Techie Homeschool Mom Ancient Egypt Online Unit Study Review

My family had the privilege of trying the Ancient Egypt Online Unit Study from Techie Homeschool Mom for this review to use in conjunction with our own curriculum at home. This is a Homeschool Review Crew Review. All opinions expressed are my own or those of my family.

Techie Homeschool Mom is created by Beth Napoli. Beth is a self proclaimed “geeky homeschool mom” who is “inspiring digital learning and healthy tech habits for families”. She, having 5 homeschooled daughters decided to make her own Online Unit Studies. Now Techie Homeschool Mom has about 28 unit studies that teach topics like: Famous Artists, Holidays, Famous Inventors, Ancient History, Solar System, Stars, etc.

These online unit studies integrate a variety of subjects for many different ages of students. There are links for websites and videos that will be accessed by the student to help with completion of digital projects. No books or printed materials are needed. The courses are self-paced and the student and teacher can decide when to start and finish. The modules take about 2-3 hours to complete, but this depends entirely on the user. These courses have engaging hands-on projects included as well. Supplies for hands-on projects are listed for easy gathering. These unit studies are great for children mid-elementary to middle school age who can read and navigate the Internet on their own. Younger children can participate with assistance. After purchasing this access won't ever expire and you can use it on any device (PC, Laptop, Phone with internet access, or tablet).

Ancient Egypt Course Contents. Click on image to see larger version.

The Ancient Egypt Online Unit Study is a web based digital unit study that has 9 lessons. The student learns about Egyptian Civilization, Hieroglyphics, Rosetta Stone, Egyptian Daily Life, Inventions and Technology of Ancient Egypt, Ancient Egyptian Clothing, Famous Egyptians, Pyramids, and Mummies. There are websites to explore, online projects, hands-on projects, and videos that are watched to engage the student in learning.

Our Cartouches of our names.

How We Used This and Our Thoughts:

I used this with my two girls, Teela who is in 5th grade and Zari who is in 2nd grade. We did about a module a week. The modules were easy to navigate and usually had us go somewhere else online to do an online activity or watch a video.

The first thing we did was learn about The Birth of Egyptian Civilization, the Nile River, hierarchy of Ancient Egypt, and made a pyramid of the social classes in a graphics program called Canva in which we had to make a separate account for. We also learned about writing Hieroglyphs, watched a video of how to make papyrus, and made cartouches out of tin foil. There are many other things we learned and did...these are just a few examples. Also you are supposed to pick a book from the list at the beginning and read a few chapters and then answer questions about it at the end of each lesson in the BookClub section. We already had The Cat of Bubastes: A Tale of Ancient Egypt by G.A. Henty in Audio Book format from Heirloom Audio Productions, so naturally we chose it.

Some of the online activities that are offered.

Canva, the free graphics program that is totally online, was a bit awkward to use with more than one student and time consuming to learn. The Social Class Pyramid took a while for us to figure out even though we have other graphic arts programs at home that we use. We didn't want to take so much time in this, so we skipped the next ones after the pyramid for this review. We will, however; go back and do them at a later date.

My daughters making their own cartouches with foil.

We thought that the Techie Homeschool Mom Ancient Egypt Online Unit Study was a lot of fun and had was very educational. We learned a lot about Ancient Egypt that we didn't know even though we had studied this subject before. We liked that these lessons could be taught to multiple grade levels at the same time. We did have an issue with one of the videos in the Egyptian hair and makeup section that was not available anymore. Also, to view the Curiosity Stream videos you have to get a free trial, but you apparently can't do that without signing up to get a membership with a credit card...no thanks. Overall though the online unit study worked very well and had very few glitches. We loved the projects and definitely want to make the Tiger Nut Sweets when we can get the ingredients. They sound really yummy! We will definitely be checking out some of Techie Homeschool Mom's other homeschool unit studies as well.

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Techie Homeschool Mom Ancient Egypt Online Unit Study is only $35.

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Vintage Botanical Canvas Prints on Sale at Jane: Last Day Today!

Jane provided this information to me to share with you. This is a sponsored affiliate post. This post contains affiliate links which means I may receive a commission if you click a link and make a purchase.

Jane is having a sale on these lovely botanical prints and today is the last day to get these at this sale price! Don't delay! These would look lovely in any home and they have 86 different prints to choose from!  Was $14.99 - Now $5.45 - Vintage Botanical Canvas Prints (4/13 to 4/15)

DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: Jane provided this information to me to share with you. The links in this post are affiliate links. Thank you for supporting my blog! 

The Easter Story Egg: Colorful Nesting Toy with Resurrection Book Review

I received this free to facilitate this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

Star Kids Company was created by momprenuer, Natalie Ard, in 2014. She is a wife and mom to 3 kids. The first product she created was Star from Afar, a wooden game counting down to Christmas, then other products were born...including The Easter Story Egg. These children's toys and gifts help bring meaning to play. These also build good character and values.

