blue daisy Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 So I've had a free Mystery Science subscription all year and I don't know why, but we never tried any of it. Until today. We did one of the weather activities for lower elementary and the kids loved it! They were so engaged, and it was super easy (no prep other than printing out a worksheet) on my part. Even my three year old enjoyed observing and talking about the weather. I've got it on our schedule for next week too and hope to do many more mysteries before the end of our school year. I was undecided about science for next year for my elementary kids. We didn't really do much at all this year, which stinks because science is FUN! I'm pretty sure I will be doing Mystery Science and scrapping my other curriculum plans. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CuriculumMom Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 (edited) I have a free subscription as well, but still have not used it. Your post has inspired me to give it another look! :laugh: Edited March 24, 2017 by CuriculumMom 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue daisy Posted March 24, 2017 Author Share Posted March 24, 2017 I think because it was free, it was easy for me to put it on the back burner and sort of forget that it was there. I'm kicking myself now! lol I'm going to give it a good try the rest of the year to make sure it's what we want, but I think it will work well for us. It sounds like a lot of people on the boards here like it too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawthorne44 Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 I did that for the last semester co-op. The kids really really enjoyed it. It was great for a group. For the pollination one, the kids make a pretend flour out of paper and then put a roll of tape sticky side out in the middle. Then kids make pretend bees out of pipe cleaners. then they run around and have the bees visit it each flower. They ran around going "bzzzzzzz" It was stinking cute. One girls flower wasn't polinated, so she just added some spice from the jar and declared it pollinated. The one about tree seeds was a hit too. "Zone of darkness" said it a scary voice. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Insertcreativenamehere Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 Mystery Science was our surprise hit of the year. We scrapped our other science plans when we started our free trial. Will definitely pay for it next year. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jame Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 We love Mystery Science as well! I enjoy them just as much as my son :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Twain Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 I have used Mystery Science for one of my kids for half of third grade and all of fourth grade science It has been such a good and easy program to implement that my daughter will continue using it for fifth grade. I just wish this had been available for my older kids! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vintage81 Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 We love Mystery Science too! :001_wub: We've used it all of this year and plan on continuing until we run out of mysteries. I recently contacted them and they're planning on adding 20-30 mysteries this year, which is really exciting. (I believe you have to purchase a membership to see the new mysteries.) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegs Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 DS really likes it for the exposure to different topics, and the discussion questions embedded in the exploration videos. I think he views it somewhat like a really light and fun MOOC. I'm a fan for ease of facilitation, and though we don't do all the activities, we've really enjoyed a few of them. The "Eat or Be Eaten" card game from the food web mystery is quite clever. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdbates78 Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 We've done three lessons so far and really like it! Today we taste-tested different apples and rated them on sweetness. So much fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeaganS Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 My 3 older girls love it. And it is very easy. We've been using a free subscription too, but I will be renewing. My girls still talk about land slides and soundwaves months later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAtoVA Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 I used my free subscription for the first time last week—the Birth of Rocks mystery. We looked at a video about volcanoes (Could a Volcano Pop Up in Your Yard?) and then mapped the ring of fire. My DD thought It was pretty cool! I don't know yet if I would renew and pay for it. It looks like there are only 21 mysteries so far (?) Someone upthread mentioned the company will be adding 20-30 new mysteries for next year. I hope it will be possible to see at least the titles of the new mysteries without renewing first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaWho Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 I used my free subscription for the first time last week—the Birth of Rocks mystery. We looked at a video about volcanoes (Could a Volcano Pop Up in Your Yard?) and then mapped the ring of fire. My DD thought It was pretty cool! I don't know yet if I would renew and pay for it. It looks like there are only 21 mysteries so far (?) Someone upthread mentioned the company will be adding 20-30 new mysteries for next year. I hope it will be possible to see at least the titles of the new mysteries without renewing first. There are 21 topics, but each topic has 2-6 mysteries. We only have the free subscription this year, but we have completed over 25 mysteries and still have enough free ones to last us the rest of this year. We generally do 2 mysteries a week, but we also sometimes take a few weeks to explore a topic further. We have loved every mystery except some of the ones in Animals Through Time. Those mysteries felt a little more worksheet-like than the others. I'm going to pay for the subscription next year and hope they add enough older grade mysteries for it to last the whole year. I have my doubts though, as they seem to be focusing a bit more on the k/1 program right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luuknam Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 I hope it will be possible to see at least the titles of the new mysteries without renewing first. You can see the titles of the locked mysteries by simply clicking on them. If they're smart, they'll mention at least some of the new ones they'll be adding right around the time people's free subscriptions are ending. We didn't get around to starting them until late January or so (we were abroad in Nov/Dec, so that had a big impact on what got done the first semester). I'm usually actually pretty good with using free trials, but anyhow, wrt Mystery Science, we've done Material Magic, Animals through Time, and Plant Adventures. Blue Daisy, some of the activities do require more than printing out a worksheet - some just require some stuff you have lying around the house anyway (e.g. aluminum foil), and others not so much (grass seeds, pantyhose, etc?). That one actually is part of the reason I didn't get started on this sooner - that was the one my kids voted to do first (in Sept or so), and I tried to figure out how to obtain only a small amount of grass seeds (I didn't want to buy a big bag since I wasn't going to start a lawn), and didn't know, and then it just didn't happen. In the end, when I finally got back to Mystery Science (in Jan or so), I just had them watch it and didn't actually do that one (but we've done most of the others). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue daisy Posted March 25, 2017 Author Share Posted March 25, 2017 You can see the titles of the locked mysteries by simply clicking on them. If they're smart, they'll mention at least some of the new ones they'll be adding right around the time people's free subscriptions are ending. We didn't get around to starting them until late January or so (we were abroad in Nov/Dec, so that had a big impact on what got done the first semester). I'm usually actually pretty good with using free trials, but anyhow, wrt Mystery Science, we've done Material Magic, Animals through Time, and Plant Adventures. Blue Daisy, some of the activities do require more than printing out a worksheet - some just require some stuff you have lying around the house anyway (e.g. aluminum foil), and others not so much (grass seeds, pantyhose, etc?). That one actually is part of the reason I didn't get started on this sooner - that was the one my kids voted to do first (in Sept or so), and I tried to figure out how to obtain only a small amount of grass seeds (I didn't want to buy a big bag since I wasn't going to start a lawn), and didn't know, and then it just didn't happen. In the end, when I finally got back to Mystery Science (in Jan or so), I just had them watch it and didn't actually do that one (but we've done most of the others). Good to know about the materials! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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