Apologia Educational Ministries: Writers in Residence Review

Here in our house we love Apologia Educational Ministries company! They are a staple in our science program and have been since we started homeschooling. Recently we were awarded the opportunity to review their new homeschool writing curriculum by Debra Bell called Writers in Residence.

Apologia Educational Ministries is a great company that offers curriculum for a variety of ages, subjects, and grades. We have used a variety of their items including science programs, their awesome field trip journal and now the writing/language arts curriculum program.

What we received:

We received the physical student manual book and the answer key for me. The Volume 1 all in one book contains a guide to get you started, teaches you how to use the book itself, and my favorite, a planned out program for you to use and know how to schedule the modules.

As with all of their curriculum, this program incorporates a Biblical based writing program that helps your child learn to be more creative with their writing projects. It offers a variety of items throughout the book to encourage them to write more often like the Spotlight on Christian Writers. Throughout the book there are stories with questions and answers from famous Christian writers. They tell their stories of how they got into writing, where they get their ideas from, and even if they enjoyed writing when they were younger.

How We Used It:

Each week we would follow the guidelines that the program lays out. For me that was one of my favorite parts of the curriculum. (the science program does that too). It makes it easy for this Mama to know that this is how much work we should be able to cover each day and the pace to keep us on to finish this program in the recommended time.

We would read the daily lessons together and work on the writing projects. Boo Bear is not one that loves writing, (typical boy) and so we worked more together than others. You can let your child work on the assignments themselves or do them together, whatever works best for you. This program includes everything from capitalization, punctuation, grammar, and even figuring out how to come up with your ideas for the stories you write.

Your child learns to investigate their ideas, brainstorm for their ideas, and even how to work with a rubric module. It is broken down into easy to manage steps and processes for grades 4th - 8th. So this would work with a couple of students, depending on their levels.

What we thought:

 We enjoyed working with this program as we do all the Apologia Educational Ministries programs. This is an all inclusive language arts curriculum and makes it easy to get everything in one lesson. It is a program based on 32-weeks at 4 lessons a week. That works great with our schedule as we tend to take one day off a week for make-up, field trips etc.

I highly recommend you check this writing program out from Debra Bell if you're in need of an easy to use program that encompasses the entire language arts.

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Apologia Land Animals Of The Sixth Day Review

 


I just have to say how wonderfully blessed I have been to be on the School House Review Crew already this school year. I am loving the friendships, encouragement and wonderful tips I am gaining from all the homeschool Mama's (and Daddy's) in this group. It is truly an amazing blessing and I could not be more thankful for this group.

We got the chance to review Apologia Educational Ministries elementary science books for the  Land Animals of the Sixth Day. Since my kiddo absolutely loves any type of animal around the world this was right up our alley. We have been working with Apologia Science this year and so when this review came up I was super excited!

We received the textbook and the junior notebook for our review. We chose the junior notebook as it is made for the younger elementary ages. It has some great additions for those little hands. The junior notebook has the primary writing lines so it is great for those still working on their writing practice.

The great thing about these science products is that they not only cover the science information but throughout the entire book they are weaving the gospel into it. It brings in scripture throughout the learning process to reiterate what you are learning with the science curriculum. The price you will pay for these books runs about $39.00 for the textbook and $24.00 for the notebooking journal. You can choose the Jr. notebook like we did if you have younger students or they have the regular notebooking journal for the older elementary students.

In this series you will learn about the different animals that walk, crawl or slither on the land. My son loves learning about animals. All animals. Even the gross ones that give Mama the shivers! I mean we are talking he loves animals SO much that he always has to be at a tv at 4:00 p.m to watch the Wild Kratts. ;) On a daily basis he turns into his favorite big cat or animal. :-) There really is never a dull moment in the house. So needless to say this curriculum was a great fit for us.The pup even tried to help get in on the fun:


Boo Bear loves the great pictures, information and learning about his favorite animals. I love the fact that the scriptures are the copy work and how God is shown to be woven into all aspects of creation. Each chapter points out how God created the animals and what he created on the sixth day. Each chapter of the notebooking journal has scriptures woven throughout the stories and coloring pages they work on. His handwriting practice is scriptures which helps us to remember them easily. At times the handwriting work can be a bit much for him but sometimes I write what he narrates to me.

