StaceyL in Canada Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 I'm currently using REAL Science: Life with my 9 yr old son, and used the Earth and Space volume previously. Unfortunately, REAL Science doesn't offer any more books in the series. Thinking ahead to next year, and possibly for a co-op class, I'm deliberating.... Any thoughts on either Real Science 4 Kids or Noeo? It looks as though: --RS4K covers ten lessons per text, and one lesson per week, so that you would need to use at least two, if not three, texts per year...? which would become quite expensive, especially for a co-op class (not all parents would be able/ willing to spend so much on just science). Students read the lessons and do a lab per week. --Also, not sure how the Kogs books fit in with RS4K. --Noeo uses "living books" (well, if Usborne can be called such) and again, students read the material (alone or with parents). They narrate back the info, then do labs/ experiments from kits. I don't recall the prices, but they seem pretty high too, given all the books. Does anyone recommend either of these programs, or perhaps something else? I'm looking for something that would require no more than two days per week, with perhaps one day devoted to reading the lesson/ material, and another for lab/ experiment work. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KristenS Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 We're using Noeo Biology 1 this year, and while we like it, I'm not sure it's what you're looking for. The experiments come in clumps ... there were several at the beginning of the year, and now it's been a few months, and we have another clump of experiments. They don't come at one a week or anything like that (though it would be easy to find things to go along with the readings). The readings are short and easily doubled up to fit whatever days you can spare for science. This is level one though; but I expect it's the same for the other levels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shasta Mom Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 RS4K:If you're doing a co op setting, I would have the individuals buy a lab book, perhaps share some texts (or each student get a text), and then get just one teacher's manual for the entire group. That way it's not so expensive. I think it would work well. We are using RS4Kbiology and chem for 4th grade, and I thought it went into more detail than necessary for a 4th grader - so we didn't do all the work. I think if a 7th grader used it, they should do all the work and then it would be a good program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaceyL in Canada Posted February 19, 2009 Author Share Posted February 19, 2009 RS4K:If you're doing a co op setting, I would have the individuals buy a lab book, perhaps share some texts (or each student get a text), and then get just one teacher's manual for the entire group. That way it's not so expensive. I think it would work well. We are using RS4Kbiology and chem for 4th grade, and I thought it went into more detail than necessary for a 4th grader - so we didn't do all the work. I think if a 7th grader used it, they should do all the work and then it would be a good program. ...that you would cover more than one book per year, as there are only 10 lessons per book? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shasta Mom Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 yes, you could do a chapter a week........that was my goal, but somehow it doesn't get done that often. It works out well to read the text, and do the experiment in the same week..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaceyL in Canada Posted February 20, 2009 Author Share Posted February 20, 2009 ...if we were to cover more than one book for the year. Each student text is around $25, and then there's the student lab book too. I can't see parents shelling out $100 per child for the year of science. This may be something we will just end up doing on our own, instead of in a co-op. Are you familiar with the Kogs books at all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshyne Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Stacey, I think R.E.A.L. Science is putting out their Chemistry book in March, and their level 2 books sometime this year. If you like Pandia Press, you may want to hold off and see if they are available when you want them. I'm anxiously awaiting the Chem. one for my 10 yr. old DS, and just getting ready to start Life with my 5 and 6 year old boys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shasta Mom Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 .......hmm - I guess you're right. I didn't do kogs, but I remember discussion about it on the boards - some negative reviews - you might want to search.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaceyL in Canada Posted February 20, 2009 Author Share Posted February 20, 2009 ...this: "Currently there are two books available in the R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey series - Life (level one) and Earth and Space (level one). While we do have plans to complete the level one series and to create level two and level three books in the future, there are no definite release dates available for new R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey books at this time. Chemistry (level one), Physics (level one), and Biology (level two) are all in the works and planned for 2009. When a book is within 3 months of completion, an estimated release date will be posted on this Web site. Until that time, for legal reasons we cannot give any information regarding new R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey books. Please sign our mailing list for notification of release dates." I guess all we can do is wait! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshyne Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 *Somewhere* I saw the date for Chemistry to be March... Okay, I found it. It's in the free preview after the Chemistry title page. March 2009. I really hope it does indeed get released at that time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaceyL in Canada Posted February 20, 2009 Author Share Posted February 20, 2009 *Somewhere* I saw the date for Chemistry to be March... Okay, I found it. It's in the free preview after the Chemistry title page. March 2009. I really hope it does indeed get released at that time... mm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshyne Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 "Try before you buy" Chemistry Preview Open that .pdf and it's on the bottom of the 2nd page. HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tree House Academy Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 We are doing NOEO physics I with my 4th grader and we both love it. Next year, we are going to use NOEO Biology II. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirty ethel rackham Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 We did RS4K in a co op setting and we HATED it. The pre-level was way too basic and the Level 1 had overly complex vocabulary. It was very expensive for what you get. Plus, it practically killed my daughter's love for science - too much rigor and boredom in the labs. Way too much documentation and not enough "wow, this is so cool" which is what I expect from chemistry. We are using Noeo science physics this year - levels 1 for my 3rd grader and level II (plus some supplements) for my 7th grader. We are very happy with it. The books are very good. Since we are using it in a club setting, we do add hands on activities if it doesn't call for any for that topic. We have the kids read the materials at home and do activities as a group twice a month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaceyL in Canada Posted February 21, 2009 Author Share Posted February 21, 2009 Thanks for the thoughts; after glancing at some of the sample pages of RS4K, I too thought it looked awfully dry for the age group. Along with the expense, it seems as though it's likely not the best choice for us. BTW, I noticed in your tag-line that your son is using the Teaching Co's Masterpieces of the Imaginative Mind. This is one of my favourite TC courses--in fact, I've listened to it twice (even with his somewhat dismissive view of Christianity). Maybe I'm just a literature nerd, as it received fairly low reviews on the TC site--some people found it "too cerebral" ( a rather odd remark, considering the general intellectual level of TC courses). Anyhow, hope he's enjoying it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaceyL in Canada Posted February 23, 2009 Author Share Posted February 23, 2009 nn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in VA Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 Rainbow Science is coming out with a new program called "Colors". I like Rainbow so I'm hoping Colors will be good too. The website has samples. Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy loves Bud Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 We use RS4K in our coop. We meet every other week and do the lab for the chapter. The students are expected to read and be familiar with the chapter before we meet. I teach the 4th/5th/6th graders and also teach the latin and greek roots in the language connection supplement they have. Each third meeting we do lapbooks covering the material we have learned. This has stretched the chemistry topic over the entire year. It is a little light for the year, but I use some of the KOGS at home in addition to studying the science text, plus we study other science topics as they come up. But these are additions I make, unrealted to the coop. It's been a very good year. The only difficulty is that we have many more families than we anticipated for our first year, and sometimes it is a challenge to set up the lab supplies for so many kids in the limited amount of time we have at the church we use. Dr. Keller was very helpful to our organizer as she figured out what to order. You can do the coop without buying every item for every student. We don't use the lab books, and I have my students keep a spiral binder and record their own lab data. I hope this helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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