Science???????

[PeacefulChaos]

Ok, I'm a new homeschooler - just started our first year last week (the 18th) with our 5 and 7 yo.

So I am curious about what other people do for science... we are using the First Animal Encyclopedia and going over a different animal each week like it recommends in the book... but I'm not sure my 5yo is getting anything out of it. He's just starting to learn how to read and he's just not into doing narrations, coloring, art of any type, etc... I want to make sure he's actually learning something and that it is actually semi enjoyable for him. My 7yo is doing great. I just don't know if maybe I need to try to do something a little more hands on? Any opinions??

Oh and ftr this is what our typical day includes : 5yo: Saxon Math 1, FLL, Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading, SOTW Vol 1 or 1st Animal Encyclopedia, Art (coloring from the Masterpieces workbook or doing a project) or Music (learning about different instruments, listening to different types of music, and piano lessons), PE (3 days a week structured, 2 days free play), Reading (whatever we have), Bible (Telling God's Story), Zaner Bloser Handwriting... I think that's it. The 7yo does the same stuff only his level, of course.

Anyway, I'm looking for any general opinions of good curricula and whatever. I'm pretty happy with most everything but just want to be sure to keep my 5yo engaged!

(oh, and I'm new, like I said, so I don't know what all the abbreviations for curricula are. So if you don't mind... :) Thanks!!)

K

[NittanyJen]

Take a look at NOEO level 1 and see if you like it. Great company, age appropriate. Younger can tag along or draw instead of doing narrations.

[PeacefulChaos]

I'm sorry - what is NOEO???

(Hopefully soon I'll know what everyone is talking about!:blink:

[PeacefulChaos]

Thanks!

[Lily_Grace]

We use Noeo. I love it, though we supplement with our own science experiment kits instead of theirs. This is the one subject I insist on being hands on as much as possible. I mean, you can read about Newton's laws and memorize them, but until you really play around with them it's just words.

 

For a K'er I'd definitely look into it or something of the like where they get up and DO science.

[imhim]

I really didn't worry much about science at 5yo. Whatever my 5 yo overheard from 7yo was good enough for us. The main things were reading and Singapore math and handwriting. Now ds is almost 6 and reads very well, and insiststo read by himself directly from the King James Bible. But he reads anything.

 

Anyway, I would not stress out about science - watch some animal dvds from Netflix (Netflix has some good creation-based nature dvds) or some from your local library - make it fun. It seems to me maybe it is a little too much and he might burn out or get tired of school.

 

Or just have him draw a pic about the animal, or act out what the animal does.

[HSM-Crissy]

I was doing what you were doing, my dd can read (age 5), but it's just looking at pictures and random facts. So, I will continue this, because she loves it and so does my 3yr. old. But, I just got Apologia's Botany to throw in the mix. She loves plants and growing flowers, etc. Plus, we are adding in the Nature Journal this fall. ;) Hope that helps.

 

In addition, we are doing FLL, Spelling Workout A, Explode the Code, Saxon 2, Zaner-Bloser HW, Beautiful Feet - US History, Art (drawing, "Come Look with Me"/Music - besides just listening and singing Hymns, we haven't done much in this category, Bible -Vos Story Bible, Map Skills (cheap, grade 1 from CB.com).

 

I want Wordly Wise 3000!!

 

Your plan looks great!!

 

Hope that helps!!

[sagira]

We enjoyed BFSU at that age. I only did about 16 lessons that first year, and we had fun. Bonus: it also works for your 7-year-old. It's from K-2. Taking it slowly, enjoying the moments, letting him experiment with the activities (supplies most people have in the home). There's a Yahoo! Group K5 Science where the author of Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding is available for questions and discussion. Check it out :)

[MissKNG]

For science, we have been using Noeo Chemistry 1. But I have lots of other resources available (for variety) when needed because I have a science nut:

 

-Magic School Bus Chapter books, readers and picture books

-Let's Read and Find Out about Science books

-Cat in the Hat Learning Library books

-The Complete Book of Science (workbook)

-The Complete Book of our Solar System (workbook)

-microscope, magnifying glass, magnets, hydroponic lab

-We used Sonlight Science K so I have the supply kits from those that we use for various experiments

-I find free downloads that my big girl works in like:

http://www.physicscentral.com/experi...sics/index.cfm

(she completed one of the Color Me Physics books in one sitting!)

