Homeschool Review Crew - Apologia Health and Nutrition

My high school daughter just started her Junior year and was in need of a health course, so I was thrilled to get a chance to review the Health and Nutrition Basic Set, Exploring Creation with Health and Nutrition by Dr. Laura Chase from  Apologia Educational Ministries.  This is Apologia's newest high school offering.

Also, there is a free activity book that I was so excited about that I actually downloaded it before I even received the curriculum through the mail. The 21 pages were packed with fun, educational activities like these:

NOW, LET'S JUMP INTO THE ACTUAL HEALTH AND NUTRITION CURRICULUM THAT I RECEIVED FOR REVIEW:

 What is Apologia Health and Nutrition?

This is the company's newest Health and Nutrition course offering. I received a very nice hardcover text and a spiral student book, which is where the student writes the course notes and completes answers to projects and activities throughout the modules. I only had one student to use this with, but if you need additional books for more than one student using the course, you can purchase an additional Student Notebook as needed.

How Did We Use It?

For starters, you open up the pages and get a clear picture of everything you will need throughout the year to use this course. Mainly, all you need are the two books: The text and student workbook, as well as some basic exercise equipment, padded floor or mat, tennis shoes, and a fitness ball (which we already have), there is also a password included to be used for internet book extras which includes a solutions manual and additional learning aid links to enhance the topics found in each module.

It also has the option of further extending your study online. A password is provided in the book to access additional links and such on the Apologia site of book extras:

I looked over the curriculum and then handed it over to my daughter who is a Junior in high school this year. She was thrilled about working through the course book and started right away. She plans on using this over the course of the full year and was excited to see that the full-year schedule breaks the lessons down into three per week since once her school year gets going full swing, she also plans to get a job this year while juggling her music and theatrical interests, so she will most likely be focused on full-time schooling only three days a week. The book can, however, alternatively also be used five days a week and finished in a semester.

The book is presented in chapters of study, called Modules. Within these modules, there are sections for Projects and On Your Own questions and activities. The student workbook provides space to jot down notes as well as question/answer style pages for the student to fill in their answers.

The modules begin with an introduction to why health and nutrition are important, followed by Module 2 that includes a study of physical influences on thoughts and feelings. Module 3 delves into mental and emotional stability.

Not far into the course, the book includes interesting information about personality types, followed by having the student take a personality assessment to determine their unique style.

The modules continue with information about senses, nutrition, hydration, macronutrients, micronutrients, an in-depth look into what you eat, the importance of oxygen, a unit on exercise, diseases, and reproduction, which is presented as a special gift from God.

All in all, the book contains a total of 15 modules followed by tests and an evaluation guide.

Before you proceed to the tests, the student gets a heads up message in the book:

Within each Module, the information is designed to include reading sections of text followed by projects.

Spattered throughout are purple boxes that include interesting tidbits of information. These sections are called Think About This:

The answers to the On Your Own Questions are included in the text to allow the students to work independently and self-check their work as they progress.

What Did We Think?

My daughter needed a health class this year for graduation requirements. I had looked at another curriculum that we had planned to use, but when I saw Apologia had a new course offering, I was very excited. I am a huge fan of Apologia, and I especially was interested in presenting a high school level health study, that would cover potentially sensitive topics, from a Christian perspective. I showed her this one, and I asked her to compare the two and decide which one she wanted to study. She looked them both over very closely and decided she preferred Apologia. One of the reasons why was that Apologia provided a suggested schedule which made it easy for her to follow the lessons and pace herself. After taking a sneak peek into the rest of the modules she will be studying throughout the year, I think she made a very good choice.

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Affiliate Program - https://www.apologia.com/cms/12/apologia-affiliates

Read what other members of the Homeschool Review Crew thought by clicking on the picture below:

Homeschool Review Crew - Apologia Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology Science

I was thrilled to get a chance to review Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology from Apologia and can't wait to tell you about this wonderful curriculum.

