Science - Apologia extra CDs, kits, lapbooks, fun?

[TriciaMR]

Do you purchase premade science kits? I am wondering if I should so that I know we have all the materials on hand. Are the experiments/labs truly only using things you normally have around the house? I tend to not have things around here that supply lists assume I do. Can you give me an idea of the types of supplies needed?

Some things I've had to buy for 8th grade (Physical Science), that I don't just have around my house: aluminum pie pan (those disposable kind), Epsom salt, Hydrogen Peroxide, Tums. Here's a supply list for Physical Science (scroll down a couple of pages).

For 7th grade (General Science), the main thing was Alum... Oh, and a 4x6 mirror, and cork. Here's a lesson plan that has a list of supplies for General Science.

[hsm]

Thanks for those links! Those are helpful. Just needed an idea of what to expect supply wise so I can be ready ahead of time. Thanks again

[asheslawson]

I did Apologia 7th grade science this year and I went back and forth on buying these kits - but I knew in the past I had forgotten to shop for a lab supply and had to skip labs from not having items. I live just a little out of the way and on a very tight budget so I don't get out of town too often. If it can be purchased at Walmart - there is one 10 min's away - but I usually only shop 3 - 4 times per month. I have a local small-town grocery store - but it won't have any unusual items - mostly food and a few household items. Because that is me - I really wavered on buying the really expensive kit from christianbook.com which claims to have everything you need, except the perishable items (like red cabbage) - and as hard as it is for me to love shopping - I really loved that idea! However after reviewing over and over - I just thought there were so many really inexpensive items in it and I would be paying far too much for convenience.

I ended up buying one from home science tools (hometrainingtools.com) for about $34.95 (about 1/2 the price of cb's set) - which had items that are harder to find - in fact some that would be hard to find or not available at Walmarts - and I would have needed to purchase at specialty stores, which are a minimum of 20-30 minutes from my home. I am glad I did - it saved me hunting for strange chemicals - and really eased my science woes!

So far - we are on module 12 and we have not skipped any labs due to supplies - that is HUGE for me - I LOVE doing the labs with my kids and regretfully skipped projects in past just because shopping is something I am BAD at! There were still items I had to pick up - or things I had - such as saving jars, baking soda, vinegar, band-aids, chocolate bars, red cabbage, small houseplants - but they were much easier to obtain items. I still am not sure the more expensive kit might not have been a money saver and time saver since it is supposed to have everything sorted by module and ready to go - but for me I had little $ to spare last year! I will buy the kit again from them for 8th grade science this year!

[hsm]

A couple of years ago when we did Flying Creatures/Apologia I ordered a kit from Home Science Tools and I was pleased with that purchase.

I am like you in that we do not live close to a shopping area. We don't even have a grocery store in town. I forget stuff or maybe I don 't have extra money that week to buy extra supplies or extra time to hunt things down, and we end up skipping things. I do not want to skip labs as my dd is very much a hands on learner. I will take a look at those kits again. And, I will look at those supply lists mentioned too to see if I may have most of the stuff already. Thanks for the input!

[jenniferlisk]

We do purchase the already put together science kits. This makes allows more time to actually do the experiments when they come up, instead of setting it to the side because we don't have all the required elements. We use either rainbow resource and http://www.hometrainingtools.com/kits-f ... ulum/c/45/. These are excellent sources for the kits. In fact, they have the kits for the younger years as well

Jennifer Lisk
WHL and CTG 2014-2015
ECC 2010-2011

[schelean]

I bought a kit from Christian Book Distributors. I think it was a little pricey. However, I think it was worth it. Everything my daughter needs is there and ready to go. It is a big time saver for me and it also helps with keeping her independent.

[TrustingHim]

CBD has kits for sale around $70-80. Totally worth it! I bought it last year and we never missed an experiment. I didn't buy it this year and we have struggled to keep up with the supplies. I won't make that mistake again.

