Apologia: It’s not all about Science

If you’ve homeschooled for any length of time, chances are you’re familiar with Apologia, who are known for their thorough, creation-based, award winning science curricula. I’m guessing that many of you already own one of their textbooks, or have used one.

When I was offered an opportunity to preview the fairly new worldview program by Apologia, there was no doubt in my mind that it would adhere to the same high quality and standards that I’ve come to expect. I wasn’t disappointed. I received a beautiful, hardback text called Who Is God? And Can I Really Know Him? Written with the ages of 8 to 14 in mind, my initial thoughts had been to read the introduction and hand it to my daughter, who is 14,  to put into use. Once I began flipping through the pages I realized that my boys, though outside the target age range would benefit from the readings as well  and we added it to our current Bible study program.  

This book couldn’t be easier to implement, I simply read the 6- page introduction, which offers an overview of the program, and turned to Lesson 1. The program is enhanced when you incorporate notebooking and includes a link and password to online resources which include many notebooking pages (though I’d consider them to be more like fill-in-the-blank worksheets) and additional teacher sources.  Though notebooking would be an added benefit,  I opted not to go that route since we were moving through the textbook pretty quickly, as a worldview refresher course.

We simply sat down as a family and read through the lessons. Each lesson follows the same format. An introduction of the main topic, or what the chapter is about, followed by learning objectives. There is also a short story where you will see differing worldviews in action, thought provoking questions, vocabulary words, Bible memory verses, interesting articles that pertain to the main topic, prayer points, a worldview study and the House of Truth which allows the student to visualize their life in relation to the kingdom of God.

Though Who is God? And Can I Really Know Him is intended for younger children, I didn’t feel that the text was watered down or that it spoke down to my older students, with the exception of the short stories.  I would have skipped those readings, but they really put the lesson into perspective.

My children thoroughly enjoyed the program. You could even say it was a highlight of our day. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that this program would be excellent for younger children as a wonderful, beginning  Biblical worldview course, but is equally beneficial for older children who maybe haven’t embarked on a serious worldview course, are looking for a refresher course or just want a bit of variation to their current Bible study.

You can view a sample of this program and take a peek at the table of contents by visiting Apologia.

Who is God? (And Can I Really Know Him?) is part one of an intended 4- volume series. Vol. 2, Who Am I? (and why am I Here?) is also available, each sell for $39.00 and  can be purchased online at the Apologia website, through their catalog, or directly by phone (888) 524-4724.

Two future volumes of the series,  Who is my Brother? (and why do we Need Each Other?) and What on Earth can I Do? are scheduled to be published later in 2011 and 2012. 

You can read other reviews of this product at The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew website. 

And just so you know, I received this product free of charge from Apologia in exchange for sharing my honest opinion of their product with you.