Apologia Educational Ministries Review

I have been busily searching for a great Bible curriculum to use with Hailey next year.  I never found anything I was super happy with this year, so I have kind of just pieced things together as went along.  Next year I’ll have a newborn, so I want to make sure I find something that is nicely laid out for me without much prep work involved.  I was given the chance to review What on Earth Can I Do? from Apologia Educational Ministries and I was really excited to check it out.  I knew that Apologia has a great science curriculum, but I didn’t realize they had a Bible curriculum as well.

We used What on Earth Can I Do? ($39.00), the What on Earth Can I Do? Junior Notebooking Journal ($24.00) and the What on Earth Can I Do? Coloring Book ($8.00).  We also received the What on Earth Can I Do Notebooking Journal ($24.00).

What On Earth Can I Do? is the 4th book in the christian worldview series- What We Believe by Apologia.  The book is a hardcover textbook that has 8 lessons and 294 pages that helps children understand that God gave each of us special gifts to be used for His glory.  It is designed to be used with children in grades 1-6.  The lessons can be spread out as long as you see fit for your family.  There is a suggested schedule at the beginning of the book which would make each lesson last for 3 weeks.  You could stretch them out longer or do them quicker, whatever works best for you.

The 8 lessons cover:

1. Your story or God’s story?
2. Who put you in charge?
3. Will you be found faithful?
4. Where is your treasure?
5. Where does your time go?
6. Whose life is it anyway?
7. Why isn’t it easy being green?
8. What will happen when the master returns?

Then, within those lessons there are several components that you will see covered each time.  For example, each lesson has a section called The Big Idea which introduces the main topic in that lesson.  There will also be a Short Story which tells a story about other children and gives a little glimpse into their lives.  There is also a section called Hide It in Your Heart– where there are memory verses for your child to memorize.  You will also find a section called Parables of Jesus which is a parable from the Bible that has been adapted to help students have a better understanding of the story.  There are several other important components to each lesson, but that is just a brief description of a some of them.

We also used the Junior Notebooking Journal, for the younger elementary aged children, to go along with our studies. It is a spiral bound book that is 184 pages.  In the front of the journal there is a lesson plan guide to help you plan when to read what and which notebooking pages to do.  Again, it is a suggested schedule and you should use the pace that works best for your family.  The Notebooking Journal, meant for the older elementary aged children is also spiral bound and is 236 pages.  It is geared for kids who are ready to do more writing than what is included in the Junior Notebooking Journal.

The Coloring Book has pages to color that will go along with what you are reading to your child.

So, how did we use What on Earth Can I Do?

I planned to have our lessons be a little shorter than the recommended schedule in the book.  Hailey usually gets a little restless if I read too long, so I didn’t want her to get tired of listening to me read.  Plus, with a busy toddler, sometimes it’s hard to have uninterrupted reading time.  But, when I was reading the short stories or the parables for Jesus, Hailey begged me to read a little bit more.  And, Hunter actually sat and listened too.

While I read to Hailey from the textbook, she colored in the coloring book.

After we read the section for the day in the textbook there were notebooking pages to be completed.

 This particular page is called “I Spy.”  Hailey had to write or draw about where she had seen God’s works recently.  She decided to draw a rainy day where the sun came out and then a rainbow formed.

We also learned about what a tapestry is and how God uses the different events in our lives to develop us into who we are today.  Hailey had to design a tapestry that showed important scenes from her life.  She included things like when she was born, when Hunter was born, her first day of school, doing gymnastics and more.

She made this mini book about the fabric of her life.

There are also pages to help reinforce vocabulary being learned, such as word searches and cross word puzzles.

What On Earth Can I Do involves very little prep on the part of the parent- just get your textbook and notebooking journal out and you’ll be ready to go.  I found it to be easy to use and Hailey enjoyed listening to the readings.

Here is what is boils down to for me:

Pros:
Hailey really enjoyed the stories, and I did too.  They really kept our attention and we did not want to stop reading.
The notebooking journal reinforced what we were reading and had fun and educational activities.
It is easily adaptable for a variety of ages.
You can make the lessons as long or as short as you need them to be for the attention span of your children.

