scheduling of RSO and any reviews?

[LEK]

Ok so i think i may nearly have decided on RSO life for our 1st grade next year however I am a little confused, nowhere on the site can i see information about how many days per week this is designed for or indeed scheduling information whatsoever. For anyone who has used RSO before, how did you schedule it it? How many days per week did you do science? Did you like RSO and would you use it again?

TIA

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

I used it in conjunction with Elemental Science and scheduled it according to what was being studied in ES.

 

As for a review on RSO, I would not use it as a main science unless you plan on using library books for the information. The one page blurb they give on the topic is not enough in my opinion to really help, it is more a summery of what you read about from their book lists (or books you get from the library on the subject). With that said, I did find the exercises to be unique and fun. Very easy to do and not time consuming. Pretty much everything needed can be found in your house or a grocery/walmart. The exercises did drive home the learning.

 

We did Life last year and learned quite a bit. This year I am using Earth/Space science. I am not using it as given. This year I am using the Astronomy half along with ES Astronomy half and Apologia Astronomy. I will use the Earth portion next year.

[blondeviolin]

We are using it as our sole science program this year. There are 28 units with mostly two sections per unit (sometimes 1 or 3). It is very open and go for us. We do it Tuesday and Thursday and I'm confident we will finish it with time to spare this year.

 

We do pick up library books and videos and talk about what we're focusing on outside of science time. I'm finding it is plenty for my older 2 who can answer nearly anything we've done so far. As I prefer my kids learn from all kinds of resources, it's perfect for us.

[redsquirrel]

Just pick your science days and do it! That is all you need to do. We used RSO Earth and Space last year and had a ball. Two days a week we did an activity. The rest of the days we read brief library books etc on the subject. Some topics generated a lot of interest so we read a lot more for a couple weeks. Then we would get back to the activities.

 

If you have a young kid who is dying for more 'hands on' this is it. My younger son loves arts and crafts, doing stuff to see what happens, science demonstrations, etc, etc. He really liked it.

 

Is it the more rigorous thing ever? No. In truth he knew lots of what we discussed. But, with RSO he got to show that he knew it, and he got the hands on part. It was a really good science year.

[LEK]

Thank you. those responses have confirmed what i was feeling about the program, looks interesting with heaps of hands on work but a little lacking in actual content. That one downside should not be a problem, some extra reading and we will have that covered i hope. thanks for the scheduling info, 2 days a week was about what i was planning on but could not tell from the website if this would be enough to get through everything.

[Thia]

Did Earth/Space last year. Two days a week is plenty for a lesson per day. We also used the Usborne Internet linked encyclopedia and followed the links listed.