WINNER--Economics for Everybody from Timberdoodle!

Good Morning Everyone!

Today's the day!  A huge "Thank you!" to all who checked out the links for this GREAT curriculum from Timberdoodle, and this morning I took the names of all who entered and drew one name to be the winner of the Economics for Everybody that Timberdoodle has graciously offered to give away.

Are you ready???  And the winner is. . . . .

Angela Denis!

I hope this curriculum is a huge blessing to you and to your family!  Angela, send me your mailing address to:  SusansSpotgiveaway@gmail.com, and I will  pass it along to the proper person at Timberdoodle, and they will mail your curriculum directly to you.  :)

And if you didn't win--I truly wish I had a copy to give everyone who would like one!  This really is a very nice curriculum, coming from a Christian viewpoint which is important to my family.  So if you cannot purchase yourself a copy this school year, keep it in mind as you are making your purchases for next year.  You can read more about the program HERE.  What I like to do is to keep a running "Wish List" throughout the school year of things that have caught my attention as something that might be a good fit for our home school.  Then, when Springtime approaches and I am making my purchases for the following school year, I go through my "Wish List" and make final decisions.  I hope this has at least helped you become aware of a great Economics program that is available!

Thank you for reading my blog!

Happy Homeschooling!

~Susan

Home School Review and GIVEAWAY--Economics for Everybody from Timberdoodle!

Hi Everyone!

I am SUPER excited today, because not only do I have another great home school review from Timberdoodle for you, but Timberdoodle has also graciously offered to sponsor a giveaway of this product to one of my readers!  (U.S. addresses only)  Learning about great home school curriculum is wonderful--but having a chance to WIN a copy for free is even better!!!!

More about the giveaway in a minute--first, let me tell you about the product!  Today's product is called Economics for Everybody--Applying Biblical Principles to Work, Wealth, & the World by R. C. Sproul Jr.  Timberdoodle includes this curriculum as part of their complete Twelfth Grade Curriculum Kit, although the information for this product states that it can be used for ages 12 and up, and grades 6 and up.  Having a 12 year old in 6th grade as my product tester, I was anxious to see what we would both think of it!

The curriculum consists of two parts--there is a small spiral bound study guide, and also a thin plastic case containing two DVDs.  Each DVD contains six lessons, for a total of twelve DVD lessons. The study guide is also divided into twelve chapters, so everything coordinates nicely together. These two parts are packaged together in a card board sleeve (shown in the first picture of this post), so they fit nicely on your book shelf and stay together.

The very first chapter in the Economics for Everybody study guide starts with laying the foundation for Economics from a Biblical viewpoint--that God owns everything, but He created us to be a steward of creation for His glory.  The study guide is small and very non-intimidating.  The first lesson has seven pages that state an Introduction, Scripture Readings, Learning Objectives and the Lecture Outline, before finishing the chapter with approximately two pages of Multiple Choice, Short Answer, and Discussion questions.  Very last in the chapter is a short list of books for further study on that topic.

My first impressions are that Economics for Everybody lives up to it's name.  In the Introduction of the Study Guide, they give suggestions to use this curriculum in churches and small groups, middle or high school students, or families and individuals.  I think it would work VERY well in all three of these group types, especially with their suggestions of how to best use the curriculum within these groups.  There is even additional learning resources for students at a web site they list.

Lesson one of Economics for Everybody  DVD starts off with the author talking.  He is very personable, and I thought interesting.  Lesson 1 video was 15 minutes in length, so not super short and not super long either.

 But it is not just a lecture with you looking at a teacher--there are many pictures that illustrate what the teacher is talking about.

And my favorite--plenty of historical photographs as well!

One thing that I really appreciate about Economics for Everybody is their thoughtfulness of which groups will be potentially using this curriculum.  For example, knowing that the families with older children who will be using this may indeed also have younger children in the family, they included a caution in their Introduction.  The following is a direct quote from their book:

"Be advised that Lessons 2, 7, and 11 do have some scenes that could bother a young child.  Parents may want to preview those lessons if young children are going to be watching them."

Since WE are a family with quite an age spread between our two children, I understand only to well how attractive whatever an older sibling is doing is to a younger sibling--and in our house, if it was a video of any sort it was like a magnet!  So having a "heads-up" ahead of time I really appreciate!

Of course--having read this caution, I HAD to go preview one of these lessons that were specifically mentioned so I could report back to you in my review.  So after watching Lesson 1 with my daughter, later that evening I went back and watched Lesson 2 on my own.

Lesson 2 was 19 minutes in length, so a bit longer than Lesson 1 had been.  The topic of this lesson is "The Economic Problem of Sin:  Law, Liberty and Government."  As the video starts out, there were pictures from the Dust Bowl, and pictures of very hungry, very thin people lining up for food.  The lesson talks about how poverty is a result of sin.  There are pictures of Hitler and his soldiers marching, bombed buildings,  and a concentration camp.  A photograph of a poor slave's back is shown--terrible scars raised up from numerous lashings.  There are also some video clips from old time movies--a gun shooting scene during the time of prohibition, a robbery scene of both a bank as well as of an individual, robbers tying someone up.  Though I felt that these pictures and movie clips were appropriate given the topic of the lesson and the age group this curriculum is being marketed to, I agreed completely with the author of the curriculum that this lesson was most definitely NOT appropriate for young children to watch.  I appreciated even more their thoughtfulness in advising parents to watch out for these particular lessons.  To me, it showed that they understood quite well how home school families work--often times with several grade levels using the same materials, each  simply gaining and learning according to their own level.

And now for the exciting part--the giveaway!  One lucky reader will win their own copy of Economics for Everybody.  The giveaway will be open for one week, starting today--9/21/16 and ending on 9/28/16. On 9/29/16  I will draw a winner and post the name here on my blog in a separate post.  Once I announce the winner, they will have 24 hours to contact me or a new winner will be chosen.  So once you enter, make yourself a reminder to check back on my blog on 9/29/16 to see if you won!  This drawing is only open to residents of the United States.

There are three chances to have your name entered into the drawing:

1) Use this link to check out the Economics for Everybody page on Timberdoodle's web site.  While on that page, watch the short video clip they have, then come back here and comment below telling me that you watched it.  No--I will have no idea whether or not you did, but this giveaway is being operated by "Scout's Honor!"

2) To have your name entered a second time, follow this link for Timberdoodle's Complete 12th Grade Curriculum Kit and look over all the resources included.  Come back here and comment below, telling me the item in the kit that you like the best.

3)  Finally, to have your name entered a third time, share a link to this blog post in a home school group--doesn't matter if it is an e-mail group, a Facebook group, or a meet in person type of group.  But share about the giveaway giving people the link they need to read this post, then come back here and comment again telling me that you shared about it.

That's it!  This is an EXCELLENT resource for our middle school and high school students.  I definitely plan on using this entire curriculum in our home school!  And now--go check out those links and share about the giveaway!

~Susan