Apologia Astronomy (A REVIEW)

We have loved using many of Apologia's science books (and even a writing book) in our homeschool, so I was very happy to take on this review of Exploring Creation with Astronomy, 2nd Edition. Apologia Educational Ministries has updated their Astronomy course, and I was excited to see how this compared to the old one which we have also used in our homeschool.

We received a nice package in the mail for this review. This package contained:

• Student Text
• Notebooking Journal
• Jr. Notebooking Journal
• Audio CD

The Student Text is a beautiful hard cover text book with many beautiful pictures all throughout. A must for any Astronomy course because there is so much beauty in the universe. I found just the cover alone so mesmerizing to look at because the picture just captures the attention of any person and makes them interested to just open the book right up. The chapters are laid out in an easy to follow and read format. The text is conversational and engaging, and the vocabulary is in bold letters to be easily seen and learned. There are experiments and activities all throughout this book as well.

The Notebooking Journal is for grades 3 and up. It contains an easy to follow Daily lesson schedule. It has notebooking pages, copy work pages (usually a scripture to copy), and pages to go along with activities that are completed from the text. There are also mini books to complete, similar to what a child would make in a lapbook but kept in this notebook. It is full color all througout, and has a lot of space for the student to be creative in what they write and record.

The Jr. Notebooking Journal is for under grade 3. It has a lot of what the Notebooking Journal has, but it also includes wider lines for beginning writers, coloring pages, and a little bit easier activities.

The Audio CD is the full text on audio. It is in MP3 format, so can only be used in a CD player that can read that. I wasn't able to play it in my van, but I was able to play it on a computer for sure. I loved having this as an option, but I usually just read myself.

How did we use this? I was able to use both the Notebooking journals because I have a K and a 3rd grader. My Kinder boy was just so excited to have a huge science book all to himself! We followed the daily schedule at the beginning of each of their notebook journals, and I showed them the schedule each day so they would know what we were supposed to accomplish. It was a nice way for them to see what they needed to do. Usually the daily assignments include some reading, and a few activities either from the book or the Journal. Some of the daily assignments were too much, so we'd just save the rest for the next day. A lesson could easily be covered in a few weeks depending on how much the children are interested and if they want to dig deeper.

My Kindergardener loves his new science book!

My 3rd grader is excited about astronomy!

With my younger boys we focus a lot on the vocabulary since there are so many new words that they don't understand. I love that all the vocabulary is bold and easily defined. I usually write those words on the board, and if they write nothing else in their notebooking page for the day they at least have these words written in there. There are also a few spaces for drawing pictures which is great for little learners who can't write a whole lot.

What did I think about this Astronomy curriculum? I loved it. Of course I loved the first edition too, but I love the new layout of this updated version. The text is mostly the same, but it includes a lot of extras and little tidbits that weren't in the other book. This curriculum is designed to last the whole school year, so it has some great detail and information packed within each chapter, so it also makes this book a great reference to have for years. I keep all my Apologia books out on the shelf even if we aren't using them currently just because they are so interesting, and have some great information if we just want to look something up. This astronomy course will take your child on a great adventure through all the planets and space, and I highly recommend it!

If you want to see what others have to say about this curriculum click on the banner below to visit the other crew members to see what they have to say!