YWAM Publishing Heroes of History George Washington Carver: From Slave to Scientist and Unit Study Curriculum Guide Review

 

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

My family had the privilege of reading the Heroes of History - George Washington Carver 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.

 

George Washington Carver: From Slave to Scientist

 

George Washington Carver: From Slave to Scientist 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 George Washington Carver who was a brilliant American agricultural scientist, inventor, and professor. This Christian biography book from YWAM Publishing about George Washington Carver teaches great character traits, values, and virtues too. This book covers the years 1864 to 1943. It chronicles his life from a baby to his death in 1943. It is a total of 16 chapters and 189 pages long.

 

George Washington Carver Unit Study download page tab.

The Unit Study Curriculum Guide that is paired with the George Washington Carver: From Slave to Scientist 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 George Washington Carver 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

Part 2 -
Appendix C: Social Studies Reproducibles

 

Zari reading YWAM Publishing Heroes of History George Washington Carver: From Slave to Scientist.

How We Used This and Our Thoughts:

My 11 year old daughter Zari and my 13 year old daughter Teela read the book. Both have been doing the study guide with me. We learned more about George Washington Carver's life 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 Zari 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+. Zari and I would look up the words in a dictionary and thesaurus as well, for more understanding. My daughter, Teela, had no problem with the reading and vocabulary, but that is because she is a voracious reader. I had Teela do all of the chapter questions. Besides the chapter questions I had Zari do copywork from the key quotes and I had Teela memorize them and say them back to me. I will have Teela do an essay as suggested in the study guide under the student explorations and essays. She will also be doing some creative writing.

We also tried to go to the websites in the books and resources section of the study guide to learn more about George Washington Carver, but most of them were unfortunately broken. We looked up our own and found some pictures of his paintings of flowers and explored the George Washington Carver National Monument Park in Missouri by virtual tour and multimedia. We didn't know he was an artist as well as a botanist and inventor until this study. He was a very well accomplished man.

There was so much to learn and explore in this unit study. We were amazed at the very complexity of it all. We are going to check out some more books and biographies that they recommend in the study guide later. We didn't even begin to scratch the surface and were still very engaged in this lengthy unit study. This would be a great study to incorporate for Black History Month.

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 Theodore Roosevelt next in their extensive biography list. I highly recommend these!

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• Website - https://www.ywampublishing.com/
• Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/YWAM-Publishing-482973445102/
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YWAM Publishing Heroes of History - George Washington Carver book:
Regular Price: $9.99 YWAM Price: $7.50

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Drive Thru History® Adventures Bible Unearthed Review #ComplimentaryProductReceived

 

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

My family had the privilege of trying the Bible Unearthed from Drive Thru History® Adventures 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.

 

 

Drive Thru History is a great series that makes history fun. There are currently four different captivating series to choose from: Bible History (Acts to Revelation: The World of The First Christians & The Gospels: The Extraordinary Life of Jesus of Nazareth), American History (America: Columbus to the Constitution), and Ancient History (Ancient: Christianity and the Birth of Western Civilization). These bring the history to life and engages the viewer in an exciting adventure and learning. These not only tell us about the history, but also the archaeology, geography, and art surrounding the people, places, and events that have defined our world and the Christian faith. These videos are shot on location to bring you an up close and personal view of what the tour guide wants you to learn.

Dave Stotts is our host of Drive Thru History. He has spent the last 20+ years in the professional film and documentary production which has taken him to nearly 30 countries to shoot and edit works. He loves shooting and editing films, videography, writing, media creation. Storytelling is the driving force behind his work.

Bible Unearthed is a brand new 12 episode Drive Thru History® Adventures series produced by RightNow Media that has yet to be released (we received early access to it). It explores archeology and the discoveries that help us understand the ancient world. Dave Stotts, the host of Drive Thru History® Adventures introduces us to his friends and colleagues: Titus Kennedy, PhD and Randall Niles to unpack the world of archaeology in the Holy Land.

Episode 3 Layout...you would see more text if you could scroll.

How We Used This and Our Thoughts:

We received a lifetime access to Bible Unearthed. This has not yet been released and so we received early access. We have reviewed different products from Drive Thru History® Adventures before and loved every single one, so we were excited about this product too.

