A New Grapevine Studies Review

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I cannot express to you enough how much my daughter and I love the Bible studies available from Grapevine Studies. 

Since she is getting a little older now, I decided that we would review New Testament 1: Level 3 Birth of John to Jesus' Ministry. 

We are all reading through the New Testament together this school year so this fit into our plan perfectly as a great review.

New Testament 1: Level 3 Birth of John to Jesus' Ministry takes you on a chronological study of the New Testament from the birth of John the Baptist through the ministry of Jesus including His temptation in the wilderness, the calling of His disciples, and much more. Level 3 is recommended for ages 10-13.  This level is available in print and digitally. We received the digital format which allows you use with more than one child. I also like the option of printing what pages I need too. When we have a lot of on the road schooling, I will print out the teacher's manual but when we're at home I just look at on my computer and draw the figures on our white board to save ink. 

It takes very little preparation each week. Mainly, printing out the student sheets which could all be done at once if you prefer. It is recommended that you spend time in prayer and read through the scriptures that will be taught for the week.

We also follow the recommended daily schedule which can be completed in less than 20 minutes per day. The whole curriculum is so simple yet so effective. The act of drawing out the stick figures really helps to solidify the scripture stories being taught.

You begin the study by stick figuring your way through the timeline. The teacher key includes a brief explanation of each timeline figure that you can read to your student. It also includes the main goals for each section.

The Suggested Schedule with completed Student Book lessons

Day 1: Timeline and Verse Review
 

 Day 2: Lesson page 1

Day 3: Lesson page 2 - Lesson 2 always comes with questions to review.

Day 4: Character/Event Card

  

Our studies also included some basic geography skills that included a teacher key. Bible words to look up in a Bible dictionary was a new skill added to level 3. I had Sarah find the words because we don't add in a lot of dictionary skills anymore in our studies. The teacher can also look up the words and share them with the student if that works better for your child.

The teacher manual includes level 3 and 4 so I had a chance to see the differences in the levels.  Level 4 has everything that level 3 does plus activities for using a topical Bible, Bible dictionary, and Bible concordance.  The manual gives the page numbers of where to find the answers in those books. There is also a quest question for deeper thinking skills.  The student is expected to research each of these options using the resources recommended.  Level 4 is recommended for ages 13 and up.
If you are unfamiliar with Grapevine Studies, we have a few posts of the different levels we have used in our homeschool. Click the links to see those posts - Days of Creation, Old Testament, and Birth of Jesus.
Below is a great chart to guide you in picking the best level or topic to fit your family.



Our family loves Grapevine Studies! If you are looking for a simple, fun and different way to teach the Bible to your children, check them out! You can also find out more about them on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Still unsure?  Try them out for free!  Just in time for Easter, try out The Last Supper eLesson.

Click the banner below to see what my fellow crewmates thought about the other levels in The New Testament Overview Part 1 and The Resurrection Studies.  The Resurrection Studies are also 20% off during March!

Blogging Through The Alphabet With God's Word - Letters R & S

Sharing a little ABC's of the Bible!

I'm teaching these to my preschool class and if 3-4 year old preschoolers can memorize them, surely we can too! We are also learning the ASL alphabet along with the verses too.

I missed last week so I'm including that one too!

R is for...Exodus 20:8  - Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 

S is for...Isaiah 55:6 - Seek the LORD while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near.

Join us in Blogging Through the Alphabet.

Here are the letters we've already done in case you missed them:

Letter A         Letter G        Letter M
Letter B         Letter H        Letter N
Letter C         Letter I         Letter O
Letter D         Letter J        Letter P
Letter E         Letter K        Letter Q
Letter F         Letter L

Review of Faith Builders Bible

Zonderkidz has published a fabulously fun Bible that appeals to children especially those who love Legos or any brick building blocks. They sent us the Faith Builders Bible to review and we have been enjoying trying to recreate some of the illustrations included inside.

You may be familiar with Zondervan, who is a world leading Bible publisher. Their Zonderkidz line also offers many other products including children's devotionals, children's nonfiction, I Can Read books, and more. They are also the publishers of the the New International Reader's Version Bibles(NIRV). This version takes the New International Version (NIV) and makes it a translation for a 3rd grade reading level.

In case you are a new reader here, I feel like I need to remind you of the ages of my children.  I have an almost 18 year old, a 15 year old, and a 12 year old - all way above a 3rd grade reading level.  However, all three of my children still love playing with Legos.  We have a saying in our house that you are never too old for Legos.  We will pull out blankets, sit in the living room together, and have at it.  It had been awhile since we had done this so I think we all had forgotten just how fun it is to build together.  The hardcover NIRV Faith Builders Bible is a wonderful edition to our family devotion time.  It is a complete Bible taking you through all 66 books from Genesis to Revelation. It also includes a dictionary and index of 92 great Bible stories in the back.  It sells for $24.99.
I have noticed that the simple reading text has helped to boost the confidence in several of my children, who think they struggle to read.  I think they are fine and just shy of getting a word wrong while reading out loud but with this version, the shyness melts away!  It was such a great way to end our day.  

