Science...why is it always science?

[Emma]

My baby will be a 3rd grader (sniff, sniff) in the fall. This year I completely gave up on our science. I've been attempting to use Sonlight's science. He has politely requested that we not only DO science next year, but that it's FUN. What are some options? I'm looking for something that's laid out, not necessarily scripted, but if it were, I'd be ok with that. I'd love it to be all in one box. I've looked at Nancy Larson, and I like it, but it looks like a lot of writing. I've looked at Elemental Science, and it looks a little babyish, but I could be wrong. I'll take any opinions at this point! Oh... He does love to read(which is what lead me to the Sassyfras Science by Elemental Science) but he also wants experiments. Thanks!

[BatmansWife]

How about Science Excursion? If he wants experiments, he will probably be thrilled to open that box up. It's meant for 3 years, but I'd say do it in 2.

[TarynB]

If he didn't care for Sonlight science he probably won't like Elemental Science either. (I've used both and they have similar format - encyclopedia spine with coordinated worksheets, although Sonlight is generally just fill-in-the-blank, while ES is more WTM-ish notebooking at the elementary level.) I'd recommend library books and videos with a couple of TOPS science kits for hands-on. If you use TOPS, the full kits with all the supplies are WORTH IT, lol. The Radishes, Corn & Beans, and Electricity were a hit with us and fit his age. Did you use the Discover and Do DVDs with Sonlight science? My DS also enjoyed and learned a lot at that age from videos like Beakman's World, Magic School Bus science, and even Mythbusters.

 

ETA - I see now that you mentioned using Sassafras rather than the regular (Classic) Elemental Science program. I've never used Sassafras, no advice there.

[AK_Mom4]

Exploration Education's Hands on Science got done here. In fact, my bigger problem was to keep her from doing only science all the time. For 3rd grade, we used McRuffy science, which was very fun as well.

[bnwhitaker]

I wanted "fun" but also retention for my littles going into 3th & 4th. So after lots and lots and lots :) of research I landed on Supercharged Science and we are super excited for it. We will be getting the kit to go along with it. They have already done some of her FREE stuff and they loved it. I couldn't get them to come and do something else that was fun because the science was too fun :) AND they still remember what they learned! AND the runner up was NOEO!! But what I decided is I will supplement supercharged with NOEO books. Win win for me.

[BatmansWife]

I wanted "fun" but also retention for my littles going into 3th & 4th. So after lots and lots and lots :) of research I landed on Supercharged Science and we are super excited for it. We will be getting the kit to go along with it. They have already done some of her FREE stuff and they loved it. I couldn't get them to come and do something else that was fun because the science was too fun :) AND they still remember what they learned! AND the runner up was NOEO!! But what I decided is I will supplement supercharged with NOEO books. Win win for me.

 

What specifically did you order at the site? I've gone there a few times but I immediately feel overwhelmed and end up leaving. There is just so much there that I can't even begin to read through it all. It pretty much drives me nuts so then I dismiss it as an option for us.

[LAinVA]

My dd just finished up the 3rd grade level of Science Fusion, and she loved it. It kept her attention and was interactive. We followed the online scope and used the book for reviews. There is a pacing guide so there is no guessing as to what needs to be done. They have online lessons, a 400+ page book, virtual labs, some hands-on experiments, and leveled e-readers that go along with the lesson. You can choose how much, or how little, you would like to do. Right now it is on sale at HSBC. I am planning on using it again because I know it would not get done if I had to pull it all together. :)

[bnwhitaker]

What specifically did you order at the site? I've gone there a few times but I immediately feel overwhelmed and end up leaving. There is just so much there that I can't even begin to read through it all. It pretty much drives me nuts so then I dismiss it as an option for us.