Bible Unearthed Episodes

This digital course has 12 episodes. It also has a 2-part introduction and 3-part course resources. This makes 17 total lessons. Each lesson can be marked as complete and then it will have a check mark beside it in the course menu. Every time you complete a lesson and mark it as done the next lesson will popup to move forward. Each episode has a video, course materials you can download and print out containing a worksheet and answer guide, and some text you can read about the subject with full color pictures and links to learn more. The worksheet contains the same text as what is online minus the pictures and then has about 5 discussion questions to answer. The answer guide is an answer key to the questions asked in the worksheet. The text has one or more paragraphs about the subject (a full written exposition and breakout), a "Getting Technical" section to go more in depth into a specific aspect, a "Scripture Reading" section to tie into a bible study and scripture, an "Optional Activity" section for more hands on, and a "Dig Deeper Articles" section for further investigation and research. 

 

Some Bible Unearthed video screenshots.

 

This was different than previous Drive Thru History® Adventures productions that I have seen. Besides Dave Stotts (the host of Drive Thru History) the videos featured two other people that were also knowledgeable in the field of archeology: Dr. Titus Kennedy (the resident archeology PhD) and Randall Niles (lead writer for Drive Thru History). The videos did not have as much eye candy as the other series in Drive Thru History® Adventures because it wasn't all on site. Instead Dave lets his friend Titus do most the talking about his passion, archeology, while they sit around a table in the "lair of archeology", as Dave calls it. The videos within the episodes incorporate items of interest, slides of pictures, and videos of Titus in the field. All the while Dave is up to his old antics as he has some well placed humor throughout to make you laugh.

We enjoyed these episodes and learned a fair bit when we watched each one. Titus does a great job at sharing his passion. I also loved that Titus goes through and points out a lot of the archeological evidence that shows that the Bible is a true book. This would be great for people that homeschool or afterschool or great for anyone that likes history.

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• Hashtags: #hsreviews #bibleunearthed
  

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Progeny Press Little Women Study Guide & My Side of the Mountain Study Guide Review #ComplimentaryProductReceived

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

My family had the privilege of trying the Little Women Study Guide & My Side of the Mountain Study Guide from Progeny Press 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.

Progeny Press is a Christian based company that produces products that help with comprehension, critical analysis, and vocabulary study in literature and reading. They have a number of very nice literature based study guides and interactive e-guides that go with a number of classical, historical, and award winning books. They are always adding new titles to their list. All of their guides - whether book-bound, on CD, or downloaded - have exactly the same content. Four of their literature guides are considered a full literature credit for the year for students in high school.

The Little Woman Study Guide by Carol Clark is great for using in conjunction with the book by Louisa May Alcott. This is geared towards high school grades eight through twelve. This guide is 94 pages total when printed. The My Side of the Mountain Study Guide by Carol Clark is great for using in conjunction with the book by Jean Craighead George. This is geared towards middle school grades five to eight. This guide is 63 pages total when printed. The ones we received is the interactive e-guide which means that it is able to have the answers entered and typed directly into the PDF and saved. You can additionally print the pages and have your student work on them off of the computer. The e-guides save you money because you do not have to pay shipping and handling. You can also grade the student's work directly on the PDF and make comments in the same file. Mobile Devices/Tablets may require alternative app that supports and saves fillable form fields. All the guides, once purchased, can be reproduced for the teacher's/homeschooling parent's use in their own classroom or home. Once downloaded to your computer they are permanently available on your computer, and are yours and yours only.

These Study Guides cover a lot of ground. They have vocabulary that goes with the book with activities that help retention and growth. The Little Woman Study Guide talks about literary techniques like: Slang, similes, metaphors, foreshadowing, proverbs, allusions, motif, parallelism, allegory, maxims, idioms, juxtaposition, asides, anthropomorphism, antithesis, irony, mood, comic relief, alliteration, in context, foil, aphorism, jargon, sarcasm, tongue-in-cheek humor, extended metaphor, euphemisms, cause and effect, epiphany, poetic justice, flat and round characters, dynamic and static characters, dramatic structure, theme, point of view, and coming-of-age. The My Side of the Mountain Study Guide talks about literary techniques like: Point of view, verbs, anthropomorphism, irony, flashback, in context, adjectives, similes, recap, paraphrase, fact vs. opinion, onomatopoeia, comic relief, mood, metaphors, allusion, alphabetical order, idioms, oxymoron, alliteration, assonance, consonance, extended metaphors, willing suspension of disbelief, conflict, quest, dramatic structure, full-circle ending, coming of age, bildungsroman, and compare & contrast. There are moral lessons and character values taken from the books in each study guide. Activities and writing assignments are also included. Each set of chapters or section has: activities to use the vocabulary, questions in shorty answer, "think about the story" comprehension questions, "dig deeper" questions with bible verses to look up and biblical perspective or philosophical questions to go with the book, and optional activities, like: art, cooking, creative writing, dramatization, etc. There is a lot of other things too that these go into. Take a look at the layout and contents below of each study guide...

