What do you use for science?

[apond]

I would love to know what you use for science. What age is your child? What do you like and dislike about the program? Would you use it again?

 

Annmarie

Ds9, Dd7, Dd5, Ds2, Ds2

[Sew happily ever after]

We have LOVED Apologia Astronomy this year (dd6 and dd8 participated) I think it would really have been best to do this when ALL of my children were over the age of 6--6,8,10,12--they would have learned SO much more--that's not say they haven't learned anything--they actually have retained quite a bit and it's interesting but the reading sessions get long, so sometimes it takes us a couple of weeks to cover 1 lesson!

 

Next year we will be using NOEO chemistry 1--I am really excited about this program! It uses the best of classical education and Charlotte Mason style and it looks fabulous! We actually just received ours in the mail and the kids are psyched to begin it--so I am considering shelving Astronomy and starting Chem. 1--for their sakes...it is really cool--the books are great and there are little experiment kits which come with it--so it should be easy to do...with the Astronomy I had a hard time doing the experiments because everything is not included and sometimes we would forget to get certain items while at the store, etc. The main reason we didn't go with Apologia again was because the next 3 books cover botany (not my cup of tea) and animals and bugs (YUCK!) so we needed something more up my alley KWIM!

[partyof5]

We've done a few different things while trying to find the right fit. We began with the WTM method strictly, and we really benefitted from it. There were plenty of library books available for us to read and do narrations, sketches, etc. I would have loved to do science this way as a kid!

 

We switched things up in 3rd grade and tried Noeo Physic 1 which we really enjoyed as well, partly at the request of my oldest dd who really wanted something more "meaty" than what I was creating on my own. This gave us more experiments, and the kits and structured program were really helpful to me that year. At some points I felt like "hey, I could come up with this reading schedule on my own and buy experiment kits, and not buy it from Noeo" but the reality is that this would take me much too long. The organization and reading schedules, experiment schedules, and such were really helpful.

 

We will likely do more Noeo in the future...BUT, this year, with 2dd's at home this year, I opted for Jeannie Fulbright's Zoology books. I find it to be enjoyable and content-rich reading, and the notebooking can be done to suit each child's skills. It's kind of nice to science reading all together on the sofa adn then break for notebook time.

 

Hope that helps!

[Pata]

We started out the year with a first grade Harcourt text, but it just skimmed the surface, so I beefed it up with library books and more experiments. In the end I wrote my own curriculum to go with TWTM suggestions and I love everything about it, go figure! There is a link to it on my blog if your interested.

[gandpsmommy]

It is primarily for dd, who is in first grade, but ds4 loves science, so he tags along a lot. We love that it uses living books, rather than a text book. I like that it comes with a 36 week schedule, with reading, experiments and notebook work all scheduled in. (Although I have adjusted the schedule and assignments, as necessary.) It also comes with reproducible lab sheets for notebooking and recording experiments. And it comes with the Young Scientist Club's experiment kits, which contain almost everything you will need to conduct experiments. The teacher's manual lists all additional items that you will need to have on hand for experiments, but most of them are truly common household items.

[BizyPenguin]

My ds is in 5th grade and we're using ABeka science. Here's what I like about ABeka science:

 

1-When you buy the CLP teacher's manual it's not teacher intensive (which is great for me since I'm a non-sciencey mom).

 

2-Your child can work pretty independently once they know how to read.

 

3-It doesn't overwhelm me with too many experiments

 

4-The photos in the text are beautiful.

 

5-The material is very thorough.

 

Here's what's not so good about to some people:

 

1-It's "readable" science and science really should be more hands on. You can easily solve this by adding in a Janice Van Cleave experiment book.

 

2-If you buy all of the ABeka TMs it may be teacher intensive

 

We'll probably stick with ABeka for 6th grade and then move on to Apologia after that----not sure yet, though.

 

HTH!

[Plain_Jane]

I am doing BIO I this year with dd6. We're really enjoying it.

 

Here's the link the their site.

 

I like that it's all scheduled out for you- either for 4 days a week or 2. It's also easy enough to adapt to your own schedule and needs, but I like that it's all laid out. I also like the living books approach and often the books would get dd interested in a topic and we'd get more from the library on that topic.

 

I was disappointed that there weren't more experiments but I hear that CHEM I is better for that. I did add to it a bit by incorporating some lapbooks, worksheets and other fun supplemental activities as the "read, narrate, illustrate" approach did get a bit mundane for dd after a while.

