Science 2012 - 2013

D bought everything except the "activity manual" at a thrift store for less than $5 total.  I repaired the science book cover with some Hello Kitty duct tape, bought an activity book and we're in business for the year. 

BJU, Grade 6 Teacher's Manual

 I've noticed in looking at science curriculum that many of the same topics are covered in most texts written for this level.  Sixth grade books seem to push to cover absolutely everything:  plants/animals, earthquakes, volcanoes, erosion, the stars and solar system, electricity, atoms and molecules, machines and how they work... whew.

BJU Grade 6 Activity Book

We're using BJU Press Science this year.  I like the workbooks that go with the curriculum.  You can tell that someone put a lot of time and effort into making these colourful and inviting and easy-to-follow. I also appreciate that the curriculum is definitely written from a Christian point of view without being too "preachy."  For example, there is an "Earthquakes in the Bible" activity page.  It isn't really "science" per se, but it's at least related enough to the topic of earthquakes as to be an interesting aside. 

The textbooks are a good size without being overbearing and somewhere between hard and impossible to navigate (like ones they use in the local public middle school.  Homework is hell with those).  And as is usual with BJU stuff, you're going to LOVE the teacher's manual.  I think about the only criticism I would have is that  the teacher's manual is not all in one spiral book; there is also a "key" to the activity book that comes separately as well as a test booklet.  It would just be easier to have, say, everything dealing with Chapter One in the same area of the same book and reproducible tests instead of diving for this and that in a separate book here or there.  It's just one more thing to keep track of during the year.