Fir and Cypress: Purposeful Design Review

As a Christian, understanding Creation through a Biblical Worldview is not only paramount to me, but also to my teaching my children. The miracles all around us everyday are something we often take for granted. As I teach my children about Creation, I want them to experience wonder over all that God has made. Purposeful Design: Understanding the Creation by Jay Schabacker helps us to see the wonder in the world around us and enjoy what God has given us, both the visible and the invisible. Produced by Purposeful Design, this is more than just a book, it's about the love and purpose of our Master Designer.
This is a large, colorful coffee-table style book. Within the pages of this book with vivid illustrations and large, easy-to-read text. In this award winning, hardback, 96 page book, Mr Schabacker discusses many of the whys and hows of what God has done on our earth as He created it. Jay Schabacker is a former aerospace scientist (he worked on the Apollo Moon Program at NASA). Now he has turned his attention to creating a book that explores the wonder of the the universe and how it came to be.

The chapters in this book include:

Chapter One - The First Day - Creation of the Heavens and the Earth - Foundation of it All

Why does the Universe keep spinning? You'll learn more about God's involvement in the Creation and how He has created the laws of science.

Chapter Two - The Second Day - Creation of the Atmosphere and Water You'll learn about water and its varying properties. And what would have happened if God had made the oceans larger or smaller!

Chapter 3 - The Third Day - Creation of Dry Land and Vegetation Plants their variation and usages. God created plants that heal, feed, protect, and more.

Chapter 4 - The Fourth Day - Creation of the Sun, Moon, and Stars

This chapter is larger than the previous three. It covers such things as the earth's perfect tilt, cycle of the seasons, the earth's rotation and equinox, climate, sunrise and sunset times, ways the precision of the sunrise has been used in history, phases of the moon and how it affects the tides, ocean's tides, and the stars and their use in navigation.

Chapter 5 - The Fifth Day - Creation of the Birds and Fish

The birds and fish and why they were created and their pre-programmed instincts. How fish swim and why ice floats. The pictures of the various sea creatures were very interesting to my children.

Chapter 6 - Creation Day Six - Creation of Land Creatures and Humans

Discusses why we need animals and the uniqueness of humans. In this chapter, we see that everything has a purpose, including so-called "vestigial organs" that we once thought were useless or leftovers from less-evolved forms of man. You'll read about our fearfully and wonderfully made bodies: look at blood, mother's milk, cells, the brain and the different parts of the head.

Chapter 7 - The Seventh Day

Discusses the need for rest in the creative process. This is a shorter chapter that includes Exodus 20: 8-10 (the creation of the Sabbath rest) and several other Bible verses.

There is a Young Explorer's Club workbook available for free when you purchase the book. It gives your students fill-in-the-blank questions to go over the material learned in each chapter. There are also verses for reflection and to memorize, and questions to bring about deeper discussion about what God was doing and why, when He created the Earth. Each Chapter ends with a small prayer. The workbook has a crossword puzzle for kids in the back. There is a Teacher's Key to the workbook with the answers, a certificate to award for the completion of each chapter and talking points to help you interact with your kids around the material in the book.This is a workbook curriculum designed to go along with each chapter in the book. It contains a Kid's Workbook, Teacher's Set, and a Certificate of Completion that can all be downloaded free of charge from their website.

I think Purposeful Design: Understanding the Creation is a useful and stimulating tool for learning about creation according to God's Word. It's a beautiful book to have out on display for visitors to your home as well. The illustrations are incredible and most certainly enhance the experience as you learn.

It's a great read-aloud book that is meant for and will appeal to readers of all ages, but some of the information might be a bit advanced for younger children. The pictures will help to keep their attention, though!

We fully intend to enjoy this wonderful book as a family for years to come!