Science has been a thorn in my side for years now. My daughter is 8 now, and it's time to get a real science curriculum in my opinion. I have tried using the classical method approach that's suggested in The well educated mind...ITS NOT WORKING FOR US. I have also tried just picking through what was interesting, but it's too unorganized for me. I need help!!!! I do not want creation science. Does anyone have a suggestion for me?
Have you tried using the Hirsch series "Everything your . . . grader needs to know"? It is great for a bit of scope and sequence, and you can use the topic as a jumping off point for more research/ experiments. You can probably find the grade you want at your local library, or you can buy used ones off amazon.com for cheap. You can also look for books by Evan More and Instructional Fair - as they will have topical books for different science subjects that include info, worksheets, recommended reading, and activities. For more factual reading, we use the encyclopedia Britannica cd-rom - this idea came from Sonlight as they use it as a resource for their history guides. We got one that is a few years old for about $2 on amazon as well. if you are looking for a more standard curriculum, Holt publishers and Houghton Mifflin are standard school publishers.
I HATE those "What Your....Grader Needs to Know Books" I remember reading through the 1st-4th grader version when I was 8 years old. Some of their historical, cultural information was wrong concerning Islam and I've been wary ever since. I haven't looked in an updated edition, but the old editions were just blatantly wrong, "off-the-wall-I-dont-know-where-they-even-got-this-'info'" Wrong. I came to the conclusion that the author had either purposely lied, or was one among many morons in the company since they published that garbage. I dont trust them for any sort of accuracy in any subject, thats my experience...
Here's some online Science texts: http://pgcounty.scottforesman.com/ I haven't used them myself, because my girls are older, but they look interesting. Then theres this site that has science lesson plans, you just pick your grade level and what type of science you want to do: http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/lessons.php?Grade=k-2&BenchmarkID=1&DocID=0
Okay, now I'm definitely curious, Gizzy! What did they have in there that was so clearly wrong an 8 year old could identify it????
http://www.eequalsmcq.com/ I've heard good things about this site and books. You can download a life science book for free to try. We didn't hear about it until we were already doing high school science so we haven't tried them. The singapore science books, My Pals are Here, are decent - www.singaporemath.com www.thehappyscientist.com has lots of fun facts and experiments MSNucleus has free online science curriculum - http://www.msnucleus.org/curriculum/curriculum.html Homeschoolbuyersco-op has group buys for Cyber-Ed science from Plato. The life, physical, and earth science classes are middle school/jr. high level.
