Lapbooking

A Journey Through Learning has lapbooks for many subjects and grade levels. These are great for all kids and even for kids with special needs.

We LOVE lapbooks in our homeschool. Learning made fun!http://www.ajourneythroughlearning.net/expresslapbook.html

Enjoy,
Moe

Apologia Young Explorer Series Science Book Review

Are you looking for an easy science curriculum for your 4th-6th grader?
We had seen Apologia in the vendor hall and heard them speak at our homeschool convention. We sort of drooled over the Apologia curriculum, but in keeping with tradition we continued with our ‘boxed curriculum’ that we always used. “Why change?” Well let me tell you, once the Young Explorer Series Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology showed up in the mail, it was like Christmas at our house, ripping and tearing of the mailing bag, paper flying all over! Our son was just going crazy over the color pictures, upcoming fun experiments and the activity pages in the Anatomy Notebooking Journal.

Young Explorer Series Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology (hardcover) by Jeannie Fulbright and Brooke Ryan, M.D. Grades 4-6.

The student textbook is hardcover and looks as thought it would hold up well for use by more than one student. 

Young Explorer Series Anatomy Notebooking Journal for Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology (spiral bound) by Jeannie Fulbright. Grades 3-6.

The Journal is spiral bound with a soft cover and it has yet to tear by the spiral, most of our spiral bound textbooks/workbooks from other companies seem to fray quickly and eventually tear at the first few spirals. 



Even though our student is in the 7^th grade, I felt that this would be a good fit for him since science has always been a struggle for my normally sharp student. The boxed curriculum that we had been using pretty much focused on memorizing terms and answering questions: BORING! Apologia Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology teaches from a different angle. “This K-6 science curriculum uses the Charlotte Mason methodology to give young students an introduction to the incredible human body.” 

 Things that our student liked about Apologia Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology:

1) The book is hardcover “I can toss it in my book bag to take in the car and it does not get all bent up.”

2) I like the full color photos and crisp pages.

3) “You always get to do something fun in the Try This section. ” 

 4) The course website book extras were GREAT!!! “I had fun going to these websites to read more about what I was learning in each lesson.”

Things that our student did not like about Apologia Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology:

1) "NOTHING, I LOVED IT AND CAN'T WAIT FOR TOMORROW'S LESSON!"

What this Momma did not like about Young Explorer Series Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology:

1) I thought that the MP3 audio would be great, until I found that it would only play in our computer. The MP3 does state that “you must play it in an MP3-compatible CD player or on a computer”. I was thinking that it would have been great to take it on car trips or for our student to be able to listen to it in his room on a CD player.

2) I did not care for some of the printing fonts used in the Anatomy Notebooking Journal, I thought that they were very hard for me to read. And might be especially hard for younger children that are not yet seasoned readers. The fonts used on many of the pages are bubbly or squiggly shaded fonts that are really hard on the eyes, otherwise the rest of the type is fine throughout the journal.  I get that the digestive system is squiggly because it's the intestines, but for a struggling reader, this might be hard to read. They are very cute and fun though. 

Things that this homeschooling Momma liked about Apologia Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology:

1) Penmanship, it always seems like such a chore in the homeschool, read just about any homeschooling blog or website and you will see Mothers chatting about handwriting. The Anatomy Notebooking Journal incorporates copy work right in to their lessons. It’s all blended together in the learning process and as an added blessing the copy work consists of Bible memory verses!!

2) I like the answer key being in the back of the textbook, it’s nice not to have an extra book (answer key) to hunt for when grading work. The lesson planning guide is included in the Anatomy Notebooking Journal, yet again one less thing to have to hunt for :O)

3) Love, Love, Love the different skin tones of the paper dolls to pick from in the Personal Person project.

4) The section of the student textbook called “How To Use This Book: A step-by-step guide and the Items Needed to Complete Each Lesson were WONDERFUL!!! There was no hunting for supplies or starting a lesson only to find out that there is an experiment that day needing XYZ that you don’t have on hand to complete. It’s all right there in the front of the book listed by lesson. How easy is that for a busy homeschooling Momma!!

5) I like how the Apologia website offers sample pages of all the textbooks so you can look through them before buying. Very nice feature.

6) I had to have surgery during this review and ended up with a post-op infection, and was hospitalized for 13 days, many days of laying and doing nothing on pain meds. My son was able to move forward all by himself in the material, that was a huge blessing and he learned a lot. I was very impressed with his drawings of the human cell, normally he hates drawing in science and would whine and carry on if he had to draw anything besides a Star Wars action guy! lol. But he really had a fun time with the Anatomy Notebooking Journal.

Looking back at our years of struggling with science, I wish we had decided to use Apologia Educational Ministries, INC long ago!! Our son would like to go back and do the other Apologia science books: Zoology, Astronomy, Botany, Flying Creation and Swimming Creation. So I think we will be spending our summers under a shade tree or at the beach with some new Apologia science books. 

What do you use for science? Why do you like it?

