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JennGM
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I'm really excited about Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding: A Science Curriculum for K-2 by Bernard Nebel.
I really like his approach, which seems very CM friendly. It's not filling a bucket, but really teaching a child by inquiry. More info here.
Anyone else going to use this upcoming school year? I'd love to hear how you're going to use it.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Family in Feast and Feria
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CrunchyMom
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Me, me, me! 
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
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[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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MarilynW
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I am using it for Grade 2 - not yet decided on schedule or hows. I will be using it together with Nature in a Nutshell - and our regular nature walks and nature journalling.
I really like the look of it too.
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Marilyn
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Mackfam
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I'm using it. 
I gave a short review of the book here.
Here's how I'm using it this year with my K/1st grader:
We plan on doing one lesson/week...with time for some lessons to be relaxed and take up to two weeks. Throughout the week, I plan on reading a few of the picture book recommendations Mr. Nebel recommends at the end of his chapters. I don't intend to complete the book in one year. We'll be working with the One Small Square books as well, and also following along with the rest of the family with the help of Barb's Handbook of Nature Study blog. Some weeks, we may not do a lesson if we're just enjoying informal nature study time and gathering leaves and flowers! I plan on keeping lessons very light and conversational.
I would LOVE to have time to get all those great book resources Mr. Nebel lists into one easy to refer to booklist coordinating with topic of study and the chapter in which the books are recommended! (You knew I was going to say that though, right?  ) Wouldn't that be a great tool to go along with the book so you take that right to the library or Amazon and research books!!
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Jen Mackintosh
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JennGM
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Mackfam wrote:
| I would LOVE to have time to get all those great book resources Mr. Nebel lists into one easy to refer to booklist coordinating with topic of study and the chapter in which the books are recommended! (You knew I was going to say that though, right? ) Wouldn't that be a great tool to go along with the book so you take that right to the library or Amazon and research books!! |
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Yes, I'm was thinking of doing the same thing. I need some lists and charts, not just a booklist, but also other supplies needed.
I'm using it for 2nd grade and was thinking of similar approach. Dr. Nebel suggested I start with B-1, so that's where I'll concentrate.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Family in Feast and Feria
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JennGM
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I think I failed flow charts.  That's my biggest stumbling block in looking at BFSU. And then the flow chart gives give and take for various paths.
The book says to do the lessons A-D in tandem. Can anyone help me here? In tandem means following each other? So I would do B then C then D? Or does in tandem mean together/simultaneously? The definition doesn't help me here.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Betsy
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I used this program last year in a co-op setting with another family.
A few tips that I gained are...
1. Sign up for the Yahoo group. People have already tackled the flow chart and listed the order they did the units in. Also, Neble answers emails quickly and personally!
2. The friend that I did this with HATED jumping around and ended up teaching each of the four sections from start to finish. I think that there are advantages to both. So, if your mind works better that way DO IT!!
3. My friend did most of the teaching after a certain point and often commented that the lessons were mainly "discussion" oriented and took far less time than recommended(we were doing this with two 2nd graders and a 3rd, though). Because of this some of the lessons were lopsided in time...just so you know. :)
Let me know if you have more questions. I do believe that this programs is very fundamentally sound and very age appropriate (although K might be a bit young, IMO).
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CrunchyMom
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It has taken me some time to wrap my head around the flow chart, Jenn. The first week I had the book, I thought my head would explode.
Another thing that helped me, simple as it is, was taking a pencil and writing in the top outer corner of every page which lesson it is. That book is so *very* hard to navigate, and this has made it so much easier to flip around while lesson planning.
I had a GREAT morning lesson planning (on paper, not typed yet), and figured out my weeks/terms for the year and got my big picture plan down for science this year. I am doing a few of his lessons this summer before the official school year starts, and I found I could start week one with the lessons on the earth's rotation and time which sort of corresponds to the World History I'm planning on starting where we are talking about Creation/Adam and Eve and I plan to do some notebooking of the days of creation which will correspond with both.
I'll share my plans with you when I have the fleshed out a bit more, but I was able to use the flow chart successfully (with some flipping to double check his suggested pre-requisites) to coordinate certain studies with my ideas for other times. For instance, in addition to coordinating my history, I was able to schedule my first two six week terms, with one lesson a week, in a way which led up to the few lessons I plan to use with more unit studyish things after Advent/Christmas.
- D-1
- D-2
- D-5
- A-2 and A-3
- A-4
- A-5
- D-3 & D-3 A
- A-5a
- C-1
- C-3
- D-6
- B-5
- B-5 Food Chains as introduction/supplement alongside six weeks on birds while reading Thornton Burgess
- D-4 Biomes in the next term focusing on the different biomes using the Small Square books
- a mini-unit study the month of April (end of Lent into Easter) using B-4 Life Cycles and studying the creatures whicih represent "new life" and are sumbols of Easter
- and ending with lessons B-10, 11, and 12 on Plant science in the Spring when we'll start planting our garden again
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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CrunchyMom
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Oh, and one thing I meant to add which I found helpful for the lessons I've done this summer was typing the objectives he lists on his plan into my lesson plan checklist as a way of keeping track and making sure I'd covered everything before moving on to a new lesson.
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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JennGM
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Thanks for all the responses. I have been reading the group messages for a while.
Lindsay, your list is very helpful.
It will take some time for me to grasp the whole flow chart and such. That's what bed rest is for, right?
