Sue G in PA Posted April 4, 2008 Share Posted April 4, 2008 I mae the decision to go ahead and purchase this book and start Flying Creatures after the baby is born. Even though the "year" is almost over...I thought we needed a change of pace. I'm so excited! I've just thumbed through the book and already "know" that we are going to love this book! What do I like about it? Let's see...1. It is in COLOR...might seem like a small thing but color photos just make it better for me and the dc. 2. Lots of hands-on experiments and projects. Great for my boys who LOVE to "do" and not just "listen". 3. FREE notebooking pages available to accompany the lessons. Less work for me! 4. Full of neat information 5. Could easily be read by my older 2 dc independently if necessary (and I"m sure there will be times it will be necessary!). 6. Well organized Okay, I could go on. Can you tell I'm excited? The other science things we did this year bombed big time (partially due to my own disinterest and partially b/c the curriculum didn't "fit"). If you haven't checked out the Apologia Young Explorers series for science...do it! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beth in Central TX Posted April 4, 2008 Share Posted April 4, 2008 I agree! This series has been a big hit around our house too. My oldest is looking forward to Zoology III coming out this summer. I'm hopefully that the next two books in the series, Chemistry/Physics and Anatomy, will come out in 2009 as planned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue G in PA Posted April 4, 2008 Author Share Posted April 4, 2008 Due out in 2009 you say? That will be absolutely perfecto! IF we continue to use MFW, I would certainly replace their Chem/Physics w/ Apologia. RtR in MFW has a Human Body study and we'll be doing that in 2009/10! We used God's Design for the Human Body this year w/ lapbook and it well, fizzled mid-way. God's Design is good...just a bit dry for my taste, KWIM? Anyway...yeah! I'm so looking forward to the new books even though there are so many out that we haven't used! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denise in IN Posted April 4, 2008 Share Posted April 4, 2008 I mae the decision to go ahead and purchase this book and start Flying Creatures after the baby is born. Even though the "year" is almost over...I thought we needed a change of pace. I'm so excited! I've just thumbed through the book and already "know" that we are going to love this book! What do I like about it? Let's see...1. It is in COLOR...might seem like a small thing but color photos just make it better for me and the dc. 2. Lots of hands-on experiments and projects. Great for my boys who LOVE to "do" and not just "listen". 3. FREE notebooking pages available to accompany the lessons. Less work for me! 4. Full of neat information 5. Could easily be read by my older 2 dc independently if necessary (and I"m sure there will be times it will be necessary!). 6. Well organized Ditto to everything you said, except it's for the Botany book here. We're starting next week, and I'm excited! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fivetails Posted April 4, 2008 Share Posted April 4, 2008 dd11 has been using the astronomy one here and quite enjoys it - though she's not keen on the 'notebooking' aspect... that's just mainly because she doesn't like writing...I let her switch to typing up her notebook portions and she's happy with that. :) ...She loves the 'notebook' itself, with all the drawings she adds and the photos (I take photos of her doing the activities and we add those) I know what you mean about the coloured photos and everything - we like that much better than plain ol' b&w illustrations (or none) ....the activities are pretty fun for the most part and I love how it's written in such child-friendly language. (and heck, I'm learning from this book as well as she is LOL ..I didn't know much about astronomy!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WTMindy Posted April 4, 2008 Share Posted April 4, 2008 We are just finishing up Zoo 1 and we have really enjoyed it. Have fun!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leila Posted April 4, 2008 Share Posted April 4, 2008 I haven't use these books and I have heard a lot of good things about them. My question is, do you finish one book in one year or you can finish it a little faster so you wont just study one particular topic in one school year. Thank you. Leila Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beth in Central TX Posted April 4, 2008 Share Posted April 4, 2008 Each book has approximately 14 lessons, so I've done 2 books in one year. In 5th grade, we did Astronomy in the fall and Botany in the winter/spring. In 6th grade we did Zoology I in the fall and Zoology II in the winter/spring. However, with younger students this pace may be too fast, so you could easily spread out one book over a whole year and include additional library books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhonda in TX Posted April 4, 2008 Share Posted April 4, 2008 :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori in MS Posted April 4, 2008 Share Posted April 4, 2008 We are loving Zoo 1 here. This is the first time my boys have really enjoyed science. They have identified every bird that has come into our yard. My dh found an injured brown thrasher so they are taking care of it. We do 2 books per year. We will do Zoo2 and Botany next year and hopefully Zoo 3 in the summer so my oldest ds can do them all before General Science in 7th grade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty in Pink Posted April 4, 2008 Share Posted April 4, 2008 if you are doing science 5x a week then i think you could easily cover two books a year. i think the books recommend taking two weeks per lesson and doing science 3x per week so if you are doing it more often you will finish up sooner. we love apologia science. we are just wrapping up the zoology I and it has been so much fun! upper elementary can easily read the lessons independently but i find that i enjoy reading them together when possible because i am learning right along w/ him things that i never knew. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angela in TN Posted April 4, 2008 Share Posted April 4, 2008 A little on a tangent but if you've never used this series do you have to start with a certain book or just jump in where you want? I just don't think I could get into the planets again... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue G in PA Posted April 4, 2008 Author Share Posted April 4, 2008 The author suggests using the Zoology books in order (flying creatures, swimming creatures and land animals) only b/c some of the concepts taught in book 1 are covered in book 2 and so on. BUT, if you, yourself, are familiar with the terms...you could easily use the books out of order. Other than that...choose the book you and dc are most interested in. That's what we did! We won't do Astronomy until 2009/10 but hope to complete Zoo 1 and then Zoo 2 or 3 next year. Probably Zoo 2! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beth in Central TX Posted April 5, 2008 Share Posted April 5, 2008 Yes, you can do the books in any order, but if you have younger children, I would start with Astronomy. The books do progress in difficulty: Astronomy, Botany, Zoology I, & Zoology II. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixelroper Posted April 5, 2008 Share Posted April 5, 2008 You could go at your own pace, that is one reason I like it so much. Dd has Botany & Astronomy finished. We are doing Zoo I & II over the following year. It will work out well for us w/ Zoo III now out and upcoming Physics/Chem & Anatomy... Yipeeee! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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