Country Girl Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 (edited) I'm trying to find a biology program for my 1st and 3rd graders. I'd say dd is a pretty typical 1st grade girl, both for interest level and understanding. My 3rd grader is a bit advanced, so the difference in input and output level between the two is greater than their ages suggests. I'm willing to do 2 seperate programs with them if needed, but if I can combine them that would be a bonus. I decided to do Biology with them this year because my dd has a big interest in the human body, and my ds is interested in animals, so Biology was a good fit for both. I think I've narrowed it down to Noeo or Elemental Science, but I'm open to other suggestions too. I like that Noeo has two different Biology programs that fit into the elementary age bracket. I'm a bit concerned about Elemental Science because the Elementary level looks a bit light for ds, but I'm concerned the logic level would be too much. Some of those science encyclopedias can be a bit detailed and dry. If you've bought the experiment kit for ES, has it made the program open and go for you? I'm terrible at gathering supplies for experiments and projects and love the idea of the kit if it is truly useful. For Noeo, will I still be gathering supplies or is everything I need included? What do you think of the type, quality, and frequency of the hands-on components of either program? With Noeo, does the format of the program get boring..... reading, narration page, etc? I like the more varied components that ES seems to incorporate. If you've tried to coordinate different levels of either of these programs for two different students, how did that go? Thanks! Edited June 14, 2012 by Country Girl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choc0holic Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 :bigear: Anyone? I'm also interested in what you may have to offer in ways of suggestions of one versus the other. The thing I like most about these are the books used with them. I just can't seem to choose one over the other for my kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Country Girl Posted June 16, 2012 Author Share Posted June 16, 2012 I don't know if this will help you, but I have NOEO Chemistry for my dd who is in 1st grade. I haven't actually used it yet :) I think it would be fine for you to combine 1st and 3rd grades, would be easy to make the narrations/recall harder for your 3rd grader or add in other books too. I love that the Chemistry at least comes with most of the materials you need for the experiments and all the books. Don't know about Elemental science though. Thanks! The fact that Noeo comes with most of the materials is a huge draw for me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 Actually, my recommendation would be Mr. Q Life Science, which has the added plus of being FREE to download. We :001_wub: Mr. Q so much that we have decided to continue on with Earth & Space Science next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Country Girl Posted June 16, 2012 Author Share Posted June 16, 2012 Actually, my recommendation would be Mr. Q Life Science, which has the added plus of being FREE to download. We :001_wub: Mr. Q so much that we have decided to continue on with Earth & Space Science next year. I forgot all about this one! What can you tell me about it? Why have you loved it so much? What can you tell me about the labs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Country Girl Posted June 17, 2012 Author Share Posted June 17, 2012 Anyone else with feedback about Noeo, ES, or Mr. Q? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted June 17, 2012 Share Posted June 17, 2012 I forgot all about this one! What can you tell me about it? Why have you loved it so much? What can you tell me about the labs? We really liked Mr. Q because he does a fantastic job at making fairly advanced topics accessible to younger students in an engaging way. It reminds me of Ellen McHenry's science programs in this way, but geared towards elementary rather than middle school. There is liberal use of humor, which my DS especially enjoyed. The labs use household materials and are fun. For example, in the chapter on the digestive system, the student makes fake mucus (my kids LOVED this one). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Country Girl Posted June 18, 2012 Author Share Posted June 18, 2012 We really liked Mr. Q because he does a fantastic job at making fairly advanced topics accessible to younger students in an engaging way. It reminds me of Ellen McHenry's science programs in this way, but geared towards elementary rather than middle school. There is liberal use of humor, which my DS especially enjoyed. The labs use household materials and are fun. For example, in the chapter on the digestive system, the student makes fake mucus (my kids LOVED this one). Thanks Crimson Wife. I'm going to take a closer look at this program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Country Girl Posted June 19, 2012 Author Share Posted June 19, 2012 Anyone else have thoughts on any of these programs (Noeo, ES, Mr. Q)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Marmalade Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 I did both NOEO Biology 1 and 2 with my kids this last year. Almost everything you need comes in those experiment kits with NOEO- and I agree, that is a HUGE appeal, and why I went with them in the first place. There were a few household items we needed, and the only one I had to work to get was a 2-liter bottle because we don't usually drink soda. :001_smile: I used Biology 1 for my DS for his 2nd grade year, and Bio 2 for my DD's 6th grade year. Overall, I liked the program. I thought it flowed nicely, and we spent enough time on a subject before moving on. In Biology 1 many of the "experiments" were not experiments. I did not like that. For the study on the human body we made little felt replicas of the systems we were studying. To me, that's hands-on busywork and not an experiment. I thought the study on the human