Apologia Science

Apologia science is on sale, today only, at CBD. The price is definitely right at 32% off. Let me tell you a little about this wonderful curriculum, which we have been using for years.

When we studied Jeannie Fulbright’s book Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day (Apologia Science Young Explorers) several years ago, my goal was to provide my elementary aged children with an interesting science curriculum. I never could have imagined that the curriculum would light a fire in my children’s hearts about birds, and lead our whole family into the hobby of birdwatching. The lessons learned in this book were a catalyst, causing my children to hunger for more knowledge.

Since then, we have enjoyed several of the books in the Apologia Young Explorers series. Mrs. Fulbright manages to teach a lot of great science in an interesting, engaging way. The pictures and text are captivating and understandable even for my 4 year old, and the experiments were simple enough that my oldest son could do them by himself when necessary. Apologia takes an immersion approach to science, focusing on one topic for an entire year. Through immersion, kids can really learn a lot about a particular area of science, as well as the scientific method.

The Young Explorers series is appropriate for Kindergarten through 6th grade science. It incorporates several excellent components. In addition to the great photos and clear information, there are opportunities for the child to narrate back what they have learned. We retain what we can explain, and this element helps solidify the information in the child's mind. We have also really enjoyed using Nature Notebooks. Each book in the series gives very clear instructions for making and keeping a notebook of pictures, drawings, poems, original writing, and other "findings" that relate to the material studied. The notebook is very personal to each child, enjoyable to make and a great keepsake for years to come.

My oldest son has moved on to Jay Wile's Apologia science for older kids. This curriculum is available as a textbook, but he prefers the full-course CD Roms, which interface like a website. He enjoys doing all his reading online, clicking here and there for video demonstrations and audio pronunciation of terms.

No matter which series you choose, a list of everything that will be needed for the experiments is conveniently included in the beginning of each book. I appreciated that most items were easily gathered from around the house. Science experiments added greatly to our understanding in each book, and none of them seemed like the "busy work" we had experienced in other science curriculum.

Other highlights include the incorporation of Latin scientific terms, answers in the back of the book for all questions, and a reproducible sheet where experiments can be described (procedure, hypothesis, results, etc). Dr. Wile and Mrs. Fulbright both write from a Christian, creationist, young-earth perspective. Young Explorers books each have internet helps provided, with links to tons of sites that provide more information. And new this year, Apologia Academy is launching online courses as well as the ability to purchase pre-recorded lectures for all science classes, 7th grade and up.

I can't imagine a better science curriculum for my children.

Apologia science is still on sale today, April 30th, at CBD. Shipping is free, and the price is right. I saved $20 on the full course CD Rom for Physical Science over the published price on the Apologia website.

Youth Birding

The Lord has been showering us with blessing after blessing this week! My middle boys participate every year in the Georgia Youth Birding Competition, an event in which children fan out all over the state and see how many bird species they can spot and identify during a 24 hour period. They and their two teammates work hard all year, memorizing bird calls and field marks, in preparation for the competition each spring.

We woke up early Saturday morning to a very unusual sight! As if to wish us "Happy Birding", this Pileated Woodpecker flew up to our deck and even perched on our window, allowing us an up close and personal look at this beautiful bird.


The organizers of this event go out of their way to make the children feel so special, as the event culminates in a banquet, a live bird of prey show and an award ceremony, in which the children are given wonderful prizes that help take them take their birding to the next level.

Our team won binoculars, field guides and spotting scopes at last year's birding competition.

Although our team won their age division last year, we were not expecting a win this year, as our team of 1st-3rd graders was moving into a new age bracket. The older boys had to compete at the 3rd-5th grade level, and the younger boys did not want to split up from their brothers, so the entire team moved into the new age category.


The birding was hard this year, as very hot weather meant that there weren't as many birds out and about. The children battled fatigue and discouragement, but they dug deep and persevered.


The boys managed to identify 73 birds during the 24 hour period, many spotted "by ear", as they had memorized so many calls.


We were stunned--and humbled by God's goodness--when the boys did win first place in their new age division, beating the 2nd place team by only two birds.


Team "Birds of a Feather" won their age group last year, as well. Their team name will be engraved on the plaque at the base of this trophy for the 2nd year in a row!


It was a great opportunity to encourage the boys that their hard work this year, their perseverance during hot weather, and the efforts of even the youngest team members paid off. Their margin of victory was so slim that every single find mattered, from the difficult to identify warblers to the easy to spot Northern cardinal.

The boys were just as thrilled to be proclaimed the overall winners for fundraising, having raised more money for conservation than any other team in the competition. They have a great desire to see bird habitat protected and restored, and the $500 they raised for the American Bird Conservancy will be used for that purpose.

