TOS Crew Review: Nature Friend Magazine

I have had the distinct privilege of reviewing Nature Friend Magazine over the past couple of months. I'm so excited about this one! This magazine is a really wonderful look at God's Creation. There are articles and puzzles and fantastic photography. The magazine also offers a Study Guide. Click on the link to preview samples of the Study Guide.

You can receive the magazine alone or with a separate fee you can receive the Study Guide which comes as roughly 8 to 12 pages in the center of the magazine.

Features of Nature Friend:

• Readers can contribute to Nature Friend in a numbers of ways- You Can Draw art lesson (which features submissions from previous lessons), nature-related poems and artwork, photographs, and stories about what they like to do each year in a certain month, yearly reader's issue, and they choose good submissions from readers throughout the year.
• Science- each issue has a science activity like an experiment or observation exercise
• Hardbound Volumes- this is a Smyth-sewn binding for a high quality combined volume of all the Nature Friend issues for a year.
• Homeschooler's Guide to Nature Friend- found on the website

Features of the Study Guide:

• includes exercises that reinforce what's in that month's issue- various puzzles and a research question/idea
  
• A Study in Nature; a Lesson in Writing- teaches creative writing using a nature study as a resource
• The Photo Critique- is a lesson in nature photography
• Exercises from the Study Guide can be copied for classroom use or for children in a homeschool.

Cost:

• Magazine- $36 a year
• Study Guide- $24 a year
• Magazine with Study Guide- $60 a year

Special Offer: If you use the coupon code BLOG93 you can save $3 on a subscription until November 30, 2009.

I have to say this magazine is very high quality and the Study Guide really is fantastic. My absolute favorite parts of the magazine are the science activities, the photography tips, and the writing lessons.

The only drawback for me is the cost. However, I would easily consider dropping other subscriptions to pick this one up. There are no advertisements either which is very nice. I'm only disappointed they didn't want us to receive a full year's worth to review!