Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Creation Illustrated Review

Unit Studies are a great way to dig deeper and learn more about a specific topic while still using all subjects.  So basically a unit study combines all your tradition subjects around a particular topic.  They can be as short or long as you want them to be.  I did some research on them when I first started homeschooling and always wanted to try one, but never made the time to create my own.  You have to really plan that out!  Then I heard about Creation Illustrated!  What!  The Unit Study was already put together for me?  Awesome!  Creation Illustrated sent us two of their unit studies as well as gave us access to those magazines that go with those unit studies for us to review.  I was excited to check out this popular method of homeschooling our family focused on Pine Tress Unit Study.

Creation Illustrated Unit Study Pine Trees



What is Creation Illustrated?

Creation Illustrated has been publishing its magazines quarterly since Fall in 1993.  They provide nature unit studies taught from a creationist viewpoint that can be used in conjunction with their magazine.  The editors and publishers of the magazine are Tom and Jennifer Ish and they have a daughter named Melissa Ish that they homeschooled.


Creation Illustrated


What we received  

A digital copy of the Pine Tree Unit Study along with the corresponding Fall '17 Digital Edition Magazine.

Creation Illustrated Unit Study Pine Trees

Fall 2017, Vol. 24, No. 3


We also received a digital copy of the Snow Unit Study along with its corresponding Winter '18 Digital Edition Magazine.

Creation Illustrated Unit Study Snow


Winter 2018, Vol. 24, No. 4

How we used the unit study in our homeschool.

Our family wanted to focus more on the Pine Tree unit study.  I needed a week to get caught up on housework and grading so I decided to have my kids complete this within that week.  This unit study is suggested for children in grades 3-8 so I let my oldest take the lead on this as the three younger followed along and did the work.  My plans were to totally let the kids do this on their own, but things got interesting and the whole family jumped in, even daddy played a part.



The unit study covered Bible, Vocabulary/Spelling, Geography, Science, Math, Writing/Penmanship, and Art.  The only thing we did daily was the Spelling and Vocabulary.  We read the magazine article, The Enduring Pine Tree, before starting anything.  It was well written with great detail and the pictures were amazing.  The kids did have a hard time with the meaning of some of the words, so I probably should have gone over the vocabulary first just to prepare them for some of the words they were unfamiliar with.  After that, the adventures began.  We picked up pine cones from the side of the roads so that the kids could examine them.


We took pictures of an actual pine tree.



 I mean this unit study opened up some fun nature adventures around here.  The unit study came with a total of 16 pages.  The cover page, table of contents, resource page, 10 worksheet pages, and 3 pages of answer key.  The resource page listed several websites and videos to further our study of Pine Trees, which we really appreciated!  We also pulled out tree field guides, the encyclopedias, and our Bibles to go along with our study.



The kid said their favorite part was finding where the bible referred to pine and fir and actually finding them in nature.  One kid said, "It was hard trying to identify the pine trees, but it made my brain think hard."  My son said he liked finding the countries on the map where the different pine trees came from.  I appreciated the way they included the math more than my kids did.  The word problems had them on their toes.
This unit study was truly a fun way to learn about Pine Trees.

A fun word search that was included.



I did a quick review of the Snow Unit Study, Intricacies of Snow, and can not wait to jump into that one.  We don't get much snow here in Texas so I hope when we do this one we can take a short trip to an area that is getting some snow.  Its setup is similar to the Pine Tree Unit Study there are 17 pages, cover page, table of contents, resource page, 10 worksheet pages, and 4 answer key pages.  The pictures in the magazine had me captivated I felt like I was there.  

Creation Illustrated Unit Study Snow




If you or your children enjoy nature studies, especially from a creationist viewpoint you should definitely try Creation Illustrated.

Be sure to check out the current Spring '18 edition magazine, it's out!!



Here's what other moms on the review crew had to say about Creation Illustrated. Click the banner below to check out their reviews.

Creation Illustrated Unit Studies {Creation Illustrated Reviews}

Crew Disclaimer


5 comments:

  1. This looks like this makes homeschooling so much simpler! I will have to check this out! When I was teaching lesson plans were the bane of my existence! I think at one point my lesson plans even made me cry.

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  2. Creation study is class apart. I like their digital edition and activities thereafter. Thus best thing is that it involves the whole family.

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  3. Unit studies are fantastic! Even if your kids are in public school, they are fantastic for helping your kids fill in additional information if they're struggling with a particular concept in school.

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  4. Unit studies are a great concept. And i love how your family is so involved in homeschooling to research to practical study.

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  5. This sounds like a great unit for kids. My daughter would love this.

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