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hereinantwerp
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The books by Jeanne Fulbright, especially "Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day?"
I am interested for myself because the samples, and the intricacy with which she looks at things, looks fascinating. But I am worried about feeling limited by just one subject for that long.
If you have used these, how have your kids enjoyed the books and activities?
Thanks for your opinions!
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sewcrazy
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We used the astronomy one last year, along with corresponding lapbook kit from Knowledge Box Central. My dd enjoyed it, and obviously retained a great deal of the info.
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LeeAnn
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Anne
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We are using this book now and we love it.  We are skipping around since this is the time of year to study insects. The book suggests doing this. Even though we are on one topic, there are many other subjects discussed. The shape of the wing, up draft, binomial nominclature (sp?)  , etc.
I have tried Noeo Science and I like this hands down. My dd 10 yo can read the assignments on her own and complete the activites and present them to the other dc as a report. The activities and the reading material are written for a child to read themselves but they are also very interesting to read aloud. I teach this book to all the different levels in our home.
I was skeptable about these books at first ( too textbook looking). One of my dear friends had a copy of the botony books and I was able to look it over. This is what closed the deal for me. The language the books are written is very CMish. I consider this a living book. It would be a good idea to thumb through a copy before buying just to see if it works for your family. The models on the website are exactly what is in the book for one lesson so it does give you a good idea what to expect. Good luck!
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CKwasniewski
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We tried this one, this year. I had very mixed feelings about Flying Creatures... The photos were beautiful, the detail of information was good for a middle school child.
However, I found the writing to be poor. It was painful for me or my dh to read aloud. Perhaps that would not bother a child who was reading it to himself...?
just my .02,
ck
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rm4mrfrus
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We just started this one last week. We are using it with my ds12, dd10 and ds8. DS12 adores birds so he is quite thrilled to be getting all this detailed info. We are not moving into the insect section because he is so excited about the bird part. We did Botany last year and while they were not thrilled with the subject, I think by the end, they had retained a lot of info and found plants more interesting than before we covered it.
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pipandpuddy
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We tried the botany, and it was boring. Picture and short chapter books from the library contained the same information and were so much more interesting. Karen
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MacBeth
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I have not seen the Flying Creatures book, but I wonder what the advantage is of using a book like this for elementary science rather than living books? How is it organized? Is it a more systematic account of flying life than a group of god picture books or topical books would be?
(BTW, I understand that there are times in our lives when one book is preferable to 100!  )
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BrendaPeter
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Since I'm not all that knowledgeable in any of the sciences, I've considered getting some of the Fulbright books mainly to educate myself. I was thinking of using them in the same way that Karen Andreola in "The Charlotte Mason Companion" recommends using "The Handbook of Nature Study". These are pretty much the only science textbooks I find appealing.
We own a ton of living science books but I find I could really use a spine to pull it all together.
Any recommendations other than these books?
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MacBeth
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BrendaPeter wrote:
Since I'm not all that knowledgeable in any of the sciences, I've considered getting some of the Fulbright books mainly to educate myself.
.....
We own a ton of living science books but I find I could really use a spine to pull it all together.
Any recommendations other than these books? |
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I hear you, Brenda!
I think I need to see a copy of the book. My concern is the topic of flying creatures. From a non-evolutionary/young earth perspective, no creatures are truly related, so I wonder if the author bounces about from birds to insects to bats to pterasaurs without making any distinction between analogous and homologous wing structure (or other structures). I'm just wondering how she approaches the topic, groups the creatures, etc.
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BrendaPeter
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I'm not sure if it's helpful or not but Rainbow Resources shows the entire index of the book.
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MacBeth
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Thanks Brenda. I see that she does classify them scientifically. It looks like a good spine, from the table of contents.
Makes me think, though, that there is a bit of irony in using traditional cladistics without evolution.
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BrendaPeter
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"Cladistics" - wow, that's a new term to me!
Macbeth, do you happen to have a list of books (on your website) that you recommend that would help sort out the evolution/creation issues?
Thx!
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MacBeth
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I'm on the road, Brenda...if I forget to get back to this in a day or two, bump it up.
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hereinantwerp
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MacBeth wrote:
I have not seen the Flying Creatures book, but I wonder what the advantage is of using a book like this for elementary science rather than living books? How is it organized? Is it a more systematic account of flying life than a group of god picture books or topical books would be?
(BTW, I understand that there are times in our lives when one book is preferable to 100! ) |
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Well that IS my big question, as I have collected some wonderful science books already, and always love an excuse to browse and bring bundles more home from the library!!
