It has been ages since I have been on here, but this is the place to come to get great advice from all you great moms who have been there before me!
I have an 8th grader who has essentially used Apologia Science right up until this year. We’ve not put a lot of emphasis on experiments – partially because of time and physical space restraints, partially due to lack of interest in the effort/stuff involved in some of them. Often we would look for a demonstration of the experiment, or one similar online if we felt we were interested enough. For the most part with General Science he reads and then tells me about what he’s read, and then I ask him the on your own questions and move on. Sometimes he uses Quizlet. We used about a third of the Student notebook this year.
We do want to get a bit more serious about Science this coming year, actually doing the tests, as well as do more written narration. We are not certain if we should stick to Apologia for Physical Science, or look at something with a video/audio component like DIVE Integrated Chemistry and Physics. And for either, is it worth it to break down and buy the lab kits?
DS13 is using Rainbow Science. We started it last month of 7th and will continue it in 8th. Apologia is way too wordy for this kid. This far I really like and would recommend it. I love the experiment kit that I bought with it, too.
We’ve also used some Apologia in the past, but will be trying Ambleside Online’s Year 7 and 8 science suggestions this year for our 7th and 8th graders. Have you looked at Nicole Williams’ site, Sabbath Mood Homeschool? There is some really great information on how CM taught science. http://sabbathmoodhomeschool.com/
In my recent research of science practices from the past, I found that science has never been compartmentalized by topic or branch of science as it is now, which I found interesting. This is what moved me toward AO. I like that the kids will study a variety of science topics/branches concurrently. I can’t wait to see how this affects their Science of Relations. As we near high school for second time in our homeschool, here are some thoughts I have on science…