Drive Thru History® Adventures {Review}

I'm so excited to share our latset review product with you. We have been driving through history with Dave Stotts from Drive Thru History, who recently launched Drive Thru History® Adventures .

For the last 15 years, I’ve traveled the world to share the unvarnished truth of history, on location, in the context of adventure. I’ve started calling it “Adventure Learning” – history education that’s Christ-centered, fact-filled, and super fun. - Dave Stotts

What we received

• A subscription to Drive Thru History® Adventures
• Watch a YouTube clip where Dave instroduces Drive Thru History® Adventures.

 
How we used it
Once you log intoyour account you will find an easy to use and comprehensive website. Along the top navigation you will find links to:

• Dashboard - 
• Latest Resources that have been uploaded
• Dave's Adventures - Dave explains how to use the curriculum and the site as well as his weekly updates.
• Side Roads - These are short detour history tidbit video's for example: The History of Cheese, King Herod's Building Projects, Roman Coins Related to the Gospels, Coins of Herod the Great, History of Groundhog Day, Parables in the Ancient World and the Gospels, The History of Saint Valentine's Day, to name a few.
• Featured Videos- five video's currently loaded. 
• Facebook - news feed.
• Curriculum - This page is divded into three areas
• Bible History Course - The Gospels: The Extraordinary Life of Jesus of Nazareth. Dave takes a tour through the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and travels to more than fifty ancient sites in Israel.
• American History Course - Dave explores early American history and the events that shaped the founding of the United States of America.
• Ancient History Course - This is the course we are currently using.  Dave takes us on a journey to explore ancient history that shaped the ancient world and the impact those civilizations had on our Christian faith and how these two ideals melded together to give us the rise of Western Civilization.

• Resources
• Featured - A list of resources which have been written by different contributors.  For example: A Clash of Kingdoms: Jesus Christ vs Herod Antipas, Herod Antipas at the time of Jesus, Dave's Adventures weekly Update, Evidence for the Mounth of Transfiguration, etc.
• Expert Papers
• Articles
• Side Roads
• Getting Started
• Behind the Scenes
• Worksheets
• Answer Guides
• Suggested Readings
• Dig Deeper
• Community - Here you will find Drive Thru History on Social Media
  
• Facebook Page
• Facebook Members Only Group
• YouTube
• Instagram
• Account - Details of your account - name, payments, password and a spot to ask questions.
• Adventures TV
• Chromecast
• iPhone iOS7.0+
• iPad iOS7.0+ iPad 3 and up
• Android 4.2+
• On Your PC 

There are currently three diferent history streams. We chose to work our way through Ancient History Adventures. There are twelve episodes in this adventure

1. The Rise of Western Civilization -  "I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of Marble." - Augustus
2. The Age of conflict -  "Hope is the pillar that holds up the world. Hope is the dream of a waking man." - Pliny the Elder
3. A Time of Challenges -  "Rome has grown since its humble beginnings that it is now overwhelmed by its own greatness - Titus Livius.
4. Roots of Democracy
5. Challenges of a New Religion
6. The Spread of Christianity
7. East Meets West
8. Ruins and Romans
9. The Advancement of Knowledge
10. Heart of Stone
11. Constantine and Constantinople
12. The Best of the Ancient World.

Within the tour we are covering Greece, Rome and Asia Minor.  The process each week is simple.  You start with watching the weeks video.  These average at around 45 minutes each. We split the watching some weeks as the content was so full of history we needed some time to absorbe what we had learned.

Upon completing the video you then have the option of using the expanded curriculum options.  These are readings from primary source documents by authors such as:  Virgil, Homer, Plato, Cicero, Pliney the younger and the Bible. Each week the readings are supplied and you have the option of using the online reader, downloading it and printing it or reading in a pdf.

Dave's goal is to take us on a journey through locations from Ancient History  in order to gain a new perspective on the Ancient Empires and their contextual role in the rise of Christianity and Western Civilization.

The Shepherd Faustulus bringing Romulus and Remus to his Wife
nicolas Mignard 1606-1668

Each and every post has beautiful photographs of historical artifacts of interest as well as a beautiful painting referencing the learning.

The side roads are interesting too.  Little tidbits of history.  For example in week 1we read a little bit about the Roman politician and general Mark Antony who served under the leadership of Julius Caesar.

