shinyhappypeople Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 I don't have a strong science background, and I've been slacking on science big time. :001_huh: DD loves science and watches science videos, reads Magic School Bus books and other interesting library books on her own. However, I'd like to introduce some sort of structure to our studies and officially DO science once a week for maybe an hour or so. It needs to be very easy for me to implement, have good explanations (so I can explain things properly), include a strong hands-on element, and be challenging for DD. It doesn't really matter what specific topic it covers, because she loves it all. She's doing first grade work, but she's comfortable with science materials geared toward 3rd through 5th graders. Please help. I don't know where to begin. :confused: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tohru Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 When ds was that age, we enjoyed the Living Learning Books Science curriculum. I think it is multi-age, so level 1 is 1st-4th. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSheep Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 We had a good time with REAL Science Odyssey when ds was 9 and dd was 4. We used their life science curriculum, and I found the explanations clear and age-appropriate and the activities fun and educational. It did require a bit of collecting of supplies, but mostly regular household stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom-ninja. Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 I second the recommendation for REAL Science Odyssey. As long as you gather supplies before hand, it is open and go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staceyshoe Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 We have both R.E.A.L. Science's Life Science and Mr. Q's Life Science. Mr. Q's is definitely more indepth, so I would consider it more along the 3rd-5th grade guidelines you're looking for. The nice thing is that it's completely free and you don't need outside materials or books. The downside for us is that it lacks as many experiments as we would like (though we're only on chapter 5 which is still kind of setting the framework and getting familiar with basic vocabulary so this might change). I'm supplementing with Janice van Cleave's science experiments as they apply to the topic we're working on. (I got several of her books from the library.) We also plan to go through REAL Life Science. In some ways I like that program better, but it's not as indepth. Both programs have their strengths. Since Mr. Q's is free and online, you can always start with it. If it's not a good fit, then you can look elsewhere. My son is also a big fan of Magic School Bus which is often what he chooses for a bedtime story. Before we started a curriculum, I would put major points from yesterday's reading on the frig. Reading through it at breakfast made a huge difference in ds's retention. Those books are fun but have so much info. Just a simple thing like that kept it from "going in one ear and out the other". I continue to do this even when it doesn't apply to the topic of our science curriculum--just one less thing for him to learn down the road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shinyhappypeople Posted January 28, 2010 Author Share Posted January 28, 2010 Thank you for the suggestions! I'll be looking into them today. I'm also open to other ideas if anyone has any. In the meantime, I have a 6th grade Earth Science textbook that I picked up awhile back that we can start reading through. Maybe combined with some fun activities and experiments this might work okay. That still leaves me wondering what to do next year. The curriculum search is never ending, isn't it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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