Exploring Creation- With Apologia!

I mentioned in my back to school blog post that we were doing the Apologia Exploring Creation series with my 1st grader.  I have gone through all of these books, except the newest one, once already with my older kids and loved them, so repeating them with our youngest was a no brainer.  The hardest thing was deciding which one to start with.  I know, you should probably start with Zoology 1, but oh well, we began with #3 Land Animals, because that's how we roll!  Plus, CJ picked it!

You can often find him sneaking the book off to look at the pictures himself!  This kiddo loves animals.

If you have never used one of these great books written by Jeannie Fulbright, you are in for a treat.  They are science books for believers.  Yes, each page is written from a Christian's point of view.  Not only is there no evolution, but every thing she writes points back to the marvelous Creator with awe and thankfulness.  I love that we can study God and all He made daily.  The new junior level notebooks that you can purchase make scheduling a breeze and are at a slightly easier level.

Another thing we love about these books are their activities.  Experiments are a challenge for me.  Not that I cannot do them, but that I would prefer not to.  I know, bad mom, lazy teacher.  It's just that the thought of paper, glue, pieces, parts and on and on makes me cringe.  Just give me a workbook and call it good!  (ok, there is my homeschool mom confession for the week!  No judging please)  BUT, let's face it- kids LOVE experiments.  And projects.  And glue. And pieces. And parts.  ugh!

Luckily for my kids, the projects that Apologia recommends are fun and not too labor intensive (read messy
here), so I do give in and do some.  The first one we did with Land Animals was a camouflage experiment using M&Ms. See why I said YES to that one?

While we did not get the results that we were supposed to, CJ had a lot of fun trying, I got to eat M&Ms and all was good!

The other big project these great books recommend is a shadow box of some sort to put your animals in.  Fun, cute, and relatively easy!

We choose to use a lid of a big box to do this in and so far it has worked out OK.  You can either buy little animals to add in (that would have been MY choice) or you can make them with clay or playdough (wouldn't you know it, that was CJ's choice)  Since we are only a few week in we only have a few animals so far, but EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. he asks if we can add another animal.

Can you guess what they are?  Me neither! ;)

Yes, we do other subjects, but this is by far one of his favorites!  Just in case you were wondering!

I would love to hear what YOU do for science in your house?

Blessings,

Oh, and guess what? We just got the newest in the series for review!  Keep your eyes out for the Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics review next month!  Can you believe it...I am actually doing experiments almost every day!  I think I should get an award or something!