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4 Comments

  1. Amy
    May 25, 2016 @ 10:09 am

    Thank you for the in-depth review, Heidi! I have been looking for Middle School Science options as well. One question I have is whether or not the pacing is outlined in the REAL curriculum like it is int he Elemental book. You listed the actual weeks for completion in the review of the second book but not in the first. Is that because it is printed that way in the second book but not the first? Another question is whether or not Elemental has any mention of Evolution or is it just neutral? And my last question is would either of these programs be doable by the student themselves without parental supervision? Thanks!

  2. Heidi
    May 26, 2016 @ 5:34 pm

    Amy,
    Yes the pacing is outlined in REAL Science, “I have provided you with suggestions for scheduling each chapter based on teaching science two days, three days, and five days.”

    Yes, the weekly breakdown in the second was given by that publisher, thus I included it.

    I am not sure of mention of Evolution in Elemental as I have never had either of these curricula in my hands. This is a compare/contrast based on my research of the two that I did to try and decide between them for my 8th grade son this coming year.

    And I would say that yes, either of these should be doable by the student without supervision with maybe the exception of an occasional lab depending on their level of independence and your level of comfort with the lab materials they are using.

    Hopefully that helps to answer your questions! 🙂

  3. Beckie Tetrault
    June 8, 2016 @ 7:10 pm

    REAL Science Odyssey is secular science, while Elemental Science is neutral science. Neutral science avoids the subject of evolution by just leaving things out of their lessons.

  4. Heidi
    June 8, 2016 @ 8:46 pm

    Beckie, thank you for adding that information!

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