 

All in all, she LOVES it and has learned a lot & I like how it covers the topics quite thoroughly yet is simple to implement.

[prairiegirl]

We used RS4K Chemistry Pre-level 1. My dd is 8. We really liked this program. My dd especially liked the experiments. We are also using Fizz, Bubble and Flash as a supplement.

 

 

Julia

mom of 3 (8,7,5)

[King Alfred Academy]

Christian Kids Explore Biology with my first grader. I think the program is solid but a little stale. I couldn't bring myself to do the lessons. I was getting down on myself for not "doing " science with my boys as they really seem to be interested in it. so after a lot of reading, researching, and thinking about what I want science to look like for my boys in the grammar stage, i decided I really wanted them to learn about and observe nature. So, we are doing Barb's green challenges every week. It's fun and gets us outside. There is no pressure of "formal" teaching, which is what I needed. We just go on nature walks/hikes and then talk about what we observed. It is perfect for the age my boys are at. We have been reading the Burgess Book of Animals and will continue with his bird book as well as other "living books". Science is just really "informal" for us but we are all enjoying it and learning a lot.

 

I think we will eventually do something like Apologia, but with so many posts about Noeo, I may have to look into that!

[hsm]

If you are happy with Abeka, why so you plan to switch to Apologia? Curious because I've heard this before? What don't you like about Abeka for that age, or what do you prefer about Apologia?

[Lori D.]

We did not use formal science programs until this year with 9th grade. We followed the very general science topic cycle (Life-Earth-Chemistry-Physics), but used:

- tons of real books

- videos from the library

- did lots of experiments

- used lots of kits

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, keeping alive the love of learning and discovery. At the beginning of each year, I would look at the table of contents to several books and science encyclopedias and write down a list of topics we could cover for the year, and then we'd speed up and slow down through that list throughout the year.

 

It's worked well for us; the boys have always scored off the charts high in science on the standardized testing, and we're not having a problem this year finally using a formal science textbook for 9th grade for Biology.

 

ENJOY your science journey! Warmest regards, Lori D.

[AngieW in Texas]

My 4th grader has been using Scott Foresman Science for the past 1.5 years. I showed her several programs (all of the other were hs programs), but this is the one that she wanted to do.

 

My 7th grader is using Prentice Hall Science Explorer. She actually found this series herself at Half-Price Books. She was so excited when she saw one of the books at the store that she started crying and begged me to let her use it for school. I got an almost complete set off of ebay and we've been using it ever since (that was back in 5th grade). We were using SL science before.

 

My 9th grader is using Prentice Hall Biology. I do NOT like this program and will not use it with my other kids. I don't like the experiments at all. I think the content is way too heavy for a 9th grade biology book (and I was a science major in college). I'm continuing with it only because my dd said she'd rather finish it than switch over to a different text.

 

I have a Holt Biology book that I got cheap on amazon. I like this book and will probably use it for my other girls when they get to this stage.

 

I will probably use Holt Chemistry through Keystone National Highschool with my oldest next year.

[Guest Lorna]

We did not use formal science programs until this year with 9th grade. We followed the very general science topic cycle (Life-Earth-Chemistry-Physics), but used:

- tons of real books

- videos from the library

- did lots of experiments

- used lots of kits

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, keeping alive the love of learning and discovery. At the beginning of each year, I would look at the table of contents to several books and science encyclopedias and write down a list of topics we could cover for the year, and then we'd speed up and slow down through that list throughout the year.

 

It's worked well for us; the boys have always scored off the charts high in science on the standardized testing, and we're not having a problem this year finally using a formal science textbook for 9th grade for Biology.

 

ENJOY your science journey! Warmest regards, Lori D.

 

We are doing this too. I keep picking up textbooks for our children's age and then being horrified at the lack of real science in them. They seem to be more about social engineering. Perhaps this is just the UK textbooks. Science is our most important subject after maths and it is essential to me that the children love it.

We have been studying Zoology by reading David Attenborough books recently, combined with visits to the zoological museum and zoo.

Next week we are starting a project on the elements with lots of activities (link in my signature).

I imagine we will start a textbook approach later on but for now I would rather hold their interest with an eclectic approach.

[Laura Corin]

I would love to know what you use for science. What age is your child? What do you like and dislike about the program? Would you use it again?

