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Elizabeth
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| Posted: June 23 2006 at 7:56pm | IP Logged
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Would somebody who has used Easy as 1-2-3 and Catholic Stories from Science please describe them to me?
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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kristina
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| Posted: June 23 2006 at 9:27pm | IP Logged
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Dear Elizabeth,
Someone with a good experience w/ Easy as 1-2-3 should reply. For first grade, we used more Let's Read and Find Out Science Readers and they watched too many  Magic School Bus episodes. I just did not feel compelled to use it, so sadly it sat on our shelf. It seemed like a "text" for the very young. I suppose if I felt that I need to be given ideas to teach science to our first grade level children, I might have used it. At that age, our science time sort of happened on its own.
Catholic Stories from Science on the other hand was so perfect for second grade. Our two sons who have used the book moved through it independently. It is written in short essay form with nice comprehension questions at the end of each lesson. The stories are about 2-3 pages. Just right bite size science lessons for 7-8 year olds  . Our boys would read the lesson and narrate back to me and we would go over the questions at the end. It was not time consuming and our Catholic faith was central to most of the lessons  . The lessons are also nice for a short science lesson to be read by mom or an older sibling. Even if we did not homeschool, I would like having that book for our family.
Blessings,
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Dawnie
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| Posted: June 23 2006 at 11:35pm | IP Logged
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Elizabeth,
We used Easy as 1-2-3 a little last year. Easy as 1-2-3 is more of a guide to studying science than a textbook. Each unit has suggested topics for grades 1-3 to study through books, encyclpedias, and/or hands-on experiments or observation. There are 11 units. The unit on God's Animals lists mammals, fish, birds,habitats, and God's gift of life as topics for 1st graders; reptiles, carnivores, herbivores, omnivores, food gathering and storing for 2nd graders; amphibians, vertebrates, invertebrates, hibernation, migration, and camouflage for 3rd graders. There are also some discussion questions which relate to the Catholic faith in each unit. In the unit on God's Animals, one of the questions reads "Man is a mammal. Cows are mammals. Both man and cows have eyes, ears, brains, hearts, and lungs. Yet can you think of ways that man is different from other mammals? Are animals made in God's image?" I felt that most of the discussion questions were over my 1st grader's head. But, you don't have to do ALL of each unit in one year.
I brought home lots of picture books from the library to read to my 1st grader. I didn't use the children's encyclopedias b/c I thought they were basically twaddle. There are also suggested experiments and hands-on projects for some of the units.
We did not use Easy as 1-2-3 for the whole year mainly b/c things got crazy and I had to cut back to the basics to get any schooling done at all. It wasn't difficult to go get the picture books each week--there were PLENTY available on each subject we studied at our library. The hard part was choosing which ones to bring home!
I feel it is well worth the price I paid for it (about $12, I think?). I think it's very useful for providing direction and a well-rounded course of study for early elementary school.
I'm planning to use it again for 2nd grade along w/ Catholic Stories from Science.
Dawn
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Karen E.
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| Posted: June 25 2006 at 8:09am | IP Logged
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We used Catholic Stories from Science a couple of years ago. I read it aloud to both girls,and they enjoyed the stories/lessons, which sometimes led to rabbit trails or impromptu experiments.
I agree with Kristina that the length of each little story is just right for second-graders. I liked the tie-in with our faith in each lesson, even though some of them were a little forced. I think that tie-in works well with that age, laying a foundation for understanding that it is God who *made* science, rather than viewing science as something divorced from faith.
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Karen E.
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Elizabeth
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| Posted: June 25 2006 at 8:47am | IP Logged
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Karen E. wrote:
| I think that tie-in works well with that age, laying a foundation for understanding that it is God who *made* science, rather than viewing science as something divorced from faith. |
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Karen,
I don't want to hijack my own thread, but you've hit on something that is keeping me up at night. AS I look at all the Latin Centered discussions, and even agree that some of those materials are probably academically superior to CHC and that simplicity is a good thing, I can't help but be very hesitant to sacrifice this aspect of CHC. CHC does a very, very good job of laying a foundation for understanding that it is God who is the underpinning of everything. I'm being very careful to make sure that I don't go so far towards Memoria Press (which I know has God--it just doesn't touch the hearts of my children like CHC) that I lose what I've like best about this year: total immersion in faith for all of us.
Thoughts anyone?
Actually, I'll move this part of the discussion to Real Learning.
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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4Real Forums : Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science
Topic: CHC Primary Science
