Hwin Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 Science is the one subject where it all falls apart on me. I tried planning it out, and then I tried the "we'll just read science books that interest him" approach.. and still there is no science going on here. I'm looking at McRuffy for my K-er, not sure if I"ll use it this year or just wait until first grade. What other options come packaged with experiments and activities? Thank you!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffeefreak Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 At 5 (K) you really don't need science. For now, Go on nature walks, buy some butterflies, and lady bugs. Buy some tadpoles. Read lots of picture books about them. Are you starting 1st grade next year? Are you thinking you'll do a specific topic? Are you going to follow TWTM schedule, or are you looking for something more general? Dorinda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSheep Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 At that age what my dd loved best was tagging along with her big brother, who was doing Real Science Odyssey's level 1 life science, and then a series of Science in a Nutshell kits. RSO basically has you read a page, then do an activity, and has a list of suggested books for additional reading (dd's attention span didn't stretch to extra reading, but she LOVED the hands-on bits). There wasn't a kit for it back then, but I've seen one recently at Home Science Tools. The Science in a Nutshell kits each come with little workbooks with a couple of pages of background information in the front, and then explanations of each activity (about 10 or 12 in each kit). Both RSO and SIAN have the child answer questions about the activity on a worksheet or workbook page as they go along. At kindergarten age dd could answer many of the questions and certainly was able to get a basic understanding of the concepts. She wasn't a writer yet, though, so I let her dictate while I did the writing, or else I just let her be her big brother's "lab assistant" and they discussed the answers and then he wrote them down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetpea3829 Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 I agree that they don't need formal science in K. We're working primarily on reading, writing and mathematics for this year. On my academics shelf, however, I have Real Science 4 Kids, level 1, waiting to be put into use. I'm thinking come summertime, we'll go into maintenance mode for reading, writing and math, and take out FIAR and RS4K for the summer. RS4K is a neat science program. I like the way it's set up. It has a textbook, a workbook and a teacher's manual. It has three aspects that are intended to be studied from K-3. Biology, Chemistry and Physics. I haven't really flipped through the content just yet, but it looks decent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Down_the_Rabbit_Hole Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 Magic school bus kits are great. Last year I did several. They lasted about 6-8 weeks doing them 2-3x a week. I added in library books, dvd's and notebooking (drawing, taking pics, and narration pages with me being the scribe) to make it last longer.The kits have everything needed (even batteries) and a booklet of projects. You will need to get the Magic School Bus book to go along with the kit(most libraries have these) though. Also the MSB shows can be found online which my dd enjoyed looking at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloggermom Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 You need Basher science! They are awesome! Basher Science: Core Science Library Basher Science: Chemistry: Getting a Big Reaction Basher Science: Planet Earth: What planet are you on? The Periodic Table: Elements with Style! Basher Science: Astronomy: Out of this World! Basher: Rocks & Minerals: A Gem of a Book Physics: Why Matter Matters! Biology: Life as We Know It! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tina D Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 http://www.homeschoolscience.com/ Love these!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProudGrandma Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 Nancy Larson Science is very open and go...we love it here. Science never got done until I found Nancy Larson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristinannie Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 We didn't like RSO because it wasn't meaty enough for our family. We are really enjoying NOEO. It is all planned out for you...very open and go. I also bought RS4K to mix in whenever the topics match. They are both excellent programs. Apologia is also nice (we did Apologia Astronomy and it was wonderful) depending on your beliefs. I am Old Earth so I just had to skip a few sections. It wasn't a big deal. I didn't mind the multiple mentions of God's creation because we believe that. :D It is very open and go and the experiments are fun and usually painless. We did skip a couple that were a lot of work. The volcano was a lot of work, but so worth it. We set it off about 20 times in a couple of weeks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hwin Posted January 26, 2012 Author Share Posted January 26, 2012 Probably not starting until 1st, but this year has made me realize I need to have it pre-packaged. The Magic School Bus or home science adventures kits look like the sort of thing that we could stick with. I really like some of the other programs - rso and rs4k - but I will not be able to spare much time or money to gather materials for projects. If I have projects staring at me from the shelf they will get used :D Husband and I will both be working FT and husband will be attending school FT so we are really just trying to squeeze by for the next two years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hwin Posted January 26, 2012 Author Share Posted January 26, 2012 Nancy Larson Science is very open and go...we love it here. Science never got done until I found Nancy Larson Do you think it's worth it for a little one, though? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 We used Sonlight's science for that age and it worked well. They included nearly everything. I think all we really had to supply was water, and if you don't have time to do the experiements or it goes wrong, you can watch the DVD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edelweiss Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 Nancy Larson Science is very open and go...we love it here. Science never got done until I found Nancy Larson Yep! :thumbup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllSmiles Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 Elemental Sciencehttp://elementalscience.com/ To make sure that it is really open and go, I gather all of the supplies we will need before the start of each semester. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakblossoms Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 http://www.timberdoodle.com/Stepping_into_Science_p/645-600.htm is my favorite for the first year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 Singapore MPH science has been good for us as an "open and go", but I have a DD who will generally take the topics and run with them, creating her own projects, so a textbook-based method works well. I also do have her in a once a week lab class, so she's getting hands-on, just not necessarily in the same sequence. And ITA with Basher science. I think we have every book he's written except for the little kid ones that came out after DD was too old for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristinannie Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 NOEO has everything you need. No supply runs, but it is a little pricey. It is mostly nonconsumable though which is really nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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