AnnaM Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 of FINALLY reaching the end of a level of a curriculum. Especially when that curriculum is mastery. I am so sick of Astronomy and Ancient History. I have no idea how one could stretch the Astronomy over an entire year without being bored to tears by the end of the year. By the end of the year we will finally be done with Ancient History, Astronomy, Easy Grammar level 2 and LifePac Bible Level 2 (we school year around so our starts and stops are kind of off from the normal year). What are you excited about finishing? PS. My siggy has next years curriculum in it so that I didn't have to come back and edit it later. I am lazy like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 We were very glad to finish Apologia Astronomy & ours lasted only a semester. Another family I know stretched it another couple of months and were utterly sick of it by the end. (I think those last couple of chapters were what made it "too much" for us. We enjoyed the planet chapters & activities a lot. Once we got to Pluto, though, we all wanted to be done.) I'm always glad to finish a workbook up. Especially if it is a grammar workbook! I'm the kind that is a bit sick of the same curriculum come February, though, so I like to finish those "early" in our traditional school year (March or April). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoVanGogh Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 We school from Jan-Dec, so are on the tail-end of our school year. A month ago I was sad at the prospect of moving on from the Middle Ages. I knew nothing about that time period and have been enjoying our studies so much. I was thinking about drawing it out another few months. Now I am so over it and ready to move on. We started botany in January. We dropped it for summer, with plans of starting it back up this fall. Now I just can't seem to make myself. Ready to move on with that subject, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLDebbie Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 I have a CTT history course that isn't really enticing to either my son or me. I like the content so we're pushing through with it. We should finish in early February and I can't wait. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetpea3829 Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 I think this is one of the biggest pitfalls of Apologia's books. Why in the world would I want to spend an entire school year studying Flying Creatures? Or Swimming Creatures? Especially at the elementary level? We are doing Apologia's Anatomy with our 5 and 6 yr olds. Primarily because the 5 yr old is FASCINATED with the human body, and this is a fascination that has persisted for over a year now. We have broken it down in such a way so that we'll be done by the spring, and able to start Botany. And we'll do botany for the better part of the spring and early summer. Then perhaps, we'll do a bit more of biology (studying the Kingdoms). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnnaM Posted November 4, 2012 Author Share Posted November 4, 2012 I am considering what I want to do after Botany because of the burn out. I just can't fathom 3 semesters of nothing but animal biology. Even if we rotated the books I still think it is going to be too much, but I do like the content so we will see. I think I could have gone through 2 lessons a week with Astronomy but since we are notebooking as well I decided to do one chapter a week. Not sure if that is possible with Botany. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetpea3829 Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 Anna, what I ended up doing with the Anatomy book was going through it and creating my own lessons. I didn't end up following the book's lesson format. In the end, the book turned out to be more of a text/guide for me to use in our lessons. After going through the Notebook Journal, with the young age of my kiddos, I ended up ditching that altogether and pulling ideas from Google for a Lapbook. The Apologia text ended up just being a resource for me, instead of the main spine. It took a little extra work, but I think it's better for us in the long run. If you did that with the Botany book, you might be able to cut down the length of the unit quite a bit. I haven't actually looked at the Botany book yet...just a thought, though. Edited to change Botany to Animal Biology...lol. I personally could see doing an entire semester (half year) on animal biology...there's quite a bit there. But an entire year? Nah. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 I am considering what I want to do after Botany because of the burn out. I just can't fathom 3 semesters of nothing but animal biology. Even if we rotated the books I still think it is going to be too much, but I do like the content so we will see. I've tried multiple times to use Apologia as our "official science", and I've found that it works sooooo much better for us as an on-the-shelf reference type book. Basically, I have Zoo1-3 and Astronomy, and the kids pull them off the shelf now and then and read for fun. My oldest has read all 4 of those books all the way through, some multiple times. He loves them! My middle son can't read them yet, but he loves looking at the pictures. :D They are much loved books around here. We just don't use them as our "science curriculum" (we're not using a "science curriculum" now, but instead read science books from the library or our home library, following interests or picking random topics that we haven't delved into yet). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccolopy Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 We schooled year-round for several years, so we still tend to finish and start curricula at random times during the year. In three weeks, DD will (finally) finish Noeo Physics. We're both really looking forward to spending the next year or more on environmental and life science.:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruthie in MS Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 We were using Astronomy and couldn't get past the MOON chapter (I think Chapter 5 or 6) and I couldn't bring myself to pick it up again. I will use it as a reference book but I likely won't be using Apologia for our main science again. No way. Now we are using FIAR and the science lessons have been fine so far. When they are more interested in a topic we might create our own science curriculum or look at all the free ones online. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnnaM Posted November 5, 2012 Author Share Posted November 5, 2012 We are going to push through. I spent too much on the book and the two journals combined to stop now. I am debating doing the botany journals though we have never studied botany at all so they do look really cool. I think part of the problem is that I have already taught the Astronomy once at co-op (even though my kids were not in my class). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skeeterbug Posted November 6, 2012 Share Posted November 6, 2012 We're doing Apologia Astronomy and we have taken many, many breaks through the year so it hasn't been that bad at all. We are getting ready to start Zoo 1, because it is the right time of year for it here, so we will alternate the last few lessons of Astronomy with the first few of Zoo 1. I think it will be a great way to mix things up a bit and not get too tired of one subject. It will be fun to complete one all the way through, though! I think science and history will be the most fulfilling to complete because they are so in-depth and full of projects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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