Progeny Press, The Silver Chair ~ A Homeschool Crew Review

Progeny Press is a company which produces quality literature study guides written from a Christian perspective.  The Gilleland family homeschools and operates Progeny Press.  Some guides are written by the Gillelands and some by others.  Each unit study is peer reviewed by pastors and teachers before release. 

My punks are getting older, and the literature they read should also be aging with them.  We enjoy the Narnia series and were happy to read one book of C.S. Lewis' famous saga for this unit.  The Silver Chair E-Guide (Grades 5-7) by Carol Clark, is an interactive guide, as are all the electronic titles in grades 4-12.  This means that the 52 page file can be opened in Adobe Acrobat or other PDF reader and filled out on the computer.  The student can then use the Save As feature to save the e-guide with their work in the document.  A parent or teacher then can use the included answer key to check the students answers.  Many of the answers are in a short essay style and could not be automatically graded, regardless.



It was simple to download the interactive e-guide and answer key.  A copy of The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis is required to complete the e-guide.  You can order a copy of the book from Progeny Press or elsewhere, check the library, or look on your shelf at home.  I have learned the hard way to check my bookshelf first!  Though you may want to save the money by borrowing from the library, due to the time commitment it would make more sense to borrow from a friend or purchase a copy.   You'll also need a Bible, a dictionary, and a thesaurus.

The Silver Chair Study Guide is available as the instant interactive e-guide, on CD, and as a printed workbook.  Each version has different aspects that you might want to consider before making your purchase.  The e-guide provides instant access and is reproducible within a family or classroom.  It cannot be resold like a book, nor can it be returned for refund.  I really appreciate the instant access of the e-guide and that I can use this again when Merrick is older.

The length of time required to complete a Progeny Press Study Guide is approximately two months or more.  The earlier grades do take less time than the upper grades, though.  In The Silver Chair E-Guide, you cover two to four chapters at a time.  If you are new to Progeny Press, I do suggest you read over the short Note to Instructor.  It's only a page or so, and will give you a rough outline of how the guide is intended to be used and how to use them for high school credits, as well as a bit of other information about usage.

The first few pages also include a brief synopsis of the book and an author biography.  Prereading Activities are suggested for the first week.  In this particular middle school level e-guide, reading The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is recommended as one of the main characters in The Silver Chair happens to have already visited Narnia in that installment.  Other ideas include learning about caves and researching "allusion" and related places/things from the novel.

Then the lit guide really begins with five pages covering chapters 1-2, with "Vocabulary" written in context, "Questions" about the actual text of the story (#5 List the four things Jill is to remember.), "Thinking about the Story" (foreshadowing, simile, etc), "Dig Deeper" (which requires a bit more thought to answer and also brings in Bible ties), and two Optional Activities.  Each week is similar, sometimes requiring Bible readings, dictionary searches, or suggesting discussion or writing topics.

The e-guide ends with some after reading activities which include writing, drawing, and designing activities.  This is followed by a list of related book titles.  Some are other of C.S. Lewis books and others are just books that readers of The Silver Chair might enjoy.  Several of the books in the list also have corresponding guides available from Progeny Press.

The nine page answer key arrives as a separate file.  It is just the answers.  While some of the answers can only be right or wrong, some of the answers are a bit more essay style and will be up to a bit of interpretation.  To grade the subjective answers, a parent or teacher would be required to also be familiar with the book.  I always enjoy these questions with Xavier.  He (ALWAYS) has a lot to say, but it's nice to chat with him about how he felt about an event that happened or how a person behaved, rather than Lego or Minecraft!


We did not use The Silver Chair E-Guide every day.  It was summer after all, and though we school year round, the punks definitely deserve some short days or even days off in this very abbreviated Vermont season.  We do sometimes do more than one page in a day, though, so having finished reading chapter nine and completed the corresponding section of the guide, we are more than half way through the study guide in about 6 weeks.  We discuss different parts of the book as well as completing the work in the guide, but we don't really do much with the Optional Activities section.  The activities look great and I'd love to do them, but the punks are on the low end of the range for this e-guide and I opted to keep us moving through the book (which keeps them attentive) rather than have them spend a considerable amount of time on the extra things.  You know your family best and I'm sure many fifth graders would enjoy that part.  I know *I* would have, once upon a time.

