Disclaimer: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew!
Over the last few weeks, we have reviewed Educo Learning Center. Educo Learning Center is an online math platform for grades 1st-8th grade. Educo Learning Center our family received a one-year subscription for up to three students and a corresponding physical workbook for each student registered.
Educo Learning Center provides a comprehensive common core math program. The program provides students with questions that correspond with the workbook. If your student isn’t familiar with common core math, there may be a little of a learning curve for your student. We received the 5th-grade level and my student is familiar with many of the concepts but the concepts were taught differently. The 5th grade level of Educo Learning Center covers:
Real Numbers Systems and Operations on Numbers
Factors, Multiples, Exponents and Fractions
Decimals
Measurement
Ratio, Rates, Percents and Financial Literacy
Basic Geometery and Geometric Measurments
Patterns and Symmetry
Data Handling
During our review period, we worked on Chapter 6 Basic Geometry and Geometric Measurements. We choose this section is because this is the section we are currently working on in our math curriculum. This section was a great supplement to our math curriculum because it took our current lesson to a more in-depth learning lesson. Educo Learning Center gave us deeper instruction in two dimension shapes, triangles and quadrilaterals.
Educo Learning Center math workbook offers over 3000’s questions, with illustrations, tutorials, reviews, and critical thinking questions. The Educo Learning Center is a printed version of the online program. The online program provides great practice of what is covered in the workbook. The online tracks your student’s progress and times the students as they move through the practice.
One of the things I wish the program offered was the ability to toggle between grade levels. It would have been nice to be able to use the 6th grade online as well as toggle through the 4th grade just as a review for some concepts. I do believe the book and online are on grade level, but I do think there needs to be some flexibility in the toggling between grades. I think because I did see some concepts that are taught in unfamiliar presentations it would be to the benefit to look at other grade levels. The parent dashboard only allows you to see your student’s activity. There is no way to assign assignments or adjust grade levels. Educo Learning Center does have a brief orientation video, but I did find it hard to follow. My son and I both ran into some technical issues while working on the platform.
Educo Learning Center does require that your computer meet their software requirements. When logging your system is run through their diagnostic to check for compatibility. We were not able to use Educo Learning Center on our mobile devices, which was disappointing.
Overall I think Educo Learning Center may be a helpful resource for parents who are looking for more common core math practice. My son prefers the workbook so we will add it to our resources. The company does offer a trial for parents to try out before purchasing. Be sure to check out the other Crew’s reviews of Educo Learning Center by clicking the banner below.
I have always been curious about SimplyFun Games for our homeschool, so we were given the opportunity to check out Dish Em Out and Eagle Chase I was excited to be a part of this review.
The company was launched in 2004, their unique educational games are designed to help students master skills through play. The games promote character building, educational skill development, cooperative play opportunities, and fun. With the growing rate of use of screens, SimplyFun brings fun to board games.
SimplyFun games are for kids ages 3 – 12+, and 2-5 players. The games are divided into 4 categories when purchasing:
Reading & Language Arts
Math & Stem
Social Science & Studies
Life & Thinking Skills
I really like how SimplyFun games accommodate all children learning and playing needs. When you select a game on the website the company gives you details on how to play, educational standards, skills, special needs, students with autism, and extended play. I know many parents will find this information handy when selecting games and it is also offered as a free download. There are also instructional videos for each of their games, this is a major plus.
Instead of simply teaching kids to play, could we create games that help them thrive?
Are you a fan of the game Dinner Dash? If so you are going to love playing Dish ’em Out. Dish ’em Out is a fast-paced game of logic and critical thinking skills. Your student is given the opportunity to run a breakfast diner, but the catch is you have to use your critical thinking skills to make sure you select the correct items to cook in enough time per each turn because some items have a faster cook time. The gameplay was super easy and my son enjoyed playing as if we were in a real diner cooking. I noticed my son spent time carefully deciding on what items to cook first, but also learned from his mistakes when he picked the wrong items and had to discard them and lose points.
Dish ’em Out is for 2-5 players ages 8 & up the game is all about strategy in order to gain the most points. Gameplay is about 30 mins but I can see it going 45 mins when you are first learning to play. I did use the videos on the SimplyFun website to learn to play. The cost of Dish ’em Out is in heavy rotation for family game night and when we just need a brain break from homeschool lessons.
