heartofdakota.com

Hi Ladies,

I recently ordered Preparing and have received it - it looks amazing! I will be using it with my third grader next year (this September) and my fifth grader will use CTC. My question is this: after completing Preparing next year, I will be waiting a year before starting this child with CTC when he reaches 5th grade (it will allow us to cover our Canadian history in depth while he is in grade 4). I can already tell we will miss having the great science in Preparing! I will have to select a science for him for grade 4.

We have done two years of Apologia (Astronomy and Flying Creatures) and love the books but I was always at a loss to know if our notebooking was adequate, didn't get many experiments done as they were somewhat involved and had to do much of the writing for my youngest. Now I am excited to have my oldest use the Land Animals book with CTC because we will have Carrie holding our hands the whole way and he is at an age where he can read it for himself! I struggled also with how much to demand of them and based on the amount of science we will do in the HOD programs, it wasn't enough!

Does anyone have any grade 4 science suggestions other than Apologia? I am intrigued by Rod and Staff's science as they seem to have some simple activities/experiments to go with the lessons. Could I put off just the science portion of Preparing and use it for grade 4 and choose an alternate for grade 3? I realize I would miss the effect of having the science linked to the history topics and was looking forward to that. I am concerned that the amount of writing in the science in Preparing may be too much for him as he will be just turning 8 in September when we begin it. Any thoughts? Thanks,

Rachael

Lyrical Science is lots of fun and very effective for getting scientific terms into your kid's head (and yours!). You can do just the songs or include the books too. I'm sure there are some experiments you could do along with it and maybe they are written in...I don't know for sure b/c I only used the songs.

HTH!

Rachael,
R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey -Chemistry 1 from Pandia Press is wonderful! It's a
terrific balance of text and scientific process. It's incredibly organized and uses
household items. http://www.pandiapress.com/chemistry_level1.html My 10yodd
will be doing it in addition to her science in Bigger. It can be done only 2 days a week.

best intentions,
geo

you could take a look at Living Learning Science. i was going to use that this year and have decided to wait a year until my children are caught up together. it is very literature based and hands on but simple and everything is laid out for you.. rainbow resource center gives a great description of it as well as the people who produce it. just type living learning science in to your browser and it should pop up. just a thought.

homeforhim,

I would definitely lean toward doing the science in Preparing along with Preparing and just allow your son to grow into the copywork and written part required as the year progresses. You could originally be his scribe for science, having him do a bit of the writing in each assignment and the sketching on his own, and then moving into the full writing required as the year moves on.

The next year, you could either have him use the science from CTC and or utilize your own science options if you choose to take a year to do Canadian history.

Blessings,
Carrie

I don't know if you have considered God's design for Science by Answers in Genesis. They just updated there manuals. They have activities for different levels in each lesson.
Succes!

Thank you all so much, ladies! And thank you especially Carrie! You helped me decide to keep the science in Preparing with Preparing for this year and I will think about next year then (or sometime before that knowing me ).

Blessings to you all,
Rachael

If you didn't want to use another program, you could just take the year to really get involved with the process of nature journaling. He could concentrate on his drawing techniques. There are some fabulous nature journaling and drawing resources out there. Fourth grade is such a fabulous age. Have him spend time outdoors or indoors (pet stores, fish stores, aquariums, garden centers, etc.) observing and recording what he sees. He could choose a favorite subject each week and research it a little more and prepare a little written or oral report. I would love to have a "free" year to just really delve into the wonderful world of nature notebooking and becoming little naturalists.
Just an idea,
Laura