I read the book out loud, completing the chapters for the section before we started the Q&A parts.  Many of the questions, we answered orally as we sat together.  Sometimes, this works great for us and other times, Xavier monopolizes the question and answer session and I have to be very intentional about giving Malachi the opportunity to give his answers.  He tends to automatically answer, "I don't know," without giving it any real thought, while Xav is chomping at the bit to respond.  I have to back one up and just sit and wait while the other thinks it through.  Do you have that one kiddo who just wants to answer everything like it's a race?  Having them write answers is more time consuming, but often gives my "reluctant to answer" child a chance to shine.

Another thing we do a bit differently with the literature study e-guides from Progeny Press is *not* using them on the computer.  With two of them working on the computer, it would take forever as they are not good typists yet.  But Mal has a real issue with writing spaces and oversized letters.  Last time I reviewed a Progeny Press study guide (The Sword in the Tree), I realized I could add lines in the editable section of the file.  Then I save it that way and now when I print the pages, lines are already there for him to write on and guide him to consistently size his letters.

We're enjoying The Silver Chair and the Study Guide for Literature.  The punks are improving thinking, vocabulary, and writing skills.  I was surprised how attentive they are becoming as they get older.  As soon as I mentioned that the woman with the knight wore a green dress, Xav shouted, "Wait a minute, a green dress?" and the wheels were turning.

Others in The Crew are also reviewing The Silver Chair E-Guide as well as several other Progeny Press literature study guides.  Click the banner below to see what they thought about these guides.

• The Bears on Hemlock Mountain E-Guide (Grades 1-3)
• Charlotte’s Web E-Guide (Grades 4-6)
• Macbeth E-Guide (Grades 9-12)

I previously reviewed an upper elementary e-guide written for The Sword in the Tree by Clyde Robert Bulla.  While the guides are very similar, there is a marked difference in the reading and comprehension level required for the middle school level e-guide and book, The Silver Chair.

The Mission of Progeny Press
"To teach our children to think clearly, to understand literature, and to rely on the scripture for truth and values, and enjoy themselves while they do it!"


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A Journey Through Learning ~ A Homeschool Crew Review

A Journey Through Learning Lapbooks are an enjoyable introduction to many topics.  If you have crafty, hands on type kids and your family appreciates unit studies, like we do, they will love the variety of components in these lapbook units.  I received a download version of The Greatest Inventors.  I chose that study because the punks are very interested in learning about inventors.  The best part was that some of the inventors covered in this study are people they had never heard of and I may not have even thought to mention to them under other circumstances.


The 66 page The Greatest Inventors lapbook is for children in grades 2-8.  A study guide is included and provides all of the information needed to complete the lessons.  It's available both as a PDF ($8) or a printed color copy mailed to you ($18).

The unit requires basic lapbooking supplies; mainly file folders, glue, scissors, writing utensils, and a stapler.  Of course, for the PDF version, you'll need a computer and printer.

Once I downloaded the lapbook, all I needed to do to get started was prepare the file folders and print the components.  Inventors is a rather large lapbook set, requiring *three* file folders.  For small lapbooks, I generally don't do the refolding of the file folders and just rearrange a couple of components.  This time, though, not refolding the file folders would have meant making myself more work.  I don't like more work.  It was easy to teach the bigger punks how to make the 3 folder booklets.  Even Merrick (K/1st) learned to fold the folders and glue them together to make this giant lapbook.

All of the instructions for assembling the file folders and making, folding, and placing the minibooks are easy to follow.  Once the folders were prepared and the components were printed, the punks got to do their favorite part.  They each created and drew an invention of their own to add to the covers.

The included study guide has a page or two of information to help the students complete the components that follow it.  While I think it is "enough" information for the early elementary grades, I thought the older punks needed supplemental information.  One of the pages included at the end of the lapbook is a booklist for recording other books that are being read to complement the study guide.  We have loads of books that could be connected to The Greatest Inventors lapbook, so that was simple enough and didn't even require a trip to the library.

Along with that reading record, I found some notebooking and enrichment pages, a book report template, narration pages for the littles, and an outline form.  We didn't use the outline form at all yet, but I can see it is going to be invaluable in helping the boys learn how to organize information they want to write about.  I love it!

