I have Singapore's Earlybird Math for my son right now and plan to use it this upcoming school year. I like it. I was just wondering if anyone here had used their science? It looked good and is inexpensive IMO. Love to hear something from others about it!
I have been looking at this for over a year. My kids really like self directed products and this looks like another excellent example of that from Singapore. We all love their math! It appeals to me as from what I can see from the samples there is an easy to understand step by step process of explanation. The vocabulary is decent too. I would love to have a look through an entire book but there are no Singapore dealers close to where I live. Would you let me know if you do a purchase? Thx. Michelle
Well, I did order them but I haven't received them yet. I said before that I have a curriculum addiction...I think it's just I'm constantly looking for the "perfect curriculum combination" to fit our needs. I will let you know how I like them. Missy
Okay, I received my Singapore Science materials... and it does look pretty self directed. I ordered the Start up Science (says it's geared toward 7-9 year olds but seems more like a k/1 grade book). I also ordered the 3A workbook and textbook. It looks good too. I think this one is probably more for 3rd gr. I was thinking I might use the Start Up Science for my preschooler but if I do I'll have to wait to kindergarten I think or just read everything for him. It requires some writing as well. I think my dd is too advanced to use it with her, but I could make some copies from it if I feel she would benefit from it. The 3A workbook/textbook looks more like what I need for dd though. She is 7.5 and is now going into second grade. The material looks well written and seems to be interesting. I'll let you know later how dd likes it when we start it up. Which level were you looking at purchasing Michelle? Missy
Hi Missy, I was looking at the My Pals Are Here series for my four and five year olds. Seeing we do alot of science here I would think not the first level as it looks like they have covered what it is in the books. The 6 series has some topics that my nine year old has not taken an interest in so I thought it would be a good general/concise intro to those topics. We do mainly child-led learning here but I would like a few self guided science opportunities around. Thanks for letting me know about the series. The math has been great for my kids. Michelle
Your welcome! I don't know that I helped you any though. I really liked the textbook for the My Pals Are Here series. The workbook might be difficult for your little ones. Have you looked at it yet? Are you even interested in the workbook. If your kids are reading and writing fairly well then they might be able to do it with minimal assistance. We do a lot of science also but I think the 3A series would be appropriate for my 7yo. She loves all the experiments and such but still doesn't seem to record all the terminology to memory so the workbook would be good for her I think. As for the first series..Start Up Science..I think it's perfect for my 3yo but he is not writing/reading yet so all the activities would be teacher directed. He wouldn't be able to do the writing activities yet. I still may use it though as a reference book.
It does help to have a first hand review of a book when someone has it right in their hand. I had my own perception of their Science series from the online samples and you pretty much confirmed what I thought. My two youngest are reading and are able to write, although my five year chooses not to for the most part. My daughter, who is four loves to write. She has a journal and last night when I went to tuck her in she was knealing at her bed putting an entry in. I went to bed early as my husband made it home before 10pm for a change and about five minutes after in hopped in bed she pushed a note under the door. It read "I love you so much". Very cute!! My five year old son is not much into writing so for me one workbook is great!! My daughter can gleefully write and her brother can verbalize anything he likes to me. Works for me!!! I am a big fan of Singapore products as are my kids. Michelle
Awe, that's sweet! My dd used to and still does write me little love notes. Must be a female thing. However, my son likes to draw me pictures so he may be the same way. What approach did you use to teach your kids to read? DD was reading when she was four, but it was very basic sight words. She is an excellent reader. DS will probably be more of a challenge. He seems slower to learn some things. I plan to use the same approach with him (for now) that I did w/ DD. I taught the alphabet first, then focused on their sounds and then how they made words. I never used any one special program with her. I've looked into many for my son but still not set on any one. I guess that's why I'm just staying with the tried and true approach.
I agree, in general, that early passion for writing is a girl thing! My oldest son was an avid writer early but more as a function not for pleasure in the way that many girls do. Reading and my kids.....no method here. Unless you count reading out loud 4-5 hours a day to them! And of course, answering endless questions such as "what letter is that, what sound does it make, what does that spell, how do you spell_____" That is my method! My kids also seemed to like books on tape. The ones where a beep indicates a page turn. They tracked those books early on. They mainly pick up most new skills on their own. Math is pretty much self guided. They pull out Miquon math and rods for fun. Then onto Singapore. Many times they are doing math without any workbook out at all. Our current fav. for math is the Adventures of Penrose the Mathematical Cat by Theoni Pappas. She has many books available and they are great fun. It was nice to introduce the base two system, Fibonacci numbers, fractals and so on in such a lighthearted and entertaining way. My kids all love humour!! The stories are wonderful and we use her books as read alouds. I still read aloud several hours each day despite the fact that they can all read independantly. Being that we homeschool and have no Provincial regulations to follow, I have never thought that certain skills should be obtained by a certain age. I am glad they all love reading and being read to. They all treasure books. However, I would be fine if they were not reading independantly for years yet. They comprehend at a high level and I think that is just as, if not more important than being able to sound out an early reader. So, if they did not pick up reading until age seven or eight etc. I could deal with that. I might be secretly a little concerned but I have sooo many examples around me in our homeschooling community that I have seen it pan out many times over to the positive. I guess you can tell I have my hands free today!! Lots of time for participating on the board. It is a long weekend here and my husband managed to swing two days off in a row!! That usually only happens at Christmas. Michelle
Hi Missy, I have finally chosen some science books for my oldest son. I thought you might like to check it out. If you go to www.arn.org and find Real Science 4 Kids there are samples chapters from Chemisty, Biology and Physics. Might be something to conside when you are done with Singapore. Michelle
You might want to check out this site. I just found it a couple of days ago and I'm considering using it. I figure that we can expand on anything that gets our attention. It is a free curriculum for K-12. It is set up to do science 3x a week for 30-50 minutes, with lots of hands on activites. It has the lesson plans, student workbook for each week, and additional teaching aides (depending on lesson)including online storybooks, coloring pages, puzzles, and more. It is designed for schools, but it looks like it is easily adaptable to hs and they have some of the supply kits available in hs sizes. Here's the address http://www.msnucleus.org Mariann
Mariann, What a wonderful website!! I would love a hard copy of some of what I saw in the form of books though. I wonder if they have that available. I'll have to email to find out. I do like to use the computer but the problems I have are: -to print materials generally costs alot considering the price of ink cartridges. -my kids love to pour over books for hours and hours and are generally not satisfied with me setting up ONE experiment or topic at a time. They like to have books in hand to go as far as they would like in one day and especially for my older son, some late night reading. Stil, I know will we use that site! Thanks for posting. Michelle
Michelle, I know what you mean about using the computer for alot of stuff. I figured the site was a good outline for me to follow and anywhere something spikes our interest we could just add to it by going to the library or even doing the next grade level up if it pertained to the subject. As far as ink, check out this site. My whole family has used it and we are all very happy with their service and products. Many of the inks are factory made, though some are "compatable" inks. inkjetmadness.com/ I can get 6 sets of ink from them for what it would cost me to get one set from Staples. Mariann
