ScoutTN Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 Can anyone compare and contrast these programs for me? I've read many old threads, but few discuss both of these. Next year I will have a 1st grade DD (and a 4yo tagging along) next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 ES is the Earlybird Singapore? Why not do that first, then BFSU? Rosie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutTN Posted January 29, 2011 Author Share Posted January 29, 2011 Clarification: ES meaning Elemental Science. Sorry to be unclear. I think Singapore is too workbooky for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5Wizards Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 We're doing ES Intro. to Science this year and I'm very happy with it. It's easy to do and my DD5 really enjoys it. I have BFSU, but it's one of those books that I bought because I liked the idea of it and wanted to see it for myself. It looks great, but I personally don't have it in me at this point in my life to devote the time I feel it would need to really incorporate it into our lives. If you have the time and inclination, I think it's probably a really great program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleIzumi Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 I LOVE BFSU but I haven't used ES to compare the two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelli Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 I bought BFSU, became a member of their Yahoo group, and still didn't understand everything or feel like I had the time to put into it. The next day I shipped it back to Amazon. I love the plan of BFSU, but just didn't feel adequate to implementing it. However, I get the idea of it, so I'm going to try to bring some of the crossing over of sciences into whichever science topic we do next year. Right now I'm looking at using ES Earth Science and Astronomy for next year. I might pick up BFSU again at a later date when I feel like I can really dig into it and pick it apart. Having a 10 month old baby in the house does not lend itself to much digging and planning for curriculum!!! :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmmaNZ Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 BFSU and ES are two totally different programmes. Which you choose depends on what you want, not really which is 'better' IYKWIM. If you want a single discipline ala WTM (1st grade = biology), plus a guide to tell you what to do when, then you need ES. We are currently doing 1st grade also, with a 6 year oldand 4 year old tag along. I'mhappy with it, the children enjoy it and askto do science. It is fairly literature based which suits us well, but there is one experiment a week plus a few ongoing projects. It doesn't require huge amounts of preparation onyour part. I did start out with BFSU. Again the children enjoyed it, but I felt like I needed a bit more hand-holding! I had to forcemyself toget toscience every week with the net result thatwe hardly did any. The lessons are much morepractical and discussion based. BFSU gives you the tools to teach science, but doesn't spoon feed you. It gives you the freedomtoteach what you want and when. It encourages you to teach fromall the branches of science and link them together. If you are the kindof person with thezeal and energy to teach this well, then gofor it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Kirsten~ Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 I've used both. :001_smile: I think the previous poster is right--it's more about what you envision rather than which is better, as well as what will actually get done in your home. We used BFSU for K and started ES this year for 1st. I do love the way Dr. Nebel explains thinking about science. I personally had a hard time getting started with it and grasping how to alternate among threads (different disciplines of science), but once we just started it, it worked well and made sense. However, it was NOT an open-and-go kind of program. I spent a lot of time planning and reading and thinking before the year started, and then I spent more time planning and rereading each week and checking out supplementary library books. I do intend to buy his second book for 3-5th grades, but for me, BFSU will be a supplement for ME, reminding me how to discuss ideas. ES is all laid out with lesson plans, activities, book readings, and a weekly experiment as well as ongoing projects. It has one subject per year (biology, earth science/astronomy, chemistry, and physics), except for the K/Intro year which is a survey. I like doing a survey for K, and then spending time delving into each area. Personally, I'm a biology person, so left to my own devices, I always spend more time on that. Following ES will guarantee that I don't do that. :tongue_smilie: If you have any other more specific questions you think I might help with, feel free to ask or PM me. I'll try! Good luck deciding! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutTN Posted January 30, 2011 Author Share Posted January 30, 2011 bump Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybear Posted January 30, 2011 Share Posted January 30, 2011 I think BFSU can work well in conjunction with another program. You can use it slowly, casually. I think it is a good framework for what science is, but does not need to be the only science you do. I am considering doing this as one lesson a week and then adding in other science (curriculum or not TBD). