Such an amazing video to help understand how to use Apologia Science and amazing tips and ideas. As a new homeschool mom, I have no words how appreciative I am. Thanks for doing this.
I purchased the audiobook and have now successfully completed Astronomy, zoology 1, and halfway through zoology 2. We were unsuccessful when I tried to gather all the kids together and I would read the book aloud. Just didn’t work for us. The kids rotate through a science station where they listen independently to 3 tracks per day. Then during our one on one time they will narrate (orally for the younger kids and written for the older ones) what they heard. Those who are writing just use regular notebook paper. We also have a history station set up as well with Story of the World audiobook. Then when we all gather together we do one Sonlight HBL for all four kids in grades 4,5,6&7. I did only a couple experiments with the first book and I purchased items individually. With this third book I splurged for the full experiment kit…we’ve still only done a few experiments. I’m just going to plan to skip experiments with the next book.
I watched this video before we started Apologia Science and watching again as we are through them. We have been on three different Apologia Science with our kids so far. I literally bought all of book, journal book, junior journal book and the audio CD. My younger child enjoyed the junior journal book at the beginning but she was still too young to write on the mini books and eventually got tired of the coloring pages. I think even with my older one, that mini book part is fun for sure but, she could have definitely just used her own notebook as you do with your children. I do agree the audio book may be dry but it does often save my energy especially if I am already reading a lot for them. My child is auditory so it does helps to do.This is a great video. Thank you for sharing.
Happy to share. I have actually changed my opinion on the audio book since recording this it really can be a life saver or rather a voice saver when there is lots of reading to be done.
We love apologia science but you brought some great ideas and perspective to the table. Thank you for this concise and clear video! I found it inspiring!
I love how versatile Apologia is. There’s no right or wrong way to do it! We listen to the mp3 at lunchtime. I get my kids 1 of the notebooks to share (they also use blank paper to draw/write) and we pick and choose what notebooking activities to do and do them together. Then we do the experiments at our co-op...or like you, we use RUclips when corona ends our co-op early! The notebook does have a breakdown of what to read and what notebook pages to do, which is nice.
I’m so sorry, I know that your comment was from years ago. Did you still get the textbook? Or just the audio? Was thinking about just buying the audio recording versus the textbook but wasn’t sure if I needed both
Oh goodness - this video is super! Thank you for all that you do for us homeschool moms and dads trying to make the most of our time. I tried visiting the website for this curriculum provider and just could not figure out which age group they targeted. You clarified that. Thanks for the tips about the journals - this is exactly what I wanted for my kiddos.
We are using Apologia science as well. We really like it, but find that sometimes it is a bit overwhelming for my little one. I will definitely not be using the Journal next year and do our own. Great video.
I love your science journal idea. When students have to teach others what they learned, they remember it longer. You can do this in reading as well where students draw characters in a book and then add character traits as they learn them. This could include plot and many other things. Then share on a video, which eventually, as they get older, will turn into book reviews.
I have used all of the apologia book for science. I love how they are organized and I think it’s important to go in the order they give you. I do love their journals though. It keeps it really easy for us.
I used Apologia when I was homeschooled in high school, too! We've only tried out one of the newer Apologia textbooks for younger kids, the Anatomy book. We've never really used audiobooks at all in our homeschool, although I've heard many families find them really useful. I love reading aloud, so the reading aloud part of homeschool is never something I feel like delegating, haha!
My daughter who likes to write and loves science enjoyed the Notebooking Journal. When we did the ocean study book we skipped the notebook because we don't live near an ocean and found the book boring after awhile especially all the info about sea shells. This year I have 3 kids doing Botany and we bought one Notebooking Journal and will take turns doing the pages. Like the younger kid doing the coloring page while the older kid does the writing. We also have done one science book over the course of 2 years because I added in random RUclips videos to watch with what we were reading. They really liked that. Thanks for the video!!!
We have only done a handful of experiments out of the 3 textbooks we have read so far. We mostly watch someone on RUclips doing a similar experiment lol
Wow. It feels like ages since I've seen you! We are using exploring creation and general science this year. I have toyed with the idea of making Fridays our science day this year so we'd do the work on Fridays and do all the things that day and be as messy as we want and not worry about moving on to the next thing. We are using science journals I found on amazon for a few dollars a piece. I love the presentation idea.