My boys' two teammates each won an award for their birding journals, as well. Needless to say, our team was on cloud nine!

My boys are the 1st and 3rd children in this photo. The other two boys have been their teammates for the past 3 years at the Georgia Youth Birding competition.

We were well aware throughout the competition that the boys could not rely on their own strength or their own skill to find birds. Many times we prayed to Jesus, asking him for help not only to find birds but also to work together in a way that brought glory to Him. Our verse for the weekend was Psalm 115:1, which says, "Not to us, O LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness."

As if this blessing weren't enough, we arrived home to find a letter telling us that our Bird Garden project was selected as a winner in the Keep [our county] Beautiful contest! Truly, the Lord has poured out His love upon us this week.

We did experience some hilarious moments during the competition, as well. My friend Dawn wrote about one of them in her post Not Exactly What I had in Mind.

Home Library Builders: Buying and Organizing Books

Several months ago, when I started this Home Library Builders series, I promised to write a post about finding books and organizing your library. This is a topic near and dear to my heart...I am always on the lookout for a treasure!

I use Tapestry of Grace, a curriculum centered around living books. Some weeks I might use as many as 20 different books for my students. My children are getting a rich and broad education, but it can be a strain on the budget and difficult to stay organized.

So what is my strategy?


Planning ahead
First, I take a look at my book lists, week by week. Tapestry gives me a breakdown of all the books I need every week, for a total of 36 book lists in all. I put each week's list in a page protector, so I can mark on it with a Sharpie marker, without defacing the reading list. Tapestry is a classical program, which means that four years from now, I'll be repeating this material again, albeit at a more advanced level for each child. My current 3rd grader will be reading books that his 7th grade brother read this year, and my preschooler will need the books my 3rd grader is reading. It helps to keep a record of what we have and what we need and what we liked so that I can refer to it in future years. By marking on a page protector, I can make notes that will help me now and in the future. Four years from now, I can slip off the old protector and replace it with a fresh one, making notes for a new trip through the material.

Decisions, decisions!
Tapestry gives me lots of choices. If I don't have a given book, there are several alternates listed. As a general rule, I try very hard to get all the literature books that are recommended, as there is only one Huckleberry Finn. I often am able to substitute history titles with something that is already on my shelves. If I don't have a certain geography book about Japan, but another similar title is already on my shelf, I make a note of the title I'll be substituting on the page protector. By staying flexible and being willing to substitute equivalent titles I can save my budget for those must-have books.


Keeping my Options Open
Next, I open several windows on the computer. One is for my local library system, a window for Amazon, a window for Better World Books, a window for My Audio School, a window for Audible, and a window for Baldwin Project.

I look at each book on the list, checking how many weeks it will be used. Anything that will only be used for one week is typically at the top of my library list. I do a quick search and if the book is available through Inter-library Loan, I mark an L on the page protector by that title. When the time comes, I'll order it through the library. My library can be slow, so I don't use it for critical or time-sensitive titles. Often, I'll order the suggested resource as well as all the alternates, and use whichever one comes in on time.

The library is a great place to get those hardback picture books for my young children. Those are expensive to buy, and typically will be read a couple of times and then put away. They are often readily available through the Inter-library Loan system.

Once I've gone through the titles, choosing which ones will be substituted and which ones will come from the library, I take a look at how to get what is left. Anything that is going to be used for multiple weeks, or which is critically important to our study, or which cannot be substituted (such as literature titles) is a good candidate for purchase. I have several children, and I know I'll be using most of these books again.

Getting Books for Free
First, I check the free sites. Many of the old, classic literature titles are available in the public domain. Baldwin Project has lots of these titles available for free. There are also many available through Gutenberg Project, but I prefer the easy-to-navigate format at Baldwin Project. I don't like sitting in front of a computer screen to read aloud, but my children don't seem to mind silent reading from the screen. This is a good choice for us for those books.

Of course, I always check My Audio School, too! I say "check" even though this is my own website.  We have over 500 resources on the site now and I can't even remember all the titles myself, LOL.

I can't tell you how much money we've saved this year by listening to our books in audio format from public domain sources! It has been such a blessing to our dyslexic son and our emerging reader, and has saved my voice, too! I still read daily to them, but this gives them extra audio content while I am busy. My oldest son loves it as he can multi-task, listening to books in audio format while cleaning his room or building models. We stream the books from the computer, burn them to CD or download them to Mp3.

