Product: Sassafras Science Adventures living book series
Company: Elemental Science
Recommended Age Range: Kindergarten, Elementary
Time Required: about 60 to 90 minutes per week
Difficulty: Program is easy to follow and story is fairly easy to understand even for early elementary. The science described can be fairly advanced, but full understanding is not necessary in order to use the curriculum.
Cost: $25 to $100 per volume depending on how much supplemental material you want. (Each volume lasts one semester and there are 4 volumes so far.)

Bottomline

In my opinion, all you really need to get nearly everything out of this program is the living book (the Kindle version is $10) and the lapbook for $15. I also highly recommend the audiobook if you spend a good amount of time in the car. This material lasts for 18 weeks or about a semester. Given that my son loves listening to the story, is being exposed to really complex science, and has produced quality interactive notebooks using the lapbook material over the course of the year, I feel like this science curriculum is hard to beat.

How We Use It

Over the past year, my son (a first grader) and I have worked our way through the first two volumes of Sassafras Science: Zoology and Anatomy. He has simultaneously used the lapbook materials to make a book for each of the two volumes. Usually, he colors the pictures for the lapbook material while I read-aloud from my Kindle or we listen to the audiobook. After he finishes listening to a section, we go back to the relevant parts of the book and I re-read the scientific parts, so he can pick what he found the most interesting. He tells me what he wants to write in his lapbook, I write the sentence on a piece of scratch paper, and he copies it into the appropriate part of his lapbook.

Instead of making actual lapbooks out of these pieces using file folders as suggested, I’ve chosen to use these lapbooking pieces in interactive notebooks. For each volume, I simply bind together 9 pieces of cardstock, then glue the pieces into the homemade notebook instead. (Have I mentioned that I love my binding machine? A detailed review and description of the many things I use it for can be found here.)

I’ll admit, very few of the curricula choices I made last summer have completely panned out. However, Sassafras is one of the few that we’ve really stuck with throughout the whole school year. If I pull him away from playing, he’s not always super excited to start his science, but he really does enjoy the story. Once he’s been drawn into the story, he’ll yell at his younger siblings to be quiet so he can hear. He doesn’t want to miss any parts.

How Long Does it Take?

If you do one chapter a week, the program lasts 18 weeks, which allows you to finish two volumes a year. Each chapter takes about 30 to 45 minutes to read (or listen to the audiobook). All the chapters are divided into two parts, so ideally we read half a chapter twice a week. I am glad that I bought the audiobook, because if we start falling behind, we’ll listen to that week’s chapter in the car on the way to and from activities. On a good week, we spend about 45 minutes on supplemental science activities in addition to just listening to the living book. (On a bad week, we’ll only spend about 15 to make sure my son’s lapbook is complete for the week.)

After we listen to a chapter, sometimes we’ll read about the same subjects in other books. The lapbooking guide provides booklists for each chapter, which I’m sure are great, but I’ve rarely used them. I’ve REALLY liked Picturepedia for providing great visuals of both zoology and anatomy. I’m sure it will come in handy with future volumes as well. For anatomy, we’ve also been using See Inside Your Body which my kids really like.

In addition to the lapbook material, the lapbook guide also includes ideas for a number of hands-on experiments or demonstrations. I don’t always make time for these, but they’re usually pretty easy to put together and my kids LOVE them. They were big fans of the gooeyness of the giraffe saliva experiment. Recently we did the kidney demonstration and I will never forget the way my 5-year-old daughter’s eyes lit up with glee when she realized the yellow liquid we collected at the end was supposed to represent urine.

What about Kids of Multiple Ages?

One of the things that I adore most about this program is the way it serves such a wide audience. I’ll be honest…I don’t think my preschooler fully follows the story, even when we’re in the car and she has no other distractions. However, she definitely has a vague idea what’s going on and doesn’t complain listening to it. (My 2 year old, I am certain, has no clue what is going on.) My 7 year old loves these books. There is not a lot of character development or intricate plot twists, but there IS a lot of action-packed adventure which holds his interest. As an adult, they might not be my first choice of reading material, but I enjoy them too and have learned some science as well.