Eagle Chase
Eagle Chase is a United States geography and history game, players will travel across the country learning about the states. Sound easy right? Well, it is not that easy some of the geographical/historical facts students may be familiar with and some you and your kids may not know. I again used the video on the SimplyFun website to learn to play. The objective of the game is to chase the wooden eagle around the board to win points. You have to play your location cards and chase cards as you move on your turns. You also earn points on locations you visit in your hand. The Chase cards can work to your advantage depending on what you choose to do. My son LOVED Eagle Chase because he really loves history and geography and let me just tell you we played this game every day for 2 weeks straight. I won 2 games and he won the rest.
Eagle Chase replaced our US geography lessons for 2 weeks and I welcomed it. The game is still in rotation we are averaging 2 plays a week. Eagle Chase is for 2-5 players ages 10 up with 30 mins of gameplay. He has learned more US geography/history these last few weeks than he has learned in an entire school year. He has always known his state’s locations but sometimes would get a few confused when looking at the map now he knows all 50 locations and flies around the Eagle Chase board with his token.
My overall impression of the company is very positive, they come across as family-friendly, dedicated, and provide quality products. The gameboards are beautifully designed and durable game pieces. I appreciate that they have games for older students and the game prices are reasonable. My goal is to try to purchase 1-2 games a month to use in our upcoming school year. Some of the games I am looking to purchase are Word Bits, Cash Out, Vinculum, Eye to Eye Bundle, and a few more on my wish list.
If you are looking for some educational games that your student will enjoy I highly recommend SimplyFun Games and the games mentioned in this review. At the time of this review Dish ‘em Out is $34.99 and Eagle Chase is $39.99 a great investment for your homeschool or home!
We love history in our home and focus on the gentle truth of history. We have several history curriculums we pull from and I always check actual true history that is secular. The gracious creators of the Curiosity Chronicles sent us their latest release Early Modern History Volume 2 to review.
We are no strangers to Curiosity Chronicles history curriculum; we actually own the Ancient, Medieval, and Early Modern Vol 1 curriculums. My son has really enjoyed the lessons we have done and I haven’t found any questionable text. Ted and Mona have been long-time friends of ours as we have journeyed our way through history over the years. Curiosity Chronicles is a multi-sensory history curriculum that works for students with different learning styles.
We believe everyone has a place at the table when it comes to telling history.
Curiosity Chronicles is not your typical history of the curriculum. Students learn history through snapshots of historical time periods and global events. The curriculum follows Mona Ted through history through dialogues. The students are introduced to the characters then they begin to engage in historical conversations and take your students on adventures learning about artistic, cultural, scientific, and political perspectives in history.
Students learn history from a global perspective. History is never dull when using Curiosity Chronicles kids will engage in meaningful conversation with you and want to learn more. What I like about Curiosity Chronicles is that the lesson is actual snapshots of history topics. I have found that a vast majority of the snapshots in the text are never mentioned in other elementary history curriculums. I am also pleased the company includes so much diversity in the characters, illustrations, and subject matter.
Early Modern History Volume 2 picks up right where Early Modern Vol 1 leaves off and starts the conversations between Ted and Mona discussing Catherine the Great of Russia. Early Modern History Volume 2 has 36 chapters that are divided into 18 sections. Students will study history snapshots from 1550- 1850, with topics such as the Haitian Revolutionary War, Empires in Africa, Bolivarian Revolution, American Revolution, and much more. We received hard and digital copies of Early Modern History Volume 2 curriculum package.
In both Vol 1 and Vol 2 we see Ted and Mona’s friends Arthur and Lily in the cultural corners at the end of select chapters as they highlight important artists, writers, scientists, and musicians.
Curiosity ChroniclesEarly Modern History Volume 2 is truly a fun-filled comprehensive curriculum. Students will complete written lessons, mapwork, coloring pages, puzzles, STEM activities, and my son’s favorite Minecraft challenges. Lessons can be done family-style and the company is adding extension activities soon for older students. There are sections in the snapshot that invite students to research more on the historical topic they are studying. Early Modern History Volume 2 breaks important historical events down the curriculum is designed to with the children and not at them. My son enjoys curriculums that he feels are a part of the discussion.
