Do any secular homeschoolers successfully use Apologia zoology books?

[Melissa B]

Is there any other elementary science program that is engaging and only deals with animals? Something that is interesting and has lots of experiments (that are not too difficult to do at home.) I would prefer to add the "living book" element myself as well as the art component. So I don't need crafts or projects - just a book with basic animal information and experiments that is fairly academic for elementary level.

 

I think a couple of the Apologia Zoology books are the best match - although the underlying belief system does not match our own. I am OK with the creationist viewpoint of the text if the current science is accurate. For example, the animals are catorgorized as most commonly accepted in the scientific community and with current scientific name and not by Biblical categories (assuming there are Biblical categories of some sort and apologizing here for my ignorance on the matter.)

 

Is this book successfully used by secular homeschoolers or homeschoolers of a non-creationist mindset?

 

Thanks!

[Jenny in Atl]

I have not used the Zoology, but did use the Botany last summer. I found it easy to read around the parts that I did not want to include or used some the creation blurbs as an ice breaker to explore what others believe. All in all I found the text easy to use and nicely done.

 

hth's

[Melissa B]

Thanks Jenny! I was thinking of using the Botany book next year.

 

 

Should I assume the Zoology books are not often used by anyone who does not share the author's beliefs? :001_smile:

[Tina in WA]

I am a Christan and can't speak from a secular POV, but I did want to try and answer your question. :)

 

I used Zoology 1 this year and the author address's that animal instinct is from God, bible verse at the beginning of each chapter and other reference here and there (Only God could... create such an amazing creature... Think of that... etc.)

 

I am not a science expert, but I believe all the scientific information is factual. And she makes really good points in regards to bird having instinct to do things and they aren't all learned behavior. Ex: cowbirds egg is laid in another's bird nest, it is raised by the bird of a different species, and when it is old enough it will fly away to be with it's own species. And more WONDERFUL examples like that. I love that type of wonderful factual information.

 

I love all the notebook suggestions, experiments, etc. and do think a person with a secular view point can use this book. There is just too much wonderful stuff in this book and I think people of all walks of faith could walk away knowing more about birds/insects after completing Zoology 1.

 

The books is filled with LOTS of wonderful facts/information that I believe is just common knowledge on a scientific level, not just from a Christian POV.

 

If you know anyone that has this book(s), I would suggest getting together with them to see the books. Or if you have a local teaching supply store close by, you can see if they have the book avail be to look at. :)

 

Another idea (if you're really interested in the series), is to join the yahoo group and ask your question over there. Jeannie often posts over there as well. Again, I would encourage you to ask the question over there. You might get a better/quicker answer over there.

 

Hope that helped you a little more. Sorry I didn't have a better/clearer answer for you.

[Peela]

Actually I would love to know too...I must admit after having seen the Apologia General Science book, I completely wrote off all of Apologia as completely unusable by most secular folk. The Christian POV was too embedded in it to just read around or avoid. But I haven't seen the Zoology. Biology etc ones. I would certainly like a secular version!

[Michelle T]

We didn't finish it, although not entirely because of the religious content. It is written in a very enjoyable, narrative style. It does have a large amount of religious content, but most of it is fairly easy to skip or edit.

 

I do recall a chapter stating that "most scientists believe that dinosaurs died out during the Great Flood". There was quite a bit of discussion of that. And of course, many references to "Isn't it wonderful how God made birds this way" and similar.

 

Anyway, the religious content was slightly annoying to me, but could have been skipped. DS just really wasn't interested in anything but the insects chapters, so we ended up selling the book.

Michelle T