Country Girl Posted April 22, 2009 Share Posted April 22, 2009 I've seen mention of people who have enjoyed Oak Meadow Science and I'd like to hear more from you (or from those who have tried it and haven't liked it). What about it worked for your family or didn't work? What grades and ages did you use it with? Did you find that there was enough info and how did the experiments tie in with the text? Were the experiments easy to carry out in the home? Anything else..... lay it on me! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSheep Posted April 22, 2009 Share Posted April 22, 2009 :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Honey Bee Posted April 22, 2009 Share Posted April 22, 2009 :lurk5: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peela Posted April 22, 2009 Share Posted April 22, 2009 When I first started homeschooling, nearly 6 years ago, I bought the Environmental Science- online- for my then dd10. It was 5th grade. It was too much for her and she didnt enjoy it at all. 5th grade in the states is a good 6 month to a year ahead of here, and I think she was just too young. I think as with many of these things, it depends. There were hands on aspects, like experiments out in the field (literally) that I found exhausting (I have never been good at hands on stuff), but they did look like a good idea on paper! After several years of homeschooling I would probably now know how to tweak the program for myself but at the time it was all so new and overwhelming. It involved a lot of reading, and unless I printed out reams of colour pages, it was reading off the computer screen which she has never liked. I felt, for that age, it was too much. If my dd had actually been interested in the subject, it might have worked better for her, but she had been used to being spoon fed pretty basic stuff at school and it was a big leap in expectation for her. So I dont think my experience is very reflective of Oakmeadow in general. I think the Environmental Science program i itself was good. Lots of info, lots of hands on. It just didnt click with us at the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audrey Posted April 22, 2009 Share Posted April 22, 2009 We have used Environmental Science and are using Basic Life Science now (gr. 5&6). We love it, but we're also big OM fans overall. The assignments are laid out for a whole week at a time, so if you look at it, realize that each lesson is not one day, but one week. Experiments are very much observation, nature study and hand-on explorations. If that's not your thing, you'll be skipping and tweaking a lot. However, you could reasonably, do the program and not do many of those experiments and still get a lot out of it. The text is written to the child and is very readable. One of the nice things about OM is that the assignments generally offer several options. You don't have to do all of them in a lesson, but can pick and choose according to your interests, needs and availability of supplies. Most of the supplies needed are very easy to find around the house. You will need a microscope. They suggest alternatives to having a microscope, but I would say get one if you can afford it. OM encourages a lot of art -- drawing from nature, drawing results of experiments, etc -- that is something to consider. Other things: It is completely secular. The syllabus is the lessons and the text all in one. I've never used the online versions, so cannot comment on them. If you have any specific questions, just ask. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bee Posted April 22, 2009 Share Posted April 22, 2009 I like it. Dd does not. Like Audrey said, it has a lot of nature study, observation, and hands-on projects. My dd says she has already done many of the projects and nature study so she doesn't want to do it again. The readings are short and cover the basics well and not in so much depth that a pre-teen would feel overwhelmed. (I had bought "Biology the Easy Way" and decided not to use it yet because it seemed to overwhelming for an introductory course.) Oldest dd feels that the course is too much like a textbook. That is her biggest complaint and why she says she doesn't like it. Despite that, I do plan on using it again with my younger dd. Like, I said above, it does a good job of introducing concepts that can be covered in greater depth in the high school years. The illustrations and photos are quite good, IMO. My only issue with the book itself is that my paperback copy is falling apart and I'll need to put it in a binder for use next time. I'm almost certain that I will use their high school level Environmental Science course with older dd for 9th grade, despite it being a textbook. In fact, if we decide to use textbooks at all for any subjects in high school it will probably be through OM or college level texts. The price is reasonable and it is expected by OM that the high school aged child can work independently. Neither dd or I want a course that requires me to lecture every day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Country Girl Posted April 23, 2009 Author Share Posted April 23, 2009 Thank you everyone for the replies, both positive and negative. I want something that has quite a bit of hands on as long as they are doable at home. It sounds like this is the case with OM. However, we have never done nature study and I'm not sure I see that being a big hit. Is there quite a few other types of hands on activities? Audrey, You mention quite a bit of art.... if my son isn't very good at art and doesn't really like drawing, will this be a problem or can it be worked around? Also, you brought up the use of a microscope. Is this just for the Life or also for the Environmental course? I'd love any excuse to buy a microscope but not sure if it is in the budget or not. Are you also using the full program or just the science? I'm actually interested in the whole program and made another post about that. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyAberlin Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 Where on the website can you see the separate subjects. I keep looking and only see the whole programs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Country Girl Posted April 23, 2009 Author Share Posted April 23, 2009 Where on the website can you see the separate subjects. I keep looking and only see the whole programs? If you go to this link: http://www.oakmeadow.com/curriculum/samples.htm you can see a listing of grades. K-8 has all of the subjects together in one sample.... so just scroll through the sample to find the subject you are looking for. Further down the page are the high school samples and they are listed by subject and grade. To purchase the individual subjects (not available at all grade but starts around 5th I think) go to the upper right hand corner of the page to "bookstore" and in the drop down menu click on directory. Then click on the grade you are interested in and you can see what items are available for separate purchase. HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audrey Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 Thank you everyone for the replies, both positive and negative. I want something that has quite a bit of hands on as long as they are doable at home. It sounds like this is the case with OM. However, we have never done nature study and I'm not sure I see that being a big hit. Is there quite a few other types of hands on activities? Audrey, You mention quite a bit of art.... if my son isn't very good at art and doesn't really like drawing, will this be a problem or can it be worked around? Also, you brought up the use of a microscope. Is this just for the Life or also for the Environmental course? I'd love any excuse to buy a microscope but not sure if it is in the budget or not. Are you also using the full program or just the science? I'm actually interested in the whole program and made another post about that. Thanks! We are using most of the curriculum (we use a different math, though), but I have shuffled years and subjects around a bit to suit our needs. There is a fair amount of art instruction in grades k-4, not as much in 6 that I see. We don't use 5 because it's all American history, so I'm not sure there. With art, it isn't so much an issue of having perfect abilities as it is about exploring the media and using what you know to augment the lessons in other areas. For ex. right now ds is doing an in-depth report on a planet. There are parameters outlined for the report that include having illustrations to accompany the final report. In another recent lesson, he was to collect materials from nature to help craft a diorama of an ancient village. There is a huge variety of art opportunities. I try to encourage ds to explore as many as possible, but I don't insist. I think of it as enrichment. Pick and choose what your child will enjoy, I say! For science, you would get use out of the microscope for grade 4, 5 and 6. I don't know about 7 and 8, because I haven't seen them. A microscope is really a great tool to have. We invested in one that hooks up to the computer and relays the image to the computer screen. Both ds and I wear glasses and have a hard time with viewing well through the standard eyepieces. Another bonus is that the image is quite large and can be fine tuned well for clarity, plus we can capture images to the computer, print them if we like, keep them for later reference, etc. ETA: Can you link your other post? I can't find it. I'll go comment there if you help me find it. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Country Girl Posted April 23, 2009 Author Share Posted April 23, 2009 We are using most of the curriculum (we use a different math, though), but I have shuffled years and subjects around a bit to suit our needs. There is a fair amount of art instruction in grades k-4, not as much in 6 that I see. We don't use 5 because it's all American history, so I'm not sure there. With art, it isn't so much an issue of having perfect abilities as it is about exploring the media and using what you know to augment the lessons in other areas. For ex. right now ds is doing an in-depth report on a planet. There are parameters outlined for the report that include having illustrations to accompany the final report. In another recent lesson, he was to collect materials from nature to help craft a diorama of an ancient village. There is a huge variety of art opportunities. I try to encourage ds to explore as many as possible, but I don't insist. I think of it as enrichment. Pick and choose what your child will enjoy, I say! For science, you would get use out of the microscope for grade 4, 5 and 6. I don't know about 7 and 8, because I haven't seen them. A microscope is really a great tool to have. We invested in one that hooks up to the computer and relays the image to the computer screen. Both ds and I wear glasses and have a hard time with viewing well through the standard eyepieces. Another bonus is that the image is quite large and can be fine tuned well for clarity, plus we can capture images to the computer, print them if we like, keep them for later reference, etc. ETA: Can you link your other post? I can't find it. I'll go comment there if you help me find it. :) Thanks Audrey! I think my son could handle the type of drawing required to illustrate something for learning.... just not for artistic beauty:001_huh:. Here is the link to my other post: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=95880 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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