Drive Thru History® – “The Gospels” from Drive Thru History®:A TOS Crew Review

Drive Thru History® – “The Gospels” from Drive Thru History®:  Buckle up!  Dave Stotts is about to take you on a road trip through the life, times and actual locations of Jesus as recorded in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the NEW - Drive Thru History® – “The Gospels” from Drive Thru History®.

This 3 DVD set contains 18, 30 minute episodes of one of our favorite ways to experience history! In addition, the boxed set includes a 118 page Study Guide.

David Stotts has my dream job, visiting over 50 locations recorded in the Gospels and getting to introduce us to them with his classic style.  He is highly entertaining... my children and I have been long time fans!  The episodes cover:

• The Historical Landscape
• The Announcements
• Jesus is Born
• Jesus Grows Up
• Jesus Starts His Ministry
• Jesus Returns to Galilee
• Jesus Begins His Miracles
• Jesus Teaches with Authority
• The Sermon on the Mount
• Jesus Travels the Sea of Galilee
• Jesus Travels North
• A Final Trip to Jerusalem
• Jesus Arrives in Jerusalem
• The Last Supper
• The Trial of Jesus
• The Crucifixion of Jesus
• The Resurrection of Jesus
• Who is Jesus?

This set is BEAUTIFUL as well as educational.  Right away, we were impressed with the quality. The videos are simply captivating. They are professionally done from start to finish.  Each episode is filled with live action film and classic art.  Dave weaves Scripture throughout every episode as he narrates the story of Jesus' life. 

You feel like you are actually visiting the familiar locations of the Bible you have read about... Bethlehem, Jerusalem, the Sea of Galilee, and more.  The Bible comes to life for you and your children in an entire new way.  By presenting archaeological, cultural and historical information you get to experience the life of Jesus, and truly know it's "all real".   This series is completely family friendly.  We love to watch it altogether (multiple episodes at a time), not just for "school" but for family movie nights as well. Our family has been reading the Bible chronologically this year with our church, this series was perfect for bringing our reading to life.  

My children love Dave's sense of humor.  He makes every episode interesting with his hilarious antics.  But, he is also a knowledgeable gifted storyteller too.   We were super excited to actually get to meet him in person at a recent homeschool conference (he's just as funny in person...) Having been long-time fans, we knew he ALWAYS has a new ride for the adventure.  This time,  he takes us on the road with a very old Land Rover, and even teaches us how to cook with it :-)  

The Study Guide is beautifully done as well. It is filled with stunning photographs on high quality paper.   Each episode has a section with a brief summary and several discussion-style questions you can use to spark more in-depth thinking.  Bible readings are included for each episode.  This could easily be used as a Sunday school or small group study.

I have always wanted to visit these amazing places, to see what Jesus saw, and walk where he walked.  If a trip to the Holy Land is out of your budget... Drive Thru History® – “The Gospels” can take you there.

I love that Dave's heart shows through - he ends this series with the important question - "Who do you say Jesus is?"    This series is a wonderful way to SHOW your children who Jesus is!

Find Drive Thru History® on Social Media:

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

YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/drivethruhistory

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/drivethruhistory/

Hashtags:  #hsreviews #drivethruhistory #thegospels

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Daily Bible Jigsaw from Planet 316: A TOS Crew Review

Daily Bible Jigsaw from Planet 316

This one is just for fun... Bentz Test Laboratory has quickly gotten addicted to the Daily Bible Jigsaw from Planet 316!
This FREE app allows you to assemble jigsaw puzzles on your device.  It's available on Google Play, Apple App Store, Facebook and Facebook Gameroom. 

