MASHomeschooler Posted May 30, 2013 Share Posted May 30, 2013 Are these complementary, or would doing both be redundant? We will be doing Biology next year. I know my kids would love the story-based Sassafras (Zoology, then Anatomy, then Botany), but I'd also like to do something more traditional and meaty. So, would it work well to do both together? (I'm sure we'd skip or combine some things, which is fine; I am just not clear if they mostly cover the same things or are more complementary.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murrayshire Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 Maybe use Classic for "science class" and Sassafras books for read alouds in the afternoon or evening. Unless you can line them up somehow. I have only briefly looked through the Sassafras Zoology book....I do like the activity pages that go with it. We may use them when we study Biology with Classics. I would think they would complement one another.....maybe someone else could chime in that has used them. Now that I read this, I wasn't much help! Sorry! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sixpence1978 Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 If you are looking for traditional and meaty, then I don't think that Sassafras is what you are looking for. We are currently using it because I knew my DD would love the story and I was hoping to find a science that would actually get done. Basically you read the story, which is more story than science IMO. Then you use other resources (the animal encyclopedia, other suggested books) to fill in your logbook of information about the animals. There are also some other projects and experiments, but we haven't enjoyed them too much. Right now we are just reading through the rest of the book with the occasional experiment thrown in because 1) we are getting tired of just animals (most of which my DD knows quite a bit about) and 2) we are trying to finish it up quickly this summer so that we can move on to something a bit meatier with more variety next fall. As far as using both programs together, I can't answer that outright since I haven't used the Classic program. I'm not sure what all the biology program covers. Like I said, Sassafras is more about studying individual animals, their habitats, and the food chain. I have heard of people using this Sassafras book as an addition to world geography, which makes sense because the kids travel around the world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Down_the_Rabbit_Hole Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 I have Sassafras science and after looking through it I think it would make a great addition to the classical ES biology program. However, using it all by itself would not give enough info for a 4th and up grader (imho). The activities in the scidat book are much to crafty for my taste, and you still need to get all your info from an animal encyclopedia. My plan for 5th is to use the ES Logic stage Biology (classical) and add in the Sassafras books as read along. A combination of the ES notebook and the Scidat book will be used also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MASHomeschooler Posted May 31, 2013 Author Share Posted May 31, 2013 OK; thanks. That sounds basically like what I thought. So I think we will do the Classical as our science, and just read the Sassafras and do some of those activities and Scidat book to whatever extent there is interest and time, more for fun. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShellLou Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 You can always email via the Elemental science site - the author of the programs will usually answer the questions. She is very helpful :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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