Since Holden is going into 5th grade in June, the timing couldn’t have been better for us to review Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology by Apologia!
WHAT IS IT?:
Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology is a wonderful elementary science program from Apologia that is intended for grades K-6.
Human Anatomy refers to the study of the parts of the body, and Physiology is the study of how those parts work within the body. This program explains it all!
For this review, I received the Textbook ($42.00), the Notebooking Journal ($29.00), the Junior Notebooking Journal ($29.00), and the MP3 Audio CD ($29.00).
OUR EXPERIENCE:
We already had plans to study human anatomy for 5th grade science starting in June, so the timing of this review was perfect for us! Whatever we had planned to use before is now irrelevant, because we’ve so enjoyed using this program! We will definitely continue to use it for our new school year as our primary science program. I really couldn’t have asked for anything more appropriate and right up our alley!
If you’ve read my past reviews, you know that we’ve tried out other Apologia elementary science programs like Exploring Creation with Zoology 3: Land Animals of the Sixth Day, Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics, Exploring Creation with Astronomy, 2nd Edition. But we were particularly excited this time around, just because the review lines up with our study plans, so we can actually complete this one all the way through! With that in mind, we even purchased a third party complete lab kit so we’d have all of the supplies for the “Try This” activities and experiments throughout the whole textbook. We love hands-on science, and doing that ensured we’d have everything we needed so we wouldn’t miss out of any of the fun!
First, let’s discuss some of the components beyond the textbook itself:
The Journals
For my 10-year old son, Holden, I decided to use the junior version of the notebooking journal. He was late learning to write and is left-handed, so he doesn’t enjoy having to do a lot of writing. That means I do a lot of dictation for him, and we end up discussing most things orally. So with that in mind, we decided the Junior Notebooking Journal would be most appropriate for him at this time. The regular Notebooking Journal covers the same material, but there is more writing involved. It includes things like comprehension questions at the end of each lesson (answers found in the back of the textbook) and vocabulary practice in the form of an advanced crossword puzzle vs. lift-a-flap definitions of vocabulary words in the Junior journal. And when the child does their copywork of a related scripture verse, the regular journal just has lines vs. dotted handwriting lines in the junior journal. It’s good to note that neither journal is a required resource in order to do this study…instructions are always included in the textbook for adaptations that can be made in a regular notebook…but it certainly adds a great hands-on, interactive element for the kids to enjoy, and it’s definitely more fun than just taking notes in a notebook! It also makes a great keepsake for the kids to look back on at the end of the year from which to study or to summarize what they’ve learned throughout the program.
The MP3 Audio CD
The MP3 Audio CD is a wonderful option to have, as well. It’s not necessary in order to complete the program, but it does relieve the instructor from having to read large portions of the textbook aloud to the student. At one point during the review, every one of us was terribly sick with some kind of winter cold virus that left us with sore throats and scratchy voices, which made it painful to do a lot of talking and reading aloud. Having the audio recording of the text really helps out in a pinch in such circumstances. If you do use the CD, it’s important to note that you must play it in an MP3-compatible player or computer, and that it’s intended for you to be following along in the textbook as the text is read aloud to you. That way, when the speaker refers to an illustration, you can look at it while she talks about it. Also note that the “Try This” activities and experiments are not recorded on the CD…the speaker merely mentions when they occur and tells you when to do them. You’ll still need to read the instructions for those in the textbook.
In the front of the notebooking journals, there is a suggested schedule you might wish to follow. It breaks up the 14 lessons into 28 weeks with assignments planned for 2 days per week. We do school for 36 weeks with 4 school days per week, so the suggested schedule works fine for us by doing science twice a week for just over 3/4 of the school year. Following the suggested pace during the review period, we were able to complete 6 weeks’ worth of suggested activities, which included 3 full lessons and 12 days of assignments.
Now, let’s dig into our experience with the whole program! I’ll start out by describing in detail how the first lesson is broken down into daily assignments over 2 weeks. After that, I’ll just summarize our activities in each lesson.
Week 1: Lesson 1
The first lesson is an introduction to human anatomy & physiology.
On Day 1, we read some of the textbook pages about the history of anatomy & physiology in regards to the ancient Egyptians, Hebrews, and Greeks. Every time we did some reading, the instructions suggested that I have Holden narrate back to me some of what he’d learned. I’ve never done read-alouds that way before, but I found it was a really useful technique. He has ADHD, and his attention span is pretty short. I often wonder if he’s really listening to me, and this was a great way for him to show me that indeed, he was! Then he was to work on coloring page in his journal with scripture verses underneath them. Holden rarely likes to color, so I made this optional. Instead, we just stopped to read the scripture verses on the pages.
