Exploring Creation with Astronomy #TOSreview

9/8/2016

All in all, this program exceeded my expectations. It definitely filled in a few gaps. This was a fun time to be going through it too, with the Perseid Meteor Shower this month.

As an author of an Astronomy curriculum, I'm always excited to review other great resources. Apologia Educational Ministries has done an excellent job on Exploring Creation with Astronomy, 2nd Edition. My very favorite part of the Apologia science curriculum is their audio books. Reading textbooks can be so boring. These audios really help our family enjoy the material a lot more. Another fantastic aspect of this set is the BEAUTIFUL illustrations in the text and notebooking journals. LOVELY! The children really enjoyed this curriculum. It was especially nice that they didn't have to wait for mom to get started or help with much. Most of it was simple enough for them to do on their own. I can't convey how helpful that is!

There are four aspects to this curriculum set:

Textbook - Again, this is beautiful. I love that there are tons of illustrations. It's so much more interesting with lots of pictures... The Christian worldview is refreshing as well. This text uses a lot of Charlotte Mason style in it which, in my opinion, the children are more likely to really remember. It starts with the sun and works its way through the solar system and out into the universe explaining the different wonders with awesome infographics all along the way. The discussion questions are engaging. The children really seemed to understand the concepts as explained and were able to repeat what they learned in their own words easily. (I love it when a curriculum lends itself to easy narration.)
Notebooking Journals - There are two, one for 3rd/4th-6th graders and a Jr. Notebooking Journal for K-2nd/3rd grades. These include Bible verse copywriting pages, mini-book crafts, coloring pages, writing assignments, and lots more. They were a bit overwhelming to us right now, I think mostly because we already have notebooking journals we're going through right now. I showed them to a friend who visited though and she thought they looked awesome. These could really make this program a fairly complete curriculum for a semester with very little extra. This would be perfect for a few months before and after a new baby or around the busy holiday season.
Audiobook - This MP3 CD is read by the author herself, Jeannie Fulbright. She's a homeschool mother herself and makes the content sound fun and interesting. (She sounds a bit to me like Connie from Adventures in Odyssey...) The audio is of the complete text. These are so nice on the road or listening during lunch. I'd rather use audios like this than either read it aloud myself or have the children take turns reading. I know in school I always hated having to take turns reading. I'd be so nervous about my turn and not messing up that I never knew what we were reading about. One of the many experiences I'd prefer my children not have to go through... You can always repeat an audio clip if needed or read something directly from the text to clarify, but I didin't feel a need for that with this. It was REALLY well done.

All in all, this program exceeded my expectations. It definitely filled in a few gaps. This was a fun time to be going through it too, with the Perseid Meteor Shower this month. Just realize, if you already have an art or penmanship curriculum &/or some kind of unit study or notebooking program your doing right now, this is going to be adding extra pages and activities to your day. You can get too much of a good thing, even fun activities...