Get a Discount and Add Dramatized Bible Stories to Your Day with The Adventum {A Homeschool Review Crew Review and Discount Code}

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

If you and your family enjoy audiodramas and Bible stories then I recommend taking a listen to The Adventum, Volume 1, produced by Wise King Media. I have recently had an opportunity to review this fictional retelling of stories of Bible stories and am impressed with how they imaginatively make the Bible come alive with powerful background music and sound effects and a full cast of voice actors.

What Is The Adventum?

The Adventum, Volume 1 is an imaginative, immersive, and gripping retelling of Bible stories that takes families back to the Creation through Noah's family's experiences and when Abraham's experienced euphoric relief when God provided a ram to be sacrificed in place of Isaac to stories of Jacob and Esau.

Available as a 4-CD set, like I received, or a digital download, The Adventum, Volume 1 makes the Bible come to life for families by taking the characters of the Bible, the Words of God, and some imagination to create engaging stories filled with music, sound effects, narration, and dramatic dialogue that immerse you in what it might have been like to live during ancient Biblical times.

The entire Volume 1 set is about four hours long, broken into segments of a few minutes to about 30 minutes, with an average of, I'd say, 20-minute stories.

In the tradition of all great audiodramas, The Adventum, Volume 1 uses high-quality sound effects, music, and dialogue to immerse you in action and adventure, making your listening experience almost like watching a movie in your mind with full audio.

What The Adventum Is Not

The Adventum audiobook series is not an audio Bible recording that only uses the words of Scripture. It does, however stay true to the characters of Scripture and, where the voice of God is used in the audioadrama, it's taken verbatim from the NKJV and NIV translations of Scripture. There is no artistic license taken with His words.

A Discount for You

If you'd like to listen to samples of the audiostories, make sure to go to The Adventum website where you will also see - at the time of this writing - that The Adventum, Volume 1 is 50% off. Better still, The Adventum is offering free shipping for Training Happy Hearts readers! Just use the code advcrew22 at checkout!

Our Experience with The Adventum

The first time I listened to The Adventum, Volume 1 I was on the tail end of a long roadtrip with two of my children. Both children enjoyed the stories with me and thought the imaginative retellings were interesting, but one thought that the sound effects were a bit too overpowering.

After that, because my children were rarely in our minivan at the same time this summer, I listened to the rest of the 4-CD set on my own on my way to and from daily Mass. Interestingly, on a few of the days I listened, the messages from the CD-set and those from the Scripture and homilies I had heard at Mass lined up, allowing God to use a combination of prayer, my time at Mass, and my time with the audiodramas to speak to my heart. (I love it when these things happen!)

Likewise, on a few occasions when my daughter and I were going for what I call walk-n-talks, she brought up things that she had heard or read during her studies and personal spiritual reading time and I found myself relating thoughts I had had after listening to The Adventum on those mornings. 

Thus, I can attest that the creative and immersive retellings of The Adventum impacted my thoughts and family conversations, and I am glad I have had the opportunity to listen to the CD-set.

How You Might Use the Adventum

The beauty of a CD-set like Adventum is the flexibility with which it can be used. It comes in a hard plastic case with sleeves for each CD that - through my experience - stands up to being shuffled about in bags and vehicles. Some ideas for using it are:

1. Enjoy family listening time together by listening at home while you color, do chores, play with blocks, etc.
2. Pair the audiodramas with history studies so that early Biblical history can come alive.
3. Engage in Bible study time by listening to the audiodramas and then reading corollary Scripture.
4. Dive into Lectio Divina with kids by keying into the Scripture passages that each story in the set was created from and then choosing another Scripture passage for children to read, meditate, pray, and contemplate.
5. Prompt Biblically-inspired writing by having your kids pick Words of God from Scripture in other parts of the Bible and then create an imaginative retelling using real Biblical characters and stories much like The Adventum does.
6. Share selections in a co-op or catechism class.
7. Make long car rides seem to go faster by immersing yourself in the stories.