For the Parent

• The curriculum has been writen for ages 12 and up.
• High School students have the opportunity to dig deeper via original source documents, expert papers and short articles which are provided.
• Old students are provided with research essay questions via outside research.
• Younger students (ages 5 to 11) are encouraged to watch the video's and narrate answers to the basic questions.
• The curriculum covers history geography, classic art, archaeology and apologetics. 
• Drive Thru History has been optomised to be used accross multiple platforms (PC, Apple, Google Play, smart phone or tv)
• Adventures TV is included.

Cost of Drive Thru History Adventures

• You have the choice of a monthly subscription OR annual payment.
• Drive Thru History Adventures has a number of promotions running at present:

• Be sure to look through The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine (winter edition) for a special coupon code.
• Drive Thru History® Adventures  is offering a set of The Gospels DVD to those who sign up for an annual subscription (USA residents only)

Recommended Age Range

• 5 to Adult

Connect withDrive Thru History Adventures


Dave shares some fabulous adventures on his YouTube Channel be sure to take a look at:

• Drive Thru Histoy The Gospels
• Drive Thru Histoy America Series
• Drive Thru History Drive Thru History Adventures

Over All We thought ...
Drive Thru History® Adventures is FABULOUS!  Nathaniel begs me to log in and watch each day. We are both looking forward to working our way through all of Dave's video's, seeing history where it took place and enjoying Dave's humour.

Blessings
Chareen

GrapeVine Studies - Birth of Jesus: Multi-Level - {Review}

Over the last few years I have seen the name GrapeVine Studies on a few homeschool blogs and have really wanted to use their products with Nathaniel.  I was very excited to learn that they have a Birth of Jesus: Multi-Level and even more excited when they offered it to the crew to use.

One of the things that attracted me to the study is that your student does not need to be writing at any grade level in order to use it.  Not being able to write does not affect their ability to fully use the curriculum.

Currently they have an Old Testament and New Testament overview, Esther,  Biblical Feasts and Holidays, Old Testament Catechism, Birth of Jesus and The Resurrection studies available. You can download a sample of each study HERE.

What we received

• Birth of Jesus study Student eBook (1.1 MB) - 49 pages consisting of:
  
  • Birth of Jesus Timeline,
  • The Announcement,
  • Birth of Jesus,
  • The Proclamation,
  • The Wise Men and Herod,
  • Final Review,
  • Map
• Birth of Jesus Study Traceable eBook (4.9 MB) - 49 pages consisting of the same as the Student eBook.
• Birth of Jesus Study Teachers Manual (5.24 MB) - 65 pages. This book is divided into:
  
  • About GrapeVine
  • Teacher Goals
  • Student Goals
  • Supply List
  • Teaching mulit-levels
  • Timeline Narrative
  • Lesson Goals/Key Points
  • The Announcement
  • Birth of Jesus
  • Proclamation
  • Wise Men & Herod
  • Final Review
  • Map

How we used the Study

After downloading the three pdf documents I printed both the teachers and student manual for our use.  I only have a black ink printer so our cover is in grey-scale.  The actual product has a beautiful red and green cover. In the multi-level pack you have two options to use for your students.  The one is the basic student pages and the other is in traceable format which is suitable for younger students or students in need of support in their drawing. The only supplies needed for the student are: a bible, the student pages and coloured pencils.   The student needs the following eight colours to use: Purple, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red, Brown and Black.

There is not a lot of prep work involved in using the program. The Teachers Manual is well laid out and all the prep work and lessons are laid out in detail.  The basic frame work is laid out for you and it is up to you on how you present the lessons and to what depth you want to pursue each topic according to your own denominational doctrinal belief.

As a teacher you will need The Teachers manual, 8 coloured markers and a bible dictionary.   Since it's only Nathaniel and I, I chose to use sharpie pens and plain white paper as my delivery medium for the lessons. The manual has two different suggested schedules one is daily lessons and the other is weekly.  We did a weekly lesson.

 The program starts with a timeline of events to help the students understand the sequence of events. There is no guess work on how to draw the pictures or what to say to the students it's all laid out for you in the teachers manual. I appreciated having the stick figure guidelines.  This made for a much simplified lesson.  When I first told Nathaniel we would be drawing pictures he complained because he does not like to colour in.  When he saw that we were drawing stick figures he became very enthusiastic of the program.

Teachers Manual sample page.

Working on the stick-figure timeline.

The next stage consisted of looking up the bible verse and then drawing what we had read.  Nathaniel really enjoyed adding up the total number of generations between Adam and Jesus.

Drawing stick-figures for our lesson.

 After completing the last Student Page it was time to do a drawing review.  This consists of the student drawing their favourite part of the story and writing their memory verse.

