Tag Archives: Science

Geology and Apologetics Online Course Review

If you are looking for a science class for this school year, I encourage you to check out the classes at Northwest Treasures.

Northwest Treasures offered the Homeschool Review Crew the opportunity to try out two of three online classes:

  • Taking the Mystery Out of Geology
  • Geology and Apologetics
  • Dinosaurs and the Bible

We chose to review Geology and Apologetics course and the introductory video called Taking the Mystery Out of Geology.

Taking the Mystery Out of Geology

Run time: 20 minutes

Grades: 5 – Adult

Taking the Mystery Out of Geology is a 20-minute class taught by Patrick Nurre.  This class is an introduction to the wealth of information Patrick shares with students about how to understand geology from a Biblical perspective.

In this class, students learn new vocabulary and terms that describe in detail what the science of geology is, and what it is not, and the philosophy of it.  Some of these terms include: orogeny, vitrophyere, cirque, science, history, philosophy, uniformitarianism, evolutionism, creationism, geology, fossilization, and more.

Students will also learn the “Biblical Framework” for understanding history and geology together, such as how the Flood and the Ice Age fit together in the geological puzzle.  Students will start with the bible as the foundation.

Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”.

This is a short 20 minute study, but it is packed with valuable information.  It is a great place to grow your faith in the truth of the scriptures and to start your learning journey with geology.

Geology and Apologetics

Run Time: 1 hour 36 minutes

Grades: 8 – Adult

Geology and Apologetics online course is a series of 6 videos ranging in length from 10 to 20+/- minutes each for a total run time of 1 hour and 36 minutes and is designed for students in eighth grade and higher.

The lessons in this course will help your students become more confident in defending their faith and the truths found in the scriptures. Each lesson includes discussion questions.

Lessons include:

  1. Lesson One: Knowing the Scriptures in the Secular Geological Age
  2. Lesson Two: Clarifying the Conflict Between Science and the Bible
  3. Lesson Three:The Genealogies and Chronologies of Genesis. Are They Accurate and Reliable?
  4. Lesson Four: Evolutionary Gaps in the Fossil Record, How Serious Are They?
  5. Lesson Five: Dinosaur-to-Bird Evolution, the Story That Never Seems to Die
  6. Lesson Six: Time and Chronology in the Secular Geological Age

The Geology and Apologetics course is taught by Patrick Nurre of Northwest Treasures.  He designed this course to dissect several of the science verses faith conflicts, and to study them from both a Biblical and geological point of view.

Geology as explained by secular science has attacked the Christian faith for far too long, and this battle has left many Christians feeling confused and defeated.   Modern science continues to undermine the biblical worldview of understanding geology and the Christian faith.

One way that modern science undermines our faith, is by assulting the truth that our Father God is the Creator of all things, and created all things just a few thousand years ago.  Modern science disregards the literal reading of Genesis, and disregards the authority and reliability of the Biblical Scriptures.  Instead, it treats the majority of the bible as just myths, including the global flood as described in the book of Genesis.

Our experience:

We were sent a 3 month subscription to Taking the Mystery Out of Geology online course, and a six month subscription to the Geology and Apologetics online course for the purpose of this review.

I watched these videos with my older three sons.  We learned a lot of great information we can apply to understanding the physical world around us from a biblical perspective.

In addition to learning with the videos, our family has had opportunities to apply this biblical outlook when we take family field trips to explore the world that Father God has created.

Our family loves to travel, to take nature walks, hunt for rocks and gems, study the landscape, geography, rivers, mountains, valleys, forests, desert, ocean beaches, natural lakes, fossils, and rock formations all around us.

We have been to some pretty cool places Father God created.  We are blessed to live about half way between the mountains and the ocean.  This has been such a blessing to us because we love exploring!

We started this habit of exploring our surroundings while we dated, and it became something we really enjoyed regularly, and now we have developed and encouraged this passion in our kids too.

We have seen a wide range of landscapes everywhere we have lived, and in every direction we travel.

Spending time together as a family exploring landscapes, rock formations, fossils, nature, and observing what there is to see with our own eyes and ears has helped draw us close together and helped us see the truth of Father God our Creator.

Final Thoughts

Patrick Nurre from Northwest Treasures has spent a lifetime learning and teaching and he has packed his knowledge and passion for truth into these courses.  I like these science courses because Patrick Nurre gives Father God the glory in everything, and He points people back to Him.

It is rare to find a scientist who truly follows God and gives him glory as our Creator.  Mainstream science and the public education system denies the existence of God and his authority in creation.  Those who deny Him will face judgement someday.  There are several verses in the bible that talk about having “No “Excuse” for denying Him.  Here is one of those verses:

Romans 1:18-25 
“What is revealed is God’s anger from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people who in their wickedness keep suppressing the truth; because what is known about God is plain to them, since God has made it plain to them. For ever since the creation of the universe his invisible qualities — both his eternal power and his divine nature — have been clearly seen, because they can be understood from what he has made. Therefore, they have no excuse; because, although they know who God is, they do not glorify him as God or thank him. On the contrary, they have become futile in their thinking; and their undiscerning hearts have become darkened. Claiming to be wise, they have become fools! In fact, they have exchanged the glory of the immortal God for mere images, like a mortal human being, or like birds, animals or reptiles! This is why God has given them up to the vileness of their hearts’ lusts, to the shameful misuse of each other’s bodies.  They have exchanged the truth of God for falsehood, by worshipping and serving created things, rather than the Creator — praised be he for ever. Amen.”

If you are interested in a bible based science course or simply interested in the Geology of where you live, I would encourage you to take these classes.  Patrick Nurre is easy to understand and these courses are a good introduction to help you understand geological concepts.  I would also encourage you to get outside and start exploring and observing, and put together an exploration kit or backpack like the one Patrick Nurre shares here:

More Courses

There are lots of course options available from Northwest Treasures your family might be interested in learning more about. The Dinosaurs and the Bible course looks very interesting and I think this will be the next course my kids would enjoy doing.

My kids have had a big interest in dinosaurs over the years, and we have made special trips to Dinosaur Land, Big Bone Lick State Park and Museum, Grays Fossil Site Excavation and Museum, Dinosaur Exhibitions at both Indianapolis and Greenville Children’s Museums, and also to the bible based Dinosaur Exhibits at the Creation Museum in Kentucky.

Though we have been to many dinosaur exhibits several times (yes kids like to go back and see them again and again), and I have tons of pictures, I only made a video of one of our visits a few years ago.  I need to make a new video, but making videos isn’t one of my strong points.  But I wanted to share it here to peak your interest in learning about dinosaurs from a biblical perspective.  If you are interested in seeing it, you can check out our “Back in Time” dinosaur exhibit video below.

In addition to the online classes, Northwest Treasures also offers physical courses, conferences, and camps that might meet your needs too.  Be sure to check out the high school level Northwest Treasures Curriculum Project, and for younger students the Geology for “Little Eyes” series.

Both online and physical course options from Northwest Treasures are great biblical science resources for homeschool families, bible classes, coops and more.

