Real science for kids or REAL science odyssey?

[mamakven]

Ok, so after my "experiments only" science plan for my elementary kiddos crashed and burned i'm looking for a curriculum. I've narrowed it down to these two, i'm wondering

 

1. which is the most fun and interesting

2. which is the LEAST teacher intensive, as i'm hsing 5 this year and have 2 1year olds! AAK!

 

hmm.. anything else? i guess i just want science to HAPPEN. and i'm ordering through my virtual school so it has to be secular in case you have other suggestions.

[hsmom]

What grades?

 

 

 

Open and go, with lots of hands on fun, easy to do. I recommend McRuffy, it covers more than just life science or such. It covers all a different points so they get a little of everything.

 

For example we covered Conserving Earths resources/recycling and now we are moving on to magnets.

Edited January 13, 2011 by hsmom

[nukeswife]

I've never used Real Science 4 kids but have looked at it. I find one of it's downfalls, reasons I didn't pick it, was that it's not a full year long program. In order to fill a whole year it seems you would need all 3 areas of science which is pretty pricey.

 

I have used RSO Life, E&S and am using Chem level 1 now. My kids always look forward to science. Here are what I see as the good and the bad.

 

Pros

1.Experiments are every lesson, there has not been one lesson without some hands on activity.

2.Easy to find the items needed for the activities/experiments. Walmart or your local grocery store should have almost everything and for those not so normal things I noticed that http://www.homesciencetools.com now sells kits with those items it in for a pretty reasonable price.

3. Very easy for me to teach, it tells me just what to do, and how to do it.

4. It's Fun

 

Cons

I haven't found any, although I've tried other things thinking the grass would be greener, and always come back to RSO. Here are some that I've heard mentioned

1. For some it's that there are experiment/activities every lesson, some find it just to much, but you can always skip them or try to find an online video etc. to use instead

2. Some find the information page not "deep" enough. I don't see this as a con, but some do. For me it's more of a "to the point" page and if my kids want to know more we can use it as a jumping off point, go find library books on the subject, look things up online.

3. Some of the recommended books are OOP or hard to find, easy to remedy in my opinion, just find some other book on the same topic

4. Same area of science is covered for a full year. Some like to cover many areas every year. I've been able to do that with Life and E&S by just using them in the same year and just bouncing from one to the other. For example, do the human body unit in life, then do the weather unit in E&S, then on to the animal unit in Life, then to the solar system in E&S, then to plants in Life and finally to the Earth units in E&S. Mix it up how ever you'd like over 2 years and it will give some extra variety.

 

As for which is less teacher intensive, I can tell you that RSO is something where you have to teach it, you can't just hand it to them and let them go, but I have found that I can stretch it over many ages. For this year I'm using chem with my 3rd grader (9 years old) and 6th grader (11 years old) without any problems. I sometimes just have the 11 year old read more on the topic or do more work in the experiment. I'm not one for Rigor though, I want fun and exposure in science until we hit High School.

 

HTH

[kkiller]

I agree with this! We are currently using RSO E&S and have really enjoyed it!

[workingmom]

I used this last year for Chemistry and yes its true you would need more than one topic/book to fill a whole year, but for us we only used one and added some other hands on stuff and just general science reading bc dc only wanted to chem that year.

 

This year I totally wasted money and bought science excursions and now find myself going back to RS4K for biology.

[kalanamak]

I agree with this! We are currently using RSO E&S and have really enjoyed it!

 

And Chem is even better. I's so sorry physics isn't released.

[5Wizards]

I didn't particularly care for RS4K Chemistry and we dropped it. We switched to RSO Chemistry and have really enjoyed it.

[mamakven]

thanks ladies! i appreciate your feedback!

[Aludlam]

semi hijack ahead .....

