Dinosaurs: Marvels of God's Design: Review

  

As a homeschool mom (or even a Christian parent), it is a struggle to teach dinosaurs from a Creationist worldview.  Our boys, especially, devour any thing dinos and you just can’t find enough of a variety of resources with that slant. So eventually their little brains end up playing a game of dino ping pong going from God created the Earth in six days to “millions of years ago”…  So to be able to try out a new Creationist paleontology book was exciting!  Dinosaurs: Marvels of God’s Design by Dr. Tim Clarey arrived in our mail box to review and I was excited!

  One of my pet peeves is people not being able to explain why they believe what they believe.  I know that I don’t have as firm of a grasp on that as I need to as far as Creationism goes, and I want to make sure the kiddos don’t have that problem (and I won’t from here on out for that matter). We are an “old rocks” type of family.  Hubby is an archaeologist and gets asked about digging up fossils all the time.  Even though fossils are paleontology and archaeology is the study of ancient peoples and their artifacts the two disciplines run nicely together because both professionals are bound to come across artifacts from the other profession since it all is found in the dirt.  Hubby has brought home many interesting fossils over the years while he was out doing archaeology survey.  So our lives not only revolve around things found in the dirt, we are constantly confronted with the old earth theory.

A fossil and a piece of coal Hubby found on survey

   This book was not just about Creationism, but a good introduction into dinosaurs in general.  Dr. Clarey dissects all parts of paleontology laying the groundwork for the reader.  So along the way the student learns about classifications, plate tectonics, fossilization, etc… He also addresses many common topics with mainstream paleontology and how they can be explained, and not just with simple explanations either, nice detailed ones that give you and your family the foundation you need to reinforce your stance on Creation.

  An added bonus for us was a nice sized section on Barnum Brown and Charles Sternberg.  Barnum Brown was born just 12 miles from us and Charles Sternberg is also a Kansan.  It was wonderful to see these familiar names pop up in our reading!  It was also fascinating to learn of the bone wars and how that affected how some of the dinosaurs were presented to the world. 

  The thing I loved about this book is not just the glut of information (and it is filled to the brim with that!) but the pictures! Tons and tons of pictures!  Some from digs the author has been a part of.  This book is great for not just older readers, but younger ones as well.  Dr. Clarey uses easy to read language, but technical enough for those know-it-all readers (like someone I live with). 

  One thing I wish this book had was a good ol’ suggested reading list beyond the books that are put out by Master Books.  Books with good sourcing for the young earth viewpoints are hard to come by and it would have been a valuable addition for young (and old researchers).   Some of the ones on our bookshelf include: What Really Happened to the Dinosaurs by John Morris and Ken Ham; Chronicles of Dinosauria: The History & Mystery of Dinosaurs and Man by Dave Woetzel; Dragons or Dinosaurs: Creation or Evolution by Darek Isaacs; and Dragons: Legends and Lore of Dinosaurs by Master Books.
   Overall this is a book I would highly recommend for including in your home library.  It is a resource that would be excellent to refer to time and time again.
  Thank you to Cross Focused Reviews for giving me a chance to review this.  All opinions in this blog are my own. 

Field Trip: Museum of the Great Plains

  We reached our primary destination near the Wichita Mountains.  Hubby and I were going to be deeply entrenched in research so we had a variety of trips for the family to go and visit.  It turns out we only needed one ;)   The Museum of the Great Plains was not open when we had visited this area a couple of months ago, and it had actually just re-opened after renovations just a couple of weeks prior to this trip, so we were among the first to experience all that it had to offer. 
  All I can say is wow!  Now, that's me speaking as one who did not set foot in the museum galleries.  The kids spent approximately 8 hours over two days in the museum and really only stopped when they had to eat something.  They went on and on in the evenings about all the activities they did, what they saw, and what they wanted to do again.
   From the printing press...

printing press

where they could make signs for the mock town that was set up for them.  The town featured actual historical figures from the area and told their stories.

The kids with one of their store signs

Each area had a docent which was on hand to assist the kiddos and give them more details.

Shorty getting some help with a wind tunnel from one of the docents

One of the areas they went back to several times was the buffalo that you could dissect.  Shorty dubbed him "Buffy" and gave him a hug before they left :)

The kids removing Buffy's organs

They even had fun things like a huge LiteBrite...

I could go on and on about the animatronic dinosaurs to the tornado shelter that made you feel like you were going through a tornadic storm.  I. am. jealous.  I have resolved to go into the museum the next time we're down south.
  I asked the kids which they liked better, this museum or the Illinois State Museum which we visited earlier this year and is the closest in comparison for hands on learning.  They refused to choose, but they did say that this one was way more hands on. 
  Just as a comparison, our local history museum (the Kansas State Historical Museum) charges $6 per child, and the Museum of the Great Plains charges $8, the Illinois State Museum was free.  All do fantastic jobs of telling the story of their state and areas.  All have a majority of permanent exhibits.  The Illinois State Museum and the Kansas Historical Museum have some age to their exhibits, the Kansas one being the older.  The big difference between these museums and why the Kansas Museum doesn't even come close is the interaction.  The other two make you an active participant in history all through your museum experience.  Want to make what most consider to be the most boring subject in school come alive to a child?  Have them feel it! Draw them in to the story, don't just tell them it.  My most favorite teacher in school was my junior high history teacher, and I give him a huge credit for my love of history.  He would "preach" history to us and give us a "hallelujah" when we gave him the right answer.  He would take one of the students, lay him on a table and reenact Meso-American Indian sacrifices (this happened one time when a group of Kindergarteners was walking by our classroom door - you should have seen their eyes get big! But I digress...).   I am so thankful for museums like the Museum of the Great Plains.  We'll end up there again, and it might be hard for the kids to branch out to the other sights in the area now ;)    

Field Trip: University of Oklahoma Art Museum

    Hubby and I had another round of research in Oklahoma this week, so we loaded up the family along with Ducky and Grandma and took off.  I have to say I was a little jealous.  Hubby, Mookie and I did this...

Hubby was sneaking pics

at the University of Oklahoma Western History Collections.  And the rest of the gang went to OU's art museum where they had an exhibition called Immortales: The Hall of Emperors of the Capitoline Museums, Rome.  There were about 20 busts from early to late Rome.  This fit perfectly for our history studies which have been focusing on ancient history.

Bubby was in heaven.  Went through and took a picture of each bust with his camera and regaled us with details when we met up later in the evening.  To be honest, I was a little worried about Shorty on this one.  He's a busy guy, and while he has excellent behavior long trips contribute to unpredictable outcomes for little ones.  He did wonderfully though.  Grandma had him keeping his hands to himself...

following Bubby's example.  And there were hands on things to do too like blowing into a pipe and making digital art move.

Day one ended with success and then the real fun began the next day...

>to be continued<