avazquez24 Posted July 2, 2022 Share Posted July 2, 2022 My soon to be 6th grader has been using Apologia Young Explorer books since 1st grade. We had planned on Chemistry and Swimming Creatures this year, but I know how she always dreads science as the year goes on. She often gets bored studying the same topic, and so I was considering switching her to Dr Wile's Science in the.....Series. My question is, should I start her at the first book (Science in the Beginning)? Or since she's older, would it be better to start her on a different book in the series? Also, can this series be used for middle school? My older two used Apologia for middle school (General and Physical), but considering something different for her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caffeineandbooks Posted July 2, 2022 Share Posted July 2, 2022 We loved Science in the Beginning as a genuinely multi-age elementary science year. It's arranged by the creation week, so there were 10-15 lessons each on topics like light, water, air, rocks, plants, animals and people. A good mix of variety and depth for my (then) 1st and 3rd graders. However, we have not loved the next book, Science in the Ancient World. Because it's arranged chronologically, I felt like we were cavorting wildly from an astronomy discovery by one scientist, to an anatomy one by someone completely different. There wasn't enough time with many of the scientists to get a feel for who they were, nor enough time on a single topic to get any depth. I believe the elementary series is called "Science Through HiStory", and it's definitely elementary, not middle school. However, he does have other books for older grades, beginning with Science in the Atomic Age which is aimed at 7th grade. I don't own that book, but looking through its table of contents it seems like it might be less "skippy" and better organised. You could find out more about his junior high and high school books at the Berean Builders website: https://bereanbuilders.com/ecomm/ I would not recommend you plan to work through all the elementary books with an older student. If you were looking at a history of science approach for a middle schooler, perhaps Joy Hakim's Story of Science series could fit the bill. Sonlight uses this as part of their History of Science year (grades 8-10). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LauraClark Posted July 4, 2022 Share Posted July 4, 2022 We use the Berean Builders series and have enjoyed them all. My oldest will be in 6th and I'm hoping to finish the elementary series this year. The scope and sequence of the books has Science in the Atomic Age in 7th grade, so any of the others could be used in 6th. They are all made to be used with various ages, so I think you can pick the book you want to use (or bookS-you could probably fit in 2 books if you did science every day). There are questions for each age to answer after each lesson (younger, older, oldest children). You can see samples here: https://www.christianbook.com/science-in-the-beginning/jay-wile/9780989042406/pd/042406?event=ESRCQ If it was me and I only had a year I would do science in the beginning and science in ancient this year and then move on to atomic age in 7th. Hopefully they will see all of this science stuff again in upper middle/high, so I'm just looking at it as an introduction, something to get them thinking, something to get them excited about science. So, I wouldn't worry about the order-just do the books you think she would enjoy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.