Hi readers! Welcome to today’s homeschool curriculum forum on science!
As most of you know, I am currently using Abeka science in our homeschool. I have to say that this has been a wonderful addition to our homeschool this year. Not only does it require very little planning on my part, but it does include some hands on activities as well.
Since this program has a variety of resources included, I thought it might be helpful if I told you which things I purchase when doing Abeka Science.
One thing I don’t love about Abeka are all of the little booklets that you have to purchase. It would be nice if they came all together to make life easier. But for the science I always purchase the teacher’s manual or “curriculum” as they are often called. The student work text, the student workbooks, and the answer keys if I am teaching an upper grade. I also purchase the tests and quizzes and answer keys to those as well.
I do not always choose to purchase the optional visual aids, however if you plan to use this curriculum for several years it is worth it as the materials are re-used across several grades so you will get good use out of them.
Another great thing about Abeka is that you can typically find their materials used at a very reasonable price. Just be aware of which version you are purchasing and whether or not you can still purchase workbooks that correlate with that version.
Pros:
- Material is grade appropriate.
- Lessons are easy to teach and plan.
- Includes hands-on activities to reinforce lessons.
- Re-uses colorful flashcards through the grade levels so you only have to purchase once.
Cons:
- Can be a little confusing for the teacher with several booklets to purchase.
Once my children are a little older I plan to switch from Abeka to God’s Design For Science by Answers in Genesis. This curriculum is a four year curriculum that is meant to be repeated with older grades. Unfortunately I did try to start it but the materials were just too advanced for my younger children, so we will wait to start this.
Pros:
- Focuses on God as Creator.
- Hands-on activities to reinforce skills.
Cons:
- Can be expensive, but not so bad when you consider it is four years worth of curriculum.
A fun hands-on alternative for younger children is the Nancy Larson Science program. I have been tempted to try this a few times, however they currently only offer Science K to Science 4. With my oldest going into 5th grade, I wasn’t sure if it would benefit my children or not.
The other issue I have with this program is the price. Materials are quite expensive, however it comes in a complete kit. So it is tempting to purchase a science “kit” that includes everything you need!
Pros:
- Hands-on and fun activities for younger learners.
Cons:
- Expensive
- Currently only available for elementary grades.
So, now comes the fun part!
What are your favorite Science curriculum, resources, websites, etc? Leave a comment below discussing your choices for this year and why.
Feel free to ask questions or reply to each other too!
It’s my way of doing a forum without actually doing a forum haha!
And hopefully this will help us all as we start the process of researching curriculum, and trying to decide what will be the best fit for our homeschool.
Note: Please keep today’s conversations geared towards SCIENCE, I will be posting one for each subject separately so we can keep our comments organized.
Click here if you missed my previous Homeschool Curriculum Forum posts!
Disclosure: This was not a sponsored post, I may however be affiliated with one or more products mentioned. The opinions expressed in this post were not influenced by the company. They are products I have used and felt like sharing, cuz’ it’s my blog and I can if I want to.
This year we used Gods Wonderful Works from Christian Liberty Press. My son (2nd grade) loved it! We went through each day of creation and studied about the things that were created on that day. As far as teaching it went, it was pretty open and go, very little prep work for me.
We used Apologia’s Human Anatomy and Physiology this year for my Prek and 1st grade sons. We hardly used the text at all. It is written for much older students. Even the Jr. Notebooking journal was often too advanced. I ended up using the order of subjects taught from Apologia and creating our own units. We did TONS of hands-on activities and checked out lots of books from the library. I have our entire Anatomy Units posted on my blog: fromthemrs.blogspot.com. My kids’ favorite subject was science this year because of all the fun activities.
I just purchased the alpha and omega lifepac science curriculum set for grade 1 at a used book sale. it seems very simplistic, but its first grade—i didnt think it would be too in depth, but im noticing a lot of you arent mentioning that you use it…is it not considered a good curriculum? it was such a good price, that I couldnt pass it up—but maybe next year we’ll move into something a bit more advanced. It seems like Abeka and Sonlight are the most popular on here. I will probably supplement with kid friendly experiments from online and some of my sons favorite topics for fun.
