Finding a great science curriculum that I’m able to do with multiple children at once has proven to be a challenge so far in our household. I was thrilled to find out that I would get to try Exploring Creation with Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day from Apologia Educational Ministries. We got the chance to try out the textbook, as well as the Junior Notebooking Journal.
The 235 page hardback textbook is recommended for grades Kindergarten through 6th grade and retails for $39. The 296 page soft-cover, spiral-bound Junior Notebooking Journal is recommended for grades Kindergarten through 3rd grade and retails for $24.
 |
| Zoology 2 Textbook |
- 13 Lessons, each broken into several subsections to be spaced out over a short or long period of time depending on how the family schedules the lessons.
- It is full of colorful pictures.
- There is an included Step-By-Step Guide to using the book, which is exceptionally helpful for parents new to the program!
- Included in the beginning of the book is a clear, concise list of ALL items and supplies needed to complete every lesson. No surprises later on! (Most of the supplies are things you’ll already have lying around, too.)
- The book takes an immersion approach, allowing students to fully engulf themselves in the lessons without simply skimming over the information.
- There are tons of ideas within this text for experiments, notebook activities, and narrative questions (with answers included in the back of the book).
- The text takes a heavily God-centered, creationist approach, so if you are seeking something secular, this curriculum is not for your family.
- Reading this book can be a bit ‘dry’ with younger kids. You will likely want to supplement with related books that are easy readers for them to do further research. However, this makes the text excellent for older readers to read independently as it is full of descriptive information at a higher reading level.
- There are 13 lessons, which could be stretched out to 2-3 weeks. Science lessons could easily be done each day or scheduled to just 2-3 days per week. There is a lot of flexibility!
- Multiple age levels can use the same text. You can supplement with the Junior or regular versions of the Notebooking Journals to further their studies and still combine teaching students together.
 |
| JUNIOR Notebooking Journal for Zoology 2 |
The notebooking aspect of this Apologia text was somewhat new to me. I have done notebooking with my kids in the past, but I am used to scrambling around the internet to look for ideas. Pulling them together to make some sort of a cohesive end product to go along with our unit studies has been a struggle. This book is really neat! It truly has everything you need RIGHT there, contained within the spiral-bound book. The author, Jeannie Fulbright (she also wrote the textbook), does an excellent job of putting everything in one place in a very sensible manner.
There is a suggested schedule, which I found helpful! It breaks the activities into 2 days per week of notebooking. Each lesson has color pages, notebooking assignments, activities, and projects. There is copywork, there are included cut and fold miniature books, and there are suggestions to help your students Dive Deeper. There are even sheets for you to use if you decide to go on a related field trip! It really does tie everything together nicely and helps a somewhat scatterbrained mom, such as myself, to feel more in control while also being able to do more “fun” things!
The first, and largest, portion of the notebook is all black and white and is where the student will fill in their answers to questions, do their copywork, color pictures, or make things to go along with what they’ve been reading in the textbook. The last section of the book contains full-color minibooks. You can check out a sample of the contents.
 |
| On the left, you see the textbook. On the right is a small portion of the junior notebook that goes with the text’s information. Lots of lines for copywork, story telling, research, and more! |
This is a very well-done review. Great work, Jenn! Thanks so much for taking the time and energy to share it.
Warmly,
Kate
We love the Apologia books. My son has read through them more than once. They are very well written.
I recently started using SpellingCity.com to make up vocabulary lists using the science terminology. I’ll make a list of the words with their definitions. My kids then use these lists to play the word games, like match-it sentences. It’s a great way to reinforce what they’ve read in the unit…and for me to see how well they understood what they read.
Thanks for the thorough review!