flukygirl Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 So I am going to do my best to refrain from ranting about how frustrated I am with this product and simply ask for help. I have been trying for weeks to figure this program out unsuccessfully. I see that there is ALL kinds of wonderful material and teacher resources, but is there a place that tells you how to bring it all together? There are enrichment booklets, daily inquiry lessons, flip charts, digital lessons, interactive workbooks, graphic organizers...etc. But there is not a place you can go (that I can find) that tells you how to bring it all together. I am honestly about to pull my hair out. I found the homeschool pacing info, but it doesn't include any of the fun extra material. Also, the fun extra material isn't even in the same order as the lessons in the text!!! I think I could spend months trying to figure this out and still be clueless. SO...if any of you more experienced homeschoolers can offer assistance, I would be eternally grateful. I was so excited about science and now I cringe when I try to figure out what we are going to do for the week. I am to the point of scrapping the WHOLE STINKIN' THING! HELP! And thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByGrace3 Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 No help, but when I looked at this, I so wanted to understand the website and program, but I just didn't get it...at all...curious if anyone can help though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flukygirl Posted October 1, 2014 Author Share Posted October 1, 2014 heartlikealion: Thank you for the feedback. That is what I was afraid of. I think we will just push through and make it our own program. That's really all I can do, right? I guess I have been lucky since this is the only curriculum that I dislike my first year homeschooling. I found the PDF's so I guess I found the gold in the program. :laugh: If you have a suggestion of a better science program, I would love to hear about it. Planning now for next year! I know we won't be using SF unless by some miracle I stumble on a way to make it all work together. ByGrace3: ha ha...I don't think anyone knows how to make this program work...not even the customer service. Though they are really nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flukygirl Posted October 3, 2014 Author Share Posted October 3, 2014 heartlikealion Thank you for your comments. Pretty sure it isn't just you. You are confirming my thoughts and experiences with the program. I had figured out how to assign everything but couldn't find all the extra PDFs originally and thought the material was lacking. Then I found all the PDFs and was so excited until I realized I had no clue how to tie it all together. After I posted here I have thought about some info a contact who is using the 8th grade module gave me about how she is using it. I have now decided to break it down into days. So we will do a rotation of online material, work text, vocab, flip chart, review, quiz...and then throw in some extra hands on material if we can. I'm not as worried about the kids getting online credit because i'm planning to print out every quiz and test for them to take manually. The system has been too untrustworthy. Maybe that's a mistake, but since it's my first year homeschooling I'm making the call. Science should not be a thorn in my side, it's stressful enough trying to figure all of this out!! I thought the lack of info online was due to the newness of the material....now I think it's because it's not homeschool friendly. I agree about tech support. I have spent over 3 hours on the phone with them...and while they are super nice, they are only equipped to deal with schools and not individuals. Seem like a great product but awful implementation! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LAinVA Posted October 4, 2014 Share Posted October 4, 2014 I understand your frustration. It is not user friendly at all. I will attempt to help though. To find things like the inquiries, answers for text work, and the e-readers, you need to log in as the teacher. Once you do, a screen will come up that says "resources" and will have the grades and then some square "buttons" to choose. Click the Electronic Teacher Edition for 5th grade (I happen to have that one too). You can scroll page by page and it will show you chronologically the lessons and inquiries. For example, Unit 1 ends on page 60, which you can see in the pacing guide. You can type 60 at the bottom of the teacher edition, then scroll over a few pages. You will get to 61A, 61B, until you get to 61 which is the start of Unit 2. In the 61A etc. pages you will find info about the inquiries and the leveled readers that go with Unit 2. After you know what things you want to do, you need to close the window you are in for the teacher edition and click the "button" that says teacher access. If you click the bar that says "Unit 2" on the left hand side, and then click "Grade Level Resources" on the right hand side, it will give you the choices for assigning the leveled readers. Next, you can click on the "Unit Level Resources" and it will give you options for assigning the Unit Test and Professional Development items. Lastly, the "Lesson Level Resources" allows you to assign the lessons and lesson assessments. I only assign what needs to be done 1 week at a time. I think it's easier than having a huge list of to-dos and it automatically fills in the dates for a week when you assign it. HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flukygirl Posted October 9, 2014 Author Share Posted October 9, 2014 LAinVA Sorry for the delay. Thank you for the additional instruction. The part about the teacher guide is particularly helpful. My frustration this week is that I can't even access two of the lessons for 2nd grade. TWO! I emailed the help desk and haven't heard a word, so I guess I will have to sit down and call them...again....I am really ready to scrap the whole thing. But then what would I do??? *SIGH* Well...at least everything else is going well as far as curriculum. One week at a time....I will keep at it...one week at a time. THANK YOU to everyone for your suggestions. I don't mean to be a downer, but I just expected so much more from this program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SereneHome Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I wasted money on that product. Their website is too complicated and every time I called the person would be very polite and try to be helpful, but it just wasn't enough. I stopped using it. I think we have another few months left on the subscription, but I just moved on with my life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 We couldn't ever get it working consistently here, either. Have you looked at Super Charged Science? Maybe the e-science lessons for a bit or the Ultimate series? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SereneHome Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I wonder, though, if so many people had problems, should we get our money back?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flukygirl Posted October 12, 2014 Author Share Posted October 12, 2014 I wonder, though, if so many people had problems, should we get our money back?? Really good question. I think I am going to look into that. I have spent more time trying to get it to work than we have spent on science. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flukygirl Posted October 12, 2014 Author Share Posted October 12, 2014 We couldn't ever get it working consistently here, either. Have you looked at Super Charged Science? Maybe the e-science lessons for a bit or the Ultimate series? I haven't looked into those. I think I am allergic to science now. Which is awful because our whole family loves it so much. I appreciate he suggestions and will check them out. Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 I haven't looked into those. I think I am allergic to science now. Which is awful because our whole family loves it so much. I appreciate he suggestions and will check them out. Thank you. good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flukygirl Posted November 1, 2014 Author Share Posted November 1, 2014 Update: Hi everyone. I wanted to give an update to everyone who helped. I went back to my book, "The Well-Trained Mind" and started a science program from the suggestions in there. I decided the whole Science Fusion set up was not worth the stress. I called them last week and told them that while the content and customer service was great, the implementation of the program left little to be desired. I explained that the delays the online portion had caused were unacceptable and asked for a refund. I even told them I didn't expect a full refund because we had obviously used about 3 weeks of the material. They were nice and told me they would escalate the case. Well...I got a FULL refund yesterday and they told me to just keep the work texts. So, I want everyone to know that they do stand behind their product and did, indeed refund all of my money because we were not satisfied. Again, the problem as not with the content or even the customer service, but solely how the online portion worked. I am so excited...and now can move along on our little bouncy science journey! Thank you again for everyone who offered support and suggestions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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