Jenny in GA Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 Okay, I've been a little underimpressed with Science 4 Real Kids' Pre-Level Chemistry. I want to wrap it up and try something else, and I think Elemental Science might be just what I'm looking for. Before I order (for a 9 and 7 year old working together): 1) Should I buy two student workbooks? Or is the kind of thing what would be easy to xerox copies for both kids? Are the pages perforated? 2) Did anyone get the Biology lapbook? If so, could you describe it? Would you recommend it? 3) Same question about the Nature Study ... 4) Does it by any chance have lists of supplemental books to read in the various chapters (the way SOTW AG does?) That is something I really feel like we've been lacking in our Chemistry studies. 4) Anything I should know about it before making the final decision? What you liked or didn't like about it? What makes it different from other science programs? Anything to be aware of? What do your kids like or dislike about it? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WiseOwlKnits Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 1) Should I buy two student workbooks? Or is the kind of thing what would be easy to xerox copies for both kids? Are the pages perforated? I bought the .pdf so I can print all the copies of the workbooks I need. I'd get the .pdf personally. 2) Did anyone get the Biology lapbook? If so, could you describe it? Would you recommend it? 3) Same question about the Nature Study ... No, I didn't get the biology lapbook or Nature Study. We didn't do ES: Biology...we're doing ES: Earth Science though. 4) Does it by any chance have lists of supplemental books to read in the various chapters (the way SOTW AG does?) That is something I really feel like we've been lacking in our Chemistry studies. The TG has a few suggestions here and there, but definitely not every week. I usually just do a library search of that week's topics. 4) Anything I should know about it before making the final decision? What you liked or didn't like about it? What makes it different from other science programs? Anything to be aware of? What do your kids like or dislike about it? I like that it uses real books instead of a textbook and she has good selections for books IMO. Each day has the child write what they found most interesting from that day's reading and I've enjoyed hearing what DD says. The biggest difference I see between it and other programs *that I looked at* is that it has a worksheet for each experiment that stresses following the scientific method: you list materials, make a hypothesis about what will happen, describe what you did, explain the results, and list what you learned from it. I love that it's making this a routine in 1st grade. And DD loves the experiments!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caitilin Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 I think you might need to beef it up a bit for your 9 yo. I am using it with my dd6 and ds8 ( a young 8 ;)), and I wouldn't consider using it as is for my ds9 in 4th grade. I really like the materials, they are great, but definitely geared to the 1st-2nd grader. ETA: I bought 2 workbooks, as I hate printing/copying if I don't have to. They aren't expensive, and make life so much simpler for me, b/c everything is in one nice place--no hole punching, etc. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in GA Posted January 15, 2011 Author Share Posted January 15, 2011 I think you might need to beef it up a bit for your 9 yo. I am using it with my dd6 and ds8 ( a young 8 ;)), and I wouldn't consider using it as is for my ds9 in 4th grade. I really like the materials, they are great, but definitely geared to the 1st-2nd grader. I was wondering about that too. Do they have suggestions on how to do that? Does it lend itself easily to "beefing up"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pata Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 (edited) Jenny, There are a few suggestions in the teacher's guide for beefing the program up, plus Lapbooking through Biology has reading assignments for your older student. You can see examples of both from the samples page. Hopefully Robin will chime in, as I believe her oldest was 9yo when they did Biology for the Grammar Stage. As for some of your other questions, I do not list specific supplemental books in the teacher's guide because every library is different and books frequently go out of print. However an Elemental Science mom put together a supplemental book list for Biology and Earth Science & Astronomy that are available at the yahoo group. Also, just to let Nature Studies in Biology is not yet available, should be by this summer. If you have any more questions, I'm around :). Edited January 15, 2011 by Pata Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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