Here is Little Woman's Study Guide Layout:

• Study Guide Author
• Note to Instructor (How to use the study guide)
• Synopsis (What book is about)
• About the Novel's Author
• Background Information
• Ideas for Prereading Activities (Things to do or study before and during reading the book): Read Pilgrim's Progress, class discussion, research the U.S. Civil War, journaling activities.
• Chapters 1-4
• Chapters 5-9
• Chapters 10-12
• Chapters 13-16
• Chapters 17-20
• Chapters 21-23
• Part 1 Crossword Puzzle
• Chapters 24-27
• Chapters 28-31
• Chapters 32-35
• Chapters 36-39
• Chapters 40-43
• Chapters 44-47
• Overview
• Optional Essays and Projects
• Additional Resources (Other books by the author, similar titles, plays, and movies)
• Answer Key (located in a separate PDF)

Here is My Side of the Mountain's Study Guide Layout:

• Study Guide Author
• Note to Instructor (How to use the study guide)
• Synopsis (What book is about)
• About the Novel's Author
• Prereading Activities (Things to do or study before reading the book): Field trip, research local plants, read the author's preface to the book.
• Section 1: I Hole Up...; I Get Started...; I Find Gribley's Farm
• Section 2: I Find Many...; The Old, Old Tree; I Meet One of my Own Kind...
• Section 3: The Kings Provider; What I Did About...; I Learn to Season My Food
• Section 4: How a Door...; Frightful Learns...; I Find a Real Live Man
• Section 5: The Autumn Provides...; We All Learn About Halloween; I Find Out What to Do
• Story Review Fun!
•  Section 6: Trouble Begins; I Pile up Wood...; I Learn About Birds...
•  Section 7: I Have a Good Look at Winter...; The Spring in the Winter...
• Section 8: I Cooperate with the Ending; The City Comes to Me
• Overview
• Optional After-You-Read Projects and Activities
• Additional Resources (Other books by the author, other titles of interest, related books, related movies)
• Answer Key (located in a separate PDF)

How We Used This and Our Thoughts:

My daughter, Teela, who is 12 years old is an advanced reader. She loves reading and devours books. Her favorites are chapter books that have some substance to them. I told her about Little Woman and My Side of the Mountain and she was excited to start reading. We had the book Little Woman on our Kindle so we started with that one. She loved this book and read it chapter by chapter working through the study guide.

She got to use the guide as she read the book and since the review period for this was slightly longer than most (roughly 7 weeks) we got through a good portion of My Side of the Mountain as well. She did the worksheets online to work on her computer and typing skills as well.

Our Rose Garden

Teela loved doing some of the optional activities in the study guides. One of the optional activities she picked in chapters 17-20 in the Little Woman Study Guide was plant a rose bush and tend it. We planted a whole rose garden, not just one plant, this year and she helped me with it. I showed her how to dead head spent blossoms and water them. Another of the optional activities she picked to do for chapters 36-39 in the Little Woman Study Guide had her make and serve Tea Sandwiches. For these we had cream cheese, cucumber and triangle cut bread. On a hot day these were particularly good with iced herbal tea. In the My Side of the Mountain Study Guide she did a lot of the optional activities too. She picked to learn more about skunks in Section 5 because it so happens that we have a family of them with a mama and 5 babies living in our barn. You can go here on my husband's YouTube to see them.

Teela with the Tea Sandwiches she made.

This was the forth time we had experienced Progeny Press and their literature study guides. This time though we got to pick two different study guides instead of just one. The study guides we received were jam packed full of reading comprehension and information to study. I love that they are also faith-based and has biblical applications that relate to the books fairly well. Since Teela just finished 6th grade this year, I had her type her answers as best she could and I believe she did great for her age. These guides are very well thought out and put together and I feel that my daughter learned and comprehended a great deal more because of it.

I highly recommend the Progeny Press study guides. They are easy to download and simple to print from PDF and easy to do online. These guides got my daughter thinking a lot more about the story and characters than she would have just reading the book on its own. Progeny Press has a great selection of other guides that go with some other great books as well. Check them out below.
 
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• Facebook: https://facebook.com/progenypress
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/progenypress
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• YouTube: https://youtube.com/progenypress
• Hashtags: #hsreviews #ProgenyPress #Literature #reading #learnathome #StudyGuides #ReadingComprehension

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You can get the Little Women Study Guide in e-guide format for $21.99 and the My Side of the Mountain Study Guide for 18.99 from Progeny Press and also download a sample of the guide to see what it looks like.

