Apologia Educational Ministries, Inc.
1106 Meridian Plaza Suite 220/340
Anderson, IN 46016
Phone: 765-608-3280
Fax: 765-608-3290
Website: www.apologia.com
Jeannie Fulbright and Apologia have answered prayer for this homeschool family with the Young Explorer Series. Volume 1, Exploring Creation with Zoology 1: Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day explores the flying creatures in depth! This full-color, hardbound book is full of photos and graphics, and it includes an index and even answers in the back to the posed narrative questions in each lesson--over 230 pages total. A beautiful book!
Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day starts off with an introduction that explains the book, what it's about, and the author's goals in writing the book. Jeannie has a very down-to-earth, simple approach to teaching, making it fun for the whole family. As a teacher to my children, I love the easy-to-read style of Jeannie's writing and explanations. I also SO appreciate her breakdown in the Introduction of how each chapter is laid out. The complete overview of how the book and lessons "work" was a huge help to me. She even includes a detailed list of materials needed for hands-on experiments, by lesson. The website gives additional helps and tons of extras related to the book too!
For the 14 lessons in this book, you will need a notebook, blank paper, lined paper, and some colored pencils. Lessons can span a week or a few weeks--depending on your family's preference. Each lesson is broken down into smaller sections, assignments, and Hands-On projects. The projects are fun, and they actually use things you are likely to have on hand. Projects include Making a Bird Bath, a Feeder Experiment, Building a Birdhouse, Making a Fossil Egg, and more! We enjoy this Charlotte Mason method of learning.
Lesson titles include "What Is Zoology?" "What Makes a Bird a Bird?" "Birds of a Feather," "Nesting," "Bats," "Flying Reptiles," "Insects," and more! Each lesson dives deep--no scratching the surface here!
For example, in Lesson 3, "Birds of a Feather," the teaching includes a study of bird feathers and their purposes, how God made each intricate one, differences in male and female birds' feathers, a hands-on project to create a bird bath (which was great!). We learned about molting, the features of the feather, contour feathers, down feathers, semiplume feathers and filoplume feathers, preening, bristles, cormorants, feather color, and more. This is just one of the lessons in the book, and I just listed a taste of it.
We have really enjoyed using this book. It has been a blessing to all of us! As tends to be true with home educating, we've all learned a lot. If you are looking for a rigid textbook approach, this will not be for you. Exploring Creation with Zoology 1: Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day is well rounded, fun, family-oriented learning from God's Creation. We love it! I would absolutely recommend the Young Explorers Series from Jeannie Fulbright and Apologia. Look for more reviews on this series to come!
Product review by Lisa Barthuly, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, LLC, July 2007
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