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Becky Parker
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Has anyone used the TOPs Science activities? I'm thinking about next year. My original plan was to go with something on line, mostly because I am not good about following through with Science activities with my kids. But I know MODG uses TOPS in the 6th grade and I am wondering if anyone has an opinion.
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Becky
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Kristie 4
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I think they are great. Very straight forward... We used the younger electricity and magnets ones and I learned things I never understood in Physics!!
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Kristie in Canada
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stefoodie
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Well, I'm severely science-impaired. I cannot tell you how many science kits/books/materials I've bought through the years. We have 6 shelves of science "stuff" here. I know the kids learn science because they're always telling me about the stuff they learned, but I don't know where the holes are. 
Anyway. I bought TOPS last year thinking THIS would be the answer. And then spent several days preparing.... just for the first part of both books (for 8-yo and 11-yo). Not to mention I had to ask people for materials, e.g., we don't buy milk so I didn't have milk jugs, etc. Took several days again to prepare for the next segment. Totally burned me out. I gave up and since then they've just been reading science books and doing whatever experiments they want to do on their own.
The NOEO curriculum arrived today. The kids have been looking through them and we are all pleased. It costs more, but now they don't have to wait around for me to get the materials ready. BIG load off my mind. The engineer hubby is happy too.
My .02 
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stef
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lapazfarm
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We've used a few. The Green Thumbs radishes was pretty good. The others we have just not been able to get into. I pull them out every once in a while and look at them thinking "maybe the time is right" but I always end up shelving them again because they just do not ignite that spark, kwim?
Oh, and there was some lentil thing ds did in 4th grade that he liked ok.
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mary
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we've done the ones with sonlight science (growing corn, radishes and beans.) i did not care for them. the directions were poor and the seeds did not always germinate. we thought they were a lot of work. i, too, prefer noeo science.
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donnalynn
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Becky Parker
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When I saw the samples I wondered the same thing! I questioned whether or not my dd would be distracted by that. She is very sensitive to presentation as well.
I'm still trying to decide, but after checking out the Noeo site, I think it looks more appealing than the TOPS.
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Becky
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stefoodie
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donnalynn wrote:
Does anyone else wonder why the figures are naked? I mean really - can it be safe to perform all those science experiments in the buff!!??
I'm a total snob when it comes to presentation and these strange little people just don't appeal.
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BUAHAHAHAHA. Thanks for the laugh, Donna, I needed that!!
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stef
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AtHomeScience
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I have a couple of TOPS guides I picked up used, and a friend used the Electricity book. They do a great job of putting stuff together with simple materials--batteries and aluminum foil for example. I find them pricey to have to buy each one for every topic. Colorful they are not, and the pages can be busy.
I had several problems with NOEO. First, just look at their book list and go through them at your own pace. Second, the Young Scientist Kits are very expensive for what they give you especially when you get very common items that you likely already have. Third, the Galileo book by Sis I found very disparaging to Catholics and inappropriate for the age group it is geared towards (Caldecott or no!) Blood red room with demons and such and talks of torture are not really stuff for the early elementary grades.
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Becky Parker
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Thanks for the reviews Kris! That is very helpful information.
I went to check out your At Home Science blog but the link doesn't work. Is that blog still up and running?
I learned something interesting when I asked my dd her opinion of TOPs and Noeo. I showed her both websites. She said she would prefer TOPS which really surprised me. When I asked her why she said she really didn't care about science and the TOPS looked like it would be easier to get done quickly.  I'm glad she was honest, but now I'm trying to figure out how to make Science a little more interesting for this dd.
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Becky
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stefoodie
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AtHomeScience wrote:
| Third, the Galileo book by Sis I found very disparaging to Catholics and inappropriate for the age group it is geared towards (Caldecott or no!) Blood red room with demons and such and talks of torture are not really stuff for the early elementary grades. |
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Thanks for the heads up, Kris!
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stef
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AtHomeScience
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Ha! I of course had a typo in my link in my signature--thanks for letting me know. It is fixed so the site should come up now when you click on the link in the signature.
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SeaStar
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Bumping this thread up...
We have used Sassafrass Science this year for Zoology and Anatomy, and we really enjoyed both. However, I am not sure the next one in the series, Botany, will be ready in time for us to use it in August.
I need a plan B, so I was looking at Noeo and Tops, wondering if anyone has anything new to add since it's been awhile since we discussed them.
Could TOPS or Neoe tide us over until Botany?
My kids really like hands-on programs, and the Sassafrass Anatomy was great that way.
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CrunchyMom
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I think I would use the microscope series from The Happy Scientist, The World in a Drop of Water, and the Richard Headstrom Adventures with a Microscope and work through those until Botany is ready.
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SallyT
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Oh, I love World in a Drop of Water! All those Alvin & Virginia Silverstein books are great. Happy Scientist is the bomb, too!
We have some TOPS books on the shelf, which I picked up off a freebie table at some homeschool-group event years ago, and I've never used them. Ever. I get them out, flip through them, and put them back. No child has ever gravitated toward them. Nothing about them has ever said, "Yes! This!"
And I may be the only person in the universe who has ever liked that Michael Spear All Creatures Great and Small worktext from CHC (well, besides the son who fell in love with biology while using it), so the fact that the TOPS books didn't appeal to me is really saying something!
Sally
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SeaStar
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Thanks for this input! I will have to check out The World in a Drop of Water.
ONe thing I have liked about Sassafrass is that it has made it very easy for us to do science every day. I feel that now I am lazy and spoiled
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SallyT
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There are other good titles by the same authors, Melinda (depending on what you want to work on at a given time):
Life in a Bucket of Soil
Life in a Tidal Pool
The Chain of Life (about DNA)
They're all available from Dover, quite inexpensively. My 10-year-old read World in a Drop of Water this past year, and even with her (then-undiagnosed) reading problems, it was her favorite book. I'm planning to add Life in a Bucket of Soil to her science and nature reading for next year. They're not large, long books, and you can either read them quickly in succession or schedule them more sparingly, so that one book lasts a longer time. Either way, we have really, really liked them.
Sally
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Kristie 4
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Botany in a Day is enjoyable, though we didn't get far into it.
Edited to correct title.
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Kristie in Canada
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4Real Forums : Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science
Topic: TOPS Science