Next, we did the “Try This!” activity in the textbook. For this activity, we experimented in different ways to dry out and preserve the body of the deceased like the ancient Egyptians did, only we tried it on slices of apples to see which material of combination of materials worked best at both drying and preserving. We weighed 8 apple slices and placed one in each of 8 different cups, recording their starting weight on each cup. Then we followed the instructions to add table salt, Epsom salt, baking soda, and combinations thereof to each cup, leaving one cup as a control with just air exposure. We left them for 7 days and then removed and cleaned off the slices, weighed them, and examined them. We recorded their final weights on the cups and compared the numbers with the starting weights to determine which material dried the apple the most. Then we observed how well the apple slices were preserved. We found that air dried it out the most, but it was not well preserved at all. Instead, the best substance was just plain table salt, which dried out the apple next best but also preserved it quite well. From this experiment, we can see why the Egyptians needed so much salt!
After that, we continued reading about ancient Greece, and Holden narrated his learning back to me as before. Next, we did another “Try This!” activity. This time, we had to use the four humors of the ancient Greeks as they relate to personality types and assign one to each person in our family, including ourselves. After each person had done this, we compared what each person thought of each other as compared with how that person assessed their own personality type. That was a funny experience, for sure! We found that quite often, each family member saw someone else in the same way, except the person themselves thought of themselves differently! We had a good laugh about that.
On Day 2, we did some more reading about ancient Rome and European scientists. Then we did another “Try This!” activity. In the textbook, a large white box was shown that contained one tiny typewritten word that you couldn’t see well enough to read normally. To learn how a magnifying glass works, we placed a stiff piece of clear plastic over the word, and using a medicine dropper, we placed one drop of water on the word. Then we observed that the word “Jesus” was magnified through the water, and we could read it! We learned why that works and how the larger the water droplet, the larger the print appeared! Holden thought that was super cool.
After that, we read all about cells and some of the parts of the cell. I loved the way the textbook likened each part of the cell to a worker in a city. The cell is the city, and each cell part is a worker with a specific job. This really helped us to remember the parts and their roles within the cell! That was really clever. When Holden narrated back to me, I was surprised at how well that analogy stuck with him and helped him to remember what he’d learned!
Then we got to make a drawing of a cell in his journal and label its parts. He had trouble drawing it, so I drew it, and I labeled the parts as he identified for me what they were.
Then I had Holden tell me some of the things he’d learned so far about anatomy and physiology, and we wrote down some facts in his journal. There were a couple of boxes for him to illustrate some things he’d learned, and he chose to draw the cell diagram! He did it this time, all by himself, and remembered the parts. I was so impressed that it had stuck with him! That’s when I knew this program was really working for him.
Week 2: Lesson 1
On Day 1, we read more about the cell’s parts and functions, how cells are created and multiplied, and we orally discussed the comprehension questions in the “What Do You Remember?” section. Then we did a notebooking activity where Holden was supposed to record some information about the history of anatomy and physiology using either words, pictures, or a combination of those. The junior pages for this assignment had headings for Egyptians, Hebrew, Greeks, Romans, Europeans, and the Microscope. For this, we basically recorded the answers to the comprehension questions in each category on the handwriting lines.
On Day 2, we began the Personal Person Project. The materials for that were included in our journal. In the back of the journal, there is a set of overlays that you cut out and add to the Personal Person Project throughout the study. On this day, we began by cutting out the body shape with the appropriate skin color and glued it onto the designated page at the front of the journal. Then we took a photo of Holden and personalized the Personal Person Project by adding a cutout of Holden’s face onto the body. We taped it on at the top of the head so that the head could be lifted and the subsequent overlays could be placed underneath it in future lessons.
Next, we did the scripture copywork in the journal. We had a choice of print or cursive…both are included in the journal.
Then, we cut out the pieces from the back of the journal for the vocabulary lift-a-flap activity and pasted them onto the designated page. All Holden had to do was lift each flap containing a vocabulary term and read the definition underneath it in order to review those terms from the lesson.
After that, we used pages in the back of the journal to create a circular mini-book about cells and glued it into the journal. This was a rotating book, so we secured it in the center with a brad. Then as we rotated the top, it revealed the name of a cell part and a blank section opposite that name. In the blank space, we wrote in the definition and role of that cell part and repeated the process until each one was completed. That was a great way to summarize what we learned about cells! I was again surprised at how much Holden remembered.
