I am sure this has happened to someone here...please give me advice

[kfeusse]

My kids are 14, 13 and almost 11.   Up to this point we have always done Science together as a family, because it worked and it made sense.  Now that my oldest is going into HS next year, I started looking at science for her...and happened upon Apologia.  I loved what I saw, so I bought Biology for my oldest, started my 13 year old in the physical science and my youngest (who is also my most science loving kid) in one of the elementary books.  All books are a great fit.

 

This is the problem.  They each love to watch each other's experiments, and talk about what they are learning (which is the beauty of homeschooling, right??)  But the problem is, my youngest was upset when I told him that when he gets to be in 8th grade he can do those things too...but he said...but I have already seen them...it will be boring for me.  I want to do something different.   I had a hard enough time finding something that works for our family....I have NO intention of looking another science for him.  

 

So, please if this has happened in your home, how did you handle it?  Do I need to quarenten the kids doing science? Do I seriously need to consider looking for a new program for my youngest?...but my middle kid will have to deal with this too.

 

Please give me some advice.

 

 

 

[In The Great White North]

You could just do different experiments.

 

OTOH, they may pick up enough by osmosis to use a harder text by then.

 

 

[Tess in the Burbs]

My kids are back to back grades.  Always did them together.  Until 2 years ago.  DS did Rainbow, DD did marine animals(apologia).  Yep, both wanted to watch the other's experiments.  I let them watch, not participate.  We went back together this year b/c both wanted to do it together.  It's been ok, but I liked them doing it alone...I felt like they had to truly understand better when doing it alone.

 

They are going to do their own again next year.  One is doing BJU Life and the other Apologia Physical.  I expect them to want to watch each other's experiments.  IF the extra child is done with their work at that moment, sure.  If not, no.  We do experiments at the end of our other work.  So in theory they might get to see it done a lot.  DD will be doing Physical the year after, but it will be her doing the experiments and lab write up.  So it won't be boring.  She won't just be watching.  She will be understanding and processing.  Totally different than just watching science you know?

 

 

[Miss Tick]

I say don't worry about it until it actually becomes a problem. In 2 or 3 years your youngest may have forgotten enough to want to do it, or perhaps will bee interested in specializing and want to do something different, or a science co-op will open up down the street, or...

 

In the meantime I bet they are all learning something from each other.

[JudoMom]

I would explain that there is a big difference between reading & doing verses watching.

[gardening momma]

:iagree:  with everyone.

 

Reading about it, writing about it, doing it, are all different than watching it. And in a couple of years when the younger one is of the age to do the material, he will be able to "do" the material (reading, writing, doing, thinking) at a higher level than he could have when he was younger.

[Mom22ns]

My youngest did lots of labs with her older ds. We repeated those that include calculations or learning beyond the experiment. When the kids have already learned what they can from a lab, we used different labs. Since Apologia's labs are very basic and if the kids have been through them, they may be right, they may really want something different.

 

For Chemistry, we got the Illustrated Guide to replace the Apologia labs. He has a Biology guide too that at least used to be a free download. You can search for threads about it on the high school board. I know I posted links at one time. Dd used many of the same text books as ds, but used DIVE science with them which included different labs. You could consider doing DIVE with Apologia, especially for the youngest if he is more science oriented.