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BFSU as a supplement?

skeeterbug

By skeeterbug,
in K-8 Curriculum Board

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skeeterbug

skeeterbug

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Is BFSU the kind of thing where you can easily pick an experiment out of it to supplement your other science studies?

 

We are using Apologia Astronomy, and while my son loves it, and loves his notebook that goes with it, I'd like to add some more experiments to it. Experiments vs. activities, because there are plenty of activities with Apologia. We do add supplemental reading, I just want to beef it up a little more.

 

BFSU looks good since it covers so many different topics. I was thinking if I had this I would be able to pick out experiments to go with all of the various Apologia elementary books. But I hear that it can be a bit more complicated to use, so I am wondering if it is a good source for picking and choosing from, or if I should try something else.

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Rosie_0801

Rosie_0801

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I've not used it, just read it few a few times. It seems easier to plug things into BFSU than plug BFSU into other things. However I've heard of others doing it.

 

If you want to come and have a look at it, you can come down to Seymour and have a look. Or download the pdf for less than the price of petrol. :tongue_smilie:

 

Rosie

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sagira

sagira

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I've not used it, just read it few a few times. It seems easier to plug things into BFSU than plug BFSU into other things.

 

Rosie

 

:iagree:

 

It takes a fair amount of preparation (reading, comprehending) on the part of the teacher.

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Kathryn

Kathryn

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We use it as a "supplement," but not by way of plugging it into our current curriculum. I read the whole thing so that when DS has a question (which is often), I can refer back to BFSU and use it as a jumping point to have him really dig deeply into wht he's wondering about. I think is a great resource for teaching children to make connections.

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Hunter

Hunter

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I've started using it as a supplement to Evan-Moor Daily Science, but don't have enough experience yet to say much about it.

 

I adore the scope of BFSU, but my seizures make me lose the big picture of things, and have trouble with the loosely organized sequence. It's like when you shake up a bottle of oil and vinegar dressing. It takes time for things to settle and organize again. And by the time things organize and I get back on track, I have another. The seizures are mild, but disorganizing and inevitable, and my reality that I must plan around.

 

Evan-Moor is the same type of Big Ideas. Each year there are 6 Big Ideas with 4 subtopics and a review for each Big Idea. Evan-Moor can be a bit cheesy as a stand alone, but is super easy to supplement with just the library and youtube. But of course I must overcomplicate EVERYTHING, so am looking at supplementing with BFSU. :tongue_smilie:

 

I'll either have more to say over the coming months, or find something else to overcomplicate. :lol:

Edited by Hunter
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Shelsi

Shelsi

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I find it easy to supplement BFSU but think it would be hard the other way around.

 

Btw, I love BFSU but it's what WRTR is to the language arts world. It's one of those things you have to read all the way through. I then made an outline of each topic plus had to highlight things in the book and only now do I feel like I'm using it effectively.

 

It's been worth the work though, I can definitely say that. My ds has an amazing grasp of science cooncepts because of that book. In the yahoo group the author said he's working on a 2nd edition but I'm not sure when it's coming out. Hopefully it'll be a bit easier to use (and the numerous typos will be corrected - drives me insane).

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Earth Angel_79

Earth Angel_79

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The author, Bernard Nebel, cautions against using BFSU as a smorgasboard...taking out what you want here or there. We use it, but I don't know if I completely buy that line of thinking. Kids seem to be a little more together than that and able to make the connections (then again, I don't exactly do chronological history either :tongue_smilie:). For example, if my kids are interested in something that has 2 or 3 prerequisite lessons that are recommended first, I might quickly try to explain those concepts before going into the idea we wanted to explore. I think it would be detrimental to do that all the time, but occasonally, I think it is okay. Actually, now that I think of it, I'm pretty sure Nebel also recommends taking advantage of current interests and exciting things in the science world....even if it means skipping. Not sure if that would work in your case, since you already have your science spine.

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Chrysalis Academy

Chrysalis Academy

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You can absolutely use BFSU to enrich your science teaching/curriculum. You, the teacher, can read the relevant BFSU lesson before teaching it with the other curriculum, and without a doubt you will be able to deepen the discussion & insights based on your own deeper understanding. You can also pull activities from BFSU to illustrate - or, even better - to help your student discover a principle or idea.

 

Is this "supplementing" another curriculum? I don't know. But it's how we use BFSU. It is a spine in the sense of offering a set of scientific principles to learn about, in a logical progression, and offering thorough background to the teacher to help her teach better. I don't know that we "do" BFSU as much as use it to help organize our science learning. I read through the lesson to make sure I understand all the issues fully and thus can lead an interesting Socratic discussion; I make notes of the main points; we may or may not do the activity; we always read other books about the topic and we usually watch docos about it too. Sometimes we pull chapters or activities from other curricula, too.

