If do Apologia Science...

[amselby81]

Do you do the activities/experiments? And if you do, do you buy the materials as they are needed, or do you think a materials kit is worth the money? $65 to $80 for a kit seems like a lot of money on top of the books, but really I could probably easily spend that much over the long run if I buy the materials as I go.

 

ETA: I need to learn how to proofread. My title was supposed to say, "If you do Apologia Science..."

Edited June 7, 2012 by amselby81

[serendipitous journey]

If you can afford the experiment kits, I would definitely buy them. The kits from Rainbow Resource are such great value: you can just the read the experiment and do it. The activities add a lot I think -- we used Astronomy -- not so much in terms of education, at least for Astronomy; other books, esp. by HA Rey, were much more educational -- but for fun and engagement.

[happyhomemaker]

We did most of the experiments and activities, but I didn't buy a kit. I spent maybe $20 on stuff for the experiments. Most of the items I had around the house. I can see where buying the kit would be so convenient, but I'm too much of a cheapskate.:tongue_smilie:

[plain jane]

We've done 3 of the books so far and have done all the experiments. I've not found the need to purchase an experiment kit.

 

Which book are you thinking of doing?

 

If you go to this site here, click on the one you're looking at doing. When that page loads, click on the experiment kit. Scroll down under the picture of it and you will see a chart that breaks down the materials for each and every chapter- including what you need & what is included in the kit. I found this very helpful in deciding if I needed a kit or not. :)

 

ETA: Sometimes I find it best to purchase the actual textbook and read through it prior to making a decision on lab materials. For example in the Swimming Creatures book you need 2 small hand-held fans for a lab. Well, it turns out you need the fans to blow across a bowl of water... something I had the kids do with their mouths instead. ;) Perhaps not perfect, but I'd rather they do that than spend the money on a fan for something as simple as that. It's difficult to say without the text in hand what the materials will be used for and sometimes you can easily substitute.

Edited June 7, 2012 by plain jane

[Rubix]

I have not started Apologia yet, so there is my disclaimer. We're starting in a month and I did purchase the flying creatures lab kit. I think it is a good value, since everything is organized by lesson number, so all you need to do is pull out the correct baggie and start.

 

I am a person who would not do the experiments if everything wasn't on hand. Searching for the right supplies, trips to the store would keep me from actually doing the experiment. If you will take the initiative to gather the things that you need, then great :) I'd rather spend the money. (Plus, since I paid for it, I am more likely to actually do them rather than waste the $). Hope that helps!

[amselby81]

I was looking into the Zoology 1 book. The list of items does look kind of complicated, although I wouldn't need everything that it includes. An umbrella comes with it, and we have an umbrella. It includes a plastic, rubbermaid like container, which we have plenty of. But there are some things that I'd need which would quickly add up, and I'm not sure I would be able to buy them in small quantities, like sand, a magnifying glass, mesh bags to hold bird seed, hanging wire, and we don't have a food scale.

[momto2blessings]

If you spend a little bit of time at the beg. of the year bagging supplies into little bags w/the lesson # on it, it's much cheaper and easier to implement. And if you have more than one child using it, you can easily add in enough supplies for each kid to be hands on and still probably save $$ because manythings you'll likely have around the house. Just my .02:) Gina