Mystery Science: What are your plans?

[rachelpants]

What are your plans for implementing Mystery Science? Wing it? Lol..... Or...do you have a schedule worked up? How do you see it working in your homeschool?

[Josh Blade]

I was thinking of making it a special weekend event rather than part of our normal school day curriculum. I was thinking hype it up and on Saturdays or Sundays we get to check out the next Science Mystery. I think I'll let her choose one from two or three topics each week that way she knows what to be excited about for the weekend (and I have time to prepare materials). 

[Peaceful Isle]

Mine will be as added extras for my son. He loves everything science, so it will be awesome to keep him busy as I'm making dinner, or on the weekends.

[Guest]

"Here's this science thing you can do on the computer."

 

I mean it's got it all: science. The computer. The computer. Science. EVEN science and computer.

 

So of course they will be all about it.

[Jackie]

I have no plans to use it formally. I use BFSU as my go-to science resource and will continue to do so.

 

But why pass up a free trial? I'll put a shortcut to it on the desktop, the username and password will be added to the row of post-its with other usernames and passwords for DD, and she can have at it.

[Vintage81]

I like to be super organized with our school stuff, so I actually planned out lessons (although I think it would be easy to just wing it). I plan on doing 1 mystery per week, something like this:

 

Day 1 - Watch exploration video and do activity/experiment

Day 2 - Go thru assessment (if needed), read through additional readings, and do any additional activities

Day 3 (if needed) - I would like to do some sort of lapbooking/notebooking and checkout library books on the topic

 

The lessons seem to go pretty fast, so I'd rather get everything done in 2 days vs 3, but I'm willing to take an extra day if it's a topic that really interests us.

Edited August 11, 2016 by Vintage81

[Chelli]

It's going to be the only formal science I use for my 4th grader. I will let her choose one mystery to do each week.

 

Watch the mystery and form hypothesis on day one, do the experiment/demonstration on day two, notebook on day three. and supplemental reading on day four.

[Beaniemom]

I have it scheduled Mondays so that I can add in additional readings at varied times during the week.

[SamanthaCarter]

I was thinking Saturdays as well. Our science curriculum kind of jumps around between disciplines, so I figure I'll pick the mystery that lines up well with their current work for one or the other. I'm sure one won't mind if the mystery lines up better with their sibling's current work, because they don't really get videos for school. This will be a treat. :)

[SamanthaCarter]

"Here's this science thing you can do on the computer."

 

I mean it's got it all: science. The computer. The computer. Science. EVEN science and computer.

 

So of course they will be all about it.

 

Exactly. :)

[desertflower]

I am winging it.  It's just what I need right now.  My kids are young enough where just exposure is enough. 

 

I'll pick a topic I think they are interested in and watch it before letting them watch to make sure I have all the materials. 

[BonnieLK]

Winging it, more or less. My son is pre-K but very interested in science. I figure I can turn him and DH loose on weather/space/plant/animal/other.

[fourisenough]

I have selected 9 units to use this year, for a total of 36 mysteries. We'll do one mystery per week, tentatively planned for 1 hour/2 days per week. On Day 1 we'll watch the exploration and conduct the activity. On Day 2 we'll do the extras: readings, videos, and assessment. At the end of each unit, we'll complete the unit assessment.

 

In preparation, I've...

• Printed the activity prep instructions and any printable worksheets for each unit
• READ the instructions
• Gathered all needed materials

I'm using MS with one 2nd grade girl.

[J&JMom]

I signed up for it since it was free and plan on perusing the topics when it opens up on Sunday.  I will keep a list and see if they work as supplements to already selected curriculum. 

[rjand6more]

I am using it as a portion of our science for a 3rd and 6th grader.  I am choosing a topic per month.  September is weather.  We will watch all related videos, experiments, extras in that month.  Some of our topics are not covered in MS.  We are also using the Happy Scientist videos.  I will request 2 batches of books from the library to cover the topic of the month.

[Bluegoat]

I'm trying not to plan too much with it.  I have a student in grade 3 and one in K.  We'll be having a new baby in October, so it seemed to me that it might be an ideal thing to use when I am not available, and to do with their dad in the weeks after the baby comes.  But I'll need to have a closer look at the modules next week.

