The Old Schoolhouse Magazine has recently launched a new product line called The Curiosity Files™ where you join Professor Ana Lyze in exploring some of God’s amazing creatures that are a bit on the unusual side. Zombie Fire Ants, Cicada Killing Machine, and Quicksand are just a few of the titles that I considered putting my request in to review, but I managed to narrow down my choice to the Dung Beetle.
I don’t remember ever seeing a Dung Beetle until we were camped in Alabama for the first time. My boys had taken our puppy for a walk and excitedly returned to our RV showing me the pictures of the ‘cool bugs’ they’d seen—of which the Dung Beetle was one. I couldn’t believe it! I had to go out and find one myself. It didn’t take long, just a short way down the trail, we found a little bug pushing along a huge ball of dung.
After that, how could I pass up the opportunity to dig a little deeper? I have to admit, since the e-books are targeted for 8-13 year olds, I really thought they’d be too young for my teenagers, but the information they contained I found to be appealing to both younger and older children- especially if your older children just need a brief change of pace or your younger children want to listen in with the big guys.
Professor Ana Lyze takes you on a journey to discover the world of the Dung Beetle while sharing interesting facts and observations. The first few pages tell you about the Dung Beetle, followed by a short quiz to determine how close your child was paying attention. From there, you’ll find bible memory verses, copywork pages, vocabulary lists divided between elementary and jr. high/high school levels, math, literature, history, notebook pages, lapbook pages, coloring pages, craft ideas and even a lab that includes growing your own dung beetle farm.
The Dung Beetle is a really cute and fun short unit study and I’m glad I didn’t let the age range deter me from checking out this series—though I do feel that many of the activities were a bit young for my kids. However, the e-book contains some great information, it’s informative and humorous, not to mention it talks a lot about poop- something kids seem to love hearing about.
You can read what other TOS Crew Members thought of The Curiosity Files™ at The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew blog.
*I received this product free of charge as a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew in exchange for sharing my honest opinion of the product with my readers.
Good review! I thought it was well written for multiple ages as well.
ReplyDeleteDropping by from the crew. Enjoyed reading your review. We did the Quicksand study.
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