Posted by Sue in St Pete on 18:22 Jan 11
In Reply to: Does anyone use Noeo Science? posted by E
We used NOEO Biology II with our 5th grade son. He is not particularly science oriented. Neither am I. I have mixed feelings about the curriculum.
The advantage is that it is all laid out for you. The reading is not too difficult for a 5th grader. In fact a bit on the easier side since it's targeted at 4th-6th grade. It is not time consuming - we spend perhaps 30-45 minutes 2x per week. After a week or two of guidance, it can be done fairly independently. It s secular, which I prefer.
The disadvantage is that it not very challenging. The "experiments" were fairly lame - mostly looking at something under the microscope and sketching it. There are a few kits that come with it. Dad and son did the kits on eggs and owls, and they were good. Okay, my son thought the owl pellet was really gross. There is a long section using the Body Book, which is all cut-and-paste. The plant kits were decent.
But, what I found with Noeo is that there is too much freedom for my unmotivated student to do a mediocre job. Because all he has to do is read 2 pages and write about them, I find that he reads the pages and picks out 2-3 sentences to write down. I need more accountability. If I want to quiz him about what he s read, I have to read the pages and determine the questions to ask on my own. That, coupled with the lack of hands-on activities, is disappointing.
Sue