product review

Christianity Cove Tween A Rock and A Hard Place and Make & Take Bible Crafts Review

June 8, 2013 Leave a Comment

Sunday school lessons are sometimes the hardest to prepare for. You don’t want to water down the doctrines that you are teaching but sometimes, you need object lessons to make the lessons easier for children to understand. I was given an opportunity to review 2 products from Christianity Cove’s Sunday School lessons through the Schoolhouse Review Crew and I would say that they provide good resources for the Sunday School.

Christianity Cove is a web-based Sunday School and Bible lessons provider. They use projects, crafts, skits and different activities to make the lessons become more practical for the children. They use items that are inexpensive and easy to find around the house. They offer several products, and I was able to review Tween A Rock and A Hard Place Lesson Blueprints and Make & Take Bible Crafts.

I have a 9 year old daughter and I wanted a devotional guide which we can discuss together, involving issues they now face at this stage of life. Between the ages of 9-12, there are several issues we need to discuss before she reaches the teenage years. Tween A Rock and A Hard Place Lesson Blueprint is a downloadable PDF file which includes 12 moral lessons which are uncomfortable to discuss. It comes with another PDF file which serves as a guide to understanding Tweens and how to approach the lessons. The lesson includes topics about Jesus, conformity, peer pressure, dress, abstinence, drugs, drinking, gossiping and forgiveness. Each lesson contains a lesson capsule, class activity, discussion guide, small group activity and a conclusion. The guide is geared for small groups so as I only have 1 tween at home, we skipped most of the group activities. We read the lessons daily and discussed the content together.

I think some of the topics were not appropriate for our culture and my daughter as of this time, but this would be a good guide for teachers of Sunday School who handles kids with a wide age group. As homeschoolers, these lessons gave us a guide how to start conversation about these topics at home. We deviated from the script and the answers to the questions from the guide since we have our own approach to these topics. I think the document would be a good guide but still needs to be discussed with parents or pastors.

The other product that we reviewed is Make & Take Bible Crafts. It is a downloadable PDF file which contains 47 Bible craft ideas which you can finish in 20 minutes or less. It contains 2o easy and fast to do Bible crafts from the Old Testament, 20 from the New Testament and 7 Bible facts and virtues. Each craft idea lists materials, preparation instructions and related Scripture.

My 9 year old and 6 year old kids both were pretty excited to do the crafts! Since we are on summer break, we were able to work on one craft each day. Here are some of the favorite crafts we did:

The “Blessed Are” Wreath

The “My Name is Esau” Fake Hands

The Red Sea Parting

Make & Take Bible Crafts is a really good way to introduce Bible stories to children ages 4-10. All materials you would need to create the crafts are fairly easy to find around the house and would certainly help the children remember the lessons that they are learning from the Scriptures. Homeschoolers or Sunday school teachers would benefit greatly from the different creative ideas presented in this document. We definitely liked this product since we like making crafts every once in awhile!

Tween A Rock and A Hard Place Lesson Blueprints costs $29 while Make & Take Bible Crafts also costs $29. Christianity Cove offers a 60 day money back guarantee. If you are interested to hear what other review crew thinks of the products, check out their reviews by clicking on the image below.

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Filed Under: art work, homeschool, product review Tagged With: Christianity Cove, sunday school materials, TOS Homeschool Review Crew

Home School in the Woods Great Empires Review

April 29, 2013 Leave a Comment

My 9 year old daughter is very much interested in world history. So when we were asked to review Home School in the Wood‘s Great Empires Activity Studies through the Schoolhouse Review Crew, we were both excited to see what we will learn through this activity study!

The Great Empires Activity Studies consists of PDF files which includes texts, projects and printable activity pages. The 14 empires in the whole study includes Ancient China, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Arab Muslims, Engish Empire, French Empire, German Empire, Japanese Empire, Mongols, Russian Empire, Spanish Empire, United States and the Vikings. The projects lists include recipes, games, maps, hands-on projects based from the text, some crafts and list of reference literature which you can use for further in-depth studies.

The text materials for each empire consists of 1-3 pages and activities consists of 5-10 pages. Each empire study can be covered in 3 days, depending how in-depth you would like to pursue the study of each empire. It would take you less than 2 months to go through the entire Great Empires activity study. You can do the activity in any order since each empire is independent of the other but if you would like to see the chronological order of events in world history, you can use the Timeline provided as your guide.

