Science is a topic my kids just love! It doesn't feel like learning to them, it just feels like fun. We could have science class every day and they would be perfectly fine with that. We had a chance to review the Christian Kids Explore series from Bright Ideas Press. We chose Biology because it fit right in with what we were already studying.
Every spring I like to order caterpillars so we can watch them transform into butterflies.This year we also got an ant hill. But the best fun ever was hatching chicks! At this time of year we also do a lot of observing. The trees budding and the flowers popping up everywhere give so many opportunities to discuss God's creation and how He cares for every living thing. Garden planning is also in the works.
Christian Kids Explore Biology had units for all of these topics. You can see the table of contents here, there are so many studies to choose from. This nearly 300 page softcover book was written to be a full year science course. I believe you could use it even longer if you wanted to. The schedule of 35 lessons allows for 2 lessons per week. This gives families time to do the projects, go on field trips and explore the resource books listed in the book. Here is just a sample of the book list to give you an idea of what books could be used to explore a topic even further.
What we liked...
I like having the well laid out lesson plans, I am not a good planner. This enables me to actually DO the lesson instead of just planning on doing it. I was also glad for the materials list provided by unit, and that most of the items were very easy to obtain. It is user friendly for both the teacher and the student. I really really love that every bit of this book is Christian! I don't have to watch what we read or see at all in this book. It was written by a homeschool mom who saw a need for this and filled it. Thank you Stephanie Redmond!
The kids (OK me too) liked the coloring pages. They really are unique! The picture on the book cover above is the Creation coloring page all colored in. They enjoy adding papers to their notebooks to show off to friends and family when they visit. The scripture memory cards in the appendix have been very helpful. We printed them on colored paper and laminated them so we can use them over and over.
We plan to make an ABC animal book from the plans in Appendix D over the summer. There are suggested animals for every letter of the alphabet, who knew there are actually animals that start with X?
Christian Kids Explore Biology is available from Bright Ideas Press for $34.95. The pages are reproducible for multiple students, but for ease in printing a downloadable student activity book is also available for $12.95 and it is on sale right now for $7.95!
You can preview an entire week's lesson to see if Christian Kids Explore Biology might be a good fit for your family. A sample lesson plan is also available.
Disclaimer ~ We received this product at no cost in exchange for an honest review after using it in our homeschool as a part of The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew. No other compensation was given. All opinions expressed are my own.
I'm noticing the crew banner in your reviews. I had trouble using it one time and thought it didn't work any more. Guess I better try it again next time.
ReplyDeleteGreat review!