What is Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology from Apologia?

I received a nice set of:

Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology Text
Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology Junior Notebooking Journal (for early writers K-2nd or 3rd)
Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology Notebooking Journal  (for Grades 3-4+)
Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology MP3 Audio CD

Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology Text is the meat of the curriculum and is intended to be used with elementary aged students.

Junior Notebooking Journal and Notebooking Journal  - I received two levels of the notebooking journal. The Junior Notebooking Journal is intended to be used with early writers or students in Kindergarten through 2nd or 3rd grade (Sometimes that third grader is on the verge and not quite ready to plunge forward so this would be perfect for them.)

The other Notebooking Journal is intended for students in Grades 3 through 4, or above. 

There are a few differences in the levels with the main differences being that in the older journal has crossword puzzles and longer scriptures on the copy work pages while the junior level has more coloring pages and shorter scriptures for copy work. Both journals seem to have the same full-color build-a-skeleton Personal person transparency overlays and cut-out mini books and such at the end.

Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology MP3 Audio CD. This is a really nice feature. It is the text read by Jeannie Fulbright and is especially wonderful to be used with audio learners or for days when mama wants to rest her voice, or has lost her voice due to laryngitis. Personally, I found her voice to be smooth and easy to listen to which is an important factor for us. It also works great for slower readers or those with dyslexia or other learning challenges that make reading a struggle. Please note that it is an MP3 audio CD. This matters when you go to play it as it will only play on devices that allow for MP3 audio CDs.

The text contains 14 lessons. The suggested daily schedule lays out four to seven assignments per lesson. If you do two daily assignments a week, the course will take a full year to complete.

Included in the lessons are:

Lesson 1 - Introduction to Anatomy and Physiology

Lesson 2 - The Skeletal System

Lesson 3 - The Muscular System

Lesson 4 - The Digestive and Renal Systems

Lesson 5 - Health and Nutrition

Lesson 6 - The Respiratory System

Lesson 7 - Life in the Blood

Lesson 8 - The Cardiovascular System

Lesson 9 - The Nervous and Endocrine Systems

Lesson 10 - The Nervous System Extended

Lesson 11 - Your Senses

Lesson 12 - The Integumentary System

Lesson 13 - The Lymphatic and Immune System

Lesson 14 - Growth and Development

 

The lessons contain information about the topic being learned with hands-on activities interspersed throughout as a Try This section, and then each lesson ends with an experiment or a project. All of the necessary items to conduct the experiments or to complete the projects are listed toward the front of the book.

At the end of each lesson, there are notebooking assignments that correspond to what you have just learned within the lesson you are studying.These consist of written exercises, illustrating concepts and other hands-on activities.

There is also a Personal Person activity in the notebooks. This is a fun hands-on activity where the student basically builds a person out of paper and transparencies with pictures of organs that overlay each other.

The course also contains some book extras on their website when you use a special code that is provided in the book. I'm really glad I discovered this portion of the book as there are some really useful extras included, like this little video in the lungs lesson that also had a quiz and an activity sheet about lungs, but there is so much more to explore as well.

How Did We Use It?

I presented this to my youngest as she is currently finishing up another one of Apologia's science courses. While she is toward the end of her elementary years, she actually surprised me that she chose the notebook journal for the older student rather than the younger version. The reason it surprised me is that she absolutely loves to color and do hands-on projects, so I really expected her to choose the Junior version of the notebook journal. But, her reasoning is that the crossword puzzles in the book for older students sounded like fun.

What Did We Think?

I am a huge fan of Apologia, and this course kept up right in line with my high hopes and opinions of the publisher so as to not disappoint. I love how the studies point back to God, and I absolutely love that they include hands-on journals in addition to the in-book experiments.

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Apologia also offers an affiliate program - Apologia Affiliate Program

Read what other members of the Homeschool Review Crew thought by clicking on the picture below:

Homeschool Review Crew - Apologia Marine Biology

I was thrilled to get a chance to review the Marine Biology 2nd Edition Advantage Set from Apologia Educational Ministries. I also received the Marine Biology 2nd Edition Audio CD, read by Marissa Leinart.

