Review of Captivated DVD

How many hours per week do you think you spend using some kind of media?  Most of us are using some type of media much of the time throughout the day, whether it be your smartphone, computer, iPod, television, gaming devices, etc.  It has become a constant thing where we feel like we always have to be connected.

I recently had the chance to watch the Captivated DVD from Media Talk 101, which talks about how much time we are spending using media and what kind of influence it is having on us.  At first I didn’t think this was something that really pertains to my life, but as I watched the trailer of the documentary I realized it was very important for me to watch this DVD.

MediaTalk101 is a company that is working towards helping our generation to see what kind of impact this constant media is having on our lives.  Philip Telfer is the director of MediaTalk101 and he founded the company in 2005.  He co-directed the documentary, Captivated: Finding Freedom in a Media Captive Culture, that I had the chance to watch and he is an author as well.  MediaTalk101 shares some concerning statistics- just a few of those statistics that really made me think include:
-The average teen uses 7 1/2 hours of media each day.
-The average person watches almost 5 hours of TV each day.
-43% of 3-4 year olds have TVs in their rooms.

So, after I read some of the statistics and watched the trailer for Captivated, I knew I needed to watch it.  The DVD is a little over an hour and a half long and also includes a lot of bonus material.  I rarely watch TV or movies, so finding time to watch it actually proved to be a challenge to me, but I am glad that I took the time out to watch the documentary- I learned quite a bit from the dvd and found it to be very informative and thought provoking.

Captivated starts out by discussing how much media we consume.  It is a scary thought to me that the average American child watches more than 53 hours of TV per week.  And, by the time a child graduates from high school- he or she will have spent more time in front of a TV than in a classroom.  I was pretty shocked by both of those statistics.

Next, the documentary goes on to talk about the content of what we are watching and consuming.  Media definitely has an influence on how we behave and our attitudes- this can be a positive or negative thing, but we can’t deny that it has a huge influence.

The idea that we are being held captive to media is the next topic in the DVD.  People have become addicted to the internet and video games.  People use these things to escape from reality and they are not living a real life- it’s a fantasy.  Researchers have found that being addicted to video games compares to a gambling addiction.  And, it has been found that 10% of children are actually addicted to video games. What a sobering thought.

The documentary finishes up by talking about how media is a battleground and finally about getting freedom from media.  They do not give any specific guidelines or try to tell you that you can’t use any media at all.  But rather, they suggest Biblical principals that you need to consider when making choices about the media you allow in your home and how much time you spend using media is acceptable.

Captivated is meant for adults to watch (although it has been approved for all ages).  I think it something you can certainly watch with your teens and have a family discussion afterwards about what you want to happen in your household.  I recommend paying the $16.95 for the DVD (shipping is free!) and watching it to see what you think.  I know I am planning to make some changes in our family after watching Captivated, and while I am sure I will be met with resistance, I believe the changes are necessary.

Egglo Entertainment Review

We are having another snowstorm right now so it is hard to believe it, but Easter will be here before we know it.  It’s only a little over a month away so it’s time to start thinking about what kind of activities I want to do for Easter.  I was able to review Egglo Entertainment which has some new ideas for Easter activities.

Egglo can be used in a family setting, a homeschool group setting or as a church activity.  We were able to check out The Egg-cellent Easter Adventure which is a soft cover book that makes a connection between the gospel of Jesus and doing an Easter egg hunt.  The book normally costs $12.99, but is currently on sale for $9.99.  In the story there are 3 kids and their dog who find a glowing Easter egg in a treasure chest.  They set off on an adventure and find the greatest treasure of all.  We also received Glow in the Dark Egglo Eggs, so that we could have our own glow in the dark Easter egg hunt.  A box of 12 eggs normally costs $11.99, but is currently on sale for $9.99.  The glow in the dark eggs help children to understand that Jesus is the light of the world.  The product is geared for kids from ages 4-13, but I think it can be easily adapted to use with any age.So, what did we think of Egglo Entertainment?I used Egglo with Hailey, age 7 in second grade.  In addition, Hunter age 2 wanted to be included, so he did most of the activities with us as well.

We started out with Hailey reading The Egg-cellent Easter Adventure book.  The book was a little long, so we used The Egg-cellent Easter Adenture (book audio download) to finish the story when she got tired of reading.  The audio download is $2.99 and is 30 minutes long.

Hailey read the Easter story and we talked about it.  There is big difference this year in her understanding of Jesus dying for us.  She said, “Why do we have to read this story?  It’s sad.”  But then, of course, she liked the happy ending 🙂

I had gone through The Egg-cellent Easter Adventure Program Guide ahead of time and picked some various activities.  The program guide is $14.99 and is basically a curriculum to go along with the book and the Egglo eggs.  It is 60 pages long and is full of fun ideas that can be used within your family or church group to help you put together a great learning experience for your children.