The Adventum, Volume 1 seeks to inspire and captivate you through:

• helping you identity with Bible heroes of the past - as real people with real struggles much like us
• igniting a hunger to read Scripture.
• sparking curiosity, excitement, and a deeper love for God.

Enjoy its immersive experience of the stories of Genesis.

 

Learn More

See how other Homeschool Review Crew families used The Adventum, Volume 1 by clicking through the banner below.

Listen to samples of this engaging Bible stories audioadventure at The Adventum website.

The Adventum has more resources for your homeschool, to include four more volumes in this series and a growing collection of text and audio lessons, which can be found on The Adventum blog, and are directly connected to the the audiodramas

Don't forget that at the time of this writing you can get 50% off  The Adventum, Volume 1.

Training Happy Hearts readers can also get free shipping by using the code advcrew22 at checkout!

You might also enjoy the additional four volumes of this series that are also available on the website, including Volume 5, which is ready for pre-order.

Each Book of the Bible in a Page {A Teach Sunday School / Homeschool Review Crew Review}

   Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew. 

In 2018, I reviewed Bible summary sheets by Teach Sunday School and thought they were well done, so when I was recently offered an opportunity to review their Bible Blueprints, of course, I said yes.

What Are Bible Blueprints?

Bible Blueprints are an easy-to-use, helpful resource that can be used onscreen, printed and bound, or printed off a page at a time to be used as a bookmark in your Bible or history studies.

Ideal for individual, family, or group study, Bible Blueprints include a well-formatted, colorful, single page overview for every book in the New and Old Testaments (except for the Apocrypha of Dueterocanon that Catholics like me have in our Bibles).

Each summary contains at-a-glance:

• if the Bible book is in the Old or New Testament
• the order of the book in the Old or New Testament
• the number of chapters in the book
• the Bible book genre or type, such as History, Pentateuch, Epistle, Prophecy, etc.
• an overview of the book
• when the book was written
• the time period that the book covers
• the author of the book
• a brief overview of the book that includes essential content, background, and perspective

The resource also contains permissions "to print as many times as you would like for personal, family, or single church/school use," which is awesome for homeschoolers with large families and those that teach at co-ops and churches.

 

How Are We Using Them?

When I received a link to download my PDF copies of the Old Testament and New Testament Bible Blueprints, I knew that my children would not be able to use the resource during our review period because they were at an overwhelm point with existing lessons, work, and other commitments. I also knew that I could use it myself and save it for my children's later use. Perfect!

Since I have been wanting to read both Psalms and Proverbs all the way through lately, I turned to the blueprints for those first.

At first, I was surprised that the Psalms blueprint did not have many actual sentences on it, but, quickly, I understood how the overview of the book was made.

Then, I saw the Proverbs one and appreciated the blueprints more.

As life would have it, though, I ended up pausing my rereads of these two books, so did not end up turning to the two first blueprint pages I looked at first as often as I thought I would.

Instead, I began using the blueprints to give myself context for Sunday Mass readings, looking up what books each reading for Mass would be taken from and then quickly reading the blueprint of these books.

As someone who knows some Bible verses, can retell various Bible stories, has read parts of the Bible, has no problem sharing Biblical truths, yet who also is not good at instantly putting together the big picture of who said what when in the Bible and in history, the Bible Blueprints became a handy tool for putting things all together and in context.

I can see myself continuing to refer to it. I can also see my daughter printing out a page of it to use as a bookmark to reference as she reads and studies her Bible in the fall.

Would I Recommend Them?

As long as you don't mind that the Bible Blueprints are short the seven additional books that we Catholics include in the Bible, I would recommend this resource as a well-laid out, easy-to-use tool that can help you, your children, or your students quickly gain a clearer understanding of the sequence and flow of the Bible.

The Blueprints could be used to help you get context and an overview for readings before Mass or can be used for similar purposes before you dig into studying a particular book of the Bible.

The Blueprints would also be handy for using in conjunction with history studies.

Or, if you want to add a bit of fun to your home or classroom, they could act as a resource for Bible trivia or Jeopardy-style games. With the type of book, author of Bible books, time Bible books were written, and overview, it would quick and easy for an MC to make up on the spot questions and prompts.

