Campfire Curriculums Zoology Unit Review
We recently purchased the Zoology unit for our 12 year old, and I don’t know if we’ve ever had so much fun before! Campfire did not pay me for this review and we purchased the Zoology unit. All opinions are my own.
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Campfire Curriculum Units are Beautiful!
Recently, we purchased the Zoology unit from Campfire Curriculums. I don’t think we’ve ever had so much fun in our homeschool. I knew I had to review this one for you.
I print my Campfire Curriculums units with my Epson EcoTank printer. It’s fantasic with the ink. We’ve had it for 2 YEARS and still haven’t had to purchase more ink yet. It’s crazy! It’s much cheaper than having to go to a printing company. If you want to check out the printer we have, it’s linked here.
This is the 4th Campfire Curriculum unit we’ve used. So far we’ve had Home Defense, Military, and Christmas. We’ve loved ALL of them. This one, however, has a special place in my 6th grader’s heart.
Campfire Curriculum Review Zoology (Flip Through Included)
What we love about Campfire Curriculums
Quickly, I wanted to mention these two things.
First, Campfire is so different than what you may think “curriculum” should be like. Their units are the most thorough units I’ve ever had the privilege of using. It’s the opposite of dry. It’s active.
Many times, it’s told through the eyes of someone who is in the field of study. For example, someone who was IN the military. In the zoologist unit, real zoologists helped create the material. It’s rare to find such material in specialty units like this.
Campfire has many units that are focused on real-world jobs (car mechanic, military, volcanologist, photography, zoologist, and more!). This is a great way to see if your kids want to go into these career fields. It makes a perfect high school elective for those who are interested in these careers. They’ll learn about the career from an experienced person IN the field, not someone just writing about it as a third party.
Next, it’s made for homeschool dads to get involved. It’s not required, of course, but it’s made for the dads, too. Campfire released a video and statement about it here. We love how it’s made for the entire family. Just today, my son was learning about primates and watching videos with his dad. I heard a lot of giggling from the school area today during Lesson 3!
Take a moment to read this.
“It is our hope to have fathers complete this unit study with their families, if possible (this is not required). Every situation is different and not all families will have fathers or male role models, so please do not feel like the content within is written for dads only. The setup of our units is such that we have designed them to be a perfect fit for a busy, working parent. If it is a possibility for your family, we hope this is a brand new resource to help dads get excited, encouraged, and involved. This is a resource that could allow for a meaningful, consistent interaction. If it is not ideal or applicable to your family, you can still do these units as a single mom, married mom, working mom, grandparent, or anything else.”
Campfire Military Unit Review (2022)
Zoology Unit
We’re doing lesson 2 in Zoology here, which has been Jake’s favorite lesson so far.
We made a taxonomy chart and started classifying animals together. Then we wrote the latin names of the animals below. It was a really fun activity suggested by Campfire in the unit. I highly reccomend doing this one!
The zoologist unit is a 12-week unit for children of ALL ages. More on that to come!
Obviously, we’re going to learn a lot of science here, but Campfire weaves in history, language arts, math, and more through their companion Core Connections book that comes with your Zoology unit.
The Core Connections help you to flesh out each subject in your units. Some families use Campfire Curriculums units for core subjects, and Core Connections helps them to do that.
This is a living book that goes through 12 weeks of zoology with your child. You can read more about what that is on Campfire’s website. Or click here.
Features of this unit (from Campfire)
ALL guidebooks included to cover the whole family, aged pre-reader to adult
All guidebooks are specifically choreographed to be used together
Core Connections are included, to extend this into an all-in-one unit study, covering multiple school subjects (all ages)
Just download, use on any device (or print, if desired) and go!
Downloads appear immediately after purchase on your device screen and can ALSO be accessed through your account page through any device, unlimited downloads
You get to keep your products forever, to be reused over and over again as the children grow
Optional Book Lists, included for free
Optional shopping list (minimal – most or all items can be found around the home!)
Unit 5 of Zoology is all about birds! We took the opportunity to learn even more about birds and bird songs with this book called “A Study of Bird Song” by Edward A Armstrong.
We found this gem in our church library, and it’s from the early 1970’s. It reinforces some of the basic concepts we’re learning in the Campfire unit. When we listened outside, we were able to identify 2 different birds in under a minute thanks to the Campfire study!
These units are meant for the entire family. Each Campfire unit comes with 3 books for 3 stages; Early, Growing, and Advanced.
Early is for pre-readers through grade 1, growing for elementary and middle school, advanced for high school and adult (yes, adults!).
You’ll also get the Core Connections, and directions for you (parents). They even include a links page with all sorts of videos, articles, and really cool things to do.
If I can offer a piece of advice, it’s to just have fun with this. These units are made to make school fun and engaging. My husband and I have personally learned so much through these books and units. Use it as a time to learn something fun.
Our son, Jake, had been recently diagnosed with ITP, a blood clotting disorder. He’s unable to do a lot of things he normally does, and it’s kind of bummed him out. Jake is a super active kid, loves sports and playing outside. Right now, he can’t do a lot of the activities he’s used to, and it’s been a bit hard on him.
This unit brought the spark back into him. He loves, and I mean LOVES, animals. He’s talked about getting a job at the local zoo as his first job. I knew this would be a great way to foster his love of animals and the zoo, and help him see if Zoology is a career field he wants to go into.
I’m so happy with this unit and with how much my little guy loves it. I can’t wait to see what our next unit will be!
Until next time,
Soli Deo Gloria,
Mandy
