APOLOGIA Elementary Science, NOT for lower, as they say it is???

I used Astronomy last year for my 2nd grader and my K’er enjoyed it too. They both seemed to really “get” it and still remind me of things they have learned.

This year we are doing plants. It is more indepth, but they enjoy it and ask to do it daily, we do it 3 times/week. I do not expect them to retain everything, but am surprised at what they ar learning.

I read someplace, can not remember where now but will try to find it, that while all are 1st-6th grade that plants, anatomy and chem/phys tend to be a bit better for the higher end of the grades. That Astronomy then moving into the Animals is a good flow for younger kids before doing plants, anatomy and chem/phys

My sister did astronomy last year with 4th, 2nd and K and her girls liked it, but this year doing chem/phys is a bit tougher. My friend with similar ages as mine did Astronomy last year but doing Anatomy this year has been a bit tougher.

I could see how a broad grade range could be tough for all to really get all they can out of the program. Having a 3rd and 1st grader, I am in that “zone”. I know it will be different in a couple years when I have 6th, 4th and 1st grade. I have a feeling I will keep older 2 together but do something different with the younger. That way the younger will not feel out of place or the olders not challenged

Well, I have a 2 and 7 year old so I’m only using it with my 7 year old (we started when she was 6).  We are using the Chemistry & Physics one and I got the JR. notebooking journal.  And right now, science tends to get pushed aside a lot.  I’m trying to be more diligent with at least 1 day of nature study though (which I think counts as science too).  I digress.  Going back to the curric…  I do like how it reads more conversationaly rather than a really dry text book.  And it somewhat holds my daughters attention, more so if she is coloring one of the coloring pages in the journal.  But, she is 7, so I’m not expencting her to sit around memorizing vocabulary and facts etc.  Initially, I would read and she would write something short about what she knew about the subject (but I would have to spell much of it out for her)… essentialy, I realized this is what would be considered written narration.  Well at 7, she is still learning how to do oral narration!  She pretty much just really loves the experiments.  So this is what we do now (when we actually fit it into our week).  I will read ahead before we do an experiment and as we are doing it, I will simply give my own oral narration of what I read.  I keep the book open there too to help me out with rememberning some details.  But, I’m not reading from the book… just telling her about whats happening in this experiment.  Depending on the experiment, sometimes I will have her write her guesses down first and when we are done, she will write about what happened.  Since we have the journal, she uses that but, when my son is older, I’m skipping the journal and just having him do it in his own notebook.  So, it’s very relaxed now and she enjoys it even more.  Sometimes she is the one who says “can we do some science stuff today?”  

Overall, I like it, however, it’s one of those things I purchased before fully embracing the CM methods and now, it’s something I feel like I HAVE to squeeze in because I spent money on it but, I’m feelig more drawn to putting that time into nature study type stuff instead (which I’m not very good at but, trying to get better) and therefor I’m simply having a hard time fitting it in.  But if the kiddo asks for it, then I work really hard to make it a priority that week. 

We are doing Anatomy with my 7.5 yo, 10 yo, and 12 yo.  My 7.5 yo does not pick up as much as the olders so i normally just give him shorter passages to narrate.  I don’t tell anyone who is narrating when so he “just happens” to get a half paragraph or so.  He also really enjoys the experiments and discussions we have.

Last year, when my 2nd grader was in 1st grade,  he just listened to us read the Astronomy book.  I had him narrating from something else.  He did pick up quite a bit, however, from just listening.

One thought is that you could have one of your older kids read to your younger ones, one of the supplementary science books reccommended at the end of the Apologia chapter.  (I think that is where they are listed.)

These are just some ideas that I hope are helpful! 

Last year my DD did Astronomy in 3rd grade.  At first she didn’t enjoy it until she was able to do the reading assignments and notebooking independently.  Once she was on her own she found it to be her favorite subject.  This year she is doing chem/physics, and so far she is struggling.  The concepts are very abstract for even 4th grade.  She is finally started to get it, but not w/o a lot of work.  She takes her science class through co-op, so she has to complete a specific amount of work each week, and for us it is a lot.  She is spending about an hour/day, so we often break it up so that it is not so much at once.  There is absolutely NO WAY my 2nd grader could do Apologia at this age.  He would love the hands on activities, but grasping all the vocab terms would be too much, at least at the pace the co-op is going (1 chapter per week with review every 3 chapters).  Right now he is doing 106 Days.  Next year I am thinking of doing one of the zoology books with him and his sister, but I will take it more slowly.  I would not attempt Apologia with any of my kids younger than 3rd grade.

I really do understand what you are saying here, OP, my experience at first with Apologia was very much the same.  I delayed doing it for so long as our first attempts were failures! Then we started out of sync with the Zoo2 book, as we’d just moved to the beach. We managed Zoo 2 (Swimming Creatures) last year with grades 1, 3 and 6, but some days were hard.  I did print out hands on activities for my younger two to do whilst I was reading and found that helped. 

We’re doing our next book, Zoo 1, and I am doing the same thing, printing off lapbook pieces and other fun stuff to go with the bird topic we are studying.  I find sometimes my younger child, grade 2 drifts off, but she still has learned something and is able to give a little bit of narration.  I expect the most from my 7th grader, and feel a bit bad because I “should” have done this all with him already.  He is also doing the high school Apolgia General Science on his own.