Apologia Marine Biology {Homeschool Review Crew}

When Jen was a senior, she took Marine Biology, using resources from Apologia Educational Ministries. Since then, they have made some revisions. We've been using the Marine Biology 2nd Edition Advantage Set the past few weeks.This set includes the textbook, student notebook, and the tests-and-solutions manual. We also received the Marine Biology 2nd Edition Audio CD.

The textbook is written in an easy, conversational style, which captures and keeps the student's attention. The illustrations are colorful. I like that the text is broken up in small segments, for the most part, which makes it easier to keep the student's interest level high.

Some of the topics covered are: the planet's oceans; life in the sea; marine invertebrates; marine vertebrates; marine ecology; different communities in the ocean; the Epipelagic zone, and more.

The student notebook has pages for note taking; the on your own questions typed out, with space for your student to write his answers; study guide questions/vocabulary words; an optional summary of each module; and at the back of the book, the lab notebook, with pages to fill in for each of the experiments found in the textbook.

Near the beginning of the student notebook is a lovely schedule laid out, with check boxes, so your student can mark off each assignment as it's completed. Also included in the student notebook is a grading ruberic for the experiments, grade recording chart, and at the very end of the book, information for the student on presenting his research.

The mp3 audio book CD can must be played in a CD player that has the capability to play mp3s, or on the computer. It can also be played on the TV using a DVD player which is capable of playing mp3s. I know, because SJ tried it out on all of them!

My original intent was to have the 17 year old use and review this, but he has recently started taking GED prep classes, which are every week day morning, at the tech school 30+ miles from our house. Between those classes, and his part time job, he feels his days are too hectic now for much of anything else.

So SJ took over as our reviewer, even though he's "only" in eighth grade this year.

SJ is still a struggling reader, so this audio book was perfect! He listens to Marissa Leinart read the text, while he follows along in the book. She reads not just the text, but the information in the little boxes throughout the book, and the text which goes along with the illustrations.

SJ only read/listened to the text. I didn't have him do any experiments, nor did he use the notebook (I'll save it for him to use in a couple years or so, after he's had high school biology).

I decided to check out what some of the differences might be between the two editions of the textbook. Not much! The following photos are from when Jen took Marine Biology, and one of the specimens she dissected: the small shark. She had an audience when she did this dissection: her siblings, and even the neighbor kids.

She didn't have the student notebook in which to record her sketches from the dissection; she just used a spiral notebook. I am sure she would have really enjoyed using the student notebook, instead, though.

I think living here in Florida is the perfect place to be while studying marine biology, since we aren't far from either the Gulf coast, or the Atlantic coast. We can study marine life first hand. I certainly look forward to using Apologia Marine Biology with SJ in a couple years or so, more in-depth than we have been the past few weeks. He looks forward to that, too.

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