I can understand what you are staying. In fact I did the same thing quit a few times. I think one reason it was hard for me at first if because it is soooo flexible. With this program you can even have a Conversion chart made up so it can be scheduled right along side of another science if youd like. There are a lot of ways to use this program. I like straight forward one way, rules, tell me exactly how to do it and I will, type of thing. But I've grown to see that the way she has it set up is actually nice for many different types of people. This is how I see it all working..... There are two main different curriculums, #1 the e-science & #2 the science mastery program(with option of 3 different kits, silver gold or diamond). If you purchase one of the three kits in the mastery program you will automatically get e-science along with it. Diamond Mastery kit gets 5 years subscription, Gold gets 2 years & Silver gets 1 year. The mastery kits get all the experiment supplies you will need and DVD, CD's and Teacher Book for teaching. The other option of doing this program is the e-science. With e-science you can get a monthly subscription and its organized by "units". There are 20 units right now and more coming. The way Aurora the maker of this curriculum explained the "teaching" aspect of it was like this. She has the mastery program organized by the way she would teach one of her group classes. She has the e-science units organized it the order she would teach her own children. I have chose to get the mastery diamond kit because it comes with a 5 year subscription and all my supplies. We will stretch this over a 5 years (3rd/4th-7th/8th). I will follow the e-science units and there order and be supplementing with living books also. My schedule looks like this Science is in GREEN and sorry I also have my Geo in Blue: ( I didn't know how to attach something from Word on here so if you'd like I will email it to you or if you can explain how to attach something I would do that too :)) Here is it Typed: 3rd- Units 1,2,3,4,5 4th- Units 6,7,8,9,10,11 5th- Units16,17,18 6th- Units 19,20 7th- Units 12,13,14,15

 

 

 

I did bump unit 12-15 towards the end instead. When Aurora was making this program up she had ended with unit 15. So it in my opinion is a little more advanced my my littles. Or I guess I would just like to do those when they are older it seems like we can go further with those when they are older. So that is why I put units 16-20 ahead of 12-15. Aurora got so much feed back for wanting more more more that's why she kept creating units and she still is. She has been pleasant to work with and has answers all my numerous question :) I went full extreme with this since Im using it as my spine. But I can totally see how even If someone wanted to use it as a supplement to something else it is completely flexible to do that by getting the monthly subscription and doing just the units that work for you and the spot your in for science. Also just to add..... I figured out the money quit a few different ways. I seen what other moms were spending just by doing monthly and then buying separate experiments and also just monthly when we needed it if supplementing. I do think this is on the spendy side in general, but not for what we are getting. But for 5 years and all the experiments included plus the subscription to e-science its way worth it for me.

[bnwhitaker]

If a person was to sign up for the Free 30 days (I think its 30 days) of e-science on http://www.sciencelearningspace.com/ you could always go over the ins and outs of it like this also.......... Go into the "unit studies" tab and there will be a "new to e-science" unit and also a "Unit Zero". Both of those are very informational too.

[TarynB]

If a person was to sign up for the Free 30 days (I think its 30 days) of e-science on http://www.sciencelearningspace.com/ you could always go over the ins and outs of it like this also.......... Go into the "unit studies" tab and there will be a "new to e-science" unit and also a "Unit Zero". Both of those are very informational too.

 

Just a word of caution, based on my experience with Supercharged Science, if you sign up for anything through them, and then decide it is not a good fit, want to cancel, etc., BE PREPARED to be hounded by email, phone, whatever contact method you give them. They didn't want to hear no and persisted like no other company has ever done to me before. It took forever to get them to stop. Gotta say, they are persistent! B)

[bnwhitaker]

I tried Supercharged Science. It is indeed pretty cool. However, the big turn off for me was the mile long supply lists. It got to be very expensive and quite a chore to gather all of the supplies. Plus even though everything is basically laid out and ready to go, I found it took preparation time and I had to be there with my son doing everything. It's tauted as this ready to go thing and I can't say that it was.