The Easter Story Egg is a great tradition that is done with family around Easter time. It consists of 7 wooden eggs that nest within each other and a hardcover book. The Story Egg book begins on Palm Sunday and ends on Easter Sunday. Each egg has a coinciding story that rhymes in the book and pertains to one of each of the seven days of Holy Week. This shares the story of Jesus' final days on Earth in a thoughtful and meaningful way to children as they open each egg and read the corresponding story. This can be done daily throughout Holy Week or all at once. You can choose.

The Story Egg Nesting Eggs include:

• Palm Sunday (largest egg with a palm leaf painted on it)
• House of Prayer Monday (next largest egg with a temple painted on it)
• Teacher of Love Tuesday (next largest egg with a heart painted on it)
• Give and Take Wednesday (next largest egg with a jar filled with perfume painted on it)
• Last Supper Thursday (next largest egg with the Last Supper painted on it)
• Good Friday (next to smallest egg with a cross painted on it, Jesus died on the cross for all our sins)
• Holy Saturday (smallest egg that is painted grey like the stone rolled away of the tomb)
• Easter Sunday (open the smallest egg to reveal emptiness, much like the tomb of Jesus because He is Risen!)

Zari with The Easter Story Egg Kit.

What We Thought:

The Story Egg is a ostrich size egg that opens up like a Russian nesting matryoshka doll. Each egg is panted with a different picture to help tell the true meaning of Easter throughout Holy Week. It comes with a lovely hardcover book with rhyming words and colorful pictures.

We received The Easter Story Egg and proceeded to try to open the egg to see all the littler eggs inside. I had major trouble getting the first egg open. I looked at their website and they have an instructional video on how to do this. They say not to twist, but to pull the egg apart. They made it look pretty simple. Zari and I had much difficulty with this and I had to get my husband to pry it open. The egg was very hard to grip and it was slippery. He tried to pull it apart like it said and he couldn't even do it...then he used a razor blade and went around the seam with it, then tried again. He rocked it slowly back and forth until it finally popped open. Some of the eggs inside were just as difficult to get open. I feel like if some wax was applied to each lip inside the seams then they would come apart much easier, but I do not think that with as much trouble we had, a small child could do this on their own. It says on their website that because the eggs are brand new, hand carved, and made of natural wood that still has some moisture they might be hard to open at first. We let them set out to dry for a few days while they were closed like they said to and after a few more times opening and shutting the eggs, they started loosening up.

The Easter Story Egg apart.

The book is a wonderful addition to The Story Egg. Zari loves reading the rhyming pages and looking at the pictures. It starts out with a poem about why we celebrate Easter and what the egg is for. Then it goes through and tells the story of Jesus' final days on Earth. At the end of every story it has a scripture from the Bible associated with it written in New International Version, NIV. The book is multicultural as well as it shows multiple skin tones throughout the book. It ends with the resurrection of Christ.

Resurrection book, showing how it is multicultural.

I love the idea of this product. I hope that the eggs loosen up after using more so that they can be enjoyed. I would love for this to become a tradition in my home for Holy Week. We like the idea of it counting down to Easter Sunday, much like an advent calendar does for Christmas. It seems like a wonderful way to help teach the true meaning of Easter in the home or at Sunday School. This would be a great addition to an Easter basket or as an Easter gift.

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Buy The Easter Story Egg on Amazon.



DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: I received this product for free to facilitate this review. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

YWAM Publishing Heroes of History Daniel Boone: Frontiersman and Unit Study Curriculum Guide Review

My family had the privilege of reading the Heroes of History - Daniel Boone book from YWAM Publishing for this review to use in conjunction with our own curriculum at home. This is a Homeschool Review Crew Review. All opinions expressed are my own or those of my family.

YWAM (YOUTH WITH A MISSION) Publishing is a nonprofit organization that produces and distributes books that help Christians make a difference in the world by giving a portion of every dollar spent to buy books through YWAM Publishing to children and adults in other countries that are in need. Their books focus on evangelism, educational training, prayer, discipleship, and mercy ministries.

YWAM Publishing has two popular book series; one called Heroes of History and the other called Christian Heroes: Then & Now; in which true stories are told of real people that lived in our history. In the Heroes of History series we learn about great men and woman who changed the course of history. In the Christian Heroes: Then & Now series we learn about ordinary people who have put their trust in God and in doing so accomplish extraordinary things. Both of these book series help us as: parents, teachers, and caretakers; give our children wholesome biographies to read or be read to that teach good character traits, values, and virtues.

Daniel Boone: Frontiersman Book

Daniel Boone: Frontiersman by Janet & Geoff Benge is part of a series of 29 biography books called Heroes of History by YWAM Publishing. This series covers the years 1451 to 1951. This book tells the true life story of Daniel Boone who was a frontiersman who led settlers into the Kentucky wilderness. This Christian biography book from YWAM Publishing about Daniel Boone teaches great character traits, values, and virtues too. This book covers the years 1734-1820. It chronicles his life from his about the age of 5 to his death in 1820. It is a total of 19 chapters and 213 pages long. I had previously heard bits and pieces of his life and his adventure in history class at school while growing up before I read this biography book.

Daniel Boone Unit Study download page tab.