Students will learn to discuss complex ideas, develop critical thinking skills, engage in hands-on learning, and find tangential learning!
Curiosity ChroniclesEarly Modern History Volume 2 comes with a Teds Timeline kit. The Timeline kit comes with templates and pictures for your student to construct a wall timeline (color or black and white) or notebook timeline. We have a history timeline notebook so we will be using this instead of the templates provided. For this review I let my son decide on what area of time he wanted to learn about and he choose Section 31 Empires of Africa Chapter 61 Shaka forges the Zulu. He listened to the audiobook snapshot during breakfast and later during the day we went through the Snapshots of Early Modern History Volume 2 text. We talked about the Zulu, Swazis, Basotho, Xhosa, Boers, and Southern Africa. Through our study, we discussed the different biomes of Africa and the migration of the great people of Africa across the continent. We were introduced to the great Zulu warrior Shaka and his military. My son was intrigued by this chapter he started researching EVERYTHING about the Zulu people. He went to work on his assignments and his Minecraft challenges. He really enjoyed this sneak peek into our history lesson for the Fall, not sure I am going to be able to keep this one on the shelf until September.
This homeschool year has been difficult choosing a language curriculum. I decided to go with the curriculum we had last year, but that was an epic fail. After 3 months of trying to find a new language arts program before our 2nd semester started, I ran across Royal Fireworks Press language arts curricula Michael Clay Thompson Language Arts: Level 2 Grammar Town. The Melanated Gold Squad was offered the opportunity to review MCT Level 2 Complete Homeschool Package and I was selected to review it.
My son is newly turned 9 and he loves grammar, we noticed early on he was gifted in this area of his homeschool studies. Finding a grammar curriculum that was both rigorous and amusing has become arduous. This year alone we have set aside 3 curriculums and decided on multiple review books. Michael Clay Thompson Language Arts: Level 2 Grammar Town has been the curriculum we needed to feed his ferocious grammar inclinations.
Michael Clay Thompson Language Arts: Level 2 Grammar Town is for students ages 9-11 in grades 4-5. Grammar Town picks up where Grammar Island leaves off with the continued practice of the “4 grammar analysis of (1) parts of speech, (2) parts of the sentence, (3) phrases, and (4) clauses.” No worries if you haven’t done the previous level as long as your student has a strong understanding of grammar they will be alright with starting level 2, but I wouldn’t recommend jumping into level 3 without previously doing level 3. Even though the curriculum is presented for children who are gifted/dyslexic I have found that children who are able to read fluently and have strong reading comprehension will find this curriculum gratifying.
Level 2 : Grammar Town Layout
MCT Language Arts: Level 2 Grammar Town is beautifully designed with simple distinctive vibrant illustrations. The curriculum covers 5 strands Grammar (Grammar Practice), Vocabulary, Writing, Poetics, and Literature. The complete homeschool package comes with a lesson guide, student books, and teacher’s manuals (this includes the readers) for each of the MCT sections. The program in my opinion is designed to be conversational. MCT is not like your typical language arts curriculums you will not find the typical question and answer busy work. The lessons are intellectually stimulating and thought-provoking. I found myself relearning and grasping a better understanding of grammar. My son instantly took to the Grammar Town book, he repeatedly would point out how he better understood grammar concepts.
There are 30 weekly lessons of MCT Language Arts: Level 2 Grammar Town the lessons are designed to gradually include the other textbooks included in the MCT Level 2 Complete Homeschool Package. Students should work at their own pace and make sure they have a complete mastery of the Grammar Town book before moving on to the next book. There are assessment pages in the books, but you can also download the assessment pages from a link provided by Royal Fireworks Press inside the book. The assessment pages are there to make sure your student is mastering the materials before moving on to the next section in the book. These assessment pages are not the same as Practice Town.
The very first-week students are to read the Grammar Town book on their own. I was amazed to see how intrigued my son was by the illustrations and the story. Several times he came to me and asked questions and wanted to discuss the stories. On the days we didn’t do lessons he requested MCT Language Arts: Level 2 Grammar Town over his other language arts books.
