Guest syl Posted March 7, 2008 Share Posted March 7, 2008 We are thinking about switching to Apologia for dd8. We are looking at using the Botany course. Has anyone tried it? Is it any good? Is it better for use in a co-op setting or is it okay to just be used for one child at home? Thanks for your help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beth in Central TX Posted March 7, 2008 Share Posted March 7, 2008 I really, really like the Elementary Apologia series. It has worked very well in our homeschool. My older boys do their work independently now, but it is definitely doable for younger children. We followed this progression through the books: Astronomy, Botany, Zoology I, and Zoology II. I think the Astronomy book is the easiest, but you could begin with Botany. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chez J Posted March 7, 2008 Share Posted March 7, 2008 My dd is about to turn 8. We used Swimming creatures last semester and are in botany this semester. Let me tell you about our experience. Last spring, my dd took a short three-week science class at our nature museum that was geared to gifted elementary-age homeschoolers. We dissected flowers, studied water quality and inspected an owl pellet for those classes. This winter, we enrolled in an expanded version of that spring class that was a ten-week course. During the first few classes, they looked at a cross-section of a tree cookie to learn about phloem and xylem. They began growing seeds in different setting as an experiment. They dissected a bean to learn about seed embryos. We will not finish the nature museum class due to our travel schedule. I bought the Apologia Botany book and the lab kit without hesitation because every one of those things are covered in Apologia in the same level of detail. It is a tremendous program that is fun and very detailed. It teaches very detailed science in a way that elemtary kids can get it. I highly recommend Apologia. Lesley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dayle in Guatemala Posted March 7, 2008 Share Posted March 7, 2008 and it was good, but, I wish we would have started with something like Astronomy or Zoology first because it would have been more interesting for *my* dc. But, we did like it, we just liked the others better. Hope you like it! It's been fun for us! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St. Theophan Academy Posted March 7, 2008 Share Posted March 7, 2008 We did Flying Creatures, and are doing Astronomy now, and I plan to start Botany over the summer. We have enjoyed them very much, they are easy to implement and very in depth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siloam Posted March 7, 2008 Share Posted March 7, 2008 We are thinking about switching to Apologia for dd8. We are looking at using the Botany course. Has anyone tried it? Is it any good? Is it better for use in a co-op setting or is it okay to just be used for one child at home? Thanks for your help! I did Apologia Botany about a year and a half ago. I am too tired today to figure out the ages of my kids then, but it worked well here. We are doing Zoo 1 now and for us Botany was more interesting. Mostly because I have girls who find bugs, bees and spiders to be in the, "ewww!" category. At the same time I agree with what Dayle said, which essentially was to follow your child's interests and you will have a better chance of success. Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frontier Mom Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 How do you schedule for independent work for your older dc's? I want to do this maybe next year and wondering how exactly to schedule this. Did you have them read according to a schedule, do own experiments, etc? Thanks in advance for the info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alphabetika Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 Botany was the first Apologia Elementary we used, and my 6th grade dd did it mostly on her own, with help from us for the experiements. She loved it so much that she is this year, in 8th grade, doing botany again with a college-level textbook; we started out this year with the only upper-level botany course for homeschoolers that we could find, but she got frustrated with it and said she had learned more with the Apologia! Any homeschooler who brings it up in conversation gets an earful from her about how much she learned and enjoyed it. When it was time to start my younger dd, I chose Zoology I because she was already interested in birds and flight, and we're doing Astronomy on the side (she's 9). She will do botany, too, but I'm going to wait until she's a bit older. Of the ones we've done, I think botany is the most advanced, maybe because most of the info was new to me so it seemed like it had the most to learn for the first time and retain. A friend who has an environmental ecology degree and specialized in botany looked at the Apologia course and said it contained some info she hadn't learned until college! We really do love the Apologia elementary science courses! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest syl Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 Thank you so much for all your input. We have decided to go ahead and buy the curriculum. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chez J Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 How do you schedule for independent work for your older dc's? I want to do this maybe next year and wondering how exactly to schedule this. Did you have them read according to a schedule, do own experiments, etc? Thanks in advance for the info. We only do science three days a week. I break each lesson down. One lesson per week. No more than 5 pages to read. I try to stop at "What do You Remember?" sections each day. I type those questions onto a page and have dd answer them. Then we do the "activity" that usually follows. On the third day, we do the big project. I have a lesson plan for Botany on my blog celiejohnson.blogspot.com. Lesley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixelroper Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 twice a week reading with activities done on activity day, my dd loves these, we have done Botatany, Astronomy, Zoology I and will do the others. Great Program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beth in Central TX Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 My 6th grader is doing Zoology I & II on his own this year. I do read ahead each week, and we discuss his lesson. The discussion is not very formal, and generally, it is done over the dinner table which is a great time to tell Dad what they are learning each week. We only do science twice a week. Here is our schedule for the first 4 weeks of Zoology I: Read pages 1-5 Read pages 5-9 Read pages 10-12; Do Glider Design Read pages 12-18 Read pages 21-25 Read pages 25-30 Read pages 30-36 Read pages 37; Do Map a Bird My oldest son knows to follow the directions in the book, so if he is told to write a notebook page about flight, then he does the assignment in his science notebook and turns it in for review. For all experiments, he fills out a Scientific Speculation sheet. Dad usually looks this over because I'm not very good at writing up science projects. A great supplement to our Zoology II work this year has been The Blue Planet DVDs by BBC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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