We are on summer break already so my daughter is able to work on the Great Empires activity study at least 3x a week. We didn’t follow the chronological order of the empires, instead we chose the empires according to preference. We worked on the Vikings first since she is most interested in them. We read the text and immediately after our discussion, we worked on the printable projects like creating a map of the voyage to Vinland and researching about the Viking Longboat or Longship. Then she created her own Viking coins.

She read the French empire next and worked on the important moments in France’s history. She cut out the figures and put them in chronological order. She enjoyed this activity very much because she was able to remember the famous people we have studied in our history lessons months before. It is interesting to see that she is able to retain so much information.

The Spanish Empire is another interesting empire for her because it shows the different Spanish explorers who discovered many parts of the world, including our own country, the Philippines.

I myself enjoyed the activity study because of it’s hands on approach and brief history summary. It gave me an overview of world history in less than 2 months. My daughter enjoyed the activity study immensely because she loves to read and do the hands on activities. Though the suggested grade for this activity is elementary students, we would recommend this activityfor students in 3rd grade and above because there is a lot to read. You can get the entire study at a very affordable price of $18.95 only for the download version and $19. 95 for the CD version.

If you’d like to know more about this product or see the other activity studies from Home school in the Woods, click to read more reviews from the Schoolhouse Review Crew!

Filed Under: homeschool, product review Tagged With: World history study

Pregnancy App From Anmum

April 23, 2013 Leave a Comment

I remember first being pregnant 10 years ago. It was an exciting journey yet it was also a scary one as you don’t know what to expect. Being pregnant then was very different from being pregnant today. Today, there are loads of information available through technology and books which can help any pregnant mom in her journey.

I recently saw the Pregnancy App that Anmum has developed to help moms everywhere in their pregnancy journey. This application is more like a diary, program, reference, reminder and a friend a preggy mom can count on.

Here are the highlights of the application:

Keeps your Pregnancy on Track

Receive weekly updates on the progress of your pregnancy so you know what to expect and you can be better prepared for it.
The Kick Counter tracks your baby’s movement to help gauge its health inside your womb.
The Weight Tracker and exercise tips help you track and maintain a healthy pregnancy weight.
Trying to remember all the important reminders, dates, and appointments can be overwhelming. Never miss a doctor’s appointment again with the app’s scheduling feature.

Guides and Helps you Maintain a Healthy Pregnancy

Have a healthy pregnancy diet and get the nutrients you need with our healthy recipes.
Take the 1-Minute Folate Test and check if you’re fulfilling your daily Folate requirement. Folate is a crucial nutrient for your baby’s proper brain and body development.
Set regular reminders so you won’t forget to take your milk, vitamins, and supplements.

Connects you with Caring Team of Experts

Get the answers and assurance you need when you need it. The caring team of experts- OB-gyne, Pediatrician, Nutritionist, and Parenting Expert are just a click away!

The new Pregnancy App from Anmum acts as a portal to different information that pregnant women need to have immediate access to. I personally like the weight tracker, kick counter and folate test. These are the things that I always wondered about when I was still pregnant and I didn’t want to keep bothering my OB-GYNE so having these app would make the pregnancy journey more enjoyable and easier to stay healthy. Not to mention that it would certainly help give the pregnant mom more peace of mind.

If you want to try this pregnancy app, you may download the NEW Anmum Pregnancy app. Simply search for “Anmum Pregnancy App” on the Google Play Store for Android devices (“Android link”) or on the Apple App Store for iOS devices (“iOS link”). It is downloadable for FREE.

Filed Under: product review Tagged With: Anmum

BabiesToToddlers.com Giveaway

April 15, 2013 29 Comments

As a hands-on mom to my kids, I always looked for the best products available to help me in caring for my children. Most often, it was difficult to find quality yet affordable products here where we are located. So when I learned about BabiesToToddlers.com, I created an account with them and started shopping around.

Why ? Because BabiesToToddlers.com offers hard to find products for infants to toddlers. This online retail store has carefully selected the assortment of products that they carry. Products included are baby gear, nursery and feeding accesorries, baby aids, toys and more! Each product that they sell is pre-selected for innovation, excellence, social consciousness , development appropriateness and styles. (Information from BabiesToToddlers.com)

Babiestotoddlers.com is wholly owned by Leandro & Natalia Inc. and it is run and developed by Ms. Teresa Rufino since 2009. She is a mom to two boys and over the years, she has found many items for her own children and she’d like to make these hard to find items available for other parents as well.

Registering for your own account is very easy and straightforward. It is also very easy to look for products as they have been divided into categories. Click the category you are interested in and you can begin browse through the products. As I was browsing around their website, I really wanted to get the Hairbib for my daughter. Since she has long hair, it has always been a problem whenever she finishes taking a bath that her clothes would get wet at the back. This would be perfect for her!