The 24 full color illustrations really help bring the Bible to life. We have enjoyed reading the stories and trying to recreate what we saw.  We've also had fun trying to make our own scenes.  The illustrations really help to get those engineer juices flowing.  A word of warning if you do choose to do this at night like we did, it may be hard for smaller children to stop!  It was hard for us to stop!

This is our creation of the Nativity scene.  Everyone pitched in and I think it turned out pretty good.  We simply used what pieces we already had available.

Here you can see our creation of Jesus And The Cross from the one of the illustrations. As Easter approaches, I will also be sharing some of our creations with my preschool Sunday School class as we read the story of Jesus and His love for us from the Faith Builders Bible. I can't wait to see what they come up with.  I have the larger block sets for them to try.

This was one we created on our own thinking about what we could do as Easter draws near.  They do include a cross illustration.

Looking for a great visual way to learn the books of the Bible? Try this! This is just a sampling of the fun projects available for you inside the Faith Builders Bible.

As you can see, this Bible helps bring the stories to life as you try to recreate what you have learned!  Our entire family enjoyed not only taking turns reading but spending time together creating as well.
You can find out more about Zonderkidz by visiting them on Facebook and Twitter. 

Time In God's Word Is Invaluable

Spending time in Gods' Word can be a difficult task but it is also irreplaceable.  If you're looking for strength, courage, and guidance to keep on keeping on in a world of trials and tribulations then there is no better place to be than in God's Word!

I am currently going through the book of John, one chapter at a time and using Kari at Stone Soup For Five's latest doodle study.  I am constantly doodling so combining two of my loves at the same time is perfect.  I am also finding that the doodling is helping me to retain more.  I especially find this study to relax me at night before going to bed.  

The thing I love most about all of Kari's doodle studies is you can make them work for you.  You can go as slow or fast as you like.  You also do not have to be an artist or make an elaborate journal of doodles to complete any of the studies.  I just use her suggestions and have fun with it.   

This study is also full of information.  You will be tracking three items that appear in groups of seven in the book of John.

It is an inductive study with each part broken into three sections: in your journal, in your life, and going deeper. It includes maps, beautiful full page quotes, check boxes to keep you on track, and of course doodles.  

A beautiful and exciting new feature that I can't wait to use with my daughter is the addition of a lapbook so we can work together!

Today is the kickoff for launch week so from now until March 5th, you will receive the complete Bible study, bonus lapbook so your kids can get involved too, and doodle sheets for $14.99.  

Kari is also offering my readers 20% off so you can purchase your set for $11.99!  Click here to get your study today!  Just be sure to use the code GRACE20 for your discount.  

What is your favorite way to add God's Word into your daily schedule?

Blogging Through The Alphabet With God's Word - Letter Q

Sharing a little ABC's of the Bible!

I'm teaching these to my preschool class and if 3-4 year old preschoolers can memorize them, surely we can too! We are also learning the ASL alphabet along with the verses too.

Q is for...1 Thessalonians 5:19  - Do not quench the Spirit.

Join us in Blogging Through the Alphabet.

Here are the letters we've already done in case you missed them:

Letter A         Letter G        Letter M
Letter B         Letter H        Letter N
Letter C         Letter I         Letter O
Letter D         Letter J        Letter P
Letter E         Letter K
Letter F         Letter L

Review of Archery Dice

We love games in our family, especially games that connect learning through fun! So, today I’m reviewing Archery Dice, one of four of new releases from SimplyFun. 

SimplyFun offers over 100 award winning options for families and teachers specifically to meet the needs and skills of children.  If you are looking for a game that covers a special skill or interest, it is easy to search through what they have available.

The crew will be reviewing 2 of the four new games and both of them have a medieval theme.

I chose Archery Dice because it sounded right up our alley.  I'll admit that my "mommy vision" automatically envisioned dice flying through the air, hitting walls, eye protection, etc.  Does anyone else have these "mommy visions"?!  Well, in case you do, let me go ahead and put your mind to ease.  Part of the rules state that if your dice fly off the table or hit another players dice and knock them over, it is considered a foul dice and no longer in play. Phew!

After opening our box, I was impressed right away with how sturdy it was and the organization compartments it contained. The game includes 16 targets, 12 dice (3 of each color), 4 wood disks, and a colorful instruction booklet.  It is for 2-4 players, recommended for ages 7 and up, and sells for $26. It is not recommended for children under 3 since it contains small parts that could be a choking hazard. Skills focused on are eye-hand coordination and strategy skills.  

