HomeschoolOnTheRocks Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 Hi, I’m looking for advice about science curriculums for September, or maybe to start earlier. I’m really struggling to pick between Elemental Science Biology for the grammar stage or REAL odyssey life science. They seem to cover the same sort of thing. I wonder if perhaps people have found better retention with elemental science due to the poetry memorization? For a will-be third and second grader. Plus a summer born K and a 2yo who will be tagging along but won’t be doing the worksheets due to writing ability or lack of it. I will end up doing the science on one day a week, as I prefer to have an art day, history day, science day and geography in our 4-day school week, so potentially what is most realistic with that as a factor? I really need it to be easy, so I don’t end up dropping it. But also fun with experiments the children enjoy. (At this stage, I’m not too fussed over secular vs neutral. As long as it isn’t religious). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarita Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 We did elemental science for a minute (Intro to Science). I really liked it but it was too much "writing" for my eldest. Not just the physical act of writing but the "worksheets" were basically notebook pages with open ended prompts like draw or write what you did and my son wanted/needed more guidance than that. He faired better with specific questions like label the water cycle, or how does a maple tree spread it's seeds. I can't answer the retention question because I don't really care about retention for science at this age. I will say even with zero push from me (aside from just making the subject happen) my children retain some scientific knowledge (really more than I set out to teach). I just make science fun, while blabbing a bit about the principles of what is going on, answering their inquiries, and make encyclopedias and books available. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeschoolOnTheRocks Posted February 16 Author Share Posted February 16 Thank you Clarita! I believe the grammar stage workbooks are more directed. There are some notebooking pages and quizzes. My eldest two probably won’t be thrilled about the writing pages I can see in the student book sample. 😂 but I don’t mind dictating some of the notebooking type pages, and them doing the lab reports. But maybe the REAL Science student pages are better for them to do independently, I’ll look at the sample again. I suppose my keenness for retention is that it that the contents of the curriculums are just things kids are expected to have down. Twice it’s happened now where people have looked shocked/ horrified my children don’t know how to classify the animal kingdom. I think it’s my being mortified that I’m keen about retention. With a few small children close in age, science has been sporadic and really about other things. Like palaeontology /dinosaurs, space, etc. My fear I’m failing them really wants to make me get this particular area of science down! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KimberlyW Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 7 hours ago, HomeschoolOnTheRocks said: Twice it’s happened now where people have looked shocked/ horrified my children don’t know how to classify the animal kingdom. [...] My fear I’m failing them really wants to make me get this particular area of science down! If it helps you feel better, I don't even remember offhand how to classify the animal kingdom and I'm a full grown adult who had a decent science education (though I focused primarily on the physical sciences). Something tells me that it's a topic your local schools learn about in a specific grade so people expect them to learn the same things. You could just tell them you're following a different progression of material. 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaLeSherman Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 I did Elemental Science Biology for Grammar with my kids. It doesn't have to be writing heavy. What I did with it was print the animals off onto sticker paper, made posters with Carnivores, Herbivores, and Omnivores, and let them categorize each animal based off what they read from either the encyclopedia or what we happened to have borrowed from the library that week. I also purchased coloring pages for my younger ones who follow along, and lapbooks for the children it was intended for, since the books have significantly less writing. I will say the lapbooks you get from their website are cute and fun. My older kids (now 4th and 6th grade) are still doing it for their final year in Elemental Science Grammar series and enjoy looking through their old lapbooks and reminiscing about different experiments, so it definitely has sticking value and review without you doing the work. Just a confession that we never did to REAL Odyssey as we had wanted, my kids always enjoyed Elemental Science that we tried first and I saw no reason to switch personally, so I can't really provide a compare and contrast for you. Hope this helps with your decision making. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutTN Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 We used RSO for our first couple years and enjoyed it. Liked the hands-on very much. We always used tons of library books, real books, and did far less seat-work than was expected in the early grades. We are not, not, not worksheet/lapbook people. Never used Elemental, so cannot compare. I tended to use curricula as a spine/suggestion and then adapt to suit my needs or my kids’ interests. Never one to feel bound to do things as they are written! As my kids got older, we moved to a more eclectic and interest-driven science approach, with a smattering of many sciences in each year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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