Each day a new puzzle is available.  Older puzzles can be purchased with in-app purchases of coins. Coins can also be used as tools to assist you as you complete the puzzle. Some tools sweep off pieces to the side, pull out the edge pieces, pull two pieces together or guide you with a picture of the completed puzzle.  
The tools come in handy when you are getting competitive (like the members of the Crew!) and trying to beat your time (or your friends time).  Each puzzle times you.
My testers and I found ourselves pulling this out to entertain ourselves while waiting.  We do a lot of waiting - at the doctor, at the orthodontist, at the practice..., anyone have an amen?
Each day you complete your puzzle, you add another piece to your monthly puzzle calendar.  Fill in the entire month, and you earn a free bonus puzzle. 
  If you finish the daily puzzle, and still have time to waste...invest, you can access 10 bonus puzzles anytime (for no additional coins).
This is a fun and addicting app - that's totally kid friendly! 
 Best of all, each completed puzzle features an inspirational scripture. 
My testers and I really like this app, and we get excited everytime we hear the little "zump" sound when the pieces go together :-)  We may have been overheard arguing over who gets to place the final piece as well.
You'll like this one!

Find Planet 316 onSocial Media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Planet316/
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/planet_316  @planet_316

Hashtags: #hsreviews #dailybiblejigsaw



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More Metal!

I swear... it's just not fair!

We have 8 children...all need braces, and 3 of them twice! Current count... 4 full braces-wearing kids, and one with expanders!   Our orthodontist loves her new car, and vacation home...

SpeedyPrep: A TOS Crew Review

SpeedyPrep
The Bentz Test Laboratory has been using SpeedyPrep to prepare for the Introductory Psychology CLEP Test.  Our tester is a Junior in high school this year, with several Dual Credit college courses on his transcript already.  
SpeedyPrep is an online, CLEP test preparation, subscription program. The CLEP is the College Level Examination Program, which is administered by the College Board, makers of the SAT. CLEP tests are a way to help earn college credit on your own by preparing for and passing a standardized test that demonstrates you have college-level knowledge of that subjet. 
SpeedyPrep offers 24 courses that will help your student study effectively to pass the CLEP exam and earn college credit.  CLEP tests are under $100 that's a small fraction of the cost of college tuition.Trust me on this one...we have a freshman in college this year, his credits are over $800 each!

SpeedyPrep courses are designed to meet the College Board requirements, and they even guarantee you'll pass the CLEP test if you get at least a 90-100% proficiency in their study sessions and take the test within 90 days. Pretty impressive.  
This is a very user friendly program.  After logging in, you can choose from many courses, and you can even work in multiple courses at the same time.  The program remembers your progress for you.
This program utilizes a "Flashcard" approach.  Each study section has fill-in-the-blank or multiple choice questions on content that could be included on the test. 
Students are not expected to automatically know an answer, answers can be left blank if unknown (which made my tester stress out a little...) 
 If the answer is blank or incorrect, the program presents a "flashcard" with the correct answer and a short explanation, a picture or diagram, chart or even video explanation.
The videos are short (usually under 5 minutes), blackboard style presentations of the material to be mastered.

The goal is to continue, with repetition, each section until achieving a 90-100% mastery.  Questions are repeated for reinforcement.  The progress bar gives you a visual of where you are at in the course.

 The study sessions are designed to help you review information that has already been learned, in order to study for the CLEP test.
Simply reading the questions, or watching the accompanying videos will NOT be enough to pass the CLEP alone.

My tester "thought" he might know enough to pass the Analyzing and Interpreting Literature CLEP test.  SpeedyPrep quickly showed him...he did NOT.  The questions are very challenging, and very specific to certain works of literature.  This was valuable information for his dual credit and college planning.
He really enjoyed exploring a variety of courses to see what he already knows by answering the questions.  In fact, the entire family got involved in it.  I was disappointed by how many questions I missed in Intro Psych - especially since I have a BA in it!  Shortened answers are recognized, but misspellings are not.  Once again, spelling counts :-)
He spent most of his time with the videos.  He really enjoyed watching videos that covered information he did not already know, and using it to increase his overall knowledge of a particular subject.  He still loves to learn, score one for homeschooling!
I have also been exploring  SpeedyPrep's courses on my own as an outline of information to be sure we cover in future high school classes at Bentz Academy.  This is a very helpful tool for homeschool moms that find themselves worrying they are not covering the right topics in high school.
Overall, my tester and I were very impressed with this program. It's a very useful tool for CLEP test study and preparation. One word of warning though, before investing the time in studying, make sure your student's future college will grant credits for CLEP tests. Not all of colleges do - check a list from College Board here . You can also see the minimum scores a school may require.
Since we were blessed to get a six month subscription, my college kid plans on doing some SpeedyPrep this summer and taking the CLEP exam to earn credits and save on tuition.

