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What is your choice? Apologia or Answers in Genesis?


thowell
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I don't have time for a lengthy reply, but I will say that both my son and I enjoyed Apologia Astronomy last year so much more than we are liking God's Design for Chemistry this year. In fact, I've even considered shelving it until he's older and doing another Apologia text to finish out this year!

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I personally love the Apologia books as well. We did Astronomy a couple of years ago, and are working through Zoology 1 (Flying Creatures) right now.

 

From what I can tell, (and keeping in mind that I've not used AIG), the AIG curriculum, while creation-based, and I'm sure very good for some homeschools, is a little too "text-book" for me. I love that I can sit with my daughter and read the Flying Creatures book to her like a storybook. She seems to really love it. I would highly recommend getting the Journal to go with it. It really adds quite a bit to the learning experience.

 

We're Apologia all the way!

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:lurk5:

 

I'm researching exactly the same thing. I haven't used either, but have borrowed both from a friend to look at this week. I'll weigh in after I've had a chance to view both, but right now I'm really liking Apologia. My friend who used Apologia last year is saying her ds doesn't like God's Design as much... but they've just started it so I would like to wait and see how it goes. The one thing she said was Apologia was much easier for him to do independently and he liked that. I'll subscribe to this post and get back to you!

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Guest mrsjamiesouth

I have to agree that AIG is a little dry. They say it is for 1st grade and up, but I think it would be better for upper elementary to middle school. We tried the Life set, but did not make it through the first book.

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I have used both of them. I really wanted to like Apologia, but it just didn't work well for us. My boys didn't like studying one topic for an entire year. I wanted them to study the four major areas of science before moving onto middle school, so we chose God's Design. Apologia has five different life science books and only one that is not, Astronomy. We are just finishing up the physical science books and are soon moving on to chemistry. We still spend a year on each major area, but then we move on to something completely different. I do like Apologia for the middle grades and up. My oldest is just finishing Physical Science and will be moving into Biology soon.

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I have used both of them. I really wanted to like Apologia, but it just didn't work well for us. My boys didn't like studying one topic for an entire year. I wanted them to study the four major areas of science before moving onto middle school, so we chose God's Design. Apologia has five different life science books and only one that is not, Astronomy. We are just finishing up the physical science books and are soon moving on to chemistry. We still spend a year on each major area, but then we move on to something completely different. I do like Apologia for the middle grades and up. My oldest is just finishing Physical Science and will be moving into Biology soon.

This is the one thing I really don't like about Apologia.

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I have used both of them. I really wanted to like Apologia, but it just didn't work well for us. My boys didn't like studying one topic for an entire year. I wanted them to study the four major areas of science before moving onto middle school, so we chose God's Design. Apologia has five different life science books and only one that is not, Astronomy. We are just finishing up the physical science books and are soon moving on to chemistry. We still spend a year on each major area, but then we move on to something completely different. I do like Apologia for the middle grades and up. My oldest is just finishing Physical Science and will be moving into Biology soon.

 

For the elementary books - one way to work through these books is to spiral them ie: First rotate through Chapter 1 of each book, then go back to chapter 2 of each and so on and so forth. Do them in any order you want. This way you are still doing Apologia, but in a more "traditional" science book way of alternating topics. Currently there are 6 elementary books - you could cover 18 chapters in a school year which would give you 2 weeks to do each one. It's more money up front to get all the books but it would cover 2-3 school years or more depending on how often you do science.

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Hopefully I'm asking something that can help others because I don't want to hijack!

 

So... does Elementary Apologia only cover biology and astronomy? I don't see chem or physics. This would certainly factor into my decision as we've already done biology and we're doing astronomy now. My ds9 really wants to do chem next and then physics. He's only in 4th grade so the middle school books would be too much for him yet. Maybe I just don't get it! Please, someone correct me if I'm wrong!

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Hopefully I'm asking something that can help others because I don't want to hijack!

 

So... does Elementary Apologia only cover biology and astronomy? I don't see chem or physics. This would certainly factor into my decision as we've already done biology and we're doing astronomy now. My ds9 really wants to do chem next and then physics. He's only in 4th grade so the middle school books would be too much for him yet. Maybe I just don't get it! Please, someone correct me if I'm wrong!

 

 

That's correct. It's one of the main reasons we didn't continue with it.

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Jeannie Fulbright is currently working on Chemistry to come out in 2011 I believe.

 

 

I found this information on Jeannie Fulbright's website. http://www.jeanniefulbright.com/faq

 

What other books do you plan to write for this series?

 

The Physics and Chemistry textbooks and Notebooking Journals will be out in 2011/2012, possibly around winter. We also have a Geology/Earth Science book planned, but it probably won’t be available until 2012 or 2013.

