I have a question as to what age is a good time to start Apologia Science. Our daughter is 5, but advanced about a yr or 2, depending on the subject matter. She loves science and loves doing experiments and retains and catches on very quickly with any related info. I love the layout and all the reviews i read about the program. I am confused though as to which book we would start with and what age/grade do you think would be best? I’m looking maybe doing some stuff this fall and then do full come next year. We have the ability to get a bit of curriculum now and would like to purchase some science for upcoming years.
@momlivininfaith Dr. Jay Wile of Apologia has a new science curriculum out for elementary students. I have used it with my children(ages 9,7,& 5 for the last two years. The children thoroughly enjoy it (and I’m learning a few things myself).The text contains 90 lessons,because we don’t do science everyday I’ll be able to use the same book next year too!
If you have any other questions let me know. I’m a fan of Dr. Wile and we have used Apologia in our homeschool for the last 9 years 
I’m aware of two volumes: Science in the Beginning and Science in the Ancient World
The product description below is for Science in the Beginning and was taken directly from cbd.com
Product Description
Science in the Beginning is an engaging, exciting, hands-on, multilevel elementary resource that is the first in a planned series of books by Dr. Jay Wile.
Introducing scientific concepts in the context of history, the days of creation are used as a structure through which a wide variety of scientific topics are introduced, including: light, energy conservation, air & water, botany, the solar system, zoology, and some aspects of human anatomy and physiology.
A total of 90 lessons are included; 15 for every creative day in the Genesis account.
The first 12 are “normal” lessons and the last 3 are challenge lessons. Depending on how much science you wish to teach in your homeschool, there are enough lessons to cover every other day for the length of a school year, or, you can finish the book by only doing two lessons a week (and skipping the challenge lessons).
Students will love the hands-on activity that begins each lesson. Most are experiments (that have been field-tested for homeschoolers!), and include step by step directions to keep you on track. As this curriculum was designed for all elementary-aged students to use together, the main lesson text takes a conversational, easy-to-read tone that all students can comprehend; illustrations and photographs are integrated throughout. A review assignment closes the lesson; questions are grouped for “youngest, older, and oldest” students. Students are to keep a notebook, and activities include both drawing and writing type notebook assignments. For evaluation, the notebook or oral questions can be used; tests are not in the text, but are in the helps and hints book.
Experiments use common household goods, though for some items that may not be on-hand, a list is provided at the beginning of the book. A full materials list for each creation-day chapter is also included for easy preparation.
The “Helps & Hints” book accompanies the primary text. Divided into three sections, this book will provide helpful notes on the lesson and experiments in the textbook, tests for each “day” of the creation week, and answers to the tests.
This curriculum is designed for elementary students in grades K-6.
This kit includes:
Science in the Beginning Text, 299 pages with glossary and index. Hardcover.
Science in the Beginning Helps & Hints Book, 48 pages, softcover.
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@momlivininfaith we started with Apologia Exploring Creation series…it’s written from a K-5/6 grade level I believe. After speaking extensively with Apologia reps and Rainbow Resource consultants, the suggested books to begin with were the astronomy or botany books! They are both simpler in understanding I was told. Then go on the the 3 zoology books. Finally, the human anatomy book and chemistry book are used last. After all that series is done, your child will be ready for middle school science!! We use the Jr Notebooks for each book and they are wonderful!!! Also, I have ordered the “lab kit” that Rqimbow Resource offers for each level. I don’t have time to run around looking for all the different things needed for the experiments, so to me it’s worth the money:) check on homeschoolclassifieds.com to find the books at great prices…I just found the final book I needed for less then 1/2 price! Hope that helps:)
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@MotherofMany this sounds great! Thanks for sharing all this info! I’m reconsidering what I’d planned for science and may go with this instead.
Is the Elementary series set up to be cyclical, or does each student have to start with the Astronomy and Botany books and move on from there. Part of what appeals to me is being about to have subjects like History and Science done all together, but at everyone’s appropriate level. Does Apologia Elementary allow for this?