*kelly
Hey Kelly! I bought the Lifepac for my son also. It will be our first year and I like how it has a variety of topics in a workbook form. I’ve heard LOTS of people say they just get bored with the workbooks, but, like you, I couldn’t pass up the price either. I picked it up at a LifeWay store 50% off. For that, we will take our chances for a year. It wasn’t colorful or “fun” looking, but I’m sure we will supplement with real books and experiments also. Good luck!
My son will be using Apologia for the first time next year. He will be doing Astronomy which he is very excited about. He loves Outer space
Any suggestions for a simple but educational program for first grade?
We studied insects. I put together a unit from several sources. My son learned how “insect” is defined, he created – and named – an insect with materials found in our back yard, created a “my favorite insect” survey and graphed the results, and studied the habitat/facts/metamorphosis type for two different insects. We made a stapled-together book with all of it. We also spent a lot of time looking for insects at area parks and nature centers. His favorite science so far!
Wow! That is a great idea! I will definitely copy that idea for a unit study. Thank you!
I have been looking into Elemental Science for my daughter who will be in K next year. I love what I’ve seen from Apologia, but want to wait one more year for those as she is a young K student (based on bday, not ability). I was wondering if anyone has used the ELemental Science curriculum before? thoughts and/or reviews would be helpful!!
Thanks!
Bethany,
We have been using Elemental Science for the past two years. (Horse cover and Butterfly cover) I plan on buying the next book in the series for our upcoming 1st/2nd school year.
I really love elemental science but, I feel it needs to be the right fit for you. I would describe it as very hands on and requires a lot of library visits. I usually add more books than what is suggested. I also find a lot of videos to add to the weekly topics. During the preschool/kindergarten series I was adding Sid the Science Kid videos (on topic). This year I have been adding videos from the Magic School Bus Series and Bill Nye (on topic). I have also found a lot of educational videos on you tube that I will use.
I tend to follow a typical pattern to the lessons (using Elemental Science as a guide).
Day 1 – Introduction to Topic, Read book, Color Page
Day 2 – Read book, Do Experiment, Record Results (The book encourages a camera but, I have the kids draw the experiment/journal)
Day 3 – This is my video day and the snack that can be made
Day 4 – Read book, Do the Art Related Activity
Day 5 – Anything that I missed that week & Nature Study (We do our own nature topics)
I have moved the units into different order to work better for the weather in Wisconsin. We just finished the tornado week. Fun!
So this past week we:
Day 1: Introduce the topic, Tornado book, Tornado Color Page, Practice Tornado Drill
Day 2: Tornado Book, Made the Tornado in Bottle Experiment, Journal the Experiment
Day 3: Watched Weather Channel/Tornado Chaser Videos – Made Tornado Smoothies
Day 4: Tornado Book, Tornado Safety Posters (Art with Science)
Day 5: Repeated a favorite tornado book & Nature Study
I hope this helps. I love using Elemental Science and science has been very successful and the kids favorite subject. It is not a the type of curriculum you will want if you desire an open and go style.
We also use Elemental Science. This year we used Earth Science and Astronomy. My 2nd and 3rd graders love it and it is so easy to teach. We will be purchasing the grammer level Chemistry for next year.
I started using BJU Press for Science for both 3rd grade and 6th grade. I like that this set is very organized and has everything with it….a workbook that correlates nicely with the text, tests and answer key all ready to go, and some simple experiements. I started using them for English, and because I could not seem to find something that fit into our schedule and didn’t create tons of prep time for me, I gave them a try and loved them.
I am using 106 Days of Creation by Simply Charlotte Mason. It is meant to be done in 106 lessons so easily in one year if you choose to. It teaches science by following the days of creation. I have bulked it up by putting it together with lapbooks that compliment the days of creation with the topic learned that day. For example we are learning trees right now in Day 3 so instead of a one day lesson for trees I have added Amanda Bennett’s tremendous trees unit study and now we have 6 days of learning!! My son is 7 and he loves science and this is one of his favorite parts of the day. This curriculum when adding lapbooks can easily be spread out over 3-4 years!!
I am always surprised at the number of people that use Apologia. We have tried it a couple of times but never stuck with it. Maybe I should give it another shot especially as my kids grow older.
For those who use Apologia, do you know about the lapbook options? The names just fled my mind though. I know Rainbow Resource carries them, though.