 

Anyway, I don't know if that actually addresses the original question, but I guess my point is that I find BFSU to be completely flexible in its implementation. It does demand preparation from the instructor, but the preparation is to read and thoroughly understand the material, rather than to rush around finding random ingredients for a demo. To me, this is the kind of prep time I want to be doing, and it makes me a better teacher and it definitely helps my children learn better.

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momto2Cs

momto2Cs

Posted
Posted
You can absolutely use BFSU to enrich your science teaching/curriculum. You, the teacher, can read the relevant BFSU lesson before teaching it with the other curriculum, and without a doubt you will be able to deepen the discussion & insights based on your own deeper understanding. You can also pull activities from BFSU to illustrate - or, even better - to help your student discover a principle or idea.

 

Is this "supplementing" another curriculum? I don't know. But it's how we use BFSU. It is a spine in the sense of offering a set of scientific principles to learn about, in a logical progression, and offering thorough background to the teacher to help her teach better. I don't know that we "do" BFSU as much as use it to help organize our science learning. I read through the lesson to make sure I understand all the issues fully and thus can lead an interesting Socratic discussion; I make notes of the main points; we may or may not do the activity; we always read other books about the topic and we usually watch docos about it too. Sometimes we pull chapters or activities from other curricula, too.

 

Anyway, I don't know if that actually addresses the original question, but I guess my point is that I find BFSU to be completely flexible in its implementation. It does demand preparation from the instructor, but the preparation is to read and thoroughly understand the material, rather than to rush around finding random ingredients for a demo. To me, this is the kind of prep time I want to be doing, and it makes me a better teacher and it definitely helps my children learn better.

 

:iagree:

 

I approach BFSU in this way... I made my handy-dandy flow charts, listed relevant library books and pages in the Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia (for ds11). Each week, we read about the topics, do some hands-on, AND we do other science - right now is all about microscope work using the book The World in a Drop of Water. I've mixed around a few of the lessons in my flow chart to make them relevant to what we're interested in at the moment... for example, the lesson on biomes has been off and on for quite a while now.

 

I don't specifically use BFSU to supplement another curriculum, but just work it in as we go. I do read ahead because I think it is good and necessary prep work. While the author does caution against using it that way, I don't see why you couldn't pull in relevant topics to enrich your other program, and then you could even follow through on related lessons in BFSU.

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Hunter

Hunter

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I think I could manage to use BFSU as a spine, if I used a yearly planner worksheet and started filling it out. I think once I assigned individual topics to a set period of time, everything would fall into place.

 

I'd miss the Evan-Moor silly questions, but it would be cheaper than purchasing the rest of the Evan-Moor series, which I really can't afford. I'm going to have to give this more thought. I've learned a lot about teaching the Big Ideas by using Evan-Moor. Maybe I apply what I have learned about sequence to BFSU's lovely scope.

 

I'm going to watch the

(youtube video) of using a folded up piece of large art paper, AGAIN. It should work. I think.
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Chrysalis Academy

Chrysalis Academy

Posted
Posted
I think I could manage to use BFSU as a spine, if I used a yearly planner worksheet and started filling it out. I think once I assigned individual topics to a set period of time, everything would fall into place.

 

 

 

 

Yep, this is exactly what I do, in an excel spreadsheet. It did make it all come together . . .

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Halcyon

Halcyon

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Posted
I watched the video, all 3 parts. I really think I can do this. Just because I can, doesn't mean I should, but...I can't help myself :willy_nilly: I'm going to try this.

 

I have worksheets on my blog. Going to resume making them this week (i stopped at the end of last school year due to our move)

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Mama2Many4

Mama2Many4

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Nope. It requires a lot of prep. Stuff is all over the place. The flow chart makes me want to break out into a sweat.

 

I had high hopes for BFSU. I have 1 and 2. I've read through much of 1. I started 1. I just couldn't stand it.

 

:iagree: I have all three volumes. I bought them when everyone started raving about them. I feel as though I'm thumbing through a manual written in Aramaic every time I try to consider using it. It's just not how I function.

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skeeterbug

skeeterbug

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I've not used it, just read it few a few times. It seems easier to plug things into BFSU than plug BFSU into other things. However I've heard of others doing it.

 

If you want to come and have a look at it, you can come down to Seymour and have a look. Or download the pdf for less than the price of petrol. :tongue_smilie:

 

Rosie

 

Thanks! Didn't there used to be a $5 pdf version? I only see a $10 Kindle version now.

 

We use it as a "supplement," but not by way of plugging it into our current curriculum. I read the whole thing so that when DS has a question (which is often), I can refer back to BFSU and use it as a jumping point to have him really dig deeply into wht he's wondering about. I think is a great resource for teaching children to make connections.

 

I love this! I would love to have the ability to answer some of the kids' questions, I think I will get it for this even if I don't use it as a spine.

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