Master Kits The Starry Night Review

I started something special with my kids several months ago. I began note booking with them back and forth. I write a note in their notebook and leave it on their pillow and they write a note back and leave it on mine. One night I was reading the heart of my 6-year-old daughter expressing her desire to spend some special one-on-one time with me. She's number 3 out of 6 so she can get lost in the hustle and bustle of things sometimes. I wanted to create something special...

I was so excited to bless her with Kidzaw.com's Master Kits The Starry Nightfor us to do and review together!

Dad was out, I sent all the other kids upstairs, and Hayven and I partook in the glorious unwrapping of our Kit together. We read over the directions and took the project nice and slow, making a big mess, and some great memories.

The kit comes with everything you need to complete the project except for paper towels, water and a hair dryer (optional). It comes in a nice sturdy storage box that includes 3 acrylic paint tubes, 5 oil pastels, a texturized "Van Gogh" Roller, a re-usable Starry Night stencil that is fit to the size of the art paper, a standard foam paint roller, a sheet of round "star" stickers, 2 large pieces of art paper, a kid friendly information packet all about Van Gogh, and some easy to follow directions.

Everything is conveniently rolled up in this rectangular box so it naturally fights to hold it's cylindar shape when removed from the container; some smoothing out and working with the paper and stencil are needed before starting the craft. In fact, Hayven and I needed to tape our pages down to keep them from rolling up. We had this same issue with the stencil.
Even though we are duplicating the famous "The Starry Night" masterpiece, Hayven was encouraged to express her own artistic tendencies through this project. She placed the large black stars where she saw fit.

She rolled her "Van Gogh" roller all around until her paper was properly covered with the blue paint to her discretion.

After removing the star stickers (which was much more difficult then I imagined - so much so I didn't think we would get a second use out of them, but we did in fact achieve a second use), she then placed the stencil across her page and used the standard foam roller to create the city that laid below the soon to be swirling sky.

As Hayven took a blow dryer to her paint job, I started on my version of this hobby! I enjoyed it just as much as she did!

Once our artwork was completely dry we spent the next 20-30 minutes blending the oil paints in different combinations adding swirls and texture, highlights and splashes of emotion to our painting. We looked at the image on the box and in the directions for inspiration.

It was interesting how we could gaze upon the exact same image and interpret it so differently. Where I feel more warmth, Hayven felt more cool. Where I thought the moon's white light would rest, she saw blue shadows.

There is a deep intimacy and atmosphere of vulnerability that happens when your eyes and they eyes of your daughter are fixed on canvas' of artwork, yet your minds, ears, and conversation are fixed on each other. I understood my Hayven in a deeper way after experiencing these couple hours with her hovered over this craft. I comprehended her thought process, studied what frustrated her, related to what made her laugh, and saw the world through her eyes for a brief moment.

A moment I would never change.

I will never look at "The Starry Night" the same again, and my Hayven will be filled with warm memories of my love for her, number 3 our of 6, when she catches glimpse this famous art work for the rest of her life!

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I see many possible applications of a product like this one. If a child were interested in, or is studying famous artists and artwork, this kit would bring an immense amount of color and application to those studies. The pamphlet detailing the person and work of van Gogh I found incredibly interesting. When I was a young child, I was enthralled with famous artists and could often tell you which artist created which masterpiece just based off of the technique used in the piece. I studied these things on my own, with no instruction. I believe that a child that is curious and interested in things like the fine arts would benefit greatly from Kidzaw.com's Master Kitz The Starry Night.

Because I am a bilingual reader, I did notice a misprint in the instructions that are written in French. The colors that are listed are written in Spanish and not in French. I thought this would be noteworthy for the product editor to be aware of. :)

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St Bartholomew's Eve Heirloom Audio Review

Maybe it was the thrilling audio drama our family reviewed called St Bartholomew's Eve by Heirloom Audio, maybe it was some writings by the founding fathers I was reading, maybe it was the late night talks I've been having with my husband because we're both drinking FAR too much coffee this fall season in Minnesota (it snowed a few days ago!!!)... it's probably a combination of all of these that has me so intrigued and inspired at the tragedy of the loss of culture in America. We've lost the stories, the passion, the National Books that our country was founded on, and soon, if nothing changes, we will lose our freedom.

