Apologia: Exploring Creation With Astronomy {TOS Review}

Mercie and Silas have had so much fun learning about astronomy the past month with Apologia Educational Ministries' Exploring Creation With Astronomy, 2nd Edition.

WHAT WE RECEIVED:

Apologia sent us the student textbook, a notebooking journal, a junior notebooking journal, and an audio CD of the textbook.

The textbook is a beautiful book, with thick, glossy pages and full-color pictures. Some of the features of the chapters {or lessons} are:

• "Think About It" - A Bible verse with a short paragraph that gives you something interesting to think about.
• "Wisdom From Above" - Scripture that relates to the lesson.
• Activities - Experiments and demonstrations that relate to the lesson and give your child a fuller understanding of the concepts being taught.
• "What Do You Remember?" - Also included in the notebooking journal {along with lines for writing the answers}, these questions will allow your child to recall what he has learned from the chapter.

The notebooking journals are also beautiful! They also have thick pages and plenty of color. Here are the features of the notebooking journals:

• Suggested Daily Schedule - Color-coded to designate certain components, the suggested daily schedule helps break down the chapters into 4-7 lessons each. You are free to use the book however you wish, but the daily schedule is very helpful in planning your child's lessons.
•  Fascinating Facts - These pages are to be used by your child to write some interesting facts they have learned, along with space to draw a picture or diagram. 
• Scripture Copywork - There are two options for copywork - manuscript and cursive. The copywork is a Bible verse that corresponds with the lesson.
• Activity Documentation - These pages are used to document the activities your child completes. There is room to write "what I did" and "what I learned".
• Miniature Books - These pull-out pages are a lot of fun! Your child will cut out, write information, and glue these books into their journals. 
• Vocabulary Review - Using crossword puzzles and other fun pages, your child will review the vocabulary learned in the lesson.
• Taking It Further - These pages are for children who do extra research, read more books, or do more experiments with the lessons. There is room to record your information and draw pictures.
• What Do You Remember? or Coloring Pages - In the notebooking journal, there are questions that will let you see how much your child learned and remembered from the lesson, with lines to write the answers on. In the junior notebooking journal, there are coloring pages for the child to color. These coloring pages are very detailed and fun to color.

 HOW WE USED IT:

The suggested pace is to complete two lessons a week. However, Mercie often wanted to do three or four lessons a week, and that was just fine with me! We finished Chapter 3, which was about the planet Mercury.

We had a lot of fun with this science! I would read the lesson for the day, ask the kids to narrate back what I read, and then we would complete the fun activities. Some days, we had an experiment to do, while others we would work in the journal. Mercie, my 3rd grader, used the notebooking journal, while Silas, my 1st grader, used the junior notebooking journal. He is not a reader or a writer yet, so he had some trouble using the journal. He enjoyed the coloring pages and putting together the minibooks! I would write the information for him, and I would have him narrate what he wanted me to write down.

Some of the activities we did include making a model solar system with balloons and showing how craters are formed on Mercury by dropping pebbles into a pan of flour.

I love the way this book is set up! The suggested daily schedule is great, the lessons are interesting and fun to read {and listen to}, the journals are a wonderful way to record your child's learning, and the science activities are very mom-friendly, using supplies found around the house or that are easily accessible.

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