mothergooseof4 Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 I am posting here in hopes of getting some opinions from those that have already been through this stage. My ds is in 7th. He has never cared for science and I have taken a very relaxed approach with it. He has read some books here and there, but never done a formal science curriculum. I would say that he has a general knowledge though. This year, I started him in The Rainbow. He hates it. He does not like doing experiments and since it is lab-based, it is bombing big time. I pulled AIG's God's Design Our Universe off the shelf and he is reading a lesson per day, writing out the vocabulary words, and then we discuss the questions at the end. He usually hasn't retained much. I think it is somewhat dry and it doesn't seem like "enough" for a 7th grader to me. When asked how he likes it, he just says it is fine. Is it enough if we tried to fit in as many books from the series as possible in 7th and 8th? I have looked at Apologia General and like it okay, but am not sure if it would appeal to ds. He still wouldn't want to do the labs. If you use it, do you just wing it, use a schedule from MFW or SL or another schedule? Does anyone use the notebook that is available? It also has a schedule and looks like it would help to develop some study skills. I also like the look of BJU, but I don't know that I can afford it. The dvd's would really be great. What do you do for a kid that just doesn't like science? He hates all experiments. I think he is like me and finds them tedious. I would just prefer to read about it. I would prefer a text since I thinking ds is needing to develop some study skills beyond our usually living books approach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 You could try apologia. Let him just read the experiments. I wouldn't force the labs until high school. He will probably find it boring. Science without hands on learning tends to be dull. I would start enforcing, "there are some things you need to learn even if you don't like them". As he reads, encourage him to pick labs that he finds interesting and try them. Most Apologia labs use easy to find supplies. On the other hand, if he doesn't want to do Apologia General, you could let him pick a science that he is interested in. Life Science? Earth & Space? Physics? Chemistry? Forensics? Human Anatomy? If there are any he would actually like to learn about, you can get him Science Explorer texts or others that match his interests. Here is a link to the Science Explorer texts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mothergooseof4 Posted September 27, 2012 Author Share Posted September 27, 2012 What about doing General with the multimedia cd? Does it show all of the experiments? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omma Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 We are currently using BJU's Life Science DVD's for 7th grade and my son loves them! Also, this class provides a great way to get exposure to all the labs without having to actually do them all. Mrs. Vick is the instructor and she is very inspiring! I highly recommend this course if you agree with the God's Design series but want something visually exciting and stimulating. Brenda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mothergooseof4 Posted September 27, 2012 Author Share Posted September 27, 2012 We are currently using BJU's Life Science DVD's for 7th grade and my son loves them! Also, this class provides a great way to get exposure to all the labs without having to actually do them all. Mrs. Vick is the instructor and she is very inspiring! I highly recommend this course if you agree with the God's Design series but want something visually exciting and stimulating. Brenda Would you recommend BJU for the kid that really isn't interested in science? I have read so much that says that it really takes a lot of time to complete the higher levels of this and I just don't think ds is headed to a science field. Now computer science or technology, yes! But, not science. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roxy Roller Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 My oldest is in 8th, so take this with a grain of salt. We have been much the same as you have in regards to science - my kids do interest-led science in early elementary. My DD13 tried Apologia General Science last year, with the CD and Audio formats, but things didn't seem to click. Before this school year started she said that she hated science. Our problem is that she wants to possibly be a Registered Nurse. This year she would have been into Apologia's Physical Science. I decided to do AIG's God's Design for the Physical World books with my 4 oldest children, together. I have purchased all three Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding books and I have gone through them to match up the BFSU lessons to the God's Design books and they have added immeasurable amounts of information and clarity to the God's Design books. (I just highlight what I want to discuss/demonstrate from the BFSU books - we don't do the BFSU lessons.) I have also searched the internet for corresponding video clips to go with each lesson. Science is now one of my DD's(and sons) favorite subjects, go figure. I have gone through and typed up the vocab and lesson questions so that my children just have to fill in answers, which makes our lesson move along faster. I put the vocab definitions on the whiteboard and require that they have copied them down before our 'class'. The God's Design books have pretty simple experiments in them, and I am sure that you could look for video clips that would demonstrate the concepts if you didn't want to do them. I think you could probably do the same thing with the Apologia General Book, and I am considering doing Apologia Biology with my 4 oldest next year in this same way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mothergooseof4 Posted September 28, 2012 Author Share Posted September 28, 2012 Well, I explained my feelings about God's Design to ds and asked him to look at a few things with me. He said AIG is better than Rainbow, but nothing intriguing. Being my only baby that cried when his hands got dirty, he wants no labs and Rainbow relies heavily on them. We looked at online samples of Apologia General and BJU Life, even the DL sample to go with it. He preferred Apologia. I printed a few pages of the sample and the notebook, and had him do that for today. He said it was much nicer reading than AIG. Later, we gathered the AIG books we had and headed to Mardel. We sat for a while and he read some of BJU, more of Apologia, and our AIG. I gave him the option of sticking with AIG, but he seemed to like Apologia best. He said he likes the conversational style. And, he liked the notebook. I like the study skills since he has never used a textbook and test approach. It's not my favorite way to study, but he needs to develop some independent study skills other than just reading tons of books, although we have enjoyed that approach and will still read lots of books. I was planning to return home and find this all used, but Apologia was 30% off, so we brought it home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mothergooseof4 Posted September 28, 2012 Author Share Posted September 28, 2012 Oh, I also told him he has to pick a few of the labs to do. Are all of the labs on the companion cd? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storm Bay Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 You might consider the DIVE cd instead. My middle dd is not interested in science. I just bought the DIVE EArth Science for my ds & wish I'd used that when my middle dd was still at home. They only need to do a few of the labs. Plus, you don't need a textbook for the Earth Science course. We're going with the online one plus the printed workbook because the Earth Science CDs are on back order & are going to take a while. We have used BJU science for one level, but I wouldn't recommend it for a science-hating dc based on our experience. I used it for one of my science-oriented dc. My eldest did the Earth & Space one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roxy Roller Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 I am glad that you have settled on something that will work for both of you. I like the Apologia books, and we will be going back to them, we are just taking a break and doing AIG this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.