Where are the Philip Fletcher's of this century? You know, the young men that have such a passion for Christ and for the right to worship Him freely? The one's that study military history on their own and at age 16 aspire to be something for their country, to do something for the Lord?

I identified with the character of Fletcher in his "cut everyone down and let God sort them out" mentality. This young man was zealous, yet humble. God built him into a valiant Huguenot (or a protestant) willing to lose it all for the Gospel Truth, yet he never believed he was worthy of a reward or to be an example and gave all glory and honor to Jesus.

We primarily enjoyed this on our LONG drive for our family vacation :) Now we've listened to it a number of times. 

Our favorite quotes came from Admiral Coligny. I have written these down and am still meditating on them.  When speaking on our rights to worship God, the Admiral says, 

"More than God given! God commanded. When anyone, whether a farmer or king tells you to stand when God asks you to kneel, to hold your tongue when God leads you to pray, that person contradicts our Lord's command. Whom should we obey? The King of France or the King of Kings?... Peace must always be our aim, but if we must draw towards to obey God n the way we worship, than let there be a forest of swords... This is a cause worth dying for because my Savior died for me."

You see, St Bartholomew's Eve takes place when the King of France was telling the people how they were to worship God. Catholicism was the religion of the land and if you didn't do things according to the standards of the king, you would end up in jail or sometimes killed. The Protestants understood they were fighting for the freedom of their children and future generations, yet they felt the weight of taking a life. Each man's life they took was someone's husband, father and son. They didn't take this lightly, yet they didn't back down from the fight that needed to take place. 

The Huguenot were stripped of their rights at increasing rates. Things seemed to be looking up when Prince Henry, who was a Protestant, married Marguerite, who was a Catholic. This mixed marriage brought promising changes such as peace feasts between the opposing parties and even military advances in accord with each other. However, Marguerute's cunning mother attempted to sow discord by spreading rumors that the Huguenot were preparing for a coup. She had the Kings soldiers convinced and they set out for a massacre.

The doors of the Huguenot homes were marked with a large white "X" on the night the event was to take place. This was the inspiration for the beautiful album cover. As I was listening to the story and this intense scene danced around my senses, I looked down at the album cover and got goosebumps. It was as if it came to life and hit me like a ton of bricks!

So many events took place in these two disks, I could never write about them all. 

The movement of the Huguenot was an organic one where people simply responded to the need for freedom and the call to follow Christ. A moment we desperately need to happen in our country today.

Fletcher and his comrades had a strong handle on Scripture and used it to determine their steps, lead them into battle and heal their broken wounds. 

They knew that "fear is what you feel... brave is what you are."

These are the stories I want my boys to hear over and over and memorize the words to. I want to quote these sayings to my children. I want them to quote them to each other. I want them to dream of standing up to tyranny in the face of certain death. Oh, to inspire my children with the culture of Christianity, of America! When the young and old felt obliged and driven to contribute to the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Tear jerking moments (for me) included a funeral where hymns were sung, prayers uttered at the brink of war and in the moments of desperation, and the oaths taken between brothers in Christ standing side by side even when the odds are against them. I even replayed certain tracks over and over again so I could feel as if I were taking part in the scene at hand! What an adventure!

This was BY FAR my FAVORITE audio drama to date. It strung a cord so close and dear to my own heart. Again, maybe it's the coffee... but I don't think so. I think St Bartholomew's Eve is exactly the remedy to many if not all the problems facing America today.

St Bartholomew's Eve opens and closes with a man named Mr. George speaking to two young kids Sebastian and his friend skipping church. He proceeds to tell them the story of Fletcher and what exactly it cost for them to have the freedom to go to church. 

So I will conclude this review how Mr. George concluded his fantastic re-telling of the hero Philip Fletcher:

"Then stay diligent. Stand up for the right to do your duty to love God. Teach your children to do the same. And the best way to teach them is to show them."