Setup and Play

The instructions are very clear and give great color diagrams of how the set up area should look.  Basic setup includes each player taking their 3 dice and stacking them up vertically on top of their wooden disk.  3 targets are placed in the center of the table creating a triangle.  

Each player then takes turns flicking their dice to try to land on the center targets with the ultimate goal of trying to hit a bull's-eye in the center or be the highest dice on the target. The player must immediately call bull's-eye if they do make it and they can then bank that target and no one can steal it.  

One round is over after each person has flicked their die. When flicking your die, you can aim for the center target or any opponent's targets won that have not been banked. 

After each round ends, if any player has landed on a target, the one with the highest number die or dice gets to put that target under their stack of dice and disk.  At that point, other players can try to steal those targets.  As I mentioned earlier, if your die goes off the table, hits another player's dice, or flies off the stack without rolling, it is considered a foul die. 

During the second and third round of play, if the dice rolled creates a double the player can call double to regain a die to use again.  The first player to get 4 targets wins.  You can also just play until all the targets have been claimed for a longer game.

We had so much fun playing this game.  It has got to be ranked as one of our all time favorite games we have played ever!  We get loud, we get competitive, we strategize, we knock each other off the board, but more than anything we have an amazing amount of fun!  Listen in as we play a little bit for you.  

Total warning: This game is extremely addicting.  Not a day has passed since we opened Archery Dice that it hasn't been played.  The first time, we played it for hours until we were all hungry and had to stop. After supper, we went back and played some more!

You can find out more about SimplyFun on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and their blog.

To find out more thoughts on Archery Dice and The Climbing Knights be sure to click the banner below.

Review of HelpTeaching.com

Today's review is the Pro Plan from HelpTeaching.com.  If you are not familiar with HelpTeaching.com, they offer a large variety of printable worksheets and tests for grades K-12. They offer worksheets and online testing in many subject areas including Math, English, Science, Social Studies, Art, Music, and more.
The great thing about HelpTeaching.com is you can access their website and some of the printables absolutely free.  You are limited to adding 10 questions on your customized worksheets with the free membership.  The Pro Plan offers you the option to add up to 100 questions on your worksheets as well as access to pre-made premium content including the option to add quality images.

In this screenshot you can see that the worksheets with a lock are only accessible with a Pro Plan.  A lot of the content available is aligned with Common Core Standards.  By clicking on the CC button, you will be given the standard that the worksheet meets. We don't follow those standards but I know some schools do so if you are supplementing for a child who is in school, you will find lots of great help here.

Another great feature of the Pro Plan is the option to assign lessons to your children by email or by just sharing the link with them.  When making up quizzes or tests, you have the option to add your own unique questions or choose from a huge inventory of questions already made by other users.  I thought that was such a unique feature to really customize the tests to supplement your current curriculum.

In our homeschool, I would assign my 9th grade son lessons to supplement his current science curriculum.  For example, he was studying Newton's Laws of Motion so I searched to see if there were any topics available to cover that subject.  I assigned a few by email to see how it worked and I can see how this would be a great option for high school students especially.  You could give them there assignments at the beginning of the week and be done until the end of the week! When making the tests you can choose to add in multiple-choice, open-ended, true-false, or fill-in-the-blank questions.  The multiple choice and true-false are automatically graded for you.

Here is a sample of the lesson screen and activities:

As you can tell, some of the lessons include visual properties including videos, video links, and game links.  A few practice questions are included to see what the student already knows.  After the student finishes the lesson, you can assign a quiz on the lesson and again that can be sent by email or by just giving them the link.  Here is a sample I snapped of the email assignment links and the final quiz score when finished. I love the independence that HelpTeaching.com allows.

HelpTeaching.com offers several different options to meet the needs of homeschoolers and parents including tests, worksheets, lessons, games, test maker, and online testing! I also used the games section quite a bit with my 7th grader who loves word search puzzles. Each week I would use her spelling words and make them into a word search puzzle. You simply type the words in separated by a comma and the puzzle is made for you!  You can print the puzzles, download them for later, and store them in the section labeled my content. It also gives you the answer key.

Word searches are not the only game sheets available. There are also bingo cards, word bingo cards, math practice sheets for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. There is so much content available at the HelpTeaching.com website. I think we've only just begun to explore all the options and uses available! I know the grammar worksheets will be put to use as we practice for end of year testing soon.

Overall, we would highly recommend the Pro Plan as a valuable resource to any homeschool or parent.  You can purchase the plan for only $24.95 for an entire year and use it with all of your children making it very economical. 

To find out more about HelpTeaching.com visit them on Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, and Twitter.