intro and pacing question

[srs]

Hi, I've been lurking around for awhile but haven't posted much because generally I've found enough to read to be quite helpful! However, I'm wondering what people do with planning and budgeting with kids who will happily blow through curriculum way faster than the publisher intends.

 

My oldest is becoming quite the sciency kid, and I see lots of great materials out there and have seen lots of great recommendation here, but if we get something with 36 science lessons she will want to do 4 of them every day. And she'll retain the information and have a blast, but then what? I don't really want to say "You can only do one experiment a day", but at the same time I'm trying to think of ways to stretch out projects and such.

 

Right now she's mixing paint colors together, and has been doing so for the past hour plus.

[Chrysalis Academy]

I would definitely check out BFSU - Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding. It is very flexible, and you can go whatever pace works for you. There are 3 volumes, one for roughly K-2, one for 3-5, and one for 6-8, but those are rough guidlelines - people have started with Vol. I with older kids. It's all progressive, conceptually. It covers life science, earth and space science, physical science, and nature of matter. It takes some work to prep, but it is the most thorough, most conceptually challenging & rigorous program I've seen. If one were to cover all 3 volumes before 8th grade, a student would know more science than most do when they graduate high school.

 

It is a great program for following a student's interest, too. We've covered some early lessons in 30 min - just checking that she has the concept down - and for some we've spent a couple of weeks, doing related projects, field trips, readings, etc. And you can use it as a spine, and add in other material that you run across that looks fun. I'm planning on folding in a lot of the Ellen McHenry materials, as well as the free middle school chemistry curriculum available online.

 

Anyway, it would definitely keep you busy for the next few years! It is great for accelerated students, because there is such conceptual richness in the explanatory info in the chapters, you can go really, really deep if you choose to.

[srs]

Thanks! I've been considering it for awhile but was waiting until she was actually K year to get it, but really there's probably no reason not to just go ahead and do it. She's still mixing colors, trying to get through all 18 in the paint set. It's been hours...

[boscopup]

Hi, I've been lurking around for awhile but haven't posted much because generally I've found enough to read to be quite helpful! However, I'm wondering what people do with planning and budgeting with kids who will happily blow through curriculum way faster than the publisher intends.

 

I don't plan too far ahead, and I don't plan to only do one grade level per year. I think the K-2 years are easiest to blow through quickly. Once you get some actual meat, your child may slow down some. We had our big slow down in 4th grade math, for example. We still finish a grade level in less than 36 weeks, but we're not doing 3 grade levels in 36 weeks. :tongue_smilie:

 

For content subjects like science, the library is your friend. Go deep before moving on.

 

Right now she's mixing paint colors together, and has been doing so for the past hour plus.

 

When DS was still in school, I used Elemental Science's Intro to Science after school. It was clearly way too easy for him (he had known that material since he was 3 or 4), but when we did the color mixing, he had sooooo much fun! He knew what colors he'd make already. It was just fun playing with them. :D He also liked the activity where they got to make mud. Again, he knew that you add water to dirt and make mud. That isn't rocket science. It was still so much fun for him. :lol:

 

We actually don't do a lot of projects now. I'm kind of waiting until he's old enough to do them himself, as I think he'll get more out of them. Right now, he really doesn't learn anything from those projects. He learns more by reading. We do a few here and there, but not every week. I do plan to let him try to think of some things he could test with UV beads (we're doing Apologia Astronomy, studying the sun right now). Maybe he can think outside the box a bit and find something to actually test, rather than doing a science demonstration. I think he'd learn more from an experiment that tests a real hypothesis, and most science "experiments" at this level are really "demonstrations" instead.

[srs]

I don't plan too far ahead, and I don't plan to only do one grade level per year.

 

That's good to know. At this point I can't imagine planning too far ahead. I got Right Start A last fall when she was asking about math stuff and I realized that I would feel better seeing a learning sequence laid out rather than trying to wing it. We put it away for a bit in the middle of the year when she lost interest, but then in the past few weeks she's conceptually skipped a whole bunch of it in her understanding, and suddenly she's adding in the teens in her head, and telling time, and identifying money, all at once, and I'm just using the book as a guide for me and we've pretty much chucked the lesson by lesson sequence. This is definitely a learning experience for me as well.

[nova147]

Welcome to the ride!

 

I can't plan ahead. It seems that if I try, DS skips ahead just to screw me up!

[serendipitous journey]

May I recommend Sandbox Scientist? Setting up some kits is simple, some are hard, but they'll keep her busy for many many hours or days. And build a wealth of "intuition" about working with stuff: great training for later getting-things-working science.