 

I completely understand about having to find lists of items. Although I could do it I don't really have the time. That is exactly why I decided on the Mastery Kit (plus the subscription that goes with it), it has everything in it. My littles are 8 & 9 and when I let them watch an experiment video they took off and did it all by themselves I didn't have to be there. But Im sure there are some I would need to be with them being this age, if they wanted to do the more advanced things. But I love the option that with this science we can choose to do the more in depth project or simpler. I planned on being with them with other science curriculums to read so that part I don't mind being with them anyway.

[bnwhitaker]

 

Just a word of caution, based on my experience with Supercharged Science, if you sign up for anything through them, and then decide it is not a good fit, want to cancel, etc., BE PREPARED to be hounded by email, phone, whatever contact method you give them. They didn't want to hear no and persisted like no other company has ever done to me before. It took forever to get them to stop. Gotta say, they are persistent! B)

huh, well thanks for the heads up. I think they have an automated email that sends things out to people depending upon what you have signed up for or "not signed up for in your case :)" But I have email talked with aurora many times and also another worker she has and Im pretty confident if I let them know I didn't want them to email me any more they would take me off of the list. Just saying they have been amazing to work with. But I do understand what your saying about the automated emails because I get a lot. But I use them as wanted or skip them depending upon the week. Don't get me wrong I understand that if you don't want them anymore and want to be done you wanted to be done. I would also feel that way! So thanks for the heads up if we went that route.

[TarynB]

huh, well thanks for the heads up. I think they have an automated email that sends things out to people depending upon what you have signed up for or "not signed up for in your case :)" But I have email talked with aurora many times and also another worker she has and Im pretty confident if I let them know I didn't want them to email me any more they would take me off of the list. Just saying they have been amazing to work with. But I do understand what your saying about the automated emails because I get a lot. But I use them as wanted or skip them depending upon the week. Don't get me wrong I understand that if you don't want them anymore and want to be done you wanted to be done. I would also feel that way! So thanks for the heads up if we went that route.

 

You're welcome. And it wasn't just automated emails. That I could have dealt with. You see, I naively signed up for a live tele-class, which required me to provide my telephone number in addition to an email address, in order to sign in at each class time. The phone calls we received afterwards were not automated robo calls; they were live, persistent sales people. I asked multiple times, over a few weeks, not to be contacted again, and my request was continually ignored. I eventually purchased a blocking service just to stop their nonsense. Lesson learned.

 

ETA - I'm not knocking Supercharged Science as a curriculum, just sharing my experience with their business practices. The "price" of one is dealing with the other, apparently. Good luck with it!

[PIE!]

If you want to go with something a little different sign up for the Magic School Bus Science Club. It would cost about $20 a month, and IMO it's well worth it for what you get. We randomly ended up with one of these kits once and I was pleasently surprised at how good it really was. Most of the supplies you need are included in the kits, along with lesson plans that can probably be done independently by a third grader. If you're ds wants more on a topic just check out some library books. You'd get a new topic every month - so if you want to spend the year on one specific science, this wouldn't work so well for you. I personally think getting a new box in the mail each month would keep it exciting and fresh. I've heard good things about the Young Scientists Club (also on the same website), but haven't used any of their kits (yet) so I can't vouch for them personally. Good luck!

[BatmansWife]

My dd just finished up the 3rd grade level of Science Fusion, and she loved it. It kept her attention and was interactive. We followed the online scope and used the book for reviews. There is a pacing guide so there is no guessing as to what needs to be done. They have online lessons, a 400+ page book, virtual labs, some hands-on experiments, and leveled e-readers that go along with the lesson. You can choose how much, or how little, you would like to do. Right now it is on sale at HSBC. I am planning on using it again because I know it would not get done if I had to pull it all together. :)

 

I'll have to look at this. My plan was to use RSO Earth & Space next year. Buuuttt...I wonder sometimes if it will ever get done because we used (or I should say "are using") the Life one this year and we aren't even half through. Dd's not overly crazy about it (some things she's liked...like making the blood cell model). When you say there is a 400+ page book....is that a real book that you are sent in the mail...or is it an online book? I'd love it if there were real books + the online virtual lab stuff. I definitely am going to check into this. Thanks for mentioning it.