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YWAM Publishing Heroes of History Clara Barton: Courage Under Fire and Unit Study Curriculum Guide Review #ComplimentaryProductReceived

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

My family had the privilege of reading the Heroes of History - Clara Barton 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.

Clara Barton: Courage Under Fire Book

 

Clara Barton: Courage Under Fire 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 Clara Barton who was a nurse on the front-lines of the Civil War and the founder of the American Red Cross. This Christian biography book from YWAM Publishing about Clara Barton teaches great character traits, values, and virtues too. This book covers the years 1821 to 1912. It chronicles her life from the age of 4 to her death in 1912. It is a total of 17 chapters and 191 pages long.

Clara Barton Unit Study download page tab.

 

The Unit Study Curriculum Guide that is paired with the Clara Barton: Courage Under Fire 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 Clara Barton 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 Clara Barton: Courage Under Fire.

 

How We Used This and Our Thoughts:

I read the book to my 9 year old daughter Zari so we could have time to get through some of the study guide too. My daughter Teela who is 11 and my sons who are 17 and 19 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 Clara Barton. We learned more about Clara Barton's life 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 woman.

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 17 and 19, 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.

We also went to other websites in the books and resources section of the study guide to learn more about Clara Barton, Civil War, Spanish-American War, Red Cross, nursing, etc. We also loved learning about how to dress like Clara Barton and what women wore back then. We also loved learning about the Red Cross more from their website. My sister-in-law, Amy, is in the Red Cross as a volunteer, so this was very cool to learn about.

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 George Washington Carver next in their extensive biography list. I highly recommend these!

 

Follow Them on Social Media:

• Website - https://www.ywampublishing.com/
• Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/YWAM-Publishing-482973445102/
• Twitter - http://twitter.com/YWAMpublishing
• Pinterest - http://www.pinterest.com/YWAMpublishing
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YWAM Publishing Heroes of History Clara Barton: Courage Under Fire book:
Regular Price: $9.99 YWAM Price: $7.50

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Britfield & the Lost Crown Audio Book Review

My family had the privilege of listening to the Britfield & the Lost Crown audio book 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.

Britfield & the Lost Crown is a book authored by C.R. Stewart. It is a fast-paced adventure novel that starts off in Northern England, Yorkshire, as two orphans, Tom and Sarah, narrowly escape from Weatherly Orphanage, a place owned by dreadful Mr. and Mrs. Grievous and watched over by the corrupt caretaker, Mr. Speckle and the terrifying guard dog, Wind. Before this daring escape Tom finds out something about his past that will change his life forever and with only a clue word sets out to find out more. They are chased by Detective Gowerstone and his police force and gain altitude by taking flight in a found hot air balloon over central England.  Will they get the help they need to get to their destination? Will they ever stop being chased by Detective Gowerstone? What other secrets await to be uncovered?

This book has a 83-page pdf study guide that goes with it. It is an e-book that can be downloaded and printed. The study guide is intended to be used over eight weeks (or longer) taking students through the book chapter by chapter. This is available online at the Britfield Institute as a free gift for teachers and homeschoolers. It contains vocabulary, comprehension, further in depth questions, and enrichment activities that go with each chapter.

What the Britfield & the Lost Crown Audio Book looked like in Audible.

How We Used This and Our Thoughts:

I received the audiobook sent through Amazon's Audible. This book is authored by C.R. Stewart and the audio book is narrated by Ian Russell. The whole audio book is 9 hrs and 25 mins. The book is 17 chapters long. This mystery novel is a great first book in what is going to be a five part series. My daughter Teela who is going into 6th grade listened to the whole book with her sister Zari who is going into 3rd grade. They loved the action and adventure in this and enjoyed listening to the narrator tell the story.

Britfield & the Lost Crown Audio Book Chapters and length in Audible.

I too listened to the entire book with Audible. I had never tried Audible before and downloaded it to my personal computer. It was surprisingly simple to use and downloaded the book to it easily. My daughter Zari won a Kindle Fire from her school because of all her reading accomplishments so I borrowed it to listen to the story while I did dishes. This book was had me on the edge of my seat at times not knowing what would happen next. The narrator was wonderful! I thoroughly enjoyed his narration of Britfield & the Lost Crown. It was very entertaining.

