Special Features

Author Douglas Bond believes there is no more important single skill to master, for parents and for children, than writing. Don’t miss this five-session Special Event Writing Seminar with award-winning teacher and, according to one fellow author, “…one of America’s most impressive Christian storytellers,” who writes “historical fiction at its mesmerizing best.

Douglas Bond will elucidate important observations about writing and communication from the letters, devotions, sermons, and books of the author with more published volumes than any other writer in the 19th century.

Author Douglas Bond will give insider information and instruction on preparing to write the common application essays for university entrance, as well as the SAT essay. This seminar will include the relationship between essay writing and journalism, writing news reports, opinion/editorial, commentary. You will learn the importance of logic, supporting statements with three levels of evidence, and the importance of demonstrating how evidence supports the theses statement and subordinate statements in essays and articles.

Author Douglas Bond will reveal his own method of writing historical fiction, research and preparation for writing, and how this method relates to other genre of fiction writing. You will learn Bond’s C4: Explosive Writing formula in this session.

Author Douglas Bond will take you back to the mead hall of 8th century Northumbria and explain the roots of English poetic conventions and why it is of critical importance that you learn and teach poetry in the homeschool curriculum.

Douglas Bond, hymn writer and author of the Mr. Pipes series on the history of Christian hymnody, will define what a hymn is and teach you how to measure the quality of a hymn. You will learn why the most enduring literature any generation can produce is its hymnody, why a healthy church will sing the best hymns from the past, and will produce Psalm-like new hymns. Few have ever read a sermon of Isaac Watts or Charles Wesley or John Newton, but you sing their hymns (or ought to be doing so). In this session you will learn one of Bond’s New Reformation Hymns and how he sets about writing a new hymn. Bond will give away several free copies of his new Rise & Worship CD album during this session.

Sign up required. Join us to learn how to collect and pin bugs in an insect collection. In this study of entomology participants will go home with their first beetle pinned and ready for a collection, along with the knowledge to expand on their collection.

Sign up required. We will build and test wet and dry cell batteries. It’s helpful to have an understanding of pH before taking this lab, though it’s not required. We will tackle the following questions: How were batteries invented? What is inside a battery? Where does the power come from? How on earth does a potato produce electricity? What is electricity? and Why is a 9 Volt so powerful when it is smaller than a 1.5 Volt D cell?

Sign up required. In this family friendly lab we are building and testing electromagnets. It will help if you have a solid understanding of batteries prior to taking this lab, though it isn’t required. Together we will tackle questions including: How were electromagnets invented? Why do electromagnets work? What metals can be used in an electromagnet and what applications do electromagnets have? Students will construct and take home a simple electromagnet.

Sign up required. In this family-friendly lab, we are building and testing simple electric motors. A solid understanding of electromagnetism is helpful but not required. Together we will tackle questions including; when were electric motors invented and how does an electromagnet drive a motor. Students will create and take home a simple working electric motor.

Sign up required. Students have the opportunity to dissect a frog! Young children can be successful in this activity with direct parent support. Students must take directions and safety seriously in order to participate. How are amphibians able to survive in and out of water? What does the word metamorphosis really mean? How does metamorphosis point to God as Creator? What is the difference between incomplete and complete metamorphosis?