 

I can understand what you are staying.

 

Sorry, I didn't want to quote all that you wrote. Thank you very much for taking the time to tell me more about it. I appreciate that.

[LAinVA]

It is a real book. It has the lessons that are the same topic being covered in the online lesson. I preferred the online lesson and then used parts of the book lesson. I also used the book for the review pages on each lesson. So it is the 400+ page real book, plus online lessons, virtual labs, and e-readers that you can choose below, on, or above grade level. I think the sale is on until June 10th. HTH!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll have to look at this. My plan was to use RSO Earth & Space next year. Buuuttt...I wonder sometimes if it will ever get done because we used (or I should say "are using") the Life one this year and we aren't even half through. Dd's not overly crazy about it (some things she's liked...like making the blood cell model). When you say there is a 400+ page book....is that a real book that you are sent in the mail...or is it an online book? I'd love it if there were real books + the online virtual lab stuff. I definitely am going to check into this. Thanks for mentioning it.

 

 

 

Sorry, I didn't want to quote all that you wrote. Thank you very much for taking the time to tell me more about it. I appreciate that.

 

[journey00]

 

 

What specifically did you order at the site? I've gone there a few times but I immediately feel overwhelmed and end up leaving. There is just so much there that I can't even begin to read through it all. It pretty much drives me nuts so then I dismiss it as an option for us.

 

Ditto

[hands-on-mama]

If you want to go with something a little different sign up for the Magic School Bus Science Club. It would cost about $20 a month, and IMO it's well worth it for what you get. We randomly ended up with one of these kits once and I was pleasently surprised at how good it really was. Most of the supplies you need are included in the kits, along with lesson plans that can probably be done independently by a third grader. If you're ds wants more on a topic just check out some library books. You'd get a new topic every month - so if you want to spend the year on one specific science, this wouldn't work so well for you. I personally think getting a new box in the mail each month would keep it exciting and fresh. I've heard good things about the Young Scientists Club (also on the same website), but haven't used any of their kits (yet) so I can't vouch for them personally. Good luck!

 

I am so tempted to order the series and kits and call science a day! I loved the series when I was in school!

[BatmansWife]

It is a real book. It has the lessons that are the same topic being covered in the online lesson. I preferred the online lesson and then used parts of the book lesson. I also used the book for the review pages on each lesson. So it is the 400+ page real book, plus online lessons, virtual labs, and e-readers that you can choose below, on, or above grade level. I think the sale is on until June 10th. HTH!

 

 

Thank you so much! I looked it over and it looks really good. I think my dd would love this! I'm quite certain that this will be what we will use next year for science. Now if I can get my school to order it through HSBC before that deal ends!

 

One more question though.....I see that HSBC is selling a print teachers manual as an extra optional add-on. But the cost is $113.00 (if I remember correctly). At first I thought for sure I would need that...because I don't really like reading online books, and how can I be looking at the TE online at the same time dd is doing a lesson or lab online? But then I wonder if the TE is just like the 400+ page workbook with the answers.....which I could just as easily view online. So, do you know? Does the TE (either print or online) tell you things to say to help in teaching the lesson/assignment/workbook page....and does it tell you when to go online to use the online parts of the program? I hope this is making sense. I just wonder if it's helpful in actually teaching the material (in which case I think I'd want the print edition) or if it's just an answer key (in which case I think I could skip that expense and just view the answers online). Yikes...I think I'm rambling....

 

ETA: Hmmm...now I'm not so sure what to do. I did a search here for SF and it seems that a lot of people aren't too happy with it...that the online component is really hard to figure out. I just don't know that I want to get myself into something that will be confusing and difficult to figure out. That would pretty much defeat the purpose for me (wanting science to actually get done). Sooooo....now I'm rethinking this. :sad:

[Bree]

My ds loves SL Sci but he is an experiment junkie so we are throwing in Adventures with Atoms and Molecules with it and he loves that. I think if I hadn't already gotten SL Sci I would of just used the WTM suggestion for sci and done Atoms and Molecules.

