Apologia Elem Astronomy-What do I really need to order?

[Guest Mysweetseven]

I am going to be placing an order for the Apologia Elem Astronomy soon and I would love any feedback from anyone that has used it. I am planning on using for my DS 8-DD-10. Right now my plan is to buy the

Textbook

Notebook-DD

Jr.Notebook-DS

I am wondering if the other items offered are worth the extra money/time. I've never used Apologia before so I want to be sure I have everything to make it run smoothly but not so much that it is overboard and sits on my shelves unused--I already have way to much of that. :001_smile:

 

TIA for any help or advice you can offer.

[keyjoh62080]

This is my first year using it and we are doing just fine with only the textbook. I did see at timberdoodle.com that you can download free notebooking pages for it though.

[Dahliarw]

You can do it with just the textbook. The journals are nice because they have extra reinforcement activities, projects, and recommended books.

 

If you are going to do a lot of the projects and experiments in the book, you can buy a whole kit from rainbow resource that has pretty much everything you need for them. It's spendy, but SUPER convenient. Just pull out the bag labeled for the chapter you're on and you're set. No going store to store to get all the supplies.

[JessReplanted]

We used Zoology 2 last year (for 2nd grade) and I only bought the book. I joined the yahoo group and downloaded notebook pages which worked perfectly for us.

[kristinannie]

We are using just the book plus some additional library books. I didn't buy the notebooks since my kids are so young. I just have them draw pictures and then I write down what they narrate to me. I am very CM that way and I don't feel the need to buy the notebooks. I looked at them and didn't think they would work that well for our family...at least not now while the kids are so young. There are usually 2 experiments or activities per chapter in the textbook and that is really enough for us! I love the experiments because, for the most part, they are easy to do and use easy to find things. It is a great program!

[Mommy22alyns]

We're using Anatomy and I sprung for the experiment kit on CBD - I'd recommend it if you can get it.

 

http://www.christianbook.com/apologia-astronomy-lab-kit/pd/697200?product_redirect=1&Ntt=697200&item_code=&Ntk=keywords&event=ESRCP

[happyhomemaker]

We have been using the text and the free notebook pages, and it's been working well for us. Personally, I wouldn't spend money on the experiment kit. So far I think I have only had to purchase a couple of inexpensive items. Most of the things you use are household items.

[Milknhoney]

We have just the textbook. I type Ds's narrations, print out, and glue to cardstock along with the picture he drew. Then I take pictures of the activity & project for the chapter and that goes on the back side with narrations explaining what we did. That is his notebook.

 

I didn't buy the prepackaged kit because of how expensive it was. If I had extra money, I would buy that over the notebook journal just for the convenience. But so far, the things we have done were just with things we already had anyway. I went through the supply list and bought the things we would need, so hopefully I won't skip out on any of the activities because of supplies.

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

I think buying the kits are depending on the type of household you have. If you have things like straws, construction paper, balloons, craft sticks, things like this laying around then the kits are not necessary. You can look at the supply list at the Apologia site. See what you actually need and just get those things.

We used the free notebooks from Apologia for all the Elementary books.