I think this is the chattiest video I've seen of yours. I think you've really grown in refining your videos and channel since then. You definitely have one of my favorite channels for helpfulness and recommendations. I feel our brains are wired very similarly- even in our lack of love for science! hahahaha
Thank you for this video! We are doing our first year of Apologia next year. We chose Astronomy for my first grader and my 4yo will probably sit in. I was pretty overwhelmed when I got it the other week so this information is super helpful. I bought the junior notebooking journal and immediately knew we would not be using it. We also bought the science experiment kit as my boys love hands on things!
Miranda Matheson yeah I’m glad it was helpful and I hope you enjoy your year of science. It has been such a blessing to us but it definitely took a little bit of a learning curve so if I can help you make the most of it from the beginning then that makes it all worth it.
@@periwinkle2493 from my understanding, if you order the kit directly from apologia it will include the supplies for everything. I ordered from a different company and my kit has just the supplies for the experiments but none of the extra activities it claims my kit should have.
I love Apologia. We did find the audiobook for the "Exploring Creation with Physics and Chemistry" really helpful. The reader, also the author, has a great voice and helped make the material come alive.
I love this Review! I love how you do not have to use these books in a particular order but in what interests them. I have used this for a very long time including my two kids that I graduated. I have not been too consistent in using it for my teenage kids. I do not remember that the answers were in the back or those pages you mentioned in the back so thank-you! Going to start to use these for my 12 yr old and my elementary kids together. I have also always bought the journal books. My son doesn't care for it which I think is why we have been inconsistent about it so thanks for the notebook idea. Thank-you again!!
i was really close to choosing Apologia for our Science when we first started. But i had so many question, and you answered all of them. Maybe ill look into them again. I already chose a science for this coming year, but will keep this one in mind
Love the video! I love that y’all get together with friends so talk about things you learned and do experiments! It’s sounds like a ton of fun! Great idea!
We tried Apologia at the beginning of the year, but my son would zone out during all the reading. Thank you so much for this video. We will probably give it another try in the future. I also like the idea of the Wal-Mart notebooks.
I absolutely love your videos. Packed full of great info and it’s always what I’m needing answers in. Thank you for being such a great resource in this community. :)
Using a sturdier notebook is sooooo smart for outdoor projects! That way their work might actually survive a project outside! And you got them at a great price! 💕
Great idea for the video chat! I may have our kids to do something similar with their Japanese grandparents in Japan to help make sure that I have them pick up the Japanese vocabulary across subjects. Our home is bilingual, but we don't have all of our subjects also in Japanese, so I have to put in more effort there.
We have never used Apologia but we might as we hit those high school levels soon. I am a science person so I love picking out science with lots of hands on projects but I am not as great w/ Language Arts stuff so I am going to see about using an accountability person for that! Great tips!
We are using Apologia Astronomy this year and making our own lapbook using those blank booklets from Target $1spot. It has enough pages for each chapter to have its own page. I really like the book, but Im not sold on doing the same science all year. So this next year we are trying Sonlight Science. 😊
Glad it was helpful. I knew I had to make science more of a priority because a have several kids who are obsessed and have mentioned maybe wanting to go into a science field in the future so I’m glad we finally figured out how to do it well.
I love your videos, full of so many tips, knowledge and positive energy for homeschooling moms. We are going to start using Apologia Science for the first time, my daughter is in 7th grade and my son in 4th. We want to do science together this year, with some independent work for my daughter. I have doubts whether to start this first year with Physics and Chemistry (K-6) to make a soft star and better basis for both, or with General Science. Maybe to hard, especially for my 4° grader. I appreciate very much all your advice, since you know the curriculum very well. I want to make the most of this wonderful material and my best for both of my kids. Thank you!!!!
I would definitely start with Chemistry and Physics. The general science is a big step up and I imagine it would be a big challenge for your 4th grader. I love the young explorers series and it would be appropriate for the 4th grader while still be challenging for your 7th grader.
