{Review} The Gospel of John: Visual Bible DVD from FishFlix.com

Variety in our education methods is key to the success of our homeschool. Using quality videos that fit with our religious beliefs are one of our favorite methods for maximizing drive time education, yet DVDs that meet our standards are not always easy to find. However, we've found a reliable source in FishFlix.com, and most recently enjoyed The Gospel of John during our religion study time.

First let me tell you a little about FishFlix.com and their mission minded philosophy.  The company started originally as a means to sell over the Internet a single movie, Apostle Paul and the Earliest Churches, which deals with the biblical history of Turkey.  Soon other Christian movies were being sold and FishFlix.com became the company we know today.

Although based in Mora, Minnesota, FishFlix.com has kept to the goal of glorifying God and expanding His kingdom in Turkey by partnering with various ministries.

When asked to review from a provided selection of FishFlix.com movies, Amber right away knew she wanted to watch The Gospel of John. While we've always studied God's word at home and attended church on a weekly basis, reaching the final stages of her Lutheran confirmation classes has brought out in Amber a deeper desire to study God's word.

Drive time watching (we were safely stopped for the picture)

I will tell you honestly that I was a little nervous at first about the The Gospel of John DVD and thus spent a little bit of time researching it before actually putting in our request to review. We are cautious in our use of religious materials and seek to avoid summary or interpretive writings & movies of the Bible.  Thankfully, The Gospel of John was exactly what Amber was looking for while remaining faithful to the Biblical text.

The movie is not a Bible based dramatic story, but a complete reading of the Gospel of John from the Good News Bible. There are both a narrator (Christopher Plummer) who speaks over some scenes depicting the action and actors who speak other lines. The script is not modernized or altered to fit our current ways of speaking, but the word of God as written in John.

The DVD is rather long for a single session, at 180 minutes (that's three hours folks), and carries a PG-13 rating. This rating threw me for a loop initially, but then I realized the Bible is not exactly G rated and of course a faithful recitation of just about any book of the Bible would tend towards a similar rating.

Our normal pattern for videos of this style would be to set aside time to watch together and discuss. However with The Gospel of John being three hours in length, we decided to view the first portion during dinner one evening when my husband could not be home, and then to use it as our travel DVD during our regular trips to Children's Hospital for Amber's physical therapy.

Instead of Amber using her headset with the portable DVD player in the car, she put the volume up as loud as it would go to combat the highway road noise so that I could at least listen if not watch the video with her. Those were some of our most peaceful and enjoyable drives over the past year. We even sat in the parking lot at the hospital watching together during our extra few minutes before Amber's appointment.

Finishing the movie after a long day.

Most importantly, the message of The Gospel of John stuck with us in ways it had not prior. Just this past Sunday, Palm Sunday, our Gospel readings at church were from John where Jesus and the disciples were visiting Mary, Martha and the recently raised Lazarus. Amber leaned over to me during the service and said, "We just watched this last week. It seems so much more real now." And honestly, it did for me too. They were no longer only words we hear regularly, but I could visualize what was occurring and see details missed before. All from a simple, but powerful visual and audio telling of The Gospel of John.

After all my initial concern, I'm glad to be able to recommend this DVD whole-heartedly.

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{Review} Grapevine Studies New Testament Overview Part 1

After many years of searching for home Bible study curriculum that both interested Amber and met our theological needs, we were selected last Fall to review an Old Testament lesson set from Grapevine Studies. It was a perfect match for us! Now this year we have been able to review their New Testament Overview Part 1 (Level 4), which is part of their Stick Figuring Through the Bible series.

We received a downloaded copy of both the student Level 4 book and the teacher Level 3-4 book of the New Testament Overview Part 1. I often waffle back and forth on whether I prefer electronic books or hard copy books for our homeschool curriculum. In this case, the student book does need to be printed since it is a consumable workbook where the student does their stick figuring. In the end, I decided to print and bind Amber's student book while leaving my teacher book in electronic form on my iPad.

The principle behind the Stick Figuring Through the Bible series is to allow the students to illustrate the Bible stories as they study in order to make the lessons as interactive as possible. The drawing along with the additional components of each lesson make this Bible curriculum perfect for all types of learners.

Quite possibly the most important feature for our family is the method in which doctrine is handled in this curriculum. The teacher's guide states up front, through a statement of faith, the beliefs held by the publisher. Then teachers are encouraged to prayerfully decide how to apply the lessons. Specific doctrine is not included in any of the lessons, which makes the Grapevine Studies curriculum suitable for the majority of Christian religions since it is up to the parent / teacher to apply their own beliefs.

Printed and bound for Amber; A sample of one lesson.

