science with your gifted youngin'

[jillian]

when did you start science with your gifted youngin'? we are doing a preschool program next year (dd will be 3) because she definitely needs something a bit more than just reading books and informal stuff.

we aren't going to overly push her but she is on the verge of wanting to sound out letters, and knows 60% of her letters. we are wanting to do something a bit science-y--dd loves biology right now (animals, plants, people, etc). we aren't doing formal science next year but are looking to do something formal for K (whether she starts K at 4 yrs old or later).

Just wanting to know what you guys did for your K science

[KAR120C]

Seems like forever ago but I think that's about when we got about six months of Young Scientists Club (http://www.theyoungscientistsclub.com/) kits. That was fun for a while, and then we just got kits from the educational toy stores, and then we just did our own thing for a while. I remember a bit we did on simple machines (nothing really fancy, just playing with pulleys and levers and whatnot...) it was around Easter, actually, and I only remember that because there was a whole afternoon of launching jelly beans across my parents' den.... Levers you know... LOL And then there was the summer of every kind of rocket kit we could find... That was fun... :D

One thing we did around that age was a lot of little books we wrote together -- photographs or his drawings with captions. A lot of them were related to science things we did, and another bunch were about books we read, and I got the blanks for them at Bare Books (http://www.barebooks.com/). I think the minimum order is a dozen (or so), which is a good number to have around, IMO... :)

[dmmetler]

My DD just turned 5, and so far we've mostly just followed what she's wanted to do, checked Experiment books out of the library, and so on. I'm loosely going to try to do life science and get on the WTM schedule for this coming school year.

[2smartones]

We started Apologia Young Explorers at 3. There's plenty of time to go through them twice if you do it that way (even starting at 5 or 6 on a semester/trimester basis).

[jillian]

We started Apologia Young Explorers at 3. There's plenty of time to go through them twice if you do it that way (even starting at 5 or 6 on a semester/trimester basis).
yeah i love apologia and i think she will be able to understand it especially going slowly at her pace

[StartingOver]

We are doing Sonlight K now with a 3.75. He is loving it. I am going to start collecting the Young Scientist Club Kits soon. He is just moving so fast it is hard to keep up with him.

[Amber in AUS]

We are enjoying Sonlight Science K. It is WAY too easy for DD and DS and i am disappointed i spent the money on the K level and not say level 2, but they are LOVING it, and i am LOVING the format and books. I just wish it wasn't so darn easy for them. They are not learning anything new at all, but having plenty of fun!

[Truscifi]

We started life science a la WTM when ds was 4. We used a good animal encyclopedia (which he still periodically reads), plus independent reading, animal coloring/fact sheets from Enchanted Learning's free stuff, and plenty of nature walks and gardening time.

[jillian]

We started life science a la WTM when ds was 4. We used a good animal encyclopedia (which he still periodically reads), plus independent reading, animal coloring/fact sheets from Enchanted Learning's free stuff, and plenty of nature walks and gardening time.
does Enchanted Learning have a website? I am hoping to get a bunch of Dover coloring books, some religious ones, etc for her and getting a good animal/science/human body encyclopedia (either individual or all in one) for kids for her soon

[JennW in SoCal]

When did we start science with our gifted young'uns?

My flippant answer is high school -- I never used any kid of curriculum or text books until 9th grade. But we did science. All the time. With good results -- I've got a full-on science nerd teen ager in my house. I simply followed my boy's interests for years, making science a natural part of life -- taking things apart to see how they work, keeping bird feeders in the yard, looking up the answers to questions, talking with scientists, going to lectures and tours.

Sounds like you are on the right track -- surrounding your dd with lots of wonderful materials, following her interests. Add to your shopping list some magnifying glasses and binoculars, magnets, wildlife identification books, science encyclopedias. Maybe a prism or color paddles, a microscope. Get a pile of library books every time you go. My boys loved Magic School Bus and Bill Nye the Science Guy videos when they were pre-schoolers. There are so fun many possibilities, you just can't go wrong.

[mlktwins]

We are going to do Elemental Science Biology http://www.elementalscience.com/ for K and 1st. K we will study animals (life cycle, habitats, and animals) with lots of reading, coloring, trips to the zoo, etc. 1st grade we will do human body and plants. I'm also going to do a few other experiments throughout the year from Mudpies to Magnets. I know my boys are accelerated in several subjects and I want to keep them challeneged, but I also want them to have fun. They love animals so I think this will be fun.

Yes, Enchated Learning has a website. Some of the worksheets/pages are free, but it is $20 to join for a year and get full access. I'm joining in July and am going to use worksheets from there to supplement the pages in Elemental Science. I'm extending the 20 week session in a full school year so I am adding more animals.

Mendy

[Laura Corin]

I know that you said that you wanted something more formal, but we learned a lot from the Let's Read and Find Out Science books. There are various levels in the series and some have experiments you can do.

Laura

[tracymirko]

BFSU is wonderful for young gifted kids. It is very meaty but has activities that are perfect for that age, especially if they are gifted.

Tracy

[Staceyshoe]

BFSU is wonderful for young gifted kids. It is very meaty but has activities that are perfect for that age, especially if they are gifted.


