What to do for science when you have a younger and an older and want to combine?

[Halcyon]

I've been posting about this a lot, but I thought this header might draw more people in :) My rising 4th grader has done a reasonable amt of science, and now I'm adding a 1st grader to the mix. For first grader, I am thinking of Nancy Larson 1. But older has already covered most of what's covered in NL 1. Part of me thinks, "so what? review is good!" but DH feels that older shouldnt have to "go backwards" in science (his fave subject) but rather should go be able to continue to learn new things, recognizing that review and deeper investigation will begin in 6th grade with Earth Science.

 

How have others approached this situation, assuming you didn't do a hands-off, child-led approach to science in the early years but chose to do something more formal?

[alpidarkomama]

My kids are 8, 6, 5, and 3-1/2. I just let the youngers tag along with the oldest. The 5- and 6-year-olds get asked different narration questions than the 8-year-old. They all participate in our hands-on activities. We do outside reading (storytime!) around the topic we're studying. I think I'll just keep doing it this way through elementary school. We do the same for history. It simplifies things quite a bit!! :)

[Ellie]

Rule of thumb: Teach to the oldest and let the littles come along.:001_smile:

[Embassy]

I've been posting about this a lot, but I thought this header might draw more people in :) My rising 4th grader has done a reasonable amt of science, and now I'm adding a 1st grader to the mix. For first grader, I am thinking of Nancy Larson 1. But older has already covered most of what's covered in NL 1. Part of me thinks, "so what? review is good!" but DH feels that older shouldnt have to "go backwards" in science (his fave subject) but rather should go be able to continue to learn new things, recognizing that review and deeper investigation will begin in 6th grade with Earth Science.

 

How have others approached this situation, assuming you didn't do a hands-off, child-led approach to science in the early years but chose to do something more formal?

 

I separated my boys. They are only 2 years apart, but my oldest was a science nut and my youngest wasn't too interested in science. We covered the same subject and did any activities, DVDs, and experiments together but they used different books. I put together my own science program. If you want to see what I'm talking about you can see how I separated them here. That said, I am combining them again. My younger son has now caught the science bug.

[lovelaughs_times_three]

I use Real-Science-4-Kids. The Pre-Level 1 covers both 1st and 4th grade. Or, if you feel your rising 4th grader is ready for more advanced Science, I also have a 6th grader that has used their level 1 along with us. They have 3 levels of Science, but you can use them together. Each chapter in Chemistry Level 1 and Chemistry Pre-Level 1 deal with the same subjects, just at a different level. For example, today my youngest learned about acids and bases in chapter 5. My oldest read from her chapter 5 about acids and bases as well, but it went into it at a much deeper level and she learned more about pH and indicators, etc. The labs for each level also use basically the same materials, too. But my 6th graders labs were more in depth. I was able to combine all 3 of my children and still satisfy each level's need for challenge.

They also have Biology and Physics divided into the same levels.