Ruth Smith Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 Hi! I have been away from the board for a while. I am sure this has been discussed and I missed it. Opinions please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sena Posted April 30, 2008 Share Posted April 30, 2008 I'm curious about this too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brindee Posted April 30, 2008 Share Posted April 30, 2008 This is all hearsay, from what I've read on here or other places because I don't have either, though I've looked online at both. So here's what I've heard: Apologia General Science seems to be one of the worst of their sciences in many people's opinions. Their other sciences get way better reports than the General. Rainbow Science I've heard nothing bad about yet. I loved the way it looked, and still am trying to decide if I can afford to get it for my dd, and the Spectrum Chem. for my ds! The Rainbow and Spectrum Chem. come with everything you need, and the lab stuff all measured out for each experiment. Sounds good to me! Someone else might have more personal experience with them, but thought I'd let you know what I've heard... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted April 30, 2008 Share Posted April 30, 2008 RAINBOW SCIENCE - designed for 7th-8th grade - very hands-on, with 1-2 experiments each week - from a Christian perspective - written to the student, and designed to be done solo by the student - reading/writing level: gentle; text is not too wordy; not too much writing required (write answers to 3-4 questions in the Student Lab Book) - cost: year 1 = $254 year 2 = $143 - everything included (2-year Textbook; 2-year Teacher's Helper -- guide for text & lab; Durable Equipment Set (reuseable); Renewable Supply Set (consumable); Student Lab Workbook) - two-year program: year 1: physics (30 lessons) and chemistry (32 lessons) year 2: biology (43 lessons) and brief overview of earth science, weather, astronomy (20 lessons) - can be adapted (do it in 3 years, starting in 6th grade; do it in 1 year as an 8th grader) See scope/sequence and sample lesson from the publisher at: http://www.beginningspublishing.com/products.html APOLOGIA GENERAL - designed for 7th grade - textbook based, with optional experiments written into the text - written to the student - from a Christian perspective - reading/writing level: hefty/wordy textbook can be daunting to a student who hasn't used a textbook before; small amount of writing in answering questions within the text, paragraph writing in writing up lab reports and hefty amount of writing to do the chapter summary/reviews as a study guide for the tests - 16 modules (4 units on history of science, scientific inquiry, experimentation, etc.) (4 units on archaeology, geology and paleontology) (8 units on life (DNA, classifying life, human body systems) - cost: text = $59 solutions = $20 optional CD-ROM of visuals = $15 optional MP3 audio of the text ("book on tape") = $15 (can be purchased at a great discount to these prices through http://www.rainbowresource.com) - materials for experiments not included See course overview, table of contents, and sample chapter at: http://www.highschoolscience.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cabdriver Posted April 30, 2008 Share Posted April 30, 2008 HI, I used Apologia General for my 7th grade dd. She really liked it but she likes more traditional types of learning and texts- very visual. I just bought Rainbow for my son who will be in sixth next year-very sciency kid. He also loves experiments and does better with hands on learning. We haven't used it yet but it looks great. I think they are both great curriculum- but it just depends on your child and their learning style. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted April 30, 2008 Share Posted April 30, 2008 HI,I used Apologia General for my 7th grade dd. She really liked it but she likes more traditional types of learning and texts- very visual. I just bought Rainbow for my son who will be in sixth next year-very sciency kid. He also loves experiments and does better with hands on learning. We haven't used it yet but it looks great. I think they are both great curriculum- but it just depends on your child and their learning style. Would it be hard to use the Rainbow curriculum backwards--that is, life sciences first and physical sciences second? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aunty Social Posted April 30, 2008 Share Posted April 30, 2008 We've used both Rainbow and General Science with my now 8th grader, and for us General was hands down better. She enjoyed them both, but I feel that she has learned (and retained) more from General than Rainbow. The format of read, experiment, answer, study guide and test works much better for her learning style. I might use Rainbow again with my other children, but probably in 5th and 6th grades, as a fun intro to serious concepts that they will study more later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brindee Posted April 30, 2008 Share Posted April 30, 2008 So you felt Rainbow wasn't very deep? Too easy for 7th/8th? My dd loves experiments, that's why I'm thinking of it for her. It's hard to decide when you have so many good choices! :) Lori D. Thanks for the comparisons list! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelaC Posted April 30, 2008 Share Posted April 30, 2008 I have used both of these and our family much preferred Rainbow over General Science. We are much more hands on (like your family, perhaps?). BUT, I used it for two boys ages 9 and 12. The 9 year old did not get all the concepts unless I sat right there, but the 12 year old was fine(though I do remember parts of it were harder for him . . .so I'm thinking a 7th/8th grader could easily grasp the concepts as well as do it on his own) Also, we actually did both years in one year. If I recall, we took longer than a 36 week school year, but we still did it. I only say this because when we did only two lessons/week, it didn't seem like we did much at all. My boys really enjoyed it. They did a lot of experiments and all the supplies were right there. It is just not as "academic" as General Science, but that is fine with me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brindee Posted May 1, 2008 Share Posted May 1, 2008 I have used both of these and our family much preferred Rainbow over General Science. We are much more hands on (like your family, perhaps?). BUT, I used it for two boys ages 9 and 12. The 9 year old did not get all the concepts unless I sat right there, but the 12 year old was fine(though I do remember parts of it were harder for him . . .so I'm thinking a 7th/8th grader could easily grasp the concepts as well as do it on his own) Also, we actually did both years in one year. If I recall, we took longer than a 36 week school year, but we still did it. I only say this because when we did only two lessons/week, it didn't seem like we did much at all. My boys really enjoyed it. They did a lot of experiments and all the supplies were right there. It is just not as "academic" as General Science, but that is fine with me. Yeah, I'm thinking the hands-on stuff will be remembered by my dd WAY longer than lots of reading in a big book! As she gets into highschool, she'll go deeper! I like, too, that it introduces names and concepts so when they DO get to highschool Chem., then College Chem. it won't seem so daunting to them, and I think they'll enjoy it more! Just mho obviously! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aunty Social Posted May 1, 2008 Share Posted May 1, 2008 So you felt Rainbow wasn't very deep? Too easy for 7th/8th? My dd loves experiments, that's why I'm thinking of it for her. It's hard to decide when you have so many good choices! :) Lori D. Thanks for the comparisons list! It's more that it seemed to make large assumptions about what your child might already know. I was always having to explain (or have my husband explain) concepts that really should have been introduced in the book, but weren't. My daughter also really enjoys experiments, and both programs have many! I'd say she's done as many experiments with General as with Rainbow, and I'm not having to go back and fill in missing knowledge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Wisc Posted May 1, 2008 Share Posted May 1, 2008 General gets my vote. Since we use Apologia in high school, this is a book to prepare for the type of science study they will have to do. Rainbow is fun the 1st year--but I had questions about things in the chemistry that I could not answer (I'm not a science person). The 2nd year isn't as well written imo. I thought it was a fun, hands-on type of program where General was a deeper study. My dd did not do well going from Rainbow (and all her years of hands-on science study) to the textbook approach. I made sure my boys started the textbook approach to science earlier so that the learning curve of reading, taking notes, and taking a test did not happen in 9th grade--which would go on the transcript. We now use General. J (I'm going to add here that after doing year 1, I read through the year 2 sections and chose not to do them, so I've only really "done" year 1 of Rainbow.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benjabber Posted May 15, 2008 Share Posted May 15, 2008 We've used both Rainbow and General Science with my now 8th grader, and for us General was hands down better. She enjoyed them both, but I feel that she has learned (and retained) more from General than Rainbow. The format of read, experiment, answer, study guide and test works much better for her learning style. I might use Rainbow again with my other children, but probably in 5th and 6th grades, as a fun intro to serious concepts that they will study more later. If I were to use Rainbow in 5th & 6th grade (from a more hands-on intro), followed by Apologia in 7th grade (for a more serious, textual study), would that be overkill? How doable is Rainbow for 5th & 6th grade? Or if do you think I'd be better off doing the new Colors progam (instead of Rainbow) before Apologia General? (Of course this Colors not being out yet and only seeing a small sample it may be a little hard to say...) I am planning ahead for my then-to-be 11yo ds who doesn't have too much trouble handling abstract ideas. Thanks in advance for anyinput / thoughts you can offer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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