Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day (Apologia) Review

I have heard such wonderful things about Apologia Educational Resources for all ages and I was thrilled when the opportunity to review one of their courses came my way! My girls love all things science: books, experiments, projects, research...for them it is pure pleasure. I have always been partial to learning about the seas. I, like so many other kids, thought being a marine biologist would be the coolest job ever when I was a kid.

What is it about the ocean that captivates us? The creatures are mysterious on many levels. They have different qualities than us land lubbers! Just the fact that they breathe underwater is enough to make most kids dream of having fins of their own!

There are two items needed for a year's worth of science curriculum: The text book and a notebooking journal for all students participating. The text book costs $39.00 and the notebooking journals are $24.00 each. One of the beautiful parts of this curriculum is it covers a wide age range including kindergarten through 6th grade. For a high quality science curriculum which keeps God as the Creator, I feel this price is well worth it.

I was impressed with the simplicity of Apologia's Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day. The introduction contains a simple, thorough explanation of the logic behind the scope and sequence as well as a complete breakdown of the types of activities the students will work on with each unit. The Step-by-Step guide follows giving further clarification of how to teach this course. Finally you find a list of supplies followed by the table of contents. I also love how often Scripture is incorporated into each lesson.

The photographs for each section are stunning. They captivated my daughter at first glance! For each chapter students complete experiments, narration (retelling what the story is about in the students' own words), notebook pages, and a continuing ocean box project. Some days I read aloud to Rose and other days she read to herself. She did well with comprehension both ways.

Rose's favorite chapter so far was the one on sharks and rays. I read this particular chapter aloud to her this week and she loved coloring the pages at the beginning of the chapter. I'm not sure why, but I have found my girls all listen better when I read if their minds are engaged in drawing or doing another quiet activity at the same time. I thought it was great she only colored while I read and took several days to finish it.

One of my favorite aspects of this curriculum is picking out favorite facts and recording them in the Junior Notebooking Journal. Rose loves science and she really loved recording what she found in her journal. She has gone back to look at her facts several times! I also love the extra cursive practice she is getting! Rose would tell me the facts, I wrote them in cursive on the board, then she copied them into her journal.

I'm slowly working towards Rose doing all of her work in cursive. This was a great transition step into more cursive. I was so proud of how neat her cursive is already! After the students finish their facts they get to draw a picture of what they are studying in the box beside the facts. Rose loves this because, as I said before, she loves art. I love how this science course incorporates so many different aspects of learning.




The older students have their own notebook. This is great for families who want to combine their children for learning science. This won't work for us for a few years, but when all of my girls are old enough I really like this option.

I have heard wonderful things about Apologia, and I was not disappointed! This is an excellent science curriculum grounded in Scripture. To see more reviews of this great curriculum click the link below!

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this product through the Schoolhouse Review Crew in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.