There are 21 minibook components in this lapbooking unit, seven for each folder.  The inventors run the gamut - across the centuries (1400s-1900s) and from the obvious choices (Ben Franklin and Leonardo DaVinci) to lesser known, but important inventors through history that I might not have even thought of on my own (George Eastman and John Deere).  George Stephenson was probably the favorite in this house!

All the inventors featured in this study are

• Johannes Gutenberg
• Benjamin Franklin
• John Deere
• Wilber and Orville Wright
• Guglielmo Marconi
• George Eastman
• Louis Braille
• Eli Whitney
• Leonardo daVinci
•  Robert Fulton
• Thomas Jefferson
• Galileo Galilei
• George Stephenson
• Thomas Edison
• Jonas Salk
• George Washington Carver
• Henry Ford
• Alexander Graham Bell

The minibooks can be a simple, single fold, a tri-fold, or accordion fold.  Some are pages of various widths or heights that can be stacked and act as tabs for the recorded information.  

I like how easy, A Journey Through Learning has made placing the minibooks in the file folders.  There is a handy guide in the upper corner of each component page which shows placement and explains exactly how to assemble the minibook and what to record in the spaces of each book.  Either there are questions to answer, something to draw, or something to restate in your own words.

Oops!  That one page did confuse me for a minute.  Ben Franklin had that placement in folder #1!

This video that explains What is a Lapbook.  In it, they walk you step by step through building the Light lapbook.  Check it out.

This is a great little inventor study!  The rest of The Crew reviewed this lapbook as well as a few others.  Are you and your family taking part in Classical Conversations?  How about Apologia's science curriculum?  A Journey Through Learning has lapbooks to accompany your studies.  But the great thing about their lapbooks is this - you don't even *have* to be studying something already.  You can choose from, literally, hundreds of titles that can stand on their own!  AJTL has single folder ("express") lapbooks to as many as three folders, like our Greatest Inventors lapbook.  Click the banner below to read about some of the other options.

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Heirloom Audio's In the Reign of Terror ~ A Homeschool Crew Review

We love the Heirloom Audio Productions audio theater here. I have all but two. For now. This time, we were whisked away to France during the French Revolution. In the Reign of Terror actually begins in America, with Mr. George in Arlington Cemetary. As usual, our boisterous story teller has found a willing listener to one of his many amazing tales. Young American Harry is about to be treated to the telling of young British Harry and his time abroad. We head to France along with Harry as he is sent to spend some time with a Marquee and his family.

Harry knows there is a troubling time ahead, as Paris is in turmoil, but his father is confidant that things will soon settle down. Through several harrowing minor adventures, Harry earns a place in the hearts of the Marquee's family members. But the real adventure hasn't even yet begun.

As I researched this G.A. Henty title, I was a little concerned about the amount of death that would be taking place in this story. My middle little punk is so tenderhearted and the French Revolution was a very dark time. The death is terrible and even some major characters lose their lives, but through it all, they are more likely a second hand mention, and we are not privy to the actual acts. That isn't to say there are no disturbing passages. No one skirts around the horrible ways many of the deaths happen, it just isn't highlighted. It is just mentioned in as sensitive a manner as possible. We've listened to In the Reign of Terror several times in the past few weeks. I've had to answer some questions with sad answers. Unfortunately, 1790s France isn't the only time in history with sad answers.

One thing I really liked was the juxtaposition of the French Revolution and America's Revolution (or War of Independence). Henty repeatedly contrasts the two events. While they took place closely together in time, the differences were startling. God was generally foremost in the hearts and thoughts of the colonists, while Europe was experiencing the Age of Enlightenment, in which man did not need a god to attain perfection. While researching more about the Enlightenment period, I saw the two revolutions lumped together, rather than different. I liked hearing and reading Henty's opinions on the relationships and differences. One thing I think was most important is that *in general* the American war was fought as soldiers against soldiers, while the French war was largely a people (the common people) pitted against a people (the wealthy nobility and the clergy). Age, guilty involvement, treatment of the poor in general were not taken into consideration.

