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Cheryl
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I'm thinking about using a curriculum for science next year with my kids who will be PreK, K & 2nd grade. Do you have any suggestions? Last year we mainly used FIAR or unit studies I made myself. This year we're building a house, selling one and I just had a baby so I think I've lost my enthusiasm for planning units. I'm going to do an ocean one soon, but most of this year science was not a priority.
I'm looking at CHC (which sounds like it may require planning) and Sonlight Science K. Have you used either of these? I'm open to any other ideas too.
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Cheryl
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Mom to Matthew 13, Joseph 11, Sarah 10, Rachel 6, Hannah almost 4 and Mary 1
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lapazfarm
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If I were as busy as you, I would lean towards dropping a formal curriculum for science and just doing nature study. Of course, I'd do that anyway... 
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
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guitarnan
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I'm with Theresa. I'd watch for the proverbial "light bulb" moments and take trips to the library to find books about those topics (dinosaurs, earthquakes). I'd look for books about house building. I'd teach my kids how to measure and weigh things related to house building. Mostly, I'd just get outside or to a nature center (if weather is wintry), make bird feeders, etc.
Birdwatching is great for 7-year-olds. Last year, my daughter colored dozens of bird printouts from EnchantedLearning.com, 50birds.com, etc. She made a big bulletin board of all her birds. She learned to use an index by looking up birds in our field guide and finding the pictures, so she could color all those birds!
And, when I did in-home daycare, I learned that children younger than 2 can learn to identify birds...quite well, in fact!
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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Leonie
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Sarah, I'm going to give a third vote for nature studies and follow ups. Karen Rackliffe's Wild Days is a great book - she talks about making nature study and discovery journals the mainstay of their curriculum after the advent of a new baby.
My youngest son has also enjoyed the Magic School Bus series and there is a lot of info there - and some activites.
All of this is low key, given your circumstances. But lots of learning!
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Leonie in Sydney
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Cheryl
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Thanks for your suggestions. I think I'm looking at curriculums because science was my least favorite subject in school and it's probably where I lack confidence. I have trouble motivating myself to take nature walks or to hang a bird feeder. My dh received one for Christmas 2 yrs ago from his parents and neither of us has hung it yet.
My ds 7 loves tools and is very interested in the building process. That's a great idea to get books about it from the library. He is constantly drawing and painting pictures of structures and the steps of the process. He also is very interested in volcanoes, weather, etc. My ds 5 loves animals, particularly jungle ones. He might enjoy birdwatching! I hate to say this, but I don't really enjoy reading many of the books they're interested in- like books about tornadoes or the making of ATV's or taking care of elephants. I much prefer Charlotte's Web or Peter Pan. Maybe my dd's will love fiction. 
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Cheryl
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Cheryl
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Leonie, I just read your post and I think I will get that book with the money I would have spent on a curriculum.
We inherited about 12 MSB books and all of my children love them. Our library has all of the videos and dvd's too. My dd 3 kept wanting to read the one about decomposition. Those are fun to read too. I like to try to make my voice sound like Ms. Frizzle and the kids.
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Cheryl
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Leonie
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Cheryl, we haven't watched any of the DVDs so don't know Mrs Frizzle's voice - now I am curious! 
The DVS are on my library list...
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Leonie in Sydney
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guitarnan
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Lily Tomlin is Ms. Frizzle. She's great!
We have been watching these shows for years. The science is rock-solid. The books have even more detail than the DVDs. It's amazing how much my children retain, really!
For more fun science on DVD, Disney released a DVD series with Bill Nye The Science Guy (who also has a few videos out). They're hard to find but quite good. How can you argue with the "Dollhouse of Science" (Architecture)? I can't find anywhere to rent the DVDs, but you can find the earlier videos in many libraries. So far the only library I know that has all the newere DVDs is the public library in Greenwood, IN. We check out a few every August and Thanksgiving, when we visit our friends there.
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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lapazfarm
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Oh, we LOVE Bill Nye!
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Theresa
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Dawn
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guitarnan wrote:
| We have been watching these shows for years. The science is rock-solid. The books have even more detail than the DVDs. It's amazing how much my children retain, really! |
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Nine times out of 10, when one of my kids says something notably "scientific" to a grandparent or other relative, and they are asked where and how this knowledge was obtained, the answer is (much to their mother's chagrin), "The Magic School Bus!" 
The movies are fun, but the books are amazing for all the detail and information that is on every page.
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MacBeth
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I once heard Mary Pride suggest that you don't need to use a science curriculum before 3rd grade. I push it to 8th of 9th, and even then, I only use a curriculum, not a text. DD (12) has never used a science book and scored a 90 on a state test in science. The test questions were based on the painfully obvious...not just the things that are obvious to me, but the things that are obvious to anyone who pays attention. "Some living things are animals" sorts of statements in elementary text books make me cringe, and they are typical.
Cheryl, hang that bird feeder. Take that nature walk. It's not hard to do these simple things, and it can change your whole outlook.
I think the NACHE site still has copies of my standard elementary science rant. Yup. Tape 402 is here, and the slide show that goes with it is here (but graphically heavy, and slow to download).
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kristina
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Cheryl wrote:
| I hate to say this, but I don't really enjoy reading many of the books they're interested in- like books about tornadoes or the making of ATV's or taking care of elephants. I much prefer Charlotte's Web or Peter Pan. Maybe my dd's will love fiction. |
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Cheryl, I can relate to this statement. Sometimes I find myself annoyed by some of our children's choices in reading. I downright refused to read Curious George because his mischief was so irritating - so that became a "Daddy story." My husband is so much better at giggling with our little ones about George's escapades than I am.