 St Bartholomew's Eve is one of those ways you can teach your children. 

I was 1 of 80 who reviewed this product.

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Brinkman Adventures Season 6 Underground Rising Review

I remember the days when I was in grade school and my best friend at the time and I would go to her house after school, run upstairs to her room, and pull out some of our collection of cassette tapes of our favorite audio series. We'd spend hours upon hours in front of her boombox captivated by the adventures, built up spiritually by the moral characters, and knit together as friends in our beneficial pastimes.

Listen to some samples of the stories by clicking here!

You can imagine my excitment when my family got word that we were reviewing Brinkman Adventures Season 6: Underground Rising, Digital Version! We had never heard any of the Brinkman Adventure's audio dramas before, but we are audio book junkies!

AND we just got a new 15-passenger van that has a CD player!

AND we had a road trip at our finger tips!

We were so excited to pile in the van and be transported back in time to WWII Holland where we learned about the Brinkman's great-grandparents and the heroic measures they took to save the Jews from the persecution they were facing in the first few episodes.

We then were encouraged with the gospel message in "Twice Born Fly" and in knowing that when we have salvation in Jesus we don't need to fear anything... even death!

"I Wonder Why?" gave us hope that even terrible circumstances we face, such as a miscarriage, can be used for good and God's glory when we walk in faith and obedience to His will. 

"Free Burma Rangers" was my husbands favorite story on this album. He kept telling the kids to "shhhhhh" so he could engage in the story surrounding us in the car :). This story followed a boy through his young life and adult life and the wrestle over what God's will was for his life; what was his calling?

Brinkman Adventure Season 6 Underground Rising includes 2 CDs each comprising of 3 tracks. 

CD ONE

Episode 55 Dutch Underground Part 1

Episode 56 Dutch Underground Part 2

Episode 57 Twice Born Fly

CD TWO

Episode 58 I Wonder Why?

Episode 59 Free Burma Rangers Part 1

Episode 60 Free Burma Rangers Part 2

Evelyn contently sucked her thumb while we listened to Brinkman Adventure. Things got a little loud at times, but I think she enjoyed it. 

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There were many very though-provoking and conversation-stimulating scenes from the audio drama adventures that we embarked on.  My favorite teaching moment was inspired by Dutch Underground Part 1 and Part 2:

A group of young boys were brainstorming ways to provide food stipends to the people that weren't able to get any. Their plan was to ask church members to leave their food cards in the pockets of jackets at church so that these boys could go from pocket to pocket and "steal" the food cards. These cards would then be distributed to the less fortunate and the card owners could file them as "stolen" and get new ones issued to them.

My kids were perplexed as to why they would steal! 

Isn't stealing WRONG?!?

In what situation would it ever be acceptable to do this? 

What does the Bible say about this?

I greatly appreciated at the end of "I Wonder Why?" there was a disclaimer for kids to be careful not to eat food they're allergic to without having a parent with them. You see the little boy in this story had severe food allergies causing him to have anaphylaxis. Later in the episode he believed that God healed him. So he began to eat some wheat and it was a tear-jerking reality (Yes I teared up...) that God did indeed heal him. The disclaimer explains to kids that healing is a topic that is sometimes hard to understand and encourages young listeners to inquire on this topic with their parents.  I appreciated that the creators of this series didn't attempt to teach my children any Biblical topics that can be "touchy subjects" but instead reverted to the parents for doctrinal issues. 

Thank you Brinkman Adventures!

The stories on Season 6 Underground Rising were pretty intense and dealt with some heavy topics. I loved this about them! They weren't just happy-go-lucky episodes without any real life changing, faith challenging situations or topics. They were real. I appreciated this.

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We have listened to each of these audio stories 2-3 times each and they never get old. In fact, every time we get into the car we are excited to be able to listen to them again.



My son yells from the back 

"Oh! I love this part! Be quiet!! Mom?! Can you turn it up??" 

Evangelistic, faith-building, real-life stories (most, if not all, are inspired by actual events and situations) of real issues such as miscarriage, war, famine, fear, death, salvation and more are addressed in these dramas. 

