Reviews elemental science curriculum: classical versus chunks?

[Maggie]

Anyone have any experience with and opinions about the elemental science curriculum for my first grader? Chunks versus classical? I don't like the cartoon-y feel of the Sassafras series, but I am interested in the other two options. Trying to find something structured but not too simplistic but not too dry, with labs that are actually interesting. Any thoughts? 

[Clarita]

I only did Intro to Science last year with a 5 in fall boy. We switched to Scientific Connections through Inquiry supplement (SCI) with Mystery Science this year (I go through a Charter school so I get some online resources for "free"). Here is what I liked about the curriculum and why it didn't work for us.

What I liked

• Labs/demonstrations we would learn the why behind how the labs and demonstrations worked. (With exception of the volcano lab. It's the make a volcano thing but I don't feel like that has much to do with how an actual volcano works it's just fun.) 
• Lots of hands on stuff. Lots of making observations. Labs and demonstrations were pretty easy to do. I only had to purchase things once and that's only because I did want my kids to see all the types of rocks.

Why it didn't work for us:

It required a lot of unprompted output from my son, which he can't/won't do. So after every experiment/demo the child has to draw and describe what happened on essentially a blank piece of paper. Basically I would ask the question "What happened?" the response I get back is 95% of the time "I don't know." Contrast this to SCI and Mystery Science which gives him specific questions to answer like fill in the blank, draw a wrecking ball, make a food chain, etc.

[HomeAgain]

DS adored Mystery Science when we did it (Kinder) and Building Foundations Of Scientific Understanding the two years after that.  We eventually gravitated to a more cross-curricular approach mixed with interest-led.  We liked to add in science to literature in the early years, like learning the human body while reading The Bones of Fred McFee. I still have an entire x-ray set, lol, to go along with our plastic skeleton.  Last year ds did integrated science and history, but before that he picked a year of chemistry after doing a bit of work before that.  Saturday/Sunday mornings here are always E/I programming - educational or informational shows aimed at kids on a few of the networks.  They've always sparked good discussions and ideas about things to learn. 

 

While I appreciate the classical method of science, I also had to recognise that when I separated things out too much for youngest ds, he compartmentalized in his head as well.  Being able to dive in more when he was ready or exposing him to different ideas and how they connect.....that fostered his love a little more and developed his memory.