I feel like the science in the zoology book was right at my first grader’s level. It taught about different kinds of habitats, defense mechanisms, diets, and other aspects of zoology. I think he really was able to fully grasp maybe 90% of the science. The science in the anatomy book is at a much higher level. The story itself is just as entertaining, but whenever the “local expert” starts spouting off facts related to anatomy, even I get lost sometimes. However, that doesn’t really bother me. Maybe my son’s only retaining 20% of the science content, but since he’s not starting a pre-med program anytime soon, I don’t mind what goes over his head.

So far, we’ve only used the lapbook material, which I think is perfect for my 1st grader who is a new writer. However, they also have coloring pages, which would be appropriate for an even younger student (my preschooler colors them sometimes) and notebooking pages which would be appropriate for an older student. I could see myself repeating this curriculum in 5 years or so when my baby and toddler are older and having my oldest filling out the notebooking pages as an upper elementary student.

I should point out that while I don’t use the “Scidat Logbook” (the notebooking pages) or the teacher’s guides, I did buy them and I’m glad I own them. If my son and I are really lost about filling out a certain portion of the lapbook, the teachers guide has more info than the lapbooking guide that I can use for reference (though most of it is way too advanced for my 1st grader). As I said, I do plan to cycle through using these again someday, and I like the variety of options they have for documenting your learning experience with learners of different ages.

Do I Need to Do These In Order?

While we’re doing them in order, I don’t really think you need to. Like I said, there’s not really a lot of character development. The main premise is that two 12 year old twins are bad at science, so their crazy scientist uncle sends them off around the world on magical ziplines to learn about science from various local experts.

Not only do you not need to read the books in order, but even the topics within each book are fairly self-contained. They spend two chapters at each location learning about something specific (like the rainforest or circulatory system). At each location they have a different adventure that is usually completely unrelated to their adventures in previous locations. (There is an overarching, not-that-scary, man-with-no-eyebrows, “bad guy” that’s following them, but he only intermittently shows up and I have a feeling he’s not going to be resolved until the very last book in the series anyway, which hasn’t been written yet.)

Why Are They Called Living Books?

If you talk to a follower of the Charlotte Mason method of homeschooling, living books are really the only types of books kids should be using to learn. Personally, while I don’t follow it completely, I really like the Charlotte Mason philosophy and it was my search for living books that led me to this curriculum. What is a living book? Unlike a text book, which is a dry chronicle of facts, a living book is a book written by someone with a passion for a subject that makes the subject matter “come alive.” They frequently chronicle the lives of real people or characters and involve the reader’s emotions. They are both memorable and enjoyable.

To summarize, here are some pros and cons I’ve found over the past year of using Sassafras Science Adventures:

Pros

• Easy-to-use
• Enjoyable for student (and parent)
• Provides lots of scientific information
• Great for families with kids of multiple ages
• Inexpensive
• Lots of hands-on suggestions
• Audiobook is great for learning on-the-go
• Results in attractive documentation of the child’s learning

Cons

• Science described can be a little complicated.
• If you fall behind (which we have a couple times), it can seem overwhelming to a young child to catch up.
• Most of the scientific information is not integral to the story, so theoretically a child reading the stories independently could skip over it.
• A lot of the time spent on this curriculum is spent listening to a fun, adventure story which does not completely pertain to science. (I don’t mind this.)
• There are aspects of the story that are not at all scientific, like the invisible ziplines. This doesn’t bother me as it makes the stories more entertaining, but be aware.
• The adventures are pretty far-fetched, especially the dangerous situations that the kids are allowed to be in, but my kids love it.

Overall, I don’t have a lot of complaints…The Sassafras twins have made science easy this past year and we’ll definitely continue to use them next year.

Here are all the volumes they have so far!

Volume 1: Zoology
Volume 2: Anatomy
Volume 3: Botany
Volume 4: Earth Science

Related Links

Biology for Kids
Learning Activities for Kids
Play Activities for Kids

The post Sassafras Science Adventures Review appeared first on ResearchParent.com.

The idea for this bug house was inspired by The Magic School Bus – Explore the Wonders of Nature kit that we recently bought (affiliate link, not sponsored, but highly recommended). The kit provided the mesh that we used to make these houses out of recycled containers, though mesh could also be purchased separately for not much cost. Given how inexpensive the kit is as a whole and how many fun activities are included, I think it’s a great value, so much so that I just signed up for their monthly science kit (affiliate link, on sale now for $9/month with coupon code MSB10, regularly $20/month).

