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Apologia Botany
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A little frustrated with the elem Botany. We started only a couple weeks late for the alternate schedule, and doing no more than 15 min or so at a crack (7&8yos), we are WAY behind! We are barely halfway through lesson 1 but we should be on at least lesson 2 (the 3rd lesson in the alt schedule). I have had to stop quite a few times to explain things to them, and it still feels way over their heads. They can hardly even tell me anything about Latin for scientific names. They had no clue who the Romans were with the togas and wreaths since they’ve only heard of the Romans putting Jesus on the cross. Also, I got the notebooking journal for both girls, too, but it has “extra” stuff in there and doesn’t follow the order of the book. We are so confused! Couple all this with the fact that it is impossible to find the right seeds for the experiments because it is almost winter here in MN, and we have a recipe for failure here.
I really need to do some sort of science this year, but I just don’t know that Botany should be it right now. Thoughts or advice?
Hi Sarah,
I am using the Botany book with my 5th grader this year. I think it is too much for my 2nd grader (7 yr old) Perhaps you could save it for a few years? It is a great book for 4th/5th year students I think. I am having the same problem with my 7 yr old because I thought I would do the Apologia Astronomy book with her and we are moving very slowly too. But does it really matter if you go slowly, as long as they are interested and learning? I hope this helps in some way!
Karen
The Apologia books are great, and our younger kids listen in, but there is a lot of information to cover. I find it helps to summarize the main points after reading, or skip some of the details entirely for that age group. Also, there should be Junior notebooks coming out soon for Botany – this month I believe. Perhaps those would be a better fit?
Or you could still use the journals, but don’t feel as if you must do everything in them. If your children enjoy drawing, perhaps they could record some observations that way in the spaces provided. Or if they like the mini book idea, let them put those together. The books don’t have to be all filled up immediately – observing plants and trees and learning about them can and should go on – you could use it like a nature notebook if you like.
We have not found that the journals do not follow the order of the book – what parts are you having trouble figuring out?
We have found that we have to work hard to keep up with the reading in the Oceanography book as well. We are doing a segment everyday! That keeps the lessons shorter.
Maybe you could divide the book up yourself instead of following their suggested schedule, and stretch it out over the whole year in incriments that fit your little ones.
I make my own reading assignments. We are using Botany and I will admit it is not my favorite, but I sort of figured it wouldn’t be. Animals or plants? Hmm … I liked learning about the animals better in the Zoology books.
My 4th grader, 9, loves the Botany book, and our kindies will sometimes participate in the hands-on stuff. AS for the experiments, we are not worrying too much. We always have a garden and we covered a lot of what they are covering this summer. I am book-marking certain things I want to do this Spring when planting time comes with the seeds. In the meantime, we still have some flowers hanging around here so we can disect them.
I wouldn’t worry about the schedule. If it takes more than a year, that is OK. We kind of rushed through Land Animals last year to keep on my schedule and I wish now we would have taken more time.
I have never used the notebooks, though our kids do have simple nature journals. I find that the notebooks seem … well, too notebookish … for my taste. Not sure I’ve helped much!
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