 

RSO users:

 

With RSO do you feel it boring to look at b/w pages everyday? Do you actually give them the pages to put in a notebook for themselves? I'm asking b/c I've looked at it for the last couple of years, but those b/w pages are what always keep me from getting it. We've always done our own science, a mix of books like Let's read and find out and others like those. I'm starting the long look to next year ....

 

thanks everybody

[5Wizards]

 

With RSO do you feel it boring to look at b/w pages everyday? Do you actually give them the pages to put in a notebook for themselves?

 

The black and white pages don't bother us. It's just a basic overview, and then if we want to go deeper, we add in books of our choice on the topic. My husband is teaching RSO Chemistry for 3 kids, and I make copies for each of them to put in their own notebooks. Everyone loves Chemistry, and the pages being black and white has never been mentioned. HTH.

[tonersl]

With RSO do you feel it boring to look at b/w pages everyday? Do you actually give them the pages to put in a notebook for themselves?

 

 

 

My kids are not bothered by the black and white. In fact, they love to spend a few minutes coloring the cute figures and making the pages their own. Yes, I do copy the notebook pages for each child that they put in their notebooks.

 

We are really enjoying RSO E&S this year and I have been able to "beef it up" some for my DS10 by getting books to supplement from the library while the other kids, DD9, DS6 mainly do just the curriculum (although I find them reading many of the library books too!:001_smile:) We just finished making the rock-fudge, waiting for it to harden and cannot wait to check it out later with our hand lenses, then devour it!

 

Good Luck,

Shannon in NC

[nukeswife]

I agree that the B&W pages never bothered my kids. My older son just doesn't care if things are color or not and my 9 year old dd loves to draw and color so she usually colors her pages while we read through them. I do print the "For My Notebook" pages for them so they can make them their own.

 

I also feel that the reading pages are so to the point that they don't really have time to get boring, and who cares if the lab sheets are B&W because the labs are so much fun it's not an issue at all.

[kalanamak]

semi hijack ahead .....

 

RSO users:

 

With RSO do you feel it boring to look at b/w pages everyday? y

 

No. 1) the hands-on are what you spend your time with

2) you color things onto the pages.

3) you make an elements book with colored paper....very bright.

 

It hadn't crossed my mind that the B and W was even there!

[kkiller]

I've never really thought about the pages being b&w since they are usually lab sheets and a quick reading page. My dd does have a science notebook that all completed work goes in. We also get a lot of supplemental reading books which provide all the color and vivid pictures of what we're studying.

[ChrissySC]

I want to make a note that with RSO we do not do science through the week. We take a day, Saturday for example, and do science.

 

As for color, we take photos and make scrapbook pages or glue the photos where it says to draw. This speeds up the time to move from one lesson to the next.

 

Also, we have definition sheets that we add too - along with narrations from various reading or video resources.

 

I take the science and place it in a three-ring notebook. I remove the beginning teacher pages and the ending pages.

 

I purchase a copy of the e-download student pages and a hard copy - much cheaper this way than buying two sets of pages.

 

We make title pages for each section. This notebook has become quite a resource and grown. I suggest no less than a 2 inch notebook. The same has applied to history as well.

 

I am of the theory that science is something you do. :D We are looking forward to Biology II this summer!

[ArizonaGirl]

We have loved Real Science 4 Kids. I just schedule out the reading and the labs, splitting the chapter reading into 3-4 days. I've also had kids do the lab one day and then answer the review questions another day. Doing it all as fast as recommended was just too much for my kids, but spreading one book over a full semester (about 16-18 weeks) works well for us.

 

I've also had the kids look for library books that relate to whatever we are studying. I don't formally use them for school, but the kids love to dig them out of the library basket and browse through them in their free time. In this way, they learn a little more in depth without feeling like it is school.

 

If you want to spread a book over a full school year, you may want to look at the samples of Sonlight science 3--It uses the RS4K Biology book over a full year with a few added books. It might inspire you as to how to add to the Chemistry or Physics.