 

Annmarie

Ds9, Dd7, Dd5, Ds2, Ds2

 

Real Science 4 Kids Level I Chemistry. I'm iffy about the physics and more than iffy about the biology, but the chemistry was great. Suitable for most 5th graders and up.

 

Laura

[Laura Corin]

We are doing this too. I keep picking up textbooks for our children's age and then being horrified at the lack of real science in them. They seem to be more about social engineering.

 

Really boring and bitty. We jumped to IGCSE Biology, and Calvin and I are fascinated.

 

Best wishes

 

Laura

[Arch at Home]

What haven't we used? We did science ala WTM for first grade. I couldn't keep enough variety in the activities. I did like the variety of books coming through our house. For second we use LLB and MWS blue book to do astronomy and earth science. There still wasn't enough variety. My dd found it odd to only read a page or two in a book at a time. We started third grade with Real Science 4 Kids Pre-level 1. It had information in just the right amounts with experiments that mostly worked. We would have continued it but at that poin there was only one book. After RS4K we moved to Singapore My Pal's are Here Science. The text at first glance is simple but the activities and workbook push my dd to really think. The biology is based mostly on South Asian plants and animals so we had to do a few Wiki searches to figure out answers. The portion on magnets was really good. We will be moving on to MPH 4 next fall. I wasn't as happy with Singapore Let's Learn Science for my first grader. It is very basic and so are the workbook sheets. I would opt out of science for her if it wasn't that she wanted to be like her older sister. Consequently we will continue with it for next year also.

 

Sarah

[Closeacademy]

My oldest dd loves Singpore's My Pals are Here Science. It is visually appealing, gets to the point and talks about science that she is ready to learn about.

 

I like it because it pushes her to think and it is fun for both of us.

 

We also have notebooking pages for weather, animals, rocks, etc. And check out a lot of books about animals and science topics from the library.

 

My oldest is in 2nd. My youngest is in K and just listens in on the library books right now. I am looking at Singapore's Let's Learn Science for her for next year--maybe.:)

[elegantlion]

We used Abeka from 1st to 3rd, although we did a grade ahead in the books. This year (4th) we are using Apologia Astronomy. I wish we had mixed it in last year. I am learning a lot but my ds10 knows a lot of this information, he's very science focused.

 

I am still toying with the next three years material, then I plan to start Apologia Biology in 8th.

 

We will do BF's History of Science and I may spread it out over two years and do some more individual science units within the study. I plan on purchasing

 

The exploring series

http://www.answersingenesis.org/PublicStore/catalog/The-Exploring-Series,283.aspx

 

and the wonders of creation series

http://www.answersingenesis.org/PublicStore/catalog/Wonders-of-Creation-Series,284.aspx

 

to use as reference and lesson planning.

[angela in ohio]

For science, we just read books (inlcuding various textbooks I have on hand, library books, science encyclopedias, etc.,) do nature study (raise butterflies, leaf collections, etc.,) and use community opportunities (field trips, etc.) until 6th grade, then they go into a jr high/ high school science curriculum. Up until then, the time we would have spent on a big science program is spent on math, math, math. Both of my dd want to go into science-related fields, and dd11 excelled in General Science this year (she is almost done already, and we are switching to BJU science,) so it works for us.

[Pongo]

We are on week 23 with NOEO and it's very light for my 9 yod, perfect for my 8yod and 5yod. I added Science in a Nutshell kits twice and I have my 9yod the directions and basically runs the experiments which, I have to admit she loves to do. The books have been great and they have thus far retained everything.

 

Science is the thing that always gets done, it's my favorite subject and my kids love it. I also slid in biographies(inventors) a couple of weeks before we focused on some of the inventors in NOEO and they had wonderful discussions as a product of that.

 

I want to add my 9yod is also doing Zoology 2 (Apologia) at our co-op. She does all the reading & note-booking at home then she does the labs at co-op. This has been mostly independent, I check her notebook every now and then. She currently has a shell box, ocean box and a beautiful notebook from that class. She LOVES the text and I find her going way ahead on reading assignment.

[OnTheBrink]

We are using Christian Kids Explore Biology this year. My dd likes it and I like that it's not too intensive. She's not overly sciencey, so this is working well. We've also used the Apologia elementary books and she has liked those, as well.

[G5052]

My favorite is BJUP science though, which we've used for the last three years. My darlings have also been in my various local science classes over the last few years although I'm no longer doing that. We did just library books for 1st-2nd grade, and then moved to BJUP when my oldest was in 3rd.

