As part of The Schoolhouse Review Crew, I received Geography I from Memoria Press to review.

Disclosure: I received no other compensation for this review. My opinions are my own.

 

Memoria Press is a family run publishing company that has been producing classical education materials since 1994. I had never used anything from Memoria Press before, so I was excited to try this Geography 1 course.

 

Geography 1 is written for grades 4th thru 8th. Included in the set are:

Geography I Text
Geography I Workbook
Geography I Teacher Guide
United States Review Student
United States Review Key, Quizes, and Tests

You can see samples of the Table of Contents, a text sample, and a workbook sample on the website. Geography 1 covers the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe, the area that constituted the ancient Roman Empire. Each country has a two page spread. The reading text and country information on the left, with a “History Headlines” section, and a “Tour of Today” section. A large map takes up the whole page on the right. In the Student Workbook, each country has one page with questions & fill in the blank answers on the top, and a map on the lower half of the page. There are also review pages through out the student workbook.

This Geography 1 set also includes The United States review books. These books don’t contain any lessons, just lists of info, maps to fill out, and questions to answer. What you would expect in a review book. It is very thorough, though, and can be used before or after the Geography 1 books.

 

 

Memoria Press Geography 1 Review

I used Geography 1 with my 12 year old son that is going into the 7th grade.  He used both books at the same time, usually on the same days. Zach averaged 4 days a week with both books. He really loved these books, and would often do more than the one lesson a day that I required of him. On his own. Without my asking him to. Many days, he would go back later in the afternoon and get the books out again to do some more. I lost track of how many times he called out, “Mom! Did you know….?”  or “This says……I didn’t know that!”   He only has one page left to do in The United States Book, States and Capitals, which is 25 pages long. He is over halfway through the Geography 1 book, he has completed page 50 of the 90 back student workbook. He really liked the way the information was presented in this course, and if he continues to do well with the rest of the book like I think he will, I will get him the Geography 2 course next. We have other geography resources here, but he has done so well with this first book, I think he will benefit greatly from doing Geography 2.

In the above picture, you can see a page from the Geography 1 Student Workbook on the left, and a page from The United States Student Workbook on the right. Both of these are a fair representation of what the rest of each book is like.

The Geography 1 set sells for $48 on the website at the time of this review. Books may also be purchased individually. Great if you are using this with more than one student & need extra books because these student workbooks are consumable with no permission to copy for family use.

 

 

As part of The Schoolhouse Review Crew I received two eBooks, Bible Science Experiments and 100 Simple Service Projects,  from Christianity Cove to review.

Disclosure: I received no compensation for this review. My opinions are my own.

Christianity Cove has over 25 products for use in churches, other ministries and classrooms. All of their teaching products are digital, so you can download and get started right away.

Bible Science Experiments contains 25 fun, hands-on, and easy science experiments that teach a Biblical truth. Bible Science Experiments is written for ages 5-12. I used this ebook with my 12 year old, 6th grade son. He thought the experiments were way to easy for him. I happen to agree. I think this would be better suited for lower elementary grades, Pre-K thru third.

Each experiment starts with a Bible verse, then lists the materials required. All  the materials are easy to find, you probably have them at home already. The section continues with the steps for the experiment, followed by the answer, and an explanation in scientific terms. Every experiment ends with an Understanding God section. Each experiment takes only 5-10 minutes, including the readings.

The experiments are divided into five groups – Light, Color, Motion, Magnetism, and Gravity. There are 5 experiments in each group.

The instructions are easy to follow, the experiments simple, with minimal clean up. My son’s favorite experiment was the Coins in Motion Show God’s Protection. The only materials required are a quarter and your student. The Bible verse for this experiment is Psalm 37:24 Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholds him with His hand.

In this experiment, you put a quarter on your elbow and put your arm down very fast to catch the quarter in your hand. Zach had never down this before, but it only took him a couple of tries to be able to catch the quarter. Here’s a video of him doing it. Sorry for the sideways video, I don’t usually take videos with this camera.

 

I also received 100 Simple Service Projects. This ebook contains 100 service project ideas for children in Pre-K-6th grade. 100 Simple Service Projects is divided into 5 sections, Service to the Family, Service To Those In The Neighborhood, Service to the Community, Service to Large Charities in America & Overseas, and Helping Kids Who Want to Start Their Own Charity.

 

The Service to Family section has printable coupons for the kids to use for helping a parent, helping a sibling, and helping a grandparent.

The Service To Those In The Neighborhood is full of suggestions the children can use bless their neighbors. A list of work that the child can do, such as raking leaves, and walking a pet. Another list has lots of fun stuff for the neighborhood to do,  a block party, kids play, or a neighborhood walking tour.

In Service to the Community, there are lots of ideas for helping the elderly, children, animals & wildlife, and the environment. For this level of service, our family runs our church’s clothes closet. We spend 2-3 hours every week sorting donated clothing and opening it to the public. This is a great family ministry.

If you’ve been wanting to find a way to instill service to others in your children, 100 Simple Service Projects will help guide your family to find a ministry to work in together, or start our own ministry according to your children’s and family’s interest.

