Science in the Beginning or. .. .

[Juliegmom]

Apologia Young Explorers Chemistry and Physics?

 

My daughter really wants to do chemistry next year for 5th grade (she will be 10). More than anything, she loves hands-on experiments which are lacking in our science this year. I'm leaning toward chemistry/physics to capture her enthusiasm, but I hear that Science in the Beginning is loaded with hands-on experiments which is what I'm looking for.

 

Does anyone have any recommendations on which one might be better for my dd? I like the ease of simple experiments, but my dd is ready for something a little more challenging.

 

Thank you!

[Sahamamama]

pop

[bethben]

I'm not sure that the experiments are necessarily more engaging/difficult - they are pretty simple, but do explain the concepts.  The content is definitely more difficult.  The extra notebook they sell does have some more involved experiments that go beyond what is in the text.

 

[Juliegmom]

Bethben - I noticed that you are using HOD. We will be switching to HOD next year and I'm fairly certain that I will place my daughter in CTC. I'd like to get the notebook that goes with Apologia Chemistry/Physics, but want to keep the amount of writing manageable. I'm expecting that the change to HOD will add more written work. Has this been manageable for your son?

[bethben]

Here's what I do with the programs.  I skip the extra writing assignments in the Language arts section and have him do the narrations (when asked) for HOD.  I also skip the sections in Rod and Staff that are related to writing because we do IEW - I'm familiar with it and I didn't want to learn a new way of teaching writing.  He does daily dictation which is located in the back of the book.  In his science notebook, I require him to write down the definitions and the end of chapter questions along with whatever lap book element they have for the section.  It's been doable.  He does have a longer day than his brother seemed to at his age, but he does all right with it.  He bucks me a little when I require cursive, but otherwise, he does just fine.  I'm not sure what CTC will throw at him, but I can easily tweak it if I want to.  Most likely, I will skip the writing they suggest in favor of IEW and will still have him do whatever narrations they require.  

 

I did notice that CTC has the Apologia animals book.  I may even go that direction.  Be sure to get on the Facebook page for HOD CTC.  They have a lot of great resources there.  Someone even created notebook pages to go along with the science which is what may push me over to their science selection.

 

 

[Juliegmom]

Thank you so much for your detailed response! It was very helpful. :-)

[marynamo]

We use Science in the Beginning and the kids really enjoy the curriculum.

 

If you are unsure, why not download the sample and give those first few lessons a test drive and see if it will work for you or not before you commit to buy? There is also a free downloadable journal/notebook on the publishers site.

 

Best of luck ;)

[lea1]

We use Science in the Beginning and the kids really enjoy the curriculum.

 

If you are unsure, why not download the sample and give those first few lessons a test drive and see if it will work for you or not before you commit to buy? There is also a free downloadable journal/notebook on the publishers site.

 

Best of luck ;)

 

Thank you so much for telling us about the free downloadable journal/notebook on the publishers site. I was in the beginning stages of making my own when I ran across your post.  This one is so much better and it is done!  Thanks so much!  You saved me so much time and effort.