Tha k you for explaining this really well. I was wondering if you use the lab kits? If one book take an entire year. What books should we start with right through until end of elementary? Thanks for your help
I have never personally used the lab kits but I know many who do and love it. You can use them in any order but for the youngest students they recommend botany or astronomy. For the oldest students chemistry/physics and anatomy are probably the two hardest so might be better to save for those older years. I hope that helps.
Thanks for these thoughts! I have considered Apologia in the past, but the kid notebook expense was the hang up. I love your modifications! ❤ Have you ever used another science curriculum?
You are so welcome! We have tried as a student I tried many different ones and as a teacher with my own kids we tried Abeka science before and was not a huge fan.
What are your thoughts on the old edition vs the new. We have all of the old books and I'm wondering if I should just use those instead of upgrading. Love the sketch book idea!!!
Personally the new versions have way better pictures and have natural stopping points built in so I prefer them. BUT the content is stellar in both. That being said if you get astronomy I would recommend the newest edition as there have been a lot of new things discovered since the first book was written.
Hi Katie! Do you think the Young Explorer books are useful just as a textbook/reference book even if you don't go through it as a curriculum? Don't think we're ready for it but have the opportunity to receive some of them and wondered if my animal loving child would enjoy reading it.
It’s Jay Wiles elementary science series. Instead of studying one topic, like astronomy, for the year, the student learns about several areas depending on the historical time period, like science in the Industrial Age.
I know Apologia is very thorough in their science, but does it read like a dry traditional textbook? We're are Charlotte Mason inspired (probably 70% of our stuff is CM). I do like that Apologia is Christian.
Definitely do preview RUclips videos. My 6-year-old granddaughter wanted to watch a video about plants. I found one to watch with her. I went across the room to get something and suddenly she was crying hysterically. The guy often uses a puppet in his videos. In this one the puppet looked like he popped out of the stomach of the guy, like he ripped his way out of this man. She was literally traumatized and crying and shaking for a long time.
Is apologia good for kindergarten? My daughter loves learning, has tons of questions about so many things, and loves hands on activities! I feel like a lot of kinder curriculum is just very light and simple in science and I just don’t think that will be enough for her. Thank you!!
If your looking for a more in depth science curriculum for her then yes I think you could but I would recommend starting with Astronomy as that’s one of the easier ones BUT also know that apologia just recently came out with a preschool science but it can also be used for kindergarten and it’s what I’m going to use for our kindergartener next year. It has fun illustrations and hands on projects. Im hoping to have a video on it very soon.
I have a 5th grader and a 7th grader who will be doing homeschool science for the first time. Can I do them together? Which book would you recommend? My 2nd-grader may be joining us as well, if so, should I have him and the 5th-grader in the first book, or is there a way I could teach them all together?
Yes you can do it all together we did Chemistry and Physics last year and I loved it bc while they are big concepts that are very appropriate for 7th grade it also has so many easy hands on experiments that the younger kids can still follow and understand
@@LifeintheMundane I just saw in another video that you are using the student journals for apologia astronomy. Do you still recommend just getting the text book? I'm trying my best to cut out the business in our homeschool.
@@KarenRachelBock So the first thing I would say is that the student journals are NOT needed. They can be helpful and fun tools but not needed by any means. I choose to get the student books for Astronomy because that is a topic that is not as tangible. So my kids can go out and see, sketch, explore plants, animals, anatomy and such but astronomy to me seemed a little more abstract to a kid so I felt like it may be worth getting the journals for that one just because it might give them a more hands on experience with it. It has a bunch of neat things but it is 100% supplemental. Does that help?
Hi! I was looking into using apologia science next year. If we were to order one of the science experiment kits that has everything you would need for the year to do the experiments in the textbook, is one kit ok, or do I need one for each child?
One kit will give you enough supplies to do each experiment one time. Honestly though that’s how we do it is we all work on an experiment together and sometimes the supplies are not consumable so you can do it multiple times. Hope that helps.