Admittedly, most of my knowledge of the French Revolution and Reign of Terror actually comes from viewing The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982). Let's just say, funny as it is, it may have left some gaps in my knowledge. While I still don't know everything about this period, Henty and Heirloom Audio Productions has helped me round out that knowledge.

As always, the actors are stellar, the screen play is phoenomenal, and the sound track and audio effects stir something in our very hearts. Brian Blessed, as G.A. Henty (Mr. George) is so memorable and imposing. I confess, his story telling is one of my favorite parts of every one of Heirloom Audio's productions. When I read Heirloom Audio's Facebook updates, I read them in his booming voice. They might (or might not) have a tiny little 20 year old woman on their social media, but she sure sounds like Brian Blessed to me!

Some things about Heirloom Audio Productions have changed since I last wrote a review for them. The helpful study guide is no longer included as a download bonus when you purchase the CDs or MP3s. Those are now part of the Live the Adventure Club. The club is a subscription to the online service and the bonuses are included in that. With club membership, you receive several bonuses which include the study guide, lots of unique resources, a forum, and soundtracks and ebooks for the Heirloom Audio adventures you own. Club membership also includes THREE physical CDs sent out yearly. YIPPEE! More for listening on those long car rides.

Anyway, about that study guide. My one problem with the guide is that the beautiful pages are not printer friendly. I will say this every time I review it until there is a black ink on white paper only option. The guide is broken down into questions for each track of the audio. Each set of questions is divided into three types: Listening Well – a sort of comprehension section, Thinking Farther – which requires the student to consider motives of the characters and use other critical thinking skills, and The Defining Words – or vocabulary.  I really like the Thinking Further section, though it's the hardest part for my punks.  It asks questions like "The Bible forbids rulers and judges from taking bribes (cites verses)...  Do you think it is wrong to bribe an official in order to get real justice?  Explain your answer."

One thing we like about the study guides, which really make a nice unit, is that there is generally a recipe in them. The study guide for In the Reign of Terror has a brioche recipe. I want to make it! But it's summer. I will probably have to take the toaster oven out on the porch so I can bake some bread soon. Otherwise, it's going to have to wait a month or two.

The guide also includes short biographies of G.A. Henty, Robespierre, and Marie Antoinette, and further information about the Age of Enlightenment and the French Revolution. Expand Your Learning segments and photographs are inset on several pages throughout it. Further study suggestions are listed, including the book the script writers were asked to read. Bible studies follow, with the topics “When God Means Evil for Good,” “Resisting Tyranny,” and “True Manliness.”

Heirloom Audio Productions' CDs are well loved in our homeschool.  Check out the Live the Adventure Club and receive Captain Bayley's Heir.  Get to know some of the Heirloom Audio folks and chat with other parents.  You'll find unique resources and plenty of fun activities for your punks, too.




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Doctor Aviation ~ A Homeschool Crew Review

When Doctor Aviation showed up on my radar (couldn't help it), I was really excited because we were able to view the first video in the online six month aviation video training course in its entirety.  It looked like so much fun!  The boys declared it to be "AMAZING."  Even though the full course is intended for ages 16+, I requested to review the program with my punks.

When we watched the first video lesson, I did not get the feeling it was just for high school.  Then I discovered there are some pretty heavy lesson plans included that contain guided notes, To Learn More document, and exams.  I really thought the video was appropriate for upper elementary and middle school.  They definitely enjoyed it and got a lot out of it.  By adding in the various other elements, this course is credit worthy for high school.  Some lessons could easily take two weeks.

Each of the 15 lessons is made up of the available documents (listed above) and a video of approximately an hour long (some longer, some shorter).  They aren't flashy and "exciting," but are filmed more as a lecture, like you would receive in any course intended for high school or college aged students.  There are some slides or video clips, but for the most part, Doctor Aviation stands near a plane (different throughout the videos) and lectures.  That was fine for me, but thankfully for the punks, the videos are divided into three sections;

• Technical Trivia, 
• Notable Innovators, and 
• Legendary Aircraft/events.  

This made it easier to break up the viewing and spread it out a bit.  It wasn't my original intention, but it helped to better keep the punks' attention.  I do wish there was a more notable break in the videos, though so I could easily go back to the segment we left off from.  When we finished a lesson, we could mark it complete and the program would open at the appropriate lesson the next time.  I actually rarely did that because we broke up the videos by segments and it was easy to get where I wanted to be right from the dashboard.

