Hello, I was wondering if anyone had any experience using the AiG curriculum. particularly any of these: * God’s Design Science Curriculum o God’s Design for Chemistry & Ecology (4 softcovers & CD-ROM) o God’s Design for the Physical World (4 softcovers & CD-ROM) o God’s Design for Heaven and Earth (4 softcovers & CD-ROM) o God’s Design for Life (4 softcovers & CD-ROM) I think they look really good, but wanted to try and get some reviews / opinions before I purchased. Thank you, Lynn
We use the God's Design series. So far we have used Earth and Universe ( from the Heaven & Earth set) and Human Body and Animals (from the Life set) We have found them to be good- probably more suited to late primary- high school age children. We only have the books- not the cd-roms.
Really! I've not got them partly because I thought they might be more for the younger grades (at least the topic I wanted!). Also, they looked really "textbook-y" for me.
We have found them to be a great resource, I would have had trouble using the GD series alone for younger children. Here is an extract from Cathy Duffy's Top 100 Curriculum Reviews... ( and here is the link to the whole article http://www.cathyduffyreviews.com/science/god's-design-science.htm Next in each lesson is information on the topic. The authors have written it such that it can be read directly to students, but many of these presentations are dense with new vocabulary. I think most children will have a hard time just listening and absorbing so much detail. The authors do suggest using other resources to provide more information than what is given in these books or to provide similar information in a different way. I suspect that this section will be the most problematic part of the curriculum. Much of the information is just far more complex than I would try to present to a first or second grader. For example, in the third lesson (structure of the atmosphere) in Our Weather and Water (from earth science) the teacher is to read to students, “The earth’s atmosphere consists of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and 1% other gases including hydrogen, helium, argon, and carbon dioxide. This combination of nitrogen and oxygen is the ideal atmosphere for life. Nitrogen is a relatively nonreactive gas. Its purpose in the atmosphere appears to be to dilute the oxygen. If the oxygen concentration was more than 21 % fires would easily burn out of control.” Note that within just these few sentences, you are introducing a number of vocabulary words and concepts unfamiliar to most children: the various chemical elements, the idea of percentages, nonreactive gases, dilution, and the relationship between oxygen and fires. I fear that the above sentences would sound like gibberish to most young students. For this reason, I would probably not attempt to use these books with children below about fourth grade level UNLESS I were teaching an older student and letting the younger student participate in a more limited fashion that wouldn’t be overwhelming.
I used the one on Animals and didn't care for it. IMO, it was sparce on info and better suited for younger grades...needed supplementation for older students. I am very surprised it is geared toward older kids..maybe because I chose Animal Kingdom..hmm..I will check out the chem on and see if that's any different.
I took a look at the Chem and I think I do like it. Now I am more confused than ever! LOL. I was all set to purchase Apologia! LOL. Anyway, the chem looks much better than the animal kingdom book.