-She has a journal that she uses to sit outside and "observe my neighborhood"

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Ok, I'm a new homeschooler - just started our first year last week (the 18th) with our 5 and 7 yo.

So I am curious about what other people do for science... we are using the First Animal Encyclopedia and going over a different animal each week like it recommends in the book... but I'm not sure my 5yo is getting anything out of it. He's just starting to learn how to read and he's just not into doing narrations, coloring, art of any type, etc... I want to make sure he's actually learning something and that it is actually semi enjoyable for him. My 7yo is doing great. I just don't know if maybe I need to try to do something a little more hands on? Any opinions??

Oh and ftr this is what our typical day includes : 5yo: Saxon Math 1, FLL, Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading, SOTW Vol 1 or 1st Animal Encyclopedia, Art (coloring from the Masterpieces workbook or doing a project) or Music (learning about different instruments, listening to different types of music, and piano lessons), PE (3 days a week structured, 2 days free play), Reading (whatever we have), Bible (Telling God's Story), Zaner Bloser Handwriting... I think that's it. The 7yo does the same stuff only his level, of course.

Anyway, I'm looking for any general opinions of good curricula and whatever. I'm pretty happy with most everything but just want to be sure to keep my 5yo engaged!

(oh, and I'm new, like I said, so I don't know what all the abbreviations for curricula are. So if you don't mind... :) Thanks!!)

K

 

I found with my own kids that it was easy to overestimate how much they knew about animals. Unless they were watching nature videos, going to the zoo or reading, they didn't necessarily know the difference between a panda, a koala and a polar bear (or which one isn't really a bear).

 

I think if you keep giving a gentle intro to animals to your K'er as well as finding books that answer the 100s of questions he probably asks, I think you'd be doing great.

 

Rather than asking him to narrate back about the animals, read to him and then ask him to tell you three things he thought were interesting. Then let him draw a picture or paste a photo onto the page.

 

I think for K, science is a nice to have. But your priority is probably more on learning to read and beginning math. Let science stay gentle.

[HollyM]

I also second Noeo and your younger one will get something out of the experiments I think. The box they send contains most of the items you need to do each experiment, it really makes it convenient - no running around trying to find the little odds and ends needed. Each experiment has step by step instructions too.

[mom@shiloh]

The Christian Liberty Nature Readers are great for that age also. All of my kids have enjoyed either reading them or having me read them aloud.

[ProudGrandma]

Nancy Larson Science is a huge hit at our home.

[Aoife]

Nancy Larson Science is a huge hit at our home.

 

:iagree: We love us some NL!

[MamaSheep]

Dd really enjoyed REAL Science Odyssey's Level 1 life science program at that age. I helped her with the writing (or just did it for her). It's a very hands-on program with more doing and less reading, and she really got a kick out of it.

[Coffeemama]

http://www.amazon.com/One-Small-Square-Donald-Silver/dp/0070579334/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1311769699&sr=1-1

 

I hope the above link works...one of the best books as part of NOEO Biology was One Small Square. It reads like a non-fiction narrative, but adds in hands-on activities for each habitat. My k and second grader loved it. The woods and seashore were are favorites. They also loved studying insects by examining them with a magnifying glass trying to match up the body parts we read about in the nature encyclopedia to the real insects. We only wrote and drew the narrations occasionally...it took me a while to realize that that part just wasn't necessary in early elementary. Hope that helps.:001_smile:

[baybedaul]

I was going to suggest BFSU as well. We're just getting started with it this year, but it seems like it would work nicely with both a 5yo and a 7yo.