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Jennifer G. Miller
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MarilynW
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Is everyone still positive about this book? I am still sitting on the fence about actually purchasing it? I need to simplify - and just get on with it - I am worried that this may complicate things and mean I spend more time thinking than doing? 
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Marilyn
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Mackfam
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It's a good book and a great elementary guide! Having said that, I hear what you're saying, Marilyn. I've been following your other threads - it sounds like you have a FANTASTIC plan for science with physics, biology, microscope investigations, etc. I think you have a really great plan going and this might be superfluous! Now, if you start floundering and you really want something to use as a guide to ensure you lay a good foundation in elementary science, this is a great guide and I do recommend it...but necessary? Nope. I'd probably be content to firm up and live the good plan basics you've already got going. That's just me though.
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Jen Mackintosh
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Angel
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I've had this book in the back of my mind for a long while. But I notice that there is a rather strong warning in the front of the book "do not treat this book like a smorgasbord!" Of course, that is my usual approach to well, almost everything. Is it really truly not a good thing to pick and choose from the book instead of doing it in order (according to the flow chart, whatever)? I'm a little afraid the sequence police would come get me.
I have a 7 year old who is very into science and very hands-on, which is why I like to poke around science resources for this age group... otherwise, I'm pretty much ok with our unschooly, interest- driven approach to science, by which I mean, I wouldn't change it just to use a book. But if the book would be a good fit with the approach... I do need some decent in-depth resources with good experiments, etc.
Or maybe I should just wait for Jen to make her booklist. 
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Angela
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JennGM
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Angela,
I still haven't made all my plans for the science, but as I was going through it, it suddenly made sense. I think you can "pick and choose" but in a different way than before. His approach is laying down foundations, so that the connections can be made more readily by the child.
So, if there was some interest to study rocks. The lesson A-10 Rocks, minerals, crystals, dirt, and soils. But instead of going straight to A-10, you would still be covering rocks, but lay the foundations with the lessons, A-4, A-5, A-9, B-2 AND THEN A-10.
It's still a lot of freedom from what I see.
If you sign up for the yahoo group there is a nice chart that I was going to use as a jumping point to set up my lessons, which shows the prerequisite for each lesson. For my chart I am listing the books and suplies, perhaps add more books if I see fit (and check my library and home shelves).
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Jennifer G. Miller
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LucyP
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The flow chart just blew my mind. I kept wanting to fly to the states and ask Dr N "why didn't you write it in order?" I just couldn't get my mind to grasp it - which bodes ill for me actually teaching the subject, I suppose! But often I find things seem harder when I am thinking about it than when I do it - like knitting socks!
I think I will try to resist joining the group. I need another group like a hole in the head. I keep telling myself it is simpler than I think, and if we don't have some samples of rock or door screen, that we will still survive and learn.
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CrunchyMom
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I know what you mean, Lucy. I had to spend a LOT of time with that flow chart and flipping through the book itself to get a handle on it, but the reason he didn't write it in order is because there are countless possible "correct" orders, but it is still sequential in nature. You lay the foundations, but you can continue in one "direction" or "track" (A, B, C, or D) for a long time once the foundational lessons in the other tracks are covered, or leave it, and go back in another track, or just hop from track to track as long as the pre-requisite lessons are all being covered.
I'm also finding that reading the lesson plan is very helpful for me in fielding questions or demonstrating a concept, but overall, my teaching does not have to be didactic much because the picture books he recommends cover the concepts very well! Our library only has a few of the ones listed for any section, but my boys really like them!
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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JennGM
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LucyP wrote:
| I think I will try to resist joining the group. I need another group like a hole in the head. I keep telling myself it is simpler than I think, and if we don't have some samples of rock or door screen, that we will still survive and learn. |
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I'll just mention the group is low messages, but you could join just for the files, go no mail, or unsub as soon as you get what you need. Just a suggestion. I know what you mean about another group....
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Jennifer G. Miller
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robinhigh
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Basically what he wrote in the file section was that he recommends doing the lessons in order, but "turning away" from Section A at times and starting on another section... at least that's what I understood. Like you would do A-1, A-2, A-3, then see your child needs variety so you would go on to section B, C, or D and start with lesson 1, 2, 3... and he also recommends that when you go back to section A you would continue in order starting at A-4, and so on...
eta: In the file section of the Yahoo group under "Getting Started with BFSU", click on "Getting Started: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions" and he answers this in the second question.
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mamaslearning
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Reviving old thread.
How did this work for those that used it this year? Jen, did you get that list made? 
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Lara
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MNMommy
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We are using BFSU, and I really, really like it. It's very low-key but very deep. I think it's easy to use along with CM nature studies.
Before the year began, I cut the spine off the book. Then I stapled together each lesson (A-1, A-2, etc). I three hole punched all my groupings and re-ordered them according to how we were going to cover the lessons. Now I just reach into the binder, retrieve the next lesson, and we are off. Sometimes I get library books to go with the lessons, but usually not.
I am finding the lessons to be fairly quick. We discuss them in under 30 minutes generally, and I have been able to downsize any of the activities. My 3rd grader does the science notebooking as suggested in BFSU, but my 1st grader does not. I prefer to make my life easy-peasy or else it won't get done.
My dd keeps asking for experiments, but she's going to have to find another school to attend to get those.
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Jennifer
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4Real Forums : Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science
Topic: Nebel's Building Foundations of Science