I love them and want more! They bring me back to when I was a kid listening to audio books on my best friends boombox after school each day. What glorious memories my kids can have as well. :)

I am only one of 70 of my Crew members to use this product!

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Bible-At-a-Glance Review - Bible Study Tool for Kids

We love to study our Bibles. When I fell in love with Jesus, repented of my sin, and accepted Him as my Savior, I couldn't get enough of my Bible! I was learning who God was! I was reading His Words and it felt like they were written to me. I wrote scriptures all over my bedroom walls meditating on them day and night. I fought battles with God's Word, overcame sin with God's Word, received healing from God's Word, studied history and science and archeology through God's Word. And still today I am hungry for God's Word. I have grown in wisdom and knowledge and understanding in all areas over the last decade through study of God's Word!

How true this is in my life, how true this is in the lives of my children! To know God. To have His Word hidden in their hearts. Teach Sunday School has created a very simple and useful product to help your children better understand the main scope and sequence of the 66 books of the Bible. It's called Books of the Bible At-a-Glance and we have been using it in our home over the last month or so in our study of God's Word. 

But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD. Jeremiah 9:24 

I want to share what this neat tool is and how we have been using it. 

What Is It?

The Bible is a LARGE book with many characters, authors, and it takes place over an extensive amount of time. Getting things straight for little minds, and even big minds, can be challenging. 

Books of the Bible At-a-Glance consist of one-page "cheat sheets" for each book of the Bible that cover the basic who-what-where-when-why's of background information. They also include each book's "claim to fame" comprised of important verses or stories that book is particularly known for. 

You purchase access rights via their webpage and, once your order is approved, you have immediate access to view and print any, or all, of the 66 At-a-Glance reference sheets. Another great part of this is that you are able to print UNLIMITED amounts for a single church use or household use!

What Does It Look Like In Practical Use?

In the Children's Ministry at our church, the kids go right through the Bible book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. In our home, we prioritize our children's growth in their spiritual lives. Part of their daily and weekly school work is their devotional life. They read ahead for what is being taught Sunday and Thursday and come to class with notes. They also work on their CKC (Calvary Kids Club - similar to Awana) books on a daily basis memorizing scriptures, looking up words in the dictionary, and finding applications in their own lives.

APPLICATION ONE: My kids were finishing up the book of Galatians and starting the book of Ephesians. These sheets were a BLAST for my kids! They brought full circle what they have been studying and gave them a clear vision going into a new book of the Bible. 

So cool!

The Bible-At-a-Glance sheets were not overwhelming for them. It didn't feel like an extra thing they needed to read or another chore they needed to do. They enjoyed looking over them and ask to reference them occasionally throughout their studies. 

APPLICATION TWO: Another one of my kids is doing her CKC book that is an "Overview of the Old Testament" Books. This is a PERFECT application of these Bible-At-a-Glance sheets since she is reviewing one book of the Bible a day working from Genesis to Malachi!

At first I was printing her the sheets for her to use and keep. 

Then I had a brilliant idea!!!

(You probably would have thought of this long before I did...)

I created a 3-ring binder with sheet protectors and placed all the sheet inside. Now it can sit on the shelf at home and the kids can pull it down and reference it whenever they need to! I plan on adding other cool tools like these to this binder over time so they have a neat and personalized resource for their studies!

Introducing the beginning of our Deputie Children's Bible Reference Guide:

Printing these sheets in full color would have definitely made this much prettier then it looks :)

APPLICATION THREE: My husband is about to start teaching Children's Ministry this month and I am sure these Bible-At-a-Glance sheets will come in handy for him as well. 

Recommend?

Yep! Very neat, simple tool that helps younger kids on their first discoveries of the BIG book of God's Word. 

We really owned these and made them our own. I can't wait to continue to implement them over the next several months and years of my children's years in training under my roof :)

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You're never too little to start hiding the Words of the Creator and the Savior in your heart. Start that hunger and that habit now! The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (Proverbs 1:7) and the beginning of wisdom (Psalm 111:10, Proverbs 9:10). 

Aryeh taking notes in church :)

It needs to come before academics, and it needs priority above academics. 

