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Does anyone NOT like Elem. Apologia?
- This topic has 21 replies, 17 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 5 months ago by
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Yeah, so that’s basically my question – if anyone else doesn’t really like the elem series and what you use instead. We’re doing Astronomy and its O K (the 4th grader seems to get more out of it than my 1st grader) but seems a bit dry to me.
Thanks – Becky
We did Astronomy 1st and at about that age. I’ll admit it was my least favorite, just because of the topic and the ages of my kids. But we enjoyed Zoology more and the Anatomy book I bought for next year looks neat (though don’t do that with early elementary….tougher material!) I sometimes wish I would have just done more nature study in the younger years, but wasn’t fully CM then. Sorry I don’t have suggestions…we’ve always done Apologia:) Gina
I started last week doing Apologia Astronomy with my 2nd and 4th grader, and it really seemed dry. The narrations were not happening. I have switched, for this year to living books and more nauture study for this year. We may switch back to Apologia next year. This is our first year doing CM full throttle.
So basically, I feel cluless!Warmest wishes,
Alicia
I like Real Science 4 Kids. I also just pick topics and find books to go along with it. If you search on Science on my blog you’ll find the stuff I’ve made so far. Sometimes we use Apologia because A) I own them (bought at library book sale for $.25 each) and B) often my library doesn’t have what I need and C) we move a lot with the military and they’re easy to grab and use in a hotel for a month or so. Not my first choice though.
Noeo Science has some good options too.
Heather
I agree about the Astronomy being a bit boring… go for one of the other topics – especially the zoology ones, this year we’re also going to use the notebook that goes with it… a bit pricey, but has lots of fun lapbook activities and writing assignments which can be done orally AND a couple of the notebooks have a younger version like for your 1st grader without as much writing.
I tried Flying Creatures of the FIfth Day last year, and stopped a little way into it. I thought it was rather boring. We are doing our own astronomy unit study this summer and am going to try Good Science instead. (More hands on) along with nature study. I LOVE science, but sorry, Apologia just doesn’t do it for me.
I took an extended look-see at two of the books and was disappointed. To me they are more glitz–slick paper and big photos and not as much content. They are much more expensive than what I was using–God’s Design–and I didn’t like them nearly as well. There seemed to me to be hardly any text per page.
Wow, I thought everyone like apologia elementary science! I was considering using “Swimming Creatures” this upcoming year… now, not sure.
What are you ladies using instead? Bookworm we tried God’s Design but my kids thought it was boring… ??
My oldest two dc loved them. We did Astonomy, Flying Creatures and Swimming Creatures. They have since gone on to do General and Physical Science from Apologia as well. My 3rd born has no interest whatsoever in doing any of them. She will be in 6th grade this year. Last year she read and narrated (written and oral) all of the books from SCM’s living Science book recommendations for 4th, 5th, and 6th grade…
Jack’s Insects
Owls in the Family
Shark Lady: True Adventures of Eugenie Clark
The Children’s Life of the Bee
Venus Among the Fishes
Gentle Ben
A Dolphin Named Bob.Before that we did Nature Study and Liberty Nature readers.
This coming year she requested the Christian Kid’s Explore Earth and Science. Not very CM, but I think it will be okay for this year.
Not sure what I will do with my youngers coming up, it really depends on them and their interests/learning styles.
We also tried them and did Botany and the flying creatures. My son, who loves animals, got so bored especially with the long bird section that he started to hate science time. My daughter did fine with botany but it was not her favorite.
We switched to Christian Kid’s and did the biology last year and this year we will do Earth and Science. I then add in the living science books in. I pick some out of the list in the back of the science program or I get them from here and use the bookfinder. My son loves this science program and it has been very easy to implement. Doesn’t take us along time and after he is done reading, I have him narrate and then fill in the worksheet. He is going into 6th grade this year.
Blessings,
Vanessa
Neat to read how everyone is different. My oldest sneaks the Apologia books to her bedroom to read all the time, she loves them. LOL.
How funny! I agree that I thought most people liked the elementary courses. 🙂 We’ve done Astronomy and Botany so far and my daughter loved them. I too had to keep her from reading ahead. 🙂 Every child is different though. Isn’t homeschooling great? What if our kids were in ps and Apologia was the textbook that was chosen for a whole classroom full of kids and it didn’t work for half of them? What a blessing to be able to pick and choose curriculum to fit our own child’s personality!
I haven’t read all the posts but I did want to say that we love Apologia Elementary Science here. My kids do them on their own though. Well, we did do Astronomy together when they were younger, but my 11 year old did Zoology 1, 2 and is almost through 3, on his own. He’s always bringing interesting facts to me to share from his reading. I already have Anatomy waiting in the wings. We actually read a little bit of the beginning because we couldn’t wait and he is already excited about cells being like cities, etc. They may not be for everyone but they’re great for us. We also use some of Ambleside’s science choices, like the Burgess books, Pagoo, etc.
We’re using them (sort of) right now as well and enjoying it.
I have a friend whose 7 (or 8) yo ds is just reading through one of them for fun. Everyone’s different and thankfully there is a big world out there to explore for each personality.
Personally, I would just like to read the living books, minus experiments, but my kids want it all. I’m not great at using science kits and living books so these books work for now.
BTW, these posts bring up so many good ideas about what everyone is using, which is so helpful to me. I gain more and more ideas that I probably wouldn’t have come up with on my own, so I love these posts!
So basically, I feel cluless!
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