Secular Science

[Treece]

Is there a good science program for elementary aged kids that will never have anything about creationism/intelligent design?

[Tjej]

Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding

[AAK]

We LOVED R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey.  Minimum amount of prep for me, lots of fun and learning for my kids.

We did earth science this year, and are doing life next year (or maybe this summer).  They have a try before you buy option.  They claim to be secular and I haven't found anything that causes me to think otherwise.

http://www.pandiapress.com/?page_id=50

Amy

[Treece]

Originally Posted by Tjej 

Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding

I looked up BFSU. I'm not sure. Do you have a direct link to their site?

Originally Posted by AAK 

We LOVED R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey.  Minimum amount of prep for me, lots of fun and learning for my kids.

We did earth science this year, and are doing life next year (or maybe this summer).  They have a try before you buy option.  They claim to be secular and I haven't found anything that causes me to think otherwise.

http://www.pandiapress.com/?page_id=50

Amy

My only concern with R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey is that there isn't any Level 2 (other than Biology) or Level 3. Also, what does the author mean by a mention of evolution? I do think we are going to use History Odyssey and am gathering resources to that end :) I have the RS4K Biology text. My concern here is that I would need to purchase a lab book whereas with R.E.A.L. Science it's more all in one.

I have seen Elemental Science. I kind of like it. But again, I am just not sure. I feel science to important to just experiment (no pun intended lol). I would almost like it to be our spine subject, but think that History is much, much better for that job due to the fact it is everything lol.

[Treece]

Oh, and I'm thinking about starting off with this: http://elementalscience.com/explor.html for K4. My son is only 4. He will be 5 in January. I'm considering our school year to be either January based or July/August. I'm not sure yet and know it really doesn't matter lol. Compulsory age here is 6 but all the kids seem to go to kindy at age 5.

Edited to fix typo lol

Edited by Treece - 6/9/12 at 7:42pm

[Tjej]

http://cathyduffyreviews.com/science/building-foundations-of-scientific-understanding.htm

Cathy Duffy gives a very clear description.  The last large paragraph talks about his handling of Evolution/Darwin.

ETA:  Here is a site for a free living books science cirriculum that looks neat.

http://www.guesthollow.com/homeschool/science/otters_science/otters_science_main.html

[Shelsi]

We started with Real Science 4 Kids which is in theory secular so I've read but I've also read that the author is one of the biggest defenders of intelligent design.  Anyways I had read that the early levels were totally secular.  We did chemistry and biology (pre-level 1 for chemistry and level 1 for biology I believe).  I really liked the chemistry.  We used it when ds was in in kindy and I think it set him up well for science in general.  We did not however stick with it. 

For awhile we followed the topics from the Baltimore Curriculum Project which we use for history. 

Finally at the beginning of this year we stumbled upon BFSU.  I had never heard of it previously and it just happened to come up on Amazon.  I read the reviews and went ahead and bought it thinking I'd just sell it if I didn't like it but we totally love it.  It takes awhile to get used to the layout (or lackthereof) but I really love the flow of it.  We've only gone through the first book but so far it's been entirely secular and by the way the author talks throughout the book I would be totally flabbergasted if he did not stay secular throughout his other texts.
 

[AAK]

Originally Posted by Treece 

My only concern with R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey is that there isn't any Level 2 (other than Biology) or Level 3. Also, what does the author mean by a mention of evolution? I do think we are going to use History Odyssey and am gathering resources to that end :) I have the RS4K Biology text. My concern here is that I would need to purchase a lab book whereas with R.E.A.L. Science it's more all in one.

I am hoping that R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey gets level two going sooner rather than later.  They act like Level 2 Biology is near, yet we can't get it yet.  They have been talking about it since fall at least.  I think once they get to a level 3, that by nature level 3 will have to be so different than level one that I am not sure we would stick with it anyways.  Therefore, I don't worry about level 3.  I wouldn't let the absence of higher levels be a bother though.  I honestly don't know many people that have stuck with one particular science curriculum throughout all the years.  

Your children are young enough to get great benefit from Science Odyssey.  However, I also have BFSU and really like that as well.  I was finding though, that I wasn't taking the time to plan well enough to use it regularly.  I think it is a great book though and the author provides email support.

Regarding Real Science 4 Kids. . . we did that one year too.  It is nice for a more traditional textbook and lab approach.  We did the physics (can't remember, but I think level 1).  My dd was in grade 4 at the time.  She loved the labs but got sick of the text rather quickly.  It is a solid program, but for us it was too pricey and not enjoyable enough.

Amy

[zebra15]

When my DS was at the elementary level we did 'science' via the Magic school bus, Myth busters, Discovery channel and things like that.  Add in lots of trips to the zoo, legos, a library card and a few classes and everything was covered.

What gets overly tricky is at the high school level. But I will save that rant for a different day.