My 10 year old in 4th grade already studied the plants in brick and mortar school, but my 7 yo first graders did not. So I’m looking to homeschool in the fall. Do you recommend getting two different books? I don’t want to redo this for my older one but I don’t want to skip that for my younger ones
The nice thing about Apologia is that you can get one book and go through it together and you don’t have to go in any specific order. So you could start out learning about space or one of the other topics and then circle back to plants in the future. I will say why there is no specific order the anatomy one is definitely the hardest so I recommend that one for 5th-6th graders usually. Hope that helps
@@LifeintheMundane yes it sort of does. But I guess what I’m saying is would I eventually need two different books for when I do the one that my current fourth grader has done already? Or when I do anatomy since he’ll be in 5th grade? Maybe have the twins color or do something while I’m doing the harder one with him?
Yeah so that’s up to you the thing is after 6th grade there is another set of apologia science books that your child can do more independently and will go onto other topics so you could just wait till your oldest is in those books and then do botany with your younger ones if you wanted to. I think the other thing to remember is not every topic has to be covered in the younger years so if your kiddo doesn’t do botany now they can do it in the older levels. I recommend choosing which one you think would interest your kids the most and just dive right on in.
@@LifeintheMundane Thank you so much! I was also wondering if we pick a curriculum from another company but use apologia for science for example, how do you grade your kids work?
@@reneecruz9509 I do not grade work for the younger years. I only grade for highschool and then occasionally in middle school. If you need to do grades for your state requirements you could do a satisfactory vs unsatisfactory. If I did grade it would be based more on participation and ability to narrate what they learned,
@@LifeintheMundane if you have a masters in biology it will probably be fine, but if your looking for good explanations and labs that don’t require a 4 year degree to provide context, bju is not the product to use.
Such an amazing video to help understand how to use Apologia Science and amazing tips and ideas. As a new homeschool mom, I have no words how appreciative I am. Thanks for doing this.
Oh I’m so glad it could help!!!
I purchased the audiobook and have now successfully completed Astronomy, zoology 1, and halfway through zoology 2. We were unsuccessful when I tried to gather all the kids together and I would read the book aloud. Just didn’t work for us. The kids rotate through a science station where they listen independently to 3 tracks per day. Then during our one on one time they will narrate (orally for the younger kids and written for the older ones) what they heard. Those who are writing just use regular notebook paper. We also have a history station set up as well with Story of the World audiobook. Then when we all gather together we do one Sonlight HBL for all four kids in grades 4,5,6&7. I did only a couple experiments with the first book and I purchased items individually. With this third book I splurged for the full experiment kit…we’ve still only done a few experiments. I’m just going to plan to skip experiments with the next book.
Sounds like you have made some excellent adaptions. I love that we can do that with homeschooling.
I watched this video before we started Apologia Science and watching again as we are through them. We have been on three different Apologia Science with our kids so far. I literally bought all of book, journal book, junior journal book and the audio CD. My younger child enjoyed the junior journal book at the beginning but she was still too young to write on the mini books and eventually got tired of the coloring pages. I think even with my older one, that mini book part is fun for sure but, she could have definitely just used her own notebook as you do with your children. I do agree the audio book may be dry but it does often save my energy especially if I am already reading a lot for them. My child is auditory so it does helps to do.This is a great video. Thank you for sharing.
Happy to share. I have actually changed my opinion on the audio book since recording this it really can be a life saver or rather a voice saver when there is lots of reading to be done.
We love apologia science but you brought some great ideas and perspective to the table. Thank you for this concise and clear video! I found it inspiring!
I’m so glad this helped!!!
I love how versatile Apologia is. There’s no right or wrong way to do it! We listen to the mp3 at lunchtime. I get my kids 1 of the notebooks to share (they also use blank paper to draw/write) and we pick and choose what notebooking activities to do and do them together. Then we do the experiments at our co-op...or like you, we use RUclips when corona ends our co-op early! The notebook does have a breakdown of what to read and what notebook pages to do, which is nice.
That is a great idea to share one journal love that.
I’m so sorry, I know that your comment was from years ago. Did you still get the textbook? Or just the audio? Was thinking about just buying the audio recording versus the textbook but wasn’t sure if I needed both
Oh goodness - this video is super! Thank you for all that you do for us homeschool moms and dads trying to make the most of our time. I tried visiting the website for this curriculum provider and just could not figure out which age group they targeted. You clarified that. Thanks for the tips about the journals - this is exactly what I wanted for my kiddos.
