Nancy Larson Science

[Green Bean]

Last one, I promise!

This is the last thing I am considering for science. I like that it is all there and also works on reading skills.

How is the coverage? Did you feel it was worth the cost? How many levels did you do? What did you add? What made you keep at it or run away? Anything else you would like to share?

[HomeAgain]

We ended up with the 1st grade kit when my youngest was 6.  It was very scripted - I think the samples give you a good idea of the type of day it does.  It ended up not being a good fit here because we're more loosey-goosey, but it does spiral through topics consistently.

We actually really loved Mystery Science for the same age group.  The style of "information, questioning, information, experiment, record" was more in line with how we were doing science anyway.

[mathmarm]

I have the Teacher and Student books for NL Science 3-5. I love that it really develops the students knowledge base while guiding them in close-reading and directly coaches them in study skills.

I wanted something systematic and knowledge-based. The NL program is packed full of information and my kids love the whole highlight-draw-color interaction with their texts. They retain the information after going through the booklets. We do a lot of "just-read" so actually having workbooks or booklets is novel to them and they enjoyed it immensely.

They've been able to apply the same type of annotate-the-text logic to their regular books and suddenly their retention in history is shooting up too and the interactive reading from science is also spilling over to novels and chapters books for Jr. too.

1 hour ago, Green Bean said:

How is the coverage? Did you feel it was worth the cost? How many levels did you do? What did you add? What made you keep at it or run away? Anything else you would like to share?

In my opinion, the informational coverage is really really good for elementary science. I love that the students are expected to still know the information much later and the booklets make it easy and realistic that they go back and re-view any information that may have been covered earlier.

It's pricey, but it covers Science well, and includes Reading Comprehension and Study Skills, so it's kind of 2.5 courses in one. We do science every day, so a level doesn't last us a full year, but I'd rather a solid and foundation in study skills and the boost in reading comprehension be laid early and reinforced often before we get out of Elementary years. If you get the full kit, then you have a lot of digestible information and the manipulatives and doo-dads that make it all "pop" for a pretty good price.

We did the books for Levels 3-5. We have access to a ton of Science manipulatives and so we pull those together if it's something that's needed vs a "nice to have".

We didn't really add anything, other than we included NL in what we were already doing. "Just reading" quality nonfiction books.

For my kids there's definitely been a difference in both their science knowledge and scholarly reading skills since we went from "Just Reading" to "Just Reading, NL and applying the techniques of NL to whatever it is that we're 'Just Reading'".

What made me keep at it is that it's engaging, the kids loved it, the program was very do-able, straightforward and was making a positive difference in my childrens education and literacy skills.

 

[staceyobu]

I did levels 1-4 of Nancy Larson and it was probably the most successful science program we ever used at home. It is pricey, though. Even replacement worksheets for consecutive kids are pricey.