Elemental Science - What do you like / dislike?

[CCelebi]

I am considering Elemental Science - Bio for the Grammar Stage for my 6 and 4yo kids. I like how the curriculum is laid out in a classical style. I know absolutely no one who has used it, so I have no idea what to think about it except that I am intrigued. I also like that it has all four stages - bio, chem, earth/astronomy, and phys. I would love to know what those who have used it think - pros and cons. Also, has anyone tried the Living Books series with the Sassafrass twins? I was thinking that it would be fun to use those, coupled with the log books and activities, and base the whole year on that series. Any thoughts? Advice GREATLY appreciated :)

 

Christina

[lexi]

I tried this curriculum last year when my daughter was in 1st grade.  So she was 6/7.  I was going to let my younger son listen in but he wasn't interested. 

Sadly the curriculum just did not work for us.  We found it to be somewhat boring and very repetitive.  You read a very short bit of info from the encyclopedia and then you narrate a fact about the animal.  You can glue on a picture of the animal or draw your own.  Every. single. week.  Of course, I could have gotten lots of library books on the various animals and made it much more appealing but I had just had a new baby and didn't feel up to doing that.  I wanted something that would be "enough" without adding more to it.  So, everything felt a bit disjointed to me.  Each week we'd read a few facts about a couple of different animals and then do our notebook pages.  My daughter did not retain anything.  I just wanted something more complete and more organized - maybe something that had a better flow to it.  Also, I found that some of the experiments didn't seem connected to the animals for the week.  Sometimes they felt very random.  And I can't say that we loved them.  So, for us we found it rather dull.  We dropped it and just read some Apologia stuff.  This year we're getting ready to start Science in the Beginning and it looks very fun. 

 

So, I only tried the first half of Bio but we moved on.  I thought about Sassafras but the reviews I've read all had similar complaints - lots of typos and errors and a poor writing style.  I don't think I can get past those things.  I would prefer a well-written resource that has been edited well - even if the story can be somewhat silly - at least it would be well-written.  Others have commented that the story-line seemed forced that the kids go to different places and then listen to their uncle lecture them about whatever.  It didn't sound like the facts were very integrated into the story-line. 

 

I know several people use either Elemental Science or Sassafras and love them.  I just want something more complete that contains more information and has experiments that are more meaningful.  Hopefully someone will chime in with all the positives!  I'm sure there are many positives! 

 

[twooakharborhicks]

We're doing Bio and Intro to Science (for my preschooler) currently along with Sassafras anatomy and my kids (7 and 4) love them.  We aren't a very science-y family and the lessons and experiments are very simple and straight forward.  I've tried other things and the experiments just didn't get done, but the experiments are so simple and straight forward with Elemental that it would be a shame not to do them.  We bought the experiment kit to go with it and it made things even easier.  I also love that they have an implementation schedule right in the book with several different options depending on how many days a week you want to do science.  I have tried so many science curriculums and Elemental is the one that gets done.  The supplemental reading suggestions are always excellent, and we use them frequently along with the encyclopedias they reccomend.

 

I haven't noticed any bad editing in the Classic curriculum, but it's definitely a problem in Sassafras.  It is so, so wordy and the science is just kind of thrown into the story.  It bothers me for sure, but my kids love it so it can't be all bad.  If you have kids who are super into science, Elemental might not be in depth enough for them but for my history loving boys it has been just right.  My youngest loves the nature walks and notebooking (he's my artist) and my oldest loves that he can do most of the experiments on his own and the supplemental reading.

[scootiepie]

I bought it last year and did not use it.   Not once.   I can't say that is a problem with the program, because I just didn't get into it, but more an issue with my style I guess.

I don't do all that well with a teacher guide + a kids book + several other required books/texts needed (I think there are at least 3 required supplemental books you have to buy).  

Trying to get all that organized is just overwhelming to me.      So it is more fair to say I gave up on it without really trying it out, but it is important to know

if you like an open and go type approach.

 

And I found out that just a few months after I bought it, a new edition came out.   I was a little put off about finding out what I bought was basically an "old" version.  [To her credit,

I did get a coupon code for 50% off if I wanted to buy the new version. ]

 

Go to CurrClick and look up Elemental Science.   She has some lapbooks you can download for like $3-4.    You might want to do that to try it and get a feel for it without investing in the whole curriculum up front.   

[Jennefer@SSA]

We used ESA last year and Chemistry this year in our co-op. It has been a great success. I am sad Physics for the Logic Stage won't be out for next year. 

 

We have elementary students complete a fill in the blank outline each week that the classroom teacher prepares. About 60-70% of the outline is completed and the students fill in the rest as they read. Middle school students alternate between outlining their reading selections each week and making notecards. They also have quizes over their reading each week to hold them accountable to really knowing the material. 

 

Before the co-op started I used Biology for the grammar stage and it was perfect for where DS was at that time. 

[coffeegal]

It's working well for ds 5th grade who's using the grammar stage chemistry this year. I love that it has a well-written student notebook, easy to follow instructions, and a weekly quiz. I print off the teacher's page for the week, ds reads the instructions, does his weekly readings, fills in the sections of his notebook, does the experiments, and takes the quiz on Friday. He's learned a lot, loved the experiments, and is able to be relatively independent this year. I sit down on Friday, check his notebook, grade his quiz, and discuss his studies.

[TheApprentice]

We are using Physics/Grammar Stage for my 5th grader. He's using it independently, so that helps, and we do the experiments, which are simple but a fun break. I think he actually likes the repetitiveness of what is expected.

[Marie131]

I tried this curriculum last year when my daughter was in 1st grade.  So she was 6/7.  I was going to let my younger son listen in but he wasn't interested. 

Sadly the curriculum just did not work for us.  We found it to be somewhat boring and very repetitive.  You read a very short bit of info from the encyclopedia and then you narrate a fact about the animal.  You can glue on a picture of the animal or draw your own.  Every. single. week.  Of course, I could have gotten lots of library books on the various animals and made it much more appealing but I had just had a new baby and didn't feel up to doing that.  I wanted something that would be "enough" without adding more to it.  So, everything felt a bit disjointed to me.  Each week we'd read a few facts about a couple of different animals and then do our notebook pages.  My daughter did not retain anything.  I just wanted something more complete and more organized - maybe something that had a better flow to it.  Also, I found that some of the experiments didn't seem connected to the animals for the week.  Sometimes they felt very random.  And I can't say that we loved them.  So, for us we found it rather dull. 

 

This about sums up the negatives for me as well, but I will also add that spending so much time on just 1 area just about bored me to death.  After 20 weeks of animals, I never want to see another animal again.  The kids haven't minded that though, just mom.

 

I have almost finished the Bio level, all we have left is plants and then we'll probably move on to something else.  Not sure what at this point but I might let science be interest led, or I might try Sonlight.  I just don't know.

 

OTH, science did get done.  So that is a huge plus.  They say the best curriculum is the one that gets done and this one did.  But I stopped doing the cut and paste narrations and instead just had lots of discussion.  I also only did an experiment here and there when it seemed to fit b/c it often made no sense (or didn't work!).

[CAmomof4]

I agree with previous posters about the grammar stage bio.  It got so many great reviews on here that I thought it was a no-brainer, and I bought all the materials including the experiment kit.  But it was soooo boring!  A bunch of animals, no context, just random information (and not all that interesting, if you ask me).  We quit about halfway through the 20-week animal unit.

 

I am thinking about bringing back the plant unit for the end of this school year, but again there are a few more materials I will need to buy and organize for that to happen…have to muster the strength...

 

[Classically Minded]

Elemental Science follows the outline in The Well Trained Mind and it supplements with some extras.  We are using the grammar stage chemistry and it is great and my dd10 loves it.  I love that I don't have to do the planning like I did for the previous sciences.  I'm pretty sure we will continue on with the physics one next.

[WahM]

We tried it and disliked it as well. As other have said we found it boring, too repetitive, not in depth enough for my science lovers, etc. there seemed to be a lot of busy work at times.

[ladydusk]

We did the plants unit and I, personally, disliked the cutting and gluing and keeping all the parts and pieces together.  The experiments worked and were good and the rest was fine, but the cutting and gluing drove me crazy.

[Kathryn]

We like it. We are almost done with ESA and did Biology last year. We came from Sonlight Science A before that. Sonlight was a muddled disaster of completely unrelated topics and experiments. After that, we have enjoyed that there is an effort to make sure things line up in Elemental Science. My child loves science, so I do add a library book and sometimes video to each topic. You don't have to do the cutting and gluing--my son draws his own pictures. I admit the animal unit got old really fast for me, but DS enjoyed it.

[Guest sahervey]

My kids have really enjoyed the Apologia series. It's Christian-based though.

[TianXiaXueXiao]

We are using Elemental Science Biology for Logic and we really like it. We do all the readings (listed in teachers book) not just the assigned readings and we spend a lot of time on the memory work in the back of the student book as well as on the discussion questions in the teachers book. We also supplement with library books and videos. I've been amazed by dd's level of retention as observed in her unit test performance. The tests are thorough and reflect the content from the reading. My only complaint is that I wish the timeline, tests, sketches, and other student pages were separate to keep in a binder instead of bound in the book.