This is followed with a final review of the study.  The final review consists of 28 questions covering the events from the announcing the generations between Adam and Jesus up to and including when Mary, Joseph and Jesus return and the Word says He grew.

Each sections we studied also had questions covering the lesson. Some lessons had a set of words to look up in a bible dictionary.  There is also a map to label at the end of the book.

*Cost of GrapeVine Birth of Jesus

• Student Book $8-00
• Teacher Book $12-50
• Traceable Book $8-00
• Student Family eBook $6-50
•  Teacher eBook $10-00
• Traceable Family eBook $8-00

*All prices are current at time of review.  Please check the website for up to date pricing before purchasing. All prices shown are in U.S. dollars.

Recommended Age Range

• Ages 7+

Connect with GrapeVine on Social Media




Over All I thought ...
Nathaniel and I both enjoyed this lesson and look forward to using other GrapeVine products in the future.  He loved the simplicity and that there were no complex drawings and I enjoyed using the Word and coaching him on note taking using stick figures.

The Schoolhouse Review Crew have also reviewed Creation to Jacob.

Blessings
Chareen

Philippians in 28 Weeks {Review}

I've always admired people who memorize complete chapters or books of the bible and wondered how they do it.

For me scripture memorization work has always been difficult.  I hate to learn things by route it's always just been in the to hard basket. This however has never diminished my desire to memorize chapters or books of the bible.  Recently Home School Adventure Co offered us the opportunity to study and memorize the book of Philippians in 28 Weeks.

What we received
We were given Philippians in 28 Weeks ESV eBook version.

The book contains: the story behind memorizing the book of Philippians in 28 weeks, instructions on how to use the program, Chapter 1 - 4, Chapter 1-4 review, the log, the cards and about the author.  There are a number of suggestions on how to use the book and the steps to memorize the book of Philippians are explained in the instructions in the front of the book.

How we used it
I printed two copies of the eBook one double sided for me and one single sided for Sir N.  Having the pages single sided made it much easier for him to do the copy work of each scripture and the fill in notebook pages. I took it to Office Works and had it bound to keep the pages together in one neat book.

We also printed the scripture memory cards and laminated them for durability.

The principle behind the program is summed up in five basic steps

1. Read
2. Record
3. Repeat
4. Review
5. Recite

The recommended pace is to memorize approximately one new verse a day for six days and then recap the verses already learned.  We had every intention of maintaining this rhythm but soon discovered it was not working for us and becoming a chore rather than a joy.  We have since slowed down and are enjoying it much more.

Whenever we start a new verse to memorize we write out the verse in our journal using the copywork page.  Having the scripture already there on the page made it so much easier for Sir N to write and copy.

Sir N copy work

Every six days the journal contains a reflection area where there are specific questions relating to the scriptures you have learned as well as a page to note the insights you have gained from reading through the book of Philippians during the week. These questions are a wonderful tool in helping with your meditation upon the word.  I'm looking forward to seeing what I have learned in the weeks to come as we move through our journey of becomeing a walking epistle once we know the book of Philippians.

Cost of Philipians in 28 Weeks

• ESV / KJV** Complete print edition $28.95
• ESV* Complete eBook edition $14.95
• Philippians memory cards $9.95

* ESV = English Standard Version
** KJV = King James Version

Homeschool Adventure is offering you 10% discount on the following eBook purchases (expires 15 May 2014).

1. Philosophy Adventure
2. Mere Christianity Journal
3. Philippians in 28 Weeks
4. The Wise Woman with Literary Analysis Journal Questions

Use the code: CREW-10 to receive your 10% discount on the download purchases until the 15th May.

Recommended Age Range

• For ages 12 and up. 
• For read aloud and discussion as a family: ages 9-11. 
• High schooler's can do this independently.

Connect with Homeschool Adventure

• Pinterest
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Blog
• Google+

What we thought
If you want to become a walking epistle then Philippians in 28 Weeks is for you.

Spending time in one book of the bible is helping us to better understand and grasp the Word and become better acquainted with it's meaning and more importantly it's application to our lives. The more we memorize the more scripture is permeating our daily living.  I am looking forward to completing this memory challenge and becoming more importantly a living epistle of our Lord and Saviour.

I do hope that Home School Adventure Co produce more books of the bible to memorize in this format.

