What do you use for....

Every year mom's ask, "What did you use for...?"  And there are lots of different answers and choices.

SO - here is my, year by year, what I used for Science for my kids... but before I share that - a few caveats.

#1 - My kids are not genius kids who are super motivated to always do school work and always do everything we ask them to do.  Any curriculum requires the parent to oversee the completion - there is no "right" or "perfect" curriculum.  Ultimately, parents and their students have to take the initiative to, you know, do the work.   There are definitely ways to make your job easier - like having a schedule, setting expectations together, making sure you - mom or dad - have the time to sit beside your student if that is what is needed, but like any BIG job it really requires showing up, day after day, and just doing the next thing.

#2 While I LOVE fun and engaging curriculum, the "fun level" of a curriculum did not solely determine whether or not we used that in our home. (see #1)

#3 This curriculum may work wonderfully for you, or it may NOT.  If it doesn't, that is OK! Find what works for you =)

#4 Not every kid can do high school level classes in middle school, and you may not finish every book, every year.  That is OK.  This schedule gives 2 years of cushion, if you find your student needs to work at a slower pace, WORK SLOWER.  If you get to high school and discover that Chemistry and Physics (and their math requirements) are beyond what you need to teach - substitute an Environmental Science class (which one son took through our community college) or a deeper study of Healthy Living,  Human Anatomy, even Astronomy can be a high school course.

This is what we did and my kids LOVED it.  We supplemented, we went on field trips, we did special projects, we blew things up, we did co-op classes and amazingly - they all had a TON of fun and LOVED their science classes.  Hope this blesses your family!

K-2nd: Apologia Flying Creatures, Swimming Creatures, and Land Animals - because all of my kids loved studying animals at this age.  Learning about habitats, doing a special project about a favorite animal and visiting the zoo - all were favorites of my littles

3rd- 5th - Apologia Astronomy (although I have pictured an updated edition) The Human Body and Exploring creation with Chemistry and Physics.  Astronomy was exciting and fun - we visited the planetarium and completed many of the fun experiments in this book.  Next we did Chemistry and Physics - which also involved a good deal of fun experimentation and understanding the world around us.  In 5th grade we used Apologia Human Anatomy ad Physiology and combined this with ABeka's 5th grade Enjoying Good Health.

6th and 7th grade, these can be taken in either order, as long as the student is taking PreAlgebra with Physical Science, or before Physical Science.   Physical Science can count as a high school science - even when taken in the 7th grade.  

Biology has no math requirement and is commonly taken in the 8th grade as a high school science.  This course should include a lab element and while those dissections can be gross and stinky - we LOVED doing these with our co-op and found that not only did this keep our home clean and odor free - it also encouraged the kids that they could experience this with their peers. 

Chemistry is a high school level course and a student must be taking Algebra 1 concurrently or have completed Algebra 1 prior to this course.  I have pictured the 2nd edition of the book rather than the 3rd because this is what we used and because the 3rd has had several negative reviews.  Chemistry was also a lab class and was best done (for us) in a group setting. 

Physics is a high school course and a student must be taking Algebra 2 concurrently or have completed Algebra 2 prior to taking this class. We enjoyed this class in a group setting with all the labs and the kids had a blast!

We choose to start harder sciences at an earlier age so that our kids could have two years of post secondary classes while still in high school.  These college level classes seemed intimidating at first but we found that these classes were not as difficult as we thought.  Many college level classes were entirely manageable and completed online where our students could see assignments, ask for help, and even get online tutoring, all in one place. 

Hope this helps with the "What do you use for...." question =)

Blessings, 

Amanda