Schoolhouse Crew Review: Purposeful Design

Our latest review is a beautiful book called Purposeful Design: Understanding the Creation from Purposeful Design. Just looking at a picture of the cover of the book makes me want to buy it!  But let me tell you a little abut the book itself.
Purposeful Design: Understanding the Creation is a hardcover book that is 91 pages long.  This book is written for all ages.  Older elementary through adults can read and enjoy the book on their own, and younger children can enjoy it as a read aloud, or even just pick it up to enjoy the pictures.  In this book, the reader will learn about the different elements of design and scientific principles that makes life possible and that each element was lovingly designed by a Creator God.  
The book contains 7 different chapters:
Chapter One: The First Day Creation of the Heavens and the Earth-The Foundation of it All

Chapter Two-The Second Day Creation of Atmosphere and Water

Chapter Three-The Third Day Creation of the Dry Land and Vegetation

Chapter Four-The Fourth Day Creation of the Sun, Moon, and Stars

Chapter Five-The Fifth Day Creation of Birds and Fish

Chapter Six-Creation Day Six Creation of Land Animals and Humans

Chapter Seven- The Seventh Day

Each chapter starts with the Bible verses that discuss that day of creation.  But the book does much more than talk about what was created on each day.  It goes into specifics in a reader friendly way about the science behind what was being created and shows how it cannot be just a coincidence.  For example when discussing the creation of  the atmosphere and water the book tells us that 71% of the earth's surface is oceans.  If less than 71% were oceans we would have vast deserts and not enough rain.  More than 71% would cause to much rain and extreme floods.  Each of the chapters are beautifully illustrated and use charts and graphs to help explain the concepts being discussed.  
You can purchase Purposeful Design: Understanding the Creation for $18.95.  To go along with the book, there is a Young Explorer's Club curriculum for elementary aged readers and above.  This curriculum is in PDF format and contains a child's workbook (30 pages) , a teacher's answer key (40 pages) and certificates of completion.  There is a section of the workbook for each chapter of the book.  It begins with the Bible verses covering that day of Creation and then moves into questions on the verse and questions that were covered in the book.  Next some verses are listed for reflection and some further exercises are given such as answering deeper questions and drawing a picture.  Each section ends with a closing prayer and a certificate of completion.  The curriculum is free to download.
I used Purposeful Design with my 3,5,7,9,10, and 12 year olds.  We used it as a read aloud during our morning Bible time completing one chapter per day.  We used the Young Explorer's curriculum with each chapter.  We answered the questions orally.
We really enjoyed reading through this book.  As I said above it is absolutely beautiful!  I love the cover and the photographs, charts, and illustrations that are inside.  My children loved just looking at the pictures.  Their favorites were the pictures of humorous creatures like the piglet squid.  We have read many books and stories about Biblical Creation, but never one quite like this one that explains the scientific details behind everything that was created, in a way that is easy to read and understand. Children can plainly see and understand that earth's tilt is 23.5 degrees and what would happen if it wasn't.  It makes sense and shows that our world was purposefully designed by a loving Creator.
The curriculum to go along with the book was an added bonus.  I chose out the questions that I thought were suitable to the ages of my children and had them answer aloud.  We also read through all of the reflection verses and discussed those.  There are future plans to develop a separate set of questions for pre-k, elementary, and high school, and I would love to see that!
To see what my Crew Mates had to say, click on the banner below.  

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