TrixieB Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 We haven't studied the human body yet. In looking for curriculum, I saw that Sonlight Science 5 covers it, along with some other topics. And I already have a few of the books. Since money is tighter this year, I don't want to buy before asking questions. If you've used Sonlight Science 5: Are there any books you felt could be left out (seems like there are sometimes a few "extra" books in any package that end up being unused or unnecessary)? Are there any books that are used for only a few weeks and could be borrowed from the library instead of being purchased? Are there any books that are clearly creationist/young earth? And I'd like to hear about how Science 5 worked for you -- did you like it? Did your dc like it? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Atl Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 I think just Dry Bones & Fossils is Young Earthish. Most is on Human Anatomy. We did not love the Word Processing bk (she already knew most of Word). I can't think of any others we skipped. Even though we are secular, I still had her read Almost 12. You could get away with borrowing the Survival Skills, Almost 12, & Fossils. hths! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gamom3 Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 Dd loves it. She thinks it is quite easy though...which is probably why she loves it!:tongue_smilie: I think if your library has the books, then you could probably check them out. Most of what they have dd read is a couple of a pages a day. You could drop Almost 12...dd and I read it together, so I could discuss it with her. Somethings where not what I wanted her to hear, but I knew they had to be discussed. We are not finished so other than Almost 12 I don't know what other books could be dropped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrixieB Posted February 5, 2009 Author Share Posted February 5, 2009 I think just Dry Bones & Fossils is Young Earthish. Most is on Human Anatomy. We did not love the Word Processing bk (she already knew most of Word). I can't think of any others we skipped. Even though we are secular, I still had her read Almost 12. You could get away with borrowing the Survival Skills, Almost 12, & Fossils. hths! Did you find "The History of Medicine" to be acceptable (I see that you are a secular family)? It is hard to tell if it's going to be okay for our family, based on the Amazon reviews. Dh doesn't want us to use anything creationist/young earth based. Our library doesn't have the book so I don't have any way to preview it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in CA Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 I would drop the word processing book if you'd rather not cover that topic in science. I do have it, but my ds just doesn't care for it. The style of the book is not really to his liking...so we don't do the word processing part of the program. No biggie. It is used throughout the entire 36 weeks though, so you may want to take that into consideration. I recommend you purchase these if using the 5-day option: *An Intro to Word Processing (used 36 weeks) *Usborne Complete Book of the Human Body (used 16 wks) *The Human Body Activity Book (used 16+ wks) *Blood & Guts (used 14 wks) *Food & Nutrition (used throughout the 36 wks) Possible Library Options: *The History of Medicine (used 7 wks) *Improve Your Survival Skills (used 7 wks) *Almost 12 (used 1 wk) *Dry Bones and Other Fossils (used 5 wks) *Rocks & Fossils (used 7 wks) I also purchased the Boys Body Book which is new to SL this year. I have the previous years schedule though so I am not sure how many weeks it was scheduled. My son very much enjoyed this book. Good info for boys, without much, if any, s*xual stuff. I have heard good things about the girls book as well. We also thought the Almost 12 book by SL was very well written. It is definitely from a Christian perspective though if that is an issue. My son and I read this together and discussed "the birds & the bees" from a Christian perspective. I found it very easy to discuss this with him during this science program...keeping everything scientific and yet, personal. I didn't get embarrassed, and thankfully, neither did he. I think it helped that he had already learned many parts of the body before reproduction, etc. was introduced. You will get reproduction in the Usborne book as well though, so you can easily drop the Almost 12 book if having any reference to God is bothersome. There is not TONS of references to God, but He is central to the book. Here is an example... After teaching about reproduction...the process of the sperm traveling to the egg, etc., it states, "This is God's wonderful way of growing children and we must be careful not to spoil the glory of his plan by joking about it, or thinking wrongly about these things." Another.. "When God created people He designed this wonderful way of bringing a sperm and egg together." If those two excerpts cause a violent reaction with shivers up and down your spine....I would skip Almost 12. :D:lol: All in all, SL's Science 5 has not been a difficult program, but it has been informative and my son has very much enjoyed it. I don't regret using it at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrixieB Posted February 5, 2009 Author Share Posted February 5, 2009 After teaching about reproduction...the process of the sperm traveling to the egg, etc., it states, "This is God's wonderful way of growing children and we must be careful not to spoil the glory of his plan by joking about it, or thinking wrongly about these things." Another.. "When God created people He designed this wonderful way of bringing a sperm and egg together." If those two excerpts cause a violent reaction with shivers up and down your spine....I would skip Almost 12. :D:lol: Honestly, I personally don't mind the excerpts that you shared. I guess I am just being uber-cautious at the moment because dh and I just had a big, unpleasant... ah... "discussion"; he was livid about the dc being taught anything from a creationist viewpoint. So, he might take exception to that book. He wants any religious teaching to be kept separate from history and science... particularly science. Bible story time is okay, if it's just that -- compartmentalized by itself. I know you can take most/all of the religious content out of Sonlight. I think they provide some great materials, so I'm trying to figure out if/how our family can use those materials. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in CA Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 (edited) Did you find "The History of Medicine" to be acceptable (I see that you are a secular family)? It is hard to tell if it's going to be okay for our family, based on the Amazon reviews. Dh doesn't want us to use anything creationist/young earth based. Our library doesn't have the book so I don't have any way to preview it. I'm not Jenny, but I don't think "The History of Medicine" goes into many young/earth creationism things. It is mostly just giving the history of medicine starting with the Egyptians. My son finds this book fascinating and very enjoyable. He is reading it on his own, so I cannot say for certain that it would not be objectionable to you (or your dh), but in thumbing through it I see nothing that should be overtly in-your-face offensive. It does mention if a scientist was a Christian (as many early famous scientists were) and I see that it states that Louis Pasteur rejected the theory of evolution due to his study of microbes...but it doesn't go into a diatribe against evolution, nor does the book include ONLY Christian scientists. It's doesn't seem to be a "We are Christian hear us roar!" pro-Christian type book. It's just "Medicine History" that states, very interestingly, what different scientists discovered, how they discovered it, and what some of them believed about their discoveries, etc. It is produced by a Christian company though. I cannot say for sure that you will like it. That is very subjective...meaning that you could absolutely hate the book depending on your aversion (or your husbands) to Christian-type books. Or you could like it very much and see any Christian beliefs of the scientists as history: that was who they were, and what they believed. Period. It all truly depends on you and yours. Make sense? :) Edited February 5, 2009 by Melissa in CA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in CA Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 Honestly, I personally don't mind the excerpts that you shared. I guess I am just being uber-cautious at the moment because dh and I just had a big, unpleasant... ah... "discussion"; he was livid about the dc being taught anything from a creationist viewpoint. So, he might take exception to that book. He wants any religious teaching to be kept separate from history and science... particularly science. Bible story time is okay, if it's just that -- compartmentalized by itself. I know you can take most/all of the religious content out of Sonlight. I think they provide some great materials, so I'm trying to figure out if/how our family can use those materials. You'll definitely want to steer clear of "Dry Bones and Other Fossils." I think all the rest, except possibly Almost 12, would not be objectionable. You could just do the 4 or 5 day program using the Usborne Guide to Rocks and Fossils and drop the Dry Bones book. You could also VERY easily drop the Almost 12 book and just read one of the Body books...which are not Christian published. I see this as quite do-able for you. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Atl Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 Oops, forgot the History of Medicine. Yes, I agree with Melissa, there is some YE/heavy Christian stuff, but I'm laid back about my kids reading things from a different point of view. I see it as a teaching moment; "This is what some people believe..." I always try to follow it up with lots of caveats and opposing science, much like others would do given their XYZ beliefs. I think SL science is not the best, but it's not bad either. If you are looking for more secular science, Prentice Hall and Galore Park are great choices too. I also love the DK Encyclopedia of the Human Body (even better the the Usborne). You could use it with Blood and Guts and Lyrical Life Science Human Anatomy. I wish Plato's Cyber Ed would put out a Human Anatomy unit. Their stuff is also fun. hth's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrixieB Posted February 6, 2009 Author Share Posted February 6, 2009 Thanks, everyone, for your reviews and help. I will definitely leave out "Dry Bones". I think "The History of Medicine" might work okay, and will lead to some discussions here; besides, I found a cheap used copy. Now I can order the books I need, and get science penciled into the big blank spot on our schedule. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G5052 Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 Sonlight is revising their science programs for release in April, and I believe that Science 5 is on this list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrixieB Posted February 6, 2009 Author Share Posted February 6, 2009 Sonlight is revising their science programs for release in April, and I believe that Science 5 is on this list. Hmmm... wow, I'd sure like to know exactly what they'll include in the new science 5 -- could be I'd like it better, but maybe not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G5052 Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 (edited) Hmmm... wow, I'd sure like to know exactly what they'll include in the new science 5 -- could be I'd like it better, but maybe not. Historically Sonlight is rather closed-lipped about the details of their revisions and doesn't sell student pages that go with their previous versions when there's a big rewrite. We're using Science 5 now and will finish sometime this summer. I'm bummed that it's going to be hard to resell. :rolleyes: Edited February 6, 2009 by GVA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mothersweets Posted February 7, 2009 Share Posted February 7, 2009 Sonlight is revising their science programs for release in April, and I believe that Science 5 is on this list. Oh my. I had no idea. I just purchased Science 5 last week from Sonlight! Sigh. Oh well, I am excited to use it. :) I haven't studied any of these subjects with my middle kids so I know we will get a lot out of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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