Teneo Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 I've seen a few people commenting that Quark Chronicles is better written than Sassafras. I'm wondering a couple things that aren't completely apparent from online samples. 1- Is Quark geared slightly older/more advanced than Sassafras or about the same level? For example, would a dialectic child prefer Quark while a 1st grade Grammar stage child enjoy Sassafras more, or would Quark's content/workload also grab the younger child's attention? 2- When I glanced at the samples for Botany it looked like Quark covered topics such as photosynthesis etc while Sassafras focused on learning the kinds of plants as well as where they're found. Is this impression of the depth of study accurate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmstranger Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 Interested to hear responses, too. I've used Sassafrass, but only the 1st book (Zoology). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desertflower Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 Yes, me too. But I will say that it is to my understanding that the Quark Chronicles are more advanced than the Sassafras series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 We only had Sassafras Zoology... but it was pretty badly written and the science was so marginal. It was definitely an elementary level thing. Good idea not done very well. When I read the Quark sample, the writing was much better and the science seemed much more integrated... I keep meaning to try it out, but my kids haven't wanted to do any botany and I think that's all that's out still, yes? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 It looks like botony, zoology, and anatomy are out. http://barefootmeandering.com/site/quark-chronicles/ I've used Sassafras Zoology as well, and was not impressed. If I had to assign a grade level to it, I'd say not much above 1st in terms of the science content taught. I'm considering using Quark next year. Other than the samples, I haven't seen enough to guage what the grade level may be at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greyseal Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 I can't comment on Sassafras, as I haven't used it. I can comment on my impressions of Quark, though. I got Quark Botany included in a Build Your Bundle set this year, and I looked it over for my 3rd grader. We're still transitioning into doing science full-time, so I haven't yet actually tested it with her (right now we're just notebooking with library books and Bill Nye on whatever looks interesting). Botany is well-written and engaging -- at least the first 50 pages or so that I read -- and I think it would be a good fit for the intermediate-late elementary grades. My 3rd grader is on the young side, and this would work better for her as a read-aloud, not an independent read. She is an average reader (never tested, but probably somewhere at grade level or just above). More precocious 3rd graders would likely do fine, I would think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 (edited) We only had Sassafras Zoology... but it was pretty badly written and the science was so marginal. It was definitely an elementary level thing. Good idea not done very well. When I read the Quark sample, the writing was much better and the science seemed much more integrated... I keep meaning to try it out, but my kids haven't wanted to do any botany and I think that's all that's out still, yes? They also have zoology and anatomy now. Edited January 10, 2016 by Aurelia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmstranger Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 Does Quark have samples of their notebooking pages anywhere? Maybe I'm crazy, but I thought I read that notebooking pages came with it, but I didn't see them in the samples. Honestly, I'm a little unclear how the book works. With Sassafras, we read the chapter and the additional reading that was suggested. The IG told me which experiments, notebook pages, dictation, etc. to do each day. I don't see that in the samples for Quark, so I'm a little nervous about it...I'm not good making things up on my own! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 Lulu has a small preview of the notebooking pages. If you choose the non-PDF links, you get a better preview than the PDF version has: http://barefootmeandering.com/site/bookstore/#quark It looks like each chapter of Quark has a notebook section with: Additional reading, an experiment from another book, a narration page, a page to write out definitions for vocabulary from the chapter, pages to document the experiment on, and copywork. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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