The junior notebooking journal offers a wide variety of activities to fit each child's interests. You will find coloring pages, handwriting pages, interesting facts pages and lap-books that you can create. It also houses the lesson plans for Mom. This is another one of my favorite features. Everything is planned out even down to the experiments and what you should do each day. Apologia does the lesson plans based on a twice a week science program. They tell you which pages to read, what activities to do and give you all you need to have a fun science experiment.

We absolutely love the Apologia Science curriculum here in our house. We have thoroughly enjoyed doing this review and look forward to many years with Apologia Science in the future. If you get a chance to check this one out, it is definitely worth your time. You can't go wrong with the detailed lesson plans, experiments and fun facts woven throughout the books. This is set up to take you a year if you do it two days a week or you could possibly do two books in one year. It depends  on how much your little one loves science.

Thanks for stopping by and remember to hop on over to the Crew by clicking the image below. You can take a look at other Apologia curriculum's and reviews!


**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.**

Apologia Educational Ministries: The Ultimate Homeschool Planner Review

   I'm a planner. Like, really a planner. Details make the event, day, party, whatever it is. So I was super excited when I received the Apologia Educational Ministries newest Ultimate Homeschool Planner.  If you've been around here for any length of time, you know I love Apologia. This review combined two of my favorite things together in one. 
I received the Ultimate Homeschool Planner with the blue cover. You can also get a yellow or orange cover as well.  What's inside: Inside the planner you're going to find everything you need, and some you didn't know you needed, to plan your homeschool year out. The book starts off with a guide on how to use the planner and also how to set your homeschool year up for success. Tips include items such as establishing a yearly planning retreat, weekly planning, Monday morning tutorials and more. I really enjoyed reading the very beginning of the Ultimate Homeschool Planner as I had never thought about the yearly planning retreat. I honestly just plan a month or possibly a semester at a time. I think it's important to sit down and set up your goals for the year ahead. 

It also contains a calendar of the months all the way up to the year 2023. Whew! The planner contains instructions and tips on how to set up a session each Monday morning with you child to go over what you're planning for the week. It also discusses having Friday afternoon reviews on what you have accomplished during the week. I have started implementing this and it seems to be working for both of us. It can honestly get out of hand when you have extra classes outside of home, work at home duties, and just being at home duties too. These times have helped both of us center in on what we are accomplishing and what we might want to do differently.
The planner contains pages for monthly planning. weekly planning, grades and reading lists. I used the monthly planning pages to write out our activities for the month. This gives Boo Bear a calendar of his month ahead as well. Each week I would write down his assignments including any extra classes, appointments so we can both see them at a glance. 

Throughout the Apologia planner you'll find inspiring quotes and scripture verses to help you get through some of those tougher homeschooling days. At the beginning of each weekly section, there's a page for you to plan out your action plan for the week. Items include Bible plan, battle plan. prayers, and outreach sections for you. You'll also find a page for the end of the week that you can record anything you want to remember about that week or those moments where "evidences of grace" were seen. 
In the back of the planner there's a section for recording grades for up to six different children. You'll also find a reading list section to record all the books your child has read that were assigned, independent choices, or fiction and non-fiction. I'm utilizing this section to help us record the books needed for our reading program. It keeps it all organized and in one place for us to both keep up with it. 
You'll also find some amazing tips in the back of the planner such as making memorable moments and things to remember as you're on this homeschooling journey. It reminds you of the different learning styles, not to rush through, and how to really make the most of your homeschool journey. 
While we aren't quite ready for it yet, it also offers a huge benefit to high schoolers or those close to high school. The planner provides an area that helps you map out the critical high school years and what is typically needed for graduation. That's such a huge help as you are beginning your journey into the high school waters or if you're already there and need some assistance. 
I highly recommend this planner to anyone who would like an all-in-one system to keep your homeschool assignments, records of the year, and encouragement. There's pockets on the front and back cover for you to throw in notes or worksheets you want completed for the week. You can track anything and everything all in this one location.  You can check out Apologia on social media with the links below. Head on over to the other Schoolhouse Reviews by clicking the banner below as well. 
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Apologia Educational Ministries Exploring Creation Field Trip Journal Review

