Schoolhouse Review Crew: See the Light

The See the Light Team, brought together by Dave and Pat Holt, is dedicated to, "bringing scripture and biblical principles to viewers in a fresh and engaging way and promising to teach some exciting art skills along the way!"  Using the  See the Light DVD's allows you to bring the art instruction to your children from the comfort of your own home, at your own convenience.  They offer several different Art DVD's for ages 5 and up.  As a member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew, my family and I recently had the opportunity to review an amazing Art DVD from their Bible Stories,  God's Special Surprise.




God's Special Surprise is the story of Moses, God's special surprise to the Israelites brought to life through art and sound.  The Bible story can be enjoyed by children (and adults) of all ages, but the art lessons were designed for children 6 and up.  The DVD contains 285 minutes of content including:

The Moses Story-God's Special Surprise (13 min)-This section of the DVD is the exciting bible story of Moses.

Hope For a Nation (35 min)- Step by step chalk pastels drawing lesson by master artist Pat Knepley.

Moses In the Nile (26 min)- Artist and presenter Jim Pence gives a mixed media lesson.

Surprise! (23 min)- Artist Heidi Shorts gives a lesson on Creative Lettering.

Bonus Features-
Enjoy contemporary music preformed by Breathing Room while watching Gloria Kohlmann draw her art expression of the story.
Watch and hear the Plan of Salvation.
Hear Gloria Kohlmann's commentary as you watch a story scene being created.
Meet the See the Light team.

You can purchase God's Special Surprise for $14.99.  There are also combo packs available that include the DVD and a black light ($22.99) , or the DVD, a black light and Extreme colored pencils and florescent chalk pastels for $29.99.

In addition to the DVD, you will need a variety of Art Supplies.  If you click on this link and scroll down, you can see the complete list of supplies for each art lesson on the DVD.  You can purchase a black light, Extreme Colored Pencils and florescent colored pencils from See the Light here.

I used God's Special Surprise with my 2,4,6,7,9, and 11 year olds.  They all watched and enjoyed the DVD's.  My 2 year old did her own thing with her art supplies, and I had to help my 4 year old with the art lessons a bit.  We took 4 weeks to complete the DVD.  We watched the Bible story the 1st week, and completed one art lesson per week.  The children wanted to do the Creative Lettering lesson first, then the lesson using chalk pastels, saving the mixed media lesson for last.  I already had several of the art supplies on hand.  I purchased the Extreme Colored Pencils, florescent pastels, and black light from See the Light.  Their prices and shipping costs were very reasonable and they shipped very quickly.  You do not HAVE to have a black light to do the art lessons, but it is very cool if you do.  We played the DVD on our laptop so we could work in our school room at the table.

Let me show you some pictures of what the children created.

Creative Lettering

Chalk Pastels

Mixed Media

We really enjoyed the God's Special Surprise DVD from See the Light!  I loved the idea of art lessons being designed around a Bible story.  My children know the story of Moses, but going over it in this way really added another dimension to the familiar Bible story.  I am not talented artistically at all, and after our art lessons ended a few months ago due yo our instructor falling ill, art has not been happening in our homeschool.  I love that with See the Light the instructor is brought into the home for you.  The lessons were detailed and step by step so the children could follow along.  When they needed time to see something the instructor had done or more time to finish, we just paused the DVD.  The necessary art materials were not overly expensive or hard to find.  We enjoyed the music that was played on the DVD.  I loved that there was not just one, but instead 3 different art lessons included on the DVD.  The children were very pleased with their work.  The mixed media lesson was their favorite lesson, but using the black light really was their favorite part.  It is not something you have to have, but it is emphasized on the DVD and the children thought it would be cool.  It definitely added something special to their artwork.  They have even  started using the Extreme Colored pencils on other schoolwork to make certain parts glow under the black light.

One thing I did want to mention is to allow enough time for your children to complete their work.  We took at least 20 minutes longer than the DVD length for each lesson so we could pause the DVD and allow everyone to get caught up before we moved on to the next step.  I planned on an hour for each lesson.  Also, make sure you have enough supplies for each child.  I know that not many people have a family the size of mine, but I did not have enough supplies.  I had a small set of chalk pastels that we ended up breaking into thirds to give the correct colors to each child.  For the mixed media lesson, I only had one broad tip permanent marker and two fine points.  I didn't really think about the fact that they would need those for most of the lesson, so we had to wait and take turns.  Each child really should've had their own.

The Crew reviewed several different DVD's from See the Light.  To see what other Crew Mates had to say, click on the banner below.