Discover and Do science DVD's from Sonlight?

[Michelle T]

Can someone who has used these describe them? Is it just a guy standing there and doing the experiments? Sort of "Today, I will be doing experiment #12" sort of thing? Could the DVD take the place of actually DOING the experiments? What is the point of these science DVD's? Do they cover all the scheduled experiments in the science cores?
Michelle T

[gracesteacher]

http://www.sonlight.com/KS07.html

you can see clips on here. scroll to the middle of the page. I dont have the video yet but it is coming!

[attachedto4]

Can someone who has used these describe them? Is it just a guy standing there and doing the experiments? Sort of "Today, I will be doing experiment #12" sort of thing? Could the DVD take the place of actually DOING the experiments? What is the point of these science DVD's? Do they cover all the scheduled experiments in the science cores?
Michelle T

He does stand there and do the experiments, but in a fun Bill Nye-ish way.

Yes, the dvd could take the place of the experiments, you can see what the results of the experiments would be. I don't think the dvd covers every single experiment, but I could be wrong; I'd email SL and ask.

Some people like to do the experiment and then watch the dvd to see if their experiments turned out the same way. Some people watch the dvd when they don't have time to do the experiment. Some let their kids get out the materials and follow along with the dvd, freeing up some of the parent's time. My little kids like to watch the dvd and then do the experiment- Justin, the science guy, is hilarious to them, and it gets them excited about doing the experiment and then they know what to do without waiting for mom to dictate each step.

[Meredith]

Yes, there is a guy (or girl) doing the science experiments. I suppose they *could* take the place of the actual experiment but that isn't the point. The point is to be able to see what to do exactly. It makes it easier to do the experiments. Yes, they cover all the experiments.

My kids LOVE these DVD's! They are sometimes quite funny. They are certainly not necessary, but I would recommend them.

[scrapbabe]

Could these be used to supplement another science curriculum. Is there an index with what each experiment is? So I could read a book and choose an experiment to go with it?

Smiles,
Shalynn

[darlasowders]

Could these be used to supplement another science curriculum. Is there an index with what each experiment is? So I could read a book and choose an experiment to go with it?

These dvd's demonstrate the experiments in the Usborne science activities books included in the same program. If you supplement with those books (and even if you don't) the dvd would be a *great* add on. And yes, there is a list of experiment titles in the dvd and they are categorized "Experiments with Air" etc.

[chiguirre]

Being a slacker mom, we watch the dvd and then we do the most interesting experiments. IMHO, some of them are kind of ho-hum and some are a bit too involved for me. With the DVD, I don't have to feel guilty about skipping these and the kids are happy when we do science experiments because they will actually work or I wouldn't have picked them, kwim.

You can use these with any science program, in fact they can be the basis for your science program. They don't line up with SL's old science and I'm not sure they line up very strictly with the new one either. They do match the Usborne experiment books that SL sells. We're using the human body one now with Little Otter's science, but it would work with any human body study. I think you could easily find most of the topics in a science encyclopedia and then add extra books and videos to round them out. This is what I plan to do with the other titles since Little Otter/SL dvd has worked really well.

Other programs do use the Usborne experiment books. IIRC MFW uses them in a couple of years.

[Lizzie in Ma]

We use them just for fun and my girls have gotten a lot out of them. The guy is hilarious and everything is explained very nicely.

[calandalsmom]

If you do wish to do the experiments its a good idea to watch first because sometimes they give you ideas which (say, TOPS) didnt give you in implementng the experiment.

We hated TOPS because it was going so poorly with our little seeds, watched the video and thought, "OOOOOHHHHHH, we should have done XYZ!!!"

[Catwoman]

Being a slacker mom, we watch the dvd and then we do the most interesting experiments. IMHO, some of them are kind of ho-hum and some are a bit too involved for me. With the DVD, I don't have to feel guilty about skipping these and the kids are happy when we do science experiments because they will actually work or I wouldn't have picked them, kwim.


Same here!

When we used the Sonlight Science DVDs (for K and 1,) I mostly used them instead of doing the experiments. I know the experiments can be fun, but much of the time (especially in the lower elementary grades,) they don't really teach very much, and the only thing we get out of doing them is a big mess in the kitchen for me to clean up. Also, some of the experiments don't work that well, which leads to frustration... and did I mention a big mess in my kitchen? ;)

We enjoyed the DVDs when we used them, and I liked Sonlight Science.

Cat

[scrapbabe]

which one is the human body dvd?

Smiles,
Shalynn

[chiguirre]

Discover & Do Vol. 3 has batteries, body and weather. It's listed for SL Science 2 so it's for grades 2 through 4, but my 6yo is fine with it.

[abbeyej]

We love these! Justin is very fun and engaging. The DVDs can be done independently of Sonlight's science program. We don't do SL science, but my kids watch the DVDs for fun and I buy the corresponding grade level kits (of materials) and we have the "non-consumables" kit, so they can repeat any of the experiments that intrigue them.

I'm really not good about doing experiments with the kids. But Justin *loves* to do these experiments, does a great job, and is ready whenever the kids are interested. ;) And the kits mean that we're not stuck looking for a "clean meat tray" or "three paperclips" or "an empty spool", etc. :)

[Jennay]

My boys, ages 5.5 and 6.5 LOVE these DVDs. They have learned a lot from them.