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Somehow, I feel a little uneasy about the quality / content of the sciences with HOD. Maybe because I am accustomed to the textbook approach, or like someone else has written.... Maybe because I'm not sure what the goals, and ultimate objectives, where it's going.... It seems to me that it would be shallow compared to say, apologia... etc. (please don't think I'm throwing stones or being at all disagreeable!!! ) I just don't "see it yet", somebody know what I mean?? Believe me, I'm so in love with what I've seen and read with HOD, and the posts on the HOD boards, just give me more reasons to buy HOD for this coming year... lol!!

PS looking at Preparing...

Thank you!

I know there has been discussion on the reasons why Apologia for the middle grades isn't scheduled in HOD guides. In fact I think there's a link to that on a thread that was just started yesterday on the reasoning behind the curric choices. Apologia is very thorough but can be overwhelming for some children. We had that experience at our house, my 7th grader was overwhelmed with Apologia, and getting very little out of it, and when we switched to the science in CTC she has thrived and eaten it up. The science in HOD is designed to foster a love and enjoyment of science among other things, at a young age, preparing for more rigorous science work in the older years. Of course you can always add in more science reading, etc. to the HOD science if you feel your dc needs more in that area. The science as written in HOD is wonderful, and I know a lot of moms who are unsure about it at first end up to love it. It also is written to tie into the history within the guide which becomes apparent as you go along, and is really neat.

hth!

As the previous poster mentioned, in a recent post someone included some of the previous discussions on the board regarding this. Here is the link to the reasons behind the science plans: viewtopic.php?p=18435#p18435

The living book approach HOD takes in regard to science has been such a meaningful way for us to study science. My dc love science, and what's more, they remember it because it is linked to people - people passionate about science. It is also linked to the history as much as possible, which gives them another important tie and helps them remember it even more. The link given is an excellent description of why HOD does science in the manner it does. I know textbooks are prevalent for teaching science, but they are for history too - and most of us have come around to seeing that living books is a better way to teach history. Using living books is a better way to teach everything when it's possible to do IMO , but it has taken me all 15 years I've been teaching to come to that conclusion, believe me. Using living books to teach science is a philosophy of teaching, and as with philosophies, it won't fit everyone. However, I think if you tried it, you might be willing to embrace this philosophy. The results are incredible. Imagine all children loving science - I think it's possible with living books.

In Christ,
Julie