Science Experiments + Faith = A Hit Here {A Review of Go Science DVDs}

I had never heard of Library and Educational Services until I was given an opportunity to review two of their new Series 2 Go Science DVDs in exchange for an honest review.

Now, I am glad to be acquainted with both the company and the DVDs. 




Library and Educational Services is a small, family company that has been in business for 35 years which sells Christian and Christian-friendly CDs, DVDs and books to libraries, schools, homeschools, resellers, specialty stores, churches, missionaries, daycare centers and ministry leaders at 30% to 70% off every day.


What are Go Science DVDs?

Go Science DVDs are a series of seven science videos in which host Ben Roy (who has produced science lessons for the Weather Channel, About.com and a Christian satellite broadcasting network)  selects children to help him demonstrate fun science experiments to other children.  

Each video is about an hour long and is broken into a number of segments that last for no longer than 10 minutes each.  In each segment, Ben enthusiastically presents a cool science experiment that he usually ties directly to one faith idea or another.

Geared for children age 4-12 years old, the videos include both science demonstrations that might not easily be replicated at home and those that can be done easily with inexpensive supplies.

In the collection are:

• Volume 1: Sound, Gravity, Space

• Volume 2: Life Science, Weather

• Volume 3: Air

• Volume 4: Motion, Friction, Electricity, Light

• Volume 5: States of Matter, Water

• Volume 6: Chemistry

• Volume 7: Engineering, Design, Flight

Each DVD has a list price pf $14.95, but is available through Library and Educational Services for $8.87 each.  

Good Enough to Watch All in One Sitting...

There are a total of seven DVDs in the series.  Each has a list price of $14.95. Each is priced at $8.97 - See more at: http://schoolhousereviewcrew.com/library-and-educational-services-review/#sthash.gdaXkBcA.dpuf

There are a total of seven DVDs in the series.  Each has a list price of $14.95. Each is priced at $8.97 - See more at: http://schoolhousereviewcrew.com/library-and-educational-services-review/#sthash.gdaXkBcA.dpuf

One balmy morning when I knew my children were lethargic after a late night, I suggested viewing the DVDs on a blanket in our front yard.  My children were all for it and quickly selected Volume 7:  Engineering, Design and Flight to start off with.

Immediately, they became engaged and only once did one of them move away from the 11 science experiments presented in the video. That child was my Nina, who I soon learned had gone inside to try to recreate the centrifuge experiment with whatever she could find in our house.  

When she realized we had no skewer, she designed her own way to spray water with a cut straw which try as I might to get an action shot of her actually spraying water with I could not.

Luke, meanwhile, began drawing pictures of the Flight experiments he wanted to try, including this one of Vinegar Rockets.

By the end of viewing Volume 7:  Engineering/Design/Flight my children had decided that we really must try to build a trebuchet at some point, that we need to buy some cheap eggs to try walking on and that we should find someone who still has film canisters around so we can make our own rockets.

They also asked to continue watching the second GO Science DVD we has selected to review, Volume 2:  Life Science/Weather after plugging our laptop back in inside.

The weather experiments on this DVD were definitely the kids' favorites.  They now so want to:

• find liquid nitrogen now so we can make our own clouds. ("Um, not anytime soon, kids.  That is why Ben did not say this experiment is one that we can do at home!")
• make a garbage can vortex.  ("Again, sorry, not going to happen anytime soon.")
• create some version of a ping pong cannon.  ("Okay, we might be able to figure that one out to some degree eventually.")

While watching both videos, I heard my children, "Cool!" and "Can we do this one?" my children also commented on some of the faith

Yet Also Prime For...

...short segment viewing! 

As I watched Go Science along with my children, I could not help but to think that some of the science demonstrations in it would be well-suited as object lessons for different faith principles and Biblical passages, making effective short segment viewing for DIY Vacation Bible School-type ventures as well as for supporting other lessons.  In fact, as Ben Roy proclaimed at the end of each segment, "When we learn more about science, we learn more about our Creator - God!", with my children responding, "Why does he keep saying that?!" I wondered if watching only portions of the video at once in future sittings would work out best!

Our Balanced View

My children were engaged enough in GO Science DVD's to want to watch two full hours in a row, sometimes even interacting with the host Ben Roy by speaking aloud or raising hands.