Social Media

Be sure to check out Northwest Treasures on their social media links for all the latest news and product updates.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GeologybyNorthwestTreasures/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/northwesttreasu/boards/

Youtube Northwest Treasures:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGcBMDI3HRLOJrTSdUCibmg/featured

Youtube Patrick Nurre:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnfoFEruAYQcREQIPBDYMbg/videos?pbjreload=10

Homeschool Review Crew

Be sure to check out what others on the Homeschool Review Crew had to say about using this product in their home.

Please share.

Creation Illustrated Unit Studies Review

Have you heard about Creation Illustrated?  They are a magazine and curriculum publisher.  The photography in their publications is amazing and some of the best I have ever seen. Creation Illustrated has been called “the Christian answer to National Geographic” because of the amazing photography in their magazines, their focus on Father God our Creator, and the faith filled stories they publish.  I am sure you will be encouraged and inspired when you read Creation Illustrated.

Creation Illustrated is expanding and creating a new line of digital products and we have been asked to review two of their digital Creation Unit Studies.  Creation Unit Studies are fun hands on learning opportunities that expand on stories that have been published in the Creation Illustrated magazines.

Creation Unit Studies cover a variety of subjects, are filled with fascinating information that points the student a better understanding of Father God our Creator, and they are affordable.  They are easy to do and will help spice up the learning in your homeschool.  They are currently on sale for $6.95.  They have eight unit studies listed for sale at this time, and have plans for several more. The current list includes:

  • Badgers – The World of Badgers
  • Black Bears – Bear Essentials
  • Dragonflies – Dragons of Paradise
  • Fragrance
  • Joshua Tree National Park
  • Mellow Manatees
  • Pine Trees
  • Snow – Intricacies of Snow

We were sent Intricacies of Snow Unit Study and Pine Trees Unit Study from the Creation Unit Studies collection, and they are filled with fascinating information we want to share with you.

Creation Illustrated: Intricacies of Snow Unit Study

Intricacies of Snow

Creation Unit Study

Digital Curriculum

Downloadable PDF

17 Full Color Illustrated Pages

Teacher’s Answer Key

Grades 5-8

Primarily for grades 5-8, but younger grades can use with assistance or modified.

Lessons and Contents:

  • Reading Resources (page 3)
  • Educational Videos (page 3)
  • Writing & Penmanship (page 4)
  • Vocabulary & Spelling (page 4-5)
  • Bible Study (page 6-7)
  • Science (page 8-9)
  • Math (page 10)
  • Geography (page 11)
  • Art (page 12)
  • Puzzle (page 13)
  • Teacher Answer Keys (page 14-17)
  • and Other Fun Facts.

Example of Student Worksheet:

Example of Teacher’s Answer Key:

Creation Illustrated Magazine Winter ’18 Edition:

Winter ’18 Digital Edition of Creation Illustrated contains articles and beautiful photographs that correspond with the Intricacy of Snow Unit Study.

In addition to reading through the unit study and magazine articles, the unit study also contains a lot of suggested reading and research links and suggested videos to watch. When students finish this unit study about snow, they will have a better understanding and appreciation of snow and a better understanding of Father God and his creation.

Creation Illustrated: Pine Trees Unit Study

Pine Trees

Creation Unit Study

Digital Curriculum

Downloadable PDF

16 Full Color Illustrated Pages

Teacher’s Answer Key

Grades 5-8

Primarily for grades 5-8, but younger grades can use with assistance or modified.

Lessons and Contents:

  • Reading Resources (page 3)
  • Educational Videos (page 3)
  • Vocabulary & Spelling (page 4-5)
  • Bible Study (page 6)
  • Geography (page 7)
  • Science (page 8-9)
  • Math (page 10)
  • Writing & Penmanship (page 11)
  • Art (page 12)
  • Puzzle (page 13)
  • Teacher Answer Keys (page 14-16)
  • and Other Fun Facts

Example of Student Worksheet:

Creation Illustrated Magazine Fall ’17 Edition:

Creation Illustrated Fall ’17 Digital Edition contains articles and beautiful photographs that correspond with the Pine Trees Unit Study.

In addition to reading through the magazine articles, and unit study worksheets, there are also suggested reading and research links, and suggested videos to watch.  There is also an identification worksheet in the study that is great to use for taking a field trip, or a hike into nature to see the trees up close and identify them.  When students complete the Pine Tree Unit Study, they will have a better appreciation for these trees and how they have impacted our lives, and a better understanding about Father God and his creation.

Our Experience

We were sent the digital Intricacies of Snow and Pine Trees unit studies and the corresponding digital magazine editions, Winter ’18 and Fall ’17, of Creation Illustrated.

We have completed the Pine Trees Unit Study, and have started the Intricacies of Snow Unit Study.   We focused on the Pine Trees Unit Study for the purpose of this review.

We have experienced the end of winter and beginning of spring while doing this unit study.  You can see the snow on the pine trees in the two pictures posted above. Though the winter was cold where we live, we got very little snow, and it was usually gone within a day of falling.  In hindsight, I wish I would have focused on the snow study before the pine study as it would have been nice to have had snow actually on the ground that we could experience while studying it.  I will post how our snow study went soon.

Here are some pictures of our nature walk we took to identify pine trees in the forest.  We saw a variety of trees and lots of wildlife too.

We found pine buds full of pollen as well as fully intact pine cones on the same trees.

We harvested some of the young pine buds and pine needles for making recipes and several pine cones for crafts.

My kids enjoyed participating in this study, and the older kids did all of the worksheets, and the younger kids did a few of the worksheets.

We found an insect hiding in this pine tree.  We also found  bird nests, and lots of spiders (not pictured) that like living in pine trees.  We saw several squirrels check for food in the pine trees and jump from tree to tree playing tag with each other and shaking their tails.

We investigated pine cones, pine buds, pine needles, and tree bark up close.

We also found some wild grape vines that had climbed some of the tall pine trees in the forest and were starting to bloom with bright yellow flowers. The winding vines and yellow blooms were beautiful and smelled amazing, and were such a contrast to the tall pine.

Here are some examples of my kids worksheets and activities from this unit study:

Further The Learning:

Though we have finished the Pine Trees Unit Study, I plan to stretch this learning out further over the next several weeks this spring and into the summer.  I plan to add in a couple of building projects for the older three boys using pine lumber from the local lumberyard.

They have been learning woodworking skills using pine over the past year or so and they are getting better and better with their creations.  They helped make a workbench table from pine lumber during this unit study. You can see the frame of the table in this picture.  They have completed it since I took the picture and use it for a workbench for making handcrafts.  They are enjoying it very much.  They have been making lots of woodworking and leather projects on it.

They also helped make loft beds from pine lumber for their rooms last summer.  They love their beds and they had a lot of fun learning to work with wood.

They are also learning bushcrafting skills.  They are familiar with looking for dead pine trees in the forest, and they cut and chop these dead trees into smaller pieces for firewood.  We plan to learn to make “fat wood” with pine for fire starting and make several primitive traps too.  We have several templates and kits ready to make.

