Apologia Educational Ministries is a wonderful corporation with some fabulous products and the iWitness series is no different. If you are looking for something wonderful to add to your history and/or Bible studies, you don’t want to miss this series.
My daughter, who is 9, has wanted to be an archaeologist since she could say the word so she was elated to have the opportunity to read iWitness Biblical Archaeology right away. She was very excited to get started on that one. The colorful pictures and presentation were interesting to the kids. I was a bit skeptic whether my 5 year old would be interested in the details of the books, but surprisingly he was following along and catching the details as we read them. My daughter enjoyed reading iWitness Biblical Archaeology, but prefers when I read to her and I enjoyed the material so much I really didn’t want us NOT to read them together. They are fascinating.
iWitness Biblical Archaeology brings topics like Noah’s Arc and the Burial Shroud of Jesus to reality, chronicling details of archaeological finds through the ages that have set to “prove” Biblical facts. With pictures, dates, and maps on every page, you can’t help but get lost in the fascinating archeological finds that can’t help but spur conversation.
The New Testament iWitness and Old Testament iWitness are no different. When we moved on to these books, we were equally captivated (though my daughter said that iWitness Biblical Archaeology remains her favorite in the series). The book’s page layouts are almost like a scrapbook, making it fun to read as if you, the investigator, detective, or archaeologist, have compiled these documents and are sorting through them. The pages are very durable and very colorful. The print is in fonts that make them look “old fashioned” in my opinion. Frankly, this made some of it difficult to read in my case, but it didn’t seem to bother my daughter that much (though she seemed to struggle with more words than normal so I still think it was the font that was giving her trouble. However, the content more than makes up for the font.)
Both New Testament iWitness and Old Testament iWitness gave us information that spurred more conversation. For instance, we read about who wrote the Old Testament and found out that there are man words that are not considered certain in the translation; however, they are not words that are considered to affect doctrine – interesting! We learned about the dead sea scrolls, canons, minor and major prophets, hymns and creeds, and even who copied the Bible. We really enjoyed the wide range of topics that helped us really deepen our understanding of the Bible and have better conversations at home about what we were learning in this iWitness series.
Since the books document finds and where they are located in museums throughout the world, we now have a very sizable list of museum’s that we “must visit someday” according to the kids. I love that these books get them excited about history and the Bible all at the same time.
Overall we really liked the iWitness series. We liked the colorful pictures, accurate accounts, variety of topics, and the thorough topic concentration. Again, the only con for me was that the font, thought I believe intended to give it a certain feel, made it difficult to read at times. Recommended for ages 11 and up, due to reading level, it is a series that the whole family can benefit from and enjoy.
You can purchase your own copies of the iWitness series from the Apologia Education Ministries website.
iWitness Biblical Archaeology – $14.00
New Testament iWitness – $14.00
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