 

Apologia Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics Review for K-6th grade

Having seen Apologia Educational Ministries, INC at the vendor hall, heard them speak at homeschool conventions, having drooled over the Apologia curriculum and having done a review for them in the past while on the TOS Review Crew, I was thrilled to be asked to take part in this review. Once the Young Explorer Series Exploring Chemistry and Physics, a homeschool science curriculum showed up in the mail, homeschool young man was ready to start. Our son was just going crazy over the color pictures, upcoming fun experiments and the activity pages in the Exploring Creation with Chemistry & Physics Notebooking Journal!! Due to a shipping error we were sent the wrong notebooking journal by Apologia, they offered for us to keep the wrong one and then promptly sent us the correct one. I was excited to be able to use the Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics Junior Notebooking Journal. I've never had chemistry or physics so I thought it would be a great way for me to pick up on some of the materials so I have at least a foundation in those two subjects.

The homeschool young man is interested in becoming a physician. (this is the reason why this homeschool Momma will not be re-joining the TOS Review Crew for the 2013-2014 school year. The homeschool young man has been accepted to a medical school's physician prep program, so our days are going to be a little busy with this program, so I would not have the needed time to devote to the wonderful TOS Review Crew.) So in preparing the homeschool young man for a ministry in medicine, I've got some tough subjects in my future as a homeschool Momma. Chemistry and Physics SCARE ME and can keep me awake at night if I am not careful! lol. When this review came out, I saw that it was for K-6th grade, but thought this would be helpful to me, so I applied and explained my reasoning. I was so excited when we were approved for the Young Explorer Series Exploring Chemistry and Physics review.

While completing this review, I noticed that the materials were right on this tired, old homeschool Momma's level and of course too low for my freshmen homeschool young man (remember that Young Explorer Series Exploring Chemistry and Physics is for K-6th grade), but he still enjoyed it. Sometimes it's fun for our homeschool kids to have something that is educational, yet easy.

 

There were so many concepts in this homeschool science resource from

Apologia Educational Ministries, INC that were a great foundation for homeschool young man to learn before stepping into their high school series on these subject. I think it is important to learn some concepts as a younger student, they might not fully understand them or know exactly how to put them into practice. Nevertheless, when the full scope of learning comes about, there are some foundational materials in the brain already and I think it helps things come together in the end.

The Young Explorer Series Exploring Chemistry and Physics book is a very nice hardcover textbook, which could be used by more than one student. Textbook is $39.00 (hardcover) and is authored by Jeannie Fulbright. You all know me and how I like bright colored pictures in my textbooks, you have got those in the Young Explorer Series Exploring Chemistry and Physics, and LOTS OF THEM! Nothing less than what you would expect from a quality homeschool science curriculum like Apologia Educational Ministries, INC. "Engaging text, many hands on demonstrations, projects and experiments and exciting articles." Your child will make bouncy balls, lava lamps, smoke bombs (COOL!) and mini motors. There is a list in the back of the book for needed supplies for the experiments. They are all pretty easy to locate. I will give you a hint though, for ease of doing the experiments in our busy homeschooling lives, I would shop around for a supply kit, because I find it is MUCH easier on me if I actually have everything bagged up for me, for each experiment, otherwise I find it an effort to drop what I am doing and drive to town to buy X. It is so much easier for me to say, "We will do this tomorrow." Well, ya know what? In our perfect world tomorrow NEVER seems to come! So homeschool Momma, treat yourself to a pre-made kit of supplies.


The homeschool Momma's notebook was the Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics Junior Notebooking Journal it was just right for me! There were coloring pages, short vocab crossword puzzles, lapbooking (homeschool young man liked those, but who does not like lapbooking? lol). Very easy to do and great graphics as usual from Apologia Educational Ministries, INC. This notebooking journal for the young grades is just $24.00, you can use the hardcover textbook without the Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics Junior Notebooking Journal, but I do not recommend it. The notebooking journals add so much to the learning process that I personally think that they are essential.

The homeschooled young man used the Exploring Creation with Chemistry & Physics Notebooking Journal also $24.00. The older kids notebooking journal has many of the same things as the Junior Notebook does, but at a higher level of difficulty. The fun and economical aspect of Apologia Educational Ministries, INC is that you can buy one textbook for your family and then just buy the needed notebooks based on grade. For one low price you can teach science to all your children together, while each works at a different level in their notebooks. How easy is that on the busy homeschool Momma's schedule!



You all know that I like to get the most bang for my buck when it comes to education. When I think of skills learned by using Young Explorer Series Exploring Chemistry and Physics I think of public speaking (telling me back what was learned), reading/oral reading of daily work, writing skills, Bible and so much more! I love how the textbooks are written in an easy to read fashion, the text really flows as the student reads. The suggested use is 2 days per week, for this review we were asked to do 4 days per week. In our homeschool we do science 5 days per week, so it was manageable for us. We enjoyed the sections on atoms and energy, we had not studied either of those in the past. As a homeschool Momma, my favorite part was the fact that the answer keys were easy to use! Homeschool young man loved the puzzles in the book, I had thought he would like the experiments, but it was the vocab puzzles that he liked best. 

 

The only thing that I thought about regarding this review that was negative is that I think that there is a LOT of notebooking activities for the Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics Junior Notebooking Journal. I would not get bogged down with the notebooking at this young age (K-3rd), I would let them pick and choose what to do in the notebook, UNLESS you would be trading out handwriting class, for them writing on the copywork pages. To me the Exploring Creation with Chemistry & Physics Notebooking Journal would be just the right amount of work for a 4th-6th grader.

 

YET AGAIN, ANOTHER QUALITY PRODUCT FROM

Apologia Educational Ministries, INC.

Click below to see what my Crew buddies had to say when they wrote their reviews.

Moe