It does take a lot of time searching out these free resources. Now that I've done the work for you, you might want to take advantage of what My Audio School has to offer. Lots of free books are on the site, and for the cost of purchasing just one audio book you get links to hundreds of resources. Every single book on the site is available to download to Mp3, or individual chapters can be streamed from the site. I've also included links where you can read the books for free online.

Paperback Swap is another site I use for getting free titles. You post books that you no longer want online. In exchange for offering up 10 titles, you get two credits for free. Each credit allows you to request one book. Anytime someone requests one of your books and you send it to them, you get another credit. I've gotten a few of the books I need for next year for free through PBS. They make it very easy to mail the books, as you can print shipping labels and even postage from home if you have a paypal account.


Buy Used and Save the Difference
Next, I check Better World Books. This gem is my favorite place to get books. The used books are all donated by libraries, and used titles typically cost around $4 apiece. Profit from all sales goes to support literacy efforts around the world, and shipping is virtually free within the continental U.S. (and very cheap to other countries). Better World uses carbon offsets for shipping, and I typically pay about 10 cents shipping on $10 worth of books. I also like Thrift Books for used titles. I like to refer to amazon to read their reviews, and occasionally I'll buy a book from them, as well. Their shipping is so high now for used books that sometimes you can get the title brand new with free shipping for little more than the used title would have cost.

Books on MP3
Audible is a good source for audio books. My curriculum makes suggestions for each child's literature. Several times a year I choose one selection from my oldest child's list and we read it aloud as a family or listen to it on MP3. We all enjoy these family read-alouds. They are not at a level that my young children could read them alone, but they are perfectly able to enjoy and understand them as a read-aloud. Rather than purchasing three separate books for that week, I can get one excellent audio book that we can all enjoy together.

Other sites
I also check Tapestry's Bookshelf Central, as they have competitive pricing on many of the books that are recommended as primary resources. Book Closeouts is another favorite site for classics and biographies purchased inexpensively. One more site that I regularly check is Library and Ed, a wholesaler that only sells to libraries, educators and homeschoolers.


Book Sales
Usually, anything I haven't found online goes on a list which I keep in my purse. When I head out to spring books sales, my list goes with me. I've been known to drill this list into my 12 year old's head, so he can be on the lookout, too! Last week I bought an R.M. Ballantyne book for 50 cents at a book sale...the seller must not have known what she had! I came home a happy girl, indeed.

Of course, I watch "for sale" boards on my yahoo groups, and borrow books from friends, as well. Once a book has been downloaded or purchased or borrowed, a notation on the page protector reminds me that it is taken care of.

Organizing books...don't knock it 'till you try it
I have a system for organizing my history and literature books. Since the classical cycle lasts four years, I label my books accordingly. All books for Ancient Times get a red dot on the spine of the book. I use the little dots purchased for tagging garage sale items, and secure them with a small piece of scotch tape to the spine of the book (as the sticky back doesn't adhere well to the spines without a little help).

Before taping the label on, I write a number on the spine to show which week it will be used. Number 1 for our first week of school, or 2-5 if the book will be used weeks two through five. Then all the books are arranged in order on a particular shelf...one shelf for my oldest child's books, another shelf for my younger children's books. This helps me to see at a glance exactly what we have, and to find it easily throughout the year.

Since we are literally using hundreds of books a year, spread out over different grade levels, this system of organization is a lifesaver for me.

Books for Renaissance and Reformation get a yellow dot. Green dots are for the time period from Napoleon to Teddy Roosevelt, and a blue dot adorns the spine of all books about modern times. I have a couple of shelves for each color. Next year, we'll be studying Renaissance and Reformation...but if I find a great book that I'll need for Modern Times at a book sale this spring, I'll go ahead and buy it. Purchasing books in advance, when the price is right, is another way to save money.

I won't need to purchase many titles at all for next year, because I've been collecting the books I need little by little for the past few years. And thanks to my system of organization, all of my Modern Times books are labeled and together. If I find something new, I know right where to put it, and I can feel confident that it will be there in three years when I need it.

The next post in this Home Library Builders series will be Whatever is Excellent: Our favorite books for the Classical history cycle

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." Philippians 4:8

Reason # 128 to Homeschool

Renae at Life Nurturing Education inspired me this week with her post Reason #127 to Homeschool. Renae loves discovering wonderful books with her children. That sure ranks high on my list of "Reasons I love to homeschool!"

Here's another reason why I like homeschooling...


We can do it at the kitchen table....


In a cozy nook...


Outside on a beautiful day...


On the couch...


On a field trip...


Seated at the computer....


...and even on the front porch...



Never having to sit in a desk? Priceless.

If you are inspired, write a post of your own and send me the link! What is one of your favorite things about Homeschooling?