 

Next year we're doing Sonlight 5 because I wanted a year of human biology before my oldest moves on to 7th grade because he'll be in a one-day-a-week program doing mostly his own thing then.

 

After that I'm thinking that my younger one will do Christian Light or Rod and Staff science.

[Trivium Academy]

We're just starting out on the natural science journey but our approach will be

 

1. Living books to read and pull a focus from (mostly narrative but scientific books from 1800-1900's)

2. The Handbook of Nature Study by Comstock for general nature study and focused nature study with our living books

3. Modern books/field guides to support & learn more about what we're studying

4. Nature Journal and science notebook

5. Using a scope and sequence to make sure we cover what everyone else thinks we should but not following the sequence

6. We'll possibly add ABeka's science student books or Core Knowledge's What Your Child Needs to Know series as readers to cover all bases but I'm not sure.

 

It sounds very organized but my children will think they are just junior naturalists!

[Guest Lorna]

Really boring and bitty. We jumped to IGCSE Biology, and Calvin and I are fascinated.

 

Best wishes

 

Laura

 

I am so glad to hear the IGCSEs are an improvement. When I see what twelve to fourteen year olds are learning from I am not surprised so few choose to continue with science.

[Harriet Vane]

Ds is in first grade, and we just work through various Usborne books. I had originally bought the Sonlight science program years ago for dd (and liked it). With ds I do not use their instructor's guide--we just GO FOR IT. We read a couple pages and do a notebook page. He gets miscellaneous experiments through a weekly co-op, so I don't worry about experiments for him here at home.

 

Dd is in fifth grade, is also in the co-op once a week. In addition, she is presently working through Apologia's elementary swimming creatures book. She enjoys it a great deal. We chose this book specifically because she was interested in oceanography. After this book we are moving on to Prentice-Hall Science Explorer's Human Biology. Ria originally recommended the PH materials for the middle years, and I have been quite pleased with them. Dd likes them too. I plan to continue with PH for a couple years for dd.

[BizyPenguin]

If you are happy with Abeka, why so you plan to switch to Apologia? Curious because I've heard this before? What don't you like about Abeka for that age, or what do you prefer about Apologia?

 

I'm still researching science for the upper grades, so the jury is still out, but I've heard more good things about Apologia for the upper grades than I have about ABeka for the upper grades...Plus it's recommended at SimplyCharlotteMason.com which I love!

[apond]

I am not really sure what I am looking for. So I just starting from the beginning. Science is not my thing. Give me math or history and we can whip it out. I do know I want my children to enjoy this subject along with building a decent base for the future. Thanks again for everyone's input.

 

Annmarie

[SandraDumas]

Next year we're using Covenant Home and their Science is BJU...

 

I've seen some BJU Science texts and I thought they were thorough, and not dumbed-down. I liked them. So we'll see.

[Tonia]

I've only got one young dd and we are doing our own thing - studying animals using some evan-moor books. Lesson plans linked below. Next year I think we will use Sonlight science, but not the instructors guide. I'll just get the DVD, experiment stuff and the usborne book. I figure between a few experiments each week and a nature walk or two, that will be plenty for this age.

[Tutor]

Nature journals and hiking boots with the occasional library video thrown in.

 

As we hit physics, I'll need to do a little more research and planning, though.

[Laura Corin]

I am so glad to hear the IGCSEs are an improvement. When I see what twelve to fourteen year olds are learning from I am not surprised so few choose to continue with science.

 

It's entirely possible to start the IGCSE (at least biology) with only a very general science background. So what really is the point of the KS3 curriculum? I don't know the answer to that, except that the schools feel like they should be teaching 'something'.

 

Laura

[KYHokiemom]

I am using Real Science 4 Kids PreChem 1 with ds8, dd7, dd4. Overall, great for cost and little planning required. Good overview for grammar level chem. Can easily finish in one semester. I used Adventures with Atoms and Molecules for fall semester. If I decide to go with physics next year, I plan to use NOEO - a 36 week study with everything done for me :)! I am interested in looking at the Apologia texts to compare with NOEO.

[Karen in CO]

I plan out 12 or so weeks of lessons based on WTM suggestions but very heavy on hands-on. I use these with our co-op. So far I have done animal classification and the human body. Both have been great and I plan to use them again for the next kid. Several of the kids from last year's co-op have asked when we would do the animals class again so I count that as a definite success.

 

The rest of the year our science is nature studies, Discovery Channel, and the library.