I’m so glad this helped so much.
We are using Apologia science as well. We really like it, but find that sometimes it is a bit overwhelming for my little one. I will definitely not be using the Journal next year and do our own. Great video.
I am glad you liked the video. Thanks for watching and I hope you enjoy your next year of science.
I love your science journal idea. When students have to teach others what they learned, they remember it longer. You can do this in reading as well where students draw characters in a book and then add character traits as they learn them. This could include plot and many other things. Then share on a video, which eventually, as they get older, will turn into book reviews.
Yes! Love all of that
I have used all of the apologia book for science. I love how they are organized and I think it’s important to go in the order they give you. I do love their journals though. It keeps it really easy for us.
That is great I defenitly know of those who do like the easiness of them.
We love the note books too, my 8 year old is so excited to make the mini books and make notes and do the copy work, it really makes the program
I used Apologia when I was homeschooled in high school, too! We've only tried out one of the newer Apologia textbooks for younger kids, the Anatomy book. We've never really used audiobooks at all in our homeschool, although I've heard many families find them really useful. I love reading aloud, so the reading aloud part of homeschool is never something I feel like delegating, haha!
Yes I agree I love read alouds.
My daughter who likes to write and loves science enjoyed the Notebooking Journal. When we did the ocean study book we skipped the notebook because we don't live near an ocean and found the book boring after awhile especially all the info about sea shells. This year I have 3 kids doing Botany and we bought one Notebooking Journal and will take turns doing the pages. Like the younger kid doing the coloring page while the older kid does the writing.
We also have done one science book over the course of 2 years because I added in random RUclips videos to watch with what we were reading. They really liked that.
Thanks for the video!!!
We have only done a handful of experiments out of the 3 textbooks we have read so far. We mostly watch someone on RUclips doing a similar experiment lol
I agree I have learned that the notebooking journals are helpful for some units over others.
Wow. It feels like ages since I've seen you! We are using exploring creation and general science this year. I have toyed with the idea of making Fridays our science day this year so we'd do the work on Fridays and do all the things that day and be as messy as we want and not worry about moving on to the next thing. We are using science journals I found on amazon for a few dollars a piece. I love the presentation idea.
That’s a great idea!!!
Can you link the science journals? 💜
I think this is the chattiest video I've seen of yours. I think you've really grown in refining your videos and channel since then. You definitely have one of my favorite channels for helpfulness and recommendations. I feel our brains are wired very similarly- even in our lack of love for science! hahahaha
😂 yes I have definitely learned to get to the point more
Thank you for this video! We are doing our first year of Apologia next year. We chose Astronomy for my first grader and my 4yo will probably sit in. I was pretty overwhelmed when I got it the other week so this information is super helpful. I bought the junior notebooking journal and immediately knew we would not be using it. We also bought the science experiment kit as my boys love hands on things!
Miranda Matheson yeah I’m glad it was helpful and I hope you enjoy your year of science. It has been such a blessing to us but it definitely took a little bit of a learning curve so if I can help you make the most of it from the beginning then that makes it all worth it.
Did the science kit have all of the materials needed? I’ve heard that it only has the materials for the labs but not the other try this activities.
From my understanding the science kits include supplies to do at least one experiment per chapter but not necessarily every activity.
@@periwinkle2493 from my understanding, if you order the kit directly from apologia it will include the supplies for everything. I ordered from a different company and my kit has just the supplies for the experiments but none of the extra activities it claims my kit should have.
Super Dry. Agreed. I did use them though during lunchtime for some time and it worked for us.
Yes, we actually have been using them recently for that very time
I love Apologia. We did find the audiobook for the "Exploring Creation with Physics and Chemistry" really helpful. The reader, also the author, has a great voice and helped make the material come alive.
Agreed! I actually have fallen in love with the audiobooks since filming this and have posted an updated video.
