Northwest Treasures Review

I have a rock hound, geology lover, and fossil enthuses in my home. Last year my daughter worked on one of Northwest Treasures physical kits in school last year as her primary science. I knew she would be excited to explore more with Dinosaurs and the Bible and Taking the Mystery out of Geology. 

We received a digital product with access for 6 months to the Dinosaurs and the Bible and for Taking the Mystery out of Geology overview we have 3 months of access. 

My daughter is 15 and in 10^th grade. She has a lot of special needs and is quite delayed. There are certain subjects that she is advanced in. One of them I feel is geology. She loves it and I can attest to it with the large containers under her bed filled with rocks and fossils. I don’t blame her- what’s not to like about rocks and fossils! They intrigue me also.

You will need to have internet access and you will need to have access to Vimeo for the series.

 

Dinosaurs and the Bible 

There is 1 hour and 49 minutes of a 6 lesson series. It’s intended for grades 5 to adult. I agree with the age as I don’t foresee younger kids being able to comprehend this particular course. I would recommend you look at one of their courses for younger kids.  This is taught by Patrick Nurre.

Each of the 6 lessons in this series varies in length from 16 to 21 minutes. There are worksheets for each lesson with anywhere from 8 to 11 questions.  There is an Answer Key for each of the lessons. 

Lesson 1: How We Got Our Modern View of Dinosaurs - running time 18: 26

In this lesson we learned what does the word dinosaur mean and who invented the word, “dinosaur?” What is paleontology and how it relates to dinosaurs and evolution.

You learn about Charles Darwin. How he had started the view of evolution movement because of his book. 

We learned how the “Enlightment” study changed the thought of a literal creation account from the Bible to what is now known as Deism. 

James Hutton is known as the father of modern geology in which he developed the doctrine of “Uniformitaranism.” 

I love that several facts are pointed out from a Biblical view against several of these doctrines that are still being taught today which isn’t even science.  He uses the modern terms of those that use these doctrines and disputes each one clearly against definitions they use. It’s amazing.

My daughter found it really interested that a Megalosaurus was the first official dinosaur to be named. 

Lesson 2:  The Classification of Dinosaurs –running time 18:24

Do you know who the first taxonomist is? We do thanks to the 2^nd lesson in the series.

We dug in deeper to Darwin’s idea of evolution and how he developed a concept he calls the “Tree of Life” and corrupted what is a Biblical concept of the Tree of Life is. 

We learned about the Linnaean classification and seen that his system was created for living things and how it is now used to classify dinosaurs in the modern age. So much more content in this lesson.

Lesson 3: The Great Dinosaur Rush- running time 16:55

The Great Dinosaur Rush was  1877-1892 and two men who went to great lengths to outdo one another with finding more dinosaur fossils than the other one. In their haste we know that several of their findings of fossils don’t hold weight against what we know today. Even in death one man still had a challenge for the other concerning his brain size! 

Another interesting fact is that a certain dinosaur was built with a made up head because when it was assembled it was missing and they created a head for it. 

Lesson 4: The Extinction of the Dinosaurs- running time 16:23

This lesson covers both the secular and Biblical view on the extinction of the dinosaurs. We researched scriptures on the subject of extinction. 

We looked into some historical accounts about dinosaurs and humans interacting together. We discovered some interesting accounts about dinosaurs and men in history. 

I love how Patrick Nurre builds the foundation of the Biblical framework of dinosaurs, creation, and shows the flaws in the secular mainstream idea taught today. 

Lesson 5: Dinosaurs and the Ice Age- running time 17:51

Lois Agassiz is the “Father of Modern Glaciology” his theory behind an Ice Event now known as an Ice Age wasn’t endorsed in America. 

Patrick Nurre goes on to explain how early geologist theory of the universe began from a gas cluster. He disputes it uses their own thoughts that they teach. 

What does the Ice Age and the Flood have to do with one another?  

Lesson 6: Fossils, Age and Soft Tissue- running time 21:38

Before modern geology the Flood was widely excepted when looking at fossils. Geologist tried to explain fossils in terms of time-markers. We learned how the fossilization process happens in four steps. 

