What age/grade do you start BFSU vol 1?

[Staceyshoe]

I'm sure there is a range of what works for different kids, but I'd like to get a feel for how old your children were when the benefited from BFSU. I am leaning toward using this for my youngest. He will be almost 5 1/2 at the beginning of next school year (the soonest I would consider it). If he will get more out of it by waiting, then I am happy to wait until age 6 or 7 to start.

[stephg]

We did BFSU 1 for 1st and 2nd grade. We were able to get all the lessons in within those 2 years. We did some lessons during the summer also. Looking back, i probably rushed through it too fast. If I could do it again, I would go slower and spread it out and take 3 years. My ds would not have been ready for the lessons in K though. So we would have completed to 1st book in 3rd.

[stephg]

I wanted to add that I have a younger son and he will be start K this fall. I do not plan on using BFSU 1 with him until he is in 1st. I just am very laid back for K and don't really like using many formal curriculum for K. My older ds will be 11 then and will enjoy listening in on BFSU 1 lessons with little younger son and will get a nice review. Then he'll get a nice review of BFSU 2 when younger son starts that in a few years. And the same with volume 3.

[Incognito]

I'm using it with my K and 1st graders this year and it's just fine for them. But we don't do it as often as I thought we would/want to. I think it depends on when you are ready to put your time into organizing it and making it happen. I think a lot of the topics are easy enough for little ones. I wouldn't blast through it with a K-er, but if you take your time, I think it is great to start then (from my experience).

[Arboreal TJ]

We are going through it slowly, 2ish weeks per lesson. I have two 5 yr old K'ers. They love it!

[momtoamiracle]

I had planned on starting it this year for first grade but it didn't happen. Since I'm spending a lot of time on reading and math, I just don't have it in me to delve into BFSU. Science is simple and child led this year. Hopefully next year I will have the time and mental energy to do it like I want.

 

 

ETA my son will still be six when we start 2nd grade. He is a young first grader.

[MrsBanjoClown]

I have an almost 6yo K'er and an 8yo 2nd grader. We are working through BFSU 1 about 1 lesson per week. Some lessons we are taking longer on. We spent over 3 weeks on magnetism because I ordered a kit that we worked through. If we continue the pace we are on, I expect we will finish about a year from now (we started in July). My 5yo is getting a lot out of it. I think it''s really important to do as many hands-on activities as you can at this age. I recommend actually doing the demonstrations in the book in order for them to get the most out of it. My boys love science!

[amyrobynne]

I started it in October with my 1st and 3rd graders. They have both a physics teacher father and a love of most science topics. We're new homeschoolers so I didn't have the option of using the book earlier. We're on track to get through the book in about a year and a half. For most topics, I try to go deeper than the basics of the lessons because they can grasp the ideas pretty easily. I'm finding that the book recommendations in each chapter tend to be geared towards younger kids and I have to find other resources (note that I've done about 6 lessons, so I'm still doing things the author gears towards the younger part of the age range). I don't feel like I'm rushing through it -- we spent 4 days on lesson D-1 -- but I expect we'll hurry through the map-reading lesson and other things that 6.5 and 8.5 year olds don't need much help with in hopes of hitting the meatier stuff sooner.

 

My youngest son is only 2, but at this point, I'm planning to start BFSU volume 1 with him when he starts kindergarten. I'd read more of the recommended books with him and probably spread the course out over 2-3 years. Maybe we'll only do science once a week the kindy year.

[silver]

I've been using it with my 5-year-old K student. We've done 10 lessons so far, stretching the lessons to about two weeks each. Most of what I do is reading books from the suggested reading list and discussing with him. I also point out when we see something that relates to what he's learned. There isn't any written work, so it's a good curriculum for younger kids. My son has been able to take some of what we've learned (transferring energy, air being gas that takes up space) and apply it to things he plays with, so I know he's grasping at least some of it.

[Staceyshoe]

Thank you all for your responses! I think we will give a try next year--slow and steady--and see how it goes. It was very helpful to know when it worked well for your children.

[Tanikit]

I am doing a lesson every two weeks with my 5 year old and she is enjoying it and has learnt a lot.

[Miss Tick]

After each lesson we do one of those story pages where there are lines on the bottom third of the page. I write the lesson number and name across the top and in the text area I write a summary of the important topics we covered. Then they can draw whatever picture they think is appropriate. It is nice to have a uniform, tangible reminder of what we have done. Occasionally we review important pre-requisite pages as part of the lesson. It really helps them remember when they see their own work. This would be particularly helpful if you want to go slowly and spread the book over two or more years because occasionally there is a long gap between the current lesson and the important pre-req. For instance we just finished the lesson Gravity II: Rate of Fall; Weightlessness in Space, and Distinction Between Mass and Weight, but we talked about inertia in C-5 last spring as part of a science co-op. I'm thinking that at the end of the book (or the beginning of next year after a summer break) I might just spend a few lessons going back over each of the threads in their notebooks.

 

 

ETA: emphasis :D