We were recently given the opportunity to review Exploring Creation with Zoology 1: Flying Creature of the Fifth Day and the corresponding Junior Notebooking Journal from Apologia.
The Exploring Creation with Zoology 1: Creatures of the Fifth Day is a creation based elementary science textbook written by Jeannie Fulbright. This is one of six different textbooks in the Elementary Science curriculum from Apologia for Kindergarten thru 6th grade students.
The 240-page hardcover Zoology 1 textbook has 14 chapters filled with in-depth information covering birds, bats, pterosaurs, and insects. In the front of the textbook is a great "introduction" section for the parent that has useful & helpful information about using the textbook. Also, each textbook comes with a "password" to use in the course website for lots of nifty extras! There are many full-color pictures, notebooking ideas, and projects & experiments in the textbook that correspond with each lesson....all for a fair price of $39.
The Junior Notebooking Journal, which is intended for K-2, includes coloring pages, copywork, crossword puzzles, book suggestion lists, and many other notebooking elements in a neatly spiral-bound notebook for $24. Also, a suggested schedule for reading the textbook and completing the lesson activities is provided in the front of the notebooking journal (There is also a Notebooking Journal for older students).
It isn't necessary to complete the lessons in this textbook in the exact order...but it is suggested to start with lesson 1....and that is where we started.
Lesson 1: What is Zoology?
When I first opened up the book to review it before "testing" it out on my Eli (7 years, ADHD & suspected Asperger's) I was a little hesitant....there is a lot of reading to be done! I wondered if Eli would even sit long enough to listen, let alone absorb any of the information. To my surprise though, Eli did sit through the first page of reading, & then for the second page, and so on....it helped to have him working on the coloring pages from the notebooking journal while I read. Even little Everett enjoyed the coloring pages!
Eli was very interested in the animal classification section, so we spent a little extra time doing other worksheets and games about animal classification. After animal classification the textbook goes in to flight and uplifting pressure (birds), we are planning on getting back to that when we start our birds study in the spring(it has been way to cold outside for bird studies right now). So we skipped over to habitats, animal instincts, and extinction. Again, I was thrilled when Eli sat through all of the reading...
During our reading time, Eli enjoyed looking at the pictures in the textbook and would make comments or ask questions, which lead to some great discussions about animals that really showed that he was absorbing all of the information.
We were able to use {most of} the Scavenger Hunt that is in the notebooking journal on a field trip that we went on about "Who is in the Wild"
Overall, we really like the textbook and notebooking journal; we plan to continue to use it this spring & summer to study birds and insects, and then finish it up next fall with the bats and pterosaurs!
I hope you have enjoyed this review!
God Bless,
Jenny
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this curriculum for an honest review as part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew.