As a member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew we had the opportunity to review Purposeful Design: Understanding the Creation by Jay Schabacker. This is available through Purposeful Design's website.
Purposeful Design: Understanding the Creation by Jay Schabacker is a beautifully illustrated "coffee table" book about God's amazing creation week. As the title suggests, the focus is on showing that God's loving, PURPOSEFUL design was behind this creation and is shown in the amazing scientific principles that keep our world working.The book arrived while we were out of town. My friend, who was cat sitting, mentioned that a package had arrived on a rainy day (and for some reason that continues to boggle my mind, the mail person consistently leaves packages on our uncovered back porch instead of our covered front porch, even in the rain, WHY?!?!?). Anyway, because the package was wet, she opened it to make sure the contents were undamaged. The envelope had a plastic lining so the book was fine, but my point in all this . . . my friend couldn't resist raving over how beautiful the book was!
As I began reading the book to my daughters, my 5 year old was excited to recognize the first words "In the beginning God created . . . " from her Bible stories! "Mommy! I know that story!" the book continues through each of the days of creation. On each day, the author briefly explains how truly amazing the systems created on that day are and how they all work together.
The beautiful pictures and simple explanations make this book ideal for young children. But the science that is explained is complex enough to capture the attention of older children and adults as well.
Included with your purchase is the Purposeful Design: Young Explorer's Club. This is a .pdf download of a workbook for children to use in conjunction with reading Purposeful Design: Understanding the Creation. The download includes a few pages of comprehension type questions about each of the 7 chapters (which coincide with the 7 days of creation). There is also a teacher's answer key and printable certificates of completion to motivate your children. My older girls have never been fans of workbooks, we do sometimes use reading comprehension type questions as starting points for discussion, but as I glanced over the questions in this workbook, I felt my 11 year olds would find them abit on the young side. My 5 year old is still at a preschool level, but shows more interest in workbook-like activities, so she might enjoy this workbook in a couple of years. I'm keeping it in mind to use with her when she's at a 2nd or 3rd grade level. The workbook also includes Bible verses to go along with each chapter, in addition to the relevant verses in Genesis 1, so it could also be used for a church class or as daily devotions at home or at school.
Because I didn't feel the workbook would be a good fit for any of my children, we simply enjoyed reading the book together, soaking in the beautiful pictures and marveling all over again in the beauty and amazingness of God's creation.
As we approach Christmas, this would be an ideal gift for adults and children alike. It is available for $18.95 and includes the above mentioned downloadable curriculum.
Social Media:
Jay Schabacker's blog
LinkedIn: Jayschab
To see what other members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew thought of this beautiful book, click the link below:
All prices and information are accurate at time of posting.
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