Has anyone used Great Science Adventures ?

[teb700]

We're going to start homeschooling in late summer. The kids will be in 3rd, 6th, and 7th.

http://www.commonsensepress.com/greatscience/product.htm

The website says it's for K-8. Our kids all read above their grade level and are usually very curious about how things work. I really want to stay together and all do biology first. I'm just not sure how challenging or interesting this program will be.

Tammy

[Lori D.]

My take on Great Science Adventures: each is a framework of how to study a specific science topic, broken into 24 lessons, plus the reproducible pages for making little "minute books" suitable for lapbooking. To make this a complete science, you really need to get the items for doing some of the experiments, and also check out additional books from the library for some in-depth information. On it's own, it might be enough teaching info for a 3rd-4th grader, and the "artsy-craftsy" appeal of the little booklets is probably at that level as well.

How GSA works:
You end up making 24 booklets (one for each lesson), plus a little paper "bookcase" to hold them all. As far as time: you'd need to photocopy all of the paper booklet masters, and if you sat down and cut and folded all of them up in one sitting, I'd guess it would take you 6-8 hours.

As far as what the book teaches, while listed for grades 1-8, I'd say realistically each book is probably best for grades 3-5. Maybe for a 2nd grader good with scissors who loves crafts and who is bright in science, or for a 6th grader for some of the extended science labs. One suggestion would be to use these books as supplements for the experiment and resource ideas and skip the booklets if you're not into that aspect.


What each Great Science Adventure looks like:
Each lesson is more of an outline on how to teach a specific topic. Each lesson is 2 pages long, containing:
- bullet point list of key concepts to cover
- list of any related vocabulary words
- directions for a longer "science fair" type experiment
- directions for putting together the booklet and sentences to dictate/write in the booklet (simplier or more complex levels here, depending on your student's ability)
- activity idea and how to turn the activity into another booklet, or research/paper ideas for older students
- suggested other activities, books, or resources

See sample pages at www.christianbook.com by searching for the particular book you're interested in.


I bought several of these; only used a few pages out of the Tools and Technology one to make some of the booklets and graphics for a science co-op, and ended up selling them, as they just didn't fit our sons way of learning/enjoying science -- they like lots of "real books" and hands-on experiments and kits (and I like kits that have just about everything already in them so I don't have to pull it together), and they never liked cut/paste/coloring activities. GSA just didn't match up for us in any of those areas.


Based on the grade levels you listed, and that you want to keep all your kiddos together on biology, my suggestion would be to do something geared for 6th/7th and let the 3rd grader "tag along". Perhaps try 1-2 of the Prentice Hall Science Explorer books (written at a middle school level), such as:
• Environmental Science
• From Bacteria To Plants
• Human Biology & Health

see them at: www.phschool.com/atschool/science_explorer/index.html

Or, another great option with 2-page spreads and lots of experiments and leaving you the option of further research into topics of interest (esp. for the older 2 students -- ideal for a report writing and deeper reading to "beef up" the biology to their level), are the 2 Reader's Digest books: "How The Body Works" and "How Nature Works" (written at a 4th-8th gr. level)

see them at amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/How-body-works-Works/dp/0762102365/ref=pd_sim_b_img_4
http://www.amazon.com/How-works-how-nature-Works/dp/0895773910/ref=pd_sim_b_img_1

Another thought is to make a list of topics you want to cover for biology (for example, using the table of contents from the books above), and then just get library books to read at each student's level, and use some Janice VanCleeve experiment books for the hands-on aspect.


BEST of luck in finding what works best for your family! Warmest regards, Lori D.

[danielle]

We did Tools & Technology and Light& Sound for 5th grade Physics and really enjoyed it. I only have the one child, so I just ripped out the pages in the book--just couldn't see copying all that. I think the suggestions she makes are very rich, and I've kept the rest of the books as references for our current studies. It all depends on how much you do--so I do think it would work well for a variety of ages. However, this isn't a program you can just hand to the kids, unless they are very self motivated--the extensions are way more than anyone could do and have to be picked and chosen.
We also enjoyed How the Body Works and How Nature Works, which we used in 6th grade. However, my dd found the numerous sidebars and "islands" of info to be very tough reading and distracting. This DK-style is very attractive to many kids, but not mine-YMMV. The experiments were good, but often required a lot of time and about half way through the year, she just begged to read the book and find extras on the topic. I'd use them again, but this time I'd pick out which experiments and have everything ready to go before starting (not one-two weeks ahead as I did them).
Danielle