NOEO and RS4K

[mohini]

Can anybody compare these (specifically chemistry)?

 

I'd like to know how teacher intensive they are and how difficult it is to prep and complete the experiments. Also, are kids retaining what they learn? Is there built in review, practice etc....

We did ES bio this year and it was booorrrriiinnng. We did not even finish it because it's so easy to forget.

I was considering BJU science for this year but my ds really wants to study chemistry. Any suggestions are welcome but I need to have a curriculum and keep a schooly "record" of what we do (ie lab books, work books etc...)

 

Thanks

[LilBearsMama]

No idea, but here's a bump for you. 

[cintinative]

All I have heard is from one person who used NOEO. Apparently it is set up so you wait until the end of the year to do all the experiments. This particular mom did not like having them all back to back at the end of the year. I hope that might be helpful info.

[prairiewindmomma]

I own both. They are very different in terms of vocabulary/information. It's been a couple of years since I've used them (and I just packed them up last week), but in my mind NOEO sticks out as being more experiment/process driven and RS4k seems more textbooky.

 

http://store.gravitaspublications.com/elementary-grades-k-4/elementary-chemistry-book-bundle.html

http://www.logospressonline.com/chemistry-ii/

 

IMO, NOEO was a lot more fun, and my kids enjoyed it more... I linked you to grade 4-6 chem; we also did the gr 1-3 Young Scientist kits....they were a blast, and so easy to use from the parent end of things.

[Sunshine State Sue]

Here is my very old review of  RS4K.  We used this 8+ years ago, so it may have been updated since then.

 

Gravitas Publications website is http://gravitaspublications.com.  We used RS4K Physics Level 1 for 4^th grade.  My son is not particularly science oriented.  Neither am I.

 

Pros:

• Excellent quality student's text
• Some of the experiments were fabulous (rolling a matchbox car down a ramp into a line of banana slices pinned to a piece of cardboard to see how much force is needed to smash the banana)
• Experiments did a great job of adding math into physics
• Secular

 

Cons:

• Expensive curriculum
• 10 week program
• Some expensive supplies
• Some experiments didn't work (especially when I bought those expensive supplies)
• Some of the material was over MY head

 

Overall, I found it expensive for a 10 week program.  If I am going to have to supplement a 10 week program to make it last a year, I may as well create the year long program from scratch.  My 20/20 hindsight.

[Sunshine State Sue]

Here is my very old review of NOEO.  We used it 8 years ago, so it may have been updated since then.

 

Noeo Science website is: http://www.noeoscience.com/

We used NOEO Biology II with our 5th grade son. He is not particularly science oriented. Neither am I. I have mixed feelings about the curriculum.

Pros:
• Science is all planned out
• Not too difficult for 4th-6th grade
• Not time-consuming (30-45min 2x per week)
• Can be done independently
• Young Scientist Club Kits were good
• Secular

Cons:
• No review/discussion questions to assess comprehension and/or retention
• Mostly reading 2 pages and writing short summary
• Not challenging
• Most experiments were lame (ex. looking at dust under a microscope)
• Body book is cut-and-paste
• Too much freedom for an unmotivated student to do a mediocre job

I think if you have a child who is self-motivated and/or enjoys reading an encyclopedia, this curriculum would serve them well.

[mohini]

Thanks for the Sue and prariewindmomma! I love getting other peoples POV's about these things. It's so hard to decide just by looking at the samples. After mulling it over a bit I think I'm going to try to loosely combine the two by getting the RS4K books (used) and adding in some of the Noeo books and young scientist club kits. It seems like Noeo is famously "funner" and RS4K has a lot of great explanations..... So I guess the challenge is to make RS4K "more funner!"

 

Where there any specific experiments or Chemistry experiment books or supplements that y'all remember fondly?

 

[Sunshine State Sue]

We used Living Learning Books for 3rd grade Chemistry.  Here is my review:

Living Learning Books website is:  www.livinglearningbooks.com

 

We used LLB Earth/Sky for 2^nd grade and LLB Chemistry for 3^rd grade.  My son is not particularly science oriented.  Neither am I.

 

Pros:

• A good overall introduction
• A variety of topics were covered in an well-organized, easy-to-follow, clearly laid out manner (ie. easy for the teacher)
• I was able to obtain most of the supplementary books through the local library
• All supplies needed for the projects were readily available at home, the local grocery store, or the local Kmart.
• Lessons took approximately 30 minutes twice a week.
• Any religious overtones were kept in the appendix
• Inexpensive curriculum

 

Cons:

• It was “lite†ie. not particularly challenging or in depth

 

Overall, I was happy with the curriculum.  My son enjoyed it and learned from it.  I could have done a more thorough job if I had had the time and energy and desire to pull it all together myself, but I didn't.  I would use it again given the choices available at the time.

 

REAL Science www.pandiapress.com was not available when we started LLB.  If I was starting over, I would consider this.  We used RS4K for 4th grade physics and found it very expensive for a 10 week long program.  We used Noeo Biology 2 for 5^th grade, and I liked LLB better.

[Sunshine State Sue]

Where there any specific experiments or Chemistry experiment books or supplements that y'all remember fondly?

 

In junior high, we used Exploration Education and various TOPS units for the hands-on part of science.  TOPS has a number of Chemistry units, though we used others.  Lori D. has posted about various TOPS units she used and some were Chemistry if I remember correctly.  Here is one post - she used them more in junior high.