Bright Ideas Press publish a series of Christian-oriented curriculum called Christian Kids Explore Science. In the past I have reviewed the Earth & Space book from this series. This time around I have had the pleasure to review the Biology book for my readers.

This 291 page paperback science book is written for 3rd through 6th grade but can easily be adapted for younger students.   It is written with a Christian worldview so that means no evolution is pushed through this curriculum.  The book itself is divided up into 8 separate units with a total of 35 lessons.  The suggested schedule calls for it to be taught  twice a week for a full year of instruction.  You can easily fir it into your own schedule even extending it further if you supplement different lessons with your own field trips and activities.  Each unit begins with a set of vocabulary terms, a list of materials needed and a coloring page.  The  book contains  teaching lessons that are conversational in style that go along with the coloring pages, hands-on activities, experiments, review sections, and memorization lists.

Each lesson begins with  what is called a teaching time section which contains the information being taught for that particular  lesson followed by a review section where your kids display that they understood what they read.  Next part of the lesson  has a  hands-on time activity as well as an additional optional activity.  In the margin of each lesson you will also find related scripture verses as well as other information for your child to discover about the current topic.

All in all I really love the way this book is laid out and how easy it is to use with my kids.  I know my kids love it too.  Each of my children have a binder section where they keep what they have done such as the coloring pages,  notes from the lessons, as well as pages from the activities we have completed.

You can get a better idea about the Christian Kids Explore Biology book by checking out the following information:  table of contents ,  a sample week,  and a list of materials by unit.

The lessons are easy enough to follow so that your child can work through them on their own or along with you as the teacher.   A manageable amount of information is within each lesson so that it is not too much for your child to digest at a time yet just the right amount to make it meaningful.  The hands on activities help students to further understand what they read and to ensure that they remember it as well.  I used this for both my daughters and it was easy to teach the different grade levels at the same time using this book.   Once again I can say that my kids and I really have enjoyed learning through the Christian Kids Explore Science series.  If you are looking for a science series that is fun and educational at the same time and which will engage your kids to explore the different areas of science then I am sure you will also like this series too!

Also remember to check out the  Christian Kids Explore Biology Student Activity Book.  If you are like me, it is difficult at times to copy pages straight from a bound book.  This makes it easier to print out the reproducible pages you need such as the coloring pages, experiment pages and the others  for your students.  The download for this can be purchased for $7.95.

You can purchase the Christian Kids Explore Biology book for $34.95 from the Bright Ideas Press website.

Visit our TOS Crew Blog to read what other members of the Crew had to say about the various books in the Christian Kids Explore Science series.

Disclaimer:  I received  the  Christian Kids Explore Biology book  and the download of the Christian Kids Explore Biology Student Activity Book for free as a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew in order to provide an honest review for my readers. All opinions are my own.

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AIMS Education Foundation is a non-profit foundation that was established in 1981 with a grant from the National Science Foundation in order to aid teachers and students in developing a solid understanding of math and science.  AIMS stand for Activities Integrating Mathematics and Science.  At their online store, they have a lot of good materials that you can use to teach your children math and science.  There are activity books as well as hands on products.    One of the items at their store is a book with cd called From Head to Toe.

I received the From Head to Toe book with its accompanying CD to use with my children and provide my readers with an honest review.  This book provides information and learning activities that teach your child the basics of the nervous, circulatory, respiratory, digestive, urinary, musculoskeletal, and sensory systems of the human body.   By its completion your child should have a general understanding of how the body’s systems work together to keep you alive and how your senses assist you in viewing the world around you.

The book itself is divided into sections by body system such as nervous system, circulatory system, etc.    At the beginning of each section you are given the basic information about what you will be learning.  It describes what the topic being covered is along with background information,  learning goals/key questions, guideline documents, NRC Standard, science  areas covered,  materials needed, , preparation required, procedures for activities, connecting learning information ,  internet connections, as well as other items depending upon each section.  Basically, that section is the information geared toward the teacher.  After the instructional introduction, the book proceeds with the information and activities for the student.  The activities within the book can be completed with a combination of using common items found around the house and by copying some of the pages either from the book itself or printing from the accompanying CD.  Basic copying privileges are granted to the purchaser within certain restrictions.  Along with activities, there are also questions which your student needs to think about and answer as part of each unit.

