RSO, Apologia, Mystery Science, Considering God's Creation

[Janeway]

I own the elementary Apologia books and have the free membership to Mystery Science and have the TM and CD to Considering God's Creation. I also have most of the RS4Kids books but got rid of the lab books last year when I simply did not like the labs. I like the textbooks, but not the labs. 

 

Now I am looking at REAL Science Odyssey and love it! Am I just having "curriculum dazzle"? Or would it be worth switching to RSO? I am thinking of starting with Earth and the Environment and Astronomy for level 1 for next year. But, in reality, I have a lot of that with what I already own. What do you think? Would it be worth switching?

[desertflower]

I like rso as well. I've been eyeing their latest one too. They will probably have a sale on memorial day weekend.

If u can afford to get it, i don't see why not.

[nixpix5]

RSO is fun because you do about 2 labs per week but RSO is tough because you do about 2 labs per week. If you and your students love labs then this curriculum is awesome. I couple them with RS4K textbooks (which I love but also dislike their labs so never do them). We have Biology and Chemistry RSO and both are awesome. We have never gone through the whole thing. I pull out and blend with other things but I am super sciencey so I always have a scope and sequence in mind so I take the best parts of the stuff on my shelf (RSO, BFSU, Aplogia, BJU, MBTP, RS4K...a few other things). 

If you are this type of homeschool teacher then buy it, you will love it. Tons of great experiments that work. I like their discovery based way of investigating, hypothesizing and so forth. What I do notice for younger kids, they don't always retain much with this curriculum or may not get the take home message. If exposure, demonstration and fun is the goal, then I like RSO. RS4K text helps to give kids the why and vocab to really hit the RSO lessons hone though. 

We use BJU science first semester as written and we use that as our serious science. The every bit of it gets done in order science. My kids have learned best with that curriculum. Second semester and through summer we use mom's hodge podge science where I decide what I want to study and pull bits from every where to put together alot of experimental and fun science. That is what I use RSO for .