I feel like I’m finding mixed information on Science. In several places Sonya writes that we do science with the children individually (under 7th grade) and then in another place she mentions doing it with the family. I think 106 Days of Creation is one of the recommended options. And the others are the Apologia Elementary sciences. Homeschooling: 7th, 5th, 3rd, 1st, and 2 four year olds.
So here are my questions:
1) how would you fit science into your schedule with each child individually if you were homeschooling 6 kids?
2) we have done some of the Apologia Elementary sciences. I want to like them and maybe I just haven’t given them a fair shot. Other thoughts?
3) Thoughts on 106 Days of Creation? or any other suggestions?
It is totally up to you how you group kids. We have always done family science. I am also not fond of Apologia so my 7th grader did not do the recommended general science last year. I had him read several of the Wonders of Creation books on his own and also join us for “anatomy”. This year he has requested Chemistry and Physics so I found some resources that suit him and he will be on his own mostly. My 6th and 3rd grader will do 106 days together, with extra readings for my 6th grader. I was excited to find that I have several Wonders of Creation books that match up beautifully with 106 days. Next year I hope to have my two oldest together for science and my youngest in a seperate science. That way I am only teaching two sciences. If I had six kids I would absolutely group them into as few sciences as possible. 1 – 6 can always be together, you might even get away with your 7th grader joining you with additional work. Considering Gods Creation, which 106 days schedules, claims to be for up to 7th grade. So maybe you could just do one science for all this year. Its totally up to you. I would suggest keeping college plans in mind, a lot of ladies on here recommend following the typical junior high/highschool course of study for science if your child is college bound. We are junior college bound so I feel I have a bit of wiggle room.
Thanks Crystal! I started looking at another series that someone suggested – the Berean Builders elementary science from Dr. Jay Wile. I actually like it a lot. I like the older apologia sciences, but am not a big fan of the Young Explorer series. I just think they are too wordy.
My oldest (at home) is college bound. He wants to be a meteorologist, but we have to get him to reading well (dyslexia). I’m seriously considering having him do one more year of science with us and General Science in 8th grade until we get some more reading under his belt. We have Learning Ally access, and the Apologia books are on there, but I still don’t want to have him too stressed, of course. We shall see. Thanks a bunch for the input.
I was going to suggest Berean Builders too! We are using the creation one next year! Watch out I think one edition of the apologia highschool chemistry is not really his.
Ya me too… I met Dr wile at a curriculum fair once and liked him…it seems a bit strange. I know I sure don’t know all! I did personally use his highschool biology and chemistry back in the day;) and that was all the highschool science I did. I did each for 2 years and went straight into a 4 year college. I took college biology and earth science with no trouble. I was not planning to major in science….now I think I should have done more in college;) live and learn…
We’ve done several things over the years but basically our kids are all together for science until Jr High or High School. My current Jr. High kid is staying with the group while my 11th grader chose to go on her own in Jr. High.
So in high school we use Apologia except for Chemistry. For that we’re using Dr. Wile’s new book Discovering Design with Chemistry. (When he left apologia a couple years ago they chose to update the chemistry book he had written for them by having a new author completely redo it.)
In the earlier years we have used a few things:
Apologia Elementary books – I read these aloud in short sessions and we do experiments. We don’t worry about finishing an entire book in a year but if we finish that’s ok too.
Gods Design for Science series – Again, read aloud and do the experiments/activities. These are a lighter science I feel, more activities than experiments. It worked well for one season I was in.
Living books and experiments – Choose a topic, find books, enjoy. Add a couple experiments. The next month choose a new topic and repeat.
We are going back to this last option for this school year. I have 6 kids in my grouped science from K-7th, 2 preschoolers, and having baby #10 in the winter. The 11th grader is using Dr. Wile’s new chemistry.
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