Bible Blueprints certainly provide well-organized, easy-to-digest, visually-appealing, one-page snapshots of Old and New Testament books in the Bible. 

Learn More

 

Over 30 Homeschool Review Crew families have been using Bible Blueprints in various ways.  Check out the other reviews for more ideas on how to use this wonderfully handy product.

Find Teach Sunday School on social media:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SundaySchoolLessons/
• Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/biblefun/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teachsundayschool/

Follow a Daring WWII Rescue in the Christian Historical Fiction: Prisoner of War {A Whatsoever Stories / Homeschool Review Crew Review}

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

If you're looking to connect World War II history with some Christian fiction for reading aloud or independently, Whatsoever Stories is a place to look. We've recently had the opportunity to review one of their new releases, Prisoner of War by Kinsey M. Rocket, and have enjoyed it.

Prisoner of War is well done.

Prisoner of War begins with action and continues to engage throughout.

The story centers around an attempt to save over 100 unarmed men from a POW camp under German control during World War II and moves back and forth between what is happening with the imprisoned characters and what the men of the Wings of Service - who plot to save the POW's - are doing.

Switches in location/scene are indicated by visual breaks in the text. 

(When reading aloud, I indicated the switch by saying things like, "back to the POW's", "scene change," or "back to the Wings of Service" to help my son follow along without the visual cue of the stars.)

The book is intended for readers 12 years old or older, but I believe can be enjoyed by families with younger children as well. It is definitely written with an aim to engage readers while honoring Christ, and, as it says in the front pages of the book and on the Whatsoever Stories website:

"The purpose behind Whatsoever Stories is to produce wholesome, God-honoring books that parents can trust to uphold biblical principles and that will give young people good things with which to feed their minds so that good things can come forth from them." 

Prisoner of War fits this mission, and, although intended for readers 12 years old or older,  could be enjoyed by families with younger children as well I believe.

My son enjoyed this Christian historical fiction book.

When I asked my son for his thoughts for this review, he said:

My mom and I have been reading Prisoner of War recently. I have found it to be an interesting historical fiction novel set during World War II. 

The book focuses on two storylines that intersect. One is about a U.S military man - Charles Brentley - who gets captured by German soldiers and is put in a prison camp, where and he and his prisonmates try to escape. The other storyline is about an air rescue squad that attempts to rescue the soldiers in the prison camp. The stories intersect with an American special agent - William Whitlock, who swaps places with an enemy soldier and becomes the inside man at the prison camp.

The book is a Christian one, so there are references to God and the Bible, and one of the rescue squad people named Zach gets converted. 

I think the book is a decent one. The plot is exciting and easy to follow along. Sometimes, I found the story a little predictable and wordy, but I enjoyed it overall.

I would recommend this book as an independent read for fifth graders on up. Families could also read it together. People who like history, aviation, World War II, and Christianity might like this book.

Learn More

Prisoner of War is a 381-page paperback that seems to have a good binding and thick pages.

Each of its three main parts has a black and white illustration on its title page.

Before the historical fiction story unfolds, there is a Historical Note.

Then, at the end of the book, there is an Afterward which is a letter from the author to the reader that speaks to the reader about the author's hope that the tale has spoken to the reader's heart and encourages the reader to embrace Christ.

There is also a brief section in the back called "Inspiration" which summarizes the true incidents and facts that inspired the author.

Finally there is a glossary and a very brief author bio which, among other things, states that the author is a homeschool graduate!

You can preview the book here.

Thirty-five Homeschool Review Crew families reviewed Prisoner of War, Trial at the Ridge (mean for ages 10-14), or Farmyard Faith (meant for ages 10-adult). Be sure to click through to find links to each of the blog, social media, or video reviews.

Connect Faith to Algebra 1 {A Homeschool Math Curriculum Review}

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

When you think about Algebra textbooks, words like "faith-based" and "Biblical principles" don't often come to mind. Homeschool mom and math lover Mary Carroll sought to change that with her His Vessel Textbooks – Algebra I - an 11-unit, 64-lesson, hardcover curriculum book that weaves faith into math.