 

Button loved what we did from this, and I'm planning to start re-introducing kits now that Bot-bot's old enough not to eat everything. We'll stay non-toxic until he's old enough not to eat anything.

[srs]

May I recommend Sandbox Scientist? Setting up some kits is simple, some are hard, but they'll keep her busy for many many hours or days. And build a wealth of "intuition" about working with stuff: great training for later getting-things-working science.

 

Button loved what we did from this, and I'm planning to start re-introducing kits now that Bot-bot's old enough not to eat everything. We'll stay non-toxic until he's old enough not to eat anything.

 

Thanks. I just requested it from our library, and now the little girl is quite excited.

[quark]

That's good to know. At this point I can't imagine planning too far ahead. I got Right Start A last fall when she was asking about math stuff and I realized that I would feel better seeing a learning sequence laid out rather than trying to wing it. We put it away for a bit in the middle of the year when she lost interest, but then in the past few weeks she's conceptually skipped a whole bunch of it in her understanding, and suddenly she's adding in the teens in her head, and telling time, and identifying money, all at once, and I'm just using the book as a guide for me and we've pretty much chucked the lesson by lesson sequence. This is definitely a learning experience for me as well.

 

We've had a similar experience. I wish someone could have warned me this will happen before I spent so much money on curriculum.

 

I suggest programs like MEP and Math Mammoth to people in the same boat because these are solid programs at a fraction of the cost. MEP is free. Buying a few levels of Math Mammoth at a time is still much more affordable than a few levels of Right Start for kid who blows through things quickly.

 

There are tons of lovely mass market science books for this age. Books from Chicago Review Press, like Ana's Sandbox Scientist rec, are usually of good quality, as are the Williamson books like the Williamson Little Hands and the Williamson Kids Can series.

[srs]

We've had a similar experience. I wish someone could have warned me this will happen before I spent so much money on curriculum.

 

Thanks, this is mostly what worries me, and why I don't feel committed to Right Start past Level A, even though I do like a lot of things about it. At $100+ per level, it's a pretty huge investment for us, especially considering that there are other good alternatives out there. I keep looking at MEP and honestly I'm having a hard time getting into it, but I should probably look past the first few lessons and see what the later stuff looks like.

 

My other concern is that I'll also have a toddler and a newborn next school year, and balancing the school needs with the other two is going to be interesting, to say the least. And kid #2 so far seems to be just as intense as his sister, although in different ways, so I'm expecting the curriculum challenge with him as well.

 

ETA more: I think where I'm having a hard time decision making is the level of scripting and "easy out of the box" appeal. Because I've got the other kids, open and go seems so appealing, but I don't think my oldest has the temperament to respond well to that, and she certainly wouldn't do well with a complete curriculum, because she's all over the place in different areas, and has all the asynchrony associated with gifted kids (I was asked to explain the past tense by someone in her underwear this morning). So I'm trying to psych myself up to wing it a bit more, and just hoping that something gets done, telling myself "well, it's only kindergarten, if all she does is play she'll still learn lots." Does this sound familiar to anyone?

Edited March 14, 2012 by srs

[quark]

ETA more: I think where I'm having a hard time decision making is the level of scripting and "easy out of the box" appeal. Because I've got the other kids, open and go seems so appealing, but I don't think my oldest has the temperament to respond well to that, and she certainly wouldn't do well with a complete curriculum, because she's all over the place in different areas, and has all the asynchrony associated with gifted kids (I was asked to explain the past tense by someone in her underwear this morning). So I'm trying to psych myself up to wing it a bit more, and just hoping that something gets done, telling myself "well, it's only kindergarten, if all she does is play she'll still learn lots." Does this sound familiar to anyone?

 

Very familiar. :grouphug: hugs. I wish I had some good ideas about balancing the needs of all your kids. I lucked out in that area with having only one. I remember buying a load of things and having to dip into many things at once to satisfy what he wanted to learn. But it's true. It really is only kindy and once your older is in 2nd or 3rd grade chronologically (7-8yo, where it begins to get really challenging and you notice how much more difficult it is to fulfill their voracious appetite), you will have some experience and as always, the wisdom of this board to guide you.

[Mrs.Mom]

You know ... I spent hours and hours and hours going through our texts this year and planning. Everything is out the window, three weeks in. I wish I had known that pearl of wisdom earlier. :)

 

Maybe you can find a homeschool community nearby to swap material? I have no idea - a book exchange would be fun, though. I am fairly new on this board as well, so perhaps there is something like that on here and I just am unaware. :)