Elementary Science Education: Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding, Vol. II, grades 3-5, 2nd ed.

We're just a few lessons away from completing this 2nd level of Nebel's BFSU series of science books, and here are my thoughts: If you are new to BFSU, you may want to start with the green book, which is strongly prerequisite for the blue book. There are some pretty advanced concepts that aren't normally taught at such an early age in traditional curricula. (I'm thinking about kinetic and potential and other energies.) We've had a lot of fun with this book. Some of our highlights: *Directly observing Brownian motion by observing diluted whole milk under a microscope *Measuring displacement and understanding why and how objects sink and float *Constructing our own thermometer *Observing convection currents over a stove top, then applying those observations to Hadley cells in the atmosphere *Directly observing microorganisms' motility: flagellum in a Euglena, cilia in a paramecium, and amoeboid movement in an amoeba. It was awesome. *Learned how things fly, from helicopters to airplanes to birds *Spent a great deal of time studying center of gravity/center of weight. Who knew there were so many ways to demonstrate this concept? *Learned about ground water, run off, and related water cycle topics, I, as a mom, was only dimly aware of We are in the middle of simple machines and will study a bit of electricty before moving on to BFSU 3 (the purple book). I will say that compared with the green book, BFSU #2 doesn't correlate as well with it's bibliography. For example, in the botany section, we learn about meristem cells and how plants grow. You won't find any elementary curricula describing meristem cells. All the other kids are learning about xylem and phloem. Xylem and phloem. All the children's nonfiction botany books describe xylem and phloem, not meristem cells. Nebel believes it is more important to study how plants' cells grow and differentiate, particularly in contrast to animal organisms. I was only able to find correlated reading in an advanced botany textbook that was not cited in Nebel's text. Like BFSU #1, the blue book requires preparation, preparation, preparation. This is true of nearly any science curriculum, though. If you are homeschooling and teaching science at home, you need to be organized to be successful, and this is particularly true for Nebel. Unlike BFSU 1, you need to purchase a high quality compound microscope adn a triple beam balance. We also purchased a stereo microscope. The scopes are not cheap, but then, so is private school, and we use it so much outside of BFSU. BFSU does not include any worksheets, exams, or other school-y busy work. Students are expected to take their own notes in their science notebooks. I resisted this at first, but now I see the value of this. I now sit down with each student individually as they document what they understand and know, and it gives me a chance to assess their knowledge and make sure everything it set in their minds. I wish I had done this sooner, as this text does not provide any other sort of assessment. If you favor a curriculum that includes worksheets, fill in the blanks, quizzes, tests, and general busywork, this is not the curriculum for you. We have been more than pleased with the science education we are all receiving and look forward to BFSU #3. Thank you, Dr. Nebel!

The experiments are solid, I really love how it interweaves different scientific fields together, and it's helped me to organize a scientific notebook for my kids, rather than using the worksheets that come with other programs.

I love this program. What I think is exceptional about Dr. Nebel's curriculum is that he teaches science in all four threads (Nature of Matter, Life Science, Physical Science and Earth Science) so that children will ultimately be prepared for rigorous study of high school level biology, physics and chemistry. Elementary science education in the US public schools is generally not systematic in its approach and does nothing to ensure that children are building an understanding of scientific concepts. We would never expect children to just jump into Algebra, Geometry and Calculus without preparing them with a systematic foundation in mathematics; however, most elementary science education is basically a hodge podge of fact memorization and "cool" experiments where the actual science behind the experiment is never fully explored, leaving children ill prepared for the demands of high school science. I have looked at (and purchased) a number of other programs (e.g. Noeo Science, Great Source Sciencesaurus) and this is not just the only program that really teaches science in this manner, it is also more engaging, more hands on, and the only curriculum which doesn't seem to be full of busy work. BFSU is not for everyone. It is not open and go, and if you have gaps in your own science background (as I do) some lessons may seem intimidating; but, if you are serious about your child's science education and you don't want to spend hundreds of dollars (as you would with a program such as the Supercharged Science online classes) this is a wonderful curriculum.

Based on twenty-five 5-star reviews for BFSU K-2, my wife and I purchased both BFSU K-2 for our soon-to-be 1st grader and purchased BFSU Vol. II for our soon-to-be 3rd grader. This review covers both volumes. As a side note, my wife has taught most grades between K-8 as a public school teacher. Initially we were looking for a chemistry curriculum for our 3rd grader and hoped BFSU II (the follow-on volume to this book) would be it. WTM calls for using the Adventures With Atoms and Molecules series for 3rd grade chemistry. These are series of simple experiments but really skimp on the "science" behind the results. So, we went looking for something to supplement or replace and came across BFSU Vol. II which led us to BFSU K-2 and it's glowing reviews. For grades 1-2 of homeschooling we have followed the Well-Trained Mind format and curriculum, using an assortment of Usborne, D-K, and library books for science. Although we are very pleased with our 1st and 2nd grade science program (already taught to our older daughter), we thought BFSU K-2 (this book) might still be a good for grades 1-2 and also grades 3-5 since Vol. II picks up where K-2 leaves off. After receiving the books we were so dissapointed we returned both for a refund. I really tried to like these books but after spending several hours going over both books I came to the conclusion that both books are light on content. Worse, the author fails to follow through on his own pronouncements of how to teach science to children. The curriculum and content is okay, but ultimately isn't any better than what's available in numerous other homeschool science programs (or even available as free online content). The problem is the author uses more words preaching to the educator/parent than he does getting to the meat of the lesson, which is buried in paragraphs of mostly unformatted text. There are lessons in there, but the parent must read through paragraphs of text to figure it out. A little bit of formatting and outlining would have gone a long way towards reducing the prep time required for each lesson. BFSA K-2 is especially bad in this regard. Considering how simple the lessons are they really require too much work just to extract the lesson content. Fans of BFSU are probably thinking I'm being overly critical but 10 extra minutes of prep time per lesson extracting the lesson from the text adds up. Compare this product side-by-side with most homeschooling tesxts and you'll see the author hasn't done you any favors. Also, you're on your own to come up with illustrations or links to pictures or videos to help your child grasp new concepts. For the price these books should have been illustrated. On top of that, I felt the material was too superficial for homeschooling (although probably about right for a public school classroom). Nothing in K-2 is beyond a your average Kindergartener and the material in Vol II is appropriate for a second-grade level. Only the requirement to write in a journal elevates Vol. II to the level of grades 3-5. Also,there are no quizzes or anything else that would allow the parent to objectively determine how much knowledge their young student is absorbing and retaing. This is not a shortcoming for the K-2 book, but I believe a glaring ommision for Vol. II (Grades 3-5). Bottom line: the cost of the books far exceeded their value to us and were returned. As for 3rd grade chemistry, we'll be using the chem4kids website in conjunction with experiments from the first couple books in the Adventures in Atoms and Molecules series.