As I watched the videos with my children, I decided that I liked the the balance of try-at-home and best-suited-for-video-demonstration experiments, the enthusiasm with which Ben Roy and his volunteer helpers presented each experiment and the professional quality of the live-taped performances.  I also appreciated that not every experiment on the DVDs worked the first time, since as any homeschool parent knows, not every experiment in real life works out perfectly the first time either!  Additionally, I liked how Ben Roy wove faith talk into each segment.

I also, of course, liked how the experiments inspired my children's own scientific investigations.

Even my almost-four-year-old Jack was found testing out things like design and centrifuge with his own designs.

In future volumes of Go Science DVDs, I would like to see and hear meatier explanations of the actual science behind the experiments presented and would also like to hear the word "interesting" used fewer times.  (Along with the catch phrase about knowing science and knowing God, the host tended to use the word "interesting" in every segment, sometimes multiple times!)  I would also love a package insert with the names of the experiments, and, perhaps, a supplies list for those that can be replicated at home.  

However, even without these things, I, along with the kids, found the Go Science DVDs a worthwhile use of our time, which even inspired some note taking.

I am already imagining how we will revisit some segments of Go Science DVDs in future studies and experimentation as a family and with friends!

Find Out More

• View samples of the videos at Library and Educational Services. 

 

• Visit Library and Educational Services on Facebook.

•  Read about what up to 100 other Schoolhouse Crew families thought about the videos.  (Each family chose two to review.)

Encourage Independent Prayer

The other morning, I heard my daughter wake up, but, instead of coming to me as she usually does to offer me a morning hug and kiss, she disappeared.  

Several minutes later, upon realizing my little girl was being awfully quiet and aloof, I went to find her in order make sure she was okay.  When I did, I found this:

My daughter was offering morning love to Jesus through Mary by sitting in a self-made prayer corner praying the Rosary.

I smiled as I noted all the parts of her prayer corner:

• an image of Mary and one of the Sacred Heart of Jesus that we had gotten from a Freecycler several years ago that my daughter asked to put up in her room.

• die-cut flowers that we made at a museum two years ago which my daughter chose to give decorate the wall by Mary with, inspired by miniature Mary garden baskets some years ago. 

• a cardboard and popsicle stick Mary garden fence that my daughter made as a aprt of a co-op class a couple seasons ago.

• empty vanilla bottles that my daughter has asked to keep, which she placed in her prayer space "because they smell good for the Mother to smell,"  plus the bottle caps, because "they have a stronger smell."

• her Rosary beads from a heart box where she keeps them so "I can keep them safe, because love them."

•  an index card to act as a "vase" for paper flowers my daughter made and cute out so she could offer one flower after each decade she prayed, much like she and her peers do at Rosary Club each month.

I had nothing to do with gathering these supplies that morning to create the prayer corner that my daughter was so beautifully praying in.  I do, however, have something to do with inspiring such moments of individual prayer, or rather, with creating a family environment that welcomes the Spirit to move us to such moments.  For I have listened to promptings to make choices:

• to pray together daily as a family .

• to pray by myself in view of my children.

• to include items that inspire prayer among the things we bring into our home .

• to dedicate time in our schedules for prayer groups .

• to seek like-minded friends for my children to learn and pray with.

• to offer space and time for my children to explore as the Spirit prompts them.

In short, I have consciously chosen to integrate our faith into the fabric of our everyday lives, increasingly praying through my own days and being open to how the Spirit moves me.  In turn, I am blessed with the delight of witnessing my young daughter's head joyfully bowed in prayer.

How do you encourage your child's individual prayer?

  
Please feel free to share about them in comment here or on our Training Happy Hearts Facebook page.  If you leave a link to an idea, I will pin it on the Training Happy Hearts: A Call to Faith Formation in Young Children Pinterest board.

He's Not the Pope, But...

... one of my children kept insisting he was, and all of the children were excited to have him come to our parish to celebrate the first anniversary of our three-church collaborative.

After Mass, the children eagerly followed Cardinal Sean and the entourage of priests, deacons and parish staff to bless our parish's newly baptized "St. Joseph Center".

 

Then, we all enjoyed a reception, where, because it is Father's Day, the children piled loads of gluten- and casein-full food onto a plate to serve Daddy with.  (Mike loves such food and we never serve such food at home.) 

While there, our parish's Children's Rosary leader gathered children from the Rosary club my three participate in together to request a blessing from Cardinal Sean. 

