The kids were recently given the opportunity to work through Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology from Apologia. Over the years, we have used Apologia and have always enjoyed the materials they have provided.
Apologia is a Christian company and a leader in the homeschool curriculum world. Almost all homeschooling families have used it at sometime during their homeschooling journey. Even if they haven't used any of the curriculum offered from Apologia, they definitely have heard about it. Apologia offers courses in science, English, Language Arts, Bible, Geography, and more. They even offer homeschooling adds for students and parents!
Over the years, we have used a variety of Apologia's Exploring Creation science curriculum. The Exploring Creation series is geared for students in grades kindergarten through 6th grade, but can easily be adapted for use with students in 7th and 8th grade.
For this review, we received a wonderful collection of books from the Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology science curriculum. Our set included the Exploring Creation Anatomy and Physiology Textbook, the Human Anatomy Notebooking Journal, the Human Anatomy Junior Notebooking Journal, and the Human Anatomy and Physiology MP3 Audio CD.
So let's look at the materials a little closer. The kids and I have always enjoyed the textbooks from Apologia. The Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology is a hardback textbook with thick sturdy pages. The printing is crisp and clear.
The books is filled with bright, colorful pictures and graphics. These images help the students understand the science topic being covered. The diagrams are absolutely amazing. The textbook is extremely well done and keeps the students attention. You'll never hear a student say this is boring! Even your non-loving science students will enjoy learning all about science.
The textbook is broken up into 14 lessons (chapters). Students will learn all about the human body.
Lesson 1~ Introduction to Anatomy and Physiology
Lesson 2~ The Skeletal System
Lesson 3~ The Muscular System
Lesson 4~ The Digestive System and Renal System
Lesson 5~ Health and Nutrition
Lesson 6~ The Respiratory System
Lesson 7~ Life in the Blood
Lesson 8~ The Cardiovascular System
Lesson 9~ The Nervous and Endocrine System
Lesson 10~ The Nervous System Extended
Lesson 11~ Your Senses
Lesson 12~ The Integumentary System
Lesson 13~ The Lymphatic and Immune System
Lesson 14~ Growth and Development
The lessons are broken up into various sections. This allows the student to read and understand the topics being discussed. The lessons can easily be broken up into sections for easy lesson planning. Throughout the lessons, students will come across sections labeled Try This.
These sections help the students have a hands-on approach with science. They encourage students to try different activities to see how the body works, why things are as they are, and so on. Some of the suggested activities are fun especially for the younger students. My two, found some of the Try This sections too juvenile and many they had already done over the years.
At the end of each lesson is a What Do You Remember section and a hands-on project or experiment to complete. Both of these sections provide students with more opportunities for learning. The review section helps the student see what they have learned and maybe what they may need to study a little more of. The hands-on project is a fun experiment or activity for kids to bring science to life. What child wouldn't want to create an edible cell, construct a digestion theme park, figure out lung capacity with balloons, or test your blood.
To go along with the student textbook is the notebooking journals. Apologia offers two different versions of the notebooking journal, the regular Human Anatomy Notebooking Journal and the Human Antamony Junior Notebooking Journal.
The regular notebooking journal is geared for students in the upper elementary grades, 4th grade and up. This notebook can be used for students in 7th and 8th grade too. There is plenty of space for them to take detailed notes!
The notebooking journal offers students pages for note taking, diagramming pages, a crossword puzzle to help reinforce vocabulary, a biblical bible verse copywork page to practice handwriting, a page to secure their mini-book projects, and a what do you remember page. At the end of the lesson, there is a page that offers students opportunities to further explore the material covered int he lesson. Books, DVDS, and projects are often suggested.
The last few pages for each lesson offer students a page to record their scientific experiments that they worked on during the lesson. I love how the notebooking journal keeps everything contained nice and neat. Students don't have to search notebooks, binders, and folders. Everything is located in one place!
Finally. the last item we received was the Human Antaomy and Physiology MP3 Audio CD. This a recorded version of the textbook. It allows families to take the learning with them. Running errands, heading to sports practice, music lessons, a trip to visit the grandparents just pop in the CD and you can listen to the textbook. It's perfect for car schooling. The quality is phenomenal. The readings are clear and easy to understand. The voice of the reader is calm and well timed. Students could easily take notes while listening to the CD. It really is an important component for the family on the go. The CD could also be used for that struggling reader, especially if they do better when read to.
So How Did We Use Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology?
We were already studying the human body with another science program we were working through this year. After a few months with this particular science program, I knew it was not enough to keep my science loving kids interested. I jumped at the chance to add this fantastic curriculum to our already planned lessons. It was the perfect addition.
I ordered an additional notebooking journal for Michael and we got started. We worked through the books a little faster than the recommended timeline. Apologia does offer a suggested timeline for completing the lessons. It can be found in the front of the notebooking journal. They have the lessons spread out over 2 weeks. We did a one lesson per week. Since my kids were older, it was a good fit for us. I broke up each lesson into 5 days. Michael and Therese read the chapter and completed the notebooking journal on their own. We reviewed the material together and I tied in the other science curriculum I had already planned out. So far, so good. Therese has enjoyed working through the book. I think she enjoys working through the material on her own and completing her school work. It's a good transition for her to work on her skill of working independently. Michael has said the material is too easy, but he's been working on the high school levels. To help him feel like he is getting more out of the program, he has checked out books to read about the human body.
Find out more about Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology or about any of the other great products Apologia has to offer.....
Google+
YouTube
Be sure to check out what the other the other members of the Review Crew had to say about Apologia's Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology.
Till Next Time,
Monique
No comments:
Post a Comment