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Oh man. I have been sitting on a little secret for an entire week now and I’ve been dying to tell you! I received the good news right before I left for the glamping trip in Texas so I’m just now getting around to filling you in!
When I posted our curriculum choices for 2nd grade I mentioned that we hadn’t picked a science curriculum yet and that I would really love to use Nancy Larson Science. Well, they have decided to partner with us for the 2014-2015 year so that we can try it out and share it with you along the way!
ACK!!!! It goes without saying that I am so super pumped! I’ve researched Nancy Larson’s approach for some time and just knew it would be a good fit for us. When the box came I knew it would be another week before we could use it so I debated opening it…for about 2.5 seconds. And then I threw caution to the wind and ripped that sucker open!
You know a curriculum is going to be a hit when the kids are begging to get started simply based on the items in the box. They played quietly for the next 20 minutes with the contents of the box. Well, except for the squeals that ensued each time they uncovered the next item in the box.
So, let’s see what all the ruckus is about. Let’s explore What’s in the Box? with Nancy Larson Science 1 curriculum kit.
We are using the Science 1 curriculum kit for 2nd grade. I had originally assumed we would go with Science 2 since Owen is in 2nd grade. But after speaking with the folks over at Nancy Larson, I went with Science 1 instead. Science 2 is all about physics and Owen would’ve missed out on some solid foundational stuff if we’d have skipped over Science 1. The “1” and “2” in the curriculum description don’t necessarily coordinate to grade level.
This year we’ll be studying:
- The life stages of human beings (developmental science)
- Sunlight, water, and woil (environmental science)
- Animals and their habitats (zoology)
- Inside our bodies (anatomy and physiology)
- Life cycles of insects (entomology)
- Trees (botany)
Our box contains: 6 books (Trees to Paper, Insects and Spiders, Peterson First Guides: Trees, What Do Scientists Do?, and Your Insides), a butterfly garden habitat with a coupon for ordering larvae, a set of 18 human x-rays, 28 insect learning cards, a package of 33 plastic insects and spiders, pine cones, a ladybug habitat with a larvae coupon, dual hand lens magnifier, a cross section of a tree called a tree “cookie”, student workbook, 6 student “booklets”, teacher’s manual, and teacher’s resource cd. There’s also an extensive reading resource called Literature Connections that will give us book titles to search for at our Library that correspond to what we’re learning in each lesson.
We got started with the lessons as soon as I got back. Owen couldn’t stand it any longer. He’d been eyeing that box for a week and it was driving him crazy. Our first lessons are on the life stages of humans. He thought we were going to dive right into beakers and bubbling concoctions since that’s all he really thinks of when he hears the word “science”. I was worried that he would be disappointed when he discovered science was more than that. He had obviously built up some expectations while I was gone of how this science thing was going to go down.
Let me tell you, even though we weren’t donning white lab coats and goggles, he was NOT disappointed. In fact, he was so engaged that it turned out to be the most successful school time we’ve ever had in the history of our homeschooling. That’s huge! There are a lot of times that I just KNOW that I will love a curriculum and the kids don’t meet my enthusiasm. Sure they like it. Sure they do the work. But they’re just not as into as I had built up in my head. That’s not the case this time around. Owen is totally as excited and enthusiastic about this program as I am. At one point he said, “I like this way better than doing school.” Ha! Joke’s on him! This IS school buddy!
Um, hello?! That’s when you know a curriculum is going to be so worth the money. When your kid is so into it that it doesn’t even seem like “work” to him and he doesn’t even realize he’s doing regular school. And when he talks about the content from the day’s lesson even after school is over in general conversation, you know you’ve got a keeper. That’s the most organic form of learning.
The lessons are scripted and the curriculum is an “open and go” kit, so all I had to do was pull out the materials and get started. There was zero prep work on my end. In the first few lessons we learned what a scientist does, what an infant is, and what a toddler is. We looked at pictures of babies and talked about when Owen was a baby. He’s been lobbying hard for another sibling for the past year so all this baby talk was right up his alley.
We’re going to use the curriculum for a while and then report back on our findings, but I’m already so in love with this curriculum. I plan to update you, at minimum, at the end of each of our 6 booklets to let you know how it’s going and what our thoughts are. If you’re thinking about trying out Nancy Larson science but you want a little more inside scoop send me your questions and as we go along I’ll try to answer them from our experience with the kit and the company.
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