Of course, we requested a family photo, too, which silly me did not check to be sure came out okay before stepping out of the audience line:

Yep, it turned out fuzzy and with goofy boys.  (Real is good, right?)

And so it was we spent this beautiful Sunday morning enjoying family time -- with our own immediate family and with our Catholic collaborative family.

How do you spend "family time" with your faith community?

  
Please feel free to share about them in comment here or on our Training Happy Hearts Facebook page.  If you leave a link to an idea, I will pin it on the Training Happy Hearts: A Call to Faith Formation in Young Children Pinterest board.

Some of Our Favorite Habitat and Nature Books

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I know.  I know.  I said I'd be sharing more of our Habitat Explorer lesson plans and reports here soon.  I still have every intention of doing so.

In the meantime, as I gather a huge pile of books to ferry back to the library I wanted to share some of the ones we renewed and renewed until their limits were reached because we enjoyed them to much.

A Log's Life, written by Wendy Pfeffer and illustrated by Robin Brickman, is a gorgeous book that we used when doing our Habitat Explorer Woodlands lesson and, then, poured over for weeks afterward.  The illustrations in it are absolutely beautiful.  Many of the objects in them look like photographs, but, in reality they are vibrant collages made by cutting, painting, sculpting and gluing watercolor paper and, sometimes human hair, together.  The text engages readers in the life cycle of a tree and showcases many creatures that live in forest ecosystems, such as squirrels, porcupines, carpenter ants, woodpecker, beetle, slugs, salamanders, bugs and much more.  The final page offers discussion questions and activity ideas.  Engaging as a read-aloud, inspirational for art projects, sound for studying forest ecology, I'd recommend this book to anyone!

Roxaboxen, written by Alice McLerran and illustrated by Barbara Cooney, captured my children's imagination from the first day we read it, inspired other children during our initial Habitat Explorers meeting and continues to act as a catalyst for my children's creativity. We've read this true story over and over, each time delighting in how children in it create a magical world of their own with rocks, boxes and found objects on an open lot on Arizona.  The text and the wonderfully warm-hued illustrations that bring it life not only describes the magic of the author's mother's childhood days, but inspires magic in its readers self-directed play.  My children have been creating their own "Roxaboxens" in the cul de sac near our home, in the woods and in parking lots.

On Meadowview Street is a charming picture book we've been reading over and over again that I wanted to share during our Meadow Habitats day at Habitat Explorers, but could not as rain came down that day preventing us from an outdoor read aloud.  I did, however, let the entire group know that they might want to take the time to borrow or buy this sweet story of a little girl that saves one little flower from her daddy's lawn mower and, subsequently, turns a typical front yard at her new home into a teeming ecosystem that inspires her entire neighborhood.  Lovely acrylic paintings illustrate the simple, yet powerful story.  The book serves as an engaging read-aloud or read-to-self, a testimony of the power one young child can have in creating change and an impetus for thinking about our front and back yards in new ways.  I think the book makes a perfect introduction or conclusion to a habitats class and, honestly, just a fun read.

  A Dandelion's Life (Nature Upclose), written and illustrated by John Himmelman, is an accessible introduction (or reinforcement) of life cycles and eco-systems.  It unfolds easily as a scientifically accurate, yet simply written story of a dandelion floating through the air as a seed, connecting with other creatures as it grows throughout the seasons, and finally, producing its own seed to blow in the breeze.  With large illustrations and mostly single-line text on each page, this book is a quick and enjoyable read.  I will definitely be borrowing it again for a focused dandelion study at another time.  (This time we simply used it to compliment general life cycle studies and explorations.)

Fun.  Fun.  Fun. And useful!  That is our reaction to Noisy Bug Sing-Along, written and illustrated by long-time bug lover John Himmelman.  Each page of this energetic picture book delights with large-scale images of bugs, passionately created with vibrant color, texture, and shading and overlaid with a line of text that includes the bugs name and a fun and accurate onomatopoeic bug sound.   Such a fun read-aloud and even a great first identification guide, this book will be taken out again by us!