We just started this with my gifted science-y kid. I think it would have been perfect to start a year or two ago, but he's loving it now too. It might be a nice fit for your dc--no writing or reading, just mainly discussion and activity based. We also really enjoy the "Let's Read and Find Out" series. Our library carries a huge inventory of them, and I check them out to go along with the scientific concepts we're learning.

[Gratia271]

BFSU?

[tracymirko]

BFSU?

Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding (http://myfamilyiseternal.blogspot.com/2010/02/review-of-building-foundations-of.html)

[Gratia271]

Thanks!

[MissKNG]

We are also using Sonlight Science K with my 3.75 year old - she loves it, is retaining a lot of information and making connections between lessons. I love it because it has every thing all laid out for me in one package!

[mlktwins]

BFSU is wonderful for young gifted kids. It is very meaty but has activities that are perfect for that age, especially if they are gifted.

Tracy

I forgot we are incorporating this in to our science lessons also. I'm in the process of reading it myself. Great book!

Mendy

[kck]

We've just been home schooling 2 years, and have used a little science curriculum, but we've had the best luck doing jr. ranger programs at parks, dissecting broken machines, playing with various science kits and snap circuits, raising butterflies and moths, learning about animals on web cams, getting books from the library, etc especially at the younger age levels.

[Truscifi]

Enchanted Learning has a great website! As PP mentioned, it is $20 to join (I think that is for a year), but we have always just used the free crafts and printouts available without joining. I went through our animal encyclopedia with ds and had him pick out a few animals in each section to learn about in more depth, then printed out fact sheets and coloring pages for as many as I could find on the Enchanted Learning site. It wouldn't satisfy ds now, but 2 years ago it was great. These days when he is interested in a topic he googles it and checks out a few books from the library on it. Occasionally he even asks me about it! :D

[dmmetler]

I love Enchanted learning as well, mostly because it's a 5 yr old-safe way for my DD to look up topics that interest her, and I don't want her on google or wikipedia yet. I know she'll outgrow it eventually, but we're not quite there yet.

[Quad Shot Academy]

We did Five in a Row at that age. It incorporates science.

Some other books I recommend for before five are:

The Usborne Complete Book of Nature
Earth and Space
Linnea's Almanac
Linnnea's Windowsill Garden
All Magic School Bus books and TV shows
All One Small Square books by Silver
A human body book with clear pages that flip over to show our insides
Interest led books
Whiz Kid Science kits are more interesting than Young Scientists Club IMO.

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

I'm planning on doing activities from a book called Sandbox Scientist next year with my dd who is the same age as yours. We'll also be doing BFSU (mostly the biomes, life cycles, and food chain lessons) and nature study, but these will be geared toward my oldest, who will be 6yo.

[Crimson Wife]

I don't do formal science until K5 or 1st (whenever the child is a fluent reader). With my oldest for pre-k, I used the Mudpies to Magnets and More Mudpies to Magnets books. My 2nd has just been listening in on what his big sis has been doing.

[jillian]

So we love and i mean LOVE Magic School Bus here. I will check out the Enchanted Learning website, some Dover coloring books, and lots of good science books from our library like the Lets See and Find Out series.

The problem I am running into is that the Little Miss doesn't really like to be read to too much. She grabs the books and says "my book". I am trying to work with her but she doesn't really agree with it (could make teaching her to read difficult)

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

The problem I am running into is that the Little Miss doesn't really like to be read to too much. She grabs the books and says "my book". I am trying to work with her but she doesn't really agree with it (could make teaching her to read difficult)

My younger dd (a month younger than yours) is going through this stage too. She wants to hold the book while we are reading. I usually don't read her the book unless I hold it though so she will often give it back to me. Otherwise, this is a good age to just talk to her about the pictures and what is going on in the story. DD likes to find animals or things that are specific colors. If you get her involved in the story she might be more interested.

Hands-on experiences are great for this age though, which is why I'm going to use activities from Sandbox Scientist for her. The ideas are mostly just setting up some "equipment" for her to play around with, and in the process she is learning about how the world works. Sometimes I'll let her do it by herself but other times I'll talk with her about what is going on, kind of a Socratic discussion.

[jillian]

My younger dd (a month younger than yours) is going through this stage too. She wants to hold the book while we are reading. I usually don't read her the book unless I hold it though so she will often give it back to me. Otherwise, this is a good age to just talk to her about the pictures and what is going on in the story. DD likes to find animals or things that are specific colors. If you get her involved in the story she might be more interested.

Hands-on experiences are great for this age though, which is why I'm going to use activities from Sandbox Scientist for her. The ideas are mostly just setting up some "equipment" for her to play around with, and in the process she is learning about how the world works. Sometimes I'll let her do it by herself but other times I'll talk with her about what is going on, kind of a Socratic discussion.
Thanks Lisa :) She actually gets upset and tries to hit if I get near her while she's "reading". DH and I both agree that we are ready to start slowly introducing phonics (in addition to other subjects) so she can really "read" kwim?

[CaptiousNut]

Do mom and dad do science? Do mom and dad experiment, dabble, deconstruct, fix, and build?

Lead and teach by example, that's my advice.

[Reya]

DS's ready for HS science, but we're just messing around for another year. We'll start high school science in 1012.