We are having issues finding a science that we like. I need something for all my kiddos. Elementary,middle school, and highschool. For my highschooler we are going to do rainbow science this year since we already have it. Then next year we're going to do Apologia Chemistry. Is the text book and solutions manual all I need? Or is it best to purchase the cd-roms they have to go along with the course? For the elementary ages I have 2 apologia (botony and flying creatures) elementary books on my shelf, but we have tried them and they don't interest the girls. We'll try again this year and see if we can make it work because we really don't have the money to purchase another curriculum. Any suggestions on things I can do? Now for the middle schooler, this kid LOVES science, but he HATES reading.. I really want to use the general science for him this year, but I don't want to sink money into something that I have to fight him to do. Has anyone adapted this to work for a kid that hates reading??? Or can you give me a suggestion on another science that we could look into? Angela
What about YOU reading the text yourself and presenting it in lecture format like a class would? Go over the major points, make sure they know the bold words, and do the experiments together. You could even type out an outline of each chapter so that they can see the flow of the chapter and take down any notes of particular importance in their own handwriting. That's how I learn best, and I'm a science person. I hate reading as a general rule. There are very few things that I'm able to just sit down and read.
I would check into what your library has. There are tons of science books that are visually appealing. Plus there are books that are full of experiment ideas. You library may also have science DVDs on topics of interest. We are going curriculum-free for science this year. I am putting together a plan on cells, microbiology, genetics, and human anatomy.
Apologia has an mp3 version of its texts. Maybe listening while going through the textbooks would be helpful for them. The multimedia cd would probably be good for them too, so they can see and hear the examples from the book.
We've used all the Apologia middle/high school texts except the Marine Biology and Adv Physics. For chemistry, all you need is the book, the solutions manual, and lab supplies (I get mine from Home 4 School Gear - they have great kits). The multimedia CD is optional. We've usually bought it and some of our children used and liked it and others weren't interested. For your general science guy, I'd get him the mp3 CD which reads the book to him. I encouraged my dyslexic son to follow along in the book as it read because that can really help reading ability. I don't know if he did, but his reading has gotten a lot better. I need to ask him. Hope that helps, Melanie
I also have used the mp3 audio cd with a dyslexic student who was doing General Science. It helped a lot!
Not sure if this is what you want but check out the Considering Gods Creation science, it has hands on science, less reading on his part and more doing. You get a teacher book that you just read straight from and it tells him everything to do, has questions and everything like that. I loved it and we used it for early middle school cause a review I read suggested that it would be good for that level as well as younger years. We also used the Apoligia lower elevels with a Co Op last year the Astronomy was really great for my ds 7th middle school age
I recommend checking the library too. My DS loves the Magic School Bus series of science books (although I do have to edit/discuss the evolution "facts" in some of the books). We've used these as a supplement to our science curriculum many times because he enjoys the humor and many pictures in these books.