My favorite part was when Tom and Sarah were navigating the skies in the hot air balloon. They come upon more balloons and people that greeted them in different languages and to Tom's astonishment Sarah knew all 4 languages. Teela's favorite part of the story was the Grievous' car being stolen and crashed by one of the orphans in the chaos that ensued while Tom and Sarah are trying to escape. Zari laughed when the orphans of Weatherly Orphanage filled their bellies with food from the kitchen and liked the kind man that helped them on their journey to the train station. Both Zari and Teela were glad that the owners and the caretaker really couldn't punish the orphans fully because they all were to blame and the work couldn't be stopped or the owners would loose money.

We all loved the imagery of the story. You could definitely envision everything happening because of the great detail of the people, landscapes, buildings, and places. The suspense and bit of history is wonderful. In the book you are taken through places like: Yorkshire, The Midlands, Oxford, Windsor, Richmond, London, and Canterbury. The website has maps, information and pictures of these places as well.

We didn't use the study guide this time. But I did look it over and boy is it thorough. It goes through vocabulary study, comprehension questions, going deeper questions that make you think more, and learn more with technology sections that has you search stuff online to learn more about certain subjects related to the book. Chapters 1&2, 3&4, 5&6 are together and then the other chapters (7-17) are separate. It also has a synopsis and about the author in the beginning and additional resources and answer key for the vocabulary study and comprehension questions at the end.

We recommend Britfield & the Lost Crown Audio Book to everyone that loves a good English history thriller. It would be a perfect juvenile-fiction, middle grade, teen, or young adult novel. We cannot wait til the next book in the series is released. We are going to try to wait patiently, but I hope it is going to be soon. The suspense of what is going to happen next is going to kill me.

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BUY IT
You can purchase Britfield & the Lost Crown in Softcover, Hardcover, Audiobook and Ebook from their website.

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Memoria Press Third Grade Literature Guide Set Review

My family had the privilege of trying the Third Grade Literature Guide Set from Memoria Press which includes the Charlotte’s Web Literature Guide Set for this review to use in conjunction with our own curriculum. This is a Homeschool Review Crew Review. All opinions expressed are my own or those of my family.

Memoria Press is a family-run publishing company that produces simple and easy-to-use classical Christian education materials for home and private schools. It was founded by a woman named Cheryl Lowe in 1994. They currently have preschool through ninth grade in most of their curriculum and some through twelfth grade. They also cover subjects in: Classical Core Curriculum, Latin, Classical Studies, Christian Studies, Logic & Rhetoric, Phonics & Early Reading, Penmanship, Literature & Poetry, American & Modern Studies, Writing & English Grammar, Science & Math, Greek, Modern Languages, Educational Resources, eBooks, Special-Needs, and Art & Music.

Memoria Press Third Grade Literature Guide Set with Novels

The Third Grade Literature Guide Set consists of four student study guides and four teacher guides for use with classical books that would be slightly above the average third grade readers comfort level. This is supposed to help challenge them and give them a deeper understanding and satisfaction of reading classical literature in turn developing the student into superior readers. The reading guides require one to read while having an active, perceptive mind that is challenged to think, compare, and contrast. The guides focus on vocabulary, spelling, comprehension, and composition skills. These student study guides are all consumable workbooks and have Teaching Guidelines at the beginning to help you through each lesson. Each lesson correlates with a chapter in the book. Some of the guides even have Enrichment activities throughout them to go into even more depth into learning. You can get a feel for content by downloading one of their samples on the site. The set we received did not include the classical books, but you can purchase them separately, check them out of the library, or get the whole set with the novels from Memoria Press. All the guides go well together in this set because of their wonderful classical nature. Each book is intended to take 6-7 weeks.


Third Grade Literature Guide Set Contents:

• Farmer Boy Student Study Guide (91 pages, 29 chapters, 3 quizzes and a final, vocabulary crosswords, and an appendix)
• Farmer Boy Teacher Guide (135 pages, 29 chapter lesson key, quiz review key, vocabulary crosswords key, appendix, discussion questions key, quizzes and final test, quizzes and final test key)
• Charlotte's Web Student Study Guide (74 pages, 22 chapters, 3 quizzes and a final, vocabulary crosswords, and an appendix)
• Charlotte's Web Teacher Guide (117 pages, 22 chapter lesson key, quiz review key, vocabulary crosswords key, appendix, discussion questions key, quizzes and final test, quizzes and final test key)
• A Bear Called Paddington Student Study Guide (25 pages, 8 chapters, and an appendix)
• A Bear Called Paddington Teacher Guide (50 pages, 8 chapter lesson key, an appendix, and a teachers key: discussion questions key, quizzes and final test, quizzes and final test key)
• Mr. Popper's Penguins Student Study Guide (50 pages, 20 chapters)
• Mr. Popper's Penguins Teacher Guide (77 pages, 20 chapter lesson key, and a teachers key: discussion questions key, quizzes and final test, quizzes and final test key)

Charlotte's Web Student Study Guide, Teacher Guide, and Book.

