God's Design for the Physical World (MB Edition)

We were excited to do this science. The lessons are good and short. Some are a little hard for younger students to understand. I'm going to hold on to do it late in our school year and add the academy to go with it.

These are short chapters that introduce students to concepts. Some are difficult to grasp for younger students.

The book has good introduction of various topics. It helps my kid to get straight to the point without all the math. The stories about scientists in between are good too.

I teach Engineering. So I am able to help my child as we read. The contents are good and very compact. But not written for an elementary level I should say. It needs some explanation, some imagination. Physics is very helpful if they are supported with illustrations that a child has seen or can relate to. Nevertheless we are enjoying the book and going through less than a lesson per week.

I like that it is broken down into three sections. My daughter loves the activities and special features with the scientists.

We chose to mix up the sciences this year, so we did 3 sections of God's Design overall. We chose Inventions and Technology this year from this book and will do other sections in future years. Some is tougher than the rest but that will always be the case in science and with different levels of understanding. We really liked the open and go aspect, requiring little planning for me. We didn't do all projects, but did some, used videos for others, and discussed others all depending on the time and materials and previous knowledge we had or understood from the lesson. This topic of science is definitely for the older kids in the series. My youngest did the first chapter of the section we did but quickly lost interest in the technology. I switched that student to a lap book I had on inventions and my older student continued on just fine in the section but it was a good challenge. My younger student will try again in a few years.

We have completed part of the Inventions and Technology section so far. This curriculum is just what I was looking for--not too teacher intensive. The experiments are simple and effective. I had a different curriculum previously that was more experiment-heavy, so if I wasn't prepared for it we wouldn't get science done. With this curriculum, we can complete science even if we choose not to do some of the experiments. My 6th grade girl loved the curriculum but for my 3rd grade boy the language was a little too advanced to hold his attention. He enjoyed the topics but I found myself having to explain a lot in simpler language. I think in a year or two he will be ready for it. I don't consider this a deficit in the quality of the curriculum, but it might be better labeled as 4th grade and above. I ended up buying the whole "God's Design" series to use in the coming years!

Enjoyed this curriculum!

I chose this science for my 5th grade twins because they were overwhelmed with the science curriculum their older brother prefers. Master Books has been a great fit for us with math and language arts because the approach is much gentler without sacrificing content. This science is exactly like that! It doesn't feel too "sciencey" for my boys, yet they're learning the same material as the other more stringent science curriculum my oldest uses.

I’m learning just as much as my kids are with this book! It’s full of fantastic information pertaining to physical science. My science loving kids are really enjoying this. I’m able to ask more of my older child while toning it down with my younger child. I highly recommend!