Each activity is explained in a very straightforward fashion so you and your child can easily work through the book with very little preparation.  Not like typical dry textbooks that teach you about anatomy, this book makes learning fun.  For example, in the first unit about the Nervous System, your child creates a rubber band book that contains basic information about the human brain.   After creating the book and reading it,  there is an activity where your child colors a diagram of the brain them cuts out labels with the various parts of the brain.  They then tape those labels to the diagram making pockets. Your child cuts out blank  squares on which they write the different functions of the brain areas.  Using these squares, you child can now practice matching the functions to its associated brain area by placing each square in the correct pocket on the diagram.    Not only has your child read the information but they have now done a hands on activity to further reinforce what they learned.  There are also question sections where they can fill in the information that they learned to further focus on key points from the section.

In other units , your child will be constructing a working model of the respiratory system, making a model heart, and performing an experiment  to discover the sensitivity  of various areas of the skin.  These are just a few of the  27  activities you will find throughout this 288 page  book.

Even though this is a secular science book,  my kids and I have really enjoyed what we have done in this book so far.  As with any educational book you use for your kids it is best to know the worldview that it focuses on so you can proceed using it within your family’s own worldview.  Since I hold a Creation Science / Christian Worldview I always make sure my kids are aware of the differences between what we believe and understand versus what is being presented in the book or materials that we are using.   Fortunately, in From Head to Toe,  I have not noticed any major areas that would conflict with what our family accepts in the area of science.   However, we have not completed the book at this point so I  can only advise you to pre-read the materials and section for yourself and not just take my word on it.  As always it is your family that ultimately knows what is best for your own children.  One of the wonderful things about homeschooling!

I like that this book contains a good balance of text material and hands on activities.  This way I believe it better reinforces  what is being learned and makes a longer impression on my kids so that they will truly remember what they are learning and can see some things in action for themselves to some extent.  I also like that the book is in black and white rather than havign a lot of color material that needs printed out.  For me this is a big deal since copying color pages tends to be more expensive when needing to do that as a homeschooler a lot for various materials we use.  The accompanying CD is also wonderful to me because my printer does not handle copying pages from books easily.  Often when I use my printer to copy pages straight from books, I end up with copies that have shaded areas.  Being able to print out the pages I need is truly a blessing to this homeschool mom.

Check out a preview of the From Head to Toe book HERE!

From Head to Toe is targeted for grades 5-9 though my daughter who is in the 3rd to 4th grade level is enjoying  this book too.   It can be purchased as a print copy or e-book for $24.95.  at their store product page.

Check out the AIMS Education Foundation website to explore what other products they offer!

Visit our TOS Crew Blog to read what other members of the Crew had to say about From Head to Toe as well as reviews for some of AIMS other books:  It’s About Time,  Fabulous Fractions, Looking at Lines, Earth Rocks!, and What on Earth?,

Disclaimer:  I received  the From Head to Toe book  for free as a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew in order to provide an honest review for my readers. All opinions are my own.

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Write with WORLD is a new two year writing curriculum for middleschoolers  from the publisher’s of God’s World News and World Magazine.   What exactly is Write with World all about you might ask?   It was “developed by education and media professionals ” in order for students  to “become proficient communicators who can meet educational requirements and navigate today’s growing new media and conflicting worldviews.”   Ok one other thing I need to mention is that when I said new I really meant “new” as in I received a pilot version of the first year of the curriculum and it is currently only available as pre-order because it is expected to be out sometime this summer.