I love this Review! I love how you do not have to use these books in a particular order but in what interests them. I have used this for a very long time including my two kids that I graduated. I have not been too consistent in using it for my teenage kids. I do not remember that the answers were in the back or those pages you mentioned in the back so thank-you! Going to start to use these for my 12 yr old and my elementary kids together. I have also always bought the journal books. My son doesn't care for it which I think is why we have been inconsistent about it so thanks for the notebook idea. Thank-you again!!
I’m so glad it helped
i was really close to choosing Apologia for our Science when we first started. But i had so many question, and you answered all of them. Maybe ill look into them again. I already chose a science for this coming year, but will keep this one in mind
Glad I could help. There are many great options out there which one did you pick for next year?
@@LifeintheMundane We are doing Zoology from Masterbooks
Love the video! I love that y’all get together with friends so talk about things you learned and do experiments! It’s sounds like a ton of fun! Great idea!
Glad you enjoyed it!
This was super helpful! I'm trying to find a science curriculum and this is one of my top choices!
I’m so glad it was helpful. Apologia is for sure a gem. I hope you find what is best for your family!!!
We tried Apologia at the beginning of the year, but my son would zone out during all the reading. Thank you so much for this video. We will probably give it another try in the future. I also like the idea of the Wal-Mart notebooks.
Wonderful glad it helped.
We split it in half too. And we only really work on it 3 days a week. I do also utilize all of the online resources.
That’s great!!!
I absolutely love your videos. Packed full of great info and it’s always what I’m needing answers in. Thank you for being such a great resource in this community. :)
Happy to help!
Using a sturdier notebook is sooooo smart for outdoor projects! That way their work might actually survive a project outside! And you got them at a great price! 💕
So true!
This was SO HELPFUL. Just a clear review. THANK YOU.
Your welcome
Great idea for the video chat! I may have our kids to do something similar with their Japanese grandparents in Japan to help make sure that I have them pick up the Japanese vocabulary across subjects. Our home is bilingual, but we don't have all of our subjects also in Japanese, so I have to put in more effort there.
That sounds awesome
We have never used Apologia but we might as we hit those high school levels soon. I am a science person so I love picking out science with lots of hands on projects but I am not as great w/ Language Arts stuff so I am going to see about using an accountability person for that! Great tips!
That is awesome!
Thank you for this!! Have you done a review on the botany curriculum? 💗
I don’t think I have but we love the botany
Great video! Thank you. Super helpful.
So glad!!!
Really appreciate and enjoy these very helpful, informative Wish I Knew reviews! Thank you!! 🙏
Glad you like them!
We never bought the notebooking journals either. But we have loved the Apologia science curriculum.
Yeah it’s so much easier to just make our own.
We are using Apologia Astronomy this year and making our own lapbook using those blank booklets from Target $1spot. It has enough pages for each chapter to have its own page. I really like the book, but Im not sold on doing the same science all year. So this next year we are trying Sonlight Science. 😊
That is a great idea to do your own lap book. I hope you enjoy trying out sonlight this year, i did that for science as a kid.
Awesome review. Very helpful tips! I'm one of those people obsessed with science. :)
Glad it was helpful. I knew I had to make science more of a priority because a have several kids who are obsessed and have mentioned maybe wanting to go into a science field in the future so I’m glad we finally figured out how to do it well.
We are currently using apologia Astronomy this year and loving it!
I can't wait to dive into Astronomy
Life in the Mundane Apologia is the best!
Thank you for sharing this.
Happy to share
we have apologia science sitting in our book shelf since last year will be using it for 7th grade.
We really enjoy it.
awesome review!!!! thanks, such a help!
Happy to help
I love your videos, full of so many tips, knowledge and positive energy for homeschooling moms. We are going to start using Apologia Science for the first time, my daughter is in 7th grade and my son in 4th. We want to do science together this year, with some independent work for my daughter. I have doubts whether to start this first year with Physics and Chemistry (K-6) to make a soft star and better basis for both, or with General Science. Maybe to hard, especially for my 4° grader.
I appreciate very much all your advice, since you know the curriculum very well. I want to make the most of this wonderful material and my best for both of my kids. Thank you!!!!