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We've used and enjoyed both. For the record we've used completed Apologia Zoo 1 & 2 as well as Botany, are currently using Anatomy and AIG Heaven and Earth, and did a bit of AIG Chemistry last year but haven't finished yet because I wanted something both the 1st and 4th could do this year.

 

AIG

 

Pros

-larger selection of topics currently available which coincides with WTM science cycle

-made to work with large age range (1-8 for biology, astronomy/earth set 3-8 for chemistry and physics)

-lots of hands on activities to either demonstrate or apply what is learned, most are easily done

-divided into several short chapters, so planning is a breeze

-contains vocabulary lists and comprehension questions for each chapter making it easy to allow students to work independently if desired

-contains challenge questions for each chapter to go beyond just regurgitating information

-the beginner's sections of the biology and astronomy/earth science books are short and well-written

-the regular sections are concise and the information is well explained (I personally like this because I can paraphrase or expand as needed to get the concept across)

 

Cons

-no corresponding lapbooks/notebooks available

-the text may come across a bit dry because it is so concise (this can be compensated by either paraphrasing the text or adding corresponding library books on the topics which takes a bit of extra effort but is not too hard to do)

 

Apologia Elementary

 

Pros

-greater depth of coverage in biology related topics

-emphasizes nature study

-corresponding lapbooks/notebooks available

-written with author speaking directly to student making it a bit more readable to some

-can be done independently by an older student (either using the notebooks or lesson plans from the yahoo group)

-active yahoo group with author available for questions makes it very easy to find help

 

Cons

-written with author speaking directly to student making it more wordy and (to me at least) a bit annoying

-fewer hands on activities

-longer chapters without clear stopping points making it a little more difficult to plan (but there are also lots of free lesson plans on the yahoo groups in the file sections)

-does not have corresponding test/quizzes (although there are some on the yahoo groups for some of the books)

-can be too technical for lower elementary students

-currently no earth science, chemistry, or physics books available (although a chem/phys book is in the works)

 

Other

-leans more to narrations than comprehension questions (could be either a pro or a con depending on your preference)

 

We've had more fun with science this year because I made it more hands on. We do most of the activities in the AIG books and go stargazing on Friday nights for planets and constellations when the weather permits. For anatomy, I purchased a supplement called The Body Book to make a paper model of the different organ systems. (You can do this with the notebook also, but I didn't want to buy new notebooks in a few years when the other kids use the book.) DD does the Try This activities that appeal to her as well as most of the labs. Because she is in 6th, I have her do vocabulary cards and a combination of outlining and summarizing for the text. HTH

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I am looking at both of these. We have Considering God's Creation and it just isn't what we were looking for. Can someone give me the pros and cons of each of these. I will be using them with a 2nd grader and 2 5th graders. Thanks for any thoughts!

 

Choose? We are hsers, we don't have to choose we can do both. ;)

 

Content differences:

 

Apologia is heavy on Biology: Zoo 1, 2 and 3, Body and Botany.

 

Earth Science: Astronomy

 

Chemistry and Physics: none (though there are continued whispers of a combo book, but it would be several years away).

 

God's design covers all 4 areas equally, though they do get increasingly more difficult, so the lessons are shorter and simpler in Life than in Physics.

 

Layout differences:

 

Both use correct terminology, and with both I have to remember what the word is and repeat the definition each time the word comes up, for my younger kids.

 

GD has three levels to the Life and Earth books. They have a beginner section, which is a few paragraphs long with roughly 3 comprehension questions. Then there is the main section, which all but the youngest children would cover. This is followed by 3-5 comprehension questions and 2-4 thinking questions. Then they have the upper student level for older children, that will at times include their own activities, experiments, worksheets and questions. There are tests in GD, but a large amount of the tests come from the upper level sections, so you either have to cross stuff out for mid level students or only use them with older children. Apologia doesn't have tests in the text, but there might be some in the yahoo groups.

 

Apologia is content driven. They have headings and sub-headings based on how long it took to explain the concept, giving a lot more room to express ideas. Because Apologia has year long books where God's design has term long books Apologia is more in depth for the topics it does cover.

 

GD is more text-ish in they wanted the lesson to fall within a certain length and changed or limited the content to fit. The lessons generally run a page long. While it might be more textish GD is also a lot more easily scheduled because of it uniform content.

 

Apologia generally has big activities at the end of each chapter, and maybe one or two little things in the chapter, but overall there are not a lot of activities. It is focused on the narration (which we don't do here) as something to do.

