Product Review & Giveaway: Theo - God's Truth Volume 4 (Home Edition)

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL PROVIDED: I received a copy of this DVD from Family Christian for review purposes.  I was not compensated for this review, nor was I required to post a positive review.  The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.  This post contains NO affiliate links.

Product Review: Theo - God's Truth Volume 4 (Home Edition)

Overview

Theo, God's Truth Volume 4 contains three lessons to watch and it comes with a Parent's Guide where each lesson has six daily devotionals all planned out to discuss and do with your child(ren).  I found this DVD to be pretty awesome and was my first time actually watching one of these films.  I was extremely impressed!

Each lesson to watch on the DVD was no longer than 11 minutes, some were shorter than that.  The characters Luther and Belfry, which are Theo's mouse friends are fun to watch too.  The lessons target specific topics such as, Abiding in Christ, Light Unto My Path and What is the Church? Theo helps to illuminate each topic and bring it to life for children to understand.  

Lesson 11 - Abiding in Christ

In this lesson, Theo helps children to understand what it means to abide in the vine.  Theo tells the children that understanding the Bible, obeying the Bible and keeping the Bible in our hearts and minds are all important ways for us to abide in the vine, because John 1 tells us that Christ is the "Word of God".  Luther and Belfry even help the children have this concept sink in by Belfry playing copycat with Luther.  My six year old son watched this segment and he grasped what it meant to abide in the vine!

Lesson 12 - Light Unto My Path

In this lesson, Theo teaches the children that the Bible is like a light in the darkness.  Theo's mouse friends Luther and Belfry help sink this concept in by running through the dark woods without flashlight and end up tripping and falling along the way because they couldn't see.  Without the Bible we would be lost in the world, unable to see right from wrong and unable to clearly identify the path we should truly be on.  I helped sink this in with my six year old by using a flashlight.  First, I had no batteries in the flashlight and I gave it to him to try and turn on, of course, it didn't work.  I told him that when we don't read the Bible and get it in our hearts and minds, we have no light to shine for others to see.  Then I gave him the flashlight with batteries put in backwards and he tried to turn it on and of course it didn't work.  I told him this is like a person that reads the Bible now and then, but many times it sits on the shelves to collect dust.  Only utilizing it when you need it, but otherwise goes through life still trying to do things on their own.  Then I gave him the flashlight with the batteries put in correctly and this time it turned on! He says, this is a person who knows the Bible! And I said, YES!!! This person has hid the Word in their heart and mind and the light shines for all to see and for that person to know which way to go in life.

Lesson 13 - What is the Church?

In this lesson, Theo teaches the children that church is more than a building made of brick or wood. He points them to where the Bible tells about the early church and that it first began on Pentecost.  The church is made up believers of all kinds of people who believe in Jesus and follow Him.  My six year old son watched this one and said to me, I'm a part of the church, but some of my friends at school are not.  I asked him, what makes you think that.  And he said, because they don't have Jesus in their heart and don't believe in Him.  I said, you are right, that doesn't make them part of the church, but told him we can be lights to them and we can pray for them that they come to know to the truth.  So, his prayer that night before bed was that his friends at school would come to know Jesus and ask Him into their hearts.

I highly suggest this DVD for parents, homeschoolers, and for the children's ministry at church! The clips are short, so you can still use object lessons and other supplements to help the point to sink in for the kids and learn in fun ways.  Parents who want to go deeper with their kids and start devotionals, this is a GREAT starting point!!! And the coolest part, you get a Parent's Guide booklet that contains six days of devotionals for each lesson to help it sink in.  Children's ministry leaders, this would be a GREAT investment for a class to take kids deeper into the Bible in a small group setting.  There is so many wonderful ways you can use this DVD.

Giveaway

Family Christian who sent me this DVD to watch and write an objective review has given me a $10 Appreciation Certificate to giveaway to one of my lucky readers! Enter below in the rafflecopter (may take a second to load).  Winner will be announced on Monday, January 12, 2015 and you will have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen.

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Have fun and be a blessing!
~Bekah

Snow Theme (PreK-1)

Happy New Year! We ended up with a "Frozen" world here in the Great Lakes state.  Hit with an ice storm and so thankful God kept our power on, when everyone around us had lost theirs.  Then this past week we were buried with snow, not sure how much, our ruler got buried and I have no idea where it is anymore?! Roughly around 18" or so of snow.  So to start our first week back into school after the holidays what a perfect time to do a snow theme! With plenty of snow in the yard, a little too cold to play in since arctic chill hit us with -30+ degrees in wind chill, I mean brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, especially for me since I am NOT the snow bunny! I mean I literally despise winter and it's WAY too long in this state.  But just because I don't like it, doesn't mean my kids won't, so snow fun here we go!!!

Here is our circle time board:

Every morning we reviewed the poster board, calendar, weather, read a book about snow, and did our morning discussion.  Here is what we discussed each day:

1. Did you know snowflakes are all different?

2. What can you make in snow?

3. How is snow formed?

4. What are snow caps?

5. How do you build a snowman?

Our Bible time began with our daily prayer each day.  My Funky Monkey has this prayer memorized now, so he leads me in it - which is just awesome!

Our Bible Point is "God's Child is Forgiven!" So, we read the following Bible stories this week:

1. The Prodigal Son

2. Jesus' Death on the Cross

3. Jonah and the Whale

4. Jacob and Esau

We discussed how each story showed us that God's Child is Forgiven.  Taught him what "forgiveness" means and what it looks like.

And we made our verse page to add to our "Bible" Journal, here it is:

And of course he earned his award for memorizing his Scripture.  We are going to make a journal page for each verse this year and review them on a monthly basis.  God is showing me more and more that this is the importance to our homeschool, it's our foundation.  To seep my children in the Word of God!

Here is a glimpse of the rest of the activities we did this week:

Making Snow Cream!

Click HERE for the recipe.

We made both vanilla and chocolate.

Chocolate was his favorite!

Chunky Monkey had no preference, he wanted BOTH!

Snowflake Bead Craft

We got this from Oriental Trading.

First he sorted all the beads out by color.

Then using a pattern, put the beads on each

side of the snowflake.

And voila! Beautiful snowflake!

He chose to hang it in our new school area.

Science Experiment

We talked about what freezing point is.

I gave him a thermometer and had him put it

in different areas to read it.

(1) The window pane to read outside temp of -10*F

(2) The freezer to read temp of -25*F

(3) The refrigerator to read temp of 36*F

Then I asked him if we filled balloons up with water,

would it freeze into ice outside? He said yes, so 

we tested it! Our balloon ended up more like

and ice bowl instead of an ice ball though. But it did freeze!

Our Math Workbox!

We are working on the one's addition facts.

So I have snowman drill cards, giant buttons,

addition puzzles for one facts, and cubes.

We also used this song to help learn the addition

one facts, click HERE for video.

We learned the following for math lessons:

(1) Adding by counting on from the larger number

(2) Adding in any order (1+2=2+1)

(3) Writing addition stories

(4) Problem Solving Addition Stories

Addition Snowman Building Worksheet

He cut out the snowballs to build the snowman.

Each snowman has an addition problem on it,

and he is to put on the correct snowball to answer

the addition problem.

To help him solve the problems, he decided to

use the giant buttons.  So, if a question was 1+2, he

set out 1 button on side and 2 on the other to help

him solve the problem. 

Tens Frame Snowman Building

This worksheet is where he matched a tens frame

picture to the number on the snowman.

I set out a tens frame and he decided to use his cubes.

He placed the number of cubes into the tens frame,

which gave him a picture clue to match to the picture

tens frame on the final snowball to build the snowman.

Language Arts Workbox

Worked on the following:

(1) -ow word family, sentence building, and reading

(2) sight words (down, up, here, go) and reviewing the past 20 we learned

(3) handwriting for letter S and journal prompts 

"OW" Worksheet from Wordway

Writing "OW" and completing words.

Sight Word Search

He used his stampers to find the sight words.

Handwriting Practice

I have these great dry erase journals with

handwriting lines.  I write the capital and lowercase

letter and a sentence for him.  He writes his own

capital/lowercase letter and the sentence underneath

mine.  He is getting better and better with writing!

And he decided to draw a picture for the sentence too.

