BFSU and more than one kid?

[Cranberry]

So we are about to take the BFSU plunge. I love the theory of the book and think that it's a great way to teach science. But, on the other hand, I'm wondering how this works with more than one child? I wasn't completely sold on the pure WTM way of doing one subject in Science per year and doing the cycle 3 times. But I loved that long term, I won't have to be doing 3 different curricula for science and history, we can all do the same thing at our own level.

 

Can I keep 2 or 3 kids doing the same thing with BFSU if they are 2 yrs apart?

[Jayne J]

:lurk5:

 

I would like to try the same thing with my ds6 and dd4. I'll be listening in!

[Laurel]

I think it works better with more than one child. It was designed for classroom teachers, so it is assumed that the teacher will be working with multiple students. (Though I would add that it can be easily done with only one child as well, without needing to modify.)

 

I am using BFSU with a 4 yo and a 6 yo and it works great. It's been really great for the 4 yo in particular (who always feels overshadowed by his big sis, who can read, and run faster, and seemingly do everything better than he can), because sometimes he will pick up on concepts before she does. But they both engage in discussions with me, and learn on their level, and really enjoy it.

 

I would think (and this is just me projecting) that when the next BFSU book comes out, you will be able to combine lessons from both books - teaching your youngest with BFSU 1 and expanding on the concepts from the next book with your oldest, with the middler falling in between. (If that makes any sense...)

[materursa]

I would think (and this is just me projecting) that when the next BFSU book comes out, you will be able to combine lessons from both books - teaching your youngest with BFSU 1 and expanding on the concepts from the next book with your oldest, with the middler falling in between. (If that makes any sense...)

 

I would think (and this is just me projecting) that when the next BFSU book comes out, you will be able to combine lessons from both books - teaching your youngest with BFSU 1 and expanding on the concepts from the next book with your oldest, with the middler falling in between. (If that makes any sense...)

 

I own BFSU but haven't implemented it yet. However, on the BFSU yahoo group Dr. Nebel has said that the current book has the basics of many ideas that older children should grasp before moving on to the upper books when they come out. I can't seem to find the exact post at the moment, but, he's stated that they are skills that build on each other and the child needs to get the foundation first, though if they are older than probably can go through it faster. You could also use supplementing books from the library on different levels for your children.

 

HTH,

Amanda

[Cranberry]

I would think (and this is just me projecting) that when the next BFSU book comes out, you will be able to combine lessons from both books - teaching your youngest with BFSU 1 and expanding on the concepts from the next book with your oldest, with the middler falling in between. (If that makes any sense...)

 

This is what I am hoping...we are going to start the k-2 book now, go all the way through the summer and finish May 2011, hopefully. Then I was hoping we could get the next book and that the threads would be similar so I can keep my then 1st grader in the first book, then 3rd grader in the 2nd book and be doing roughly the same topic????

[Tracy]

It is hard to say until the new books come out. But as another poster mentioned, the 3-8 books are supposed to build upon the K-2 book. So would think if you took the time to correlate schedules up front that you could approximately be teaching the same things at the same time. We started BFSU in Jan, and I am finding that one lesson does not necessarily amount to one week of instruction. Some of the lessons are meatier and have more activities than others. So I think to correlate the schedules, you are going to have look at each lesson in detail. Alternatively, you could use the "teach to the oldest child" theory. You could schedule lessons only for the oldest child and then use the younger book(s) only to find additional activities that are more appropriate for the younger child(ren).

 

Tracy