I have heard really good things about NOEO science. I am planning on doing Apologia (Astronomy) for kindergarten because my son LOVES that and then I am going to switch to NOEO. What didn't you like about Apologia?
Real Science 4 Kids is what we used in alternating semesters with Apologia. RS4K is very colorful, hands-on, and child-friendly in its approach to science without sacrificing the information.
We LOVE Considering God's Creation! We are making lapbooks to go with it using things I find on CurrClick for $1 or under! Not that lapbooking is necessary with CGC, but it is fun. We love the notebooking that goes with it! I have sample pages and a full review at: http://heartsathomekids.com/store/index.php?main_page=page&id=29 I don't know what I am gonna do next year when we are done with this! We like it so much I am not sure if the next thing we choose will measure up.
Here is a link for God's Design for Chemistry: http://www.answersingenesis.org/PublicStore/pdfs/SampleChapter/10-1-353.pdf and there are other samples there. We've used this before. Another great series is "Exploring the world of. .. " or Exploring the history of . . . by Master books: http://www.newleafpublishinggroup.com/product_info.php?cPath=61_75&products_id=87 these might be a bit old for your kids (closer to grades 6+) -- my kids started using them in 6th grade and liked them, especially the history of medicine - great "yuck" factor for the kids!
Well, with the apologia I was doing Botany. I just think that because it is our first it was hard for me to figure out what the heck I was doing. As the year has gone on I have found out what is working for me and the kids. The only subjects that I am struggling with is a Health program and a science program. I have them doing those in sos but my kids cry because it too hard. I have switched out of BJU to SOS and now I am finding that I am going back to some BJU and we are doing saxon math for one and Life pac's for the other child. I like Saxon much better. The reason we are doing life pac is because my son was complaining that he did like doing math on SOS. So, I figured it was the same so that is the first switch I made. Then my daughter asked for a math book. Which I already had the Saxon because that is what we started with. So, I put her back in that. I sure wish I put my son back in the saxon math but I gave his book away. But, I will just put him back in Saxon for next year. Learned my lesson. What a expensive way to learn what works for your family....
You might want to check out Sonlight's science program. I find it really manageable and I know my dd gets alot out of it. With Sonlight's Scinece 5 they have a health section. I often combine health and science especially if talking about the human body.
You can also create your own program. We did that this year for Forensic Science and Geology. We are using more of a CD rom program, but adding a lot of material to make it more hands on (we do lots of hands on projects - at least one for history, one art, and one full science experiment each week). Good luck.
Need more info You still haven't explained to us why Apologia isn't working. Are your kids narrating after you read to them or they read on their own? Are they doing the recommended activities? Would adding lapbooking or notebooking make it work? In what ways do your children learn best? Do you feel you need worksheets and tests to be sure that learning is happening? There are lots of science curricula available, but it would help to know something about the ways your kids learn and their interests in order to recommend something to you.
Have you tried doing an internet search for Science sites to supplement what you have. You could stumble on sometihng that works and then you would just need to look for a curriculum that is similar. If you find something, then come here and describe how it functions and see if the members know of a program that fits the description.
