Over the past few years, Apologia has earned a place at the top of my list of favorite homeschool companies. I have never been disappointed in any of their products. We've used elementary science by Jeannie Fulbright, Educating the WholeHearted Child by Clay & Sally Clarkson (my favorite homeschool book!), and How to Have a HEART for your Kids by Rachael Carman. Apologia mixes my favorite elements of Charlotte Mason with solid, Biblical teaching. That's why I was excited to receive a box from them a few weeks ago, filled with some of their latest resources to review.
What we received:
Who Am I? And What am I Doing Here? is Book 2 in the 4 part series exploring Biblical worldview, written by John Hay and David Webb.
I know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but if you did, this one would earn high marks. It's a sturdy hardcover textbook with a Norman Rockwell painting of a little girl. Big Sis (10) immediately wanted to know what this book was about just based on the cover design.
The book is geared to the age 6-14 age range, but can be easily adapted for the whole family. It's written in a conversational, easy-to-read style that draws readers into the heart of the lessons and stories.
The book contains 8 lessons covering the following elements:
- The Big Idea - presents the basic premise of the lesson
- What Will You Do? - objectives
- Short story - a short story relating to the subject
- Think about it - comprehension questions
- Words you need to know - vocabulary words
- Hide it in your heart - Bible memory verses
- What should I do? - apply the lesson to real life
- Prayer
- Worldviews in focus - other cultures and worldviews
- What's the difference? - discussion questions
- House of truth - a visual aid to show a "house" being built with each new concept learned and its significance
The lessons are meaty and can start some great conversations for in-depth discussion with your kids. At the beginning of the book, there is a guide to using the curriculum which recommends a two day a week schedule for study. This can be adapted to best fit your needs. A slower pace with smaller bits of information might be more appropriate for the younger part of the age range.
The Notebooking Journal is the ideal companion to the textbook. There is a section in each lesson that encourages children to write down the answers to questions and explore the topic further. Big Sis really enjoyed this part since she loves to write. I think this will be a treasure to keep and look back on as well. The spiral bound book lays flat, making it easy to write in. I highly recommend using it to enhance the textbook and really make the lessons memorable.
The audio CD contains the text of the entire book read aloud. Younger children might like to follow along in the book while listening to the CD. It's also great for auditory learners. I always like to have books on CD to listen to during quiet time, while traveling in the car, or at bedtime. I think the CD is especially helpful for the Bible memory verses. Listening to them spoken over and over sometimes helps with memorization more than just reading them alone.
The coloring book is an inspiration! For the little ones, this visual representation of the main ideas of the lessons is great. It's also nice for keeping their attention and focus while you read the lesson aloud or listen to it on the CD. My girls love to color, so anything that involves coloring automatically grabs their attention. It's not your typical coloring book either -- it's high quality paper and drawings -- so even the older children can enjoy making this art to go along with the text.
Prices:
Textbook, $39
Notebooking journal, $24
Coloring book, $8
Audio CD, $19
Teaching my girls a Biblical worldview is absolutely essential to my role as a mom and homeschool teacher. It's a top priority and I take it seriously. I pray that they will be shielded as much as possible from the evil in this world, but I want to be sure they are equipped with the Truth and know how to think critically about life situations and apply their beliefs to their decision-making. This foundation is critical. Big Sis is at the age when her opinions are forming and it will affect her for the rest of her life. She's at that tween age when things like peer pressure become a reality rather than just a concept we've talked about. This book from Apologia helps me to teach her about God's love for her, her value, her place in this world, and the fact that not everyone follows the same faith that we do. It gives her solid facts on which to base her beliefs and an ability to apply them and defend them if need be.
I would like to write a series of posts on this and how we're using it, but time constraints prevent that right now. There's really so much information and material here that a single review doesn't do it justice. I would recommend viewing the samples online, the Table of Contents, and visiting the Crew blog for more reviews if you're interested in the What We Believe series.
Disclaimer: I received these resources at no cost for review purposes. No other compensation was given for my honest opinions.
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