[Poohbee]

So I'm looking at next year.... We have a Mac so I'm not sure the cd will work for us for the apologia general science, but i'm wondering if anyone has used the student notebook?? how helpful is it?? i'm a little nervous, this will be our first seventh grader, this year the fractions are proving tough, can't wait for the really hard stuff....

Hi Andrea.

We have used the student notebook for both general and physical science. My dd likes using the notebooks. I think they help to give her a focus in her note taking, which is a great thing when a student is first learning to read a textbook and take notes. Also, MFW provides a schedule/lesson plan, but there is also a schedule in the front of the notebook, so it gives you a couple of different options for scheduling. For us, the notebook is worth the investment for the help and peace of mind it gives my daughter. Since MFW doesn't sell them, we usually buy them from CBD.

Also, about the CD, we actually have not really used ours. Maybe we're missing out on something by not using it, but it seems that reading the text and using the notebook is enough for my dd. So, it will probably be just fine for you if you are not able to use the CD on your Mac.

HTH!

[4monkeyz]

Thank you for the info! It is reassuring that we won't be missing out a whole lot if we can't use the cd and I had also asked about the notebooks on the FB group and heard lots of positive feedback, so I think I will def put that on my to buy list for next year. It seems like it would make the transition easier for my ds and help corral the paper trail.

On a side note, my dh adores US history! He taught it for many years before switching to administration, so he's planning several camping trips out east to see D.C. & maybe even up into Plymouth area over the next two years.

[ruthamelia]

You can get the CD to work on a Mac. I don't recall exactly what he had to do, but there were some brief instructions and my nephew got it to work. It has audio pronunciation files and brief videos with the author narrating. The audio works fine, the videos will only show in a small window with poor resolution, but it's been enough to get the point across, and I think he likes the brief supplements to the text.

[Julie in MN]

Hello - I was wondering if anyone has purchased the science kit for Apologia's General Science (7th grade)?? Home Science Tools has it for $34, but I can't seem to spot what exactly it includes, from the picture it looks like gravel, sulfate, balloons....Hm. I'm wondering if it would be helpful to just purchase and have it ready to go (w/some additions from home kitchen) or take it module by module. Thoughts?!

Hi Andrea,
A couple of suggestions.

1. This thread (2 pages) may have misc helpful replies here and there: http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=3993

2. I've used Home Training Tools in the past (though not for the kit you are looking at), and they do have an itemized list. If you go to their page, you will see "tabs" for product details, contents, etc. It's kind of hard to see, but it's there. Then you can see what is included and decide if it will be helpful.

3. Home Training Tools also allows you to customize your kit. Within the "contents" tab for the kit you are looking at, there is a link for a "kit order form." If you click on it, you will see all the items in the kit you are looking at pre-entered on the form, but you can take out items you have and add other items that are on there but not checked because they are optional or because most folks have them already - but you might not.

HTH,
Julie

[TriciaMR]

Curious if anyone has "sprung" for these letcures on DVD for Apologia Physical Science? My son is a good reader, but with so much reading this year, I'm wondering if it wouldn't be nice (read: motivating for him to be able to listen to some of his science. But I need to hear some testimonials before I order (at $140. plus shipping!!!)

Thanks!
Rhonda (mom2h)

I have a friend who got them for General Science, but her son felt like the instructor was always yelling at them. You can find the mp3 audio CD for the book pretty reasonably on Amazon.

[RachelT]

I bought the audio version of Physical Science and it's very pleasant to listen to Mrs. Wile read the book aloud. She does a great job and my kids enjoyed listening to it today when there was a lot of reading and no experiment. We have not used the DVD's.

[mom2h]

Thanks! I appreciate the information. I did notice that the General Science and the Physical Science lecturers are different people.

Rhonda



[Editor's Note: To avoid confusion:
The DVD versions are both done by the same male narrator.
The audio versions (with samples on the Apologia website) have the text read aloud by two different female narrators.]