[Mrs Twain]

We winged it/wang it/wung it (grammar???) last year, and it worked great.

 

I let my daughter pick one mystery per week. On day 1 she watched the video. On day 2 she did an experiment. On day 3 she did a worksheet. On day 4 she wrote a journal page telling what she learned, drew a picture about it, and then presented that to me. On day 5 she read a library book about a science topic. This year if I am more on the ball, I will try to find library books on the topic she learned about that week.

 

This worked well, and my daughter learned quite a bit of science. Besides that she loved the program and what she was learning which I found most valuable of all.

[SeaConquest]

Do you have to buy stuff for the experiments, or is there some kit? Asking for a lazy friend. ;)

[6packofun]

What is the catch when the site says "Sign up for a free school year of Mystery Science!" ??  Is this the free trial and for how long?  I don't want to give my email address until I understand this and I'm new to this curriculum!  lol  (I think my 10yo would LOVE it, so I'm not opposed to a subscription...)

[rachelpants]

Thanks for all of the ideas and thoughts. I stumbled upon this website and might try and integrate some of the activities:

https://www.explorelearning.com

[desertflower]

Do you have to buy stuff for the experiments, or is there some kit? Asking for a lazy friend. ;)

 

I don't think there's a kit.  I've done part of 2 mysteries and the materials were common stuff around the house.

[desertflower]

What is the catch when the site says "Sign up for a free school year of Mystery Science!" ??  Is this the free trial and for how long?  I don't want to give my email address until I understand this and I'm new to this curriculum!  lol  (I think my 10yo would LOVE it, so I'm not opposed to a subscription...)

 

As far as I'm concern, one just won't get the new mysteries they put out during the free trial period. 

[Jackie]

What is the catch when the site says "Sign up for a free school year of Mystery Science!" ?? Is this the free trial and for how long? I don't want to give my email address until I understand this and I'm new to this curriculum! lol (I think my 10yo would LOVE it, so I'm not opposed to a subscription...)

No catch. As opposed to the expensive subscription, you won't have access to the shiny new "mysteries" during the school year, only the existing ones. They're still a new company, so they ideally want you to love it, talk about loving it, and therefore generate good, happy press, but they don't require it.

[Josh Blade]

I was thinking of making it a special weekend event rather than part of our normal school day curriculum. I was thinking hype it up and on Saturdays or Sundays we get to check out the next Science Mystery. I think I'll let her choose one from two or three topics each week that way she knows what to be excited about for the weekend (and I have time to prepare materials). 

 

 

I let my daughter pick out our mystery for this weekend. She choose 'Why does the sun rise and set?'. She was very upset that we didn't start it right away (it was 7 PM). She got over it, but when I was putting her to bed she said something about the sun was going down for the day and I asked if she remembered what our mystery this weekend was going to be. She said 'Why does the sun rise and set. But I was upset because I wanted to do it today'... Maybe I'll have to hold off on letting her pick until the weekend. 

[razzles]

I'm going to use it for the days my daughter is at home while my husband works from home and I'm at college. We'll do our regular science lessons on one of the days I'm home and then she'll do an extra mystery science unit next to my husband. I was delighted to find the trial in time!

 

 

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[Cake and Pi]

We used it as our only science curriculum for the last few months of last year totally on the fly and it was awesome.  We did the mystery and exploration on one day and the extras (but not tests) on the topic another day each week.  I just started at the top and went down the list in order.

 

This year my DS#2 has asked to do public school (for some reason that is completely beyond me), but really loves MS and still wants to participate.  So we'll be doing one mystery + exploration and any supplemental videos in the extras each Saturday.  My DS#1 has requested "more" science but I don't want to move him through MS without DS#2, so I'm planning to do RS4K with him during the week.  That's probably waaaaay more science than necessary but hopefully will work out well.

[Soror]

I really liked it when I first saw it so I went ahead and signed up when it was offered for free even though we already had plans. BUT finishing our first session I asked my daughter what she thought about her school and she requested different science. Of course I showed her Mystery Science and she loved it, she requested that we start with plants. The plan is to just do 1 mystery a week, investigation and discussion 1 day, activity the next and then extras on day 3, we spend 1 day on nature study.