Hailey and Hunter loved the snack that we made- we talked about how Jesus had died but that rose again and his tomb was empty.  We made the He is Not Here snack, which they both loved making.

The donut represents the tomb and the cookie in front of it is the stone that was rolled away to reveal an empty tomb.

Of course, they enjoyed eating their delicious snack after we talked about it.  The guide also had some recommended questions to ask the kids while they eat the treats.

Since there were a lot of great activities to do, I spread it out over 2 days.

The next day we made some really yummy Light of the World snacks.  Our marshmallows represented a flashlight or a torch and we talked about how important it is to have a light source when it is dark.  (These snacks were sooooo good!!  This was my favorite treat.)

We did a fun scripture scramble to help Hailey learn the memory verse- John 1:5- The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not overcome it.

As you can see, everything nicely connects together and reinforces the idea that Jesus is the light of the world.

We ended our Egglo fun with a glow in the dark Easter egg hunt.  Since we still have snow on the ground, we did it inside once it got dark enough.  I charged the eggs under the chandelier in our dining room, then hid them around our house.  Hailey and Hunter had a blast finding the eggs!

Once they found all the eggs, Hailey read the Egglo Treasure Scripture Scrolls ($4.29 for 12) that I had placed in the eggs ahead of time.

There is so much that you can do with the products from Egglo Entertainment!  It can be hard to come up with ideas and activities for Easter, other than the same old thing that people do year after year.  It was nice to have something new to try!

So, here is what it boils down to for me:

Pros:
Fun, new ideas for Easter activities
Can be used with a wide age range
Everything ties together very nicely to help children understand that Jesus is the light of the world.

Cons:
The book was a little bit long, which might be an issue for younger children.  But, that can be solved by not reading it all at once.

Want to see some more of Egglo Entertainment?  Check them out here:

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Review of ScienceandMath.com

Hailey absolutely loves science!!  It’s one of her favorite subjects and she can never get enough of it.  We haven’t found a science curriculum to use next year, so when I was given the chance to review ScienceandMath.com I was really excited to check it out!

ScienceandMath.com offers step by step science courses as well as math courses.  We wanted to check out what they had to offer for science for elementary students.I was given Amazing Science, Volume 1 to try out with Hailey.   Amazing Science, Volume 1 is meant for kids in first grade through third grade (although I think it could be used well past 3rd grade) and is $14.99 to download or $17.95 if you want the physical DVD.  If you decide you want to purchase the download, you will be able to download your product as soon as your purchase is complete.  It is a large file, so it may take a couple of hours to finish downloading.The DVD comes with 23 different science experiments.  At the beginning of each experiment you are given a list of the materials you will need if you want to try it out at home (and your kids are definitely going to want to try out the experiments!).  The materials are items that you will most likely already have around your house.  You are then able to watch the experiment be completed.  During the experiment, as well as after the experiment, there is a detailed explanation of the science behind why the experiment works the way it does.

So, what did we think of ScienceandMath.com?

I used ScienceandMath.com with Hailey, age 7 for a second grade science curriculum.  You can start anywhere you want with the DVDs.  You can pick a topic that is interesting to your child, you can pick experiments that you already have the materials on hand for, or you can just go in order.  You can do it any way you want.  We did several experiments each week, and I picked them based on what Hailey thought looked like fun and that we could easily come up with the materials to complete the experiments ourselves.

The first experiment we watched was called Color Changing Milk.  We watched it on the DVD first and learned why it works the way it does through a very detailed explanation.  Then, we tried it ourselves.

We put some milk on a paper plate (whole milk works best) then we put some drops of food coloring onto the plate.  Hailey dipped a Q-Tip into Dawn dish soap and then touched it into the drops of food coloring.  The results were really interesting!!

Hailey watched the lesson for Lift an Ice Cube with String.  Then we tried it on our own, using a cup of water, an ice cube, string and salt.  We learned why we put salt down on icy roads and sidewalks.

Hailey was amazed that it worked!

We also watched the Simple Lava Lamp lesson.  Hailey tried it on her own using water, food coloring, vegetable oil and salt.

It’s hard to see in the picture, but it did create a lava lamp effect.

There is so much to ScienceandMath.com.  This is just a small sample of some of the lessons and experiments we tried.  I really liked that the lessons were done for me, I just had to watch them with Hailey.  Science has never been easy for me, so it was kind of like having a science teacher here doing the work for me.  Of course, I had to help her do the experiments, but they were fun and simple.  Hailey also really enjoyed watching the experiments and always wanted to do several each day.

So, here is what is boils down to for me:

Pros:
Hailey enjoyed it and asked to do more.
We just had to watch the lessons, I didn’t have to do much ahead of time except gather a few materials.
I didn’t have to buy any materials- we had everything around our house that we used.
The lessons were very educational.
These videos can be used for a wide age range.