We studied the state of Alaska this week.

Learned the basic facts (capital, motto, nickname, flower, bird)

And learned some interesting facts too...

(1) the flag was created by a 13 year old boy

(2) has the largest active volcano chain

Science Experiment: Icy Roads

I froze water in a cookie sheet outside and then brought

it inside (again, too cold to go outside, -16*F in the day!)

Of course both my kids are interested in it, right away!

Funky Monkey tried to push cars in a straight line across

the ice and found out real quick that they always spin out.

Chunky Monkey liked dropping cars onto the ice and 

trying to play in it, till he got too cold, then he was done!

Then we talked about freezing point again.  And asked

him what we could use to help the cars drive better?

He said salt - that's my northerner for you!

So, we put salt down and again talked about freezing point

and how salt lowers the freezing point.  And then talked about

how salt doesn't work when it is too cold outside, like the temps

we are experiencing this week outside.  So, what else could we use?

He thought pepper might work, but it didn't.  So, I suggested sand and

he was like, let's see.  So, I gave him "sand", it was actually

cornmeal, since I didn't have any sand on hand.  And that helped

the cars drive much easier across the ice.

Arctic Freeze CVC Center Activity

After turning over his card and spelling out the word

on the game board, he then writes the word into the correct

picture box that matches the card.

Here he is working hard!

He did really good!

Another Oriental Craft - Rhinestone Snowflake!

I got this snowflake shaped dry erase sticker cling

from Oriental Trading.  It's pretty awesome!

And it fits into our winter themes very nicely.

I use it to post the date and our morning question of the day.

Our Snowman and Melting Snow Ball Bath!!!

These 2 had a blast finding all the stuff in their bath

and exploring melting snow balls (shaving cream).

Finally got warm enough to go outside, the arctic air

ceased and we actually got into the 30's!!!

So that meant snow play time and with all this snow

we got to build a BIG snowman!!!

Daddy and Funky Monkey working together!

Patting the snowman's belly! hehe

Awww, he likes WARM HUGS!!!!

That was a glimpse of our snow themed week.  We did cover lots of other stuff too, but I didn't get pictures of everything.  Next week... PENGUINS!

Until next time...

Have Fun and Be a Blessing!

~Bekah

Day 5 Pumpkin Theme

Our last day of our pumpkin theme, not sure what will happen next week.

But I have the weekend to come up with something. 

Today we did LOTS, including science, which was soooo much FUN!

He earned his first Book It Certificate!

Read 25 books for the month of October. 

Putting up the sight words he learned this week! 

Yay! He now knows 20 sight words.

Pumpkin Bubble Science

We used one of those foam carvable pumpkins

from the dollar store.  Cut off the top filled half way

with water and a squirt of dish soap.

Gave him a straw and had him make bubbles.

He was soooo excited about that,

since we don't let him do that with his drinks. hehe

Figured out that the top pops the bubbles.

But the straw doesn't pop them - why?

Will my hand?

Yes!!!

But when my straw is dry it pops bubbles!
So we learned that the following:

- bubbles are made of air
- bubbles have a protective soapy layer
- that protective layer bursts when non-soapy items touch it
- the protective layer does not burst when soapy items touch it

Sight Word Assessment #1

Circled his sight words in a particular color.

"CK" Worksheet Practice
This worksheet has a picture on it, then he has to
build the word, then write it.

Some of the pictures he had a hard time figuring what

the CK word was, but with a little building he got it!

He did a great job!

Finishing up the fruit of the Spirit basket!!!

All Done!!! :)

CVC Word Building
I printed out a bunch of pumpkins and wrote
a bunch of letters on them.  Then just laid them out
to see what words he could build.

He built the following:
CAT
DOG
BIG
DIG
FIG
FOG
LOG
SIT
PIT
HIT

Erupting Pumpkin Science
My little guy LOVES baking soda and vinegar experiments.
So, I had him mix yellow and red food coloring in some vinegar
to see what color he made, orange of course.  Placed some
baking soda in the pumpkin and had him pour the vinegar in.
Made a cool orange explosion!!!

What interesting pumpkin theme activities have you done?

Have Fun and Be a Blessing!

~Bekah