Exploring Creation with General Science--2nd Edition

“But how do teach the upper level classes like math and science?” I wish I had a dollar for everytime I have been asked that question. It is a common question asked by beginning homeschoolers sure they won’t last through the high school years and friends and relations who really don’t understand the motivation to keep educating kids through the teen years. Since I have now graduated two lovely young ladies from my home school I find myself ready to answer the question more and more.

Homeschooling for high school does seem like a daunting task at first glance. I remember attending a homeschool convention the summer before my oldest daughter was to enter 7th grade. I happened into a workshop held by Marilyn Durnell, co-author of Apologia Science’s Exploring Creation with Biology. She gave a lovely presentation focused on the topic of teaching high school sciences. I found it very encouraging and loved listening to her as she instantly reminded me of my paternal grandmother. I left the workshop, traveled to the Apologia booth, purchased Exploring Creation with General Science 1st edition and never looked back.

Almost 7 years later I still look to Apologia for reassurance and quality upper level science curriculum. I have met founder Dr. Jay Wile on two occasions and been inspired and encouraged by his presentations. Dr. Wile recently sold Apologia to Davis and Rachael Carman who are dedicated to continuing the quality, vision and integrity of the company.

Apologia Science upper level science texts are designed to mentor students and encourage independent study. Mom or Dad will NOT be required to re-take their high school Biology, Chemistry or Physics class in order to keep pace with students. All test and problem answers are easily found within solutions manuals. The text is written in an engaging conversational style directed to the student. If the student reads and comprehends the text it will serve as the all important lecture portion of any course.

Much to my pleasure lab experiments usually conclude with a brief, yet gentle reminder to “clean up your mess and put things away”. Dr. Wile has designed all of his texts for mentoring students who can work independently; the ideal work environment for the highschool homeschool.

I have three students that have completed Apologia’s Exploring Creation with General Science-1st edition, Exploring Creation with Biology-1st edition and Exploring Creation with Chemistry-2nd edition. My oldest daughter, currently a college student majoring in Mechanical Engineering, also completed Exploring Creation with Physics her Senior year of high school and needed me only for grading her tests. It was this course that helped her realize she definitely wanted to pursue Mechanical engineering over any other degree program. I am not a science major sort of teacher, but with the help of Apologia’s outstanding curriculum my daughter was able to discover her passion on her own.

Already familiar with Exploring Creation with General Science—first edition thrice over I gave the 2nd edition text to my 11 year old daughter to test drive. She was scheduled to begin General Science in the fall as she will enter the Junior High years and in our home that equates with lots of independent study directed by Mom.

General Science- 2nd edition consists of 434 pages divided into 16 modules or chapters. Each module should be completed in a two week time period and includes written text, color photographs, diagrams, etc., On Your Own questions designed to aid with student comprehension, lab experiments, detailed explanations of labs, answers to the “On Your Own” questions, and a study guide for the module test. Module tests are provided in a separate solutions and tests manual. All answers for tests, and study guides are provided in the solutions and tests manual a handy reference since most questions asked on the tests require an essay style answer. Kids that study with Apologia Science really learn material.

Our favorite section of the Apologia General Science-2nd edition book has always been the last eight modules which focus on the human body. My older, soon to graduate daughter, enjoyed this study so much at the time that her ability to draw improved as a direct result of her focused effort in re-creating diagrams of the human circulatory system, nervous system, etc. All of my children have begun Apologia’s Exploring Creation with Biology the year immediately following the General Science course completing it with ease. General Science has always been a wonderful preparation for the rigors of high school science study.

Exploring Creation with General Science--2nd edition sells for $85.00 for the textbook and solutions and tests manual or $65.00 for the text only and $20.00 for the solutions and tests manual only. In addition for those with a techie side Apologia offers the entire text on CD-Rom for $65.00, a multimedia presentation CD to accompany the text for $15.00 and an MP3 recording of the text for auditory learners for $15.00.

I asked Micah her opinions of her jump start of 7th grade science and she apparently gives Apologia Science, Exploring Creation with General Science--2nd edition two thumbs up. She says, “Like other Apologia science books it was very easy to understand from the author. I liked the science experiments which helped me understand things discussed in the text. I think I will enjoy finishing this up next year in 7th grade.”

The next time you start to doubt your ability to teach the upper level sciences at home simply visit the Apologia website or open one of their amazing textbooks and read. With engaging text, easy to implement household lab science experiments and tests to capture the learning, upper level homeschool science education is within your grasp. Apologia Science really does make it that easy.

Auralog-Tell Me More Italian

I have a passion for foreign language education. I think it all began as a child when I first discovered that people spoke more than English. I was three years old, traveling with my family to the Worlds’ Fair in Quebec,Canada. According to the story relayed by my Mom, we stayed at the home of a local family; an alternative offered by the local community to accommodate the many tourists the Fair brought with it. I clearly remember, however, eating dinner at the family's home and listening to children speaking in French with their parents. The parents would speak, children would answer and it fascinated me. If that wasn’t enough the family dog barked and the family spoke a command to the dog who immediately obeyed. In wonder I said to my Mom, “Wow! Even the dog speaks French!” I was amazed by the vast language education of this Canadian family.

To this day I desire to be bi-lingual and try to encourage my children to be the same. There is no greater feeling than when you are able to communicate with someone from another culture in their native language building a bridge of friendship which earlier couldn’t exist because of language differences.

Over the years we have purchased a number of foreign language study curricula in search of the perfect one. I have watched the sophistication of these programs improve with the integration of artificial intelligence and voice recognition software, CD Roms and CD quality sound recordings. I have never before seen anything quite as comprehensive as Auralog Tell Me More Foreign Language Software for the Homeschool. It is definitely one of the best.

Tell Me More Italian contains 5 levels of immersion based education. An average student will complete 850 hours of instruction before they complete the program. Since a high school Carnegie unit equals anywhere from 150-180 instructional hours that equates to nearly 5 years of high school foreign language study for $249.99. Personally, I think this is a tremendous value especially since Auralog allows families to create accounts within the software for more than one student.

The five levels contain over 4,000 exercises and 37 different types of activities which develop oral and written language skills, grammar, vocabulary, and culture studies. A Day planner type option is available to the homeschool teacher providing tracking information regarding student progress, comprehension and mastery of various skills plus a time table allowing the teacher and student to understand the time commitment the program anticipates necessary for completion of the program. I thought this feature an excellent asset for high school level students who like to work independently, but still need monitoring and occasional prodding.

Tell Me More Italian comes as a DVD accompanied with a headset for use with the computer. There is no lengthy manual to read or heavy instructions for installation. I was able to load and register my program with very little effort. Unfortunately, frustration set in for me when I first began using the program as I couldn’t determine what to do first for instruction in the language. I determined I was able to choose a method for my instruction, “Free to Roam”, “Guided” or “Dynamic Mode”. I chose Dynamic Mode which I learned is designed with artificial intelligence for someone with a bit of experience with the language. All beginning students should choose “Guided Mode” which is much more of a hand holding experience.

My first day with Auralog, Tell Me More Italian left me feeling like I needed them to "tell me more", but in English! I was frustrated by the scrambled words activity, verb conjugation exercise and fill in the blank vocabulary exercise and began to doubt the quality of this amazing computer program. I contacted the company with my concerns and had the privilege of speaking to Sean Lynch, Language Solutions Consultant, Homeschool Division of Auralog for nearly an hour and a half the next day. His representation of Auralog’s customer service was unparallel.

Mr. Lynch explained to me that part of my frustration was a natural result of the immersion method of education. He told me instruction actually comes at the end of the learning experience with immersion learning rather than the forefront present with most conventional didactic approaches to language education.

Immersion language education is comparable to the experience a baby has with people speaking all around him and not understanding the language. Slowly the child begins to recognize, for example, the word dog refers to the furry animal that walks, barks and chases his tail. It will not be until later in the child’s education that he actually learns that dog is a noun, how to spell it, etc. We learn our first language through immersion and Auralog believes it is also the most effective way to learn our second and third languages.

Armed with a greater understanding of the program I worked for nearly ½ hour the next day in the program. I was able to activate my Day Planner, find the translation tool “red spot” on the screen, and locate a unique correction tool which highlighted mistakes and encouraged study and mastery. I found the glossary portion of the program by clicking on a small icon which enabled me to look up words while working on a crossword puzzle. My favorite activity of the day included a hangman type game where the student guesses letters to spell a word in Italian. If I missed the letter instead of a graphic of a man slowly hanging from a thread appearing I was entertained by a knight becoming more and more threatened by a dragon. The cartoon was humorous in nature and unfortunately I caused the knight to receive a fire-laden experience from the dragon.

As I have worked through Tell Me More Italian I have noticed slight progress with my Italian. I am finding myself pointing out different words to my kids throughout the day as they come to mind. I have thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of the program since learning about its aspects and am pleased to know if I do forget a complete users manual exists in a PDF file as a part of the program.

Auralog Tell Me More currently offers Spanish, French, Italian, German, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Dutch and English for kids programs in their homeschool edition software. Auralog Tell Me More programs have won the 2009 Homeschool.com Seal of Approval, the Mom’s Choice Award honoring excellence, the Homeschool Parent 2009 Stamp of Approval and numerous other awards listed on their website. For those still skeptical, Auralog offers a 90 day money back guarantee on all of their language programs.

I am thrilled that I am able to continue to use this fantastic resource in my quest to become bi-lingual.

Ciao!