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Yes I read that was the order also. Start with astronomy or botany first , and than do zoology 1-3. I am doing astronomy with my 5 yr. old this year and she really enjoys it. I did not make her do the junior notebooking journal, but my 7 year old does it and enjoys it. If you 5 yr old is strong in writing, I dont see it being to hard. I let my daughter draw alot in the notebooking journal instead of writing, like for example she had to describe what a lunar eclipse was, but instead of writing what it is she drew it.
Hope that helps alittle. We love apologia science.
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Thank you!!! I will be looking into this
Okay awesome! That helps a lot! =)
No, it doesn’t cycle, at least not much. We started in the middle with the animal books and my first and fourth graders were able to do them together.
We’re doing the Human Anatomy this year (5th Grade son) & I got the lab kit from Christian Book Distributors. A bit pricey, but I agree @Luvmyboys, well worth not running around gathering stuff!
Have you used the other books in the series @RubyJane
I’m interested in some pros and cons of the program.
No, sorry, I haven’t @Luvmyboys. Until recently I wasn’t aware that there even was a suggested order, although at the back of our anatomy book, it does have the series pictured in the order others have mentioned. I found this curriculum through a veteran homeschool mom who organizes standardized testing in our area & she’d used most of the series. I was thinking of doing the Swimming Creatures of the 5th Day next year (6th Grade). I purchased the notebooking journal & really like it as it has the chapter questions included as well as space to record experiments, do copywork (Bible verses – print & cursive options) & crossword puzzles (although those give my son anxiety so I don’t have him do them). I’d say the Anatomy book is more advanced in terms of I make him read it on his own (I’m surprised how well he does) & it’d be too much for littler kids. They do offer the Junior Notebooking Journals for young kids for each in the series, I believe, so in theory you can use them with all elementary ages. I briefly looked at the other books in the series at a homeschool convention & didn’t notice a difference in reading difficulty (but it was a brief glance…). Sorry I can’t be of more help!
I think 5-7 year olds get a lot out of the series. We did the order by interest level and just skipped the more difficult content for the 5 and 6 year olds. First was Swimming Creatures, then Land Animals, Botany was one spring when were planting our garden, Astronomy seemed to fit when we were studying Ancient History, etc, etc. The books seem to work well for many ages. One mom I saw beefed up Land Animals for her 7th grader!
Blessings!
We did Astronomy at home when my kids were 6 and 4 (I scribed for the 4-year-old), and right now we’re doing Botany at home with the kids 8 and 6 (it’s going really slowly, I don’t seem to be able to get going with it) and Zoology 3 at homeschool co-op (I’m teaching it to kids K-2, and they’re enjoying it). All of these are with the junior notebooking journals.
With younger kids at home, I scribe for them and they tell me what to write. For the co-op, since the kids were so young, I typed up the answers in a format that would fit in the space provided. Then they had to match the answers to the spaces. For example, you were supposed to write down a fact about lions, meerkats, cheetahs, jaguars, etc. So instead I wrote a fact about each animal that didn’t mention its name, and then I’d read, “These animals live in prides. The females are the hunters, while the males guard the territory.” The kids would need to figure out that that’s lions, and match that answer to the lion.
The Jay Wile series looks really good, too. I own Science in the Beginning, and I’ll probably do that once we finish Botany. Eventually! But at least springtime seems like a good time to get busy with Botany.
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@MotherofMany So glad to hear a mom’s opinion on this! I have been looking at this to start with my daughter next year (she will be 6.5) but I wanted a “real” opinion! Thanks for your review! We can’t wait to get started!!
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I am thinking about starting Astronomy with our 1st grader in the fall. My question is about repetition. If a child is doing one apologia book a year there won’t be any repeats of subject matter throughout their elementary years. Correct? So how do we expect a 5th grader to remember anything about the topic they learned in 1st grade,etc.?
With elementary science ideas and concepts are expected to be learned but exact facts not at much. My daughter did the flying creatures in first grade, as a third grader she may not be able to remember the words “drag” and “lift” but she remembered it was easier to move her hand horizontally through water than vertically and was able to recall that when we studied airplanes.