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Pros and cons of Elemental Science?


momto3innc
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I just discovered Elemental Science today and I think it looks great. We have used Sonlight science and that has worked fine but I wanted to move more in the WTM direction with science...it is the one area that has not gone that way yet. I thought this would be a good step while still providing me with a little structure.

 

Anyone use this? Good? Bad?

 

Thanks!

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We used the Chemistry this year for ds/3rd and he has liked all of it. The only drawback for me is not having a science supply kit to buy up front that would have all the supplies needed that aren't readily accessible at home, such as alligator clips. Otherwise he has enjoyed it.

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We're doing Intro to Science this year. We're all loving it. The pros: Very easy to implement, schedule can be adjusted to fit your family's needs, the experiments are fun, all of the notebooking and project pages are included, it is available as a PDF download *love this*, my kids love science and it is because of this program. Cons: Because the kids are loving this program so much, we get through each week's projects fairly quickly and then the kids are left with about two days a week begging for more science. I have to tell them, "Pace yourselves! We have other subjects too!" :lol:

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We've been doing Biology and for the most part I have loved it. The multiple resources slow me down sometimes, but it isn't a big deal. My son has gotten a little bored with drawing the pictures for the narration pages so now we are switching to him cutting and pasting pictures.

 

We are finishing it up, but we also just started Real Science Odyssey and will likely stick with that for next year. I am torn because I like them both, but I don't realistically think I can keep doing them both fully.

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I get the PDF and I believe there is an empty experiment sheet in there. Not sure about narration sheets...

 

We love ES. First science that has gotten done and done well in this house! Science has gone from something I dreaded to something we all really enjoy! We've done biology, earth science and now chem. My little guys will do Bio Grammar, my dd will do physics next year and my ds will do logic bio. We could be a walking commercial for Paige! :D

 

Oh... and no cons for us here. We're very pleased!

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Cons: Because the kids are loving this program so much, we get through each week's projects fairly quickly and then the kids are left with about two days a week begging for more science. I have to tell them, "Pace yourselves! We have other subjects too!" :lol:

 

That's a nice con to have.

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I was really excited about this program, but it was not a winner for us. We were using the chemistry for the grammar stage and I like the books, some of the experiment suggestions are okay, but a lot of the activity in the student notebook is dull and feels like busy work. My daughter is a huge science lover and she started to dread when I pulled out the notebook for this program. I felt like the scheduling was choppy and sometimes the reading assignments were just awkward as far as where they start and end. We switched to R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey Chemistry about halfway through the year and it is so much better for us. She has learned tons and is having a lot of fun. I pull activitities from Elemental still but we won't go back to it.

 

Noelle

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I hate to say anything negative, but it's not working so well for us. Sigh. I'm horrible at getting science done, so my problems aren't unique to ES.

 

We're doing physics, and dd hates the Usborne Science Encyclopedia. It's not geared toward elementary students. She also dreads doing the experiment write-ups. I would rather read books than do experiments. That's going to be a problem for me no matter what program I use, though. I'm seriously considering using a co-op for science next year so that I don't have to wrestle with a toddler every time we attempt an experiment.

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I was really excited about this program, but it was not a winner for us. We were using the chemistry for the grammar stage and I like the books, some of the experiment suggestions are okay, but a lot of the activity in the student notebook is dull and feels like busy work. My daughter is a huge science lover and she started to dread when I pulled out the notebook for this program.

 

:iagree:although we used Intro to Science rather than Chemistry. The experiments were too simple for us; most were tasks the boys had done in their free time messing around with things (this is because the experiments are out of More Mudpies to Magnets which did not work for us at all). In retrospect perhaps I should have bumped them a level and ordered Bio, but I felt it was too language focused for us for science. The boys don't like coloring, or cut/paste, and making them do narrations every time we read a science book would be the fastest way to kill their love of science.

 

They just want to read and "do" science without having to write so much about it, which at this age I feel is appropriate and enough.

Edited by FairProspects
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