I would definitely start with Chemistry and Physics. The general science is a big step up and I imagine it would be a big challenge for your 4th grader. I love the young explorers series and it would be appropriate for the 4th grader while still be challenging for your 7th grader.
Tha k you for explaining this really well. I was wondering if you use the lab kits? If one book take an entire year. What books should we start with right through until end of elementary? Thanks for your help
I have never personally used the lab kits but I know many who do and love it. You can use them in any order but for the youngest students they recommend botany or astronomy. For the oldest students chemistry/physics and anatomy are probably the two hardest so might be better to save for those older years. I hope that helps.
Oh Darn I just bought (today) the whole apologia science including the audio. I really wanted some subjects that had audio.
Well actually since making this video I have actually started using the audio lol 😂
@@LifeintheMundane lol! That makes me feel better. Did you say you do Story of the World on audio? Do you like it?
@@christinaalbee6874 Yes we love story of the world on Audio
Thanks for these thoughts! I have considered Apologia in the past, but the kid notebook expense was the hang up. I love your modifications! ❤
Have you ever used another science curriculum?
You are so welcome! We have tried as a student I tried many different ones and as a teacher with my own kids we tried Abeka science before and was not a huge fan.
What are your thoughts on the old edition vs the new. We have all of the old books and I'm wondering if I should just use those instead of upgrading. Love the sketch book idea!!!
Personally the new versions have way better pictures and have natural stopping points built in so I prefer them. BUT the content is stellar in both. That being said if you get astronomy I would recommend the newest edition as there have been a lot of new things discovered since the first book was written.
Hi Katie! Do you think the Young Explorer books are useful just as a textbook/reference book even if you don't go through it as a curriculum? Don't think we're ready for it but have the opportunity to receive some of them and wondered if my animal loving child would enjoy reading it.
Yes I think they could be fun for that too
Have you tried or know much about Berean Builders series? I wonder what you think compared to apologia. Such a hard decision...
I am not familiar with that series. I will have to go check it out, I love learning about new resources.
It’s Jay Wiles elementary science series. Instead of studying one topic, like astronomy, for the year, the student learns about several areas depending on the historical time period, like science in the Industrial Age.
@@eureeka1981 oh that sounds really neat.
Thank you for such a great review 🌸
Your welcome I am glad it was helpful.
Super helpful thanks so much!
Happy to help
What were your thoughts on the preschool book? I'm debating between that and the astronomy book for my kindergartener. Thanks!
I LOVE the preschool book! I would highly recommend that one if your oldest is Kindergarten.
I know Apologia is very thorough in their science, but does it read like a dry traditional textbook? We're are Charlotte Mason inspired (probably 70% of our stuff is CM). I do like that Apologia is Christian.
My kids find it really engaging and not dry at all. I believe they have samples on their website if you want to take a peak
Loved this! We use apologia as well, but also tweak it to fit our homeschool. 😁
Love that! It is so awesome that we can all tweak it to work for our families.
Definitely do preview RUclips videos. My 6-year-old granddaughter wanted to watch a video about plants. I found one to watch with her. I went across the room to get something and suddenly she was crying hysterically. The guy often uses a puppet in his videos. In this one the puppet looked like he popped out of the stomach of the guy, like he ripped his way out of this man. She was literally traumatized and crying and shaking for a long time.
Oh wow that’s creepy.
This was very helpful and encouraging!
I’m so glad to hear that
Is apologia good for kindergarten? My daughter loves learning, has tons of questions about so many things, and loves hands on activities! I feel like a lot of kinder curriculum is just very light and simple in science and I just don’t think that will be enough for her. Thank you!!
If your looking for a more in depth science curriculum for her then yes I think you could but I would recommend starting with Astronomy as that’s one of the easier ones BUT also know that apologia just recently came out with a preschool science but it can also be used for kindergarten and it’s what I’m going to use for our kindergartener next year. It has fun illustrations and hands on projects. Im hoping to have a video on it very soon.
this helps SOOO much. So by breaking up the lessons how many lessons did it create?
We do 1 lesson every 2 weeks
@@LifeintheMundane and there are 11 lessons?