[warneral]

We're doing Real Science Odyssey (Pandia press). It is fun and simple. I add in some reading with books from the library and encyclopedia. It is very hands-on. Biology is good for their ages. My kids are even enjoying ones I thought were boring :p

[ChrissySC]

We're doing Real Science Odyssey (Pandia press). It is fun and simple. I add in some reading with books from the library and encyclopedia. It is very hands-on. Biology is good for their ages. My kids are even enjoying ones I thought were boring :p

:iagree:

[lionfamily1999]

We use Christian Liberty Press, The World God Made. Luke enjoys it. There's a few experiments, coloring, memorization and the lessons are very short. It's about creation so the lessons/types of science vary.

 

Next year he'll start The Well-Trained Mind science, but for this year The World God Made is a gentle introduction with easy experiments he can do on his own (with supervision, but he DOES it himself).

[Maus]

We've been using Real Science 4 Kids as a spine.

 

We also love Magic School Bus (inc. the activity guides and DVDs) and the "Play and Find Out..." series from Jan VanCleave.

[SailorMom]

We didn't used a "program" or "text" until middle school, really.

 

We loved Science in a Nutshell kits, Evan Moor science publications (they have nifty books with experiments), and we used a lot of science books from the library.

 

These are great ages to let them kinda pick the direction of each science subject based on their interest. It is also the perfect age to have fun with science :)

[momto2Cs]

We're doing unit studies based on the Core Knowledge Sequence. I integrate hands-on, good books, documentaries, etc. We did this when my son was 5 and 6, then tried a more formal science program for a while, then returned to unit studies!

[Tarreymere]

You could check out the National Geographic Website for kids and find some videos or games to go with the animals or habitats you are reading about. I am using the Usborne First Book of Nature with one of mine and then looking for stuff on NatGeo. Sometimes you can also find a zoo website that has some interesting information or a webcam or things for kids too, if you want to stick with animals or nature study right now. I had mine make their own animals out of clay, too, if you want to try that. If you get the kind of clay that hardens you end up with a collection. There are also a number of animal documentaries aimed at kids, you can look on netflix if you have it, or at your library, just to mix it up a bit.

 

We have used Real Science Odessey in the past and they enjoyed the biology part.

 

We are also getting started right now with BFSU in addition to our nature studies, and so far that has been holding my kid's attention pretty well.

[Live2Ride]

At that young age, we hit the library and found stuff that interested them, we also checked out books with simple experiments, especially ones that you could make putty with, makes things bubble up, etc. That was good until we started SL cores and then we moved onto using their science.

[kalanamak]

There are lots of books at on bio at the library.

 

Do a garden, sprout seeds and look at the roots under the magnifying glass. Put celery in blue food coloring/water. Visit the zoo, watch things like Life of Birds and Life in the Undergrowth, put out a bird feeder and start identifying birds. Dissect a cow eye and owl pellets. Get a plastic skeleton and the My Body book from Teacher Created Resources. Hatch butterflies. Grow a tadpole.

 

Bio is SO much fun at those ages, and there is SO MUCH to do.

[kalanamak]

 

I think for K, science is a nice to have. But your priority is probably more on learning to read and beginning math. Let science stay gentle.

 

And FUN!

[JSnow]

I really didn't worry much about science at 5yo. Whatever my 5 yo overheard from 7yo was good enough for us. The main things were reading and Singapore math and handwriting.

 

:iagree:

Totally agree! There is a tendency to think we need to use "curriculum" at very young ages for all subjects. My opinion is at this young age capturing and feeding the love of learning is far more important. Get a sketch pad and colored pencils and have them do some nature journaling, watch the Discovery channels fabulous underwater and earth videos, visit a science museum.

[Marsha SC]

We did what you are doing too. I also found a great series at the library, "Let's Read and Find Out" science books that we added. There were so many books that related to animals. Maybe read from the Animal Encyclopedia then read from one the books to "bring it home". They also have many books that will work for biology too. ;)

 

Marsha

[Ravin]

We tried the animal thing, and we were going to do astronomy last year but DD just lost interest. She's 7 and going into 3rd, so I've decided that this year my goal for science is that it happen and be fun.

 

So we're using The Totally Irresponsible Science Book. I'm throwing formal out the window. We might do some narration/journaling related to what we do, but that's it.