The curriculum itself consists of a separate teacher and student book and available online content.  In the future, there will be a website for “for updated examples, writing prompts, published student work, and helpful teacher forum.”   The student needs to have a journal or notebook of some kind in order to record their work.  Throughout the lessons there are other items such as a dictionary, thesaurus and items like photos and magazines that the student is asked to use.    Through the lessons in Write with World, students learn to read, think , and write critically using contemporary material within a Christian worldview perspective.

The teacher book contains “objectives, methodology, and evaluation for each unit ” as well as the student text.    The student book is set up as 16 main lessons divided among 4 units.

My daughter has been working through the Write with WORLD curriculum and has really enjoyed it.  The individual lessons are broken down into smaller short and simple capsules of daily work which ends up  making this curriculum non threatening  for my daughter.  I know that is the effect it has on my oldest who sometimes seems to overwhelmed by some of the other writing curriculum we have used before.  She told me she also liked it because it was not boring like some of the others we have used.   The first lesson started out by having her observe several pictures and discuss them by writing down her thoughts about them.  It then proceeded to have her work on writing good  paragraphs using stronger word choices.  One thing I have liked so far is that although there is a teacher book that is there to guide and help you work with your child, you can also go pretty much hands off if your child is ready to work on her own like mine has been.  My daughter has been keeping a notebook with all her work in it since the student book in itself is non-consumable.  Also I am pleased to have a writing curriculum that promotes a Christian worldview and helps my daughter develop her writing and critical reading and  thinking skills with that perspective in mind.  The lessons contain lots of graphics and use contemporary items such as magazines that we may have on hand.  I believe that is what makes this curriculum a little more fun for my daughter because it brings things more into a real life perspective rather than one that is all contained within the textbook itself.

To get a better idea of what Write With WORLD is all about I suggest you check out their website where there is much more information on the why and how of their new curriculum.

You can also check out a sample PDF from the Write with World website.

Currently you can  only pre-order the writing curriculum from their website for $95 per year or both years for $165.  It is planned to be available for shipment sometime this summer.

Check out what my fellow TOS Crew members had to say about Write with WORLD on our blog.

Disclaimer:  I received  the first year of Write with WORLD (pre-release copy) for free as a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew in order to provide an honest review for my readers. All opinions are my own.

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It is always challenging for me to find a history curriculum that has a worldview that falls within my beliefs as a Christian. So I was super excited to get the opportunity to review TruthQuest History‘s chronological study guide for Ancient Greece.

The chronological history guides are literature-based history studies that focus on the  Big 2 Beliefs ( Who is God?  and Who is mankind?).  These guides engage the student, as well as their teacher,  in order to discover the who, what, where and whys of  history in relation to our God,   The beginning of each section in the study begins with a commentary followed by reading lists.  There are ThinkWrite™ exercises that are strategically placed within the study guide that encourages your student to think further about what they are learning in order to better understand history.

In the Ancient Greece study guide we used, we started by making a visit to our library to see which of the books from the  reading lists that we had access to from each of the sections of the guide.  You are encouraged to select books that interest you and your child and to not be concerned whether or not you can go through all of them.  We began by gathering together a selection of the suggested books for the first section of the study and sat down together to read the commentary.  Once we did that, I told my kids to select a book and start reading the areas that interested them focusing on the ideas that we read in the commentary.   I had my children start a journal where they would write down any information that  they found interesting.  They even chose to draw maps and such in their books.  We plan on also doing crafts as well as finding recipes to help to supplement our study of Ancient Greece.   Throughout the study there are also writing exercises that  help your child to think deeply about concepts.  They wrote their answers in their journals in addition to what they  already had written in them.  The back of the guide has an appendix with sample answers to the ThinkWrite™ exercises.  For anyone that is used to traditional textbook learning   I am sure this is a different approach to learning  for you.  However, it is one  in which history comes more alive  for your student.    It also helps your student to see history as something meaningful to their life today rather than just a group of facts to learn and discard.

I remember next to nothing about what I studied in school regarding history. Mostly we read sections of a textbook and took quizzes and tests then forgot what we learned til the final exam when we had to cram again only to forget afterwards.  If I had something  like TruthQuest History to learn from then perhaps I would have gotten something out of my history classes rather than just a grade.

Things we found about TruthQuest was that we did not always find all of the books we wanted from our library but there were other options available.  We also chose other books that we found at our library that were not mentioned in the guides themselves but fit well within the study,

The Ancient Greece study guide is geared toward Grades 5-12.  Using your own discretion, younger kids can also participate using this guide if you choose to teach your kids together.  My youngest who is upper elementary also enjoyed going through this study with us.   I chose material from the reading lists as well as others from our library that were more suited for her age and selected which writing exercises for her to do as well.   I found the study guide was fairly easy to adapt for our situation.    TruthQuest has several study guides that you can read about which are for various age groups.  The website has a section which helps you choose which ones are more suited for your own children.  You can view that information HERE.

I recommend you check out TruthQuest for yourself.  You can view samples of their study guides by going  HERE on their website.and selecting samples from the various studies as well as purchase those studies on the same web page.

The various study guides may be purchased for  $24.95 to $34.95  for a hard copy or  $ 19.95 to $29.95 for a pdf version.

Check out what my fellow Crew members had to say about the various study guides from TruthQuest History on our blog. 

Disclaimer:  I received  the Ancient Greece study guide in pdf  format for free s a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew in order to provide an honest review for my readers. All opinions are my own.

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You may have heard about The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman but have you heard about the children’s book which shares the 5 love languages for kids through a children’s story?  The book, A Perfect Pet for Peyton, is just that story book.   It is a colorful, delightfully illustrated story where we meet two twins, Peyton and Penny, as well as their friends.  We meet them all at the twins’  birthday party where they are eventually  matched up with pets that are in tune with their own special love language.  Your kids will be delighted to read the story and explore this book   as they learn all about the love languages for kids as well as meet some of the animals in Mr Chapman’s Pet Pal Emporium.

Check out the 5lovelanguages.com website to learn more about this book as well as explore and learn more about all the other features of the website.  There is also a free interactive app that you can learn about too!

A Perfect Pet for Peyton illustrated by Wilson Williams Jr and written by Rick Osbourne & Gary Chapman is published by Northfield Publishing.  Throughout the book there are hidden pictures for your kids to discover as well as a 5 Love Languages quiz at the end of the story so your kids can discover what their unique love language  is for themselves.

My daughter really enjoyed reading the book and I think your kids will too!  Check out the following inks for more information

(more…)

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Amazing Animals by Design is a book written by Debra Haagan and published by Tate Publishing.   It is a wonderfully illustrated children’s book whose main characters, John and Sarah, visit a zoo and learn about animals as well as what is meant by intelligent design.
 
This 24 page book is geared toward elementary children.  It is truly a blessing to my family to read a book geared toward younger children that focuses on God as the ultimate designer of all creation.  This book simplifies intelligent design for younger children so they can get a foundation on God’s truth about our world.  As a Christian who believes in Creation Science this book is highly recommended by me to others who share a Christian worldview.  I think you will also appreciate this book for your children.  In a world so focused on ignoring God in all things it is a treasure to find a book that turns its focus back to God for our children.  It is a bonus for me that the author is a fellow TOS Crew member!

The book, Amazing Animals by Design,  may be purchased from the publisher, Tate Publishing, for $8.99.  The digital download may be purchased for $7.99.

Also check out the  Amazing by Design blog:  http://amazingbydesign.blogspot.com/ as well as the Facebook Page:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Amazing-Animals-by-Design/212074542163386?ref=ts.


Please visit the TOS Crew blog to read what my fellow Crew members had to about Amazing Animals by Design.

Disclaimer:  I received  the Amazing Animals by Design in pdf  format for free as a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew in order to provide an honest review for my readers. All opinions are my own. 

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I remember when the internet was just getting started and since then it has come a long way. There are so many wonderful things the internet has done for us. It has opened up many doors not only for the average person but especially for homeschoolers. Unfortunately, the internet has also made it possible for people to be exposed to some negative stuff as well. Pornography, stalkers, as well as other dangers wait out there.   There are many families that have been hurt in some way by the internet so it is important that parents teach their kids internet safety.  It is equally important that parents also possess the ability to monitor the  internet activity of their kids as a safeguard.

My family tries to be very vigilante and careful when we use the internet but still there are times when searches we run come up with items that are less than savory for our liking. Innocent words often bring up results that we are often shocked to see. We sometimes slip and maybe reveal a little more than we intend. So if you have children it is very important to ensure that they are extra safe when it comes to the internet and computer usage.

     Action Alert is one company that has a product that assists families in protecting their kids where computers and the internet are concerned. Action Alert has two programs that you can use: a free version and a paid one that has maximum protection for your family.

Whether you use the free version or the paid one, there are many features available to help assist you in protecting your family against internet dangers.

Some of Action Alerts Features:

• Blocks sites of predetermined ones as well as allowing manual setting of websites to block
• Tracks emails
• Ability for 60 hours of activity logging which is video so you can see what has been done on the computer
• Capability for parents to set and enforce computer usage times
• Tracks online chatting
• Content filtering

You can receive alert messages either on your computer or cell phone making it more accessible remotely.   I only took advantage of the alerts sent to my emails.  I watched one of the video activity logs and was able to watch what we had been doing on our pc.  I really liked that feature because sometimes a text log just doesn’t truly show what is being done at a computer.   I think if you are looking for a program that will give you that extra level of security and a feeling of safety concerning your family and the internet, then you may want to check out Action Alert.

There is a FAQS section where you can get a little more information about their software HERE on their website.

You can try out their free protection or if you already are sold on Action Alert you can purchase their maximum protection software for $29,99.  Either option can be found on their website HERE.   Action Alert has a 30 day satisfaction guarantee where they will fully refund your purchase.

Check out Action Alert’s internet dangers page for more information on potential issues you need to be aware of with regards to the  internet.

Action Alert has been featured on NBC’s The Today Show

It has received Disney’s iParenting award

As well as been endorsed by the Child Safety Network

To read what others in the TOS Homeschool Crew have to say about Action Alert, check out out TOS Homeschool Crew Blog.

Note: I received  the Action Alert  for free as a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew in order to provide an honest review for my readers.

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Progeny Press has 100 literature study guides for lower elementary to high school grade level students.  They are categorized by grade levels and by genre.  The suggested time for each study guide is anywhere from 8 to 12 weeks depending upon the level.   The aim of their study guides is to aid students to think critically, analyze and comprehend the  literature they read, and apply Christian principles.

I have seen, as well as used, many literature guides in our homeschooling but found Progeny Press to be a little different than the others.  First of all, I really enjoyed their approach of the guide from a Christian perspective.  We received the study guide for the Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare (70 pages) whose audience is targeted for grades 6th through 8th.

In the introduction to the instructor,  it is recommended that the student  have a good dictionary,  thesaurus, Bible (they prefer NIV), and perhaps a concordance or Topical Bible on hand in order to complete the study guide.  The study guide begins by providing several sections of useful information including a synopsis,  about the author section,  background information as well as pre-reading activities.    We proceeded to go over this together and selected a few of the pre-reading activities before reading the book itself.  One of the pre-reading activities we chose was to draw a map of Palestine at the time of Christ which we used to fill in various locations as we encountered them in the story itself.   Our study guide was then broken down into  eight sections concentrating on several chapters at a time with various types of questions to answer as well as other items such as a crossword puzzle to complete.  At the end there is also  a summary section that you can use either as a type of final test or just as a means to wrap up the story itself. Some of the questions through the study guide focused on defining vocabulary that was found throughout the chapters, others asked to describe incidents in the story that was read, and others had our daughter work on understanding various literary elements that were  used in the story.   One question had my daughter look up scripture to match up names with where they were mentioned in the various verses read.  In addition there are other optional activities for your student to work on which provide further opportunities for creative writing and research skills.   Throughout the study,  not only did my daughter have to understand the story and events and be able to write about it, she was also learning the relevance of what was in the story against Christian events and principles. She  was also having  to use critical thinking and analysis skills as well.  Not only do you receive the guide itself but you also are given an answer key.   I have never used Progeny Press study guides before but I really liked our experience with the Bronze Bow study guide that we received to review.   I think this may be the beginning of many more study guides for our family from Progeny Press.