If you've been around here you know that we love Apologia Educational Ministries. We have used them for science ever since we started homeschooling. We recently got the chance to review a brand new product from them called the Exploring Creation Field Trip Journal.  What it is... The Exploring Creation Field Trip Journal can be used in a variety of ways. As homeschoolers , field trips are a huge part of our year. This helps to reiterate what we have learned. It is a way to learn new things and to put your hands on history, science and even math once in a while. This journal gives you a way to record all you do each year and to explore options you might not have thought about as a field trip.  The book itself is full of pages for you to document your adventures. To start off with it has a checklist /guide for you as the parent to prepare for a field trip. It talks about discussing your field trip location before you get there. Give your child goals for the trip of things that you want them to learn and take away from the visit.  It also discusses virtual field trips. We haven't done a whole lot of those but I am looking at doing more. I think it's a great way to "visit" far off places you might never make it to. It also gives your students a checklist for them to make sure they are ready for their trip. 

 The book lists a variety of field trip ideas to help you plan places to go. I know I have some trouble at times thinking of free/inexpensive trips to take. Oh there's plenty of places to go that you have to budget for. Those "off the beaten path" trips are a little harder for me to think of. Thankfully there's a list in the book to help give you ideas!

 The next pages you'll find are places for you to document where you've been. Places in your state or places in the country that you've visited can easily be tracked and placed on these pages.

You can track the date and the location. I am going to have him color the states as we have visited attractions there. I think that'll be a neat way to see how you travel across the country. We have been to several states in the South but my/our goal is to visit even more outside of the South. It'll be interesting to see how many states we can get colored in.

The next set of pages are for you to document each trip you take. This could be a group field trip or one you take with just your family. Each page allows you to document the following :

• Date of trip
• Books read to prepare for trip
• Story of your day
• Map of location
• Emergency contact and more!

There are pages for your photo of the trip as well or your child can draw what they remember. 

Other pages in the journal include your child's special spot. It is one of their favorite places and there's a page for all four seasons. It allows them to record the changes they see throughout the year and it's fun to see how each season affects their spot. 

How we used it... We are using this to record all of our field trips for the year. (or until we fill the book). We have recorded the trips we have taken this year and he has new trips while he was visiting with Grandparents. As we get ready for a trip we make sure we research the spot before hand and write down what we want to learn before we go. If it is a history sight, we spend time reading about it or researching what took place there before we go. 

We have filled in our trips to other states and tried remembering everywhere we have visited. We take the book along with us on our new field trips and write down as we go through the trips. 

What we think... I honestly love this journal! I love the idea of writing down the adventures we take. So many times we snap photos of our adventure with our phone or digital camera and I'm bad about not printing them out. I shudder to think what would happen if I lost my computer or disk I have them saved on. This gives me a reason to print out the pictures so that he has a keepsake to take with him. Here's a shot of the pages we did for his recent visit to a museum with his grandparents. 

His favorite thing he saw was the knights in armor. We are currently printing off some of the pictures he took so he can add them to the pages. 

I would advise you to take the journal along with you on your trip. Your child can write down different aspects of the trip while you're visiting the area. This helps you remember the awesome things they saw right then. I help him write and take down what he says on some of the information as he's a typical boy and hates to write. (we are working on that :))

This is another wonderful product from Apologia and I highly recommend you considering it as you try to incorporate more field trips. As usual with the Apologia curriculum you'll find a password in the book that will take you to a list of awesome field trip ideas they have put together for you. 

Be sure to click the link below to read more reviews of the journal! 

Welcome Back to School! 5th grade Here We Come!

Wow!!! Did I really just say that? 5th grade? Can it be? Yep!! This kiddo is in 5th grade this year.

We started our new school year last week so this is kind of a late first week wrap-up. But hey, better late than not at all, right? So here's what our year looks like this year.

