for those that have the AiG books, I am wondering if it has less of a textbook feel than Apologia?
Also, my boys will be 2 and 4th next year (7 and 9yrs), looking to start something more formal for science with them – we’ve done 3-4 years of notebooking, bird watching, bug watching, hikes, and Nature Friend magazines and other books from library like Jim Arnosky’s, Burgess books, Outdoor Secrets, antique Human Body for Elementary grades book, Where They Go in Winter, etc. Will continue to do these in our family life because it’s fun and great, but ready for something more I think.
They have had a good intro to so many things science-related, not sure where to go from here to get more in-depth. Love the idea to have a science focus per term like the Human A&P, Navigating/Maps – I get excited when there is a theme and then easily can add resources to it from there. 🙂
We are using the God’s Design for Physical World – the Inventions & Technology book. It doesn’t feel textbook-y, probably bcause I read it aloud to my girls (ages 9,7,6,4). And, each lesson is only about 3 pages long. And the pages have pictures, text boxes with little tidbits in, and then the “Going Further” and the review questions.
I’m really surprised at how much we do like them. I bought them just thinking it would be an easy way to do physics with my girls for this year, and that next year, when we should do life science, I’d go to Apologia’s. But honestly, the more I think about it, the more I read (like this thread), the more I think that AiG is a great, low-key science.
I don’t like science (well, I like it more now as a mom than I did in school). Perhaps for high school we’ll switch to something more rigorous or involved. But for now, this is great for us.
We did Apologia Zoology 1,2, 3 and Botany the last 3 years. There were days when I thought, “this is too much, bogged down, too long and overwhelming” but there was nothing else I knew to replace science with. UNTIL I read about God’s Design Series on this forum last year(especially the comments from Bookworm). I bought the first bookat the beginning of this year, which was the Earth Science one, just to check it out and if I was not going to waste my money. BUT I must say it is the best buy I did in years for curriculum!!!!!!!!
It’s easy to handle. short lessons, but not dumbed down. My child is 9. She finds it very interesting and LOVES the experiments. There is also enough time to add extra research if she loves the topic, searching for stones(which is part of this book’s hands-on), videos ect.
We will definitely continue with God’s Design. I already bought the other books in the Heaven and Earth Series!
I really didn’t think I would LOVE LOVE God’s Design so much!!!!! But I really do! From other negative reviews I thought God’s Design was going to be very easy, dry and not enough comparing to Apologia, but to us it is everything opposite than all the negative reviews state. IT IS EVERYTNING I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR IN A SCIENCE CURRICULUM!
My big kids are 5 and 7. We are doing God’s Design for Life, World of Animals right now and we love it. The “beginner” section is the perfect length for littles to narrate, then we dive into the “regular” section for more details when the kids want to learn more (which they usually do!) I looked at the Apologia books at a homeschool convention and didn’t like the sing-songy “storybook” language in the elementary series. It seemed like a lot of “fluff”, my reaction was basically “GET TO THE POINT!” The AiG series is very kid-friendly, but doesn’t waste words.
vikingkirken, I think you’ve hit the nail on the head! And I think I’ve decided that we WILL continue using AiG for science! It’s that “to the point” that we like about the AiG. AiG isn’t as flashy as Apologia, and I think that’s what has been making me wonder if I shouldn’t give Apologia a try. But I think we won’t. I Think we’ll stick with AiG.