I have a 5th grader and a 7th grader who will be doing homeschool science for the first time. Can I do them together? Which book would you recommend? My 2nd-grader may be joining us as well, if so, should I have him and the 5th-grader in the first book, or is there a way I could teach them all together?
Yes you can do it all together we did Chemistry and Physics last year and I loved it bc while they are big concepts that are very appropriate for 7th grade it also has so many easy hands on experiments that the younger kids can still follow and understand
Can you give me the name of the notebook from Walmart?
Here is the one we use Pen + Gear Create A Cover Sketch Diary, 70 Sheets, 8.5" X 11"
So helpful! Thanks!
Glad it was helpful!
@@LifeintheMundane I just saw in another video that you are using the student journals for apologia astronomy. Do you still recommend just getting the text book?
I'm trying my best to cut out the business in our homeschool.
@@KarenRachelBock So the first thing I would say is that the student journals are NOT needed. They can be helpful and fun tools but not needed by any means. I choose to get the student books for Astronomy because that is a topic that is not as tangible. So my kids can go out and see, sketch, explore plants, animals, anatomy and such but astronomy to me seemed a little more abstract to a kid so I felt like it may be worth getting the journals for that one just because it might give them a more hands on experience with it. It has a bunch of neat things but it is 100% supplemental. Does that help?
@@LifeintheMundane Yes, thank you! I appreciate your videos!
@@KarenRachelBock Happy to help however I can
I used Apologia with Katie from 4th - 6th grade. We usually did one book per semester because she loved science.
That’s awesome. My kids adore it too.
Hi! I was looking into using apologia science next year. If we were to order one of the science experiment kits that has everything you would need for the year to do the experiments in the textbook, is one kit ok, or do I need one for each child?
One kit will give you enough supplies to do each experiment one time. Honestly though that’s how we do it is we all work on an experiment together and sometimes the supplies are not consumable so you can do it multiple times. Hope that helps.
@@LifeintheMundane great, thank you!
Do you homeschool year round? I noticed a lot of the different homeschool programs seem to be hard to fit into a regular school year schedule.
I do homeschool year round but we do not do science year round we do science only during a traditional school year.
My 10 year old in 4th grade already studied the plants in brick and mortar school, but my 7 yo first graders did not. So I’m looking to homeschool in the fall. Do you recommend getting two different books? I don’t want to redo this for my older one but I don’t want to skip that for my younger ones
The nice thing about Apologia is that you can get one book and go through it together and you don’t have to go in any specific order. So you could start out learning about space or one of the other topics and then circle back to plants in the future. I will say why there is no specific order the anatomy one is definitely the hardest so I recommend that one for 5th-6th graders usually. Hope that helps
@@LifeintheMundane yes it sort of does. But I guess what I’m saying is would I eventually need two different books for when I do the one that my current fourth grader has done already? Or when I do anatomy since he’ll be in 5th grade? Maybe have the twins color or do something while I’m doing the harder one with him?
Yeah so that’s up to you the thing is after 6th grade there is another set of apologia science books that your child can do more independently and will go onto other topics so you could just wait till your oldest is in those books and then do botany with your younger ones if you wanted to. I think the other thing to remember is not every topic has to be covered in the younger years so if your kiddo doesn’t do botany now they can do it in the older levels. I recommend choosing which one you think would interest your kids the most and just dive right on in.
@@LifeintheMundane Thank you so much! I was also wondering if we pick a curriculum from another company but use apologia for science for example, how do you grade your kids work?
@@reneecruz9509 I do not grade work for the younger years. I only grade for highschool and then occasionally in middle school. If you need to do grades for your state requirements you could do a satisfactory vs unsatisfactory. If I did grade it would be based more on participation and ability to narrate what they learned,
Have you done apologia earth science ?
That’s what we’re doing this year
We have used Apologia for several years and I agree that the audiobooks are not worth the money.
Oh good I am glad it is not just me. We just couldn't get through it.
🙏🏻 💗
❤️
Don’t do use bju!!!
I used BJU when I was a homeschool student but haven't used it with my kids.
@@LifeintheMundane if you have a masters in biology it will probably be fine, but if your looking for good explanations and labs that don’t require a 4 year degree to provide context, bju is not the product to use.