Find SpeedyPrep on Social Media:

Twitter:  www.twitter.com/speedyprep   @speedyprep

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/speedyprep

Hashtags: #hsreviews #collegeprep #clepprep

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More Animals for India!

My sweet daughters' good friend went to India on a mission trip.

As soon as they heard about her trip, they went into high gear creating their very own, custom, felt animals for her to take with and give to children she will visit in the slums.

They hand sew them, and hand create them.  They are filled with love and prayers too!  They made 30 of them in just a matter of weeks...

I am so proud of their missionary hearts.  They are doing what they can, right where they are with what they have...couldn't we all take a lesson from them?!

Digital Savvy from CompuScholar, Inc.: A TOS Crew Reveiw

Digital Savvy  from  CompuScholar, Inc.
Technology skills are NOT optional in today's world.  The Bentz Test Laboratory has been getting an education with Digital Savvy  from  CompuScholar, Inc. This is a one-year, online course that will introduce your 6th-12th grade students to the valuable computer skills they need to know.  It's similar to what is covered in "Information Technology" classes - you can check out the syllabus here. My tester is 14 and in 8th grade.  We are not huge technology users for our younger students, but by the time they hit high school, we want them to have a good mastery of how to use technology.  This course is a great fit. This program is super easy to set up and use.  Both parent and student set up logins.  Once logged in, the student and pick and choose the topic they want to work on, or just start at the beginning like my tester did.  It's designed to be completed by the student independently and their own pace, and there is NO prep for mom! 25 chapters an additional supplemental lessons cover a broad range of topics from very basic introduction to computers, using spreadsheets, all the way to careers in computer technology.  Social media and working with digital images are included as well.  This is a very comprehensive program, and could easily count for high school credit. In fact, all of our high school students are working through this program!

Chapters are broken down into lessons.  Each lesson includes a video and text component, plus a quiz.  My tester liked the videos, but is much more of a visual learner, so preferred the text. I like that the program includes both.

 The quizzes allow for multiple tries, so if a concept isn't mastered - they can go back and redo it.   Hands-on activities to complete with a mid-term and final exam complete the course.
 User reports allow the student to see their progress, as well as grades from their automatically graded quizzes and tests.

Overall, my tester was impressed with the program.  The new updated look is very clean and professional.  I was impressed by the volume and quality of the information presented.  This is a well-designed, easy-to-use program that takes the mystery out of technology. CompuScholar, Inc. offers other must-have technology courses you will want to check out: 

• Web Design
• Java Programming 

Find CompuScholar, Inc. (formerly Homeschool Programming) on Social Media:

Homeschool Programming

Facebook – www.facebook.com/HomeschoolProgramming

Twitter – https://twitter.com/HSProgramming   @hsprogramming

CompuScholar, Inc

https://www.facebook.com/CompuScholar

https://twitter.com/CompuScholar   @compuscholar

Hashtags: #hsreviews  #computerprogrammingforkids #codingforkids #computerskills

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Daddy-Daughter Ball 2017

One of my sweet daughters favorite things to do is to dress up like a princess and dance the night away with their favorite prince...daddy!

This is our first Daddy-Daughter in TX, and it did not disappoint!

Matt is one lucky man.  Future husbands should take notice, these girls have been treated like the princesses they are - and they won't settle for less!