Cons:
Ummmmm… I can’t think of any 🙂  It is so easy to adapt it to fit your needs that I don’t think there are any cons.

Want to see some more of Apologia?  Check them out here:

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Week In Review

We have been busily preparing for a trip to Disney World by studying the various countries at Epcot, learning about Walt Disney, and about how roller coasters work.  We left on May 9th for Disney World and we came home on the 20th.  We had a fantastic time!!  Here is just a tiny peek into some of the educational things we did while we were there.

We visited all of the countries we had studied:

Hailey in Mexico

Hunter and Hailey in Norway

We ate lunch in America

Hailey in Japan

Hailey in Morocco

Hailey and Hunter in France

Hailey in Canada

Hailey in China

Hailey in Germany

Hailey in Italy

Hailey in the United Kingdom

We stopped and colored at the various Kidcot stops and learned some more about the countries.

While we were at Epcot we also visited the butterfly garden.

Hailey even had a butterfly crawl on her hand.

While we were at Hollywood Studios we visited One Man’s Dream- a museum all about Walt Disney.  Hailey wasn’t too excited about going in at first, but she ended up loving it.  She was stopping and reading everything and was excited when we would see something we had read about before our trip in Who Was Walt Disney?

Part of our day at Animal Kingdom was spent doing the Wilderness Explorer program- very fun and educational.

Hailey and Hunter worked on matching up dinosaur teeth.

Hailey searching for various animals.

Trying to figure out a code in the Wilderness Explorer book.

Of course, we also saw lots of animals:

Hailey brushing a goat.

Hailey was very interested in this macaw.  We stayed after the show so she could ask some questions and get her picture taken with it.

She was brave enough to touch this snake and also asked several questions about it.

On the safari ride, we saw crocodiles,

giraffes,

zebras,

a lion… and so much more!

And of course, we studied how rides and roller coasters work, so we had to get some real life experience with those too 🙂

Hailey on her favorite ride at Magic Kingdom- Splash Mountain.

Hailey’s favorite ride at Epcot- Test Track.

Waiting to go on Thunder Mountain Railroad.

Hailey’s favorite ride at Hollywood Studios- the Tower of Terror.

We had a wonderful trip, and of course, we can’t wait to go back!

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Poppins Book Nook- Folktales

The theme this month for Poppins Book Nook was folktales.

It was another crazy busy month here- but for a good reason this time.  We left on May 9th and didn’t get home until May 20th for a trip to Disney World!  So, there hasn’t been a whole lot of time this month to get a super creative activity done for Poppins Book Nook.  Here is what we did do:

We learned about Norway and read Three Billy Goats Gruff, a folktale from Norway.  We watched several different versions of the story on Youtube.

 Hailey and Hunter both made a troll.

Hunter showing off his troll.

Hailey retold the story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff- we used printables from Journey Into the World of Folktales from Enchanted Homeschooling Mom to make the goats.  First she drew a little backdrop on the white board, then she used her troll and the 3 billy goats to retell the story.

While we were in Disney World visiting Epcot, we stopped in for a visit in Norway.  After we went on the fun boat ride, Hailey and Hunter posed with this troll.  We also noticed that they had several different versions of Three Billy Goats Gruff on sale in their store.

Do you have a fun activity to share?

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Check out the other co-hosts for Poppins Book Nook:

Enchanted Homeschooling Mom ~ 3 Dinosaurs ~ To the Moon and Back ~ Planet Smarty Pants ~ Farm Fresh Adventures ~ Growing in God’s Grace ~ Chestnut Grove Academy ~ Learning and Growing the Piwi Way ~ The Usual Mayhem~ Preschool Powol Packets ~ Monsters Ed Homeschool Academy ~ Adventures in Mommydom ~ Teach Beside Me ~ Life with Moore Babies ~ Kathy’s Cluttered Mind ~ Are We There Yet? ~ Our Crafts N Things ~ Hopkins Homeschool ~ ABC Creative Learning ~ Joy Focused Learning ~ P is for Preschooler ~ Laugh and Learn ~ A Mommy’s Adventures ~ Inspiring 2 New Hampshire Children ~ World for Learning ~ Ever After in the Woods ~ Golden Grasses ~ Our Simple Kinda Life ~ A glimpse of our life ~ Journey to Excellence ~ Happy Little Homemaker ~ Little Homeschool Blessings ~ Simplicity Breeds Happiness ~ Raventhreads ~ Learning Fundamentals ~ Tots and Me ~ As We Walk Along The Road ~ Stir the Wonder ~ For This Season ~ Where Imagination Grows ~ Lextin Academy ~ The Canadian Homeschooler ~ School Time Snippets ~ Peakle Pie ~ Mom’s Heart ~ A Moment in our World ~ Every Bed of Roses ~ Finchnwren ~ At Home Where Life Happens ~ Suncoast Momma ~ The Library Adventure ~ Embracing Destiny ~ Day by Day in our World ~ Our Homeschool Studio ~ A “Peace” of Mind ~ Thou Shall Not Whine ~ SAHM I am ~ eLeMeNo-P Kids ~ Simple Living Mama

Tot School

Hunter is 29 months old.

We had a super fun week at Tot School last week- we were in Disney World!

This was the day we left for Disney.  We drove to a hotel the night before so we would be close to the airport we were flying out of.  In the morning the kids could hardly wait to leave for the airport.  I think you can see they were a little excited 🙂

Finally on the airplane.  Hunter did so good!  He slept for about an hour of our flight then was awake the rest of the time- but he was very good.  (Hailey was too!)

After we arrived in Disney World, we checked into our hotel and then took a short boat ride over to Magic Kingdom.

Here are some pictures from our 10 days there of the fun Hunter had at Magic Kingdom:

Hunter loved the train ride!

Dumbo was definitely one of his favorites.

Hunter and Hailey had their opera glasses on, all ready for Mickey’s Philharmagic.  It’s a fun 3D show and Hunter loved it!  When we were in Disney World back in August, Hunter didn’t get into the 3D shows, but this time he was reaching and trying to grab the things that were flying towards him.  It was so cute!

Hailey took Hunter (and Rich) on a ride around the Tomorrow Land Speedway.

Hunter loved meeting the princesses.  He enjoyed talking to Cinderella and getting her autograph.

Here are some pictures of the fun that Hunter had while at Hollywood Studios:

We went through the museum about Walt Disney and Hunter really enjoyed it!

Waiting in line at one of our favorite rides at Hollywood Studios- Toy Story Mania.

Hunter was so excited to meet one of his favorite characters- he loves Wreck it Ralph!

Of course, we had to meet Lightning McQueen..

and Mater.

Here are some pictures of some of the fun Hunter had while at Animal Kingdom:

Our family on our way into the park in the morning.

Hunter loved the dinosaurs!

Hunter and Hailey working on matching up some dinosaur fossils.

Hunter loved getting to pet and brush the animals.

I was very surprised that Hunter touched a snake- he does not usually like things like this.

Hailey and Hunter working on their Wilderness Explorer books.  There were fun and educational stations set up around the park for this program and they both loved it!

Here are a few pictures of the fun that Hunter had when we visited Epcot:

One of Hunter’s favorite things to do was seeing the characters- especially Minnie Mouse.

Hunter and Hailey in Bruce’s mouth.

Hunter loved stopping at the Kidcot stops to work on coloring his Duffy the Bear.

We visited Norway and saw the trolls.

We had lunch in America.

We stopped for a little visit in France.

We also spent some time in Mexico.

We walked through the butterfly garden too.

We had a fantastic time!!  We’re all sad to back home- Hunter had such a hard time coming back home.  He kept crying on our way home saying he didn’t like his house and he wanted to go back to Disney World.  But we’re slowly settling back into our routine and getting back to normal.

Stop by 1+1+1=1 to see what the other tots were up to this week.

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