[Treece]

Ah yes, Myth Busters :) I absolutely love those guys. But we don't have cable boo hoo :(

We have legos and my ds is learning to make his own creations (recently a robot cat..... um k? lol) My son likes the RS4K text and asks me to read from it. He likes to listen a lot longer than I like to read it.

Ok, so if I do go for R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey, would the physical or ebook be better? I don't curretnly have a printer.

[AAK]

Originally Posted by Treece 

Ah yes, Myth Busters :) I absolutely love those guys. But we don't have cable boo hoo :(

We have legos and my ds is learning to make his own creations (recently a robot cat..... um k? lol) My son likes the RS4K text and asks me to read from it. He likes to listen a lot longer than I like to read it.

Ok, so if I do go for R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey, would the physical or ebook be better? I don't curretnly have a printer.

Get the physical copy, you will want some of the lab sheets.  I got the one that wasn't bound, just 3-hole punched.  I put it in a binder and made copies of the lab sheets so that more than one kid could do the lab.

Amy

[serenbat]

 

Quote:

Ah yes, Myth Busters :) I absolutely love those guys. But we don't have cable boo hoo :(

YouTube has them

we also love The Secret Life of Machines-again-you tube

[zebra15]

Originally Posted by Treece 

Ah yes, Myth Busters :) I absolutely love those guys. But we don't have cable boo hoo :(

We have legos and my ds is learning to make his own creations (recently a robot cat..... um k? lol) My son likes the RS4K text and asks me to read from it. He likes to listen a lot longer than I like to read it.

Ok, so if I do go for R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey, would the physical or ebook be better? I don't curretnly have a printer.

The library has them too.  (as well as DVD's of popular mechanics for kids, Big Machines, Weather dvd's and tons of other things to watch)

I think amazon streaming has some too.

[Mere]

We do 'science' with a small group of kids that happens to be getting together for another activity as well.  We do it in 2 age groups, 7ish and 10ish.  We have done: Real Science for Kids Chemistry - it was great, but we were less interested in what they had lined out for the other topics.  I also didn't like how the more advanced levels repeated the same experiments as the early levels, but with more detail.  We also did two K'Nex educational sets with the kids - Bridges and Gears.  They were both really great, and we all learned a lot!  All of those activities took a year to complete (we met once a week).

Next year we are going to do Real Science Odyssey (chemistry, I think) and perhaps another K'Nex set to change things up a bit. 
 

[Fillyjonk]

tbh we don't "do" science anymore. I kind of think little kids will pick up science by osmosis really, every kid I have ever met LOVES science. We do quite a lot of clubs, open days and so on which are scientific in nature, but tbh that's more because we are sciency parents than anything else. I did try teaching science to my science obsessed 8 year old, he was like "what? why are you teaching me this stuff? I didn't know science could be dull...". Its a very dynamic thing at this age and I think teaching it was a pretty dumb idea really.

However if you do want something concrete, I think the intellego unit studies and the ellen mchenry unit studies are the best of a bad lot. Also, Elementeo is a coolish game. But, tbh, less cool and fun than quite a lot of other games.

And Science Jim! Check him out, he is great!

(ETA oh and everything I've recommended is totally secular)

[PGTlatte]

For a child who is this young, I would watch a lot of Magic Schoolbus and Bill Nye DVDs, go on nature walks and identify local plants and birds, fry ice, catch steam and watch it condense, read about the planets, make dirt into mud and then let it dry back into dirt, sprout beans, play with magnets, get a good magnifying glass, mix baking soda and vinegar, etc.  I would save formal stuff for a few years later.

[Treece]

Originally Posted by Tjej 

http://cathyduffyreviews.com/science/building-foundations-of-scientific-understanding.htm

Cathy Duffy gives a very clear description.  The last large paragraph talks about his handling of Evolution/Darwin.

ETA:  Here is a site for a free living books science cirriculum that looks neat.

http://www.guesthollow.com/homeschool/science/otters_science/otters_science_main.html

thanks for this link I am checking it out :) this may be just what the mama ordered. :)

[heatherdeg]

BFSU is very teacher/parent-heavy involvement which we found hard with a 3yo that likes to be chronically involved.

REAL Science Odyssey--get the physical copy for the lab sheets (which also encourages some independence--there's stuff they can take and run with).  But I didn't love that it stopped at elementary.

[Treece]

I've decided that Elemental Science is the right price and looks about right for a good intro year. After that, in K5 or 1st, we will switch to RSO. :) or that's the tentative plan lol

[SparklingGemini]

Originally Posted by AAK 

We LOVED R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey.  Minimum amount of prep for me, lots of fun and learning for my kids.

We did earth science this year, and are doing life next year (or maybe this summer).  They have a try before you buy option.  They claim to be secular and I haven't found anything that causes me to think otherwise.

http://www.pandiapress.com/?page_id=50

Amy

This is what I'm intending to use in the fall! I think we'll start with Life though. Thanks for the recommendation.  :-D

My DD is just turning five.  Do you think the curricula are too old for her? She reads at about a 2nd grade reading level and has an extreme interest in science.