Four Violet Reviews: Apologia Educational Ministries ~ REVIEW

Do you ever have a moment in your homeschool when you think oh my goodness I have everything organized, figured out and ahead of schedule???? Yeah....no, I didn't think so, me neither. Which brings me to Senior year for Mahala, I can hardly even believe it is here. Why didn't anyone tell me it went this fast, this thing called life? Oh wait, someone did once, actually a few have I just didn't believe them. Gosh I wish I could rewind, but I can't and we must march on forward. Which happily brings me to my next Review. Entering into my Senior's life like a knight in shiny armor... Apologia Educational Ministries and their Marine Biology 2nd Edition Advantage Set and Marine Biology 2nd Edition Audio CD. I promise this was on our list to do, she has always been an animal lover and up until about a year ago she was planning to study Marine Science and attend the Vet program in Florida. But, like I said one minute she was sorting teddy bear counters for Math the next we are filling out applications for college. So, this was a pleasant Review blessing and I look forward to sharing how we used it towards the end of her summer.

This set consists of the newly revised edition and is filled with full color illustrations along with beautiful real life photos.

Here is what you get:
~Textbook
~ Solutions and Tests Manual
~Student Notebook

We received everything that we needed to complete this course and then some. You don't need to use the Marine Biology 2nd Edition Audio CD , but it is so extremely helpful if you have a kiddo with any learning disabilities or if they are just like me and need that extra audio help. Both Mahala and I have to reread things over and over and write out EVERYTHING, if we want to actually learn and remember it. We used it with other Apologia Science courses with Skylar because he has Dyslexia and an Auditory Processing Disorder. It was a major part in getting him all the way through Physics his Senior Year. Mahala has ADD and I suffer from it, yes I truly do. It is hard to keep her focused and not randomly thinking about how many licks it takes to get to the middle of a tootsie pop while we are trying to wrap up our school day. With the CD she reads along with it while using either a ruler or bookmark to keep her eyes where they need to be.

So, how did Mahala use this curriculum? Well, very independently...no need for help at all. Except she had me check her tests, but I even let her check her workbook answers herself. Normally, I would have her work 30+ minutes 5 days a week and that's about the recommendations as it is and makes this a perfect full year curriculum. But, since it was the end of summer and we did a ton of trips I had her only work on it 3 days a week on average. I'll be honest, with using the CD she ended up completing more work then what the suggested daily schedule indicated so I was totally a happy Momma with her working less days. At the rate she is going she will be finished at the 1st of the year for sure. Each day she would pick up from the day before listening to the CD as she read along and worked through the Student Notebook.

This curriculum is amazing, I have always found my kids all say the same thing...they love the simple conversational way that it is written. Even hard to understand topics can be deciphered when taught the way we have experienced with Apologia. The pictures are bright and clean, not outdated, cluttered and insignificant. There are lots of extra info, experiments and On Your Own questions to ponder and work on through out the course. And the Student Notebook is just as stellar in my opinion. You have a grading rubric for the experiments, a great resource for how to take Effective notes, a suggested daily schedule and in the back you will find a section for Presenting your research for a presentation. I would highly suggest any of the Apologia Senior High Sciences if you plan to homeschool upper levels. You can just relax and rest assure that what your kiddos will be learning is accurate and accelerated, not watered down information. Your children Will Learn and Enjoy while they are doing it. Here are some of the other Exploring Creation courses at the Senior High Level.... Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Advanced Biology, Advanced Chemistry and Advanced Physics. Mahala plans to continue on and finish the course.