All of my kids enjoy whittling.  They usually just work on a stick and whittle away at the bark and usually focus on getting one end to a point.  The younger kids sit with daddy outside, and enjoy passing the time whittling.   The bigger boys have developed their skills and whittle when ever they want and don’t require being supervised like the younger kids.  The younger kids are only allowed to have their pocket knife while being supervised for safety.

One of my older sons has really taken a liking to whittling.  He enjoys sitting outside by himself, whittleing, with the quiet sounds of nature.  Sometimes he sits on the back porch and sometimes he sits on a bench he made in the forest.  He cut several pine branches to size, about 24 inches, and using cordage to attach the cut pieces to a tree that has two trunks with a gap between them, he created a bench seat with a ladder back that goes up the tree.  He can climb up to have a look around if he wants too.  He loves to sit in nature and whittle.  He has progressed into carving with pine, cedar, and birch trees.  He requested some chisels and has made some lovely wooden spoons.  He has made about six different spoons of different sizes and different purposes, and he has made walking sticks, and made a lovely walking cane with a handle.  He has whittled, chiseled, shaped, and sanded several projects by hand with the wood he collected from the forest.

All of the kids really enjoy working with their hands, learning life skills, practicing those skills, and learning to make different projects they find interesting.

To further the learning even more, I am planning to do several additional art, cooking, and science projects with all of the kids, lap booking pages about pine trees, and a “Pp” letter of the week project for my youngest son to reinforce what he has learned about pine trees and pine cones too.

I also plan to use the knowledge we gained in this unit study about pine trees and apply it to an American History unit study we are also working on about a fronteir man named Davy Crocket.  Learning about pine trees and their special place in history, and use as a food and medicine and building materials, as well as the impact on economics of the pine tree lumber industry on the people, will go well with the American History study we are doing.

Final Thoughts:

My kids have enjoyed this unit study.  I appreciate the biblical worldview of the curriculum and the beautiful photography and stories in the magazine.

I definitely recommend Creation Illustrated magazines and Creation Unit Studies for homeschool families. It is easy to download the digital PDF files and put them in a binder, read the magazine articles online and click through the related links and watch a few videos, grab your bible, and complete the worksheets. Older students can do these studies independently and younger students can do the studies with help from parents and older siblings.

We have had subscriptions to Creation Illustrated in the past, and had it for several years.  It was a regular part of our homeschool learning.  We have also reviewed their magazine for our readers several years ago, way back in 2012.   I regret that I let our subscription expire when we moved a couple of years ago.  I have been so inspired again by the magazine while doing this review that I plan to purchase a new subscription, and purchase more of these unit studies, and I would like to order several back copies of the magazine too.  These make wonderful reading for my family, and inspire us in our faith.  These make lovely gifts for extended family and friends and church libraries too.  These would be wonderful to benefit communities and leave as reading material in offices around town too.

I would recommend Creation Unit Studies and the Creation Illustrated magazines to everyone!

Latest Eddition:

The latest edition Creation Illustrated Spring ’18 has just been published.

Current Spring 2018 Edition

NEW Ad-Free Keepsake Edition

Features include:

  • ​Creation Up Close: Nature’s First Responders –by Evelyn Sayler
  • Creatures Near and Dear to Us: Butterfly Birth –by Rosanne Pallini-Veriezza
  • Re-Creation Outdoor Adventure: Trekking Through Myanmar –by Janae Bowman
  • Creation Day 4 of the Creation Story: Sun, Moon, and Stars –by Nikolas Grosfield
  • Creation Highlights and Creation Stewardship news briefs
  • My Walk with God: Redeeming the Desert –by Shirley Conley
  • Gardens from Eden: A Season of New Beginnings –by Joanne Taylor
  • Genesis Cuisine: Korean Treats Recipes –Korean 3-Radish Noodle Salad, Korean Mung Bean Vegie Pancakes, Korean Sweet Rice Cakes.
  • Children’s Story: Bumblebee Rescue –by Tatiana Claudy
  • Creation Character Building Lesson: Service and Ministry –by Terry & Jean McComb
  • New Coloring & Photo Contests for all ages
  • Photo and Coloring Contest winners
  • Study Guide, Spring Family Fun Activities
  • Poetry: All Creation Sings –by Bret Suarez
  • And more!

Video:

I found this 2015 video interview of Tom and Jennifer Ish. They are homeschool parents who began publishing Creation Illustrated in 1993.  That is over 25 years!  What an accomplishment for the kingdom of God!  Only God knows how many people, perhaps millions, have been inspired to draw near to him because of this ministry.  This interview is filled with fantastic information about the mission of Creation Illustrated and it’s worldwide outreach.

Try before you buy:

If you would like to try it out before you buy, Creation Illustrated offers a FREE digital edition of their magazine, and a FREE unit study on Fragrance which includes the corresponding digital magazine too.  Be sure to check those out.

Social Media

Keep in touch and up to date on all the latest news and products through the Creation Illustrated social media links.

Facebook
Twitter

Homeschool Review Crew

Be sure to check out what other members of the Homeschool Review Crew had to say about using products from Creation Illustrated.

Please share.

Apologia: Marine Biology Review

We love visiting the ocean.  We have been blessed a few times to experience this amazing place that Father God has created.  There is nothing quite like standing on the edge of land and the edge of the vast ocean.  You can’t walk any further and the water lifts you up and down, and with the pounding waves, you can only swim for so long.  It doesn’t take long to realize your body was meant for land. It is like standing between two worlds. There is a very distinct boundary where these two worlds meet and life in one is completely different than life on the other. Yet the two are intimately intertwined by a great Intelligent Designer, our Creator, Father God.  WOW!

We were very excited to learn about a Marine Biology science course that we can use this school year that focuses on life in the oceans so we can understand this amazing water world. We are currently reviewing Exploring Creation With Marine Biology 2nd Edition Advantage Set and the Marine Biology 2nd Edition Audio CD by Apologia Educational Ministries.  This course is the perfect addition to our homeschool learning journey.

EXPLORING CREATION WITH MARINE BIOLOGY — ADVANTAGE SET

Textbook 2nd Edition

Hard Back Book

557 pages

Illustrated

16 Modules

Lessons, Questions, Answers,

Lab Experiments

Student Notebook

Spiral Bound Book

505 pages

Illustrated

Notes, Questions, Study Guide, Module Summary,

Lab Experiments.

Test Book

Soft Back Book

50 pages

Module Tests and Quarterly Tests

Solutions and Tests Manual

Soft Back Book

211 pages

Answers for Text Modules & Tests:

Study Guides, Summaries,

Module Tests, Quarterly Tests, and all Solutions.

Highschool Science

College Prep

Prerequisite: Biology

This is an award winning college prep science course for highschool students who have taken biology.  The Advantage Set includes a Textbook 2nd Edition, Solutions and Tests Manual, Tests Book, and a Student Notebook.

Additional supportive materials for this Marine Biology course are also available at the Apologia website, including an MP3 Audio CD of the text, an Instructional DVD that contains the entire course and demonstrations of the lab experiments, as well as Super Science Kit and Science Supplies like the Dissection Kit. If you prefer to buy just the Textbook or other items as a single item instead of as a “set”, they are also available for individual purchase too.

