Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

It is important for me to note at the outset that we are a Jewish family and this is very much a Christian program, however, it is easy for me as the mother to read around the few bits that are overtly Christian. I recommend that homeschoolers from other faiths do not dismiss this outstanding program because of the Christian content. This is the perfect science program for all homeschooling families who are giving their children a Classical education. "Spiral learning" seem to be the current flavor of the month in educational circles. This means that I keep on finding science programs that touch on an enormous amount of topics but don't deal with them in any depth. This is exactly what I do not want. We subscribe to the maxim, "Multum non Multa" - not many things (multa), but much (multum). Jeannie Fubright's "Exploring Creation with..." fulfills this maxim perfectly. One topic is studied a year, e.g. Astronomy, Botany, Zoology and that topic is studied in great depth. With "Exploring Creation with Astronomy", our children are immersed in astronomy and learn about the stars and planets in great detail. Rather than touching on many, many scientific concepts, our children are focusing on the heavens for an entire year. By having the children narrate what they have heard after every lesson, I can tell whether our children have understood that particular lesson. Jeannie adds in really great activities at the end of every lesson that don't require expensive tools. I had most of the tools in our home already. As an example, in lesson one the children make a model of the solar system using balloons of different sizes, string, markers, construction paper, a measuring tape and thumbtacks. In lesson 7 the children build a model of Olympus Mons on Mars using homemade salt dough, a plastic bottle, vinegar, rocks, baking soda, red food coloring and dish washing liquid. This course is perfect for families with multiple age children as you can assign extra reading to the older children and require differing degrees of complexity from their narrations. Other great pluses for me: - Jeannie has written this in a conversational tone which makes it very easy to read ot the little ones - There is so much depth in it that I am fascinated all the time while I am doing this with the children, yet, the depth is not so complex that it goes over the children's heads. - Absolutely beautiful photographs from space adorn the pages - This last plus, may not be an issue for many of you, but I don't have the best vision and I find this book really easy to read. The publishers, Apologia, have used a bright, white matte paper with a clean font with double line spacing.