 

By the way, my kids range from Preschool through high school, so we use both Pre-Level and Level 1 at the same time for K-6 grades, though I don't always use a lab book for the youngest, depending on their writing abilities. RS4K requires a lot of writing. Sometimes we just do some of that out loud.

 

If it interests you, Real Science 4 Kids now has a schedule posted on their official website (Gravitas) to use their Chemistry program over a year. It includes their Kogs for Chemistry in the schedule, and in my opinion can be a pretty heavy load for elementary school. Of course, if you have a child who absolutely loves science and doesn't mind all the writing, it may be a perfect fit.

 

I understand your challenge with little ones. I also have a very busy two-year-old into everything. Little ones can add a big challenge to school. We utilize nap time a lot around here.

 

I haven't used Real Science Odyssey, so I can't comment on that one.

 

Best wishes!

[Mom in High Heels]

We have RSO E&S and Indy loves it, but OMG, it's killing me! All the experiments! Ack. I'm not a fan of science anyway, so this is the hardest for me to teach. Like I said though, Indy finds it fun and that's what matters. The b&w pages don't seem to bother him, or me, I guess, since it never occurred to me that they should be in color.

[Guest]

Never tried RSO but we are currently using RS4K Biology. They recommend starting with Chemistry but I got Biology because we are also using BFSU and Apologia Zoology 1 later this year after we are done RS4K. I agree with those that said it is not enough for one whole year but at the same time my son is really enjoying it. We bought the PDF format (the whole package for Biology) for about $35. I only printed the lab workbook and the rest we are using off of our computer. Adrian loves it. It is colorful and speaks to the child introducing concepts to his level. Adrian does most of the reading himself and loves the hands on aspect of it also. That said he is also enjoying BFSU just as much. HTH

[Jenny in GA]

We have been doing RS4K Pre-Level Chem and ... eh, it's okay, but I just started a thread saying I'm ready to wrap it up and try Elemental Science instead.

 

RS4K is okay. I like the book illustrations, and they do have a nice way of explaining things that my kids like.

 

But there is just not much to it. We finish the reading in about five minutes, and other than the experiment, there's nothing else ... no supplementary reading suggestion, no extra activities, no cross-reference, no worksheets. I'm kind of amazed that I bought some of the materials used, and it still cost me $65. If we were going through it more regularly that I am, we could have finished the entire thing in about two months.

 

The lab workbook also bugs me. It reminds me too much of stupid worksheets in school. Some of the questions we've been confused about exactly what they're asking. Then they seem to ask the same questions, but different ways, again and again. I'm getting to the point that I just want to toss the lab workbook and say, "Write a sentence and draw a picture of what happened. And of course we could do that, but it would be nicer if I felt the materials we purchased were more useful.

[Guest]

We have been doing RS4K Pre-Level Chem and ... eh, it's okay, but I just started a thread saying I'm ready to wrap it up and try Elemental Science instead.

 

RS4K is okay. I like the book illustrations, and they do have a nice way of explaining things that my kids like.

 

But there is just not much to it. We finish the reading in about five minutes, and other than the experiment, there's nothing else ... no supplementary reading suggestion, no extra activities, no cross-reference, no worksheets. I'm kind of amazed that I bought some of the materials used, and it still cost me $65. If we were going through it more regularly that I am, we could have finished the entire thing in about two months.

 

The lab workbook also bugs me. It reminds me too much of stupid worksheets in school. Some of the questions we've been confused about exactly what they're asking. Then they seem to ask the same questions, but different ways, again and again. I'm getting to the point that I just want to toss the lab workbook and say, "Write a sentence and draw a picture of what happened. And of course we could do that, but it would be nicer if I felt the materials we purchased were more useful.

