Science for Co-op

[mymommy1]

I'm supposed to teach Apologia General Science to junior high kids at a Christian co-op next year. I don't love Apologia; it's long winded. The experiments seem not great.  These kids have been using the Young Explorers books and Real Science for Kids. 

What would you suggest for alternatives? The leaders are young Earth, so it needs to be YE or not mention dates.

Thanks!

[happypamama]

Possibly Ellen McHenry?  I looked at doing her Elements or her Rocks and Dirt for a co-op.  I didn't end up teaching it, but she was really nice about licensing costs (very reasonable!) for a co-op.

[Random]

My advice to you (and I strongly dislike Apologia) is to just use the curriculum.  It's so easy to use.  It's already scheduled and the journals/notebooks work well to bring out the facts and leave the 'chatter' behind. 

We have used this book in our weekly lab meet-ups in the past.  I looked hard to find something that was comparably easy to use, and settled (and I do mean settled) on Apologia.  I really dislike a lot of things about it, but it ended up being what was simple to use.

You can easily supplement with more interesting/challenging labs.  I found great lab ideas at Steve Spangler, Ellen McHenry, and TeachersPayTeachers.

If you still want alternative suggestions, I like the John Tiner books and Guest Hollow.  Have you looked at BJU?  6th grade is a great science course.  My favorite science year, I think.  My local peeps are all Apologia fans, though. Boo.

[BakersDozen]

Ellen McHenry's materials are what I recommend. I've used her Brain program (a huge hit every time) along with Kitchen Chemistry and Carbon Chemistry. Everything she does is just so good and the kids love it! Also, the programs are just long enough without being too long. I have to say that the Brain class is still my favorite.

[staceyobu]

Are you looking at the most recent edition? We used the edition that just came out last spring in co-op this year. I felt like it wasn't as wordy as some of the other apologia texts.

[mom31257]

Our co-op has loved Ellen McHenry's Elements and Carbon Chemistry. One group just used Shepherd Science Life Science and enjoyed it, too. Another favorite was BJU's 6th grade science because it touched on so many topics.