I was going to read On the Way to the Beach in our first Habitat Explorers class as a way to get children thinking about the different habitats that they might come across in their days after leaving their front doors.  But, I decided to hold off on doing that so I can save this great little story to read in a later mini co-op on beaches or marine biology.  That did not mean, though, that the book made a quick trip from our home back to the library.  Nope.  My children enjoyed folding out the three-page acrylic illustrations of woods, marshes, dunes and beach too much, searching for all the wonderful creatures in the illustrations.  (Some were not easy to find, so luckily there was a key at the back of the book!)  Beautifully illustrated, this book encouraged cozy snuggly times of reading, discussing and spying accurate depictions of foliage and creatures from one habitat to the next as the story of a little girl making her way to the beach literally unfolded.   It's such a wonderful book for young nature lovers.

In One Tidepool: Crabs, Snails and Salty Tails is another one I did not read for Habitat Explorers, but got so we could include beach habitats in our home learning.  It is a brilliantly illustrated book that depicts the community of creatures one might find in a tide pool, using rhythmic rhyming text that repeats itself. The book does have two pages of Field Notes, but otherwise is not one that so much 'teaches" as it captures - a visual field trip to the oceanside between two covers.  We enjoy it.

Now, off to the library so I can avoid overdue fines!

I'd love to hear some of your favorite nature and habitat titles!

Please find all the posts related to the Habitat Explorers Co-op I taught this spring by clicking on the button below.

Rolling with It: A Mother's Reflection

The other day we joined a bunch of other homeschoolers for a Basic First Aid Class.  During the first class break, as I spoke with the class facilitator for a few moments, the children ran off with friends.

A few minutes later, when I joined them, they were doing this:

They had found a huge, old tire which was far more interesting to them at that moment than the more obvious playground equipment and climbing trees were.  It had sparked their imagination and curiosity and, with no adult prompting, they had taken it upon themselves to give each other turns rolling inside the tire across a field.

Seeing my Luke inside that tire with a smile on his face seemed so fitting to me as another mom made her way over to ask me about Sensory Processing Disorder, related issues, and the steps our family has taken to, first, seek diagnosis and formal therapies and, then, to realize that we've got things covered on our own.  We could stop the dx road and all the formal therapies. God's good grace, practical applications of research we had done and acceptance that our son was created the way he is for a purpose made that clear to us.  We realize our road no longer needed to be through labels and recommended treatments, but through embracing our boy for who he is and focusing on approaches that allow him be the best him he can be without attempting to "fix" him or make him like anyone else.

In fact, it was an absolute delight for me to look a Luke taking turns, laughing through the heavy work of pushing the tire and delighting in the vestibular and proprioceptive input of hanging inside the tire as I recounted for the other mom how challenging any playground dates and vestibular stimulation used to be for him and how much time I used to spend at seeing specialists.  Wow!  We have come so far and become so free.  

That is how we roll... 

   
Equally delightful was seeing Nina's tooth-gap grin as she partook in the merriment.

Our newly seven year old lost her first tooth just days before her birthday.  The next morning, instead of diving under her pillow to see what might be there, she sent her brother  out to get me and, when I arrived at the bedside, said to me, "I wanted to wait for you to see this, Mom."  

Growing up, remaining compassionate and developing patience even during moments of enthusiasm.  That's my girl.  She was able to wait because she knows I like to share in her special moments.

Special moments come every day for us.  Some with Tooth Fairy milestones and others with extraordinary everyday snippets.  Many in the margins I increasingly remember to leave around the must-do's of life.

Yes, witnessing our motor-driven girl giggling through rounds of tire fun has me smiling with gratitude for the lifestyle we have chosen.

That is how we roll...

And Jack, dear Jack.  That boy is as rough and tumble as he is spry and smiley.  He has a vigor and delight that blesses me every day as he jumps into the fray of things with his siblings or creates his own fun.

Independent, yet loving.  Sharing in a feast of planned activities, unstructured elbow room and the blessings of both togetherness and personal time, our boy is satiated and so am I.

That is how we roll...

As I reflect upon my three children and their friends enthusiastically taking turns in their self-directed monster tire play, I see so much fruit in our lives.  I witness the value of just rolling with things...

Through the years, sometimes on purpose, but many times because that is all I could do, I have been gradually letting go of typically structured life and learning times and embracing an approach that integrates the two seamlessly as we roll through our days, helping one another to live with greater joy and purpose.

As I look ahead to the next school year, I see so many opportunities.  

Freedom.  Friendships.  Fun.  Family.  Following how the Spirit moves us in grand things and in small.  This is how we roll.

May delight be with you today as you roll along.  I'd love to hear where the Spirit is directing you.