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Home : 2009 : Nov : 27

    Science
    By Socks
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    We teach science strictly using kits (like FOSS). We go through a local company called Asset. They send us new kits each time we start a new unit. It's nice because the kits are full and ready to use when they come. We never have to replenish. There are also "non-returnable" items that we keep at then end which is nice. The kids love science time! We start science again on Monday (we do it every other six weeks) and that's what a lot of my parents were talking about at P/T conferences earlier this week. They kept saying, "______ is so excited to start science again!"

    There are some cons to this type of program though. We do not have a text book of any kind. That bothers me a lot. It lessens the amount of non-fiction reading we do. We have a SS textbook and I have a lot of non-fiction in my library but I just think that science class is a great opportunity to use (and teach) non-fiction as well.

    It also takes a long time to do most of the lessons. We're talking at least an hour per lesson and we're supposed to do science everyday. Because it takes that long to do the lesson, sometimes it's hard for me to make sure the students are really getting it. We do use notebooking which helps a little.

    We also only cover three topics a year as each topic lasts 6 weeks. This year we do Changes (of Matter where we don't really talk about Matter), Balancing and Weighing, and Insects.

    I would prefer a program that can balance hands-on lessons with a textbook. There are just some science related things that aren't as easily done hands on - dinosaurs, astronomy, geology... we never teach these topics. Unfortunately, I don't know of one.

    Good luck with your adoption!

    View the original thread this idea was posted on


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