Country Girl Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 I am kind of spinning off my other post where I got some great advice and suggestions on science in our home. I started wondering what science programs you have found that have really excited your family? What was it about the program that really sparked interest and learning for your dc? I'm not looking for any specific grade suggestions, I just want to know what has worked to really make your kids excited about learning science. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 Both Calvin and I were excited by RS4K Chemistry Level 1, then frustrated by the biology and bored by the physics. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tree House Academy Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 NOEO has been good for my ds9. Next year, we are doing a living book Science that marries to the History they are studying using Heart of Dakota. We are really excited to give it a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monk17 Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 Gravitas makes science 4 kids and it's the first scince program that's impresssed us both. We like that there is a reading section, a hands on section and a seperate book that explains latin roots for the scince words we are using in that lesson. It uses real scince words while introducing concepts that will be explored in more detail in laer grades. http://www.gravitaspublications.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ibbygirl Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 My daughter did BJU science this year for the first time. She really liked the colorful pictures and photographs and we both liked that they had so many experiments. She really enjoys the hands on stuff and we do that for our "fun Fridays" :) We're doing BJU again this year but this year I'm buying the lab kit too. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catwoman Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 Another vote for BJU Science! Cat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storm Bay Posted April 18, 2009 Share Posted April 18, 2009 RS4K Chemistry I. But I hate to hear when people don't like the other two as much (some like it all, I know) as we bought the whole package to get the discount. We have RS4K Chem II that dd will do this summer for fun and as a prep for high school next year. It is also 10 chapters, but they're much longer and go into a lot more depth. We tried NOEO, but it wasn't a good fit. We've tried one BJU science and my dd who loves science hates it--not a good fit. I'm not sure how much of it is the topic and how much of it is BJU. It's our only experience with BJU and it was an experiment to use a Christian based science. My eldest just ate science up until BJU and we didn't even use a curriculum with her; she would read it on her own, etc. But for my middle dd, RS4K has made a huge difference. I won't say that she loves science now, but she likes it so much better than she ever has before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Country Girl Posted April 20, 2009 Author Share Posted April 20, 2009 This has been great to see what has really made science come alive in your homes. Keep the ideas coming! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy2BeautifulGirls Posted April 21, 2009 Share Posted April 21, 2009 We are going to use R.E.A.L. Science (Life) next year. I'm pretty excited about that. This year we did an animal study by habitat and now we're studying the human body. We're just reading, writing, and doing some fun stuff like lapbooks, but no experiments yet. However, my youngest has not really gotten a lot out of it, so we're going to repeat it next year using this curricula. I'm also spreading out SOTW to cover at least 2 years, so this will still work out well. (My girls are only 4 and 5, but they are ready, so we're just kind of taking it slow and letting them lead the way!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Dominion Heather Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 My son has really enjoyed Singapore MPH science. It requires far more of the student than most of the living book curriculums, but we add more books and reading as he is interested. He spends about 1/10 of his time reading and 9/10 in completing experiments. It is not easy to use. Finding the materials to use for experiments has been sometimes difficult and caused us to invest in some science equipment earlier than we might have, but it has been well worth it since my son is thriving and learing from actually doing rather than reading about science. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desert Rat Posted April 27, 2009 Share Posted April 27, 2009 Not as a curriculum but as a supplement we love the Janice Van Cleave Science for Every Kid book series. We have used Chemistry, Biology, Physics and Human Body so far. My kids are really into experiments so I try to do as many as I can stand. LOL We also have really enjoyed the Young Scientist Club kits. We've done 10 so far and have had only one miss. That was the fossil kit because the plaster of paris dried in under 2 minutes and we didn't get an opportunity to make our cast. *sigh* That's what happens when you live in an arid climate and don't adjust the directions. I knew better, really! For our regular studies we have used RS4K. Ds liked the program but I didn't like that it was only 10 chapters. So I supplement with the Van Cleave books and any other sources I can piece together. I do hear that science is one of the hardest sources to find and I'm starting to believe them, especially because of our non-religious viewpoint. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Misty Posted May 2, 2009 Share Posted May 2, 2009 We are really loving NOEO Science here. Both my girls look forward to it each day. BUT, what gets them REALLY excited about learning science is mostly reading living books. I did a bird study last year with my then 7yo daughter, incorporating living books (Burgess, etc.) and all my kids got into it. I can't tell you how excited my kids would get every time a new kind of bird would land in our yard. They would be racing back and forth from window to window and I would have to lift up the little ones so they could see too. They loved looking them up in the field guide. Great fun! Nature study is always exciting and brings out great joy and a love of learning. My oldest daughter is a rock hound and she reads a lot of "Rocks & Minerals" type books as well. Not living books, but she enjoys them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Country Girl Posted May 7, 2009 Author Share Posted May 7, 2009 I just wanted to say thanks again for everyone who chimed in on this. I've just been reading through all of the replies again and love hearing how science is working in everyone's homes. It also seems there are a few common programs that keep coming up in the replies. Keep them coming! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Country Girl Posted May 7, 2009 Author Share Posted May 7, 2009 My son has really enjoyed Singapore MPH science. It requires far more of the student than most of the living book curriculums, but we add more books and reading as he is interested. He spends about 1/10 of his time reading and 9/10 in completing experiments. It is not easy to use. Finding the materials to use for experiments has been sometimes difficult and caused us to invest in some science equipment earlier than we might have, but it has been well worth it since my son is thriving and learing from actually doing rather than reading about science. Heather, Thanks for this reply. I've been looking at the MPH program again but some of what I read seemed to indicate their weren't many experiments. I'm glad to hear from you that it does have a lot of experiments. Did you use the older program or the newer program? I was looking at the 5/6 for next year only I was worried that the two years built on each other and we might miss something important if we skipped the 3/4 (although the samples of this looked fairly easy so I don't think that would be a problem). I'd love to hear any more you have to say about this program! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geo Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 We're using R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey: Chemistry 1 by Pandia Press. It's recommended for grades 2-6 http://www.pandiapress.com/chemistry_level1.html It has the right balance of text/experimentation and really promotes scientific thinking. Lot's of fun! Geo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.