We've just been doing home kind of science but my kids are getting old enough where I'm ready to add a "real" curriculum this year. Any great recomendations and what did you like/not like about it. Thanks Shelly

ps. my kids are in lower grammer (8 & 6)

After several attempts at following the Well-Trained Mind for Science, I decided I needed something more structured for me to actually follow through. So, I purchased the God's Design series from Answers in Genesis (look on the web). It still follows the WTM order of sciences.This year is (for us) Life, next Earth, Chem, then Physics. What I like is that I can teach ALL my kids together (like the beauty of TOG) and it is biblical, creation-based. This year there are 3 books: God's Design for Plants, Animals, and the Human Body. Doing Science 3 days/week will finish the 3 books in a school year. There are activities/experiments almost every day and challenge activities for older kids. My kids (school-age) are 5, 7, 8, 10 and they all are doing great. Each book has I think 32 lessons and there is a list of resources in the back of library books or books to buy that go along with the lessons. This is exactly what I needed!! Hope this is of help to someone else. Check it out online.

I highly recommend Apologia's elementary curriculum. We just completed Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day and my 10 and 7 year old girls enjoyed it. I learned quite a bit as well!

There are many reasons I liked it:
1) It wasn't too textbooky. Even though it's a textbook it was more like reading a good book.
2) It didn't just scratch the surface. We learned a lot about birds, bats and insects.
3) It taught the scientific method. The experiments were not just "try this and see what happens." They always had the student compare two things so they could see what happens when a variable changes.
4) It was based on the Charlotte Mason approach to learning. The girls did notebook pages every other week or so.
5) It was just plain fun. We had a great time going on nature walks, identifying birds and insects, building bird feeders and houses, etc.

I can't say enough good things about this curriculum. I'll be using the next one in the series this next year, Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day. Even though it doesn't follow the Biology, Earth Science, Chemistry, Physics pattern, it is teaching my girls to love Science and that is what I want in a curriculum.

momof5girls,

I was looking into the Apologia curriculum myself, but I wasn't sure if all you need to purchase is the textbook as listed for $35? Does that come with any kind of handbook for the student? I couldn't find anything on the website about this.

Blessings,
Diana

Nevermind, I found it!

Diana,
We use Apologia also and I can't say enough about it. I have five children 12, 11, 10, 8 and 5. We used Exploring Creation through Astronomy. It is really great for mommy because it is so easy to follow, it includes writing, art, and experiments and best of all it is biblically based. All you need to purchase is the $35 book and most of the items need for experiments are things you can find around your house. Each of my children used a 3-ring notebook and I required them to write out answers to all of the questions, not just the "What did you learn" questions. I will definitely continue with Apologia well into the high school years. Hope that helped.

Mom of Five Treasures from the Lord

I'm using God's Design for Life this year, but will be using Apologia when she's older (probably our second time around "year 1").