We have been piecing together so far, for our two boys- 2nd and 4th grade. I was looking at Aplogia Scince and was thinking that we may try that for next year. What do you think we would start at. we already did lessons on astronomy, and bascis of plants, so i am thinking of skipping those.
I totally love the Astronomy. We have a soon to be 2nd, and 3rd, and 2 yo. All three kids pick the science book to read at night as bed times stories. I love that it is simple and takes very little planning. The kids are learning and retaining a ton. One thing that I love most is that the book talks about where evolution or old earth falls apart. Like on the sun unit it talks about how the Sun shows us that it is fairly young. We had done some pulled together units on the solar system, and have read a ton of books on it as well. But we still have learned from it. We are going to start Zoo 1 flying animals in June. I asked a few questions earlier and was told that it doesn't really matter what order you do them. Botany is the next in line after Ast. But since it is going to be the middle of summer and nothing will be growing we are going to wait and start that one in the spring. We will be doing Flying creatures during the fall migrations.
I totally loved the exploration series,I wish the older kids levels were as excitingly written. The older levels are boring.
teachermom, I would have to disagree. The older levels are much more interesting than a lot of science books out there. I haven't used them all, but I like the way he explains things. There aren't as many pictures and such, and I like charts, graphs, pictures and all. I didn't think I would like the books, but I do. In fact, we started this year with A Beka biology and now we are using Apologia. It is a matter of opinion. I believe that he has a way of taking a topic and writing about it in depth to help you "follow" from the beginning of the chapter to the end. Where in a lot of textbooks (IMO) it seems that it is more a collection of related facts thrown at you one after the other.
Well, I guess dd liked it okay, we had the cd version. It did not work well with trying to save your work so once you read it it was gone. It really didn't have good graphics either. I kind of like more pictures and a more simplistic explanation. I only know SOS, and Apoligia and BJU, the BJu ds1 had for his physics class was well designed... he learned a lot in high school Physics. But it could just be because it was the cd version that it seemed boring to me. I thought it would have been more interactive, the books version is probably better.
We used the Apologia, General Science, possibly 7th grade(?), and Ems didn't like it at all. At first she did and we went through the first section quickly but it fizzled for us. I plan on going back to a A Beka Science for next school year and supplementing if necessary. However, we did like the experiments in Apologia. Science has always been one of those subjects I have trouble with when it comes to buying something great. I might go back to putting the lessons together myself again. She seems to really like that.
I LOVE Apologia! We've done Astronomy and all three Zoology so far. We'll do Anatomy in the Fall and Botany next Spring. I think probably the only thing I don't like about it is that there are several times in the zoology books that the "experiment" is just raising that type of animal. I don't want, nor can I afford, a zoo in my house. :lol:
We love Apologia Science. Our kids did most of the explorer series when they were younger, and have gone on to do everything from General Science through Advanced Chemistry. Astronomy was probably our least favorite. Botany was an unexpected favorite.