The Exploring Creation With Marine Biology Advantage Set is intended to be used for 34 weeks (that is 2 semesters, an entire school year of science!). It contains 16 Modules for approximately 230 +/- lessons, study guides, questions, vocabulary, and module summaries that dig deep into the ecology of the oceans on earth.  The Lesson Plan schedule is designed for 45 minutes per day for 5 days a week.  At this pace, students complete 1 Module, including the related lab experiments and tests, every two weeks.

  • Module 1: The Oceans Of Our Planet
  • Module 2: Life In The Sea
  • Module 3: The First Four Kingdoms
  • Module 4: Marine Invertabrates 1
  • Module 5: Marine Invertabrates 2
  • Module 6: Marine Vertabrates 1
  • Module 7: Marine Vertabrates 2
  • Module 8: Marine Ecology
  • Module 9: The Intertidal Zone
  • Module 10: Estuary Communities
  • Module 11: Coral Reefs
  • Module 12: Continental Shelf Communities
  • Module 13: The Epipelagic Zone
  • Module 14: The Deep Ocean
  • Module 15: Ocean Resources
  • Module 16: Effects Of Humans On The Sea

This course has a biblical world view of marine science.  Through out this course, students learn about the oceans and the relationship between ocean habitat and the animals and plants that live there and it points to Father God as the Creator of all life.  This course is filled with fascinating information about the oceans, creatures that live in the water including some bizarre creatures.  All of the creatures in this course have amazing abilities created by our amazing Father God to bring him glory.

Even though learning about Marine Biology and Ecology can be a challenging subject to learn, this course through Apologia is written in conversational style and contains many helpful resources to help students understand and master the materials.  There is an additional online learning aid called “Book Extras” available to help students master the course.  Information about the Book Extras Website and the access code is available in the textbook.

Sherri Seligson

Author Sherri Seligson, scientist and homeschool mom, has created a user-friendly course homeschoolers will love. She is the author of several science courses.  She is experienced and excited to share her knowledge about life in God’s oceans and helps students get excited about learning.   Check out this video with Sherri Seligson and her Marine Biology Course.

Our Experience

We received the Marine Biology 2nd Edition Advantage Set that includes the Textbook, a Student Notebook, the Tests Book, and Solutions and Tests Manual written by Sherri Sheligson.  We also received the Marine Biology 2nd Edition Audio CD of the text read by Marissa Leinart for the purpose of this review.

This course is very well designed and is intended to last for an entire school year.  It contains tons of information in the 16 modules with nearly 230 +/- lessons, reviews, workbook assignments, labs, and tests, etc.  I was very pleased to learn this course will count for a full highschool science credit, and it also counts as an advanced college prep course at the same time.

Audio CD:

The textbook has been put on audio!  This is great news for audio learners! The text is recorded on an MP3 Audio CD for optional support for student.

We found this Audio CD to be a very helpful resource and helps keep the course moving at a good pace.

My son used the CD on our computer and listened to the text being read out loud while wearing his earbuds and reading along in his textbook. When we placed the CD into the computer, it showed up on the screen as a small phone-like looking graphic, and when we clicked on it, it had each module and lesson from the text listed as well as a time counter so you don’t loose your place.

The Audio CD can be “synced” with any compatible MP3 device, however we just used it on the computer.  He could stop it at anytime he needed and repeat something if he needed to hear it again. We really liked using the CD because my son was able to avoid getting bogged down with complicated words by reading right along with the text as it is being read out loud.

Textbook:

I like the textbook.  It is a huge heavy duty extra large hardback book. It has bright pictures and easy to read pages and uses various colors of ink to emphasize different things for the student to pay attention to.

The pages have a variety of information, vocabulary, pictures, graphs, things to think about further, scriptures, etc.  The pages are laid out in a way that is not overwhelming to the student.

Lab Experiments:

Each module contains several lab experiments.  There is a list of supplies needed with each experiment and a master list of all the supplies needed for the course in the appendix at the back of the Textbook.  You can buy supplies wherever it is convenient for you (online, local stores, etc), and some items you will likely already have around your house.

There are three categories of lab experiments in this science course:

Household Lab Experiments require items found around most homes.

Microscope Lab Experiments require prepared slides and a microscope. Check the website for resources.

Dissection Lab Experiments require marine animals, plants, etc. and related tools for dissection. Check the website for resources.

Lab Experiment Example:

One of the experiments my son did was learning about salinity and evaporation of ocean waters.

We had some sea salt crystals in the cupboard.

He ground the salt crystals into a fine powder.

Then he made salty sea water by mixing the ground sea salt into hot water that he heated on the stove and stirred it until it dissolved completely.

After the sea salt had completely dissolved in the hot water, he poured the salt water in to a glass bowl and let the water evaporate completely over the course of a few days.

He was left with dried out sea salt that coated the sides and base of the bowl and all of the water was gone.

There are so many great lab experiments in this course kids will have a blast learning about life in the ocean.  This course and the lab experiments are very interesting and so far my son is enjoying all of them.

Student Notebook:

I love the student notebook in this course! My son loves it too.  I plan to order two more notebooks for my other two older sons so they can all use this course together for highschool science credits.  They will be able to share the same Textbook, Solutions Mannual, and CD, they just each need their own Student Notebook and Test Book.

The student notebook provides an organized, complete lesson plan for the entire year.  Each day is listed with what my son needs to read and what activities to complete.  He can check off his progress as he works his way through the course.

The student notebook has plenty of space for notes at the front of each corresponding module so he can add as notes or ideas as he reads the textbook.

The student notebook also contains a full section at the back called a Lab Notebook for all of the lab experiments listed in the Textbook.

The Lab Experiments are the same information in the Textbook modules including materials lists, instructions, pictures, charts, etc. but it also includes questions and spaces to record their scientific observations and conclusions too.

At the very back of the Student Notebook, there is a section called Presenting Research.  Included are instructions and examples for making a professional presentation of your scientific research, including making posters, graphs, citing references and the supporting research, and a checklist.  This is very handy if your student plans to present their experiments at a science fair, county fair, coop, or other presentation.

Tests and Solutions Manual:

The softcover Solutions and Tests Manual and Student Tests Book contains tests, test solutions, and answers to the module study guides.

Videos:

Video about Apologia Advantage Science Set and Super Science Set

Video Experiment 13 Salinity, Temperature and Density

Module 6 Rays and Skates

FREE SAMPLES

Check out this page for free course samples.  To access the samples, after going to the page link below, click on “download” next to the “more info” and it will give several options for free downloads of text lessons and experiments, MP3, student notebook, and more:

FREE MARINE BIOLOGY SAMPLES

Faq: 3 pages

Table of Contents: 8 pages

Module 1 Text Sample : 40 pages

Student Notebook: 9 pages

MP3 Audio Sample

Final Thoughts

Overall, we are very pleased with this science course from Apologia.  They have done a great job creating this course and all the support materials to help students master Marine Biology.

