Looking for opinions on our secular science choices

[purpleshamrock]

I will be new to homeschooling my third grade girl/boy twins.  They will tun 9 next week.

I've narrowed our secular science choices down to the following and would love some opinions if you've used the elementary levels.

Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding

Moving Beyond the Page

Real Science Odyssey

Real Science 4 Kids

Thank you!

 

 

[Syllieann]

BFSU- I love this and I think it'd be really great since you have two kids working together.  It does take some teacher prep and obviously you need to be involved in the lesson.  If you're up to it, do this one!  This recently came to my attention and I think I'm going to get it for my next kiddo to make implementing BFSU easier.

MBTP-We use their LA and I looked at the science pretty extensively because I thought it be nice if they tied together. It seemed pretty shallow though, not more shallow than a standard public school textbook, but definitely more shallow than what I'm aiming for.

I haven't used the other two so I don't have much to say on those.  However, if you plan to return to school after one year of homeschooling, you might be better off going with something that covers several branches each year rather than focusing on one branch.

[kristin0713]

I haven't used any of those for science yet, but I did just order RS4K middle school chemistry.  I decided on this plus an extra chemistry kit because it seems relatively open-and-go and easy to implement.  One thing to consider is whether or not you want a kit for experiments.  Both RS4K and RSO have kits that you can buy on homesciencetools.com.  It is my understanding that BFSU is harder to implement, but I may be mistaken on that.  I'll be honest, science is the most annoying subject for me in our homeschool 😳😆 but having a kit and all the materials ready to go takes a lot of the pain out of it.  🙂 

[Wheres Toto]

Just an FYI, Real Science 4 Kids is not secular.  It's considered neutral and intelligent design based.

[hs03842]

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Edited December 9, 2020 by JoyKM

[8filltheheart]

On 7/26/2020 at 4:05 PM, kand said:

My advice, which you can obviously take or leave, based on your other questions and seeing the other curriculum you’re looking at, is that I wouldn’t do a formal science curriculum this year. I would get lots of good books on various science topics (ideally from the library, if yours is currently operating, so that you can get a lot). The elementary science years are really about building a wide knowledge base about the world. Honestly, a kid who does no formal science other than reading and experiencing the world widely before high school has all the preparation they need for high school sciences. That might make it sound like I’m an unschooler, and I am not at all, and we are a very sciencey family. Even without formal science in elementary, my kids get top marks in science on all their standardized tests (and my university student has been well prepared for her college science classes). I suggest this path since this is your first year homeschooling and I think it’s preferable to concentrate on a smaller number of key areas—namely math and language arts at this age—than to try to do everything all at once and get overwhelmed. 

This is my recommendation as well. FWIW, none of my kids have ever used a science textbook or program (only reading good books on a variety of science topics) before high school level science. I have a ds who is a chemE, another a 3ed yr grad student majoring in physics at Berkeley, and a dd starting her major in atmospheric sciences. All have been strong science students. 

Edited July 28, 2020 by 8FillTheHeart

[Magnum Necis Academy]

On 7/26/2020 at 1:49 PM, Syllieann said:

BFSU- I love this and I think it'd be really great since you have two kids working together.  It does take some teacher prep and obviously you need to be involved in the lesson.  If you're up to it, do this one!  This recently came to my attention and I think I'm going to get it for my next kiddo to make implementing BFSU easier.

 

I just found that and was so mad I planned a whole semesters worth of lesson plans for BFSU. Fortunately my work was not for nothing, as the level I need isn't available yet. Hopefully it will be before next semester.

[Terabith]

Another vote for reading widely from a lot of science books from the library and watching a lot of Magic School Bus and various documentaries.  

[barnwife]

I'm just going to ditto the Magic School Bus, documentaries, Wild Kratts, etc...suggestions, alongside a ton of library books (assuming yours is open). 

[pitterpatter]

I was going to recommend something similar. Evan Moor saved my rump several times in the lower grades. A lot of the OP's programs sound good, but once you get going can easily become overwhelming. We often combined Evan Moor, library books, Bill Nye the Science Guy, and The Magic School in the lower grades. We followed the four-year cycle, so we selected the titles that related to that year's particular branch of science. We also used some titles from The Mailbox (and a few other publishers), but I don't know what they have available these days.

On 7/26/2020 at 6:41 PM, JoyKM said:

I was a middle school science teacher for several years, so finding a high quality science program was important to me at the start of my curriculum search a few months ago. I bought RSO level one: life science and was/am happy with the book and activities when I got it. If you are looking for something with a lot of high quality activities put together for you it’s a solid option.  It will focus on only one branch of science per manual, though  

Then...I started putting the year together and got kind of overwhelmed. We are doing history in the fall and science in the spring.  During spring our family does several nature study-type activities just for fun, and I felt like the activities in RSO, though great, would be a lot to pull off in conjunction with the nature studies.  Science education is meant to be done in a concrete to abstract manner, and I would highly recommend nature studies for young children as they are concrete and easy to pull off. I decided to save RSO to do for fun whenever we feel like it. For kids in young elementary I agree with the good books concept combined with nature studies, field trips, and investigations/ experiments.  

