Need (advanced) Science Curriculum for 7 year-old

[Guest crmcgee]

Any recommendations for a substantive science curriculum for a 7 year-old?  At approximately a 4th grade level?

 

He's advanced in science and reading but not writing.  I have an engineering background, so science doesn't scare me. :)

 

I'd prefer to focus on earth sciences (geology, weather, etc.) and some astronomy through next year but it's not required.  

 

We just finished a year of Magic School Bus. I didn't like MSB.  I thought some of the materials were cheap.  Also, I think MSB suffers the same problem as some of the Van Cleave books -- very little concentration on scientific inquiry fundamentals and "experiments" that are more in the line of scientific demonstrations.

 

I've researched a little.  BFSU might be a little tedious for us.  A Reason for Science looks great but expensive -- would it be worth it?  Sonlight is also expensive and might be over-prepared for us.  A Beka Understanding God's World might fit, if we haven't already covered some of the topics in Classical Conversations...

 

Any input? Ideas?

 

 

Thanks,

 

Cindy

 

 

 

 

[Jackie]

BFSU works great as a base for us. DD knows almost all the science in the first book, which is what we're mostly using. I then use the topics and book recs, add in some more advanced books and sometimes some extra hands-on. We're starting to dip into the second book now, and I'm finding that MUCH deeper and more serious about the science than the first book has been.

[Porridge]

I haven't looked at BFSU or some of the other curricula you mentioned, but Apologia (Young Explorers series) can be, in my limited experience, quite in depth - much more so than I expected from an elementary level curriculum.  It's a bit wordy, but if you have a strong science background, you may be able to tweak it for your purposes.  NB, I have only looked at the zoology and chemistry / physics.  It may be worth looking into as you make your choice

[EndOfOrdinary]

We could not do the Young Explorers series. At age 10 we began the high school Exploring Creation series. The 2nd Edition served us very well (3rd edition is vastly different).

 

Do you have an iPad? E.O. Wilson's Life On Earth iBook and corresponding iTunesU curriculum is really pretty spectacular for free. We use it with the college level coloring books Anatomy, Physiology, and Biology.

[Slache]

Considering God's Creation and Christian Kids Explore Earth and Space come to mind.

[Guest crmcgee]

Thanks everyone.

 

After further research and thought, I'm going to wait until April to begin.  We'll focus on some technology and building/engineering until then.  That will line up nicely with warmer weather and the end of our CC semester.

 

I'm leaning toward starting Apologia's Young Explorer Botany and Botany Notebookng Journal or  R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey Life Level 1.

 

Any additional feedback on these two?

 

EndOfOrdinary -- what didn't work for you with the Young Explorers series?  Thanks for the iPad idea -- wish we did have one.

 

 

Cindy

 

[Ms.Ivy]

R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey is pretty basic stuff.  It's good for vocabulary and learning to fill out "lab sheets" but it's actually pretty light on science concepts.  I used it as a supplement for BFSU.  I like BFSU because it teaches me how to have science discussions with my kids, using the Socratic method, and uses science demonstrations as a way for kids to start asking questions about reality so that you can lead them to figuring out the concepts on their own.  Since it requires no writing or reading, I can use it with all grade levels.  My kids absolutely LOVE these science lessons, and don't find it tedious at all.

 

I have also read a couple of the Young Explorer series books and found them very disjointed in their presentation of science topics.  They often present concepts out of logical order -- for example, attempting to explain the role of air pressure and the flight of birds before kids even know that air is made of molecules and how those molecules behave to create air pressure.  ETA:  My daughter loves reading these books on her own, though.  I just don't use them for teaching science on their own.

 

As an alternative to BFSU, I like Berean Builder's science series, personally.  At least it's much better than Young Explorers.  

Edited December 12, 2015 by Ms.Ivy

[Guest crmcgee]

I've taken a second look at BFSU.  I'm going to start with the e-book, and add in Berean Builder's Science Series.  That will probably work to start us off.

 

Thanks so much for all the help.

 

 

Merry Christmas!

[Staceyshoe]

The beautiful thing about BFSU is that it truly teaches inquiry and critical thinking because information isn't given to the student until they have had an opportunity to puzzle over something.  The book provides responses to gently guide their thinking to a more accurate scientific understanding.  We don't do BFSU very often--maybe once every 2-3 weeks, but I think ds gains far more from that than he would from doing another science program (that is information rather than inquiry driven) more frequently.  Science is a way of thinking, and BFSU is an absolute gem for helping kids learn that way of thinking.  We tweak and don't always follow as written.  I keep the book open on my lap to reference because I don't have the planning time to be 100% prepared before lesson time.  It will never be open-and-go, but there are ways to make it much easier on yourself as the teacher.

[CardinalAlt]

Do you need to do the first volume of BFSU before the second? I hear such wonderful things, but doubt my ability to spend much time on it with DD with everything else in life and school... FWIW, we're having a fun science year just reading, notebooking and talking through books in the Scientists in the Field series, with some video supplementation. I have no idea where we'll go from here though!

[Jackie]

Do you need to do the first volume of BFSU before the second? I hear such wonderful things, but doubt my ability to spend much time on it with DD with everything else in life and school... FWIW, we're having a fun science year just reading, notebooking and talking through books in the Scientists in the Field series, with some video supplementation. I have no idea where we'll go from here though!

I know that the official answer from the author is yes, you have to do volume one first. I kinda say no. We're using a bit of both volumes right now (just depending on topic) and there was rarely anything in volume one that my daughter didn't already know about. She's a voracious reader and loves nonfiction, plus she's watched BrainPop and The Happy Scientist. Even with the relative depth of BFSU, I think a very science-y kid gets the information covered in K-2 from a lot of sources. If you started volume 2 and found that you were missing background information, it would be easy to fill it in with library books or to get volume one and just do the previous lessons as necessary.

[EndOfOrdinary]

Sorry for responding so late! The Young Explorers series felt very heavy handed with a specific version of Christianity. It is important to me that my son can decide tor himself what he believes. Secondly, Evolution is a fairly major part of biological sciences. It is not the only part, but it is the basis for most of it. By not talking about the subject, I am beginning a study with a very significant chunk removed. Even if my son decides Evolution is not for him, he needs to know what prevailing scientific theory is while doing science. Unfortunately, Apologia's younger series do not do this well and the majority is biological sciences. I understand the reasoning for not including it, but it was not for us.

 

The older, Exploring Creation, series also does a much better job of asking for critical thinking and application of knowledge. There has only been one, three paragraph section (about Climate Change) which we chose to read as direct propoganda. Even that was beneficial because we could discuss how statistics and events were being used selectively to send a skewed message.