How We Used This and Our Thoughts:

Memoria Press was very generous in sending us the entire 3rd grade level set, even though they knew I would not use more than one book title during the review period. For this review I picked out the book Charlotte's Web by E.B. White to use with the Charlotte's Web Student Guide and Teacher Guide. I was fortunate enough to already have had the book on my shelf and Zari had not read it yet. The Teacher Guide, which had all of the answers in it for the Student Study Guide was a tremendous help and even though I too decided to read the book along with my daughter I could see that you could use it even without reading the book yourself. I remember reading this book a long time ago, but it had been a while for me.

Zari doing the Charlotte's Web Student Study Guide.

My daughter, Zari, is going into third grade so naturally we used this with her. I wanted to also know what was going on in the book so I read each chapter before she did. We went chapter by chapter through the book this way. After each chapter we would work in the Charlotte's Web Student Study Guide on the pages that correlated with the chapter we just got done reading. The student study guide is a consumable workbook and this particular one was one of the longest in the set with 74 pages. Zari did fairly well with the reading, vocabulary, and comprehension. She needed a little help on the composition part of it because of sentence structure. I did not do any of the Enrichment Activities with Zari yet because I wanted to make sure we would have time to do the rest of the Student Study Guide. However, the enrichment activities, like: drawing a spider diagram sounded like a lot of fun. The enrichment activities include composition, copywork, dictation, research, mapping, drawing, poetry work, literary terms, etc. We will come back to these and do them too at a later time.

Charlotte's Web Student Study Guide Layout and Book.

I was amazed at how complex these Student Study Guides were. The questions were very well thought out and challenged my daughter to think a lot more for each answer than she is used to. The Teaching Guidelines at the front of the Student Guide was very helpful at showing us what the sequence of things should be. It says to first review previous vocabulary orally, chapter plots, characters, settings, before reading each consecutive chapters. Then after the review of the previous chapters you are to look at the study guide and preview what is in it for the next chapter you will be reading. While the student reads they are to make note of the vocabulary words in the guide and where the comprehension questions that come up are. After reading you do the student guide with your student. It says that third graders should have help occasionally to come up with synonyms and forming good sentences orally before writing them down. Each lesson has sections on Reading Notes, Vocabulary, Comprehension Questions, Quotations, Discussion Questions, and Enrichment. The accompanying teacher guides definitely help me as they have all the answers in them. We also loved looking through the appendix as it has fun extras like: a biographical sketch about the author, about spiders, poems that go with the story, and parts of a spider.

I highly recommend the Memoria Press Second Grade Literature Guide Set to anyone who is homeschooling or doing supplemental work at home. These Literature Sets would also be great during Summer Vacation if you don't homeschool. The classical education is some of my favorite literature curriculum in my eclectic afterschooling ways. Everything that I have tried so far from Memoria Press I have loved. They have wonderful curriculum for k-12 homeschooling. Thanks again Memoria Press for being so generous in giving us the opportunity to look over the whole set. We can't wait to start Farmer Boy next in this set!!

BUY IT
Third Grade Literature Guide Set with Novels is $125 and without Novels is $95.

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Drive Thru History® - "Acts to Revelation" Review

My family had the privilege of trying the Drive Thru History® – “Acts to Revelation” from Drive Thru History® for this review to use in conjunction with our own homeschool curriculum. This is a Homeschool Review Crew Review. All opinions expressed are my own or those of my family.

Drive Thru History® is a great DVD series that makes history fun. There are four different captivating series to choose from: Ancient History, American History, The Holy Land, The Gospels, and Acts to Revelation. These bring the history to life and engages the viewer in an exciting adventure and learning. Dave not only tells us about the history, but also the archaeology, geography, and art surrounding the people, places, and events that have defined our world and the Christian faith.

Dave Stotts

Dave Stotts is our entertaining tour guide that hosts Drive Thru History®. He has spent the last 20 years in the professional film and documentary production which has taken him to nearly 30 countries to shoot and edit works. He loves shooting and editing films, videography, writing, media creation. Storytelling is the driving force behind his work.

