VanCleave's Books Worth Buying?

[Classically Minded]

I noticed that TWTM recommends a lot of VanCleave's books and I was wondering if they are worth buying.  Are the experiments good?  Easy?  Include easy-to-find materials? 

[lmrich]

Check your library first. My library had tons of them. I bought a few to have on hand. The experiments are easy and some are really good. 

[edeemarie]

We have enjoyed all of the books we have used. I love that the experiments are easy to do and use materials we mostly have in our house. There are so many experiments in the book that it is pretty easy to skip the ones that either look too complicated or that you don't have the materials for. I purchased the books I have at betterworldbooks.com during one of their 40% off sales.

[Classically Minded]

Check your library first. My library had tons of them. I bought a few to have on hand. The experiments are easy and some are really good. 

 

My library does have them but I have an opportunity to buy several (used) at deeply discounted prices and wondering if it is worth it.

Edited February 20, 2016 by Classically Minded

[Hunter]

They are one of those book series that saturate libraries and used book stores. They are a steady resource for those families that exist in any type of chaos and/or experience severe limits. There are even eBooks for many of the titles, for those of us that are mobile.

 

I'm not so impressed with each experiment, but am thankful for the complete coverage of the science strands and the availability.

[lmrich]

You can always resell them later. They have longevity.

[fdrinca]

The experiments are hit-or-miss for us in terms of enjoyment and success. We found almost all of them at the library book sale for $1/inch, so they are worth it, at least until bookshelf space becomes scarce. 

 

I do think that you can find most of the experiments online.

 

Their use for us has been to set out in an attempt to strew interest. Kiddos can do some of the activities on their own.