Radiometric Dating was touched on and how it works. Can radiometric dating be in error or is it even scientific? 

My daughter was intrigued with the section of non-fossilized soft tissues has been found and how there is no way it can be millions of years old. Whoa we learned a lot in 6 lessons!

I watched this with my 15 year old daughter and my 12 year old son watched a few of the lessons with us. With it being summer time and we have been super busy working on projects for the county fair we really didn’t have a set schedule. I love that we can watch the lessons when it fit into our schedule this summer. My daughter is pretty interested in geology and fossils and each lesson took us over an hour. I wouldn’t say that is typical time for most. My daughter wanted to stop and talk about it and even go back over some concepts. Some of the material wasn’t new to her because last year my daughter used their Bedrock Geology-The Kit as her primary science.

I have the Fossils, Dinosaurs and Cave Men-The Kit and we looked over several items in the kit. We did the worksheet during the lesson. My daughter is challenged with writing and I dictated for her.

 My daughter informed me, “This is amazing learning about dinosaurs online.” My daughter really thrives on lessons done in video format and she soaked it up like a sponge. I was delighted to see this as an option from Northwest Treasures. The physical curriculum with the rock kits is still my personal favorite. I would love to see a combination of the online classes as an option with the physical kits.

Next year she will be using Fossils, Dinosaurs and Cave Men-The Kit for science! These kits are amazing. The curriculum is full of information to build a solid foundation in the Bible and in Earth science. The rocks and fossils are clearly labeled and a nice size. It’s really impressive. 

Taking the Mystery out of Geology

This is also intended for 5^th grade to adults. Patrick Nurre is also the one teaching this course. It’s only 20 minutes but, it is jammed packed with information.

 I love that he really shows you the Biblical perspective throughout the lesson. One of my favorite things that Patrick Nurre emphasis is that Geology is the foundation that should be taught. In my own words paraphrasing it enhances earth science. That it can help set our children for a lifetime for following the Lord. I’m paraphrasing something’s I took out of it. We can shelter our kids from evolution but, one day they are going to need a Biblical Framework with understanding the pieces of the flood and ice age. Our kids will be on their own one day and we know that evolution is showing up in movies, books, and everywhere to dispute the Creation and Flood.  He says, “The Lord must be our starting point-don’t stray from scripture.”

Patrick goes over 13 terms:

Science

History

Philosophy

Uniformitarianism

Evolution

Creationism

Bible

Geology

Rock Cycle

Rock Types

Tectonics and Orogeny

Geological Time Scale

Fossilization

One of my favorite things that I liked was how he talked the differences between science and history. Yea, I know the difference but, I never put it together with how the secular science combines them. We know science must be testable, observable and repeatable. Somehow Earth history has been mixed in with evolution and has been used as a scientific fact. Patrick Nurre says, “That if we can learn the 13 terms from a Biblical perspective that your study of geology will be rewarding.” He really does a good job explaining the worldview and the Biblical view.  This was really good. I watched this by myself and plan on watching it later with my kids.

I took a lot of notes. I have truly enjoyed this and everything I have used the last year from Northwest Treasures. I feel it helped me for next year when I'm teaching my daughter.

First off let me say we learned a lot and if I stated something wrong it is in my error and not Northwest Treasures.  

They have something for all ages. This is just a few of their treasures:

PreK-3rd grade- Geology for Little Eyes

High school level-  Northwest Treasures Curriculum Project
 

My son is really interested in The Geology of Israel with Rocks and Minerals of the Bible since he is going to Israel in the fall(I'm going to miss him)! He would love to learn about this before his special trip to Israel. I don't foresee it being able to make our homeschool budget this year! I just don't have the heart to tell him yet! Trust me Israel is full of rocks! I'm so excited for him

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Other members of the Homeschool Review Crew are reviewing this and another geology classes from Northwest Treasures. Stop by and see what they think.

Taking the Mystery Out of Geology
Dinosaurs and the Bible
Geology and Apologetics