Exploring Creation with Botany, Textbook

by Jeannie Fulbright

Rare book

Genres: Science, School, Reference, Christian, Nonfiction, Plants, Nature

176 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2004

About the author

Jeannie Fulbright, veteran homeschooler of more than 20 years, is the author of the best-selling, multi award-winning Apologia elementary science series: Exploring Creation with Astronomy, Chemistry and Physics, Botany, Zoology, and Anatomy & Physiology.
She is also the author of the Charlotte Mason Heirloom Planner, an action-packed historical kid’s time travel book series Rumble Tumbles Through Time, as well as the Mason Jar Manna preschool science books and activity kits, the Charlotte Mason Heirloom Planner, and many Charlotte Mason education necessities. She is also writing The Chronicles of Liberty with Angela O’dell, picture books that teach about the founding of our country, the Constitution, and Government.

Jeannie and her husband Jeff, a practicing lawyer, became empty nesters in 2019. All four of their children went to the University of Georgia on scholarship (Yes! Homeschooling works!) For more than 20 years Jeannie has traveled around the country speaking to homeschoolers at conventions, covering a plethora of topics from Charlotte Mason homeschooling and college prep and teaching science and developing a powerful prayer life.

Jeannie grew up in Austin, Texas and received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas at Austin and her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Fairfield University. She is also a Certified Christian Life Coach and is dedicated to serving the homeschool community through her books, blog, articles, speaking engagements, and podcasts.

Jeannie loves to connect with fellow homeschoolers. In addition to her website, you can find Jeannie on Instagram, Pinterest, her Facebook page or her Charlotte Mason Christian Homeschoolers Facebook Page and Group, as well as on the Homeschool Solutions Show podcast where she hosts once a month.

Reviews

[Devon Flaherty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Obviously, this series of science books is Christian and is rooted in creation by God. If you are not a Christian—especially if you are antagonistic toward creation science—don’t bother with this series. If you are a Christian or are not opposed to the worldview, then this is an excellent series. However, when I was looking for curriculum, at least two people said to me, “You have to go with Apologia Young Explorers, but you’ll have to edit as you read.” In other words, while these books are young-Earth, world-wide-flood proponents, they are so good that even an old-Earth, regional-flood believer could and should use them. You just skip parts. Why bother? Because they are written so well, immensely informative, conversational, approachable, and interesting. We used the workbook for botany, and I thought it was really cool. The only reason I didn’t continue with the workbooks is because we were all set to fly through the three zoology books and wouldn’t have time to do the workbooks justice. This book is best when it takes the whole year to go through it.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this as part of science for school. This was fairly hard to get through. A little dry and over my kids heads at times

[Amy Meyers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scheduled in My Father's World curriculum. I believe we enjoyed this book more than almost any other science book we've ever used, and my young 4th and 6th grade boys, who did not want to study botany really enjoyed it and learned a lot. My only regret is that I wish we'd had more time in our schedule to do more of the projects and nature journaling along with what we were learning. But it's been a stressful year, and I've just pushed ahead.

2023: I downgraded it to 4 stars this time. It’s still excellent, but we couldn’t find the strength or resources to do most of the projects, and I wish nature journaling had more help throughout the book, not just at the end. Very good, though; it’s probably just that this mama is getting tired. The kids will go on with nature study a few more weeks, but the book reading is done.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another homerun for our homeschool. Fulbright explains advanced topics in simple terms. My first grader quickly absorbed the lessons and became our family seed collector. My 5th grade son enjoyed it too, but my young daughter was so excited about the difference between angiosperms and gymnosperms and about the parts of seeds and the growth of plants. We finished the book 2 years ago, but she still talks about the topics she learned often, and it has given her an appreciation of the green world outside our door. Right this minute, I have 2 sets of seeds drying by my window so she can add them to the collection. This was one of the fields of science I knew little about, so I was a little nervous, but Fulbright made the teaching easy, and I learned so much!

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this book better than the Flying Creatures book. It's not as 'chatty'. And the 'chatty' really bugged.

This has a ton of solid information presented in a clear manner. It provides a VERY in-depth look at botany. Excellent color pictures throughout. It does contain a lot of hands-on activities, but they aren't as involved as in her other books.

This book can be read aloud fairly easily or older elementary/middle school kids could read it on their own.

I will probably use this book when we study botany. I'm stil not completely sure though.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used this last year with my 8 year old and was amazed at how much he learned. We gathered leaves, grew starts in a bio-dome, planted a garden together and many other activities. I recommend this for a Homeschool text.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished for the 2013-2014 school year. Read aloud and enjoyed all the projects and notebooking. Hoping to continue working with A. to do nature studies this summer.

[Jana · Rating 3 out of 5]

We are not big science-lovers in our family, but I read this in little chunks with my 10 and 11 year old over a LONG period of time (over a year) and we learned a lot together. We enjoyed it taking turns reading aloud. We did not make time to do all of the activities prescribed in the book, but it has certainly opened our eyes to the wonders and complexities of God's creation all around us. I am not a fan of textbooks and this really is nothing like a textbook.