Science:
Apologia Physics and Chemistry - this one is really exciting for me. I've always loved Apologia but this new set is even more fun. It's two different topics that I've generally enjoyed in my past science experience. And who doesn't love lots of experiments? If you do then Apologia has them all for you too. This is a fun new book that we are super excited to dive in.

Math:
Singapore math -5A and 5B. This is kind of a change for us. We have been doing Math Mammoth for the past few years and enjoyed it. I was kind of looking for an actual textbook in our hand type of deal this year though. We are changing up some of the way we do things and so this just fits in with us better for now.

Reading:
We are reading all sorts of things so this will be something new every time.

Grammar/Spelling:
We are working on a couple of workbooks to get our spelling and grammar in this year.

Other classes:
We are of course keeping up with drama/theater this fall. We also have science classes going on starting back up next month at our local science center. These are two that Boo Bear looks forward to every semester.

We also have added in a co-op of sorts. My parents have since relocated nearer to us and so they have volunteered to do a science/math/reading co-op deal for us and a few of our homeschool friends. We had our first meeting this past week and the kiddos were well worn out and had a great time.

We've also already hit our first field trip this year to the local science museum. They always have a free day for homeschoolers and we love visiting. I also opted this year to get the yearly pass, not sure why I haven't before but this year is a totally new year. There will be lots of museums on our field trip list this year.

So we've had a successful, busy couple of weeks getting back into our school routine. Have you started yet or do you have a plan to start soon? What is your week looking like?

Happy New School Year!!

Introducing... Our 2014-2015 Curriculum Choices!

So after lots of researching and hunting and praying... We finally have our curriculum lineup for our third grade year. It has taken some searching this year because some of the things we used to do didn't work for us. That's one of the beauties of homeschooling. We can change curriculum to fit our learning styles and interests at the time. Here are our choices.

Math - Math Mammoth

I decided to stick with the Math Mammoth program this year again. I contemplated going back to Singapore math but I was slightly concerned that we would have problems. I have talked this over with my curriculum expert, A.K.A my dad, and he said it should be simple to transition when we need to in higher grades. This program runs through 6th grade and it was one of the two I liked the most. I enjoy that I can print out the lessons as we go and it also has several program additions, such as websites, to get extra help if we need it. 

Science - Apologia Land Animals 

My son loves animals. I mean REALLY loves animals. As in watches animal shows, documentaries, shark week etc of his own choice. He can tell you pretty much anything you want to know and then some when it comes to these creatures. So it was just a given that he would choose land animals for this year's science. We love the Apologia Science series so I am excited to do another one this year. We are going to try something a little different. We are going to do the lapbooks you can get here instead of the notebooking journals. We have tried those for two years and while I like them, he is not a fan. So I want to get more hands on items he can do and see if that helps. 

Grammar - Growing With Grammar

 

This is a new program for us. We tried continuing with ACE Paces last year and it did not work for us. He is not one that likes to sit and work for hours on end. He learns heavy on the auditory side so that's what we are gearing lessons towards this year. I have heard a lot of good things about this program so I am excited to start it. It is geared for three days a week with shorter lessons. 

Winning With Writing

Same thing with his writing program this year. This one will be five days a week and I hope it works well for us. 

Soaring With Spelling

 I am excited about this program. It not only teaches them spelling but also the definitions of the words as well. I am excited for him to do this as it has several activities each day of the week to help with getting the words down pat. I am going to most likely add something to this for him to study. I will type up his spelling words each week and have him take it with him to learn from the sheet. Either type it up or use index cards for learning the words and definitions each week. These are larger words and he will have to remember definition and spelling throughout the program. I also like that each week has a space for a word, or a few words, you may have missed on the prior weeks test. 

We are going to be starting up a co-op type of meeting with our homeschool group this year as well. We will get together for a few different events and study different topics together. We will be able to work on projects and more as a group and be able to teach the kids working together and getting more hands on learning experiences. We have lots of field trips planned and I can't wait to see what 3rd grade has in store for us. 

What does your curriculum look like this year? What exciting new things are you trying out? 

Weekly Review - Field Trip, Lunch and More

I'm sharing my week with Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers, Homegrown Learners and Home to 4 Kiddos. 

