(I am going to repost the topic below, so board members will not need to scroll through such a long thread to read about science in our future guides.)
This post is meant to shed a little more light on our thoughts for the cycles of science to follow the life science/biology that will be the focus in the ancient's guide. All of these options are ones we are considering and are open to change, as we get closer to releasing each guide.
For the Earth Science cycle, we will most likely use John Hudson Tiner's Exploring Planet Earth (which we currently carry in our Bigger Hearts Extension Pack). We really like this particular book of Tiner's, although all of his are well-done.
Link: http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/ ... iew=covers
For other Earth Science options, we are considering "A Child's Geography" (which is actually very earth science-focused due to it being a physical geography book), "The Astronomy Book", "Along Came Galileo", "The Weather Book", "The Ocean Book", "The Cave Book", and "Dry Bones and Other Fossils". This is actually the year we are least settled on resource-wise and are looking forward to seeing what combination of books we actually end up using!
"A Child's Geography" link: http://www.knowledgequestmaps.com/acg1.htm
"The Astronomy Book" link: http://www.newleafpublishinggroup.com/s ... 965cf2e9c6
"Along Came Galileo" link: http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/ ... iew=covers
"The Weather Book" link: http://www.newleafpublishinggroup.com/s ... 965cf2e9c6
"The Ocean Book" link: http://www.newleafpublishinggroup.com/s ... 965cf2e9c6
"The Cave Book" link: http://www.newleafpublishinggroup.com/s ... 965cf2e9c6
"Dry Bones and Other Fossils" link: http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/ ... iew=covers
For the Physical science year, we are leaning toward using "Exploration Education: Intermediate Physical Science". It is somewhat expensive but does include a Student Manual, Teacher's Key, all needed supplies (labeled and organized neatly), and a CD-Rom with daily lectures/instructions and trial questions/answers that are corrected right within the CD. Our oldest son in 7th grade is testing it this year and really enjoying himself. We are finding it to be an excellent introduction to physical science that our son can do much of on his own! We are finding it meaty enough to cover the topics using a daily lab format. Here is a link for this product: http://www.explorationeducation.com/int ... rview.html
To add a more living quality to this science year, we will most likely add some scientist/inventor biographies such as Michael Faraday, Henry Ford, Robert Fulton, and Alexander Graham Bell.
For the Chemistry/Physics year, we are looking at using John Hudson Tiner's Exploring the World of Chemistry along with Ellen McHenry's "The Elements". Link to Exploring the World of Chemistry: http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/ ... iew=covers
"The Elements" link: http://www.ellenjmchenry.com/id98.html
We may also use Tiner's Exploring the World of Physics or use biographies of physicists instead for the physics portion. For the last part of that year, we will also be addressing the evolution/creation debate. We really like the book "Evolution: The Grand Experiment" for this purpose and will be having our own son test it in 8th grade next year. The book does a good job of presenting both sides of the issue and letting the student decide based on the evidence. The book is written by a Creationist but does a great job of showing both sides. Here is a link: http://www.thegrandexperiment.com/
Since the link from the publisher above does not let you "see inside" the book, I'll also include this link: http://www.amazon.com/Evolution-Grand-E ... 767&sr=8-1
As a possible back-up, we are considering Gary Parker's "Building Blocks in Science".
Even though, these are our current choices, they could change quite a bit by the time we get to writing these guides. There are always new and exciting products being published in the area of science that we will look forward to weighing when the time comes. Jeannie Fulbright is in the process of co-writing an Anatomy book for Apologia Elementary Science Series (which we considered for our upcoming ancient's guide). She is also co-writing a chemistry/physics book. John Hudson Tiner has a new Biology book coming out in January, which we already previewed for our ancient's guide. Ellen McHenry has a botany book she will be releasing sometime next year, which we also weighed when choosing books for our new ancients guide. So, there are always new options that can change our best-laid plans. However, from reading our science options above, you can get a feel for where we are going with the science section of our guides.
The wonderful thing is if you happen to be of a different science mindset than we are, you can easily substitute in your own science without hurting the flow of the HOD guide.
Blessings,
Carrie