My personal favorite segment was Notable Innovators.  I loved learning about The Wright Brothers, Chuck Yeager, and Amelia Earhart.  Some of the people we'll learn about in future lessons are Neil Armstrong, Nate Saint (we actually studied him earlier this year), and Charles Lindbergh.

It was really fun to be learning specifically about Amelia Earhart just when the information about her possible fate, determined via a "lost photo" came out on the news.  You can read Doctor Aviation's blog and see what he thought about it.  He has a lot of interesting posts on there about many aviation related topics.


This is the course overview.
Session 1 Course Overview: The Aviation System
I. The Aircraft
Session 2 The Major Components of an Airplane
Session 3 Axes and Forces
Session 4 Why an Aircraft Flies: The Secret of Airfoils and Lift
Session 5 Why an Aircraft Turns, Pitches and Slides: The Flight Controls
II. Air Traffic Control
Session 6 How We See an Aircraft Miles Away: The Secrets of Radar
Session 7 The Air Traffic Cops: How Air Traffic Control Works
III. Maintenance
Session 8 Keep ‘Em Flying: Aircraft Maintenance – Propeller Engines
Session 9 Keep ‘Em Flying: Aircraft Maintenance – Jet Engines
IV. Airfield Operations
Session 10 The City in and of Itself: Running a Large Airport
Session 11 The Small Airport and Running an FBO
V. The Aircraft II
Session 12 Flying in the Clear and Not so Clear Air: VMC and IMC
Session 13 Important Pilot Instruments – Attitude Indicator
Session 14 Important Pilot Instruments – Airspeed Indicator
Session 15 Other Aviation Ships: Gliders, Helicopters, Airships

Guided notes follow the video pretty closely and are pretty easy to fill in as you go.  I rarely needed to pause a video for that purpose, so things kept flowing nicely.  I printed the notes and To Learn More documents and put them all in a handy folder.

The "To Learn More" document lists book, website, and video suggestions to enhance the learning from the video lesson.  It also includes hands-on activities, films, and research and writing assignments.  I actually borrowed *grown up* books from our library for this course.  Crazy, I know!  The best part was finding books for the punks that were suitable for their age and ability.  There were a few picture books for Merrick and several biographies in the juvenile section of the library for the bigger littles.



Dr. Aviation Intro Video from Daryl Smith on Vimeo.


We watched - rather than read - The Right Stuff, which I found out was really Not Kid Friendly.  Ahem.  That's no fault of Doctor Aviation.  I made the call.  PG back then, was way different from PG now that there is a PG-13 rating.  Lesson learned, hopefully.  A lot of it was very interesting, though and it led us down some rabbit trails about the speed of sound (supersonic and hypersonic) and that in November, 1961, Air Force Major Robert White reached speeds over Mach 6 in the X-15 research airplane.

Climbing the stairs into Air Traffic Control.  There's an old tower that's accessible to the public at a local airport.  I've taken the boys into it a couple of times.

When it's time for an exam, you'll be prompted to contact the administrator in the Action Steps section of the applicable sessions.  Easy Peasy.

Daryl Smith, AKA Doctor Aviation, has some pretty impressive credentials.  You don't have to wonder if this guy is qualified to teach you or your students about aviation.  Doctor Aviation has logged over 2,000 flight hours with 24 years in the Air Force.  He also was an instructor at the United States Air Force Academy, is a published author, and currently a college professor.

I think this is a *great* course for interested middle schoolers, older students, a fun way to earn a high school credit, continuing adult education, and even useful for boys and girls in Civil Air Patrol.  I have one punk I think will be very interested in that in a few years and this course is giving him a peek at what's in store.

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Hewitt Homeschooling ~ A Homeschool Crew Review

The Hewitt Research Foundation, begun in 1964, was started by Carl Hewitt and author Dr. Raymond Moore who wrote several books on education, including Better Late Than Early.  Hewitt Homeschooling currently provides homeschoolers with services, testing, and curriculum. Their focus is on character, work ethic, community service, and academic excellence.

