The Earth – Its Structure & Its Changes

A few weeks ago, on one of my posts for The Homeschool Mother’s Journal, I confessed to my weakness in teaching science.  I’ve never been a fan of science – as a matter of fact, I don’t remember ever enjoying a science class in school.  If we run out of time during our school days, it’s always science that gets put on hold (and sometimes we never get to it – and I don’t even care!). 

I don’t think my friend Jennifer, from New Leaf Publishing, had any idea that I was this much of a science failure when she decided to send me The Earth – Its Structures & Its Changes by Tom DeRosa and Carolyn Reeves.  I’m thinking it was definitely a God-thing, because who better to review a science curriculum than a person who has issues teaching science?! 

Here is what the New Leaf website has to say about this book:

The Earth: Its Structure & Its Changes is a study of the fascinating world of geology. With explanations of how our Earth was shaped, this elementary science curriculum gives evidence to the Genesis Flood, accompanying earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and other powerful processes. Students will explore 20 “investigations” through experiments and a very specific learning progression.

The Investigate the Possibilities learning progression:
Engage - Students make a note of what they know or have experienced about the topic.
Investigate - Students will follow the instructions and make observations of what happens.
Explain - Students will begin to understand the science behind what they observed in the investigation.
Apply - Here, the understanding of the investigation is related to other situations and ideas.
Expand -Each investigation also includes a few “Dig Deeper” projects to further understanding.
Assess - Students explain what they have learned.

Students will examine natural occurrences such as mountains, volcanoes, rocks, minerals, crystals, water, and dirt (just to name a few). By using household items such as hard boiled eggs, oranges, measuring cups, maps, clay and markers, these scientific truths will come to life.

This title contains a full circle view of geology, creation, and history. All three of these topics are combined to create the big picture for your student and develop a stronger root in their faith. Also available is the combined teacher’s guide and student journal.

While geology is at the heart of this newest book in the Investigate the Possibilities series, other titles within this series include: Forces & Motion, Matter, and Energy. These are perfect for elementary education, grades 3^rd-6^th.

Authors Tom DeRosa and Carolyn Reeves are committed biblical creationists with a combined 60 years teaching science. Both are excellent at helping students experience science concepts in the world around them.

Here are the things that I like about this book:

• It’s Biblical and God-honoring
• Each lesson (called an “Investigation”) is short and broken up into smaller segments – this makes this curriculum easy to schedule – you can do a few segments each day, or do the entire Investigation all in one day – whatever works best for you and/or your child
• The Think About This section is personal – the stories get the child involved in the lesson and wanting to learn more
• The Procedure & Observation section is very well laid out – the steps are simple to follow.  The items needed to perform the experiments are almost all items you probably already have laying around your house – and they are  broken out in such a way that you don’t have to go searching for them within the text.
• The Science Stuff portions are very informative without sounding too “textbooky”.
• I love the Making Connections section (tying the learning together with life) and the Dig Deeper ideas (these would be great for getting older kids involved as well). 
• The What Did You Learn? section is a great way to wind up each lesson and will help the homeschool parent determine what the child is retaining and where more study may need to be done.  These can be done orally or on paper, and could actually be used as quizzes, if desired.
• The Teacher’s Guide contains the full text of the book (love that!) In addition, it contains objectives for each lesson, extra notes, and answers to the What Did You Learn? questions. It also includes some ideas for further study and resources that are available from the publisher for those who want to learn more.
• The back of the Teacher’s Guide contains reproducible Student Journal forms.  I love these!  There is one for each lesson. They contain the Procedure and Observation activities and places to record your experience with it, as well as a place to illustrate what you’ve learned.  The What Did you Learn? questions are also on these forms. 

Gracie and I have done the first several investigations contained within this study.  They are quick and painless and – dare I say it? – even FUN!  I would definitely be interested in adding the rest of the books from this series to our homeschool.  If you have a science-minded child, these would make great personal reading as well!

You can learn more about The Earth – Its Structure & Its Changes at Inspire4Less.  The price is very affordable, at only $10.40 for the paperback student book and $5.39 for the accompanying Teacher’s Guide and Student Journal.

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On February 22nd, at 8pm (CST), we will be having a Twitter party to discuss this  book and several other new resources from New Leaf Publishing.  We’d love to have YOU participate with us!  (I’m totally new to Twitter parties, so this will be an interesting experience for me!)

Hashtag for the party is #masterbooks.

If you would like to check out the other books that will be discussed, you can do so by visiting the links below:

Case of the Missing Mountain by Kim Jones  - My Home in the Smokies

Passport to the World by Craig Froman – Mama Hall

Dragons: Legends & Lore of Dinosaur by Master Books – Daze of Adventure

Hope to see you at the party!

NOTE: I received a free copy of the above-mentioned curriculum in order to use it in my homeschool and share my honest opinion of it. I have not been compensated in any other way.

Marvels of Creation by Buddy & Kay Davis

Did You Know?

The skin on a walrus can be over three inches thick and the fat under it up to six inches thick, protecting this amazing creature from the 100º below temperatures of the Arctic.

A giant squid’s eye can measure up to nine inches across.

What an incredible design these animals have! The Master Creator made such wonderful and beautiful animals for our enjoyment!
Children and adults both will delight in this illustrated guide to birds of the world. Filled with spectacular photographs and “bird brevities”- it is great for any home or school library.

And God created…every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good (Genesis 1:21).

8 X 8 • Casebound • 80 pages

Buddy Davis is a speaker and singer/songwriter for Answers in Genesis (AiG) in Hebron, Kentucky. There he leads the “Creation Adventure” children’s workshop at AiG conferences. His easy-to understand style makes him popular with listeners of all ages and he plays a variety of acoustic and folk-style instruments.

Heidi Says . . . We love this book.  My 9-year-old has  been studying swimming creatures throughout her 5th grade year, and I thought this book would tie in perfectly.  I was not disappointed. 

Each 2-page spread of Marvels of Creation – Sensational Sea Creatures contains a full-page picture (in full color) on the left hand side, and an information page on the right.  In addition to the information, each page also contains a box with extra information about each creature, such as scientific name, length, weight, life span, special design features, and a “did you know?” fact.  The color pictures are real photographs, and are bright and eye-catching.  The information is easy to read, yet very informative and interesting. 

Not only would this book make a great supplement to any marine life study, but it’s also just plain fun.  This is definitely a book that we will pick up and look at over and over again throughout the years.  My youngest (4) loves looking at the pictures, while the rest of us very much enjoy the information gained from this book. 

One of my favorite aspects of this book is the fact that it is written from a Christian perspective.  I love this quote, taken directly from the introduction:

“It say in the Bible that God created the sea creatures on day five. In most of the books, films, or programs you see today, God is not even mentioned, but these media are filled with evolutionary theories stated as facts. This book is meant to give God the glory for creating these wonderful creatures of the sea.” [emphasis mine]

I would highly recommend this book.  If you’re looking for other books where God is the focus, check out New Leaf Publishing.

The World of Chemistry by John Hudson Tiner

Chemistry is an amazing branch of science that affects us every day, yet few people realize it, or even give it much thought. Without chemistry, there would be nothing made of plastic, there would be no rubber tires, no tin cans, no television, no microwave ovens, or something as simple as wax paper.

This book presents an exciting and intriguing tour through the realm of chemistry as each chapter unfolds with facts and stories about the discoveries and discoverers. Find out why pure gold is not used for jewelry or coins. Join Humphry Davy as he made many chemical discoveries, and learn how they shortened his life. See how people in the 1870s could jump over the top of the Washington Monument.

Exploring the World of Chemistry brings science to life and is a wonderful learning tool with many illustrations, biographical information, chapter tests, and an index for easy referencing.

160 pages • 8 1/2 x 11 • Paperback • Includes Black & White illustrations

Other books in this series can be found here.

Heidi Says . . . This book came to us at exactly the right time.  My 16 year old daughter and I were plugging away at chemistry and wondering why in the world we were wasting our time!  John Hudson Tiner’s Exploring the World of Chemistry actually makes sense!  Now, we not only know why people study chemistry, but we also understand how various things are made. We learned how chemistry ties in with a lot of the things that we are using in our day-to-day lives.  And, guess what?  We’re pretty amazed by chemistry now!

If you’re trudging along through chemistry with no end in sight, I’d highly recommend adding this book as a supplement to whatever chemistry curriculum you are using.  It’s very simple to read, there are black and white illustrations throughout, and each (short) chapter concludes with a question section (these work great for quizzes). 

I will definitely consider adding more books in this series to our school shelves in the future.