 

Bible Science Experiments sells for $25. and 100 Simple Service Projects sells for $19.95 on the website at the time of this review.

 

To read other reviews, visit The Schoolhouse Review Crew

As part of The Schoolhouse Review Crew, I received the book One Minute Mysteries: 65 More Short Mysteries You Solve With Science! from Science Naturally to review. Science Naturally is an independent press that produces interesting math and science books, booklets, and apps. One Minute Mysteries: 65 More Short Mysteries You Solve With Science is written by father – daughter team Eric Yoder and Natalie Yoder. Their books have won multiple awards.

One Minute Mysteries: 65 More Short Mysteries You Solve With Science, written for kids ages 8-12, is the second book in the science series. You can read a mystery sample here. These fun brain teasers get kids thinking about science to solve the mysteries. Each story takes about one minute to read. They are fun little stories that engage children and keep them interested in solving the mysteries. The story is on one side of the page, with the answer to the mystery on the back side of the page.

I used One Minute Mysteries: 65 More Short Mysteries You Solve With Science with my 12 year old, 6th grade son. I started out reading the stories out loud to him. After a few days, he switched to reading the stories himself. His choice. Most days he read one story, but some days he read several because he was so interested in the stories, that he just kept reading. Since the answer to the mystery is on the back side of the page, kids can read this book themselves and still be able to solve the mystery without seeing the answer.

I like that there is an index in the back of the book, making it easy for kids to refer back to the book again and again. There are a lot of black and white pictures in the book, and even a chart about mineral hardness.

 

With One Minute Mysteries: 65 More Short Mysteries You Solve With Science, kids will be able to use their critical thinking skills, while learning more about science. My son enjoyed reading this book, and I did, too. He would often ask questions about the science in the stories. This book gets kids thinking and talking about science. This book is a great supplement to your science curriculum. I think it would make a great gift, too. One Minute Mysteries are a great way to start the school day, or draw the kids back into school after a lunch break.

“I liked that the stories were short. I liked reading one a day.” – Zach

 

There’s a section in the back of this book with 5 One Minute Mysteries You Solve With Math. A great way to preview the math mysteries.

One Minute Mysteries 65 More Short Mysteries You Solve With Science sells on the website for $9.99. Right now, when you use coupon code   3SPEC you can purchase any 3 books on the website for $19.95 plus $2.95 shipping. That’s a $12.90 savings.

 

 

 

 

 

As part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew, I received the Hands-On History Lap-Pak: The 20th Century in America from  Home School in the Woods to review. Homes School in the Woods supplies history studies and hands on history materials, including Lap Paks, maps and timelines as downloads and on cds. I received the Hands On History Lap Pak: The 20th Century in America as a download.

The Hands On History Lap Pak: The 20th Century in America includes the lessons, reading material, and hands on projects for grades 3-8. This study of the 20th century in America covers many topics – famous people, inventions, science, the Stock Market Crash, slang terminology, and a timeline.

I liked that the reading text included two formats to print,a 5.5″ x 8.5″ booklet that stores nicely in the lap book, or a full size page booklet. Either of those formats can be printed on two sided sheets, thus using less paper. I chose to print the full size pages for my son. You can see the smaller booklet in the picture below.

 

When you use this Lap Pak study, it opens as an html, in your internet browser. Most days, I just opened the files without using the html files, which makes it convenient to use without internet access. The html menu contains photos so you can see full color pictures of each finished project. Using just the files, you have drawings in the directions to see what each project looks like. So whatever your preference, internet or not, you can see what each project looks like.

The printable project masters are very detailed, as you can see from the picture above.  The step by step directions tell you what to print on what day. There are directions telling you which pages to print on colored paper and which ones to print on white paper, using card stock or regular paper. It even suggests what color paper to use. You can certainly print them all on white paper and have the kids color them instead. There are complete, easy to understand directions for each project. Most are not complicated, after reading the directions to my son, he could do them easily. The projects are assembled with a variety of items, glue stick, staples, and double sided tape. The directions clearly state which item to use, and when.

 

The other lap books that we have made had us put each project in the lap book as we went along. This one had us save the projects in a plastic zip bag until we had finished them all, then put them into the lap book. It worked out well.

Some of the projects for this Lapbook include the World Wars & other conflicts, medical advancements, modern missionaries, authors, literature, and music, sports people, fashion and even the food of the time.

I used the Hands On History Lap Pak: The 20th Century in America with my 12 year old 6th grade son. Each day that we worked on it, I would tell him what pages in the booklet to read, then I would give him the corresponding projects to complete. I would read the directions out loud while he worked on the projects. The projects are varied in design and style so the student doesn’t get tired of working on all the projects.

The reading text included has all the information you need to complete this lap book. There is a list of reading materials for you to use to dig deeper into the topics with your student. My son hadn’t studied this time period in his history book, so the reading text included was perfect for him. If you’ve covered the 20th century before with your students, you might choose to use some of the suggested reading materials, which includes links and literature selections. This Lap Pak is easy enough for third graders to complete, with enough information to help eighth graders learn about this era.

The Hands On History Lap Pak: The 20th Century in America is available as a download, like I received, for $21.95. A CD is also available for $22.95.