When my family was offered an opportunity to review His Vessel Textbooks – Algebra I, I was curious about how faith would be woven into its lessons, so spoke with my daughter about trying it out. She agreed, and, since we received our review copy, we've been slowly moving through it during portions of our 1:1 time.

In doing so, I have come to appreciate the time, effort, and God-loving thought that Mary Carroll put into creating this math curriculum. His Vessel Algebra 1 is organized logically and contains a number of unique  faith-connected features per unit woven in with more traditional straight-up math ones.

Features include "A God Moment" sections at the start of each lesson. These "moments" have a scripture and short devotional-type paragraph that explains math concepts in connection to Biblical principles.

Next, there are "Objectives for This Lesson", which are written as "I Can..." statements and outline what you will learn in the lesson. 

Then, there are "Vocabulary Terms", which come in handy for looking back at as the lessons progress.

After that come explanations, examples, "You Try" sections, and "Practice Problems". The examples are all worked out so you can follow along with them. The "You Try" problems require you to work them out on your own. Answers (not solutions) to them are given at the end of each unit.

Then, Practice Problems, of course, must be worked out on your own and answers to the odd ones can be found at the back of the book.

Sprinkled throughout the text are  "Helpful Hints" and "Make It Clear" boxes which give you ideas for remembering things and/or clarify concepts.

There are also "Family Activity" sections that suggest fun activities that aim to make math concepts more enjoyable. 

Finally, at the end of each unit, there are optional "Expressions Projects" which offer challenge ideas such as figuring how much Nebuchadnezzar's statue weighed or calculating descendants of a Biblical character.

My Daughters Thoughts about His Vessel Algebra 1

Here is what my daughter had to say about her experience with the textbook so far:

When my mother asked me if I wanted to review His Vessel Algebra 1 I wasn't completely sure, because my math skills are kind of all over the place. However, I decided to review it, thinking that maybe it would help me to improve my math skills. After making this decision, I was very excited about when the text would come in.

His Vessel Algebra 1 is quite thick, however, it is surprisingly light, which I liked. Another thing that I liked about the book is that the pages have plenty of white space; I've never liked books that are crowded on each page.

One of the setbacks I have had with His Vessel Algebra is that I am not able to use the textbook completely by myself. Explanations and examples in it are not written in a way that I can easily follow, so I had to ask my mother for help and ended up using the book with her during 1:1 study time. It has been a slow process.

I don't think His Vessel Algebra 1 is a bad book. In fact, I think that for some people it would be perfectly fine; they would be able to understand it. I just tend to take a bit more explaining to understand things, especially in math, and found that His Vessel was not as good at explaining things as some other programs I've used.

I would recommend His Vessel to someone who is willing to help their child with it. I would also have to say that if a parent wanted to make sure that all a child’s answers are right, the parent would have to go through and do some problems, because the back of the book does not give all the answers.

 

Overall I think His Vessel Algebra 1 has its pros and its cons, but I believe that it could be helpful for certain individuals. 

So, as you can see the curriculum has not been a total success with my daughter, but she can still find good in it, and I can, too.

My Thoughts on His Vessel Algebra 1

For students that head into His Vessel Algebra 1 without prior "holes" in their math, I think the text would easily carry them through Algebra 1 while helping them find connections between math concepts and faith. 

For students like my daughter who struggle with math, some hand-holding might be necessary.

I am not sure if we will continue to use the text with my daughter right now, because it is just going too slowly for her which is discouraging, but I will be saving it to use with her younger brother in years to come.

More Coming!

His Vessel Algebra I is currently the only text available from Mary Carroll, but she is drafting more books using her unique Biblical approach. She has plans to release a Geometry book in the fall of 2022 and Pre-Algebra, Algebra II, and Elementary Math in the future. She is also planning to offer a separate answer key for Algebra I in the summer of 2022.

Some Families Love It!

