Anyone tried BJU's Life Science before 7th grade?

[Shari]

I am looking through science options for my science minded middle schooler. We have used a mixture of BJU and living books for K-4, along with SWB's recommendations of the How . . . Works books to this point. I am looking for a sequence to ramp us up into high school.

I'd love to use BJU for high school (I've heard it's tough for homeschoolers without a trained science teacher and a full lab), but I'm not sure about their sequence which schedules Biology/Chemistry/Physics for 10th/11th/12th, rather that 9th/10th/11th like I'd like. The regular BJU course for 9th is Physical science, which I've previewed on the site and looks great.

My question is, if I had my 5th grader work through BJU 5 & 6 quickly (or even skip one or the other, or work through the past edition books that are only one semester each), could he tackle BJU Life Science as a 6th grader? Is it a reasonable amount of work for a 12yo? Or just plain too much to ask?

TIA

[Rebecca in VA]

I think there was a thread about Life Science just recently. A couple of the moms were saying it isn't really as hard (and hard to teach) as it looks.

I plan to start Life Science next fall (after we finish up Science 6) with my soon-to-be sixth grader. We'll use HomeSat, which does a great job of teaching.

[Heather in VA]

I certainly wouldn't say you couldn't do it. But it is a rigorous Life Science course. It includes disection and lots of difficult terminology. I think its a terrific program. We plan to continue with BJU science(with DVD's rather than homestat). We plan to skip Physical Science since it will be covered all again in the traditional "three" of high school and then do some kind of AP level science in 12th grade. Next year we are doing Space and Earth.

Heather

[Rebecca in VA]

I plan to have my daughter work through the BJU science sequence at an accelerated rate. She's the science type (she has a science/math mind, though she's not academically-minded, if that makes sense), and I'd like to have her do college-level science courses her last year or two of high school.