Drive Thru History® – “Acts to Revelation” is the fifth and newest in the Drive Thru History® DVD series. This eighteen episode DVD Set is jam packed with nearly 9 hours of information on 3 DVDs about the lives of the first Christians taken from locations beginning in Jerusalem and using the book of Acts as a roadmap he shares the people, places, and events that launched the Christian faith. In this series, Dave Stotts travels the Mediterranean region on a driving tour to investigate what happened after the Gospel accounts of Jesus Christ. He follows the lives of Peter, James, Philip, and Stephen through Israel. He travels the missionary routes of Paul, Barnabas, Silas, and Timothy through Turkey, Cyprus, Greece, Malta, and Rome. He finishes with John on the island of Patmos and drives through the seven churches of Revelation in Asia Minor. This also includes a 124-page study guide that goes through all of the 18 episodes. This discussion guide has summaries of each episode, quotes and scripture, 5 thought-provoking questions for each episode, further reading, and the "Side Road" that contains a small paragraph of information that relates to each episode, with beautiful images and graphics. It also includes discussion answers at the end.

This DVD Set Includes 18 packed 30-minute episodes:

• Episode 1: The Gospel Shared at Pentecost
• Episode 2: The Church Grows in Jerusalem
• Episode 3: The Gospel Spreads to the Gentiles
• Episode 4: Saul of Tarsus & The Road to Damascus
• Episode 5: Paul's First Missionary Journey - The Island of Cyprus
• Episode 6: The Journey Continues - Pamphylia, Galatia & Asia Minor
• Episode 7: The Jerusalem Council & Paul's Second Missionary Journey
• Episode 8: The Second Journey Continues - Philippi and Thessalonica
• Episode 9: A Road Trip to Athens
• Episode 10: Ancient Corinth
• Episode 11: Paul's Third Missionary Journey
• Episode 12:Paul's Final Trip to Jerusalem & Caesarea
• Episode 13: Adventures at Sea - The Island of Malta
• Episode 14: A Final Journey to Rome
• Episode 15: The Martyrdom of Paul & Peter
• Episode 16: John and the Island of Patmos
• Episode 17: The Seven Churches of Revelation
• Episode 18: The Book Closes on the New Testament Period

Trailer:


How We Used This and Our Thoughts:

We love Drive Thru History and had a chance to review The Gospels physical DVD set and a one year subscription of Drive Thru History Adventures from them. Both were fabulous and so I knew that I wanted to participate in this as well.

We love The Drive Thru History® – “Acts to Revelation”! My family of 6 have been watching these with me. These are geared from a 5th grade level to adult, but my daughter who is 8 has enjoyed these as well. We have learned quite a bit along the journey and it has been an awesome one at that.

Drive Thru History® - “Acts to Revelation” has far exceeded our expectations. It comes with a colorful slipcase sleeve over a hard covered, DVD case sized, book that holds the three DVDs inside, two inside the front cover and one inside the back cover. The study guide is encased inside as well with full color glossy pages. It gives a very professional overall look.

Some of the places and ruins you get to see in "Acts to Revelation".

We love that these episodes testify of the things in the New Testament about the founding of the church with solid evidence that Dave uncovers. With his infectious enthusiasm and humor Dave's charm is irresistible. These episodes are also extremely visually engaging and full of rich content. Each episode is family-friendly, fascinating, intriguing, and compelling. I would imagine that nothing could compare to the Drive Thru History® – “Acts to Revelation” experience, except for if we had visited the Holy Land and surrounding areas ourselves.

Some of the graphics and special effects you get to see in "Acts to Revelation".

We have loved being a part of it and we felt as if we were there firsthand! Each episode has a summary of the last and then goes into more information. My sons liked it when Dave talked about his rig, the Land Rover as well. They also thought the part about the throat singer singing the tune of the theme song was cool and that the latrines in Rome were funny...especially the part about the rats biting unsuspecting users. There is an amazing amount of information in each of these and I loved all the background scenery of ancient sites and ruins and music that set the stage for Dave's lessons. There were also great graphics, special effects, and reenactments of the apostles' lives tucked in as well. I liked how he had the names of important places come up on the screen when these were in the background so we knew where he was at while he was lecturing.

After each episode we have gone to the study guide as a family and read and discussed together about what we have learned throughout the weeks. The Drive Thru History® – “Acts to Revelation” have inspired us to dig into this part of the New Testament as a family further. This has given us more of an appreciation of the history behind it. It has been eye opening to say the least. I am so glad we have this and "The Gospels" from Drive Thru History® because now we have the entire New Testament to watch the people, places, and events unfold before our eyes.

