This is my absolute favorite stand alone science curriculum. This is a Biblically based curriculum. It is written for the elementary grade levels. The material is taught by the immersion approach. Meaning that the student is immersed in the learning of the topic, and studies it for the entire school year, instead of the spiral approach, where they learn a little about many topics each year, and continue to build on that each following year. Instead of spending two weeks on the ocean and its creatures, then moving on to weather, then to botany, the students get a much deeper, thorough understanding over the course of the year on one topic. Jeannie Fulbright has come out with seven books so far. We have used all of them except for the Chemistry and Physics book. They can be found at
https://www.apologia.com/187-k-6th-grade .
Exploring Creation with Astronomy https://www.apologia.com/61-astronomy
Exploring Creation with Botany https://www.apologia.com/62-botany
Exploring Creation with Zoology 1: Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day https://www.apologia.com/63-zoology-1
Exploring Creation with Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day https://www.apologia.com/64-zoology-2
Exploring Creation with Zoology 3: Land Animals of the Sixth Day https://www.apologia.com/65-zoology-3
Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology https://www.apologia.com/66-ana
Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics https://www.apologia.com/79-chemistry-physics
This curriculum is flexible enough the you can teach the lesson to multiple ages at the same time. Apologia list it as elementary for grades K-6, but I have used it for PK-Jr High, and have either simplified the information or added more detailed assignments for the Jr High student.
For supplemental materials, there are two levels of student notebooks that are available for purchase from apologia. They also offer an audio CD in MP3 format for most of their books, which is a huge plus for us with a dyslexic child.
The textbooks themselves, have “What Do You Remember?” and “Try This” at the end of the chapters. Each book also has “book extras” in a link with a password that is provided in the beginning of the book. It is usually videos that go with the lesson. (However, we just recently finished up with swimming creatures, and some of the links were no longer working.)
Of course if you look elsewhere online, there are bountiful resources that you can add to your curriculum. Pinterest is loaded with craft ideas, coloring pages, lapbooks, and notebook pages. (Just be warned, some look free, but once you click on them, it is a link that will cost money to print if you want it.) Homeschoolshare.com has many lapbooks and resources that are free to download and print. If you want a complete lapbook that has everything ready to go so that you do not need to research, knowledeboxcentral.com has a nice lapbook that you can either purchase and download or purchase preprinted and have it mailed to you. So the options are great.
For us, we have used all of the above options, except the preprinted purchased ones. We did download from knowledgeboxcentral.com. It did make a nice lapbook, but it takes a lot of time.
If you have a child who does not like to cut and paste….this is not the option for you….as was the case with us. What we ended up doing for future years, was a compromise between lapbook and notebooking. We used a composition book (you know the kind with the pages sewn in). Some days we wrote information in the book. Sometimes we recorded dates and timeline figures, and other days, we glued in lapbook pieces. It is a compromise, but since the pages are sewn in, it holds together nicely. Nobody says you have to do your book any certain way. You are the teacher. You decide what is best and you decide HOW YOUR student should show what they are learning. There is no ONE right way.