My First Reports are an inexpensive, full 12 week unit study.  Students learn all about researching and reporting skills, writing, and practice handwriting.  They will know most of the answers to the Me unit, since it is all about them.  That is a great first unit.  When your child is ready to start searching for answers they don't know, you will teach them how to research the information in books you have, at the library, or online if you like.


My First Report is available in 24 individual titles.  A select set of 14 of those topics in a 3-ring binder is also available.  Topics cover an array of subjects to interest pretty much every student.  My State (#3353) covers all the information we could use to learn about our own state, which we are required by our statute to do.  I found Transportation (#1764) for all of the boys.  Hello! trains, cars, trucks, and airplanes.  What more could they want?  Merrick is very into Marine Life (#2224), so I chose that for him.  After they write all about Me (#1766), Focus on the World (#3210) is great for broadening a students perspective by looking at geography and world missions.  While working on Reptiles & Amphibians (#2225), we had to catch some salamanders, of course.  Wild Animals: Large Mammals (#1966) rounds out our collection of studies.

Focus on the World takes us all over earth, directing us to learn about Christians in each area.  A book Window on the World is recommended, but not necessary for this study.  I have ordered it from Amazon, even so, as a great addition to our reference materials.

The My First Reports are created specifically for grades 3-4.  First and second graders can use them with help from Mom or Dad.  Struggling, older students can also apply the writing prompts to help them create paragraphs. They came stapled and three hole punched, so I just pulled the staples from the corner and placed them in binders with a tab divider between each one.  For ease of use by the punks, I keep the studies in 1/2" binders, with just 2-3 My First Reports in each one.  You might even choose to insert each one into its own 3-hole punch pocket folder.

Approximately twelve pages of questions are in each study.  The questions are in some way related.  For instance, in Me, one page has eight questions on the "My First Report on What I Look Like" page.  At the bottom of the page is a box containing pertinent vocabulary (height, weight, auburn, green, etc.,).  A Transportation page lists six questions related to Public Transportation, with electricity, diesel, and trolley among the words listed in the vocabulary box.  Similarly, Focus on the World shows a map on the left hand page of a two page spread followed by several questions about a specific region.

You'll find an entire unit study resource at the end.  Many of the units have crossword puzzles and word searches in addition to pages of ideas to tie into your study.

• Bible/Character
• History/Geography/Social Studies
• Reading
• Language
• Math
• Science/Health
• Physical Education
• Music
• Art
• Field Trips

This is followed by a Resources section.  This lists fiction and non-fiction books, music to enjoy, and some units list websites to access.  Other important fact lists follow.  In Wild Animals: Large Mammals, students learn about animal classifications (King Phillip Came Out From Geneva Switzerland.).  My State lists the Presidents of the United States, their home state, and their vice president.  Bible verse copywork is included.  Then the unit ends with various sized, reproducible, blank lined pages (5/8", 1/2", and 3/8"), with and without boxes to illustrate what's been written by the student.

Here, I let the boys choose a page to work in.  Sometimes I picked the unit and they picked the specific topic.  We started with answering the questions on the sheet in full sentences.  Then, we would find the closest related questions on a page and write sentences that answered them.  I showed them that paragraphs are made up, not of random sentence answers, but of *related* information (You can see the progression in the photos below.).  I showed them the difference in a complete sentence that merely answered the question (It was blue.) vs a sentence that could be understood by someone who didn't know what the original question had been (My favorite ball was blue.).   They're writing is growing a lot with these units and their paragraphs are getting much better as we use the prompts as a guide to build related information into complete paragraphs.

I do wish that each My First Report had numbered pages all the way through (the unit study section *is* numbered) and a table of contents.  Before I had them in the binder, the punks had separated the Me report and messed them all up searching for the page they wanted to respond to first.  My First Reports are terrific little homeschool studies and we'll be using the prompts for a longtime to come. 

Several years ago, I reviewed Hewitt Homeschooling's Grade 1 Lightning Lit Set with Xavier.  I liked the curriculum so much, I have another student workbook so I can use the program with Merrick in the fall.  He will only be in kindergarten, but I plan to take about 18 months to go through the whole thing.  You can read my review of that, or click the banner below to see what the rest of the Crew thought about it and many other literature courses offered by Hewitt Homeschooling.

