Apologia iWitness Books~ REVIEW

 Everyone knows I Love Books, any new Book on my shelf makes me one Happy Momma.  And I was definitely a Happy Momma when I received 3 New Books from Apologia Educational Ministries to Review.  Here are the Books we were able to Enjoy:

 iWitness Biblical Archaeology

Old Testament iWitness
 New Testament iWitness

All 3 books are written and designed by Doug Powell.  They are $14 each and Geared for Kiddos 11 yrs old and up.

I Love all things Apologia has to offer.  Kaden thought his Math book came from them the other day, just because he sees their name all over our house. :)  Every single product they offer has not only been a Blessing to our Family's education, but also Spiritually.  The iWitness books were no different then all of their other amazing products.  



These books are intended to engage your Kiddos while learning more about the Bible.  The reader is guaranteed to have a visually appealing and non-intimidating experience each time they crack open their book. I say this because these books are designed to look like they are hand-written documents and bits of scrap papers along with lots of pictures.  It's like you are holding a research journal or scrapbook.  Every page looks like a saved treasure of knowledge and thoughts. 

Doug Powell, Apologia's Art Director and Author of the iWitness Books says he intended these Books to be interactive.  That the information is presented to them and the reader then needs to think it through.  I appreciate the approach he has taken in these books, I personally haven't worked with educational books like this before.

iWitness Bible Archaeology is the first out of the three Books we looked at.  Basicly it shows you how many historical archaeological discoveries coincide with event in the Bible. This book was on Fire right from the start...in a Good way! :)  We learned where the different manuscripts of the Old and New Testaments have been found and some additional info regarding Noah's Ark. Mahala said she was excited to read and learn more about the Dead Sea Scrolls.  That was her favorite part of the whole book.  The layout of the book also was a huge thumbs up from her too.  Her and I took turns and read daily all the way to the end.  I look forward to sharing this with Kaden in the future.

Old Testament iWitness was the second book that we read.  In this book we learned how the Books in the Old Testament were chosen and how they were written. Jewish history and their traditions is shown throughout the entire book.  Honestly I knew very little before hand, so I learned just as much as Mahala.  We took this book much slower, just because we did have a lot to learn and Mahala took it upon herself to do a little further investigation online concerning a few things she read.  I was thrilled to see her interest and spark for more knowledge.  Thank You Apologia!!! 

The last Book we read together was the New Testament iWitness.  Just like in the last book we learned how the books in the New Testament were chosen and written.  Also they showed which books were not included, and why. This was totally news to me, I never knew there were books of the Bible not published and the many different manuscripts.  I love when I can learn right next to my Kiddo.

We woke up every morning during the week and spent about 30 minute reading these books together as a Family in a devotional kind of way.  It was a great start each morning and some days we picked up where we left off just because the Kiddos were just that into it.  

My Thoughts about these three Books are basically all positive.  There was nothing that I would change.  I think they can be used independently or along side your current Biblical worldview curriculum.  What a great addition to your History day too.  

The one and only thing I have to mention, only because I have a Kiddo on the Spectrum.  It may take a little getting used to if your Kiddo has a problem with over visual stimulation.  Kaden didn't have a big problem with this, but he wasn't working with it by himself.  One quick fix I would use if you do have a Kiddo that gets overwhelmed with a lot of pictures on a page would be to use a simple sticky note to cover up a few sections of each 2 page layout.  Easy fix and your Kiddo will still get the Benefits and Blessings from these 3 amazing books.   
Also check out the iWitness volumes on Jesus and the Resurrection that are currently available. I’m also looking forward to 2 new future releases- one on World Religions and one on Heresies and Cults, both due out in 2015.

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