This study guide is available for purchase  in several formats.

• As a printed and bound booklet        $18.99
• On a CD in .pdf  format                            $16.99
• CD and Booklet:                                         $23.99
• As the same .pdf file as an e-mail attachment    $16.99

One thing to note is that these guides are reproducible and the work can be completed interactively within the file itself if you have chosen a pdf format.  This was important for us because we did not have to worry about the cost of printing off the pages or risking losing pages my daughter completed.  Yes this is often a problem with other things we have done in the past so I was thrilled with this aspect of the guides.

If you go HERE you can view a sample PDF of the Bronze Bow study guide for yourself.

Please check out what my fellow TOS Crew members had to say about  various study guides by Progeny Press including not only the one for Bronze Bow but others that they sell as well.   You can read the reviews on our Crew blog.

Note: I received  the Bronze Bow study guide pdf for free as a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew in order to provide an honest review for my readers.

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I really love all that Classical Academic Press has to offer homeschoolers.   I was so excited when I was given the opportunity to review the Art of Argument which is geared toward middle school aged children as well as high schoolers who have not had previous exposure to the study of logic and reasoning.  I was not exposed to this type of material until I was in college so I am thrilled that my kids will have the opportunity to learn this material far ahead of when I did.  My oldest, who currently wants to be a lawyer, was excited because she thought this was something she could get into learning.

What exactly is covered in the Art of Agreement?   This curriculum introduces your student to the study of informal fallacies.  Through this book your child will learn how to argue with precision, clarity and with purpose which are the essentials to overcome the fallacies that one is confronted with in today’s society.  Whether you are looking at political campaigns or advertising, you are continuously bombarded with arguments of informal fallacies and this book will help you recognize them and learn to reason well.

From the Classical Academic Press this book covers the following material:

Students master 28 fallacies (such as begging the question, the straw man, ad hominen, et al) by studying many pertinent examples. The text features a variety of:

• Dialogues
• Worksheets
• Real-World Applications
• Phony Advertisements
• Dialectic Discussion Questions
• Tests
• Fun extras such as a humorous skit for students to perform, and the famous short story, Love is a Fallacy by Max Shulman

The Art of Argument has been revised to include:

• Improved chapter and unit organization for greater ease of use
• Fallacy explanations rewritten for clarity
• Many added and updated examples
• Ten new and revised advertisement illustrations

How did we use this book and the accompanying teacher guide and DVD that we received?

My oldest and I worked through several lessons together in the following way.  I would sit with my daughter with myself going through the teacher guide and my daughter with her student book.  We read the material together and I had my daughter answer the questions in a notebook then we discussed the answers together. The book not only has questions to answer  on the material read but opportunity to write essays related to the material.   Though we did not choose to do the essays at this time for this review period, I really liked all the reinforcement that the book has in covering the material for each informal fallacy presented.  Also we chose to watch the accompanying DVD session after we worked through each fallacy in the book as further reinforcement and  clarification of the material.  Viewing the DVD  really helped my daughter to better understand the material and remember it.  There are also chapter tests and a final exam included in the teacher edition as well as all the answers for the work provided to the student.   The Art of Argument is not simply a boring textbook like I had in college while studying logic, but it brings to life the information through its  many examples and pictures of made-up advertisements as well as dialogues between Socrates and a girl named Tiffany.  We had fun taking what we learned and looking at the world around us for examples of what we had just studied.  While we did not go through the entire book, I plan on using this book for our next school year as a course that I intend to include on my daughter’s transcript when she completes her high school years.  I am that pleased with the content and quality of the Art of Argument curriculum and hope to be able to complete all three levels of their logic curriculum in the future.