Today lesson was intellectually restorative….Learning about the complexity of sentence structure and how all the the words we use in sentences are reflective of the 8 parts of speech that make a sentence cohesive. Thinking about it from that point of view makes sense into why a sentence must a have a subject and verb.
J
Caesar’s English is the vocabulary section students will embark on a historical language journey. Students will learn Latin roots, history, and word origins. Again students are exposed to wonderful visual and practice pages. Students will also see a brief intro to Latin roots in Grammar Town on the first pages. Practice Town includes 100 sentences of practice for students on the skills learned in Grammar Town and writing. Paragraph Town is another fun-filled narrative about learning paragraph fundamentals and punctuation. The poetry book Building Poems is metaphoric it is written to teach students poetry terms as if they are constructing a building. MCT Language Arts: Level 2 Grammar Town includes the literature books:
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Peter Pan
The Wind in the Willows
Each book is reproduced in its entirety and includes Michael’s “language illustrations”—close-ups of poetic techniques, four-level analyses of interesting grammar, and comments about writing strategies
For the first 3 weeks, we used the curriculum as the implementation guide suggests. I made little tweaks here in there. My son was introduced to some Latin roots and I wrote these roots on index cards for him. I also wrote out grammar cards for him of all of the parts of speech components. We also put together a vocabulary journal for words we were instructed to define. My son enjoyed the assignments on select pages, some of these we did in his notebook, and some we did on a dry erase board. The lessons are short we spent time in meaningful discussions.
MCT Language Arts: Level 2 Grammar Town is a rigorous and complete language arts program. If you are looking for a new way to introduce grammar to your student I highly recommend this curriculum. The curriculum does require parent involvement in my opinion wasn’t intense and I welcomed it. I enjoyed having conversations with him and seeing his face light up. The curriculum is designed for mastery and it is suggested you don’t move on until your student has mastered each section.
While the literature part I thought was going to be monotonous. I understand why the books were selected and remastered to complement the curriculum. I do hope in the future the company would consider adding some optional remastered diverse readers.
Would I buy Level 3 in the Fall absolutely! I again caution against not jumping into level 3 without going through level 2. You can get away with not doing Level 1, but making that jump into level 3 is not advisable. The levels don’t coordinate with the grade levels so please take note of this. If you are the type of homeschooler that needs tons of worksheets after each lesson this is not the curriculum for you. MCT Language Arts: Level 2 Grammar Town is in a class by itself rigor without the complexity of busywork, this was more of relaxed conversational language arts. MCT Language Arts: Level 2 Grammar Town takes its time to ensure students really understand language and how they work together. I learned so much in the last 6 weeks reviewing MCT Language Arts: Level 2 Grammar Town.
The cost of MCT Level 2 Complete Homeschool Package is $290 the company is also converting their books into Kindle format which may help you cut costs. This program is comprehensive and worth the cost. I highly recommend MCT Language Arts: Level 2 Grammar Town if you are looking for a different way to teach language arts. Be sure to check out the other squad’s reviews of Royal Fireworks Press curriculums.
One of my favorite homeschool mom influencers is Jessica from The Waldock Way. I have always been a fan of her Instagram and YouTube. We have used all of her unit studies and they are in constant rotation in our home. To date, our favorite has been Traveling the World with a strong runner-up Holidays Around the World. My son stalks her YouTube channel for her Amazon Hauls.
Quite natural I am a member of The Waldock Way Community Facebook group, but then it happened the rumors started she has possibly had a new unit in the works that would debut sometime early 2022. Then it happened she announced the new unit would be Human Body which dropped on February 28th during her annual Spring Sale.
So it was an honor to be one of the first people to get an exclusive first look at this amazing unit study! So let me begin this review with OMGOSH!! Human Body Unit is a full package deal it covers EVERYTHING! I mean I saw lessons on cells, tissue types, scientist study, mazes, puzzles, diagrams, human body idioms, and play-doh mats. This is truly an extraordinary unit study.
The Human Body Unit is beautifully illustrated by Jessica’s husband. Excellent attention to detail in the illustration as well diversity in skin tones (much appreciated ). One of the things I love about how the Human Body Unit is laid out is that you can go at your own pace and order. My plan is to use the Human Body Unit over a period of time. We will begin with her Health and Nutrition and Five Senses.