The New Testament Overview Part 1 covers from the birth of John to Jesus' ministry in twelve lessons beginning with an initial timeline lesson that covers from Adam through Jesus' ministry.  The full color teacher's guide includes stick figures to use for each part of the timeline, as well as a narrative for the teacher.

The majority of the level 4 lessons begin with a Quest page that teaches the use of topical Bibles, Bible dictionaries, and concordances. There are also Quest Questions for the student to ponder. Grapevine Studies links on their website a recommended three book reference set to use with the level 4 studies, however we have managed to quite successfully complete the Quest pages using our study Bible and online resources. Still, if it's in your budget and you plan to complete several of the level 4 studies, I would recommend purchasing the reference set.

Lesson and timeline samples.

The lessons then cover a particular event through passage reading and stick figuring with a set of lesson review questions to wrap it all up. Memory verses related to the topic are supplied at the end of the lesson.

The teacher's guide provides a quick summary of the lesson goals and key points for the entire study prior to the details for each lesson. This is a great way to keep your mind focused on the study and not get lost in the details of drawing each lesson.  The teacher's guide includes Bible passages to read and stick figure, with the recommended figure drawings provided. Answers to the review questions are shown for the teachers, but due to copyright limitations very few of the Quest page questions can have direct answers.

Find the Grapevine Studies Bible curriculum that works for you!

Our Bible Study Time:
Having previous experience with Grapevine Studies, Amber wanted to work on the initial timeline lesson on her own, so I handed over my iPad and let her read through the teacher's narrative and then add the figures to her timeline. After that lesson though we worked through each one together.

Because of Amber's confirmation homework from our church, we chose to use these as twelve weekly lessons where we completed an entire numbered lesson in one session instead of 45 daily lessons. Both schedules are perfectly acceptable and easy to accomplish.

Bible lesson time. Even one of the kitties enjoyed it.

My drawing ability is notoriously non-existent, even for stick figures, but this did not detract from our ability to enjoy the lessons. Instead of demonstrating each scene of the lesson for Amber, I went through the narrative after our Bible reading and then enlarged the iPad drawing for her to copy. Afterwards, we continued verbally through the review questions for the lesson.

Giving us the means to easily add meaningful Bible study to our school days has allowed the New Testament Overview Part 1 from Grapevine Studies has become another Bible curriculum success for us. No matter how Amber was feeling, the mix of learning styles made it possible for her to understand and enjoy the lesson, while I appreciated the ability to add our own theology to each story studied.

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Visit other members of the Review Crew see how the various levels of Grapevine Studies worked for them!

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{Review} GrapeVine Studies - Old Testament 1, Level 4

As Christian homeschoolers we like to include regular Bible study in our lessons. Over the years we have tried a variety of Bible study guides and curriculum with only limited success. In all honestly, we've never completely finished a single one of our at-home Bible studies. Despite this rather dismal track record, I'm always looking for a study guide that suits our needs in better or different ways. We certainly found a unique Bible study guide in Old Testament 1: Level 4 Creation to Jacob (part of the Stick Figure Through the Bible series) from GrapeVine Studies.

For the purpose of this review we were given the twelve lesson Level 4 Student Guide (ages 12 to 14) and the Level 3 & 4 Teacher Guide. Each came unbound, but three hole punched, with full color covers and pages. Since we didn't have any empty three-ring binders available at the time, I opted to punch and spiral bind our books. The Level 4 study does require the student to have access to a Bible Dictionary, Topical Bible, and Concordance to complete all aspects of the lessons.

While this study is billed as twelve weekly lessons, the Teacher's Guide provides both a daily (4 days per week) and weekly lesson schedule for completing these studies. If a daily schedule is chosen, this totals 45 daily lessons!

Right away the Teacher Guide starts out explaining the GrapeVine mission and teaching method, which begins a timeline to help put all the Bible events into perspective. The students then use stick figure drawing in place of taking notes so they can be creative and more involved in each lesson. Of course, older students are welcome to take notes if so desired. Lessons also include review questions and memory verses, but application is left to the teacher. The Level 4 studies, which we used, also have Quest Pages where students learn to use a Bible Dictionary, Concordance, and Topical Bible.

The Teacher's Guide clearly leads the instructor through the scripture readings for the lesson and provides color stick figure drawing samples for each section of the student book. Discussion summaries are given along with review questions and answers. The Level 4 Quest Pages, because of copyright information in the suggested supplemental books, only give page reference numbers to the answers.

The Student book is a consumable guide that provides blank timelines, review questions, Quest pages, and blank blocks where the student can draw or take notes on the lesson scripture passages. When completed this study provides a quick reference to all the Old Testament Bible stories covered.

Look how welcoming the packaging was!