Some of the Homeschool Review Crew families who tried His Vessel loved it. To read what they appreciated most about it, click over to the Homeschool Review Crew to find links to their blog and Instagram reviews.

You might also want connect with Mary Carroll and His Vessel Textbooks on social media.

Facebook | Youtube

My Daughter Devoured C.S. Lewis: Master Storyteller {A Homeschool Review Crew / YWAM Publishing Review}

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

"OOO! Guess what, guys? We're being offered a chance to review another YWAM Publishing book!" I said before proceeding to read through the titles of the Christian Heroes: Then & Now books we could choose from.

No sooner had I read the words C.S. Lewis: Master Storyteller than did my 14-year-old excitedly proclaim, "That one!" She had recently become enamored with some of C.S. Lewis' nonfiction writing and wanted to know more about the man behind the books she had been reading.

Shortly after, we were delighted to receive a 191-page softcover copy of C.S. Lewis: Master Storyteller in the mail and a link via email to download a Unit Study Curriculum Guide that corresponds to the book.

As soon as the book arrived, my daughter dove right in and barely came up for air. This is what she had to write when I asked for her review:

When my mother asked me if I'd like to review C.S. Lewis: Master Storyteller by Janet & Geoff Benge, I automatically ensured her that I did. Remembering my past enjoyment of these books and considering my latest - what would you call it- obsession with C.S Lewis, I knew I wanted to read the book.

I did not know much about C.S. Lewis when I started the book. I do now.

The book follows the common theme of Christian Heroes: Then and Now books, which, is, of course, to make what could be a boring history of someone's life a compelling and informative story. This book in the series was so compelling, in fact, that I believe I read it in three days! I kept saying to myself and my poor mother, "just one more page.... last chapter for now...." and then proceeded to read the next and the next until I had finished the book.

I do not want to say much about what I learned about C.S. Lewis, because I do not want to ruin it for others, but I will share some random things:

• Did you know that C.S. Lewis' nickname was Jack? (I have a brother named Jack, so found this interesting.)
• Did you know he fought in the World Wars?
• How about that when he first married his life it was not because he loved her, but so that she would not have to go back to the United States?

 

I also learned more about some of the background of C.S. Lewis' writing.

I definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about C.S. Lewis or to just read an interesting biography. I think it would be good for people eight and up.

As you can see, my daughter thoroughly enjoyed C.S. Lewis: Master Storyteller, and, given that and our past pleasure with other YWAM Publishing books, I second her recommendation of the book and its corresponding unit study.

Regarding the Unit Study Curriculum Guide, it is a thorough one that can be used as a full-on unit study or can be cherry-picked for specific ideas and information that suit your particular child and homeschool style. Like all YWAM Publishing curriculum guides, it has ideas, prompts, and information for reinforcing various curriculum areas, including history, geography, essay writing, creative writing, reading comprehension, public speaking, drama, and art and is written so that both homeschool parents and teachers of co-ops/classrooms can use the material contained in it.

As a relaxed, eclectic homeschool family, we rarely use such resources in their entirety, but, rather, choose to cherry-pick ideas. Examples of how we do this are:

• use included Bible verse quotes as journal prompts.

• chat about the vocabulary words and terms that are highlighted in the Chapter Questions and Social Studies sections to ensure that my child understand each.

• have my child browse the Essay Question prompts to select one for practice essay writing.

• suggest my child look over the Creative Writing prompts to see if one strikes her fancy for journaling or a personal project.

• use the included maps to find some of the places mentioned.

There's so much in the Curriculum Guide- and all well-organized and easy to browse through - so it is easy to extend learning as little or as much as you want.

We absolutely love YWAM Publishing here and  C.S. Lewis: Master Storyteller did not disappoint. 

You can find our past YWAM Publishing reviews by browsing here. Also, be sure to click over to the Homeschool Review Crew to find links to current blog, video, and social media reviews from families that have read  C.S. Lewis: Master Storyteller or other Christian Heroes: Then & Now books.

You might also want to connect with YWAM Publishing:

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest