Zoology 1 Apologia - TOS Review

Apologia really has changed my perspective. I have always been a little intimidated by their curriculum. Just keeping it real. I'm not a science person and all though I have a child that loves science I have stayed far, far away from their books. I am the child that in 5th grade got almost a beating because I made a D yes D in science class.

When this review came available Lexi had just finished her science so I thought, well why not. I applied for the review and sure enough I was picked to review Zoology 1 - Flying Creatures (for K-6) but that wasn't the only thing I was getting. I also received the Regular Notebooking Jounal that is for grades 3 -6. Lexi is a 4th grader (9 years old) that has a huge love of learning and loves reading and lapbooking or notebooking so this pick was awesome from the start.

Flying Creatures digs deeply into the life of birds by learning how to classify animals by their features and characteristics as well as the way they behave. Lexi has learned a lot already. We have been working as fast as she can possibly go and we are on lesson 3 at this time. We will be continuing but the review period is over. 

Zoology 1 has 14 lessons. Lessons have been taking us almost 2 weeks to cover if not a little more. The lessons are really indept with information.

Lesson 1: What is Zoology?
Lesson 2: What Makes a Bird a Bird?
Lesson 3: Birds of a Feather.  

Each lesson has a What do you remember? Notebook Activity, Project and Experiment. We have had everything on hand that we needed for this review so far. The notebook is not required to complete this study but for my daughter it is an added bonus. The course is suggested to last 28 weeks following a 2 day per week schedule, however we have been doing it daily. We have broken it up into small sections and with completing the notebooking journal we have made good progress.    

The notebooking journal has provided a wonderful outlet for her to express and narrate what she is learning. This is her personal favorite I think! The notebooking journal is PACKED full of a wide assortment to reinforce the text of the book. The crosswords have proved hard for her however she and I have had lots of fun completing them together. She really has enjoyed the copywork. My over achiever hasn't picked between the cursive or manuscript copywork but completed them both!

There are several things that are my favorite: 

This is a Godly based curriculum and shows my God all throughout! Passing this one to my children is huge. I want them to see God our wonderful Lord throughout everything in this world.

This is a Charlotte Mason approach. Charlotte Mason is a way of learning. Living books and nature time is highly encouraged in the Charlotte Mason style. Educating the whole child is very important. 

Lesson plans and activities are clearly lined out with everything already in order for me just to gather the supplies per the lesson we are on. There are several sites that have kits to buy for the experiments however we didn't find it necessary for our use. 

The pictures within the book. The illustrations and pictures used really bring the animals to life for my daughter. Seeing them in such wonderful color and in their habitat has really helped her take more of an interest in learning about them.

When we first started Zoology 1 I was reading with her on the topics UNTIL she requested to do it alone. I allowed her to read alone and then narrate back to me what she had learned before moving on to the next activity or jumping into her notebooking journal. I have been trying to read ahead of her nightly just so I understand what she is talking about since she wanted a more independent study with this.

Zoology 1 has many different ways to engage your child! Lexi's favorite so far has been the experiment on air pressure. We couldn't get it just right but we didn't give up. 
 

 You will see that my smallest son had interest which developed into another conversation with him about Lexi's learning! Daily she would explain what she had learned and be questioned by both boys!

Look at his hand... DRY...

 Now look at his hand... WET!! Success!!

* Lexi's Thoughts *
My favorite for science is the Notebooking Journal somethings are hard but I still like it. I love the experiments too.

This study has stirred up such a stir within her we purchased a new bird feeder as well as a huge Bird Field Journal just for her. She also dug out her binoculars and has them daily! Yes seriously she is looking outside the window at the bird feeder or in the tree where the kids built bird houses all the time! I love a curriculum that can stir such love inside a child for learning. I am truly sorry that I have always stayed away from Apologia simply because my own interest wasn't there. I've said many times that I'm not teaching myself I'm teaching my children so I must cater to their learning style. Well its very safe to say Apologia is totally Lexi's learning style!!

She has took my camera many times over the last few weeks and these are a few items I've found on it:

 These are our chickens which she told me are actually birds and a picture of a pair of Cardinals.

 

Thank you Apologia Zoology 1: Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day for providing such a love of learning inside my sweet dear daughter!

The only negative or difficultly we really encountered was that with her choice of doing the reading by herself, the words are hard and over her head sometimes and we have to stop and go over the meanings and usage often. The writing within the elementary series seems a little higher than "elementary". Still this isn't anything that will affect my purchasing Zoology 2 for her when we complete this!

I would also love to see an MP3 audio for this level as well. This would be a huge help.

The Textbook is $39.00 and Notebooking Journal is $24.00. If you will visit the pages that offer these items on Apologia's website they have samples to help you see if it would be a good fit for your child.

Our Schoolhouse Crew all received different levels and subjects from Apologia so please go check out the Crew's reviews so you can learn if Apologia would be a wonderful fit for your homeschool.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this product through the Schoolhouse Review Crew in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.