The Hunan Body Unit is easy to follow and very relaxed. I was able to locate all of her suggested books at my local library. The unit is written in such a way that you can use almost any human body books you may have on hand.
Okay let me put in a side note the Human Body Unit is a unit study, just like her other products. Nowhere on her website or in her materials does she claim that her unit studies are curriculums. Jessica does what she does best create unit studies that are meant to engage your student in an exploration of learning through literature, game schooling, crafts, adventures, resources, and hands-on activities.
The Waldock Way is nonsectarian. None of our products promote any specific view, so that they can be enjoyed by all homeschoolers.
So I know what you think how much? Right now at the time of this review the unit is on sale for $19 but regularly priced at $28. I highly recommend the Human Body Unit and I can’t wait to dive into it.
If you are interested in reading more about The Waldock Way products be sure to check out the Melanated Gold Squads reviews by clicking the banner below.
Did you take typing or keyboarding in high school? Well, I did and it was BORING!!!! I suffered through a semester of typing on an old-school electric typewriter. Fast forward a few years and now have your own kiddos and technology is forever changing. Kids spend more time on tablets and computers, the need for learning how to properly type is important skill students need. The Melanated Gold Review Squad was given Typesy Homeschool accounts for up to 5 students to review.
About Typesy
Typesy is an interactive online typing program that combines curriculum-based lessons to improve students typing and overall academics. The program includes the Typesy kid’s curriculum for students K-10. Students will learn to type across ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies passages no more gibberish we all knew.
Using Typesy this last few weeks has been my son’s first introduction to typing. Now he does use a computer on a regular basis but his typing skills need some work. Typsey 2.0 Curriculum 4th- 5th grade starts students off with the basics of learning the home row keys combing ELA skills such as similes metaphors and narratives. Parents can print out the helpful guide to use along with students’ homeschool ELA lessons. Students build confidence as they practice with gentle encouragement and practice from the program.
My son enjoyed playing the games and learning the proper way to place his hands on the keyboard. He also has told me he noticed it easier for him to find the letters now that he is practicing his typing. I personally like that I can import his spelling words into Typesy word bank. Typsey also teaches students computer basics, web skills, google suite, career skills, vocabulary, and much more.
Typesy Homeschool is more than just a typing program, the additional programs and lessons are of huge value for homeschoolers. The program is affordable and can be useful for the whole family. I found myself testing my own typing skills and realized I was a little rusty on WPM.
I recommend Typesy Homeschool, gone are the days of those weird typing gibberish. Students can learn while they practice typing. Typesy Homeschool extended learning resources stand out above other typing programs. If you would like to learn more about Typesy Homeschool check out the other Melanated Gold Review Squad reviews by clicking the banner below.
I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew!
If you are a new homeschooler and in search of a homeschool curriculum that is low cost the Ultimate Membership from SchoolhouseTeachers.com may be your one-stop-shop. The Crew members were given an Ultimate Membership years subscription to review.
We have been using the Ultimate Membership for the last 3 years as a great resource for our homeschool. I love all the variety of materials that are at your fingertips, over the last few years I have used their certificate, monthly recipe menus, printable calendars, and their scope sequences. Ultimate Membership has just been one of the members that I have come to count on when I need extra practice items for my son.
Along with all the great memberships the Ultimate Membership has all kinds of great virtual events such as the upcoming science fair. If you remember those science fairs when you were younger it is nice to be able to pass this experience to your students. Students will have the opportunity to enter their project on their grade level along with other students all over the country.
The Ultimate Membership has these great curriculum boxes, we have taken advantage of using these comprehensive curriculum boxes because they are all you need for your student’s academic year. The best part is if you are a big family your membership covers all the students in your home. If you are looking for a PreK curriculum, the Ultimate Membership from SchoolhouseTeachers.com will have those PreK curriculum boxes and parenting boxes coming soon.