After meeting Tessa personally, I was given these products from BabiesToToddlers.com to try out personally: The Potty Cover, Aqueduck Faucet Extender and Scensibles Disposable Bags!

Though my son can already reach the faucet at our bathroom, he has a hard time reaching the faucet in our kitchen. We installed the Aquedeck Faucet Extender and it made washing his hands easier!

Now, he just wants us to bring the portable Aqueduck especially when we go to malls, where the faucets are always so high and so hard to reach for him.

Aquedeck Faucet Extender costs 780 pesos and comes in 2 colors, aqua and pink. It fits most faucets.

The disposable Potty Covers are definitely coming with us whenever we travel. It can make sure that the toilet seat at public restrooms will be clean once my chidlren uses them!

A pack of Potty Covers cost 699 pesos and includes 12 discposable potty covers.

BabiesToToddlers.com also offers gift wrapping services on the products that you have purchased. You can choose to pay via bank transfers, paypal or even use their cash on delivery service. Babies To Toddlers offer free shipping for orders 1,000 pesos and above within Metro Manila.

The products are definitely safe for your children and worth checking out. With the generosity of BabiesToToddlers.com, they are giving away (1) Aqueduck Children Faucet Extender and (1) Potty Covers to two of my blessed readers! The winners will receive electronic gift certificates so they can shop for their prizes at BabiesToToddlers.com.

To qualify, please complete all the mechanics below on the Rafflecopter so that your entry will be validated. The contest runs from April 15 to May 3. The winners will be contacted via email and will be announced here as well on May 5.

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Filed Under: blog and website review, giveaway, product review Tagged With: BabiesToToddlers.com

We Choose Virtues Parenting Cards Review and Giveaway

April 9, 2013 4 Comments

One of the reasons why we choose to hoomeschool our kids is because we wanted them to grow up deeply rooted in the Word of God resulting to a life with character. But we all know that it doesn’t happen naturally. We need to be intentionally teaching them the virtues we want them to grow up with.

When I heard of We Choose Virtues from other homeschooling families, I wanted to try and see if it will help my family to focus on values and virtues. I was grateful when Ms. Heather McMillan, the creator of We Choose Virtues, sent me the Parenting Cards for our review. I was very much excited to try it with my family.

Along with the Parenting Cards, she also sent me downloadable PDF files which includes Butterfly Award Certificates, Kids of VirtueVille Coloring Book, Kids Memory Verses, Bible Heroes and Truths, Family Character Assessment and insturction manuals. The set of Parenting Cards contains 13 Parenting Cards which feature one virtue you can work on each day or each week. You can take 10 minutes a day or up to an hour. There are demonstrations on the back, teaching the kids “What to say after ‘I’m sorry’” and instructions on teaching each virtue. I read the instruction manuals so that I can have a better perspective how to use the Parenting Cards and the other files. We choose to answer the Family Character Assessment form first so we can know the current character state of our family. I asked the kids to answer in one sheet using different colors of pen so we can see where each person is currently at. We talked about it and then we chose one virtue we wanted to work on for the week.

We chose to work on being patient since everyone’s score was low in this virtue.

We discussed real life situations, read through the parenting cards and the kids colored their copies.

We worked on the memory verse for the rest of the week and we also created a chart where we will record when each one exhibited patience during the week.

The Parenting Cards is a useful tool for the family to have a focused discussion on a particular virtue. Each virtue shows a character with a name that the children can easily remember. It is best for families with younger children. I recommend this for families who want to focus on character development. The product is simple to use and doesn’t require too much preparation from the parents. You can choose which Bible version you wish to have whether King James or New International Version. Aside from the cards, you can include books, movies, journaling activities or other activities to further stress the virtue you are studying. Using this product also allows the family to become more intentional in developing good virtues within the family, simply inspiring character that lasts.

The Parenting Cards costs $34.99. You can visit https://www.facebook.com/wechoosevirtues or http://we-choose-virtues.myshopify.com/ for more information on the other products that you can purchase. Aside from the family or homeschool kits, there are products for the classroom too.

If you want to try the parenting cards, you can join the giveaway to win or if you wish to purchase the cards already, you can use this PROMO CODE: VIRTUE20 to get a 20% discount off your shopping cart. The giveaway is open internationally! Please make sure to complete ALL the mandatory entries to qualify. Giveaway is open from April 9 to April 14.

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Filed Under: homeschool, product review Tagged With: ar, character development, We Choose Virtues