Our guys LOVE all things Magic School Bus, especially the tv shows. We tivo'd them to save because we are shutting off cable and tivo soon. My husband is astounded by all that the children have learned from those programs. I, however, find the children's voices on the shows to be just grating! They also often show lack of charity and lack of humility. I sometimes find myself pausing the program for a "teachable moment." I guess that the science knowledge gained trumps the undesirable bits of the programs. Sigh.
Blessings,
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Donna
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Cheryl wrote:
| He also is very interested in volcanoes, weather, etc. My ds 5 loves animals, particularly jungle ones. He might enjoy birdwatching! |
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Cheryl,
We've been using The Story Book of Science by Jean Henri Fabre. The kids love it. Some of the chapter titles are: The Storm, Electricity, Rain, Volcanoes, Clouds, Cows, and The Swarm....and many others. You can "look inside" the book at the above site.
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MichelleW
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I bought myself and my kids hard bound spiral notebooks that fit into little backpacks easily. We take a lot of walks, we draw and paint, we count birds, count rolie-polies and try to guess where we will find more, and we plant a vegetable garden every year.
We have also read through the Christian Liberty Press's Nature Readers. Not Catholic, but nothing objectionable in them and lots and lots of good/interesting info that either you can read or the children can read for themselves.
How to Dig a Hole to the Other Side of the World by McNulty, is a great book for your budding geologist and I'll bet your library has that.
My oldest son is an engineer by nature and he is always building something. We read an essay from Talking to Fireflies Shrinking the Moon (too hard for kids to read to themselves, but several essays are interesting to them) about how it is possible to train fish. My son decided to train the fish in our creek to ring a bell, he built this elaborate bell/pulley system and can't wait for the water to go down a bit so he can try it.
But, actually the reason I am posting is because I just bought a book from TOPS science curriculum on electricty that is fabulous! I so love it and wish I had bought their Lentil Science last year when my kids were just a little bit younger and we were couped up inside during the long rainy winter when Mommie wasn't feeling good. They have a website where you can get an idea of their offerings.
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Martha
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I just purchased Lyrical Life and Earth Science materials and although the texts would probably be too much at that age, I think the memory of the information on the CD's would be great.
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Martha
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rose gardens
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Martha wrote:
| I just purchased Lyrical Life and Earth Science materials and although the texts would probably be too much at that age, I think the memory of the information on the CD's would be great. |
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I use Lyrical Life Science with my sixth grader and it's a fun program for middle school children. My first grader sits in and listens to us sing the songs, but the text doesn't hold his attention very long. I bought their geology c.d. for my first grader because he's interested in rocks and volcanoes, and we've used it a little.
For the original poster, I think Lyrical Life Science would be over her children's heads unless they have a specific interest in the topics. But when they get older, (or for others reading this with older children) Lyrical Life Science is a fun and novel way to learn science, especially if you are musically inclined. Just don't ask us to sing "Monotremes and Marsupials."
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mary
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i have kids who are similarly aged (almost 8, 5, 3 and soon a new baby). we have done sonlight science in the past (which involves doing experiments using usborne science books, reading msb books etc.) If you decide to go this route, you can just buy some supplies and let your kid loose with experiments.
the best science we have done occurred this year because we did 3 things:
we went weekly to the nature center and hiked a trail. during the winter, we took pictures at checkpoints and now in the spring we are sketching. (the wild days book is a great suggestion - i would also recommend Pocketful of pinecones.)
we hung the birdfeeder right outside our sunroom windows and got a birds of NA poster to go with it - had it laminated and then velcroed it to the window.
the BEST thing we did was to begin reading the Thornton Burgess nature books. we started with the Bird Book for Children and have read just about every one of his books. most can be gotten from Dover for less than $2. (the bird book is $8). We have spent the year reading these books and will all shed a tear when we run out (i'm now ebaying for any that I don't have.) We have even begun planning a vacation for next year to the Burgess Nature Center in MA. I studied science and still have learned a tremendous amount from these books.
I have the lentil science material from TOPS and don't use it as you are supposed to. For my kids, it's more of a play medium at this point, but it's one of their absolute favorite things to do.
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Cheryl
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Great suggestions everyone. I do have "Pocket Full of Pinecones" and after I posted I started rereading the Spring section. That book makes me want to simplify my life. I used to feel like my life was simple, but this year I feel like I'm in the fast lane.
Your posts have inspired me to not purchase a science curriculum, and to try to focus on nature study. This started me thinking about curriculums for other subjects. Are they really necessary? (especially at the ages my kids are right now) I picked up Real Learning again.
So this year, with my fears of homeschooling with a new baby and making new house decisions and having our house on the market....I have obsessed over and talked myself out of Sonlight and most of CHC. I think I'm back to what I had originally wanted when I began homeschooling 1 1/2 years ago, which was reading living books, going outside, etc. Having a simple life.
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Cheryl
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lapazfarm
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Cheryl wrote:
| I think I'm back to what I had originally wanted when I began homeschooling 1 1/2 years ago, which was reading living books, going outside, etc. Having a simple life. |
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Hooray!!!! 
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Theresa
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Leonie
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Cheryl wrote:
| I have obsessed over and talked myself out of Sonlight and most of CHC. I think I'm back to what I had originally wanted when I began homeschooling 1 1/2 years ago, which was reading living books, going outside, etc. Having a simple life. |
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Now, that sounds good to me!
Except I never quite get the simple life bit to work.
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Leonie in Sydney
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4Real Forums : Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science
Topic: science curriculums
