hollyh Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 I've been planning to use these, but want a bit more feedback. Is the Zoology 1 incredibly boring for a 1st grader? Maybe it is just me, but the idea of studying flying creatures for that long just does not sound fun. Please talk me into it and tell me that it will be?? Or have any of you switched back and forth between zoo 1,2 or 3 doing them simultaneously? (Actually I am saving zoo 2 and astronomy for later years as HOD includes them in their curriculum- but still want to know if anyone has done this and how it worked). What about the Anatomy one? Is that one too overboard for a little one - or does the JR notebook make it easier? Also, are the experiments (in any of them) easy or hard to do? A lot of needed items or easy to do at home? Tell me your thoughts! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 Personally I wouldn't do that book with a first grader who's the oldest kid. My first graders did okay with those books because they were a "tag-a-long" with an older sibling, and had a high interest in the topic. It wouldn't have worked nearly as well with just them. Astronomy is really the only one I'd do with an oldest child in first grade, and I'd probably only read half of each chapter. As soon as their wonder for Mars fades, get moving to the next planet. Make your own solar system poster for them to add stuff to as they learn about it. Do you have TWTM? The way SWB outlines how to do science in first grade was absolutely perfect. Occasionally I'd get distracted by flashy curricula, but eventually we'd "fall back" onto that simple WTM method. It worked. The kids learned, and enjoyed themselves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milknhoney Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 We started Zoo 1 this year and are through the first two lessons (it took 4 weeks). My son is a young 3rd grader. I think he probably would have still liked it in 1st grade though. I think it depends on how into science the child is. My son LOVES science. He wants to be an inventor when he grows up. So there just can't be too much information for him. I think what you are really asking is, can you really spend a whole year on such a narrow subject? I say yes. I didn't think so to start out, and we did God's Design for Life in 1st grade as I thought it fit better with TWTM science plan. But I felt like we were just glossing over everything. The animal book was especially bad. So that gave me a new appreciation for Apologia. Yes, you spend a lot of time on one topic, but you get to learn a lot of other stuff to. For example, the first chapter on birds has a lesson about how flight works. You build gliders and test them. So it becomes a physics lesson, too. This is why it never gets boring. We did Apologia Astronomy last year for grade 2 and I would agree that it is a better book for the younger age. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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