body was great. The busywork that accompanied it, not so much. Biology 1 was also pretty light throughout. On the one hand, that was nice, because we'd spend ten minutes on science some days and then move on. Other times I thought we could have done more with what we were learning. I'd really hesitate before using Bio 2 with a 3rd grader- even an advance third grader. My DD did that pretty independantly, and where Biology 1 was light, Biology 2 was not. She really liked it, I liked that she could do it herself until it came time to set up the experiments. The experiments were okay, not so much the busy work that came with Bio 1, but I thought overall there could have been more of them. Overall, if you were to use the two concurrently, I would highly recommend sitting down with both IG's and rearranging them so that the subject matter lines up. The reason for this is that some of the experiments were almost identical. I would do something with DS for plant science, and DD would naturally be curious and follow along. Then three weeks later she'd have the same experiment- a little more in-depth with a few more questions, but still the same- and we would end up skipping the experiment because we'd just done it. Both Biology programs could have used more experiments. I'm totally an "open the science program and do what it tells me" person when it comes to science, so adding more was busy-work for me that I didn't want to do. As I said, I would be cautious about doing Biology 2 with a 3rd grader, but Biology 1 would definitely be way too light, so just be aware that it might be a lot and you might want to take it easy. I think if you used them both, and sort of combined the two, you might be onto something with a great program to teach both your kids with. Overall, I think the price for NOEO is excellent considering what you get. It was good, solid science, and I was really happy with the scope and squence. The included experiment kits are priceless, imo. I stumbled onto a good deal for RS4K for next year, and am already getting annoyed at the gathering of materials that I have to do through the summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissKNG Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 We loved NOEO Chemistry 1. I was very pleased with it and it was easy to tweak. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Marmalade Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 I loved NOEO Physics 1 and am now using it for the second time. I used NOEO Bio 1 last year and did not care for it. It was not nearly as good as the physics. I have heard others say the same thing about Bio 1. Maybe Bio 2 is better? I do plan to stick with NOEO because I like that everything comes with it and we enjoyed the variety of books. I don't know anything about Elemental. Edited to mention that we also used Mr. Q Life Science and enjoyed that one as well. We loved NOEO Chemistry 1. I was very pleased with it and it was easy to tweak. Ack. Now I might rethink switching to RS4K for this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Country Girl Posted June 20, 2012 Author Share Posted June 20, 2012 Thank you! I really appreciate hearing the reviews. Wendy~ Thanks for giving me some more details about how the two levels compare. I don't like crafty busywork, so I'm a bit concerned about the Level 1 experiments. My dd would probably enjoy them, but ds definitely would not. I'm wondering if I could use Level 2 as the basis for my 3rd grader, but then adding some of the Level 1 books if the concepts seem too tough. Or maybe I'd be better to go the opposite way, and add the Level 2 books and experiments to the Level 1...... using Level 1 as the core. If I end up getting both, I think I will try to sit down and coordinate the two somehow. Thanks for the idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Country Girl Posted June 20, 2012 Author Share Posted June 20, 2012 I loved NOEO Physics 1 and am now using it for the second time. I used NOEO Bio 1 last year and did not care for it. It was not nearly as good as the physics. I have heard others say the same thing about Bio 1. Maybe Bio 2 is better? I do plan to stick with NOEO because I like that everything comes with it and we enjoyed the variety of books. I don't know anything about Elemental. Edited to mention that we also used Mr. Q Life Science and enjoyed that one as well. Since you've used both Noeo Bio and Mr. Q Life, can you compare the two? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Country Girl Posted June 20, 2012 Author Share Posted June 20, 2012 We loved NOEO Chemistry 1. I was very pleased with it and it was easy to tweak. Is there anything specifically you did to tweak it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ali in OR Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 We did all of the level 1 Noeo courses several years ago. I've been kind of craving that approach again and am seriously considering going back to it (level 2 Physics). We always loved the books and the experiments. We were terrible about notebooking however. I did prefer Chem 1 and Physics 1 to the Bio 1 program, but I will say that the human body encyclopedia from Bio 1 was a favorite of my dds for years. Maybe you could add that to the level 2 course? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Country Girl Posted June 20, 2012 Author Share Posted June 20, 2012 We did all of the level 1 Noeo courses several years ago. I've been kind of craving that approach again and am seriously considering going back to it (level 2 Physics). We always loved the books and the experiments. We were terrible about notebooking however. I did prefer Chem 1 and Physics 1 to the Bio 1 program, but I will say that the human body encyclopedia from Bio 1 was a favorite of my dds for years. Maybe you could add that to the level 2 course? Ali, thanks for the feedback. My dd is really interested in anatomy and the human body, so the human body encyclopedia looks great for her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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