We love visiting the ocean.  Now with the knowledge of Marine Biology, we will be able to understand more about the wonderful and amazing life and systems in the oceans.

We are so grateful for the wonderful products Apologia offers for homeschool families.  Their products have truly enriched our lives, encouraged our faith, and we love that through out the learning adventure, they point people back to Father God.  Both my son and I highly recommend the Marine Biology course!  Be blessed!

Social Media

Be sure to check out Apologia Educational Ministries on their social media links for all the latest news and product updates.  They have a lot to offer!

Facebook: www.facebook.com/apologiaworld

Instagram: www.instagram.com/apologiaworld

Twitter: www.twitter.com/apologiaworld

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/apologia/

You Tube:  https://www.youtube.com/user/apologiaworld/videos

Homeschool Review Crew

Be sure to check out what others on the Homeschool Review Crew had to say about using Marine Biology with their families.

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Noah and the Lego Ark

Got building blocks, Legos, or craft supplies?

Then get your kids busy reading, building, and re-telling bible stories!  Check out The Beginner’s Bible, or another youth bible you have on hand, for an easy to use resource for kids.  This is a great way to build family time together and a great way to incorporate daily devotions into your kids learning.  Your kids will have so much fun interacting with the bible stories and building props and seeing the stories come to life!

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Noah’s Ark is a great story to retell with Lego’s because just like your child building with blocks of different sizes, Noah was also a builder and he built a big boat with different sizes of wooden boards.  In addition to building the largest boat ever created, called an Ark, Noah was also a husband, a father, and the “ultimate prepper” and “homesteader” and he had to store feed and safely house and care for a huge amount of animals as well as his whole family for an entire year on the floating zoo-boat /house-boat called the ark.  The story of Noah and the ark can be found in Genesis 6, 7, and 8.    As they read the bible, kids will learn about the man called Noah, his faith in God, and also about righteousness, judgement of sin, and God’s plan to save a pure remnant of the human race that were willing to put their faith in him.

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God told Noah it was going to rain, and it would become a flood that would wipe out every living thing on the earth.  Noah was instructed to build a big ark (boat) and he was given the blueprints with detailed instructions to create it.  He built different size pens inside the ark and he was given instructions to save two pairs of every wild animal, three pairs of every “clean” animal,  seven pairs of animals that were to be sacrificed, and to also save his family including his wife, three sons, and their wives, by loading them all onto the ark before the start of the worldwide flood.

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God told Noah that people had become evil and violent and he must cleanse the earth and wipe them out with the flood.  He could no longer stand to live with mankind and watch their evil deeds.   God caused the earth and sky to give forth water for 40 days and nights to flood the earth.  But God promised to protect Noah’s family and anyone righteous who had faith to believe in God.  God gave Noah the plan.  He gave him the specific dimensions, told him what wood to use, and how to build it and save his family and the animals.  His sons helped him build the ark, but the rest of the world mocked him as he worked and preached and did not help him.

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Noah preached and preached to the people about God and the coming flood, but no one believed him and they did not turn from their wickedness and did not worship God. They had never seen rain or a flood before.   They did not care about doing right.  They did not turn away and repent of their wicked sins.  They did not want to trust that Noah had heard the truth from God.  They thought Noah was out of his mind to believe a God they could not see, and believe in a flood and rain that had never happened before, and work so hard to obey God and build a big boat.

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If you don’t have Lego’s on hand, make your boat with paper, or other recycled materials you have on hand, or use other toys your kids might have in their collections.  Besides building a boat, they might have mini characters, and animals, trees, etc. they can also use.  Perhaps they can also create items to represent the weather changes, the flood, and make a rainbow too.   You can use as many props as you want to add to the effect of retelling the story.

Another wonderful way to use this learning opportunity is Language Arts (have the kids read, re-write the story), Science (weather, engineering, physics), Arts and Crafts (create Noah’s Ark themed art and craft projects), Math (how many legos?,  build to scale, use grid paper and draw their own blueprints to scale, etc), Geography (draw or color a map of where Noah was from and where the ark landed), Movie Making (use props and make stop motion animation), Unit Study and LapBook, and have the kids Share their project with Grandparents, Neighbors, and Sunday School class too.  There are lots of ways this method of learning can be used and incorporated into your curriculum.

Your kids will really enjoy this activity.  In addition to building up their faith as they read the bible, kids can relate in a hands on way as they put the story in action and retell the story with their own mini-size boat.

Here are a few Noah and the Ark themed videos we found:

Noah and the Ark Bible Story Animated by Beginner’s Bible

Noah’s Ark Lego Movie Trailer

Arts and Crafts

Noah Preschool Paper Plate Craft and Story

 

Online Bible

If you don’t have a printed copy of the bible, check out Bible Gateway for a digital online version.  You can read it from your computer and your phone and digital reading devices.

You can choose from several languages and several versions to use.   They also offer free bible studies and a free verse of the day they will email you if you desire.

Lapbook and Unit Study

will update more soon.

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Creation Museum, A Visit Back In Time

My family had a great time when we took a trip back in time and visited the Creation Museum in Kentucky.

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The Creation Museum experience is like walking through biblical history. It is a great experience for both kids and adults.  It covers the 6 days of creation, plus many more historical people’s lives from the bible like Noah, Paul, Jesus, etc. and the history comes to life in a hands on way at the museum.  There are life size exhibits and a planetarium too.  Visiting the museum was one of the best decisions we have made for teaching our family about who God is and his amazing creation called earth and the animals and people.  Seeing the bible come to life right before your eyes is an amazing experience and it strengthened our faith.

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To plan our trip, we watched for a discounted ticket opportunity and went when they ran a special for children ages 12 and under to get in free with the paid admission ticket of an adult.  It was a great savings.   So we loaded up the family and took a road trip to Kentucky.  The museum is about an hour and a half drive South from where we used to live in Richmond, IN (and only 7 hours north of where we used to live in NC).  The drive through Indiana’s mini-mountains in South-eastern Indiana is absolutely beautiful! It was even more beautiful as we sang praise songs and listened to Nest Family Audio Bible stories all the way there and was a great way to travel as it keeps the kids attention and they learn so much.

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Besides the beautiful scenery, there are some fun places to stop and visit along the way including two reservoir lakes and several historical towns.  There is the Whitewater Reservoir, and also a much larger reservoir called Brookville Lake. The towns of Brookville and Liberty Indiana remind me so much of the historical town of Hendersonville, NC and are set up beautifully for tourists.  There are lots of little shops to see and great history to explore in these small towns with beautiful historic courthouses too.  We also crossed the huge Ohio river, that borders three states and with breath taking views.  The river is huge and divides southern Indiana from southern Ohio and northern Kentucky.  You can clearly see God’s handiwork in creation when you look at the changing landscape and the river. It is all designed beautifully.

The kids were so excited to get there.  You know how it goes: “Are we there yet?  When will be there?  I got to go to the bathroom!  I wish we were there!  Do you know how to get there?  How much longer?  Are we there yet?”  Ha! Ha!  You just got to love traveling with kids!