This past week has been a blast. Full of ups, downs, ins and outs. The end of last week we had an awesome trip down to the Aquarium. It was homeschool day and the price was drastically reduced. I'll say this. While we did enjoy ourselves, I'm not sure I would want to go pay full price for it. We had a good time once we got in and could spread out a little. It was definitely a first for me. The homeschool days we have attended have been busy but not like this one was. Whew!!! 

We saw some "famous" fish while we were there ;). For some reason the Ninja Turtles were underwater and we saw one of Boo Bear's favorite underwater creatures. Sharks. 

You see them right? Nemo and Dori together??? Oh and I love the way that the ray's always look like they are smiling at ya :).

The first question my husband asked me when he saw this is why are there Lemur's at the aquarium... I couldn't answer him except to say there was a Madagascar section there. Weird huh ? 

The highlight of that day was definitely lunch with Nana ;)

Of course, my kiddo couldn't just smile for the camera. He has taken to making silly faces all the time now. I have to say, honey, be serious for just a second so I can get a smiling pic. :) This just shows his personality and I love it!

We are still struggling to get back into some sort of school routine. With his allergies/asthma on high alert, things are a little more difficult than usual. But I do believe towards the end of this week were getting better. I have full confidence next week will be even better. 

I do have to say that this year we went with Apologia Lapbooks by Knowledge Box Central. We have done Apologia Notebooks for two years prior to this. He is absolutely loving the lapbook. I am so proud of his work on it and how he jumps right in. Also this week I had him read his science pages. If you've been here before you know reading was a trial for us. I just wanted him to start reading a little more and he read it beautifully. I couldn't be more proud of him!

We also had a park day with our homeschool group and science class this week. Cub Scouts was Monday as well. Whew! 

I do have a couple questions this week ;). Do you have any favorite sites for multiplication practice? We are doing that right now in math. And how do you come back from a break? Does it take you three weeks to get back? Please tell me I'm not alone in this !!! :-) 

Hope you had a wonderful week and see you around!

Wordless Wednesday

Well, this is not quite so wordless but it's okay ;)

I have mentioned before how much I love Apologia science curriculums. This is why. :) We learned this week how lava takes a toil on the land as we are studying Venus. It's really fun and exciting to see these projects sprinkled throughout the curriculum. A great thing about them? They are typically all things you have around the house anyway!!! Here's our lava experiment...

Week In Review: Normalcy Returns.. Sort Of ;)

In our life this week... We sort of returned to normalcy. We had a party this week and had another class added to our regularly scheduled programs. :) Boo Bear started taking a super hero class this week so he's learning about being a hero. That also caused him to want to create his own costume. AHH!! Help!! LOL Mommy is trying to figure out how we can do this but I think daddy has saved the day. He's bringing cardboard home to help this weekend. 

In our homeschool this week... We had a pretty great week. We were busy with our regular studies and adding in some great reviews we are working on. We have been moving along in our math and science. He had a great time this week because we finished up fish and started sharks in our Apologia this week. 

People we're seeing and places we'ere going...  We had a birthday party and also have a park day today with a few friends. We have also done our praise and dance team practice  I am so glad he is starting to bond with some of the kids at church :) 

I'm cooking... Some new gluten free goodies. I have made a couple this week that are awesome! I love the pumpkin pucks from the Paleo Parents and also we tried some gluten free waffles this morning that turned out good. The pucks were something my kiddo actually loved and asked to eat again!!

I'm reading... Several books at once. I am working on getting some new recipes out of my new cookbooks I recently got. I am also reading the Wheat Belly book. I can see myself in a lot of this book and that's exactly why wheat is no longer in my diet. 

A photo of the week...

We had a blast at our party this week. :) 

Week 1 of Back to School!!

In our life this week... We have had a little bit slower of a week than last week but we did start school back. :) It was a lot of fun and we are getting back into the swing of things. We had a playdate and the last of the library summer programs.. :( We are both kind of sad about that but excited that the librarian is working on a homeschool meeting for the kids. I would love this to get going good because Boo Bear loves the library programs but the typical ones during the school year are for the babies. Keeping our fingers crossed that everything works out.

