How to change from traditional textbooks to hands on

I need some advice ladies. I am starting to switch curriculum from traditional textbook/workbooks (BJU) to more hands on, non traditional book approach (MOH, Apologia science). Does anyone have any ideas to help me make this transition seamless? Do those books take more time? I plan on doing them twice a week, how long does a lesson take? Any hints or tips you have learned since using them?

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I haven’t done MOH but I switched to Apologia and a couple other hands on programs last year with the intention of making everything more hands on/unit study style. The hands on/ unit study style is definitely more time consuming because of the activities involved. We tried to do too many at once when we were so used to a workbook schedule. Also keep in mind that unless you order from somewhere where all of the supplies can also be ordered you need to be prepared well ahead of time with everything you need for experiments and activities.

Thats a great point @Proverbs31 I think I need to remember NOT to schedule every project or experiment that the books suggest. I did order the lab kit for Apologia through Rainbow Resource:) BIG time saver I think;) thank you for your honest response!

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I have to agree that these hands-on projects are time consuming, and for someone with many little ones it is overwhelming. But I believe that just being able to do some of the projects, or just something that stands out to you, will help the child retain the information tremendously. It’s more about making it memorable, even if in the end it does not look like what you pictured at first. For me, I try to be realistic about what I can actually do. Fridays are our days “off” so that we can try some of this fun stuff!

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