Focus On Elementary Geology Laboratory Notebook (3rd Edition)

Explaining complex, advanced scientific concepts in a way that children will understand, this series helps children ‘go deeper’ into the topic. Written for mastery, each topical course is one semester in length. Chemistry is the recommended starting point. Follow with Biology or sequence the courses to best fit your family. The five core disciplines include chemistry, biology, physics, geology, and astronomy. Interesting text and home-friendly labs engage children in the wonders of science, while teaching scientific facts and philosophy, without referencing evolution or creationism. Elementary and Middle Science texts generally align and could be used simultaneously by families teaching multiple levels.

Each course requires: Student Text, Laboratory Notebook, and Teacher Guide. Texts offer larger font and engaging illustrations. Consumable lab notebooks complement the student text with hands on activities. Teacher Manuals support the lab activities. Available individually, in semester packages or as complete packages. Each package (semester or complete) also includes a set of lesson plans in PDF format, allowing you to create a schedule that works for you.

Textbooks are full color and provide larger font size with plentiful white space making these a nice option for the younger learner or one who is overwhelmed by dense textual information. But don’t let the pleasing graphics and layout detract. The science teaching is solid, with fairly advanced topics presented in an exciting, easy to understand manner. If you are familiar with the previous edition of the Focus on Science, you will be excited with all the wonderful additions to this course! First, each book offers more content through additional chapters, expanded explanations, and some updated graphics. New vocabulary words are in red with an extensive glossary and index in the back of the book. Chapters conclude with a bullet summary of important concepts and a “Some things to think about” section which encourages students to think through the chapter and apply what they learned.

The consumable Laboratory Notebook is a very important part of the program. For each text chapter there are two lab activities: a main experiment and also a second "Just For Fun Experiment" which is a less formal activity and provides further exploration of concepts presented. Experiments are divided into sections: “Observe it” which focuses on making observations; “Think About It” questions; “What Did You Discover?” where students write down or draw what they observed from the experiment; and, “Why?” where they learn the reasons why they observed certain things during the experiment. Single lines are provided for answering questions, along with space for drawing observations. With a few black and white illustrations, the softcover lab notebook helps children develop curiosity and observation skills, both of which are necessary to understand the scientific process. Experiments take approximately one hour to complete.

The softcover Teacher Manual corresponds to the Laboratory Notebook and is necessary for success. Guiding students through the experiments in the lab notebook, it begins with a “materials at a glance” list by experiment and a quantities list for all experiments. Individual experiments begin with a materials list, objectives and instructions for each of the sections outlined above. Where appropriate, answers to lab questions are included. While most labs use common household items, some specialized equipment is recommended. See individual titles for details or contact us for a complete list.

Families looking for a comprehensive, engaging science curriculum that teaches science without getting bogged down in ever-changing theories, will find much to appreciate in this well-done curriculum from Dr. Keller. Previous editions are not compatible with the new edition. ~ Deanne

If you have a youngster who is bored with the amount of information they read about in their science text and hungers for more "grown-up" science, you might take a look at Real Science for Real Kids. Dr. Rebecca Keller has now introduced a Pre-Level 1 program, designed to introduce children as young as kindergarten to the wonders of science. This program contains the same basic components as its upper elementary cousin but is scaled back a bit for younger grades.

The necessary course components include a hardcover textbook, a paperback student workbook, a teacher guide. The packages include all of these components and a set of lesson plans (as a downloadable PDF), allowing you to create a schedule that works best for you.

The hardcover texts contain sixteen chapters, each divided into smaller, more specific sub-topics. The size of the book is a bit smaller for small hands, but the font and graphics are larger, designed for children to read on their own or listen while it is read to them. The chemistry text covers an impressive range of topics, including atoms, molecules, bonding, reactions, acids, bases, mixtures, food and taste, molecular chains, and more. The text pages combine simply written, clear, but interesting text with colorful graphics and diagrams that add fun and visual interest to every page. Each chapter ends with a summary of important points to remember. The student workbook, which is a bound, paperback book at this level, contains consumable lab activities and questions for each chapter. The questions included are fairly straight-forward, requiring only short answers, and students are also often asked to draw results and other observations. Unlike the experiments included in the notebook pages for grades 4-5, these experiments wrap up with an explanation of what students should have observed during the activity and why. Experiments in Chemistry include: using a cabbagejuice acid-base indicator, mixing various types of liquids together, "un-mixing" variousmixtures, and observing chemical reactions by making "goo." The teacher's manual is primarily designed to guide teacher and student through the experiments. Each chapter of the teacher's manual focuses on the experiment, and includes a list of materials, suggestions for guiding the discussion, more detailed procedural notes, and answers to the questions in the experiments. Please note that review pages are not present at this level.

The content of the Physics book includes what is physics, push and pull, kinds of energy, when things move, chemical energy, electricity, moving electrons, magnets, light and sound, and saving energy. The chapters in the Biology book cover life, cells, food for plants, plant parts, growing a plant, protozoa and what they eat, butterflies, frogs, and our balanced earth. Astronomy is the new addition this year and includes chapters on Exploring the Cosmos, the telescope, the Earth, moon and sun, earth's neighborhood - planets, earth's neighborhood - solar system, beyond the neighborhood - stars, the Milky Way, galaxies, and other 'stuff' in space.

All in all, although some fairly advanced concepts are presented here, they are introduced in a way that is exciting (because it is more like "grown-up" science) and incorporates fun experiments. - Jess

Twelve chapters covering the history of geology and modern geology, the tools of geology, rocks and minerals, dirt, characteristics and layers of earth, volcanoes, earthquakes, Geosphere, Atmosphere, Hydrosphere and the water cycle, Biosphere, earth cycles and the sun, Magnetosphere and the earth’s balance. Lab activities use easily found items such as dirt, mud, clay, iron filings, magnets, hammers, pebbles, seeds, etc. Contact us for full listing.

Items listed in this section tend to be complete science programs with a teacher and student component, requiring few supplements besides science supplies.