Blessings
Chareen

Devotions from Genesis {Book Review}

In our family my mother is the one who is keeper of the family tree.  On her journey to create our families heritage she discovered that somewhere far back we are from Jewish decent.  Ever since she shared this with me I have had a deep seeded desire to know more about the Jewish people.  So last month when I heard about the Devotions from the Torah series I couldn't wait to take up the opportunity to use them.  I received a digital copy of the first two books in the series: Devotions from Genesis and Devotions from Exodus Part One.

To meet the author and read an interview be sure to pop on over to Grace-Filled-Moments and read: Meet Nicole Vaughn, Author of Devotions from the Torah

Isn't that an amazing thought ? "God is the only one who ever took absolute nothing and made something." I love knowing the meanings of words and digging deeper.  Nicole says: "When we look at Genesis Chapter one in the light of the Hebrew translations of our English words, we can see intricate details that have often times been overlooked, details that expound upon the character of our Creator."

Within the first pages of this devotional she welcomes you in as a friend, it has an easy conversational tone which is not at all 'preachy' but is as one friend sharing a deep and meaningful insight with another.

The book of Genesis is divided into the following sub-sectiions of study

• Chapter 1-11 Learn to see into your own heart as you look at the lives of those from Adam to Noah.
• Chapters 12-36 Walk the journey of faith. See how God grows your faith through the lives of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
• Chapter 37-50 See the foreshadowing of Christ in the life of Joseph.

In Devotions from Genesis Nicole encourages you to first read your bible then go to the devotional.  It is not scheduled in any way so there is no pressure to read from one item to the next to keep up. I am a busy Mom, Wife and Blogger but my hearts desire is to have hours a day to dig deeper. One of the things I have appreciated is that this devotional is not set up in sections to read.  There are no dates or days of the week with set amounts to read.  I could read from one devotional to the next or simply choose to read one page and meditate on what I had learned.  No pressure.  No feeling like I was getting behind in the "schedule"  I appreciated that Nicole encourages you to follow the many references presented and see how Scripture interprets Scripture. Nicole helps you to discover the heart and character of God as you study and dig deeper into the book of Genesis.

Each devotional is finished with a prayer.  These prayers are different from the traditional one or two line prayers you find in five minute devotions.  These prayers are heartfelt and full of scripture (and their reference points).  They help you to see who God is.  They help your heart and soul to worship and abide in His presence.

Author Nicole Vaughn is the Children’s Ministry Director at Shiloh Baptist Church in Somerville, AL. She is the co-administrator of CrossRoads Christian Academy. She is the founder of Proven Path Ministries. She has also lead inductive Precept Upon Precept studies, has served as an advocate for her local crisis pregnancy center and has shared the testimony of Christ throughout her community and abroad. Nicole is a woman who is dedicated in her faith, devoted to her family, and driven to share the truth of God with others. She and her husband, Patrick, currently reside in Decatur, AL with their two youngest children.

Devotions From Genesis takes you from creation to the bondage of the children of Israel

• ISBN-13: 9781616631505
• Publisher: Tate Publishing & Enterprises, L.L.C.
• Publication date: 7/6/2010
• Pages: 216
• Product dimensions: 5.20 (w) x 8.10 (h) x 0.50 (d)
• Available from Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Amazon Kindle

Devotions From Exodus Part One will take you from the bondage of the children of Israel to their freedom. Devotions from Exodus

• ISBN-13: 9781625101082
• Publisher: Tate Publishing
• Publication date: 10/1/2013
• Pages: 220
• Product dimensions: 5.20 (w) x 8.20 (h) x 0.50 (d)
• Available from Barnes & Noble, Barnes & Noble eBook, Amazon, Amazon Kindle and Christian Book

Connect with Nicole

• Proven Path Ministries Blog
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Pinterest
• Google+
• YouTube

Thank you to Nicole for the opportunity to use these books and dig deeper into the word of the Lord with a Jewish insight.

Blessings
Chareen

Jim Elliot One Great Purpose {Book & Unit Study Review}

I have a confession to make.  I have a love affair with the Christian Heroes: Then & Now books published by YWAM Publishing.  I was deeply impacted when I read my first book in the series and ever since then one of my personal missions has been to collect the full set. In September YWAM blessed our family with the the biography of Jim Elliot and their new Unit Study Curriculum Guide for the book.

YWAM publishing is a ministry of Youth With A Mission {YWAM} and is a non profit organization. They started in 1972 publishing tracts for the Olympics. YWAM Publishing currently publishes well over 2000 titles, videos and CD's.  Christian Hero's is one division that is committed to sharing international inspiring stories of real people who have and continue to impact the world for Christ today.  They work with Emerald Books to provide quality resources for home school families.

