Math & Science

We're trying something new for both math and science this year...

Math. To date, we've mostly just used Singapore Math and were pretty satisfied with it. (Read more here and here.) This year, though, we're switching to Teaching Textbooks. We're doing so for three reasons:

1. Asher, in particular, would benefit from more actual instruction. With Singapore, I'd been in the habit of just handing the books to the boys and letting them loose, being available for questions if necessary but not doing any structured lessons. That was still fine for Micah but, as the work was getting more advanced, both Asher and Noah were having more questions. (Yes, Singapore has teacher textbooks and such so that I could have taught the lessons, myself, and I have the math background to do so but...)
2. Noah finished the Primary Math program so we needed something new for him anyhow. (For the record, Noah finished through book 6B, Asher finished 4B and Micah finished 3B. (Micah could/would have been further but we deliberately slowed him down, lol.)) and...
3. The idea of a subject where the boys can be mostly self-sufficient is incredibly appealing to me, and they love the idea of having something they can do on the computer rather than in a workbook. ;)

So. After much thought and research, we're trying out Teaching Textbooks this year. We'll let you know how it goes. (Upon reviewing the various levels and reading up on reviews and all, we're putting Asher and Micah both in Math 6 and Noah into Pre-Algebra.)

Science. Last year, we didn't really do anything structured in the way of science (just lots of documentaries, science fairs and field trips, lol). Before that, we used Real Science 4 Kids and finished that. This year, we're going to try Elemental Science. I like how it follows the classical schedule that Story of the World (which we use for history) uses and has different levels as you repeat the cycle. We'll, then, be jumping in to coordinate with where we are in Story of the World this year. Since we'll be going through volume 2 of Story of the World (for the second time with the older two) this year, we'll also tackle Earth Science & Astronomy's intermediate level.

And that's math and science. Would love any input if you've used either of these programs or have other recommendations!

Comments

[Melinda]

We've been looking at the Christian Light Publishers curriculum and like what we've seen so far. My mom uses their math program in her school. Melinda