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutTN Posted January 30, 2011 Author Share Posted January 30, 2011 I think BFSU can work well in conjunction with another program. You can use it slowly, casually. I think it is a good framework for what science is, but does not need to be the only science you do. I am considering doing this as one lesson a week and then adding in other science (curriculum or not TBD). Oooh, maybe this is what I will do! Esp. since it's inexpensive (about $14 on Amazon right now) and will work for several years. Thanks for the idea! :D I love this board! :D I love the sound of BFSU, but am leary of the prep and of my own non-sciency self. I know I do better with structure, but I like the kind of thinking BFSU is said to encourage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dulcimeramy Posted January 30, 2011 Share Posted January 30, 2011 I think BFSU can work well in conjunction with another program. You can use it slowly, casually. I think it is a good framework for what science is, but does not need to be the only science you do. I am considering doing this as one lesson a week and then adding in other science (curriculum or not TBD). This is exactly my perception of it! I haven't fully explored it (ordered today) but I am inclined to think you are right. I am planning to buy Elemental Science grammar physics and chemistry. That will round out my grammar elementary resources. Then, I hope, I can use Dr. Nebel's ideas and sequence and still use familiar materials and activities. So, my resource shelf will include various and sundry Sonlight elementary science books, and Astronomy (Apologia) Earth Science (Voskamp) Physics (Elemental Science) Chemistry (Elemental Science) Botany (Apologia) Zoology--flying creatures (Apologia) Zoology--swimming creatures (Apologia) Zoology--land animals (Apologia) Anatomy (Apologia) If I fail at coordinating these with BFSU, I might at least learn something from BFSU to apply to my teaching. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybear Posted January 30, 2011 Share Posted January 30, 2011 When I first got BFSU I took one look at it and put it on my shelf. There it sat for a couple of months. Then I took a slightly longer second look and then it sat quite awhile longer on the shelf. :) One day I just pulled it out and sat down with it, like reading a book. It really is not that complicated, nor do I find it requires a ton of prep. So far......only a few lessons in actually. I do find that I need to really read it ahead of time and make notes. I guess highlighting would work too. So, the main prep seems to me to be reading. Other than that, it is the usual science prep of getting an experiment set up. The first few are very simple, but I don't know how it is down the road. I think doing it less often, like once a week, takes a lot of the pressure off. Oh, and it has structure. It is just not laid out in a linear way like most science programs. It is, however, super easy, to create a linear layout yourself. Also, the Yahoo group has files on this as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 30, 2011 Share Posted January 30, 2011 (edited) I think BFSU can work well in conjunction with another program. You can use it slowly, casually. I think it is a good framework for what science is, but does not need to be the only science you do. I am considering doing this as one lesson a week and then adding in other science (curriculum or not TBD). One thing to point out is that some of the lessons take longer than a day to complete and in some Mr. Nebel advises breaking them up. This week we have been doing Lesson A-6 Matter II: Air Pressure and the Earth's Atmosphere. It definitely required at least two days but I also add stuff too and I have Adrian notebooking so that takes time as well. Then I add a Bill Nye DVD for fun on Adrian's time ;). This is the breakdown of time required for this particular lesson (this is from the book): Part 1. 30-40 min Part 2. 20-30 min Part 3. 15-20 min Part 4. 25-35 min Part 5. 25-35 min We are also using RS4K Pre-Level 1 Biology. I usually finish a lesson with BFSU before going to RS4K because I don't want it interfering with our BFSU lessons. With RS4K I have been breaking up the lessons to two weeks since that one is easy to just open the textbook and review the lesson in order to do the experiment. Anyway, I am rambling now :tongue_smilie: but just wanted to point out that some lessons with BFSU take more that just one day. Edited January 30, 2011 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy Jo Posted January 30, 2011 Share Posted January 30, 2011 I think BFSU can work well in conjunction with another program. You can use it slowly, casually. I think it is a good framework for what science is, but does not need to be the only science you do. I am considering doing this as one lesson a week and then adding in other science (curriculum or not TBD). Me too - we are doing an LCC schedule, but I want more science. So we will work on BFSU one day a week, and continue to do nature study one day a week. I realize it may take more than one session per lesson, and that is fine. Amy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenmama2 Posted January 30, 2011 Share Posted January 30, 2011 I haven't seen ES but I've just started BFSU with my kindergartener and love it. I don't find it takes much prep at all, in fact I find it fits into our lives quite naturally. The only thing is that as a PP said, it does require you to read ahead. That's all really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blakereese