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At the museum, there is a large 70,000 square foot building with a huge bronze dinosaur outside, surrounded by beautiful gardens and landscape, ponds, wooden bridges,  wrought iron and stone fences, and a tall fort with a zip line that crosses the entire museum grounds.  It is a very family friendly place.  The zip line costs extra and we did not buy a ticket for it on this day.  But someday we hope to be able to take the zip-line and explore the museum gardens from the tree tops as it looks like a lot of fun.

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The first thing we did was snap a picture with the dinosaur outside.  It had just rained and suddenly the sun was shinning really bright and we couldn’t hardly see at all.  It is funny how sometimes light can get so bright that your eyes cannot focus your eyes.  But once we got inside the museum, the lighting was perfect and there was so much to see.

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Archaeology is just one of their specialties at the museum, and they have lots of artifacts from biblical times. They have lots of fossils and a life size example of just about every kind of dinosaur.

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They have a replica of earth from the beginning, separating layers of the heavens, creating the stars, day and night, the Garden of Eden, the creation of Adam, and animals, and Eve.

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There is so much detail put into this museum that I bet you could go a hundred times and see something new each time that you didn’t notice before.  Actually they expect that you will need more time to see it all, and when you buy a ticket it is good for admission for two days in a row. Many visitors stay overnight nearby and come back the following day to explore some more.

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The museum is a combination of exhibits about science, history, astronomy, engineering, chemistry, Hebrew culture, our Christian roots, and so much more all rolled into one experience.

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Each room of exploration leads you into the next phase of creation and history designed by an amazing God who loves us and his handiwork is so obvious. Nothing is by chance! Everything was authored by our creator.

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This is such a fun way to walk through history!

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If you remember the story of creation, there is a tree that Adam was instructed to never eat from called the Tree Of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

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There is a deceptive serpent hiding in the garden who convinces Eve to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

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Eve tells Adam and he also believes the serpent’s lies and eats of the fruit, even though God had specifically told them not to eat of the fruit of this tree.

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Evil becomes the ruler of the earth through Adam and Eve’s sin against God.

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They disobeyed God, and once they realized what they had done, they tried to hide their sin from God.  But God called them out on what they had done, and he forced them to leave the Garden of Eden.  From that point forward mankind must make a blood sacrifice to ask God for forgiveness of sin in their life.

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From this point forward, life becomes a struggle to survive. Later in the museum we return to the issue of man’s separation from God, and that he sent his son Jesus to reconcile us back to God through his own sacrifice. From that point forward, man no longer needs to offer a blood sacrifice for his sin because God sent his son Jesus who paid the price for us all who will believe in him and ask for forgiveness.

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As the world becomes populated, people and fallen angels do evil and wicked things.  God tells one righteous man, a prophet named Noah, his plan to flood the earth and wipe out wickedness.  He instructs Noah to build a large boat called an ark and preach to the thousands of people who will listen to board this boat to survive.  But everyone mocks Noah and won’t listen to him.  God instructs Noah to bring his family (including his wife, three sons and their three wives) and also 2 of every unclean animal, and 7 of every clean animal,  plus supplies, and to board the boat.

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Noah obeyed God and does all that he was instructed to do.

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After the ark is completed, Noah and his family board the boat with the animals and God shuts the door.  It rains for 40 days and 40 nights and floods the whole earth.  It takes almost a year for the water to recede.  Eventually the boat comes to rest on Mount Ararat.   Later one of the birds Noah sends out brings back a branch with a leaf and Noah knows that is safe to release the animals and his family from the ark.

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The museum has a lifesize interactive display of Noah and the ark.  You can hear the men talking and see them working as they build the ark.   The museum also owns a bible based theme park about an hour down the road from the museum.  They are building several life size recreations from the bible for the theme park.  One of those is called The Ark Encounter and it includes a life size ark, another museum and restaurant inside the ark, and a zoo.  We went to see it while it was under construction, and we plan to make trip soon now that it is open to the public.

Check out this short video we made of the awesome dinosaurs we saw!  The kids really enjoyed this entire trip and the highlight for them was seeing the dinosaurs.

And if you get hungry during your visit, the museum offers a jungle cafe to eat in and there are many picnic spots outside around the gardens and ponds.

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I encourage every family I meet to put this wonderful adventure on their to do list.  It is definitely worth the trip!

Be blessed!

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Super Teacher Worksheets

How would you like to have just about any worksheet you need (or imagine) at any time through out the school year, right at your fingertips?

Super Teacher Worksheets

Have no fear!  Super Teacher Worksheets are here!

I just love this special Super Hero who has come to save the day!  We were sent a 1 year Individual Membership for our family to use.  This wonderful site has so many awesome resources to enhance the learning going on with your kids and make it even more fun.

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Super Teacher Worksheets

Membership $19.95 year

Grades K-5, but there are many worksheets for middle and high school too, and more will be developed for the upper grades.

Unlimited 24/7 Access to over 10,000 pdf worksheets, activities, flash cards, games, and more.

New worksheets are added each week.

“Members have unlimited access to thousands of worksheets and printable materials on Super Teacher Worksheets. We offer math worksheets, reading comprehension stories, spelling lists, handwriting practice sheets, grammar worksheets, holiday printables, and much more!” source

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Just A Few Of The Subjects Covered:

There are wonderful high quality printables for more subjects than I can tell you about.  It is really mind boggling just the number of worksheets and resources on this site.  But here is a short list of some of the subject areas covered.

Math
Reading & Writing
Phonics & Early Literacy
Handwriting
Grammar
Spellings Lists & Worksheets (Gr. 1-5)
Science
Social Studies
Geography
History
Holiday
Health and Nutrition
Puzzles & Brain Teasers
Games
Flash Cards
Teacher Helpers
Pre-K and Kindergarten Resources
Make Your Own Worksheets

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Super Teacher Worksheets company was created by Tim Weibel in 2007.  Tim worked as a 3rd and 4th grade elementary school teacher for over 10 years and saw a need for easy access to affordable high quality worksheets for teachers and parents.

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How We Are Using Super Teacher Worksheets In Our Home

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I am so excited to have this resource!  It has enhanced what we are doing.   If I want the kids to practice more on certain skills we have a worksheet for that.  If I want them to do a quiz, I can find several worksheets to cover it.  If I want to expand their learning with unit study on a specific subject, I have found so many great resources on this website that I can include to further the learning.  I am just thrilled!

We are using these worksheets to supplement almost every subject of our learning this fall.  So far I have printed off math, language arts, phonics, spelling, history, geography, nutrition, and found worksheets for our dinosaur unit study, human body unit study, and more.

There is something to go along with everything you are doing, and if something isn’t there, you can create your own using the tools on the site too. There is also a feature for the kids to create their own calendars.  I can’t wait to be able to use these worksheets for the up coming holiday season this fall.  These resources will give a nice touch to our learning during the holidays too.