One of the biggest struggles some homeschoolers have is when their students reach the high school level. No worries the Ultimate Membership from SchoolhouseTeachers.com has you covered because they also have comprehensive 9-12 grade curriculum boxes that cover:
Math
Literature
Writing
Spelling
Science
Art
History Classical and Art
Each topic comes with a curriculum guide to help you over 36 weeks of study. Students also have elective options they can include in their curriculum and they look great on a transcript. Speaking of transcripts Ultimate Membership members receive a free silver membership to AppleCore, but those members who purchase a 1-year membership to Ultimate Membership, are upgraded to gold receive and free membership to Applecore. The gold Applecore membership helps with building transcripts and recordkeeping.
SchoolhouseTeachers.com wants to help you plan for a successful and enriching year ahead. If you are concerned about what your child should be learning for the year, members may check out the Scope and Sequence to make sure he is on track. Need help with recordkeeping? Applecore is also available with membership giving you access to reporting cards, transcripts, and more. Joining the SchoolhouseTeachers.com community means your entire family has access to over 400 courses, a print subscription to The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, and FREE access to World Book Online, Total College Success, and RightNow Media. Pay only $90 today and lock in your next nine months of homeschool curriculum. Use code: FRESHSTART23 at checkout to gain access to these essential homeschooling tools and so much more today.
What I really enjoy about The Wonder of Creation: 100 More Devotions About God and Science is the simplicity and non-over-barring religious text. The book is welcoming to all religions and can be adjusted for all religions. My son loves science so this was a huge hit for him. I sometimes picked areas of the book that work with lessons we are working on in our current science/ geography lessons. Indescribable Kid’s website offers helpful resources for parents there is a The Wonder of Creation: 100 More Devotions About God and Science educator and parent discussion guide along with more STEM-themed resources.
We like using The Wonder of Creation: 100 More Devotions About God and Science as part of our knowledge basket religious studies time and we refer back to it sometimes during science. My son will also pick it up just to read some of the science information. I also like the explore the wonder sections because it brings real-world wonder to your kids to explore and learn.
I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew!
If you are a homeschool mom at some point you have heard, glanced, or even used Math Mammoth. At the time of this review, we are using Math Mammoth Complete Curriculum Grade 4 as a supplement to our math curriculum. When the crew was given the opportunity to review the recently updated editions of Math Mammoth Skills Review Grade 4 and Complete Curriculum Grade 5 I thought they would be a perfect opportunity to add on to our math curricula resources for the summer and upcoming school year.
About Math Mammoth
Math Mammoth provides parents with full curriculums and supplemental text for grades 1st- 8th grade. There are some items for high schoolers. The company was founded by Maria Miller in 2003, her goal was to write math books exclusively for homeschoolers but since launching her math books have won numerous awards and have been flung not only in homes but at school as well.
Math Mammoth is a mastery curriculum that focuses on conceptual learning. Students will build confidence in math skills and mental math.
Math Mammoth Skills Review Grade 4 is a wonderful review book for those parents who have worked with Math Mammoth Grade 4 Curriculum. We are currently using Math Mammoth Grade 4 Curriculum to help supplement our math, but as of lately we have been using it more often. What I like about the Math Mammoth Skills Review Grade 4 is that it offers an extra practice review of skills students have already worked on.
My plan when I first received Math Mammoth Skills Review Grade 4 was to use it as a summer review, but I have found myself pulling it out review skills before moving on to the next sets of skills in our Math Mammoth Grade 4 worktext.
It is very helpful that in the Math Mammoth Skills Review Grade 4 packet you receive the answer key as well the spiraling guide. The spiraling guide references the Math Mammoth Grade 4 curriculum and I can easily locate where in the curriculum I need to turn to for extra reviewing. Even if you are not a Math Mammoth user and just need some extra skills practice for grade 4 this review book is on grade level and above. The skills review is helpful for those parents who want to make sure their kids have fully mastered skills in Math Mammoth Grade 4 Curriculum.
We also received Complete Curriculum Grade 5. Just like the Complete Curriculum Grade 4, we are currently using, grade 5 is proving to be everything a family will need for 5th-grade math. We received the digital download, but I will purchase the hard copy this fall. I did look over the Complete Curriculum Grade 5 to help me prepare for our upcoming school year and I was very happy to see the excellent rigor it will cover.
