i would like to get your advice on science books / curriculum for dd 4.3
i will appreciate suggestions on series you use fo homeschool/ enrichment

thanks
amom

We like
http://msnucleus.org/curriculum/curriculum.html

Its free, online and not dumbed down.

I agree about MS Nucleus but for some reason it wasn't popular with my son. If I was homeschooling a young child again, I might have tried a combination of MS Nucleus and the TOPS series: http://www.topscience.org/home.html (search the Elementary series). Also, the Let's Read and Find Out series eg: http://www.amazon.com/Clouds-Lets-Read---Find-Out-Science-1/dp/0064452204/

My son really loved The Magic School Bus cartoons and books at that age. He watched Curious George and Sid the Science Kid too. A science encyclopedia and various PBS/BBC documentaries were the bulk of his "curriculum" at 4. But it seems to have worked well.

There's a curriculum called Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding (BFSU for short) that is very good for ages 4-8. Available on Amazon.com and not at all dumbed down and very thorough for that age. But might be a little heavy for the parent/ teacher to prepare in advance.

hi thanks for the suggestions
someone had mentiones that they use " neebles ' a textbook for elementary kids , i am not sure if i am spelling this correctly , but has anyone heard of this ( or i may have heard wrong )]
amom

Dr. Nebel's Basic Foundations of Scientific Understanding? (it's mentioned above)

Real Science 4 Kids Prelevel series

RSO Science

Elemental Science has come out with lower levels

Singapore Science at www.singaporemath.com

I'll come back with more, we have shelves full.

Magic school bus also has science kits. DS started with them at 4, he adored the books and loved doing the kits. They are nice jumping off points for deeper discussions too. Just read though for the "let sit for 3 days and observe" until I figured out that you had to do the instant gratification experiments alongside the over days experiments (mold) DS got a little grumpy! Just meant we were doing things out of order.

DeHe

Yes, as melmichigan mentions it's Dr Nebel's BFSU that I was refering to. You can join his yahoo group for support if you plan to use the book. I believe he answers doubts/ questions personally (note: my information is 3+ years old).
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/K5science/

Yes, we add a lot of stuff to it, including Magic School Bus (you can download worksheets and experiments to do with it. We also add in adults documentaries where appropriate and also lots of books. The library is a great resource for those.

Hi, amom, and welcome!

Have you seen Sarah Stein's "The Science Book?" It's out of print, but reasonably readily available used. The writing is very engaging, the questions Stein considers are interesting to children (and their mothers!), and most of the experiments are easily do-able at home with simple supplies.

Hope that helps!

peace
minnie

I bought these Young Scientists kits online. One came every month or so. THey are for older kids but I did them with my son when he was in first grade. One time we made a paper mache volcano that we blew up. Another time, they sent different kinds of rocks that we had to classify using a real classification system on hardness of rocks.
It was pretty cheap and alot of fun!

Young Scientists kits online - Jack'smom

Do you have a link to where I can order them? I love the idea of them coming once a month. I used to go to the science center in Downtown Los Angeles, but I find I am short on time these days. It would be great to get something delivered to my door that we could build and not simply read.

Effiekins