Apologia vs. God's Design

Discuss the pros and cons of various curriculums, or get help on which to choose!

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Which elementary science curriculum do you prefer?

Exploring Creation Series
5
83%
God's Design Series
1
17%
 
Total votes: 6

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Violet
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Apologia vs. God's Design

Postby Violet » Thu Apr 19, 2007 1:19 pm

Hey all. I went to homeschoolreview.com and searched about these two curricula. The Exploring Creation series is created by Jeannie Fulbright and the God's Design series is created by Richard and Debbie Lawrence and is distributed by Answers in Genesis. I didn't see any negative comments about Apologia but the God's Design had either two or three that said it was dry. I wanted to test the waters before I buy (or even request a trial run) so I'll know what I'm getting into. Can people who have experience with these two curricula please give me their insights and take the poll? Thank you!
Wife of my best friend, Mom to two precious preschoolers, one precious newborn and one precious memory
~I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way...I will walk in my house with a perfect heart. Ps. 101:2~

su
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Postby su » Sun May 06, 2007 7:44 pm

Though I have not yet started using the elementary Apologia books, I will be using them. I have been using the 7th and 8th grade Exploring Creation books with older kids and appreciate their conversational tone, which is also used in the lower grade levels. The books are written to the child (to teach them) rather than being something that is supposed to supplement the teacher's teaching. (hope that makes sense :) ) The books look great!!

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Postby Kimberly » Sun May 06, 2007 8:30 pm

As with Su, we did not use Apologia in elementary. But we started using it when my oldest son was in 8th grade. He loves it and so do I. He said it is written like someone having a conversation with him about science.
Wife of my best friend (for 20 years) and Homeschooling Mom to three boys (ages 15, 11 and 9) and two girls (ages 8 and 6).

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Postby rosenon » Sun Dec 16, 2007 9:42 pm

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Postby momo3boys » Mon Dec 17, 2007 6:54 am

God's design I thought was fine. It was however a little too far above my boys for now. I think I will start it again in a few years. For little ones, I just let them explore the world around them, and get books from the library in the non-fiction section that they are interested in. Be honest how much science do you remember from elementary school?
Phi 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

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Postby rosenon » Mon Dec 17, 2007 7:34 am

I remember Mrs Troll's third grade class that we dissected flowers and grew plants. I remember from Mrs. Newlove's fifth grade class going on three fieldtrips and keeping a notebook on these early field studies. I remember Mr, Dooby's seventh grade biology class and the love for science he imparted into my life. I look back on my 19-years of research chemistry and 4-years medical laboratory experience and realize that there were some pretty good teacher role models. I am a teacher today because of these dedicated examples. Just like English or math or history, learning about science is a lifetime of experiences and practice. You build on what you learned in elementary school in middle school, then in high school, then in college. All the years bend together into a love of life and an appreciation for God's Creation. You may not remember specifically your first spoken word, but overtime you learned to speak the language. The same is true of science knowledge.

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Violet
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Thanks everyone!

Postby Violet » Mon Dec 17, 2007 11:59 am

This has been really helpful! Thank you for all yoru input!
Wife of my best friend, Mom to two precious preschoolers, one precious newborn and one precious memory
~I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way...I will walk in my house with a perfect heart. Ps. 101:2~

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Postby momo3boys » Mon Dec 17, 2007 4:51 pm

Phi 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

rosenon
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Postby rosenon » Mon Dec 17, 2007 8:33 pm

Red Wagon Tutorials

www.redwagontutorials.com

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Postby BarbaraH » Mon Aug 04, 2008 9:22 pm

My son and I used Exploring Creation from Apologia for 5th and 6th grade. We did the elementary Marine Biology and the Astronomy books. My son absolutely loved them. For the marine biology course you keep an "ocean box" and he had a lot of fun designing it and making the creatures he studied for it. We also watched the Blue Planet series on either the Discovery Channel or Animal Planet, I forget which channel...but we had a ton of fun with that book

The next year we did Astronomy and again had a lot of fun. The books are easy to read and fun and there are tons of experiments to do that only require basic materials that you most likely already have at your house, or can purchase for a small amount at a grocery store or Wal-mart or something.

This year we're doing 7th grade and have decided to stick with the Apologia books. As I've gone through the book making my daily lesson plans and figuring out what materials I will need to buy I've managed to get myself excited about the course. My son would peak over my shoulder as I was working on the schedule and say, oh wow that looks neat. There are 16 modules and they have many, many experiments to do.

PS...my son still refers back to his "old" Apologia science books whenever he wants to look up something...like how to tell how big a shark is based on it's teeth, after we found some shark's teeth at the beach. Or how far away Mars is if he heard about something on TV...

Science had always been my favorite subject in school and to get to have fun with my son at home learning and teaching science is simply awesome, and to have it laid out in a God centered book is such a blessing.


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