The Unit Study Curriculum Guide that is paired with the Daniel Boone: Frontiersman book that I received was in the digital downloadable format and opened as an executable file. The digital version is downloadable in a zipped format, so you will have to unzip before you use it. After selecting where it will go on your computer, unzip it, and find the folder it placed it all into. Find the file version you need: __MACOSX for Macintosh and the other for PC. Click on the file that has START HERE in its title and it will open in a new window in your browser. You can then read a very short synopsis of the biography under the Daniel Boone tab, download the unit study under the Unit Study tab, etc.

The Unit Study downloads in PDF format. It also has a 25 page guide for classroom and homeschool as well as a 12 page guide for a small group that tells you how to best use the unit study. This shows how flexible you can be with the unit study. You can do the whole study or just parts of it. It is all up to you how you use it. The unit study goes in depth to help you go above and beyond the book and explore other areas that pertain to the material like: crafts, cooking, art, and writing assignments; has questions to ask your children to see if they comprehended the reading, and quotes to use as copywork to enhance handwriting or memorization. The unit study is broken into two parts.

Here is the Unit Study Curriculum Guide Contents:
Part 1 -
Introduction (how to use the study)

1. Key Quotes (great for copywork, memorization, theatrical presentation, or art display)
2. Display Corner (an area designated for hands on display of items relating to the reading)
3. Chapter Questions (questions that enhance the reading: 1 vocabulary, 1 factual, 2 comprehension, and 2 open-ended)
4. Student Explorations (essay questions, creative writing, hands-on projects, audio/visual projects, arts & crafts)
5. Community Links (field trip ideas)
6. Social Studies (places, journeys, terms/vocabulary, geographical characteristics: mapping, timeline: plotting historical events, conceptual questions)
7. Related Themes to Explore (cultures, math, literature, history, current events, science & medicine)
8. Culminating Event (sort of a show and tell ending, ideas include: invitations, clothing, competitions, presentations, food, displays)

Appendix A: Books and Resources
Appendix B: Answers to Chapter Questions
Appendix C: Social Studies Reproducibles

Part 2 -
Appendix C: Social Studies Reproducibles (continued)

Teela reading YWAM Publishing Heroes of History Daniel Boone: Frontiersman.

How We Used This and Our Thoughts:

I read the book to my 8 year old daughter Zari so we could have time to get through some of the study guide too. My daughter Teela who is 10 and my sons who are 16 and 18 have been reading it to themselves and doing some of the projects from the study guide on their own time. Zari enjoyed listening to me read about Daniel Boone. We learned more about Daniel Boone's adventures and mishaps from reading this book than any textbook we had read or movie we had watched previously. It was quite refreshing to learn more about this important man.

After each chapter my girls and I did the first three questions from the study guide which are geared toward the younger students. They include a vocabulary question, a factual question coming from the reading, and the first comprehension question. The study guide is geared toward ages 10+. So I had to help Zari with the some of the vocabulary because of its advanced nature. We would look up the words in a dictionary and thesaurus as well, for more understanding. My boys, Jaedan and Delbin, who are 16 and 18, had no problem with the reading and vocabulary, but that is because they are voracious readers. I had my boys do all of the chapter questions. Besides the chapter questions I had my girls do copywork from the key quotes and I had my boys memorize them and say them back to me. I will have my sons do an essay as suggested in the study guide under the student explorations and essays. They also will be doing some creative writing.

My son, Jaedan, and I went to Louisville Kentucky in May of 2015. They have the Boone Family Bible in the Frazier Museum collection. In Louisville there is also a monument and statue of Daniel Boone at the Eastern Parkway entrance of Cherokee Park. I don't remember seeing it while we were there, but it would have been really cool to go back someday and do so.

This photo of the Boone Family Bible in the Frazier History Museum is courtesy of TripAdvisor

This photo of the Boone Family Bible plaque in the Frazier History Museum is courtesy of TripAdvisor

We also went to other websites in the books and resources section of the study guide to learn more about Daniel Boone, Shawnee Indians, Chief Blackfish, Kentuky, Cherokee Indians, Transylvania Company, Wilderness Trail, Wilderness Road, flintlock rifle, Appalachian Mountains, Cumberland Gap, Woodsmanship, American Revolution, French and Indian War, Frontier Life, Boonesborough, etc. We also loved learning about Woven Wampum Beadwork and want to try our hand at making these when we get more time. We also learned that Daniel Boone has two grave sites in different places dedicated to him. I was very disappointed though that most the website links they gave were either broken or had problems loading, but that didn't stop us from exploring on our own online.

Daniel Boone Monument, Cherokee Park. Photo by: Aura Ulm-Scene World Imaging-Louisville KY

There was so much to learn and explore in this unit study. We were amazed at the very complexity of it all. We didn't even begin to scratch the surface and were still very engaged in the lengthy unit study.

The YWAM Publishing biographies are historical and true. These true stories along with the unit studies are great for homeschooling families. We hope to get to read about Davy Crockett next in their extensive biography list. I highly recommend these!

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• Website - http://www.ywampublishing.com/
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YWAM Publishing Heroes of History Daniel Boone: Frontiersman book:
Regular Price: $9.99 YWAM Price: $7.50

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