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We are studying the History and Geography of the USA.  I found maps of the USA and some with latitude and longitude coordinates.  The kids had to use the clues to locate the city and state the meet the coordinates listed.  I found a wonderful State Report for the kids to work on. The report is about 9 pages long and there are interesting things to do on each page that relate to the state you are studying.  We started off learning about Indiana state history and geography since we live in Indiana.    Really proud of my 12 year old son’s handwriting.  He is doing such a great job since taking a handwriting course, and all of these awesome worksheets are giving him plenty of hands on practice to implement his writing skills.  I also saw there were handwriting worksheets to get in more practice and guided instruction as needed too.  I plan to implement the handwriting worksheets with all the children next week.

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My opinion is that every homeschool family (and anyone else working with kids) needs to subscribe to this program.  There is so much to do and learn and the kids will have fun learning too.

Science Worksheets

More About Super Teacher Worksheets:

Members can make their own customized math worksheets, calendars, flashcards, quizzes, and word puzzles with the generators.

Members can save their favorite files in an online filing cabinet for easy access and to help save room on their own computer’s data storage.  I usually just save the worksheet to a file in my own computer.  This has really helped with planning out our learning schedule by having such easy access to these resources.

Look over their blog http://blog.superteacherworksheets.com/ for ongoing CONTESTS, GIVEAWAYS, FREE learning resources, and great ideas.  They write great articles to help parents and teachers and have given away microscopes, science kits, and all kinds of great stuff so keep an eye out for what is happening over there.

Super Teacher Worksheets also has a site called ModernChalkboard.com with SMART Board Notebook resources for teachers.

Social Media

Be sure to follow Super Teacher Worksheets on their Social Medial links for all the latest news and updates.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/superteacherworksheets/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/superteacherwks/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/superteacherworksheets/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/superteacherwks/

Super Teacher Worksheets Review

Now that you read what we think about these wonderful worksheets, be sure to check out what other homeschool families on the TOS Revew Crew had to say about using this product in their home.

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Digital Science Online Review

We are enjoying our subscription to Digital Science Online by Visual Learning Systems.

Visual Learning Systems

Digital Science Online

We received a one year subscription to Digital Science Online: Elementary Edition (Grades K-5) and Digital Science Online: Secondary Edition (Grades 6-12) .  Each edition retails for $99 a year, and can be used by up to 8 students in the same home.  It can be accessed 24/7.  These programs can also be licensed for classroom use (price determined by classroom size), see the web site for more information.

Digital Science

Digital Science Online: Elementary Edition (Grades K-5)

We chose to focus on the Digital Science Online: Elementary Edition (Grades K-5) for the purpose of this review. My children really enjoyed learning a variety of science topics with this program.  The Elementary Edition includes two levels of learning: Primary K-2 (Physical Science, Earth Science, Life Science, Health) and Elementary 3-5 (Physical Science, Earth Science, Life Science).  Units / Topics covered in each level are listed below.

Digital Science Online is divided into 5 easy to use parts in each edition: Video, Animations, Images, Student Content (Printable Activities,Worksheets), Teachers Content (Lesson Plans, Video Script, Materials Needed for experiments and hands on investigations, Quiz /Worksheet/Test Answer Keys, Teachers Tips).

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Basically this is an easy to use guided classroom all wrapped up in one convenient online package. All you need is a computer and printer to use, and gather the supplies recommended for the hands on activities. Though older students may be able to work independently, younger students will need the parent / teacher’s help.

How We Used Digital Science Online:

We chose a few unit/topics from the Elementary Edition (Grades K-5) that we wanted to cover during the review (see list below).  You can go through the subject however best fits your needs, but we went through each topic with this plan for our lessons:

  1. Pre-video Quiz given by me (the parent/teacher) to learn what the kids already know about a science topic,

  2. Then they watched a video or video clips that reinforced the topic.

  3. Next they answered Video Review questions during the video or video clip as they are discussed.

  4. Then they took a Post-video Quiz,

  5. Next my kids completed several optional activities to explore the topic in a hands on way (observations (some observations were done outside), experiments, review the online animations and images quick guides, and complete several printable worksheets that reinforce the topic),

  6. Finally my kids took a Topic Assessment Test.

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The videos and video clips of the various topics are observed online.  You can choose the topic you want to study and watch the entire video, or select a few short video clips to watch and stop to discuss or write down answers as you come to them.

Learning about 3 types of worms from the Simple Animals unit.

Learning about 3 types of worms from the Simple Animals unit.

Some of the topics have a hands on experiments and activities to do, and some topics only have worksheets as the hands on component.  Sometimes we substituted some of the materials for an activity based on what we had on hand.  All of the worksheets are cross-curricular and promote skills in science, but also language arts, English, math, public speaking if done in groups, etc.  All of the quizzes, tests, and worksheets are downloadable printables for the student to complete.

hole punched worksheet

I printed off the worksheets, quizzes, and tests for each unit/topic we were learning about.  I used a three hole punch to put holes in the printables, and made a folder for each of my kids to put their completed worksheets in.

How to Measure Length Unit.

How to Measure Length Unit.

There is a huge list of approximately 136+ science units/topics available in both English and Spanish in the Digital Science Online: Elementary Edition (Grades K-5), and another 125+ science units/topics in the Secondary Edition (Grades 6-12), so this program can last your classroom through out their school years.   It can be used as the curriculum, or used as a supplement for other curriculum.  I have only listed the unit/topics from the Elementary Edition below.  You can choose to do them in any order you choose.  We loved the freedom of being able to move around and choose the topics we wanted to learn about.

Topics in Digital Science Online: Elementary Edition (Grades K-5)

      • Units of study: Grades K-2 collection
        activities of plants, adaptations, animal behavior, biodiversity, blood and circulation, cells, changes on earth, changing climate, chemical changes, classifying living things, complex animals, cycles in living things, day and night, describing matter, describing matter and its properties, describing problems, designing solutions, earth and you, earth’s nearest neighbors, earth’s rotation and revolution, ecology, fundamentals, electrical circuits, electricity, environmental problems and solutions, everyday simple machines, exploring desert biomes, exploring earth, sun, and moon, exploring energy, exploring energy and heat, exploring forest biomes, exploring fossils, exploring freshwater biomes, exploring grassland biomes, exploring landforms, environmental problems and solutions, everyday simple machines, explorando el sonido (exploring sound), explorando la energía y el calor (exploring energy and heat), explorando sólidos, líquidos y gases (exploring solids, liquids, and gases), exploring desert biomes, exploring earth, sun, and moon, exploring energy, exploring energy and heat, exploring forest biomes, exploring fossils, exploring freshwater biomes, exploring grassland biomes, exploring landforms, exploring marine biomes, exploring solids, liquids, and gases, exploring sound,
        exploring the building blocks of matter, fall, fascinating fossils, food and digestion, food chains, forces in fluids, forming bonds, fósiles fascinantes (fascinating fossils), gravedad (gravity), gravity, grouping living things
        hábitos saludables (healthy habits ), healthy habits, heat and energy
        helping us work, how to measure length, how to measure volume,
Using a ruler to measure worksheet.

Using a ruler to measure worksheet.