Finally, we completed the Project for lesson 1…the Edible Cell! Holden was really looking forward to this. We used Jello, gelatin, and candies to make an edible model of a cell. We sprayed the bowl with non-stick cooking spray before we started, but we got distracted with everyone coming down sick and waited too long before coming back to finish it up, so the Jello had stuck to the bowl by then! Still, we did our best to finish up the project. We added the candies to represent the nucleus and other cell parts. Our Jello “cell” wasn’t a perfect dome, but you get the idea! Then Holden got to eat it, which was the best part for him!
That concludes Lesson 1 and the first 2 weeks of assignments. Now I’ll just summarize the next two lessons that took place in the remaining 4 weeks.
Weeks 3-4: Lesson 2
In Lesson 2, we read all about the body’s skeletal system. We did so many fun journal pages and neat “Try This!” activities! Here are some highlights.
We did an activity where we made a little man out of modeling clay and demonstrated how his body couldn’t be held up without a skeleton.
Then we repeated this after adding toothpicks throughout the clay man to represent bones. Your skeleton is definitely necessary!
We did another “Try This!” activity that demonstrated how the fluid between your brain and your skull protects your brain from getting damaged when you’re jostling around. First, we put a whole egg in a container full of water and shook it up. It didn’t crack!
Then we put the egg in the container without water and shook it up. Right after we stopped the video, it went splat! It sure is a good thing we have all that fluid!
We recorded facts about the skeletal system in our journal.
We added a clear overlay of the skeletal system to our Personal Person Project.
We labeled a skeleton in our journal.
We did an anatomy identification page in the journal.
We made a neat Bones Mini-book shaped like a human skull and puts some facts inside. Holden really liked this one!
The experiment for this lesson involved using vinegar to leach the calcium out of chicken bones vs. chicken bones left sitting in water for a few days. The idea was to see how brittle the bones became without the necessary calcium. We weren’t able to do this experiment because my family only eats boneless, skinless, chicken breasts, so we never have chicken with bones in it! But if we can ever borrow some bones from a neighbor or perhaps save some from a church potluck, then we’ll likely come back to this experiment down the road just to test it out.
Weeks 5-6: Lesson 3
In Lesson 3, we read all about the muscular system. Who knew you had so many muscles, big and small, all over your body? It turns out you need a ton of muscles in your face in order to make all of those facial expressions that are so important in non-verbal communication with others. Here are some fun highlights of our activities in this lesson.
We made a mock newspaper page in our journal called the Muscle Times that had little articles about muscles and how they work.
We used cutouts in the back of the journal to make a vocabulary pocket page that held all the pieces. I added some color with markers to make it more visually appealing. Holden matched the puzzle pieces to indicate the correct definitions for the words.
We demonstrated how the involuntary, smooth muscles in the digestive system work to move food through the body by squeezing a tennis ball through a nylon stocking.
We added the clear overlay of the muscular system to our Personal Person Project.
He did his scripture copywork page.
And we made a mini-book about muscles with flaps using the cutouts from the back of the journal. As we opened each flap, we wrote inside the answers to the questions on each flap. This was a great way to review what we learned!
The experiment for this lesson was to test out how muscles grow by repeatedly doing a hand exercise over a period of weeks and noticing how the soreness goes away and you’re able to do more of the exercises in the same amount of time as you progress due to the repeated use of that muscle. We weren’t able to complete this one since it was our last activity during the review period and needs a few more weeks to develop, but we look forward to finishing our tests to see how this plays out!
As you can see, there are so many fun and truly useful activities included in this program. If you have kids who like hands-on activities to solidify their learning, then this program is definitely designed with them in mind! The journal makes it so easy to create interactive pages to summarize what kids are learning, and I love the convenience of the pre-printed pages that you can just cut-and-paste into the journal. The clear overlays of each body system are really cool! It’s neat to see how they layer over each other as you go from lesson to lesson. This may turn out to be the most fun we’ve ever had doing science!
Although these Exploring Creation science programs are designed for kids in grades K-6, I really think they are even more appropriate for upper elementary through middle school. There are so many details in the textbook and so much information to learn that I think my kids would get more out of it from grades 4-8 than in earlier grades. I think much of it would be lost on a younger child. They could certainly do it with help, but for maximum benefit, I would definitely use these from upper elementary and up. I think even my 8th grade daughter would really enjoy this program! I really wish I’d discovered Apologia elementary science programs when my oldest was younger (he graduated last year), because this whole series is just wonderful, and I’m certain all of my kids would have really enjoyed it! Give it a try! You and your kids definitely won’t be bored!
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