amazing fish from all over the globe.  The DVD

 teaches children about astounding fish from around the world. How do fish take a bath? Learn the truth about sharks. Play hide and seek on the reef. The underwater realm provides boundless opportunities for parents to learn and laugh with their children. An upbeat original score celebrates the ocean and brings it to life.

The DVD (which runs approximately 40 minutes) is divided into 8 sections and teaches children all about different kinds of fish, fish anatomy, and also scuba diving.  Watch excerpts of the video at Dive Into Your Imagination.  

{ I thought the video was well done, although the beginning was a bit preschool-ish for my children.  Once we got past the first few minutes it was MUCH more interesting. }

Included with the purchase of a DVD is a HUGE .pdf file of educator guides that go with the DVD (I'm talking over 300 pages HUGE).   There are two sections (Pre-K/K and 1-3).  A WEALTH of information is held in these teacher guides, covering reading, science, math, social studies, and much more!  You can extend each section of the DVD with review questions and printable coloring pages, reading comprehension, and other activity sheets.


This is an entire curriculum based off of the DVD -- so much time and care has gone into these activities.  I was most impressed with the depth of activities included.  


The Basics:


What Makes a Fish A Fish? ~ $19.95
Educator Guides ~ $200/complete set OR $69.95/individual sets

* The good news is that now YOU can receive the educator guides for free with any purchase of a DVD.   As you order the DVD just mention you homeschool and the .pdf is yours!  

To read what my crew mates thought of this product, please visit the crew blog. 




*This is my last review for the Old Schoolhouse Review Crew.  I've very much enjoyed my time on the crew and am grateful for the opportunity to work with them for the past year.  Read my previous reviews to learn about other products we have tried.
   

I received this product as a member of The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Review Crew.  No other compensation was received.  The opinions expressed in this review are mine alone. 

Unburnable Money and other Amazing Science Experiments!

I love the thought of doing science experiments, but sometimes pulling everything together and actually getting to the execution stage wears me out (I'm just being honest.).   

Last week I put a DVD in for my children to watch and told them to preview it and choose some experiments they would like to do.   Lo and behold, we all wound up watching the DVD and completing several of the experiments.

Amazing Science! - Volume 1 is a 2 DVD set of  23 SIMPLE experiments using materials that your probably already have at home. 

While I helped with several of the experiments (Unburnable money was our favorite!), some could be done without me.   Take, for instance, Reversing an Image With Water.   This was simple enough for my 10 and 7 year to do unassisted.   The arrows they had drawn on a piece of paper appeared to reverse when they viewed them through a glass of water.   It's such a simple scientific principle - but very intriguing at the same time.  

The experiments are demonstrated clearly step-by-step.   Each explanation is just a few minutes long and includes not only the how-to instructions, but also the WHY behind each concept.    

My kids have wanted to watch the DVD multiple times!   Several nights this week my husband was bombarded the minute he walked in the door with the cool "science tricks" the children learned that day.    This is how I KNOW something is good.  


Here's a little freebie for you... you can try this easily.  You will just need a piece of copper pipe (I purchased ours for $1.50 at the local hardware store), a candle, and of course some money to "burn".  

Next week we will be making lemon batteries - fun!

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Amazing Science - Volume 1 :  $19.95

Get free science (and math) videos delivered to you via email. 

Watch this video about the DVD.  
This gets a five star ranking from my children and I!  




Please visit the Crew Blog to see what other reviewers thought of this product.  

I received this product as a member of The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Review Crew.  No other compensation was received.  The opinions expressed in this review are mine alone.  

I'm also linking to Science Sunday, at Adventures in Mommydom.   I love this meme because you can find so many wonderful science activities.

Christian Kids Explore Biology - TOS Review

It has been our pleasure to review Christian Kids Explore Biology, from Bright Ideas Press.    We have used The Young Scholar's Guide to Composers and enjoyed it very much, so I was excited when I was asked to review another of their products.

The Basics:

• Christian Kids Explore Biology is composed of 35 lessons, each designed to be completed in a week. (This is EASILY achieved, especially with the early lessons).

• The lessons are Biology Basics, Bird, Plants, Mammals, Humans, Water Creatures, Reptiles and Insects.  It is the perfect beginning biology study that does not speak of Evolution!  

• Each lesson has a Teaching Time and a Hands On Time.   Everything is laid out specifically for you, the teacher, before and during each lesson.  I appreciated that nothing is left to chance.  The Hands On Time is wonderful!   If you don't like coming up with your own hands on activities, this book has laid it all out for you.

•  Everything that is printable is available in .pdf format - perfect for if you want your children to create a notebook or create multiple copies in your homeschool.  

•   Depending on your homeschool, you may want to supplement with suggested readings and activities.   We never stick to the script 100%, so I found myself picking and choosing what we would do.    My first grader listened in with us, so I thought the age range could be lowered a bit as well.  

•  The curriculum is designed for 3rd-6th graders is available for $34.95.

See for yourself:  


Table of Contents
Sample Week - Bird Diets
Sample Reading List
Supply List

In short, I felt this curriculum provides a solid, well thought-out introduction to Christian Biology.   For $34.95 you receive a full year of lesson plans and supplemental activities for your elementary aged child.   It gets a huge two thumbs up from our homeschool!  

You can also see what other TOS reviewers are saying about this book, as well as other books from Bright Ideas Press here. 


 Disclaimer:I received the above named product from TOS Crew in return for my honest review. I have not been compensated in any other form.