Recently we were blessed with What on Earth Can I Do? by Apologia Educational Ministries and I am completely blown away by this amazing product, not even counting the company itself!
Not only did we get to use What on Earth Can I Do? hard backed book but they also sent us the Notebooking Journal, Junior Notebooking Journal and the Coloring Book! This is an incredibly detailed book that delves into the lives of people from history and the Bible. This book and the additional notebooking journals and coloring book are also designed to show just how fearfully and wonderfully made we all are.
The hard backed What on Earth Can I do? ($39.00) book is from Apologia’s What We Believe Series, which is a Bible-based curriculum that helps me to teach my kiddos how to use Scripture to view the world as God does in regards to being a good Steward. This is book number 4 and I am looking into the other books in this series too. The price for this book is well worth it, in my opinion. It is loaded with 8 lessons in 294 pages! An amazing amount of information in one book that requires little from you, expect your time. Depending on the age and abilities of the child, maybe even very little of that too. With this book you would need to choose one of the notebooking journals to accurately complete the curriculum.
I may have mentioned a time or two before just how much I love hard backed books….no? Well, then, I will share with you one of my biggest joys in life (other than my husband and kiddos of course!), cracking open a new hard backed book and smelling the newness of the pages. You smell the books too, when they are new, right?!
Anyway, this book is beautifully designed and illustrated. Each chapter is filled with pictures of real photos, photos of paintings, Bible verses, quotes, and talks about the real important things in life. Not the fact that you have the newest electronic device, or what team won the latest game, or even what the president had to say last night. The important things, like; This is really God’s story, not yours, you are just playing your previously designated part. Or, Will you be found as faithful in the end? And also, the importance of wisely using the time we are given.
With each chapter we read I am so pleased to read the in depth stories provided, the Biblical references and the new twist on the parables I remember from my younger days. It was also a pleasure to read the prayer near the end of the chapters. It helped bring us all back into focus about why we are learning these lessons. With this book and the provided journals and coloring book, I was able to include all of my children in this product review. My oldest son, 13 years old (7th grade), used the notebooking journal, my daughter, 9 years old (3rd grade), used the junior notebooking journal and my youngest son, 6 years old (Kindergarten), used the coloring book.
I read aloud each chapter and guided each in their books to do the work suggested. It was a nice time to be able to sit and really talk to them about what we were leaning about. With a bit of time and patience, it works for any age group. Each chapter was very thorough in its detail, so this made each chapter a 2 or 3 day event for us.
The Notebooking Journal ($24.00) was amazing! My son, Isaiah, was able to stay on track with this book. He would listen as I read aloud and then he would complete the pages I indicated or even as I was reading. The notebooking journal is so very full of activities for him to complete for each chapter provided in the book. He has crossword puzzles, find-a-word puzzles, questions and answers (as in Do You Remember? format), he has a Praise report section where he can post good things that have happened in his week. There is also prayer page for him to write out his prayer requests, vocabulary words, and writing out the Bible verse used in that chapter. I like this notebooking idea. We have never really used this type of product in our homeschool before, so the depth of this journal is quite incredible. I particularly loved that the journal was spiral bound for easy access.
The Junior Notebooking Journal ($24.00) was exactly what my daughter needed! At first I thought that I would be able to use the other journal with her than I realized that the work was a bit above her level. Therefore, I was very pleased when I opened this Junior journal. It scales back the “in depth” section of the other journal, allowing Annie to color, complete smaller crosswords, find-a-words, write out the Bible verses and her prayer requests too. Again, this was just the perfect fit for her and I loved that it was still “big” enough that she wasn’t made to feel left out or that she was doing “baby work”. This journal is also spiral bound, which again, is quite a wonderful idea!
Last, but certainly not least, was the Coloring Book ($8.00) provided. A paperbacked book with a glossy cover made for stability, exactly what I needed for Joseph. Originally I was going to use this with my daughter, than I was nudged by that still small voice, to include Joseph, “he can color as you read aloud”. Perfect! The pictures in the coloring book fit into each chapter just incredibly. I was so tickled to see that each picture was representing exactly what I was reading about for each chapter we dove into. Joseph was able to sit through our entire sessions because his little busy hands were able to be completely busy! It was so nice for this mama to gather everyone of them at the table and have everyone engrossed in the same lesson! Seriously, best idea lately from The One that knows me best!
As this is not a normal product for our family I honestly never would have even considering making this a required purchase for our homeschool. But…..since I have this lovely opportunity to enjoy this product because of this review I believe that this should be in our homeschool from here on out. I am absolutely thrilled with the curriculum and I foresee this product being budgeted for in the future.
I have found that the hardest part of the curriculum is me. Yes, me. I mean, that I find it difficult to schedule the time to sit down and complete the chapters. (I am so not much of a scheduling kinda lady!) Other then me getting in my own way, I have found a new love for Apologia products and found this one extremely easy to use. Which for any busy homeschool, that is a blessing!
I hope you have enjoyed learning about this latest product and possibly have found a new product that you can use. Thank you!
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In His Grace.
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