LLX2’s<25 Words: This homeschool science curriculum from Apologia Educational Ministries teaches kids in grades K-6 about Chemistry and Physics.
LLX2’s Product Rating (out of 10 stars)
Is it worth our time? 8 stars
Did it help us learn? 9 stars
Is it worth the money?8 stars
Is it useful to me? 8 stars
Practicality- 7 stars
Quality- 8 stars
Kid Rating- 9 stars
Our family was given the Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics book as well as Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics Notebooking Journal (for grades 3-6) and Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics Junior Notebooking Journal (for grades K-3) for review.
We love all things Apologia. Over the past years we have been able to use many of the Exploring Creation books in the series. We have also used Botany, Astronomy, Human Anatomy, and Land Animals. As you can see we really like Apologia. (As our kids have gotten older we have moved onto Apologia’s General Science, Physical Science as well as many of their high school curriculums.)
What is this curriculum all about:
From their website:
This K-6 homeschool science curriculum uses the Charlotte Mason methodology to give young students an introduction to the fascinating world of chemistry and physics. Jeannie Fulbright presents a scientifically sound and God-honoring study that covers atoms, molecules, simple chemicals, laws of motion, electricity, magnetism, and simple machines.
Our Experience:
We dove right in when this curriculum arrived in the mail! There is a sample schedule at the beginning of the Notebooking Journals to give you an idea of pacing. Of course, the beauty of homeschooling is that you can pace this program for what is best for your child and family. The suggested pacing would take you 28 weeks to cover the entire curriculum. This is done with science being done two days a week. I have found that the two days a week schedule is too much for younger ones to do. We preferred to do science four days a week. It was very easy to modify the schedule. I found it best to mark off what we completed on the schedule to see what we still needed to finish each week.
I had my 1st grader and 4th grader working on this curriculum, each with their own age-appropriate Notebooking Journal. We started out great with Lesson 1. We would read a portion of the lesson, either stopping at a good stopping point or when I felt my younger one was getting antsy. Then we would work on some of the activities in the Notebooking Journals. Some of the activities were different in the two journals. My 4th grader was able to do the activities in the journal by himself. My 1st grader and I worked together on the journal. She would dictate what she wanted me to write down for her. Sometimes I would have her then copy over what I wrote.
The further we progressed into Lesson 1, the more experiments there were. While I love experiments, I felt that they were poorly placed in the body of the lesson. Sometimes we would only read 1 or 2 paragraphs and have another experiment to do. I don’t know about other families, but as soon as we start an experiment, getting back to the lesson is very hard. Between the extra fun of the hands-on component, and the other science supplies that were now out, we would end up spending 30-60 minutes for some of the experiments. I found that I had to keep reading and skip over the experiments and then pick and choose which ones we would do. Lesson 1 should have been named the salt lesson; I can’t believe how much salt we went through! Overall, I like the text portion of the curriculum. I wish the experiments were placed differently. and maybe not so many of them. Although we were given this curriculum for review, we continued to use this program after this review period. My kids really enjoyed it.
We will be continuing to use this program after this review period. My kids are really enjoying it.
What I liked:
It’s by Apologia, a name I trust. I know that it will be a comprehensive curriculum.
It is hands-on. Most of the experiments use things you will have around your house. There is a supply list included. Some companies sell supply kits for these curriculums. I find it easiest just to purchase the kits, so all the supplies are on hand. I am not very good at looking ahead and planning out science supplies.
My kids enjoyed it. Even my older ones would come and look at the experiments we were doing.
We really like the Notebooking Journals. It is such a great way to reinforce what has been read and add to the learning. I highly recommend these!!
What I didn’t like:
I felt the experiments were poorly placed. While they make sense where they are in the content of the text, they break up the reading too much. Sometimes we just had a paragraph of reading before another experiment.
To sum it up: While I found this curriculum a little bit disjointed due to the placing of some of the experiments, we still loved it. With a little bit of tweaking, we were able to find a flow of reading and experiments that worked for us. Of course, content-wise this curriculum is perfect for K-6th grade.
Edited to add: I actually reviewed this item many years ago. I have used it with subsequent children. We have actually used almost every one of the Young Explorers Series. This is our go-to science company for our curriculum needs every year all the way through high school!
The important information:
Price:
Order from: Apologia
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