We Received

CHRISTIAN HEROES: THEN & NOW
 Jim Elliot: One Great Purpose 

• Author: Janet & Geoff Benge
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 192
• Ages: 10+
• Publisher YWAM Publishing
• ISBN: 1576581462
• SKU: 81462
• Formats Paperback Nook Kindle 
• Available in:  Spanish
• Cost: US $6.99

This book has met my every expectation of Geoff and Janet. It is a twaddle free LIVING book that will take you into the jungles of South America. It is written on a ten year old reading level but is a perfect read aloud for the whole family. Sir N is eight and he is thoroughly enjoying me read this book to him.  He begs me for one more chapter every time we sit down to read it.
 
It is a story of humility and grace.  It shows how the grace of God goes before us and how He works out all things for the good of those who love Him.  From the beginning you are given a sense of Jim Elliot's deep sense of purpose. You gain an appreciation for the difficulty in learning a new language and how frustrating it can be for new missionaries to gain trust and relationship.  You follow the lives of Jim and Betty from courtship to marriage.  A marriage with the single focused vision of missions. A love so deep for each other and the people to whom they minister.

Janet and Geoff take us deep into the jungle and reveal to us the reality of missionary living. The describe in detail the jungle, the people, the physical, emotional and spiritual reality for both the missionary and the unreached people groups living there.

As you read the book you can His hand in bringing together the families that were impacted that fateful day on the beach for one great purpose: His.

In the epilog we read about how that moment in history changed the world for His glory and opened a door to hearts of a new tribe.

CHRISTIAN HEROES: THEN & NOW
Unit Study Curriculum Guide Jim Elliot

• Author: Janet & Geoff Benge
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 62
• Publisher YWAM Publishing
• ISBN: 1576582043
• SKU: 82043 
• Target: Group and Individual study.
• Ages: Year 1 to Adult.
• Cost: US $7.49

A large amount of thought and careful planning has gone into this outstanding unit study. It is comprehensive and covers all the learning areas, taking into consideration learning styles, personality and the ages of the children for whom this study has been compiled. The activities have not been graded or assigned a particular grade level  but they do however progress from simple to more complex in the layout. This guide covers several curriculum areas and some of the topics are

• Student Explorations - essay writing, creative writing, hands-on projects, audio/visual projects, arts/crafts 
• Social Studies - reproducible maps, geography, terms/vocabulary, journey tracking, critical thinking 
• Bible Study - scripture memorization, devotional application, spiritual concepts 
• Community Links - meaningful field trips, guest speakers, service projects 
• Related Themes to Explore - missions, current events, life skills, math, government, science 
• Bibliography or Related Resources - books, movies, documentaries, magazine articles, websites 
• Culminating Event - project displays, cultural food, music, and activities, oral presentations 

This unit study has been compiled to accompany the book Jim Elliot: One Great Purpose. It contains far too much information to possibly cover.  I like the way it offers multiple ideas so that I may pick and choose what to do that suits my student, and my learning outcome desire for our family. All the work was done for me in this unit study even the notebook pages were supplied. We had a world map, country map and country fact sheet to print off and fill in. The only thing I would change would be the flag for Ecuador as the one in the unit study is not complete.

What we did

We are still in the process of enjoying the read aloud together and are looking forward to enjoying many more of the suggestions provided, such as the meals and recommended documentaries. I have printed off the notebook pages and maps and Sir N has been colouring those in. In the weeks to come we will be doing more in depth country studies on Ecuador and completing the country profile provided in the note book pages.

We have had a look at animals of the jungles in South America in our Usborne World Of Animals book.  I found a great photo essay of a 26 Foot Anaconda and I have also manged to find some of the documentaries that are recommended and some others on YouTube which we are working our way through.  When researching Jim on YouTube I also discovered a channel dedicated to clips about him: Jim Elliot.

Sir N has also enjoyed doing leaf and bark rubbings and trying to make clay pots (out of play dough).  We are really enjoying our journey through this book and unit study.

On a side note we received the unit study as a PDF document.  It is currently only available as a book purchase from YWAM publishing.  I really do hope they bring these studies out in a digital format in the future as they would make an excellent addition to the Christian Hero's Then and Now books I already own. Many of my Australian homeschool friends who own the books would like to purchase them too.
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I will certainly use this unit study again in the future when Sir N is a teen and we work our way through our Christian Missionary biography books again.

Blessings
Chareen