If He Had Not Come - TOS Review

Only 7 weeks to go to Christmas : )
I love this time of year - planning surprises and getting our Advent Book Basket ready, so it was perfect timing when we were offered the chance to review If He Had Not Come.

If He Had Not Come is a classic Christmas story that has been reintroduced to a new generation by David Nicholson, a retired teacher, who first heard this story over 30 years ago. He teamed up with Charles Jaskiewicz to do the illustrations and between them they have created this breathtakingly beautiful book filled with thought provoking questions.

I was sent a wonderfully illustrated hardback book of about 40 pages. The book includes the heartwarming original story written by Nan Weeks, an interactive discussion guide, a 'going deeper' scripture led study section, the ABC's of the Gospel message and a Christmas craft idea.

We used this book as part of our read aloud time - we snuggled up on the sofa and I read the story to the girls. The story starts with the family's Christmas preparations and Bobby reading John 15:22 with his dad. While Booby gets ready for bed the words form the scripture keep repeating themselves to him “If I had not come..."

This sparks an adventure where Christmas, kindness, charity and good works seem to have disappeared because Jesus had not come. The story concludes with Bobby gaining a new Christ centred perspective to Christmas.

We concluded our read aloud with a discussion sparked by the questions posed at the end of the book - questions like:

'When you hear someone calling you to get up on Christmas morning, what's the first thing that comes to your mind?'
'What are some other things that would be different if Jesus had not come to earth?'
'What would our life be like without him?'
'What do you think sin is?"

The open ended questions are great for either a family or for a Sunday School session. I utilised a number of the suggested scriptures from the 'going deeper' section to enrich our discussion. A good example of this was the question 'Why did Jesus come to earth?" with many scripture references like John 1:29 & Luke 19:10.

Rose (6) and Tulip (8) both enjoyed the activity section and loved learning how Christmas trees can remind us of Christ.

Reading this together has really given us food for thought, It's been great to see the girls really considering the impact that Christ has had on earth, how his teachings have affected the lives and attitudes of people and what it really means to them. I've even had them pointing out that the Red Cross workers wouldn't be there if Jesus hadn't come.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this book - the story is simple enough to engage all ages, the illustrations are beautiful and the way it prompts you to thoughtfully consider have made it a new Christmas staple for us.

If He Had Not Come is suggested for ages 6 up and is available for $18.95 (an ebook is also available).

You can see what my crew mates thought over at the TOS blog.

Fascinating Education - TOS Review

We've spent the last month reviewing Fascinating Chemistry from Fascinating Education, it's an online curriculum that uses audio-visual techniques to teach science in an engaging way. Created by Dr Margulies (a neurologist) as a way to introduce and teach science to those with no previous knowledge - he presents the information slowly, in plain english and following a structured story line.

Each lesson has a series of slides/images displayed whilst Dr Margulies explains the concept in a clear, easy to understand manner - there is an option to print the script of the lesson, which is great for note taking.

He has created three courses, aimed at middle to high school ages, Biology, Chemisrty and Physics.

We chose Fascinating Chemistry which is a collection of 18 in-depth lessons and some accompayning labs. Each lesson consists of the video followed by a quiz. There is also a tab to review glossary terms and definitions on the sidebar. Labs are password protected so the student can’t access them without you (a great safety precaution) and use materials that are readily available.

The Quiz comes up as a series of multiple choice slides - once you have entered all your answers it marks the work for you - you need 80% to pass and progress. If you score less you can review your answers and retake the test until you pass. It can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour to complete a full lesson.

The site is straight forward to navigate, once logged in the girls clicked on the lesson and away they went. I did print out the script which provided a great way for the girls to highlight and make notes whilst they were watching. With the lessons where there is a suggested lab, the girls would complete the lesson and quiz prior to starting the lab.

Both Lilly (12) and Sunflower (10) used this programme and I watched it alongside them. Even though Sunflower was younger than the recommended age, she found the lessons engaging and fairly easy to follow while both Lilly and I found them fascinating, it was wonderful to sit and watch them be so engaged and see the breath of knowledge they devoured. Down the sidebar of each lesson are the slide headings, so if there was an area the girls didn't quiet understand, it was really simple to click back and rewatch that section. 

I was very impressed by this programme, the lessons are explained simply enough for younger children to understand whilst containing content suitable for high school exams. Its great that he specifically designed the course with no pre-requisite science knowledge and I think it perfect for anyone who wants to learn science the easy way.

Fascinating Chemistry is available for $79 for a year’s access (Biology and Physics are the same price). You can combine any two courses for $125 a year, or have all three for $175 for two years. You can also see the course outlines and get a free sample lesson for each course.

You can see what my crew mates thought of this and the Biology and Physics courses over at the TOS Blog