The set includes the hardcover text, witten by Sherri Seligson, tests, paperback solutions book, and student notebook. You may purchase separately the Marine Biology 2nd Edition Audio CD, read by Marissa Leinart.

A very nice package of information that included a thick hardcover text, a spiral-bound glossy paperback student notebook (work text), a Solutions and Tests guide, Tests for the student, and an MP3 disc of the entire book in audio format.

What is Apologia Marine Biology?

This is a high school course, considered to be a college prep level, that spans two semesters and is intended to be taken after high school biology. It connects Scripture and creation with science and is one of the few homeschool science programs that includes ecology as an important part of the curriculum. This is a complete high school level course complete with labs and has everything you need except for lab supplies.

What makes the program unique is the way it is written takes even the most complex concepts and makes them easy to understand.


The hardcover text book is a thick full course text. Included in the text are 16 modules that cover

1. The Oceans of our planet
2. Life In the sea
3. The First four kingdoms
4. Marine invertebrates 1
5. Marine invertebrates II
6. Marine vertebrates I
7. Marine vertebrates II
8. Marine ecology
9. The intertidal zone
10. Estuary communities
11. Coral reefs
12. Continental shelf communities
13. The epipelagic zone
14. The deep ocean
15. Ocean resources
16. Effects of humans on the sea

The end of the book contains a glossary, appendixes with reference figures and tables, module summaries, and a complete list of lab supplies as well as an index.


The student book is a spiral-bound glossy paperback workbook style of book that includes questions, and lab worksheets. 

The Student Notebook is a nice way to review what you have learned and provides places to jot down notes as well. It has a Daily Schedule in the front that the student is able to check off as they complete each day's worth of work.

The notebook provides pages where the student can take notes, On Your Own Questions and workbook space to answer, followed by Study Guide Questions with blank workbook space to fill in the answers. There is also an optional summary of each module. The last few pages is a section of tips on how to present your research information and how to create a presentation poster.

The CD is an MP3 CD which means that to listen to it, you need a computer or a player that is compatible with MP3 CDs. The MP3 Audio Book CD contains a complete audio recording of the course read by Marissa Leinart. Her voice is very easy to listen to, and the CD is a really nice companion to the book for audible learners or for those who have learning disabilities that make it difficult to read for comprehension.

And, of course, a huge bonus to Apologia's curriculum is how it links everything to the Bible, Scripture, and Creation.

HOW DOES THE CURRICULUM WORK:

Within each module, you will find the lesson information along with colorful illustrations and spotlight boxes such as "dive in" which offers further tidbits of interest, "On Your Own" which asks questions about what you have read so far, or "think about this", which presents interesting concepts.

At the end of each module, there are experiments presented that include a list of supplies and instructions on how to conduct them. Each lab experiment includes the scientific elements of Hypothesis, Procedure, Conclusion. After the experiments in each module, you will find the answer to the On Your Own questions and the study guide questions that are also found in the student notebook.

 

LABS

All of the labs include a list of items needed. Many of them use household items. The ones that require buying something to complete the lab is also laid out so you know what you need before it's time for the lab to begin.

How Did We Use It?

I have a high school sophomore and a high school senior this year, so I had to make a decision as to who I wanted to help me with the review. I chose my sophomore.

What Did We Think?

This program is very easy to follow. My daughter loves to read on her own and then use my help only when necessary, but I did play the audio of the MP3 and loved the idea that she could plop it into her computer whenever she wanted to hear the lesson instead. I loved how all of the lab supplies was listed well in advance of needing them. I mostly love how Apologia links creation and Scripture with science.

FIND APOLOGIA ON SOCIAL MEDIA @:

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Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/apologia/

Read what other members of the Homeschool Review Crew thought by clicking on the picture below: