Apologia Astronomy Review

 

 

We finished Apologia Astronomy this month. It took one semester to complete this book.  So far I found it to be the easiest Apologia book. We are also using Zoology and Botany. If you are looking for a beginner book in the Apologia science books, Astronomy would be a great start. 

We did go through this book fairly quickly.  Kiddo has read a few books on space and knew most of the material in the book.  We did many of the projects in the book, he loves all the activities that come along with the book.  We did several other activities to go along with the reading.  We went to a planetarium, took a trip the the NASA museum in Huntsville,AL,  read other books on space, built the space station out of LEGO bricks,  watch the dvd Journey to the Stars and watched the movie Apollo 13.  We are planning a night trip to look for constellations once we have clear and warmer weather.  He wants to find Orion and Ursa Major.

As the parent/teacher I did enjoy the Astronomy book, it was written in a simple but clear matter without “dumbing” down the subject matter. The conversational tone is great for easy reading and discussions.  I like that Apologia does not over simplify the subject matter or vocabulary.  I will be keeping our Apologia books as reference books plus he likes to read them on his own time.

This is a Christian based program.  I will say I did not agree with all that is stated in the book and that is fine. This book is very New-Earth creationist.  It opened up dialogue for us to discuss different beliefs and why some believe the way they do and why we believe what we believe.  The same can be said for the Journey to the Stars DVD from NASA.  They discuss the big band theory in this dvd. We discussed many times why some believe that universe was created that way  vs. created by God.  We talked about how it is possible that God did create the universe with a big bang.  Kiddo came up with his own theory as to how God created the universe and can not wait to go to heaven to discuss it with Him. 

Kiddo truly enjoys the Apologia science books. He naturally likes science and these books further his love of learning.  When we finish Botany this summer he wants to get Human Anatomy,  I am not sure Mom is ready for that one! 

 

For the month of February we will be concentrating on Zoology and in March we will add Botany back in.  We started Botany last summer and as fall came, it was harder to do the activities in the book and note booking journal, so I put it up until spring.  If you are wondering why we are doing two science books this year, when I was working on our curriculum for this year, Kiddo made a convincing argument for studying two different subjects and here we are.

 

Lego Space Station