[LAinVA]

No, I would not bother getting a TM. There is a lot you could do with the program in a ps setting where it tracks students, generates reports etc. You don't need that. When I first started I had a bit of trouble figuring it out. I thought the way to assign lessons was very confusing. Now, I simply sign in, click on the resource tab and view, click on SF Teacher access button, and then all the units with lessons appear on your screen. I assign the lesson, an e-reader, and the assessment. It is quite easy really. The student then signs in and clicks on what you assigned and it pops up. There is no need for you to have any scripted parts. The onilne lesson teaches for you along with the e-readers. The TE online is a good resource for all of the extra things and for giving you the answers for the things in the book. The give you a pacing guide that lists for example: Unit 1 Lesson 1 / Day 1-2 Lesson online Screens 1-13 and/or Book pgs 1-11 / Day 3 Hands-on Inquiry/ Day 4 Review book pgs. 14-15 & Lesson 1 Quiz. The format for the pacing guide is in a chart format so it is very easy to follow. Some inquiries we did and some we didn't. I pretty much did a lesson a week. Once I figured out the easy way to assign things I was very happy with everything. Let me know if you have any other questions. I hope my explanation made sense!

 

 

 

Thank you so much! I looked it over and it looks really good. I think my dd would love this! I'm quite certain that this will be what we will use next year for science. Now if I can get my school to order it through HSBC before that deal ends!

 

One more question though.....I see that HSBC is selling a print teachers manual as an extra optional add-on. But the cost is $113.00 (if I remember correctly). At first I thought for sure I would need that...because I don't really like reading online books, and how can I be looking at the TE online at the same time dd is doing a lesson or lab online? But then I wonder if the TE is just like the 400+ page workbook with the answers.....which I could just as easily view online. So, do you know? Does the TE (either print or online) tell you things to say to help in teaching the lesson/assignment/workbook page....and does it tell you when to go online to use the online parts of the program? I hope this is making sense. I just wonder if it's helpful in actually teaching the material (in which case I think I'd want the print edition) or if it's just an answer key (in which case I think I could skip that expense and just view the answers online). Yikes...I think I'm rambling....

 

ETA: Hmmm...now I'm not so sure what to do. I did a search here for SF and it seems that a lot of people aren't too happy with it...that the online component is really hard to figure out. I just don't know that I want to get myself into something that will be confusing and difficult to figure out. That would pretty much defeat the purpose for me (wanting science to actually get done). Sooooo....now I'm rethinking this. :sad:

 

[BatmansWife]

No, I would not bother getting a TM. There is a lot you could do with the program in a ps setting where it tracks students, generates reports etc. You don't need that. When I first started I had a bit of trouble figuring it out. I thought the way to assign lessons was very confusing. Now, I simply sign in, click on the resource tab and view, click on SF Teacher access button, and then all the units with lessons appear on your screen. I assign the lesson, an e-reader, and the assessment. It is quite easy really. The student then signs in and clicks on what you assigned and it pops up. There is no need for you to have any scripted parts. The onilne lesson teaches for you along with the e-readers. The TE online is a good resource for all of the extra things and for giving you the answers for the things in the book. The give you a pacing guide that lists for example: Unit 1 Lesson 1 / Day 1-2 Lesson online Screens 1-13 and/or Book pgs 1-11 / Day 3 Hands-on Inquiry/ Day 4 Review book pgs. 14-15 & Lesson 1 Quiz. The format for the pacing guide is in a chart format so it is very easy to follow. Some inquiries we did and some we didn't. I pretty much did a lesson a week. Once I figured out the easy way to assign things I was very happy with everything. Let me know if you have any other questions. I hope my explanation made sense!

 

 

Thank you!