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Drive Thru History® The Gospels ~ A Homeschool Crew Review

If you're familiar with Drive Thru History® courses (Ancient History, American History, or The Holy Land), I think you will really enjoy Drive Thru History® – “The Gospels”.  I had to laugh, when the day the DVDs arrived, Xav started the first disc.  He watched the intro for a moment and said, "Drive Thru History?  Where's his MINI Cooper?"  I have no idea if Dave Stotts drives a MINI in Ancient History.  I guess I don't pay attention to the "important" stuff.  I did note, however, that for this round Dave is apparently driving a 40 year old Land Rover.  You're welcome.  (Well, I'll be.  I just looked up a mini and found a review on Car and Driver for the Mini Cooper S that looks identical.)


Dave Stotts and Drive Thru History® make learning about the past more fun.  Seriously.  I have active boys.  They love the visual action, the quick and concise way Dave presents the information, and the neat graphics that appear on the screen with Stotts.  He even interacts with some of the "holograms," as my boys call them.  You are exposed to various texts, images, and pieces of art through these graphics.  History isn't  just about the dates, but also the action.  The punks love to hear or see the true stories that are connected.  It's a much richer history than the timeline, though that is also very important.

When I watched the trailer, I was so choked up.  I cry my eyes out every time I see a depiction of what my savior did for me.  I am so deeply humbled by that.  You can see the trailer and cry your eyes out, too.  You're welcome for that as well.

The Gospels: The Extraordinary Life of Jesus of Nazareth is a three DVD set with a hardcover booklet/case.  Each of the 18 episodes is nearly 30 minutes long and is broken down more into chapters.  The entire set explores the life and times of Jesus, using the accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, as well as outside historical information about the lives of rulers and the people at that time.

Disc 1 of the series begins with a quick and historical look at the time, people, and locations covered in the Gospel accounts and the importance of genealogies.  Jesus' birth and the beginning of his ministry is also covered here.

Disc 2 contains Jesus' miracles, The Sermon on the Mount, and His travels with the apostles.

In disc 3, Dave Stotts talks about Jesus' arrival in Jerusalem, His trial, crucifixion, and resurrection.

I'm including a lot of photos this time, because the photography and cinematography are amazing.  Hope you don't mind!


There is a lot of really interesting extra-Biblical information that I think really expands on what the Bible tells us about Christ and the times he lived in.  For instance, in episode 4 we learn about King Herod and his Herodium, one of several of his palaces.  I knew very little about him beyond the Biblical account.  It's mind boggling to me what the wealthy rulers did to show their superiority over other people.

First, Herod had one mountain moved to the top of another mountain.  By hand.  Not his hand, of course.  Herod Antipas, who ruled during Jesus' ministry, had a large bath house with three temperatures in the various pools.  Herod's actual *pool* - in the middle of the desert - held nearly 3,000,000 (that's Million!) gallons of water.  In the desert.  Like his father, he had little regard for the lives of the people.  Whereas, Herod the Great ordered the murder of all sons under the age of two in an attempt to kill the King of the Jews, Antipas murdered John the Baptist as well as a number of prominent men, even family members, to keep his rule secure.





Not knowing how the crucifixion would be portrayed, I chose to watch episode 16, The Crucifixion of Jesus, without the boys.  I think the most dramatic portrayal of the crucifixion they have seen is from What's in the Bible?.

I've seen many graphic portrayals of the suffering of Christ, but rarely in drama is the entire process explained.  Drive Thru History® used art and some live action while explaining what crucifixion does to the human body.  At first, I thought how God must feel about his children who devise ways to torment their brothers and sisters.  My heart was breaking.  When Dave told of Christ on the cross crying, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?!"  I lost it.  I just wept, that gut wrenching, cleansing weeping.  I am telling you this because I want you to know how incredibly moving this was.  This scene was not melodramatic.  It was just deeply moving.

sigh...  OK.  Take a minute if you need it...

The DVD set comes with a book built into the case.  Each video has a four page spread devoted solely to it.

• Title page, which lists a quote.  Most are Bible verses, but there are also quotes from the likes of Mother Teresa, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Harry Truman.
• Summary page with a short synopsis of the content.
• Five discussion questions and a list of the related Biblical readings.
• The Side Road which offers interesting tidbits about minted coins, the Garden of Gethsemane, and Passover, among other subjects.  This page also highlights art or photos from The Gospels episodes.