I guess what intrigues me about these books are that they look like they go into much more detail. I get a bit bored of the standard library book on birds, or etc.--2-4 page spreads covering life cycle, habitat, diet, etc. etc., no matter how beautiful the pictures, many of them just read the same after awhile. Maybe the Apologia books don't contain more detail than library ones, but I just wondered. And the idea of projects that tie right in, and the nature notebook and narrating work all there sort of "put together" , also looked attractive.
Structure and a "linear", complete approach always has a strong appeal for me--but a few months into the year I tend to inevitably drift toward a "free form", interest-directed approach anyway--that's probably what I ought to just start with!  I'm always holding out hope that someone else will come along and get me more organized.
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Bookswithtea
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We did this book last year. I bought it because I am not gifted in putting together science curriculum...mostly because I don't enjoy the topic.
I won't be doing the Apologia elem. science again. I found it excruciatingly boring to read aloud, to be honest with you. I felt a little tricked, like it was supposed to be "non textbooky" but really, it was. I read aloud to an 11 yr old and an 8 yr old. The 8 yr. old didn't retain much...its really best for 10-12 yr olds, imho. Also, we were just completely bored with birds after about 6 weeks but still had several chapters left. Same thing happened when we hit insects, too. I bought a science kit that was supposed to make all the experiments doable, but most of the science experiments in this kit involved nature study so the kit was a waste of money. If you like lapbooking, the Knowledge box central one was worth the money since the experiments were such a bomb for us (we used it the second semester).
On the upside, the 7 day creationist elements were not overbearing and were easy to skip over when reading aloud, if you want. Also, its an easy program to finish within a year, and there is no harm in letting younger kids sit in and listen.
We are using Sonlight's science this year. I like that they only use living books, but schedule them out for me and cover more topics within a year. Their elem. science schedules are not overbearingly difficult to finish within a year, unlike their schedules for history. They are also easy to use over a wide age range because the books are very colorful. Their program includes a dvd with all the experiments done for the children to watch, which makes it easy to have older children watch and then do it, without a lot of adult help. I have two who are dying to break into science experiments without any help from me, so this works for us.
.02
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BrendaPeter
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BrendaPeter wrote:
Macbeth, do you happen to have a list of books (on your website) that you recommend that would help sort out the evolution/creation issues? |
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Hope your trip went well Macbeth! I'm kind of jumping the gun on this as a friend just loaned me "The Death of Evolution". Have you read it?
Thx!
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Bookswithtea wrote:
We are using Sonlight's science this year. |
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Hi Books,
I was wondering - I keep looking at SL Science...but the complaint I have heard (and, now thinking about it, it is the only complaint I have heard...) is that the readings/books for the week don't correspond to the experiments.
Have you found this to be so? Maybe they have re-aligned them?
TIA,
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MacBeth
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BrendaPeter wrote:
BrendaPeter wrote:
Macbeth, do you happen to have a list of books (on your website) that you recommend that would help sort out the evolution/creation issues? |
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Hope your trip went well Macbeth! I'm kind of jumping the gun on this as a friend just loaned me "The Death of Evolution". Have you read it?
Thx!
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I have not read that one (I'll try and get to it soon), but I have a few books on intelligent design on my website that are well worth reading. Also, I recently enjoyed Ben Stein's film
Expelled--definitely a must-see.
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MacBeth
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I got a chance, while on my trip, to talk with a homeschooling mom who was using Apologia's Marine Biology book. I took a look through it, and got two impressions. First, it is well-done, with great illustrations, and a pleasant tone. The second was...it's a text book. And, of course, it does not claim to be anything else . It also seemed a bit "lite" to me, but for a student who needs science but is not planning to major in it in college, it's not a bad choice.
I discussed the "Flying Creatures" book with the same mom, and she thought it was a bit much. The creatures are unrelated, and after a chapter or two, her kids found that they were looking for living books again. 
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MacBeth
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hereinantwerp wrote:
I get a bit bored of the standard library book on birds, or etc.--2-4 page spreads covering life cycle, habitat, diet, etc. etc., no matter how beautiful the pictures, many of them just read the same after awhile.
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Have you ventured into the adult section for some books? In our library, the grown-up section has some wonderful large volumes of photographs, with more than just the standard 2-page spread on the life-cycle (I know what you mean! ). Also, for some specific "flying creatures" try National Geographic or Natural History articles (can you get these in a library in Antwerp...or is there an equivalent European periodical?).
I think it's OK if your study drifts away from the neat, linear path. More's the fun. Just document what you do, and you may be surprised by how it all fits together at the end of the rabbit trail.
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4Real Forums : Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science
Topic: opinions of Apologia Elementary science
