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Elemental Science


kolamum
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How on earth is it that I've not heard of this before?! Spotted it this morning in a random link chase, ever had one of those?! 

 

Anyway, anyone use it? Likes? Dislikes?

 

I'm still floating with science. We aren't liking Apologia so we've made the switch to Noeo which we haven't started yet because I made a huge flop when ordering & got the wrong experiment kits for the manuals. Dork that I am. Need to fix that mess so we can dig in. BUT, in the mean time I spotted Elemental which looks very similar to Noeo only a bit more meaty. So I'm seriously debating obtaining that as well as many books are used in both programmes. I wondered if it would give us a well rounded meaty little treat. The only downer is the Biology for Logic stage has a LOT of dissecting in it. Pretty sure it might be a race to see if my eldest or myself passes out first. :lol: He does not handle blood & I just don't handle guts. We make a pretty pathetic pair at times. ;)

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I really did not like. My kids didn't like it either. It was very boring for us. You read a small exert from an encyclopedia or other book to a quick activity, your child does some busy work on paper, and repeat. We did not find it meaty at all.

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We are finishing up Biology for the Logic Stage right now.  The dissecting is only one experiment and honestly, I did not think it was in-depth enough to even be worth it so you could probably skip it.

 

I am really picky about science and found ES to be the best program we have tried so far but I am still not happy with it.  We are seeking a new program for next year.  I have not found that new program yet so I am willing to fall back on ES if I cannot find something that appeals to me more.  My beef with the program is that the experiments are a pain to find all of the materials for, many don't seem to work, and even if they do, I found that most did not really illustrate any sort of real point.  I am told the Biology year is the worst for these complaints so I might be happier with Chemistry or Earth Science.

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I really did not like. My kids didn't like it either. It was very boring for us. You read a small exert from an encyclopedia or other book to a quick activity, your child does some busy work on paper, and repeat. We did not find it meaty at all.

 

I also agree with this.  It might be great for people trying to write across the curriculum or combine writing with science, but that was not our goal so I felt like we were eating up valuable "science time" that could have been used to experiment or play with ideas on writing, grammar, spelling, etc.....  There is also a memorization component.  I do not find this a good use of our time either. I think this is all an attempt to make this fit well into a "classical education," and it might work well for a lot of people.  But I want our science to be SCIENCE so take my opinion with that in mind.

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I have used all 4 grammar stage programs and the Biology for the logic stage program.  I stopped using them only when my kids went off to private school.

 

Science is by far my least favorite subject and one I truly dislike.  I am ok with the first two years but no help whatsoever with chemistry or physics.  That said, my kids both enjoyed the program immensely and I found it easy to teach and implement.  I think they learned a lot.  My older son has earned As in science at private school and trust me he is not an A student.  "You already taught us everything we are learning" is a common refrain from both my kids, so I think the programs are thorough.

 

One thing I really liked was it was open and go for the logic stage.  Getting my son to do anything on his own was like pulling teeth (and the major reason we sent him off to school).  This was a program he could do on his own with little prompting from me.  I like too that it takes the WTM suggestions and makes the weekly lesson plans for them.  It was something that didn't require a whole lot of thought or extra work for me and I love that.  I think I did add some extra library books in for reading but there was no shortage of options at our local library.

 

We did have some issues with experiments not turning out as expected - but that is part of the scientific process.  Sometimes things don't go as planned.  I think there was only 1 time where I couldn't find a product I needed and that was bluing solution (I know it exists I just could not find it locally anywhere).

 

One dislike I had - I used the program on "off years" for my younger because of where the older was.  It was hard to cut back on Physics to make it applicable to a 1st grader and the Biology for a second grader was a bit too easy (which was easier to solve - add library books on the topics, have him do longer narrations).  So if you are using them off cycle some adjustments need to be made. 

 

We also skipped the dissection because someone (cough cough) forgot to order the supplies.  It didn't affect his understanding of the subject matter at all.

 

So overall we really enjoyed the programs and more importantly, my kids learned what they needed to know.

 

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We are currently using ES Biology- grammar stage. We like it. I bought the science experiment kit, so that we would have all of our items for experiments. We have had fun with this and my girls enjoy reading our science books on their own. Next year I will go with ES again, it's earth science and my 6yr old space enthusiast is very excited!

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I've used the Grammar stage Earth and Space, Chemistry, and Physics. I really like it, but I haven't used any other programs. I agree that it is easy to use and very open-and-go. I bought the experiment kit this year, so I didn't have to worry about finding random objects for our experiments. My dd enjoys it as well. The reading selections are brief. The writing assignments are also very brief. I would consider it more note taking than anything.

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We liked it.  It was very independent for the logic stage.  We have Biology and Chemistry.  Dd loves them.  I send her to shop and add things to the Amazon cart for one unit at a time.  Most items we typically already have in the house.  Yes, it is repetitive, but I don't consider that a bad thing.  The work establishes a pattern to the week and to the class.  How long and how much, of course, are clearly defined and learned.  It is not a subject that we need to add anything too, and it leaves room for rabbit trails and more research when desired.  Our trails come from the additional studies and

 

Bad .... printing and pulling the discussion questions and tests from the TE which are spread out by unit and lesson.That is really all I can come up with right now.

 

 

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We ordered Chemistry/Logic for my middle schoolers this coming year and we haven't used it (but are excited to!) ..but I wanted to mention that there is a packing list of everything the kits include, so if want to know what else you need, email Paige and ask for a packing list.  I compared mine to the kit we opted for and I don't think there is much at ALL I am going to need to also buy. Anyway, I thought it would help somebody to plan.

 

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We are doing the PreK program for my son this year.  He really enjoys the experiments, I'm just super lazy about actually getting it all set up.  I love that it has a two day or five day schedule and it's all planned out.  I also ordered the experiment kit and am glad I did because I added up the list of things I would have to buy and even though each item was cheap, it would usually have to be purchased in bulk (like a bag of rubber bands vs. just one) and the cost was greater than the kit.  Also, I didn't have to worry about having a list ready each week.  The pros for us is that my son really enjoys the experiments and does learn something.  The cons are that he does not like the nature journaling (or writing at all...but he is four) and that makes up a large component of the program. Overall, though, I have recommended it to others and would continue it once we finish Exploring Science.

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I added to both with the ancient scientists available for download.  I divided up the reading and asisgned reading, such as Archimedes and Pythagoras books.  I would have dd journal the scientists so to speak.  We call it notebook studying.  It is more of a smash book in concept, but it works to get the job done.  We do the same for artists and composers as well.  These are on the Elemental Science blog, and I think in downloads as well.  I will have to look for the link if you cannot find it.  :)

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I added to both with the ancient scientists available for download. I divided up the reading and asisgned reading, such as Archimedes and Pythagoras books. I would have dd journal the scientists so to speak. We call it notebook studying. It is more of a smash book in concept, but it works to get the job done. We do the same for artists and composers as well. These are on the Elemental Science blog, and I think in downloads as well. I will have to look for the link if you cannot find it. :)

I would like to see those links!😉

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