Rod and Staff Science

[new2homeschoolmom]

Has anyone used Rod and Staff's Science curriculum? I am thinking of using this and would like some feed back.

Thank you

Kristi

[Shelly in the Country]

I've used Rod and Staff science with my 9 yo dd. We've used everything up through God's Wonderful World 5. I was skeptical about it at first because I wanted to stick with a topic for a longer period of time than R&S does. I thought it skipped around a lot. My dh liked it though and thought it was thorough in it's explanations and he pointed out that our dd was little and probably would enjoy learning about lots of different things in a year. Each book sort of draws inspiration from a book of the Bible. GWW 5 draws inspiration from the book of Psalms for example. I like that the series gives glory to God when discussing the wonders of God's creation. It also has good solid science information. My dd has learned a ton from it. Science is one of her favorite subjects and she never complains about doing it. I thought the format of Patterns of Nature 2 was very very different from the rest of their science series. But we've enjoyed them all. :001_smile:

[Ellie]

I thought the format of Patterns of Nature 2 was very very different from the rest of their science series. But we've enjoyed them all. :001_smile:

That's because Patterns of Nature is an older science, while the God's World science series is new. Other texts in the older series are God's Marvelous Works, Books One (5th gr.) and Two (6th gr.), and Investigating God's Orderly World, Books One (7th & 8th) and Two (9th and 10th).

 

God's Protected World (3rd) was the first of the new series to be published, and I liked it very much. I'm so pleased that there are now 3rd through 7th (or almost 7th; not sure if it's released yet).

[PollyOR]

For years I skipped science, because we never seemed to have enough time to do it right (experiments). Finally I read a thread here that suggested that reading through science lessons was better than doing nothing at all.

 

Since that time, DD (10) and I have read through the 3rd grade book and are now working through the 4th grade book. We don't do any experiments, but I do feel good that she is learning some science. We both like Rod & Staff! I plan to continue with it.

 

The new 7th grade books came out in the past year.

 

Edit to add: There are experiments, but we've chosen not to do them at this time. You can view samples at Milestone Ministries.

Edited April 12, 2009 by PollyOR

[new2homeschoolmom]

Thank you for the advise. DD is 10 going on 11 and I was think of starting her in the 4th grade book we have done no formal science. She did get some in public school which she went until the third grade. So maybe I should just start her in the 3rd grade book at the begining of the set.

What do you all think?

Thanks Kristi

[PollyOR]

Kristi, we quickly read through the 3rd grade book. It was pretty simple. I think I would start with the 4th grade book.

[sandalwood]

I have not seen any of the books before 5th grade, but I just want to add in that we got the 5th grade science in an ebay lot of books and I was most impressed with it. All we've ever done otherwise is Sonlight and your typical Bill Nye videos, etc. I really like the 5th grade book.