My primary motivation for making these homemade bug houses was to give my kids another reason to ask to be outside. I really want my kids to grow up to be nature lovers. Maybe it’s naïve of me to think that I can counteract the lure of modern technology, but I would love for my kids to choose to spend time outdoors rather than in front of electronic devices when they’re older, at least some of the time. In pursuit of this goal, we try to have outdoor picnics, journal in our “nature notebooks”, and go on short walks once or twice a week. If it will encourage my kids to experience nature to the fullest, I will even violate a life long rule of mine and willingly come within 10 feet of an insect. (However, I still draw the line at bringing bugs into the house. We’re exclusively a catch-and-release family.)

Recommended Age Range: Preschool, Kindergarten, Elementary
Time Required: ~20 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Less than $2 in used supplies

Materials:

• An empty container with a lid
• Small piece of mesh for covering windows
• Decorating supplies like paper, markers, stickers, etc. (totally optional, your bug isn’t going to know the difference)

Supplies & Tools:

• X-acto knife
• Glue stick
• Packing tape
• Scissors or paper cutter (optional, for cutting decorative paper to size)
• Ruler (optional, for measuring paper before cutting)

Instructions:

1. Cut windows in the container using the X-acto knife.



2. Decorate paper using markers, stickers, or other craft supplies and cut it to size.



3. Attach decorative paper to container. You may need to use more than one piece depending on the size of your container.



4. Cut “X”s in all the windows with the X-acto knife.



5. Fold flaps in and glue onto the inside of the container.



6. Cut a piece of mesh slightly bigger than each window.



7. Tape the mesh onto the inside surface of the container around each edge.


Now your containers are ready for a bug hunt!


8. Before placing your captured bugs inside, first put some dirt, grass, leaves, sticks, and other bits of nature into the container to make your guest feel more at home.


Now you’re ready to catch some bugs.

Related Links

Homemade Fun for Kids
Best Books for Kids
Best Gifts for Kids

The post Homemade Bug Houses appeared first on ResearchParent.com.

The main reason I made these cards, however, was to help my kids learn geography. A few weeks ago, we made a Homemade Learning World Map with repositionable continent labels. Now that my kindergartener knows his continents, these cards can be used to reinforce that knowledge since this free printable features four animals from each continent, each one selected because it is predominantly found only in that one continent. One way to use this printable would be to select 7 animals (one of the four from each continent) and have your child tape them to a laminated world map.

Children who are capable of reading (or are learning to read) can use these cards Montessori-style by simply matching the labels to the picture. (For younger kids, I would only give them a continent at a time to make the task more manageable.) Control cards are provided which show the picture and label together so that the child (or parent) can refer back to this set to find the correct pairing. To turn it into a game that you can play with your child, the split activity cards can be used as a memory style matching game. The control cards could also be used alone for sorting. Children can sort the animals by continent, type, size, or conservation status.

At the request of a reader, I now also have 3-part cards that split the information on the control cards into 1) picture, 2) name of animal, and 3) additional facts to make the activity more difficult for older children.

Recommended Age Range: Preschool, Kindergarten, Elementary, Middle School, High School
Time Required: ~1 hour
Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Less than $3 in used supplies (Bulk of the cost is for the thermal laminating pouches, which are about 20 cents per pouch. You’ll need 14 sheets if you want to make both the matching and control cards, though you could save money by not laminating them or using contact paper.)

Materials:

• paper (for printing World Zoology 2-Part Cards printable and the corresponding Control Cards. Note: For older elementary children, you may prefer to use the cards split 3 ways instead.)
• laminating pouches

Supplies & Tools:

• laminator (affiliate link)
• scissors or paper cutter (or both)

Instructions:

1. Print the World Zoology Cards and Control Cards printables. (Note: Only the first 7 pages of each document should be printed as the last 2 pages contain legal information about sharing and image sources.)
2. Laminate them.
3. Cut them out.

I recommend starting kids off with just one continent group at a time before attempting the full set.

Don’t forget, these cards can also be combined with my Homemade Learning World Map for a more hands-on activity.

If you enjoyed this printable, please consider signing up for my newsletter (which includes a freebie useful for kids in middle school or younger).

Related Links

Learning Activities for Kids
Best Books for Kids

The post World Zoology Cards appeared first on ResearchParent.com.