The Old Schoolhouse has launched a new series of e-books, the "WannaBe" series.  Basically, this is a fun set of unit studies on different career opportunities available to children and teens. 

I was able to read and review the following "WannaBe" e-book for The Old Schoolhouse:

When I Grow Up, I Wanna Be a Chef!

The girls and I read through most of this ebook together, and then I finished reading the rest without them because I'm going to have them do some of the fun activities this week from this e-book, during our last week of school.

My girls were very interested to see what this e-book had to say about being a chef and working in the food industry, because they both love cooking...and eating!  Kelsi loves cake decorating and baking, and Brittany just loves everything having to do with food. 

There were a number of things that I really liked as I read through this e-book:

1.  It has a strong Christian focus to it.  The cooks who are interviewed or are being written about express a strong belief in God and how God has used their interest and talents in cooking to be used as a ministry and in an occupation that they just love!

2.  This e-book is definitely a UNIT study, something I didn't realize until we were quite a few pages into it.  Not only does it contain informational reading about being a cook or someone working in the food industry, it also contains some neat activities, both academic and just for fun.

3.  Writing promts - these encourage children to write about their dreams and desires of working with food.

4.  There are strong connections to math and science.  Scientists of the past and their Christian worldview are mentioned.  This is a definite bonus to show how the Lord can use us in the fields He has placed us in. 

5.  Vocabulary words and definitions - great for enhancing knowledge of cooking and the food industry.

6.  Bible memory verses...Hooray!  Always wonderful to tie in Scripture with everything that we are learning and doing in our lives.

7.  Activities and games to enhance learning and make studies more fun are included:  crossword puzzle, word search, and more!

8.  Food safety is addressed.  Always great to learn about or be reminded of how to safely prepare food.

9.  An ANSWER GUIDE is provided, making this unit study easy, easy, easy to use for a busy mom.

10.  A list of Additional Resources as well as LINKS is provided.  For those children and families who want to learn more, they know where to look at the library and on the internet.

11.  Related occupations are also discussed, to show how a child's idea of being a CHEF can also lead to other career opportunities in their lives.

The e-book also contains some other components that are great:

*coloring pages about being a chef

*handwriting practice pages

*copywork

*ASL finger spelling signs

I'm looking forward to seeing the other "WannaBe" career e-books in the future.  Great job, TOS!

Copyright © 2009 by Julieanne Miller