 

:iagree: I agree with you on several of the points you made. Lets just say that if I had not purchased these on PDF and had actually paid full price I would probably be a little disappointed also. As PDF's I will most likely buy them again but again just because my son is enjoying the program and looks forward to it and also because we are using other things alongside it. I definitely agree that if you pay full price then the least you would expect is some supplementary reading, additional activities etc. I get all of that from BFSU and it is a full program that covers all areas and for a full year and it just cost $22 for a printed book. Anyway, I feel the real value of RS4K is in the text. I was not impressed with the lab workbook either.

[Literary Mom]

Very helpful thread! Because of it, I find myself leaning toward RSO instead of RS4K, but doing chemistry one semester (doubling the 2-day schedule) and physics the next. Knowing me, I won't do all the experiments either - probably one per week.

[cschnee]

We really enjoyed RS4K. Combined with some GEMS Guides (for more real life, hands on chemistry) it is great. We never do a full year of any of the sciences. We almost always do some chemistry, some physics and some bievery year. I like the fact that all the RS4K volumes are only only 10 chapters long! :-)

[Literary Mom]

Very helpful thread! Because of it, I find myself leaning toward RSO instead of RS4K, but doing chemistry one semester (doubling the 2-day schedule) and physics the next. Knowing me, I won't do all the experiments either - probably one per week.

 

Except I just remembered RSO doesn't have physics, so I'd have to do the second semester with RS4K or Elemental or NOEO (each of which I'm still considering/evaluating to use for the whole year!).

[GothicHipChick]

Never tried RSO but we are currently using RS4K Biology. They recommend starting with Chemistry but I got Biology because we are also using BFSU and Apologia Zoology 1 later this year after we are done RS4K. I agree with those that said it is not enough for one whole year but at the same time my son is really enjoying it. We bought the PDF format (the whole package for Biology) for about $35. I only printed the lab workbook and the rest we are using off of our computer. Adrian loves it. It is colorful and speaks to the child introducing concepts to his level. Adrian does most of the reading himself and loves the hands on aspect of it also. That said he is also enjoying BFSU just as much. HTH

 

 

Hi. I also have BFSU but I was looking at RS4K to use for my 1st grader this year. Can you tell me how you incorporate those 2 together? How often do you do Science and how long does it take you to prep for it?

 

Thanks,

Lulu

[Haiku]

We are using RS4K for the second year. It's actually meant to be used over 20 weeks. The Gravitas website has lesson plans to illustrate how to do this. Imo, if you use it over 20 weeks, you've gotten a good course in science and can spend the rest of your science time further exploring topics, making notebooks, doing interest-based science of another topic, etc. This year I am combining RS4K with Studies Weekly's Science magazine, and it comes with an online teacher resource book that has more than enough material to fill an entire year.

 

Tara

[Guest]

Hi. I also have BFSU but I was looking at RS4K to use for my 1st grader this year. Can you tell me how you incorporate those 2 together? How often do you do Science and how long does it take you to prep for it?

 

Thanks,

Lulu

 

I have to do science every day. My son asks for it :). I was not incorporating the two programs at all. They just reinforced each other when topics overlapped. BFSU took quite a bit of prep-time for me, since I added to it using various internet and other resources we have at home, and also my own ideas when I wanted to change or enhance some of the activities. That said, BFSU did not work for me/ us for several reasons, which I won't get into right now because I don't have time and they are not really important. I will be cutting up the book and I am hoping to use it as a resource.

 

RS4K was not enough as a standalone for us and I did not have the time to spend there too since I already had BFSU and local requirements, for which I did some additional units of my own. RS4K needs too much work to make it meaty enough for my kid. I will just be adding that as a resource also (the Biology that we own, we will not be continuing with the other RS4K books), as we come across the topics with our other curriculum choices.

 

We are currently using (will be starting back next week when I am done setting up our school area up from our recent move) Apologia Zoology 1. We will then move onto Houghton Mifflin Homeschool Science 3 for the rest of the school year.

 

Sorry I couldn't be of much help!

Edited September 13, 2011 by Guest