dsmith Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 I went ahead and purchased it after looking through the samples. Science has been tough for us and this has a fair amount of labs and microscope work. This has never worked for us in the past when ds's sensory issues got in the way of lab work, but he has grown out of many of his past issues. I'm hoping this will help him make the transition to high school level science, but I don't know if he will be ready for that or will need another year after this. (I plan on graduating ds at 19) I love how the student book contains the text plus all the lab sheets, worksheets and tests. I'm not the most organized person, so this will be a help to me. I'm deciding on whether I should load it on his iPad and use an app to let him write directly into the iPad or if I will print only the lab sheets and worksheets and do the reading on the iPad It is way too large to print the whole thing at 755 pages and 251 for the teacher's guide. I've loaded in onto my Kindle, and it is very readable but difficult to annotate at that size, but the larger screen on the iPad should be a help. I purchased the teacher's manual as I'm not very science oriented. It has grading suggestions, multiple schedules listed for each chapter (2, 3 and 5 day), a material list which seems huge, overviews of the lessons, further info on the labs, sample lab reports and answers to worksheets and tests. There are suggestions for additional reading, videos and websites for each chapter. It does not contain a copy of the student text, so I will have a copy of both student and teacher on my Kindle. It is helpful to read the student text first for each chapter and then read the teacher's guide. This is secular and has a full unit (4 chapters) on evolution, if that is important to you. According to the intro in chapter 20, it explains evolution not based on 'survival of the fittest' but on luck or accident playing the major role in what survives and what faces extinction. I haven't delved into this yet, but it is definitely not what was taught when I was in school. (Survival of the fittest is what I learned) Overall, I think it looks very interesting and well put together. I have to admit to being intimidated by the size of it, though! I am looking forward to getting ds involved in lab work and working with a microscope. He glanced at the text and seems interested. I would love to hear what others think of it, especially those more well versed in science than I. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsmith Posted March 10, 2013 Author Share Posted March 10, 2013 Just bumping this up hoping to get some thoughts from anyone who may have purchased this. :) I can't be the only one, can I? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommymilkies Posted March 10, 2013 Share Posted March 10, 2013 Bump for you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom-ninja. Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 I'm interested in this as I really like the lower levels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LunaLee Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 Okay, I had a chance to look through the printed copy yesterday at our local bookstore and here's my .02 for what it's worth. Please keep in mind that I was not looking at it as an option for the future, so my pov may not be the same if I was. Overall, I think it's extremely overpriced for what it is. I don't think it was even in color- it's like 2.5-3" thick and comes spiral bound, and I'm not sure it's going to hold up very well. I would have liked to see them package it like the History Odyssey-shrink wrapped and hole punched. I thought it looked interesting and well put together, and would have considered using it in maybe 6th or 7th grade, but I just can't get over the price for the set. For the cost, I could buy a used Science Explorer and a LOT of interesting extras. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom-ninja. Posted March 13, 2013 Share Posted March 13, 2013 You know I almost feel inclined to buy it simply because it contains evolution. It is rare that a science curriculum is written just for homeschoolers that actually teaches evolution. That may be reason alone for me to hand over my money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Targhee Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 I was just looking on the Pandia press website tonight - where are the samples??? I found the Bioilogy 1 samples, but nothing for Biology 2, and I am very interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TarynB Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 I was just looking on the Pandia press website tonight - where are the samples??? I found the Bioilogy 1 samples, but nothing for Biology 2, and I am very interested. You can see the documents on their "try before you buy" page: http://www.pandiapress.com/?page_id=20 Biology 2 is at the bottom of the page. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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