claussenpc Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 For those of you who have picked one over the other.... Would you please comment which you chose and why? I have used the Apologia..... Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 4boys Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 I have not personally use Apologia but I was planning on using them until I found out about God's Design. Once I saw GD I had to go with that because I love that they are published by Answers in Genesis (we are big AiG supporters) and I also liked that they covered more topics than the Apologia books. But I think we would have done well with Apologia as well. It's a tough choice; they both look great. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siloam Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 For those of you who have picked one over the other.... Would you please comment which you chose and why? I have used the Apologia..... Thanks I use both. The God's Design is broken down into lessons, usually about a page, or a page in a half in length. Then each lessons has some sort of activity (anything from a crossword puzzle, to labeling work, to an actual experiment). In then has basic comprehension questions, thinking questions 2-4 of each) and extra material for older children. You also have quizzes that cover sections of the book and a final, so roughly 6-7 test for each book. The vocab words are a different color and defined in the back of the book. The Life series and the Earth series have a beginners section for each lesson, which is only about half a page long for really young kids. From a scheduling point of view the consistency of GD books make it very user friendly. I use them mainly for my older girls, teaching them how to study and exposing them to topics they haven't been into before (my kids love plants and animals and study little else till they are older). The Apologia books as you know don't have set divisions. Sometimes a reading is really long, sometimes short. Often I can read more than one subsection. The experiments are generally at the end of the chapters, and instead of having questions it uses narration. I use the Apologia for reading to all my kids while they eat Breakfast. If I go a little longer one day than the next it isn't a big deal, and I don't want or need questions (shh we don't do the notebooking or experiments either). My kids adore Botany topics, so the heavy focus on Botany that the Apologia text have works for us. Heather p.s. I am talking about the new version of GD books, the older version is different, and I can discuss those as well if you like, just let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXMary2 Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 I decided against God's Design because they were too "textbooky" for us and not colorful. I prefer the conversational style writing of Jeannie Fulbright's elementary series and ........the color pictures. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narrow Gate Academy Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 We've used Apologia for the last few years, but we're going to switch in January to give God's Design a try. My reasoning... 1. God's Design has a larger scope and sequence of material available currently. (We're going to start with the chemistry books.) 2. My kids like hands on for science, and Apologia just doesn't have enough of that for us. 3. I've always avoided GD because I thought it seemed a little textbooky, but I understand that there are supplemental reading lists in the teacher's guide. I don't mind picking supplemental books off a list to get from the library, but I don't have time to search through the library catalog and try to guess based on a few sentences whether a book will be a good addition or not. 4. I have a wide age/ability range from the Ker to the 5th grader. I think the GD books will help us do a better job of including the youngest while challenging the oldest and let the 3rd grader fit in based on her own ability, especially now that the challenging sections for the older group have been expanded. We'll see how the next semester goes, and then choose from there. My younger DD wants to do Astronomy next fall. Whether we choose go back to Apologia or stick with GD will depend on how well they enjoy the texts over the next few months. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
claussenpc Posted December 5, 2009 Author Share Posted December 5, 2009 Thanks, ladies, your input has been helpful . Just trying to decide....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siloam Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 (edited) I decided against God's Design because they were too "textbooky" for us and not colorful. I prefer the conversational style writing of Jeannie Fulbright's elementary series and ........the color pictures. LOL Actually the new version of GD is in full color, both pictures and in design. Heather p.s. Edited to add a link to the sample of the new version. Edited December 5, 2009 by siloam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 4boys Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 Another thing I should have added is that my 7yo loves to read the GD books for fun. We haven't officially started using them but they have sort of become read-alouds because my son is so fascinated by them. I have heard people say they are dry but I haven't found this to be the case, especially with the Life and Earth series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoo Keeper Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 We've loved the God's Design series because: short lessons; very easy to do "just the facts" or dress it up as much as you want to wide range of topics covered in four series (not just some biology and zoology, like many elementary science programs) great for using with a spread of ages-- has sections for younger guys and more challenging/interesting info for upper elementary It has varied activities that actually use easy to find items (mostly). It is broken down into very do-able chunks--about three lessons a wk. will finish 3 books a year. I highly recommend checking out the new re-designed series; the book design is much better, content is expaned, and it has color pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
razorbackmama Posted December 8, 2009 Share Posted December 8, 2009 The GD books don't have quite the conversational tone that the Apologia books do...at least not the one we are reading right now (Properties of Ecosystems). I do like how comprehensive GD is though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXMary2 Posted December 8, 2009 Share Posted December 8, 2009 Actually the new version of GD is in full color, both pictures and in design. Heather p.s. Edited to add a link to the sample of the new version. That's good to know! Thanks :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.