Sassafras Science Volume 2 Anatomy Complete Set

Super program! The story is wonderful and I love the systems it covers. Great program overall!

This Review is written by a Registered Nurse: I wrote a very long review on Amazon covering what was missing from this book. I'll spare you most of it. Suffice it to say, this is not a science curriculum. This is a "formulaic" adventure series that wants to be Lemony Snicket meets an exciting way to present sciece, and lacks both the cleverness and content necessary to pull it off and still claim to responsibly handle particular branch of science.
Pros: fun for children who enjoy constant action, regardless of logic and story continuity.
Cons: Not a curriculum. We bought the full set. For starters, the image of the lungs is backwards (which is more important than people realize, since the left lung only has 2 lobes to make space for the heart). Visual learners will never be able to erase this incorrect image from their heads. Second, only half of the nervous system is explained. The cranial nerves are missing entirely, and there is no reasonable distinction made between the CNS and the PNS (also more important than it would seem). Why is half the nervous system missing? Third, asthma is not explained despite being "somewhat alluded to," and the use of an inhaler is comical vs realistic (a long time asthmatic knows that you don't "continually puff" an inhaler, because you need to give time for the medication to work-its an inhaler, not a cigarette). The storyline for the digestive system is very confusing, the presentation of the reproductive system is also dismal, and I dare not go on, given how poorly executed this material was.
We decided to replace this with Apologia Anatomy and now my children are no longer confused, not to mention much less upset. The male sibling (Blaine), is treated, at times, as the "less intelligent" twin. Given how American Society has been trending in the direction of making men look intellectually inferior to women, this treatment distressed my boys. I confess, I didn't even notice it, but the chapters covering the respiratory system did create an unnecessary situation in which Blaine was largely absent as a meaningful character.
We really wanted this set of materials to work. Sadly, it was not only a poor substitute for a solid curriculum, but its not even interesting enough as a story to finish the book. My children refused to touch it well before the halfway point. Had I not purchased it way ahead of time (missing any chance for a return), I would have sent this back (something I have only done once in my 6 years of homeschooling).
Feel free to try it out, but I have to warn you, it really isn't what you think it is. Only someone who already understands anatomy will realize how bad it is. It breaks my heart how many great reviews there are from people who are being misled by content that is factually inaccurate on more than one occasion. There are things that are handled correctly. But when you look at what is mishandled, I cannot justify purchasing this with any serious desire to use it as a stand-alone curriculum.
And no, the recommended books (yes, they actually recommend further purchases!!) do NOT make up for the missing and inaccurate content (for anyone who knows what has been recommended and wants to point that out).