Cons:
The only thing Hailey did not like about the program was that sometimes the explanations of the experiments were a little too long.  I found the explanations to be very interesting and I learned quite a bit.  But, while Hailey loved the experiment portion of the videos, she lost interest in the explanations as to why they worked the way they did.

Want to see some more of ScienceandMath.com?  Check them out here:

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/ScienceAndMathCom

Science4Us.com Review

When I started homeschooling Hailey this past fall I had no idea that her favorite subject would be science.   The curriculum we were using included science, but it was very light and only a couple of times each week.  Hailey was begging to do science every day and wanting it to last longer than just a couple of minutes.  I started doing some unit studies with her, but it was very time consuming to research everything and come up with activities and experiments.  Plus, science was definitely never my strong subject. So, when I was given the chance to review Science4Us.com I was so excited!

I was able to review the Science4Us.com Online Subscription.  This program is intended to be used with children in kindergarten through second grade.  Older children can use it as a review of things they have probably already learned.  A monthly subscription to Science4Us.com is $7.95 per child.  This is an online program, so you will need a computer with internet access to use it.

There are 2 different accounts set up- one is for the parent/teacher and one is for the child.  The parent/teacher can decide which topic to cover- there are 4 different sciences: physical, inquiry, life and earth/space.  Within those topics there are many different sub-topics.  For example in the physical science you can choose to study matter, energy or force and motion.  Once you decide what you want to cover, you will see a page like this:

From here, you look through the daily sessions that your child will be doing.  There is an option to watch exactly what they are going to do.  You can also look over the teacher’s guide for the grade you are using (kindergarten, first or second).  Then there are offline materials- activities for the kids to do either before or after the actual online lesson.  Some of these are things you will need to print in order for your child to do the activity, so access to a printer is a plus, but not necessary as you do not have to do the extra offline activities.  As the parent/teacher you can also give your child various assignments that they have to complete.  You will also be able to view reports of the status of the assignments or any evaluations your child takes.When your child logs on, Science4Us.com will look like the picture above.  Your child is free to look around and see what is interesting to him or her.  And of course, they can also click on the assignments you have given them to do.So, what did we think of Science4Us.com?I used Science4Us.com with Hailey, age 7, for a second grade science curriculum.  You can start anywhere you want and with any topic that is interesting to your child.  Hailey had been begging to learn about magnets, so when we saw there was a unit about magnets she decided she wanted to do that first.

Hailey is waiting for one of her assignments to load.  The assignments all loaded very quickly for us, so there was no unnecessary waiting.

This is one of the activities she did and we discussed the answer.

Of course, we had to have a little bit of hands-on fun when learning about magnets!

This is one of the offline activities that came with the magnet unit.

Hailey really enjoyed the magnet unit and loved every online activity she did.

The units are also tied in with some language arts, and there were language arts activities related to magnets (or whatever the particular topic of study happens to be).

This is just one more example of some of the offline work.  Hailey had to take different words and put them together so that they stated one of the facts she had learned about magnets.

We did the space unit as well, which was also a lot of fun.

Hailey had to write or draw a picture of what she would need to get to space.

She also did a little report about the different parts of space she had learned about.

She created a book about the different parts in the universe.

One of the pages in her universe book.

This was one of her favorite offline activities- she pretended she met an alien on her journey to space and had to draw a picture of what it looked like.  This actually got her creative juices going and she decided she wanted to write an entire story about her alien.

As you can see there is a lot to Science4Us.com.  There wasn’t much work at all on my part.  I looked everything over before Hailey did it, and printed out some of the offline activities, but for the most part the program did all of the work.  I wasn’t sure how I felt about using an online program for school, especially for science where I think there should be a lot of hands-on activities.  But, I really feel that Science4Us.com provides a lot of opportunities for hands-on learning, especially if you use the offline work.  Hailey absolutely loved Science4Us.com.  She begged to do “just one more assignment” every time!  Some of them are short, so I let her do a few at a time on some days.  It’s wonderful to have your child begging to do more science.

So, here is what is boils down to for me:

Pros:
Very easy for me to implement.
Hailey loved it and begged to do more.
The lessons were very interesting and educational.

Cons:
The only thing I did not like was during the assessment at the end of the unit- Hailey was taking her test and accidentally clicked on the wrong answer.  She had just told me the correct answer, so I knew she knew the information.  But, her answer was automatically submitted, so she missed one on her test… and because of her personality she insisted on taking the entire test over so she could get 100%.  I think maybe it should be set up so the child selects an answer and then clicks submit, to take away the chance of accidentally picking the wrong choice.  This was definitely not a huge deal for us though.

I highly recommend Science4Us.com- we really loved this program!!

Want to see some more of Science4Us.com?  Check them out here:

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