I highly recommend The Drive Thru History® – “Acts to Revelation”! Acts to Revelation curriculum is great for Christian families who wish to teach their children history from a Christian worldview. These would be great for both homeschooled and non-homeschooled families. This is great for a small group study, homeschool curriculum, church study, Family Home Evening Bible study, and Sunday School study.

So...Buckle up and get ready because you are in for an exciting ride!


BUY IT
Purchase for $89.95 on Drive Thru History®

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Progeny Press The Green Book - eGuide Review

My family had the privilege of trying the The Green Book - eGuide from Progeny Press for this review to use in conjunction with our own homeschool curriculum. This is a Homeschool Review Crew Review. All opinions expressed are my own or those of my family.

Progeny Press is a Christian based company that produces products that help with comprehension, critical analysis, and vocabulary study in literature and reading. They have a number of very nice literature based study guides and interactive e-guides that go with a number of classical, historical, and award winning books. They are always adding new titles to their list. All of their guides - whether book-bound, on CD, or downloaded - have exactly the same content.

The Green Book eGuide is a great study guide for using in conjunction with the book by Jill Paton Walsh. The book is geared towards grades four to six and the guide grades three to five. The one we received is the interactive e-guide which means that it is able to have the answers entered and typed directly into the PDF and saved. You can additionally print the pages and have your student work on them off of the computer. The e-guides save you money because you do not have to pay shipping and handling. You can also grade the student's work directly on the PDF and make comments in the same file. All the guides, once purchased, can be reproduced for the teacher's/homeschooling parent's use in their own classroom or home. Once downloaded to your computer they are permanently available on your computer, and are yours and yours only. This guide is 57 pages total when printed.

The eGuide covers a lot of ground. It has vocabulary that goes with the book with activities that help retention and growth. It talks about literary techniques like: In-context, similes, idioms, metaphors, mood, synonyms, imagery, foreshadowing, repetition, alliteration, juxtaposition, conflict, theme, circular narrative, etc. There are moral lessons and character values taken from the book. Activities and writing assignments are also included. There is a lot of other things too that it goes into. Take a look at the layout and contents below...

Here is The Green Book's Study Guide Layout:

• Study Guide Author
• Note to Instructor (How to use the study guide)
• Synopsis (What book is about)
• About the Novel's Author
• Prereading Activities (Things to do or study before reading the book): Read other pioneering books, travel plans, memory photos, make a journal.
• Chapters (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6 & 7):
• Vocabulary (Definition and write the word in a sentence)
• Questions (Short Answer)
• Think About the Story (Comprehension Questions)
• Dig Deeper (Questions with Bible Verses to look up and Biblical perspective to go with the book)
• Optional Projects and Activities (Discussions and/or Reports and/or Presentations): planning forum, computer research, gravity, science and wind, rain cycle, jellyfish, oil lamps, marine aquariums, science video recommendations, fairy-tales, boredom ideas, tree candy, hopscotch, cooking grain, pancakes, crystal gardens, maple syrup, gardening, spin thread, fire opals, creative writing journal, creative writing sequel, poetry performance, persuasive paper, flatbread and muffins.
• Overview
• Theme Questions
• Mystery Message
• Venn Diagram
• Crossword
• After-You-Read Projects
• Additional Resources (Other books by the author)
• Answer Key (located in a separate PDF)

How We Used This and Our Thoughts:
My daughter, Teela, who is 10 years old is an advanced reader. She loves reading and devours books. Her favorites are chapter books that have some substance to them. I told her about The Green Book and she was excited to start reading. We easily found the book online to check out, so this was perfect for her book study in our homeschool. She loved this book and read it chapter by chapter working through the study guide.

She got to use the guide as she read the book and since the review period for this was slightly longer than most (roughly 7 weeks) we got through a good portion of the study. She did the worksheets online to work on her computer and typing skills as well.

Sample pages from the Progeny Press The Green Book - eGuide.

This was the third time we had experienced Progeny Press and their literature study guides. The e-guide we received was jam packed full of reading comprehension and information to study. I love that it is also faith-based and has biblical applications that relate to the book fairly well. Since Teela just finished 4th grade this year, I had her type her answers as best she could and I believe she did great for her age. These guides are very well thought out and put together and I feel that my daughter learned and comprehended a great deal more because of it.

I highly recommend the Progeny Press E-guides. They are easy to download and simple to print from PDF and easy to do online. The Green Book one got my daughter thinking a lot more about the story and characters than she would have just reading the book on its own. Progeny Press has a great selection of other guides that go with some other great books as well. Check them out below.

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BUY IT
You can get The Green Book - eGuide in e-guide format for $17.99 from Progeny Press and also download a sample of the guide to see what it looks like.

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