JESSICAinMD Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 Science? I am looking for a meaty science program that will keep my the attention of my two girls (they will be five and six). I don't really want to go shopping every week for things for experiments. I have been looking into Neo and Apologia. Any recommendations? Language? I am doing OPGR and ETC with my eldest. When should I start FLL? Should I start spelling in 1st grade? When do you start WWE? History? I am going to order SOTW and the activity guide. Does the activity guide have maps to color? Do you use a spine to go along with SOTW? If so, which one do you use? Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pata Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 Science?I am looking for a meaty science program that will keep my the attention of my two girls (they will be five and six). I don't really want to go shopping every week for things for experiments. I have been looking into Neo and Apologia. Any recommendations? I would love to add Elemental Science into the mix, it has worked very well for my 6yo, but then again I wrote it for her. However, you will have to gather things for experiments. The only program I'm aware of that comes with the experiment kits is Sonlight, or maybe NOEO does too, but I can't remember:D. Language? I am doing OPGR and ETC with my eldest. When should I start FLL? Should I start spelling in 1st grade? When do you start WWE? In the FLL book Jessie tells you when to begin, I think it's after lesson 139 in OPGR, but it's been a year since I read the book, so don't take my word for it! As for WWE, it's designed to begin in first grade, I'm still waiting to recieve my copy, but I'm sure that Susan gives more specific guidelines in the book, I hope! History? I am going to order SOTW and the activity guide. Does the activity guide have maps to color? Do you use a spine to go along with SOTW? If so, which one do you use? The AG does have maps with directions, coloring pages, suggested activities and book suggestions to go along with SOTW. I don't think that you need another spine, we didn't use one! Hope all that helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JESSICAinMD Posted May 21, 2009 Author Share Posted May 21, 2009 :lurk5: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudoMom Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 I'm no help on the Science. I would start spelling when you finish/stop ETC. FLL is meant to be started in 1st grade. WWE 1 is meant to be started in 1st grade, and I love this program. I wish it had been around for my older boys. We own both Kingfisher History (the red one) and Usborne World History and didn't use either one in the grammar stage. If you want another spine, the AG gives corresponding page numbers for a few different spines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaBlessedThrice Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 Science?I am looking for a meaty science program that will keep my the attention of my two girls (they will be five and six). I don't really want to go shopping every week for things for experiments. I have been looking into Neo and Apologia. Any recommendations? Have you looked at Answers in Genesis' God's Design series? We're using God's Design for Life: Animal Kingdom this year for my 5- and 6-year-olds (K and 2st). I don't know how many hours I spent looking at science programs before I decided on this one because 1) most of the materials for experiments are household items, 2) it's all laid out in a 35-week format--no planning, 3) it's a very simple, easy-to-use book that's easily supplemented. We plan to do one chapter a week: read the chapter on one day and do the activity/experiment, then later in the week on another day read library books on the topic and add a narration/illustration page to a science notebook. Things to consider: It's of course a Young Earth Creationist point of view, being from Answers in Genesis. Unless you shell out for the new 2009 full-color revisions, it's kind of boring-looking: black and white, dull format. No problem for us, since we're supplementing with full-color "living books" and videos from the library. About the SOTW: No need to supplement, but we're using Biblioplan in conjunction with it. Biblioplan looks pretty reading-intensive for little ones, so we'll be scaling it back and leaving out some of the books, but if you can pick it up used it's a GREAT resource for adding in read-alouds and grade-level readers on the topics without having to hunt and search for them yourself. I also like that it schedules the readings for me by week, although I think I'll have to make some adjustments as we go since some weeks scedule three chapters of SOTW in order to squeeze everything else in. Too much, but we can stretch out those weeks into two and leave out some of the extra books. I can't add much about spelling, because we're using Spell to Write and Read, love it, and haven't used anything else. Hope this helps somewhat! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 For SOTW, you will need pictures. DD really likes the Usborne Internet linked Encyclopedia of World History. (The Book of World History, not so much.) The Story of the World AG has great mapping activities. It is designed to be multi-level, so there are book suggestions and some activities that are too much for that age. You might check out my blog, since I am writing my curriculum for a 6 year old. I wanted to mention Elemental Science. I have looked at many science programs and ended up designing my own. Elemental Science is the closest thing to the recommendations from TWTM that I have seen. It looks to be very do-able. My opinion is only based on the samples, however, I have not used the program. We are doing Winterpromise program Shoot and Sprout Buzz and Bite. Emily loves it. I took the supplies list at the beginning and put it all into a box. Viola! I have found it very difficult to do FLL and WWE both. I suggest you pick one. It is probably easier to start with WWE because if you drop it for a while it is easier to pick it back up. Or, you could start with FLL and go all the way through it before starting WWE. Just my not so popular opinion. I also prefer to only do spelling as a quick review of the OPGTR lesson (just some copywork and a couple of dictated words immediately after the copywor; not teaching to mastery) and getting all the way through OPG before starting spelling. Okay, that's two posts today. I am at my limit. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted May 22, 2009 Share Posted May 22, 2009 We really enjoyed RS4K Pre-Level I Chemistry. It's amazing how often molecules come up in other things they are interested in. We did it once a every week or two, and usually not a full chapter at a time, we'll finish it up next year. They both loved the marshmallow molecules experiment, and played with marshmallows and toothpicks for hours every day for the next few weeks. I would just have them spell a few of the words they're learning each lesson. If you want to add a separate program, most people here like AAS. The second half of the year I started doing spelling on my own similar to AAS, but I've done oral and written spelling along with the phonics with some of the same words since the beginning of K, besides improving spelling, I've found it really makes the phonics stick in the brain better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notbefore7 Posted May 22, 2009 Share Posted May 22, 2009 JessinMD You have girls about the same age as mine - happen to be near Columbia, MD? As for science, we have joined a co-op that will cover it. We do OPG and ETC for language arts and will continue. I bought Shurley Grammar adn was going to begin level 1 in first grade, but will be going SLOWLY so that the kindergartener can keep up and I can teach them both grammar together! What is WWE? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted May 22, 2009 Share Posted May 22, 2009 (edited) . Edited April 21, 2023 by SilverMoon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted May 22, 2009 Share Posted May 22, 2009 WWE is Writing With Ease, written by Susan Wise Bauer and sold at peacehillpress.com (great samples there too). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JESSICAinMD Posted May 22, 2009 Author Share Posted May 22, 2009 No I live in Northern MD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsrevmeg Posted May 22, 2009 Share Posted May 22, 2009 JessinMD . I bought Shurley Grammar adn was going to begin level 1 in first grade, but will be going SLOWLY so that the kindergartener can keep up and I can teach them both grammar together! You would be surprised how quickly they can pick things up. My K son last year would answer the questions in the question and answer flow if his brother was not paying attention and did not answer immediately. He learned all the jingles, too. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KristenS Posted May 22, 2009 Share Posted May 22, 2009 Noeo worked well for us this year. It comes with some experiment kits, and others are suggested in the readings. The stuff you need is usually easily found around the house (like an empty soda bottle) or at the grocery store. If you use it, I suggest joining their yahoo group in case some of the experiments don't come out right (as can happen with any program) ... usually someone there can help figure out what went wrong or point to an alternative way to do the same thing. (Like our petri dishes ... the agar never did set properly...) Noeo is a collection of 'real' books rather than texts, some experiment kits, and an instructor's guide that tells you what to read or do when. You're supposed to do a lab page or narration each day for a notebook, but I think most of us do less than that. :) My kids enjoyed most of the readings and most of the experiments, both my first grader and my 4yo. We did Bio I this year. Not familiar with the other science programs out there, but we did like this one. The only problem might be doing for two ... you have to make sure sometimes to double up on your supplies. (Like during the human body unit, you get to make a t-shirt with velcro-on organs for each section of the study ... so for two kids, you'd want to buy some extra colored felt and more dots, if you can't trace two on the sheet of felt they give you. Easy fix though.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.