I am so thrilled to share this new review with you guys! Creation Illustrated is a new company to me that I have just fallen in love with. They have a beautiful quarterly magazine and in-depth unit studies that correspond to the magazines.
Creation Illustrated has been around since 1993 and has a mission to share biblical truth through their work. The company is dedicated to the eternal impact that sharing this truth has. They also want to share character-building lessons through the blessings we have with God’s creation. These are simple, yet impactful, ideas that will touch any who choose to listen and hear.
Creation Illustrated is edited and published by Tom and Jennifer Ish, a Christian couple. They are a family who chose homeschooling for the education of their daughter. They understand what many families are looking for in unit studies and science curriculum. You can read much more about their lives and their mission on the Creation Illustrated website.
The Creation Illustrated magazine is stunning and gorgeous. I thoroughly enjoyed spending time reading these magazines and since I like print copies of magazines better than digital ones, I am ordering a subscription. The photography is just beautiful and a joy to look at. More than that, though, articles that have a biblical base and bring creation into focus on God are what I enjoy reading and having around for my girls to read. The articles are well-written and interesting. This is a magazine I would be happy to have around all the time.
The unit studies that are available are interesting and quite different than other studies we have used. Snow Unit Study and Pine Trees are the two we have been looking at and using recently. Well, we have completed Pine Trees and hope to work fully with the snow study soon. These correspond to the Winter ’18 Digital Edition and Fall ’17 Digital Edition of the Creation Illustrated magazines. When you purchase the unit study, there is a link to the digital edition of the magazine on the resources page.
We took last week to use the Pine Trees unit study. It worked perfectly for us as we needed something different for school as we prepared for a leadership convention. We spent about an hour a day with the unit study and completed it in about three days. The time varies a bit from child to child. My 13 year old and my 11 year old were able to do this independently except for the math page and a tad bit of the vocabulary. My 9 year old needed assistance with most of the study.
The unit study is correlated with an article on pages 6-10 in the Fall ’17 Digital Edition titled “The Enduring Pine Tree.” This is an article that discusses not only the scientific side of the pine tree but also the biblical side. Included in the article you find much information on similarities and differences of pine trees. There is information on how to identify the type of pine tree. From the early stages of growth to 
the fully mature tree, we learn much about the pine tree. Alongside the scientific information, we learn about many biblical references to pine trees. The scripture is quoted and cited, which makes it easy for the student to follow up with the scripture in their own copy of the Bible. The article is a very enjoyable read. When you pair it with the stunning photography, it is just a beautiful article. (There are many other articles in this edition of the magazine – the Grand Canyon, kangaroos, and recipes to name a few.)
After reading the article, we opened up the pages for the unit study which I had printed for each of the girls. The unit study consisted of a page with resource links, vocabulary, spelling, a Bible study, a geography study with mapping exercise, identification of three types of trees, scientific information activities, comprehension questions, a math page, an art/drawing activity, a creative writing exercise, and a word search. There is also an answer key. The resource links are for the 
magazine, articles, and videos that will help the study complete the study. I actually missed these when I printed the study because I was so excited to get to the pages and we worked harder than we had to on some parts of the study that first day. That’s okay – we got internet search practice in!
While the girls were not thrilled with having to do a unit study during this particular week, I did catch from them that it was a pleasant one to do. They seemed to enjoy it pretty well and I know they learned a lot. I learned a lot, too, and I grew up around pine trees with a forester dad.
I liked that the more difficult parts – the classification of the tree with 
Latin names, for example – were an easier activity, such as matching. The vocabulary was a challenging activity because the words were difficult. I did have to help all three girls with this, even with an electronic dictionary at hand.
This is a great study that really helped us grasp a lot about the physical characteristics of pine trees but I really liked the Bible study that was included. I did not realize that pine trees were specifically mentioned so many times in the Bible. The students are asked to look up several scriptures and note the mention and what the tree was used for. It was an interesting look into God’s word. It would have been great for the scriptures used to be included in the pages to print, though it wasn’t hard for the girls to just look it up on their Bible app.
There is also a unit study on snow that we will be using before too long. It corresponds to an article on pages 19-22 in the Winter ’18 Digital Edition titled “The Intricacies of Snow.” The activities in this unit study are much the same as those in the study of pine tree, though, of course, related to snow. I can’t wait to see my girls complete the art activity where they draw the different snow crystal shapes. The Bible study will have them looking at the references to snow in the Bible and evaluating their favorite verse. The creative writing activity will correspond to fun in the snow. There is much more there, too.
The unit studies created by Creation Illustrated are such fun and they have more than just these two. There are studies on bears, manatees, fragrance, badgers, dragonflies, and the Joshua tree. They are aimed primarily at grades 5 – 8, though they can easily be used in grades 3 – 8. The studies are mostly independent for grades 5-8 but there is much that will be interesting and beneficial for the 3rd – 4th graders. These studies are downloads and are able to be used for multiple students – always a bonus!
I have really enjoyed getting to know Creation Illustrated better and am pleased to be able to share this company with you. I look forward to seeing more from them. Their newest edition, the Spring 2018 edition, is on the presses now and will soon be out. The corresponding unit study will be on butterflies and should be available on the website soon.
Blessings,
At Home.
The Homeschool Review Crew had many families using these unit studies. To find out how they enjoyed them, please click on the banner below.
Tagged: reviews, TOS, unit study
At Home 
I’ve long been familiar with the mag, but the unit studies were new… a nice addition eh?
Yes. They work well together.