You can view details for all the materials in Classical Academic Press’s Logic curriculum HERE .  Also take advantage of looking at samples of the chapters for each product by going to its corresponding product page.  I have included a link to the Art of the Argument chapter samples for your convenience:   Art of Argument student book link    and Art of Argument Teacher Edition link.

For additional information about the Logic products you can view the FAQS session of the Classical Academic Press website HERE.

If you are interested in purchasing the Art of Argument for yourself you can buy them from the Classical Academic Press website HERE for the following prices:

Art of Argument student book for $21.95

Art of Argument teacher edition for $24.95

Complete DVD set for the Art of Argument for $54.95.

You can also view the other products and pricing on the logic page HERE.

Check out what my fellow TOS Crew members had to say about the Art of Argument as well as Classical Academic Press’s second book in the series, The Argument Builder on our Crew Blog.

Note: I received  the Art of Argument student book, teacher guide and the first DVD of  the Art of Argument set   for free as a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew in order to provide an honest review for my readers.

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John Carter is an adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ book, A Princess Of Mars.  I admit to never having heard of the book prior to being invited to view a screening of the movie a few weeks ago.  I had been seeing a lot of promotional material on the movie so I was intrigued to see whether the movie itself stood up to all the hype for it.

Directed by 2-time Academy Award winner Andrew Stanton who also directed “Finding Nemo” & “Wall-E”,   John Carter opens March 9th in theaters.

” The film tells the story of war-weary, former military captain John Carter (Taylor Kitsch), who is inexplicably transported to Mars where he becomes reluctantly embroiled in a conflict of epic proportions amongst the inhabitants of the planet, including Tars Tarkas (Willem Dafoe) and the captivating Princess Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins). In a world on the brink of collapse, Carter rediscovers his humanity when he realizes that the survival of Barsoom and its people rests in his hands.”  (From Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)

While watching the movie my mind went through various levels of thought about the film itself.   While I did not feel that this movie stood up to the reputation of a Disney film, I did enjoy it.  After reading other reviews I can see how this movie can elicit both very positive and also very negative reviews.

Was it a bit campy to me in spots?  Yes, but it also had some cool visuals and some humorous moments.   I personally liked the “dog-like” creature, Woola which followed John Carter around throughout the movie.  Does a movie have to be totally serious to be worth seeing?    For me?  No not really.  I am not very much into the pretentious movies that do nothing to entertain me.  After all my life has enough seriousness to it for me to want to sit through, nonetheless pay for, the same for my entertainment.  I did find the  movie to  he  a decent action-adventure movie and could see how it was based on the book Princess of Mars, which has inspired many sci-fi movies such as Star Wars and Avatar among many others.  I kind of had fun recognizing some of the elements from different sci-fi films while watching John Carter.   For me, I have to admit it was difficult at times keeping track of some of the events that were taking place through the movie.  Of course since I have not finished reading the original book from which it was based, I am not sure if that is because of the original plot being that way in itself.   For the most part, the movie was free from any type of elements, language or themes that would be inappropriate for younger viewers.  The worst was the action scenes where  blue alien blood is spilled and maybe one or two brief and very minor inappropriate word choices.   This review is a bit difficult for me to write because on one side my expectations were fairly high but in reality the movie itself was enjoyable  and for me the best part was the twist at the end.  The ending had me thinking things were going o be one way but they turned out going in a different direction.

You may be wondering whether or not you should go see this movie for yourself.  Well if you are looking for a sci-fi adventure flick and merely want to be entertained rather than be intellectually stimulated then I say go for it!   With John Cater you will get a mix of various elements from action adventure as well as a little romance and  comedy along with some amazing visuals throughout the movie.  The movie does resolve itself to some extent but still leaves itself  open to future sequels as did the original book which had  a total of I believe 11 books in the series.

“Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services
mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.   All materials for promotion are under copyright by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.  Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.
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Filed under: Disney-Related, Home, Misc. Reviews by Barbara
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