The Old Schoolhouse Magazine is more than just a magazine. Much more. Aside from publishing a really wonderful homeschooling magazine every quarter, they also have the Schoolhouse Store full of wonderful products (shipping is always free!). Just this past year TOS also began introducing "The Curiosity Files."
As a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew I was given the chance to check out one of these unit studies in our homeschool. I chose the "Blue Diamond" study because, well, diamonds are a girls best friend right?
Each unit study can be purchased individually for $6.95. The studies are ebooks so once you complete your purchase, you can immediately download it and begin using it. (psssttt...a few of them are currently on sale for only $1!!!) There are currently nine unit studies (with more coming soon) covering....
- Blue Diamond
- Dung Beetle
- MRSA
- Puffer Fish
- Red Tide
- Zombie Fire Ants
- Blue-footed Booby
- Cicada Killing Wasp
- Quicksand
These are unit studies and very thorough ones at that. They each cover the following topics:
- Bible study and Bible memory applications
- Science, math, history and geography investigations
- Literature and suggested book list
- Writing, spelling, vocabulary and copywork activities
- Discussion questions, special projects & experiments
- Art, crafts, drawing and coloring pages
- Lapbook/notebook pages and helpful lapbooking links
- Special needs, hands-on discoveries
- Art, crafts, drawing and coloring pages
- Internet resources, video links and complete answer key
The Blue Diamond study was 91 pages long. Normally I would not have printed the whole thing as I'm somewhat of an "ink miser" but thankfully hubby has the ability to print for me at work at times. The study is very nice and full color. I love that! I love all the links included as well. It's nice to have this as an ebook so that you can simply click on any recommended link and use the information.
This was helpful when the boys and I were creating a graph of favorite gems. Thanks to my Facebook status, we had over 20 responses. In fact, here is a look at a graph made by my middle son for this study.
The studies are geared for children ages 8-13 (I really like that there is no "grade" range). I used this mostly with my 9 & 14 year old boys. There is far more information in this study than can be covered in a week. It's a nice study to take your time with and delve in to. I liked how all the subjects were covered as well. It is a true unit study in that you would not need to add anything to it to cover everything.
You can see a sample of the Blue Diamond study by clicking here. Links to samples for all the various studies can be see here.
The Curiosity Files has it's own Facebook page as well so be sure to head over and "like" it. This will help you stay on top of all the newest studies.
The Curiosity Files
Be sure to head over to the TOS Homeschool Crew blog to see what other Crew members had to say.
Disclaimer: I was not paid for this review. All opinions shared are my own. TOS Crew Members are given the product free of charge in exchange for our unbiased opinion of the product.
Loved reading your review. We did the Quicksand study and loved it.
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