What took its place: Unit studies based around Evan Moore guides and the Magic School Bus.   (Not sure if tour kids will be too old for MSB or not, but they have chapter books as well or you can choose from many other books). Evan Moore has some science guides that contain experiment ideas on clearance for $3.75 each. I bought the Habitats and Space ones—they were the only two on sale.  I want to add in geology for our last six weeks since we are going rockhounding then. Magic school bus has kits you can buy with activities in them, though we may not use them if I like what’s in the Evan Moore guides.  There are other kits available, too. As a former science educator I would say that you can do high impact science without yet another curriculum to juggle. Just have a “theme of the month” or two weeks or however long you can stand it. Dig in to the rock cycle for three weeks, study different biomes for a week at a time, or choose themes based on the state standards for third grade if you are just planning a year at home. Get a kit and spend a few weeks exploring that theme. It will be marvelous!

 

[Sarah0000]

For third grade I started to look for complete science programs, but then realized the programs I was interested in generally had a Level 1 series for about grades 1-4 and a Level 2 series for about grades 5-8. I decided to wait another year and start a Level 2 series at the beginning.

We did BFSU, books, kits, and Daily Science for first and second grade. In third grade DS is doing Beautiful Feet History of Science (not secular, but so far easy to skip the religion) and working on independence skills so he'll be ready for a full program next year.

[Btervet]

We have used RSO, BFSU, and RS4Ks. We ended up hating RS4Ks, maybe because it was too textbook like, but also too simplified. My 2nd grader found it babyish. We *loved* RSO but it was exhausting - every single lesson has either an activity or experiment. It made for a great year of science, but was tiring, and we won't use it again. It also did not lead to high levels of retention for my kid, who seemed to learn more from high quality (not dumbed down) books instead of demonstration after demonstration after demonstration. BFSU has been our absolute favorite, but it requires a lot of work ahead of time for the parent. Prereading, preplanning, finding resources, etc. We have loved it but could not do it every year.

Despite extensive use of curriculum, and way too much money spent, my kids have learned the most science from library books, good shows like Wild Kratts, Octonauts, Bill Nye, etc. and Youtube videos. If I could do it all over I would have spend the $30 or so on BFSU and not wasted money on anything else except supplies and tools (and many books of course, but those don't count right?).

Edited August 7, 2020 by Btervet

[8filltheheart]

1 hour ago, Btervet said:

We have used RSO, BFSU, and RS4Ks. We ended up hating RS4Ks, maybe because it was too textbook like, but also too simplified. My 2nd grader found it babyish. We *loved* RSO but it was exhausting - every single lesson has either an activity or experiment. It made for a great year of science, but was tiring, and we won't use it again. It also did not lead to high levels of retention for my kid, who seemed to learn more from high quality (not dumbed down) books instead of demonstration after demonstration after demonstration. BFSU has been our absolute favorite, but it requires a lot of work ahead of time for the parent. Prereading, preplanning, finding resources, etc. We have loved it but could not do it every year.

Despite extensive use of curriculum, and way too much money spent, my kids have learned the most science from library books, good shows like Wild Kratts, Octonauts, Bill Nye, etc. and Youtube videos. If I could do it all over I would have spend the $30 or so on BFSU and not wasted money on anything else except supplies and tools (and many books of course, but those don't count right?).

The bolded has been true for our family.  So far, 3 of our 6 adult children have pursued (or are pursuing) science fields (4 if you count a health field science).  ChemE, physics, and pursuing atmospheric science (she has wanted to be a meteorologist since she was 5 yrs old).   We read lots of wonderful trade books on topics, spend time out in nature observing, research additional topics about whatever they are reading starting in 3rd or 4th grade (the source for their writing assignments every 2 to 3 weeks.)   That is our approach to science until high school credits.  

Edited August 7, 2020 by 8FillTheHeart

[*Jessica*]

I have a 9yo daughter, as well as teenagers.  I own and have used parts of Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding and Real Science Odyssey.

 BFoSU was exhausting to put together so I gave up, but I didn’t have the program Syllieann linked.  That looks nice!  

While I like RSO I do feel like it is too textbook-like to use with grades K-4.  

I’ve spent this 3rd child’s science education filling her up with whatever science she was interested in through good books and videos.  She’s retaining more of it than my older two did.  

This year all 3 of my kids are doing chemistry because she wanted to do “real experiments” like the teens are doing.  I’ve chosen to use The Kitchen Pantry Scientist once per week, plus whatever chemistry topic books we have on our home library shelves in a basket for her to choose from.  

[Violet Crown]

Agree with @kand. 3rd grade, especially in an emergency, doesn't need a separate science program. Mine just did general reading at that age, and science later. One did great on her science APs and loved science; another did great on her science APs and dislikes science. But at least they both learned science!

Of the curricula you mention, the only one I've tried (twice -- I'm a slow learner) is BFSU. We used TOPS Science, which everyone enjoyed and retained, but all my science and engineering homeschooling friends swore by BFSU as the Best of the Best. Even with extensive prep and supplementary help, I could not understand the science well enough to teach it with BFSU, and we were all confused and frustrated. I'm not a dimwit, I think*, but I have no science background and it was just too difficult for me, even at lower levels. Never could make sense out of friction.... And it was back to TOPS, which seems to work well enough through primary and early secondary for my family. So fair warning: if you have a science background, BFSU is apparently the best; but if you don't, it may not be for you.

*Someday there will be a thread on best poetry curricula and I will shine like a star.

[JennyD]

My absolute favorite elementary school science program is Mystery Science.  It is amazingly well-done, and the activities genuinely do not require special equipment or supplies.  (Which means that we actually do them.)

[73349]

BFSU is requires significant teacher prep, and I used it just as a guideline for things to cover by getting books from the kids' nonfiction section of the library. Using it mostly as a list of things to make sure to discuss, I did like it overall.

 

Edited October 2, 2020 by Carolina Wren