I LOVE Dr. Nebel's science books. I wanted to provide this review having read a negative review that was very well written and made me think twice before ordering. This book does require effort from the teacher. It is not exactly an open and go book. He leads you in a process where you provide or demonstrate a concept to your student and then through Socratic questioning lead your student to the key ideas of the lesson. That cannot be done with tons of worksheets and textbook materials. It requires observation, discussion, experimentation - and it is AWESOME. He walks you through how to create these aha moments for your child and then gives you suggestions on how to have your child demonstrate their learning. You do have to take the time to read the material and make your plans prior to performing the actual lessons. But I love these books and I especially love how the lessons very purposefully build upon each other. These books teach kids how to think like scientists not just how to memorize long lists of vocabulary words. FYI these books don't have pictures, just straight information on how to communicate complex ideas to your kids.

We love this book so much. I have been looking for something like this for a long time and I don’t think I can even imagine a better homeschooling science book for this level. Written by someone who is clearly a true scientist and has put a lot of thought into how to convey what science is really all about to young people. Dr. Nebel has also come up with many creative hands-on activities that use mostly household materials. As others have noted, this is not a workbook that you can just hand off for you child to do on their own. It will require you reading through the lessons, preparing some things in advance, and discussing things together. Dr. Nebel has put together a Facebook page and website for the BFSU community with links to videos and other materials related to the lessons.

I am a homeschooling mom of 6. My own personal background was in science and at least one of my kids shows a very STRONG inclination towards science. I have looked for years for a curriculum that I thought would meet our needs. I wanted something complete but understandable. I wanted something not too expensive and relatively easy to implement. But, most importantly, I wanted something that wouldn't be just a check-in-the-box for the state requirements. I wanted something that would spark my children's interest to further explore the scientific world surrounding them. This has been that curriculum for me. I am using both the K-2 and 3-5 curriculum and I think they are wonderfully designed and provide a true basis of scientific understanding for my children--which to me is more important than any scientific facts they will memorize. I highly recommend at least taking a look at the program if you're looking for real science for your children.

My daughter and I are homeschooling a 10-yo and a 12-yo. Based on reviews and research, we purchased this series. After teaching from it for a year, we've decided that this approach is not for us or the children. Pros: It's comprehensive and covers the material. Full explanations on everything. Good reference materials. Good suggestions for labs. Cons: First, the approach leans too heavily on a child's presumed innate understanding of a scientific concept BEFORE it's taught to him/her. With this approach, the child is to deduce, say, Archimedes' Principle by answering the teacher's leading questions and thinking about it. Much time is devoted at the beginning of each class to these discussions with the teacher 'guiding' the student to figuring out buoyancy and displacement and to inferring the math. My daughter and I are teaching one gifted student and one very bright, intuitive student, and this approach is not working. They are frustrated, as are we. They've observed floating balls and sinking toys; they now want to know the Principle and move on to the labs! And second, there's just too much 'preaching' in every paragraph about Dr. Nebel's philosophy of education and children's mind, much of this 'preaching' is repetitive. Just getting through the text and separating the wheat from the chef is exhausting and time-consuming. I find that I have to condense the material before I can prepare a lesson plan. This is ridiculous. The text is overwritten and belabored. When I read a science text, I want to see SCIENCE, not the writer's new-age opinions. Better, in our opinion, to teach the Principle first, allow the children to experiment with it themselves (water, toy ships, catch bowls, data chart, calculator, etc.), and then apply what they've observed and learned to other practical applications of the Principle. They need the confidence that they've learned a new principle first, then they can extrapolate and enjoy. Third, Dr. Nebel's theory is that children can best learn by mixing up the order of the topics. For example, a lesson may feature the cell; the next lesson will cover convection currents; the next lesson will be on fungi; the next one, elements and compounds; the next, heat, volume, and density. There's no building from a foundation, no logical progression. Students are left hanging, waiting for the next logical topic. Frustrating and annoying. This approach feels faddish. We'll return to the science curriculum we taught prior to trying this one. The grass is not always greener. This one's lost in the weeds.

I supplement my complete curriculum with this science curriculum. After looking at a ton this is by far my favorite. It is comprehensive and well written. You do have to put together the lessons based on the info provided including reading resources and assignments, but it is worth it. This is one of the only “hard” science courses I have found for advanced elementary science students. We used the previous book in series also.

Professional science books with reasonable price Detailed instructions Covered a lot of science areas My kids like it highly recommended

All the books in this series are a great way to teach your kids about science, in a thorough yet simple way. We love it!

This is a really good text, and I highly recommend it.