      • Units of study: Grades 3-5 collection
        ALL OF THE ABOVE PLUS:
        impacto en la tierra (impacts on earth), impacts on earth, interacciones de los seres vivos (interactions of living things), interactions of living things, investigando la herencia (investigating heredity), investigating chemical reactions, investigating earth’s natural resources, investigating heredity, investigating mixtures, solutions, elements, and compounds,  investigating water, investigations and data, invierno (winter), keeping earth healthy, landforms, language in science, life cycles, light, listening and speaking in science, los ciclos de los seres vivos (cycles in living things), magnets and electromagnetism, making observations, measuring, microscopic life, migración e hibernación (migration and hibernation), migration and hibernation, minerals,  moving muscles and bones, moving things, natural resources, needs of living things, nuestra preciosa tierra (our precious earth), nutrition,  objetos en movimiento (moving things), observando el clima (observing weather), observing weather, otoño (fall), our distant neighbors, our precious earth, particles and matter, physical changes, planetas (planets), planets, plant life cycles, plant parts, plantas (plants), plants, plants with flowers, plate tectonics in action, primavera (spring), reading in science,  reading maps, recursos naturales (natural resources), rocks, scientific method, seguridad climática (weather safety), simple animals, soil and rocks, solutions at work, spring, stars and galaxies, starting with questions, suelo y rocas (soil and rocks), summer, sun and stars, the air around us, the changing phases of matter, the nature of waves, the rock cycle, the water cycle, things in motion, traits and heredity, trees, tu cuerpo ( your body ), tu dieta ( your diet ), usando la electricidad (using electricity), using electricity, using the scientific method, using tools in science, uso del método científico ( using the scientific method), verano (summer), vibrations and waves, water, water, everywhere, weather around us, weather on the move, weather safety, weathering and erosion, weighing things, what are magnets?, what are plants?, what do living things need?, what is a bird?, what is a fish?, what is a mammal?, what is a reptile?, what is an amphibian?, what is an insect?, what is light?, what is science?, what is sound?, what is the water cycle?,  why do we measure?, winter, working with data, writing in science, your body, your diet, ¿qué es el ciclo del agua? (what is the water cycle?), ¿qué es la luz? (what is light?), ¿qué es un anfibio? (what is an amphibian?),  ¿qué es un ave? (what is a bird?), ¿qué es un insecto? (what is an insect?), ¿qué es un mamífero? (what is a mammal?), ¿qué es un pez? (what is a fish?), ¿qué es un reptil? (what is a reptile?), ¿qué necesitan los seres vivos? (what do living things need?), ¿qué son los imanes? (what are magnets?),
Build a pulley system for Simple Machine's unit.

Build a pulley system for Simple Machine’s unit.

So as you can see there are several years worth of fun learning units/topics to do, and you can do them in any order you chose.  My advice would be to put a “short list” together of the units/topics you want to cover for a school year, or semester, or even for just a month at a time, and then spend a week +/- on each topic.  Some students may want to go faster or slower, but you have the freedom to go at any pace that fits your family 24/7.

about worms

A science curriculum program like this is a real asset to families.  Whether you are a homeschool family or not, if you want to teach science to your kids or if you are looking for an after school science program to help boost your child’s knowledge, give Digital Science Online a try.

You can download a FREE sample lesson to try before you buy. Just click on each square for the sample video, animation, student content and teacher content separately.  You can also watch a tutorial for how to use the Digital Science Online resource program. This is a great way to see if you and your student will like using this program.  You can also sign up for a FREE 10 Day Trial subscription.

Social Media:
Follow on social media for all the latest news and updates
Facebook http://facebook.com/visuallearningsystems
Twitter https://twitter.com/visualearning

Visual Learning Systems Review

Be sure to check out what other families on the Schoolhouse Review Crew had to say about Digital Science Online.

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Fascinating Education Physics Review

My oldest son loves science. He was so excited that we were offered the opportunity to review Fascinating Physics by Fascinating Education.

Fascinating Education

Fascinating Education was created by a Dr. Margulies. He is an author, teacher, attorney, and a neurologist and knows the brain and how it functions best when learning information and performing tasks.

Dr. Margulies

Dr. Margulies has taught neurology to thousands of medical students in his 35 year teaching career and trained doctors to work in neurology. He focuses on interactive right brain methods of learning primordially audio visual methods with questions and answer. He supplements the audio-visual methods with written text. Dr. Margulies is especially skilled to teach science. He has an extensive background and understanding of the brain. He wants to use his knowledge to create programs that inspire the younger generation to pursue science related careers and study of science.

Please check out his ABOUT DR. SHELDON MARGULIES web page to learn more about his qualifications, degrees, experience, books he has authored, and his passions. He is a fascinating person with an incredible amount of experience and insight in many areas. It is so fitting that he would inspire others to learn about science with the creation of Fascinating Education courses.

science courses

Fascinating Education currently offers science courses in Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. You can see each coarse outline and free sample lessons from each course on their web site. You can also enjoy using another 5 free lessons on the INTRO page.

 

Physics

The Fascinating Physics course is geared for the highschool student. It is a years worth of physics learning through an online course and includes 15 lessons covering about 160 subjects. It retails for $79.00 a year. Each subject within the lesson has its own learning video, glossary, and more.

lessons

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The Lessons titles include:
Lesson 1: Movement
Lesson 2: Vectors
Lesson 3: Forces
Lesson 4: Energy-Work-Power
Lesson 5: Circular Motion
Lesson 6: Fluids and Gases
Lesson 7: Waves
Lesson 8: Light, Part 1
Lesson 9: Light, Part 2
Lesson 10: Light, Part 3
Lesson 11: Electrical Charges
Lesson 12: Moving Electrical Charges
Lesson 13: Electrical Currents
Lesson 14: The Atom
Lesson 15: The Nucleus

You can access a 4 page course outline and see how each subject fists into each lesson.
Physics_outline

 

 

How We Used Fascinating Physics:

We received a one year subscription to Fascinating Physics for the purpose of writing this review. All my kids love science, but my oldest especially loves science. He wants to know the “WHY” of behind every thing. He was really happy to get the opportunity to take this Physics course. Each day he logged in and watched the videos, learned the terminology, and completed his tasks without being prompted by me.

lesson 3

 

He is finishing up lesson three and that is about 18 of the 160 or so subjects. I feel he is getting a good handle on being familiar with the terminology. He takes his time and often repeats the videos to be sure he has learned all of the information. I think learning the terminology is the key to grasping an understanding of the videos.

 

elevator cable

 

I would definitely recommend this curriculum. It is wonderful to have courses on line because you can access them anytime day or night to work on your assignments. I guess I am a bit biased favorite class in school was always science. I want to know “HOW” things work and “WHY”. If you asked me about almost any subject today like cooking, bible, health, gardening, etc. I would tell you the science behind it. That is just me…cooking science, science of health, science of gardening, even science in the bible. I love science. My favorite kind of TV shows are ones that show the science of how things happen like “How It Works” “How Its Made”, “Good Eats”, “Myth Busters”, “Time Warp”, etc. So I am very happy for my son to take this class and I get to glean totally AWESOME Science with him. The only thing I would change is that I would include a lot of science experiments in a course like this. I have not come to any experiments and hope there are some later in his learning adventure.

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