Posted January 30, 2011 Share Posted January 30, 2011 I haven't seen ES but I've just started BFSU with my kindergartener and love it. I don't find it takes much prep at all, in fact I find it fits into our lives quite naturally. The only thing is that as a PP said, it does require you to read ahead. That's all really. :iagree: I'm always puzzled when it is mentioned how much prep is involved in BFSU. I don't find it to be that much time at all. When you first receive the book you can spend a couple of hours just reading and sort of absorbing the ideas. But that was fun! (for me :001_smile:) I really like BFSU, and so do my kids. Before this, we really weren't doing science very regularly, even with something more scripted. It is so inexpensive now ($10 less than when I bought it) but I thought it was a deal for $25. :D It definitely isn't for everyone, I understand that. I just don't want anyone to be scared off trying it, thinking it is a lot of work. It is VERY close to open and go, once you have a plan. ;) A very simple plan, I might add. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 30, 2011 Share Posted January 30, 2011 It definitely isn't for everyone, I understand that. I just don't want anyone to be scared off trying it, thinking it is a lot of work. It is VERY close to open and go, once you have a plan. ;) A very simple plan, I might add. I agree with you that it is not for everyone and that I too do not want anyone being scared off by trying it. At the same time though, I am one of those that does not like seeing people buying curricula because of everyone posting how great it is and spending the money only to have it sit on their shelf unused. That's just my way of thinking. I am one of those that posted that BFSU has prep work involved. It does however depend on how one wishes to go about it and I did clarify that the time I spend is not indicative. I do a lot of prep work (and specified it in another thread) because I have a science kid. That's just what works in our house, so I just wanted to clarify that :). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jewel7123 Posted January 30, 2011 Share Posted January 30, 2011 I notice that someone posted a few sample lessons plans on the BFSU yahoo group. Is there anywhere else to find plans like that, say on a homeschooler's blog, etc.? Just wondering if the yahoo group is the only place to find helpful info for BFSU..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 30, 2011 Share Posted January 30, 2011 (edited) I notice that someone posted a few sample lessons plans on the BFSU yahoo group. Is there anywhere else to find plans like that, say on a homeschooler's blog, etc.? Just wondering if the yahoo group is the only place to find helpful info for BFSU..... Jennifer, I did a brief search on the forums here for you and found this . That's only one though so it probably won't be of much help to you. The way I do it in our house and plan to do it is, first of all I started with thread A. Since I have some local requirements to meet we will finish A and then move onto thread D. I will follow the exact order for thread D as is in the book and will just review the parts from thread A that tie into lessons from D. I will do the same with threads B and C when we get to them. I am not sure how others do it but I do not jump into a thread we have not started yet in order to cover a topic. When we are in that thread I will come back and link the information covered prior, to what we are doing. This is my understanding of how BFSU is supposed to be used. Others will hopefully post and give you some more input on how they do it. I would be particularly interested in hearing from those that have already gone through the program. I think their input is more valuable than what I can post for example, since we are still only at the beginning with only about 7 lessons under our belt. Edited January 30, 2011 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satori Posted January 30, 2011 Share Posted January 30, 2011 I had a page up on BFSU and how our lessons were planned out, complete with additional books and videos. I also posted detailed description on my blog on how we implemented the lessons. http://satorismiles.com/tag/bfsu/ I don't have our BFSU lesson page up on my blog, but I can get it up on there soon. For reference, we've worked with both ES and BFSU, I think they're two different sides of the spectrum. ES was not for my family, and BFSU never got done. Right now we found a happy balance with R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey. I would still love to find the energy to do BFSU more and finish the first book and move on to the next. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jewel7123 Posted January 30, 2011 Share Posted January 30, 2011 I don't have our BFSU lesson page up on my blog, but I can get it up on there soon. That would be great, thanks! For reference, we've worked with both ES and BFSU, I think they're two different sides of the spectrum. ES was not for my family, and BFSU never got done. I'd love to hear why you say ES was not for you.....that's another one I've been looking at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutTN Posted January 30, 2011 Author Share Posted January 30, 2011 I had a page up on BFSU and how our lessons were planned out, complete with additional books and videos. I also posted detailed description on my blog on how we implemented the lessons.http://satorismiles.com/tag/bfsu/ I don't have our BFSU lesson page up on my blog, but I can get it up on there soon. For reference, we've worked with both ES and BFSU, I think they're two different sides of the spectrum. ES was not for my family, and BFSU never got done. Right now we found a happy balance with R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey. I would still love to find the energy to do BFSU more and finish the first book and move on to the next. Thanks, Angela! The glimpse into your lessons was very helpful and fun! Did you not continue with BFSU b/c it was too much work? And why was ES not a fit for you - not enough hands-on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleIzumi Posted January 30, 2011 Share Posted January 30, 2011 (edited) I don't find that BFSU is overwhelming or that it takes much prep, but we are very science-oriented here. I just look over the lessons I plan to do and grab a couple books & DVDs that match from the library for fun. We so far have what we need for any activities on hand or we can fudge it :tongue_smilie:, and we follow whatever flow seems natural. After getting the books I do just open & go. It was intimidating when I first got it, and it sat on the shelf for about a year. I finally say down & read the entire intro (several chapters) and looked over the first lesson--and then wondered what took me so long :lol:. We do about 2 lessons a week in it right now, plus reading our science stuff at other times. Edited January 30, 2011 by LittleIzumi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted January 30, 2011 Share Posted January 30, 2011 (edited) I think BFSU can work well in conjunction with another program. You can use it slowly, casually. I think it is a good framework for what science is, but does not need to be the only science you do. I am considering doing this as one lesson a week and then adding in other science (curriculum or not TBD). That's what I'm planning to do. I've got interesting supplements scribbled almost all the way through the BFSU book. My kids are only 21 months apart, so I figured we'd go through it twice, but use different extras each time so as not to bore the older one. There's just too much cool stuff not to! Who could resist a book called "Geology Rocks!" for example :lol: I also think I'll write up a shopping list on a book mark to put in with each lesson. Books to borrow from the library, that sort of thing. Then I can grab them out as we go along. Rosie Edited January 30, 2011 by Rosie_0801 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jewel7123 Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 I've got interesting supplements scribbled almost all the way through the BFSU book. I'd love to hear what interesting supplements you've found if you don't mind sharing! :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 I'd love to hear what interesting supplements you've found if you don't mind sharing! :bigear: Oh gosh. It's just stuff I've read about on here or found on Amazon. I think it'd be kind of meaningless to list them because I haven't used or even seen most of them yet. It's only planning! Mooch through Amazon, take a look at GEMS kits and note down stuff that looks too cool to pass over. That's all I did. If you really want my ridiculous list of plans in the current edition, to be updated whenever something cool shows up, or something no longer seems cool, pm me your email address and I'll attach the document. I won't even mind if you laugh at me for being a psycho. I'm a Capricorn. I like to plan ahead and have been doing so for nearly 5 years now. :o Rosie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jewel7123 Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 I won't even mind if you laugh at me for being a psycho. I'm a Capricorn. I like to plan ahead and have been doing so for nearly 5 years now. :o Rosie I won't think you're a phsyco, and hey, if you are, at least you're in good company here on the WTM! :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowfall Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 I'm also one that felt it necessary to plan BFSU. I didn't want to choose what thread and lesson to go with next at the last minute. I like to know well ahead of time what's coming up and what we'll need for it. We've never needed anything very unusual, but sometimes we did have to purchase things. For example, we did have to purchase some magnets for the lesson on magnetism. I didn't have a horseshoe magnet or bar magnets (or anything other than refrigerator magnets) hanging around my house. Plus, I've found that if I haven't already decided on it ahead of time, I just won't do it at all. That's why we did about 5 or 6 lessons in BFSU, then left it sitting on the shelf for 9 months before I picked it up again. So it did take some planning for me. I wouldn't say I'm a science genius by any stretch, but dd loves science and I want to foster that at the expense of things she doesn't much care for, so we try to do it often. That does mean that I'm also using RS4K Pre-level Chem and RSO Life. The reason is that these are both scripted and easier for me to get done when BFSU isn't coming together for me. I find that BFSU is absolutely wonderful for using with another curriculum (or two, lol). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutTN Posted January 31, 2011 Author Share Posted January 31, 2011 It was about $14 two days ago. Now is $22-24! Do they price by supply and demand?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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