 

GD has an activity/craft/project/worksheet for each lesson. That can be anywhere from a real experiment to label the parts, to a craft or a word search. There are even a few scavenger hunts. The upper level activities lean towards academics, either worksheets or experiments.

 

 

 

We enjoy both. I generally only use Apologia as an RA. I was using GD to train my older kids in taking tests, but I decided to go WTM for middle science and now am just reading aloud the GD books too.

 

Heather

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Just wanted to say that I found a couple of the God's design books used on the boards. So, I am going to take a look at them and get a better idea to see if they are what we are wanting. Any Yahoo groups out there for this?

Edited by thowell
Can't seem to type today!
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Just wanted to say that I found a couple of the God's design books used on the boards. So, I am going to take a look at them and get a better idea to see if they are what we are wanting. Any Yahoo groups out there for this?

 

Keep in mind there are three versions of God's Design. The first was by just the original authors, and has no color. The second was when AIG bought them and they got a makeover, but mostly of the covers and layout. The third was when they added the color and the three distinct levels. Before that there was only one level, the mid level.

 

Heather

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I found this information on Jeannie Fulbright's website. http://www.jeanniefulbright.com/faq

 

What other books do you plan to write for this series?

 

The Physics and Chemistry textbooks and Notebooking Journals will be out in 2011/2012, possibly around winter. We also have a Geology/Earth Science book planned, but it probably won’t be available until 2012 or 2013.

 

 

WAHOOTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Keep in mind there are three versions of God's Design. The first was by just the original authors, and has no color. The second was when AIG bought them and they got a makeover, but mostly of the covers and layout. The third was when they added the color and the three distinct levels. Before that there was only one level, the mid level.

 

Heather

 

Ok, these are 2006 editions. Which ones will they be? It is the Heaven and Earth ones.

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I like AIG for the younger elementary grades and Apologia for the older elementary grades. AIG is more simple, I think, and Apologia meatier. We will be jumping into Chemistry next week and using AIG, but I really, really, really wish Apologia's Chemistry for elementary was out, but it won't be until 2011.

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We have both and enjoy both. Our AIG is the newer version with full colours. I do love that it's just open and go and not so fluffy. It gets the job done! Apologia Young Explorers is great too, and more of a fun adventure. The levels in AIG are really great, even for one child. It's great to have the flexibility there for a very simple intro, or the meat to dig into if you want it. The disc with printable pages was really handy. I agree with those who chuckle at the choosing: why choose? Try both. :001_smile:

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I found this information on Jeannie Fulbright's website. http://www.jeanniefulbright.com/faq

 

What other books do you plan to write for this series?

 

The Physics and Chemistry textbooks and Notebooking Journals will be out in 2011/2012, possibly around winter. We also have a Geology/Earth Science book planned, but it probably won’t be available until 2012 or 2013.

 

This is good info to have! Thanks!

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Ok, these are 2006 editions. Which ones will they be? It is the Heaven and Earth ones.

 

 

My redesigned ones have a copyright of 2008; so I'm guessing you have the 2nd edition (put out by AiG, but done in black and white and without the beginner sections in the life and earth sciences books).

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We prefer AIG's science here. The only Apologia Elem that was a hit here was the astronomy book. Ds did that one for 2nd and 4th grades. He likes AIG's brief and to-the-point lessons. Apologia is too chatty for him. I agree with a pp who thought the series fit best for 5-8th grades--that is how we're using it. We do the discussion questions orally. I sometimes have him do the worksheets and we do many of the activities. I also had him start writing lab reports in 6th--1 or 2 per month. Other labs I just have him tell me what he did and what he learned.

 

Ds is "engineer-brained" and AIG is just a better fit for him.

 

HTH

Cinder

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I like AIG better, too. I appreciate all of the different topics that there are to choose from and love that I can use it for a variety of ages. The newer books have a reading section for beginners and a similar section for more advanced readers. I like that AIG is more concise. We can get the meat and be done . . . or we can fill our book basket with library books about the topic.

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We have both and enjoy both. Our AIG is the newer version with full colours. I do love that it's just open and go and not so fluffy. It gets the job done! Apologia Young Explorers is great too, and more of a fun adventure. The levels in AIG are really great, even for one child. It's great to have the flexibility there for a very simple intro, or the meat to dig into if you want it. The disc with printable pages was really handy. I agree with those who chuckle at the choosing: why choose? Try both. :001_smile:

 

What disc? Can I get this for the 2006 edition?

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The disc comes with the newest version of AIG's books. There is one per set included with the teacher's guide. It has all the printables--worksheets, quizzes. The older version includes these within the text itself, so it wouldn't be worth it to purchase the disc if you have the 2006 version.

 

Cinder

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