Following these four pages, another artwork or photograph from the series is featured as a two page spread.


Dave Stotts is often humorous, but never irreverent.  The videos can be many things, but are never boring.  This would make a nice homeschool curriculum or Sunday school or small group study.  One episode each week and the corresponding discussion questions and Bible reading, make an enjoyable and doable study for the target audience of middle school and up, but all ages will really enjoy this exciting look at Biblical history.  It would be an excellent choice for a Lenten study.

At the time of this writing, the first episode is available on the Drive Thru History® – “The Gospels” page.  Just click on the word "here" on that page.  No code is necessary. 

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Home School Adventure Co. ~ A Homeschool Crew Review

I'm pretty familiar with Home School Adventure Co. and have won, purchased, and reviewed several of author Stacy Farrell's products.  I was very intrigued to see what her new unit study would entail.  I received a PDF of Walking with the Waodani.  It is, conveniently, one single download file.  As with most of the other merchandise offered, it will be available as a download or a physical book.

Walking with the Waodani: Adventures in Ecuador begins with an introduction to two very interesting men, 70 year old Gary and 18 year old homeschool graduate Russell Winter.  Gary has invited Russell to travel Ecuador with him, including a trip to Shell Mera where I-TEC is located.  I-TEC is a ministry founded by Steve Saint, son of Nate Saint one of the five missionaries killed by a Waodani raiding party in 1956.

This brand new unit study contains gorgeous photography and consists of five lessons.

1. Introduction
2. Shell Mera Then
3. Shell Mera Now
4. Ecuador
5. Quito 

Complete a unit either weekly or monthly.  There are plenty of things to do to round out a fairly full unit.  An included recommended resources list of links, books, and videos contains so many options, it would be difficult to make use of all of them as a weekly study.  I really debated about showing the films End of the Spear and Beyond the Gates of Splendor to the boys.  Yes, they've seen some violence in videos before, though not anything graphic.  And while nudity and partial nudity are a part of life in this situation, I just wasn't able to bring myself to show these movies at this time.  The Torchlighter film about Jim Elliot and the four other missionaries killed by the Waodani tribe in 1956 was plenty accurate enough for me.

The last four segments consist of a lesson and a "travel journal."

The lesson components are

• an Introduction.
• People & Places.
• Meals & Markets.
• Animal & Agriculture.
• and Worlds & Worldview.

There is a significant amount of reading to do (about eight pages), so we broke that down over several days.  The boys have difficulty listening to long segments, so that worked well for us.

The components of the travel journal are

• Travel Journal Notebooking Pages.  Q&A about the reading, 
• Mark Your Map.  Mapping a specific location and recording data related to the lesson.
• Rate the Recipe.  Critique a "recipe" from the lesson.  Piranha?  Grubs?  Anyone?
• Draw an Animal.  Draw an animal and tell what you think is interesting about it.
• Creativity Unleashed.  A freewriting assignment with an exciting prompt.

In the travel journal section, there is also quite a bit of writing for my boys. They loved the drawing and mapping segments.  They even wrote answers for the Q&A.  However, we completed much of the other assignments through conversation and oral story telling.

At the end you'll find a vocabulary section.  The Wonderful World of Words lists words alphabetically by unit with reference to the section and page where you can read the words in context.  There is space to write the definitions directly into the unit study page, or you can do what we do with new vocabulary.  Mal and Xav each have an ongoing dictionary where they can record all of the new words from various unit and literature studies.

Some things we did included imagining eating bugs and learning about animals!

These are Mal's recipe reviews.  The piranha is wearing a magician hat and carrying a wand.  "Watch my friends and I make this cow disappear!"

Xav drew the two toed sloth, greeting you very slowly.  His piranha picture (not shown) has grill marks X'ed across it.

Stacy has written an introductory post about first meeting Russell.


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Other members of the Crew were able to review various Homeschool Adventure Co. products, including Creative Freewriting Adventure, I'd Rather Be Your Mommy, Celebrating Manhood: a rite of passage guide, and more reviews for Walking With the Waodani.  Click the banner below to see those reviews.