Decimals
Higher level multiplication and division
Fractions + – x /
Graphing and Statistics
Problem Solving
Complete Curriculum Grade 5 comes with everything you need for 5th-grade math. You receive review sheets (not to be confused with the review skills book), tests, cutouts, reference resources, and video links. Math Mammoth creator also has free YouTube videos of lessons. Complete Curriculum Grade 5 is to implement any follow. It provides just enough practice for those students who are easily frustrated by lengthy assignments and if want extra practice the Complete Curriculum Grade 5 includes those also. Lessons are laid out where the student is presented with the skill, mental math, spiral review then practice.
January is usually the time of the year a fair amount of homeschool moms start researching and planning their curriculum choices for the upcoming school year. We all anticipate this new journey but at the same time, we are trying to make sure we find the best curriculum for our kids. One of the science curricula I reviewed for my son for his 3rd-grade year was Scientific Connections through Inquiry Level 3. I was really happy with what I saw in this curriculum and I thought this may be a good time to share with my followers this unique science curriculum.
About Scientifc Connection through Inquiry
Scientific Connection through Inquiry curriculum is designed to teach young students advanced interdisciplinary science in a way they can understand. The lessons allow students to connect science with the world around them by inquiry. Students embark on learning these lessons using:
Hands on Exploration
Movement
Discussion
Inquiry
Observation
Scientific Connection through Inquiry foundations is based on Dr. Bernard Nebe Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding. Scientific Connection through Inquiry can be started at any level but having done the previous level will guarantee that your student has a full understanding of scientific lessons as they progress.
Unit Breakdown
Each of the levels units give an overview, supply list, and resources. The unit begins with a discussion. The discussion is meant to open the door to the unit’s inquiry. Scientific Connection through Inquiry provides helpful information through the educator’s guide. The opening discussion prepares students for their learning experience. The unit continues to progress to the activity, student pages, videos, and end-of-unit checklist of what they have learned.
Level 3
Scientific Connections through Inquiry Level 3 is for grades 2nd through 5th grade, but you can start at any level. Scientific Connections through Inquiry Level 3 comes in pdf format (64-page student book and a 154-page educator guide). I appreciate both of these books are limited on pages which makes it affordable to have printed at home. I do think it is nice that the levels can be stretched across 3-grade levels this works well with families with multiple grade levels. Level 3 has 11 units that will cover chemistry, biology, physics, earth, and space. The discovery in these are:
Cells I and II
Flight
Atomic/Molecular Motion I
Balance
Fungi & Bacteria I
Density
Seasons
Life of Plants
Energy and Motion
Buyancy
Scientific Connections through Inquiry Level 3 is a 36-week curriculum that can be done at your own pace or you can follow the recommended schedule. At the beginning of the first unit, students are taught how to ” discern a good argument from a bad one which is a necessary skill in life, and particularly in science.” -SCI The “Baloney Detection Kit” has 13 points your student will learn these points and use them throughout level 3 and in my honest opinion, they will use theses skill throughout all their future studies. The biggest purchase I noticed in the supply list was a microscope, there is a helpful guide included for purchasing suggestions.
My son went through a fungi and bacteria phase, he was very much intrigued by Scientific Connections through Inquiry Level 3Fungi & Bacteria I. We jumped to this unit, and let’s just say my son enjoyed it immensely he had stuff growing in the fridge and Petri dishes. He confiscated bread and the mushrooms we had in the fridge all in the name of science. He loved one of the books suggested in the educator’s guide so much I purchased it.
Scientific Connections through Inquiry Level 3 educator guide is laid out beautifully. If you have no knowledge of the concept presented you are given enough support with guided scripts and resources. Each unit also is divided into sessions (lessons) the number of sessions varies for each unit. The hands-on activities provide plenty of exploration and fun!
Scientific Connections through Inquiry Level 3 offers sample lessons on their website for you to preview. Even though we have a science curriculum we are very happy with Scientific Connection through Inquiry is an excellent science curriculum or even a supplemental resource. I feel like this is great for summer science. We will be revisiting level 3 and checking out level 4 for science fun this summer.
Scientific Connection through Inquiry is $40 and your receive both student and educators guide. You will need to invest in that microscope and supplies but the supplies are easily found at the Dollar Tree or your local dollar store. The curriculum is easy to follow and will work well with any homeschool setting.
Little Learner and Mom 