One of the features that made this study set stand apart from others, at least for me, was the nearly full page Statement of Faith and then explanation of Teacher-Directed Doctrine that were both printed in the early pages of the Teacher's Guide. We are extremely selective in the doctrine and theology presented in our Bible studies, which makes it somewhat difficult to find engaging Bible curriculum for my teenager. I have no desire to go through a Bible study and edit the doctrine prior to our use and have gotten to the point where I will not even attempt a study if it does not already conform to our theology.

GrapeVine Studies presents the Bible facts only and allows the teacher to explain the doctrine appropriate to their beliefs. This was perfect for us! Finding something fun, engaging and yet fitting for our beliefs had begun to feel like an impossible task.

She enjoyed every minute of this study!

Amber was excited to try a different style of Bible study and we planned on going through the weekly schedule. However, after just one lesson she was begging to do more lessons on a nearly daily basis. Instead we ended up using the weekly schedule, but several times a week. So, this 12 week study only lasted us a few weeks - and that was perfect considering Amber's confirmation class schedule at church. While Amber already knew all the stories we studied, she found the stick figure drawing to be enjoyable and an easy way to keep her mind on topic.

We did not have any of the specifically referenced supplemental books needed for the Level 4 study available at home, however the equivalent of all three can be found online. Instead we chose to use our study Bibles when possible. Since the Teacher's Guide provides answers that only reference the three named supplemental books, we had a bit of a difficult time with the first lesson's Quest page. Eventually, we decided it didn't matter if our answers were exact matches since we learned through the process of answering and used the Quest pages simply as discussion starters.

Old Testament 1: Level 4 Creation to Jacob from GrapeVine Studies has been a delightful and meaningful Bible study that was easy to use and even easier to match with our religion's doctrine. After all the years of searching, we've finally found a method that works for us at home and we highly recommend it for any Christian family, homeschooled or not!

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Visit other members of the Review Crew to read their experiences with Grapevine Studies!

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{Review} Living Waters: Intelligent Design in the Oceans of the Earth

Students of all ages often wonder how to reconcile the science they've learned with different beliefs they and their families hold as to the origin of life on Earth. Our family is no different and so were very pleased to be given a chance to review Living Waters: Intelligent Design in the Oceans of the Earth from FishFlix.com.

For the purpose of the review we were given a DVD copy of the video, which runs approximately 68 minutes. However, it honestly didn't feel even half that long while we were watching it, but sure enough a clock verified we spent over an hour viewing the DVD. While the science in this video is detailed, there is nothing which is inappropriate for any age child. In our opinion, even the science could be easily understood by mid-elementary aged children.

Living Waters is told from an intelligent design perspective, however it does not go into a creationism versus evolution argument nor does it appear to be told from any specific religious viewpoint. It is simply a well made case for intelligent design. 

The video uses multiple examples from marine life to support the position of intelligent design, arguing that natural selection cannot logically account for the many complex biological systems. According to the video, evidence of planning in the global architecture is documented across scientific fields, specifically in genetics and molecular biology, and all point to the intelligent design cause.

Living Waters goes into great detail to explain various biological features of dolphins, sea turtles, salmon, and humpback whales. Largely among these systems described are the unbelievably accurate biological navigation abilities used to find birth locations long since left. Study of the animals has revealed amazing biological engineering feats entirely unable to be explained by natural selection mutations.

Watching together in Amber's play / study room.

Despite the fact that natural selection cannot logically explain why so many unrelated organisms have similarly styled sophisticated biological systems, the video goes on with further proof to address those who argue it can all still be explained without intelligent design. Mathematics shows the time frame needed to produce all these natural selection mutations is staggering and impossible even considering the longest possible age of the Earth from the fossil record. It would take at least 100,000 million years just to achieve two simultaneous positive mutations, much less the thousands of mutations needed to affect the changes between the species as suggested in natural selection.

Our Opinion:
We used this video as a bridge between science and our belief in a creationist view point. Now that Amber is in the latter stage of middle school and nearing the end of her confirmation classes at church, much of her learning focuses on how to apply her faith to every day living. She has learned what we believe in respect to creation and life on Earth, but understanding how to defend this view point and how it even makes sense in our world is not easy even for adults.

Various segments of Living Waters: Intelligent Design in the Oceans of the Earth

She and I sat down together to watch the video, but I had to wander off a few times in the beginning to deal with some pet issues. I came back to find her enthralled in the video and she paused the playback to give me a summary of what I missed. From there on out I was able to sit with her and watch the remainder.

We felt the amount of biological data given and use of well known animals showed a confidence and transparency in the argument. There were no smoke and mirror type of magic arguments used, or "wave of hand" explanations to prove the point. Everything was a solid scientific argument for the case of intelligent design.

We highly recommend Living Waters: Intelligent Design in the Oceans of the Earth for anyone at all interested in understanding more of the case behind intelligent design over natural selection. For us, it was a perfect fit in our homeschool.

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