By the Way: Ireland Book Review

They've done it again!

Every time we get the opportunity to review a book by By The Way we get extremely excited! This time we indulged in the rolling green hills of Ireland! This book is just one of the many in the By The Way Series (geographically based Christian worldview series). You can read our last review of Smokey Mountains here. 

We decided to use this book as part of our "Group Schooling" we do as part of our daily homeschool routine. I gathered all six kids (most days - but at least my oldest three) and we got lost in the history, science, geography, humor and Biblical concepts as we made our way across my Motherland and the famous foliage of Ireland.

This was especially exciting since my family immigrated to the United States from Ireland. I still have many family members living in Ireland. Being able to pass stories, traditions, folk tales, and historical facts from a Biblical worldview onto my children from the pages of this book was a really intimate and neat experience for our family. 

What This Book Is About:
Alex and Lexi recently discovered that their mother had distant cousins in Ireland and were taking a trip to go visit them. After being aquatinted with their Uncle Finn, Aunt Fiona, and cousins Kyle and Kayla they all set off for a tour of the Island. 

Here are some of the topics that are touched on in this book. As you read through this list just imagine the things you could study, create, reenact, get library books about or youtube documentaries on!

Family heritages

Passports

Irish Terriors

WWI

Driving on opposite side of road

Foxes

Lighthouses (some from 5th century)

Dolphins and Whales

Potato Famine

Annie Moore

Diaspora

Titanic

Traditional Irish Foods

Castles (specifically the Blarney Castle)

Irish last names

Irish Folk Tales (Leprechauns, clovers, pot of gold)

KingFishers

Geography of Ireland (no maps included)

Metric System 

Ferry

Atlantic Ocean

Puffins

Geo-Caching

Goats

The Henry Abbey 

Irish Hymns

Otters

And this is only the FIRST half of the book! 

So double this list and the possibilities of study are endless. 

The photography in this book is breathtaking and the animation enjoyable. Everything is original. Every page has eye-catching, smooth layouts with lots for little eyes to feed upon while you read them the tale of Alex and Lexi's adventures. The language of the book is easy enough for my 8-year-olds to read on their own. 

There is an "I Spy" type of activity for kids challenging them to find 10 hidden pictures through the pages of the book. This helps keep kids engaged page after page as they search every detail in the hunt of a pink rose or a stained glass window. 

This activity is a BLAST and brings lively laughter and frantic excitement as we work together to find the hidden images. When we get a new By The Way book I don't let the kids get free reign access to it until we've read it as a family first. This way we can search through it together for these hidden images, and, when they page through it at a later time, they remember all the basics of the massive amount of information in the book and can recall everything we learned.

This is one of those books the kids will beg you to not put down, yet it's also a book you need to digest for a time, or read over and over. I love the mission statement of this company. It line up with everything we believe in:

"Deuteronomy 6:7 tells us to diligently talk about God and share with future generations as we sit in our homes, when we get up, at the close of the day and as we walk "by the way." In other words - life is to be one gigantic teaching classroom where faith is passed from one generation to another."

As promised, spiritual lessons and a God-fearing worldview is sprinkled throughout the book. Here are a couple examples:

Ways To Use This Book:
I see SO MANY applications for these By the Way Series books! One of which is to use them as a tool for a unit study. All the work is done for you! Simply take a topic at a time as you work through the book and provide materials to your kids to dig deeper on that topic!

Another application would be in preparation for a trip. Reading up on Ireland since you will be traveling there!

Having a book shelf of books that open the minds of our young ones, exposing them to cultures and living things all around the globe all while instilling an awe and fear of the God of the Universe and His handiwork and supremacy.

Do We Recommend?

These books get a 5 out of 5 in our home!

Other books from this series include:

New York

Indiana

Alaska

Florida

Smokey Mountains

Pennsylvania 

Ohio

Washington

Colorado

Ireland

Constructive Criticism:
What would make these books right over the top would be some maps showing the country of Ireland and maybe some maps of where Alex and Lexi traveled. I am surprised not a single map of Ireland can be found in this book!