In our homeschool this week... Back to school week!! We have both been ready to start back to school thus the starting on an odd week ;) We had a blast getting into our new curriculum. I am getting a feel for how fast it is going to go with us. It seems that our math is going well and we are both liking it. Today we start some deeper math items and a new way of learning it for me so this is going to be interesting. Our science we have been doing the introduction to the Sea Animals of the 5th Day so that has been fun. We started learning about nouns and memorizing our first poem called The Caterpillar. He read a book about Orcas and has been reading his directions for his math.

Places we're going and people we're seeing... We went to a playdate at our local Chic Fil A yesterday and it was a blast. Yes... I support Chic Fil A and am not afraid to say it. I love a company that is not afraid to stand up for what they believe in. And they have really good chicken ;) We also had the last of our library summer programs this week.

What's not working/working for us... Geography does not seem to be working the way I had planned so I am going to try and figure out something. So I am trying to figure out how to make it exciting while not overloading him with it. Our Apologia Science is really working and really interesting. :)

I'm reading... Tigers Curse. I am so excited I got this book free from the library yesterday. to keep!!! They had a huge selection of awesome books for the people who came to the summer programs to get 1 book free. They didn't have any that Boo Bear would like so mommy got to pick one. :) We are also reading Magic Tree House Lions at Lunchtime together.

I'm cooking... homemade pizza, spaghetti, and my hubby grilled burgers for us one night this week. Looking forward to the weekend ;)

I'm praying for... Friends that are hurting, friends that need help and me to not get sick. I am fighting an allergy attack or something and we have a trip planned in a week and a half. I would appreciate the prayers!

 A video/photo of this week...

Week in Review: Spring Break is Over...

Last week we had our spring break a little earlier than I had initially intended. We decided to take a trip up to see my parents since it was the best week to do it. This coming month we have lots of field trips and getting caught up on school stuff planned. So last week was it.

This barn is one of my favorite things on their land. It was built a long time ago and has seen many different animals and stored lots of dreams. It is an amazing photo spot and one of those buildings you just love to see. It will be a sad day when/if it is ever torn down.


Boo Bear got to ride the four wheeler with Papa and Blaze. Blaze loves to ride just as much as Boo Bear does :). Seriously. He's so funny when he knows he's going for a ride.

We got to see the "coolest uncle ever" per my kiddos words. I think he's pretty neat myself.

We added in a little education while on vacation. We went to see a Civil War Reenactment. It was a little memorial park near my folks house and was the first time I had ever seen anything like it. We talked about it a little and I plan on doing a study on the war soon. He had a blast seeing the cannons and guns fire and the battle take place.

I also introduced my kiddo to the yummiest Grape flavored drink ever. I mean it. Ever!

Of course you can only get it up there where my parents live. So when we ran out my kiddo asked them to bring some back with them :). 

This week was back to school. We got started on our new Human Anatomy Apologia Science book. I'm combing it with the Visual Learning Systems we reviewed a few weeks ago. It works well to pick out the specific topics, like cells, to dig a little deeper into.

We worked on our cursive handwriting, reading and math as well. It was kind of a lighter week for us as we were traveling Monday and Tuesday was a recuperate day. We did a few Easter crafts this week too.

I am finding myself a little sad. I love all the crafts and things I see on Pinterest but I have to admit they are usually the preschool ones. Sigh.. My kiddo is growing up way tooooo fast for my liking. He's almost as tall as Mimi now!

I don't know why it bugged me this week so much but it did. :-) One of those, holy cow my kiddo is going to turn 9 soon and he's not into the "little" kid stuff anymore. Anybody else out there have one of those weeks?

At least he still likes to color Easter eggs with me :). We did those last night since we have a lot of stuff planned in the next few days.

So what have you guys been up to this week? Did you have any special Easter events or do you have any traditions for the weekend? We are excited about church Sunday morning and celebrating the resurrection. Hope you have a blessed weekend ahead!!


I'm linking up with Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers, Homegrown Learners and Our 4 Kiddos.