Posted by Canada_Mom on 18:48 Jan 11
In Reply to: Does anyone use Noeo Science? posted by E
I have Biology I that I'm currently working through with my dd6 in grade 1. I don't like all of the books that they chose for this level but dd seems to enjoy them. I agree that there isn't much accountability as all she has to do is narrate back 2-5 sentences and sketch a picture about what she read. I do like that they have definitions that they would like the kids to record (my daughter LOVES learning the definitions) and occasionally they will tell you what they want the child to be drawing/writing that particular day. At gr. 1 level it is not too challenging for her but I have noticed that using the narration method she is retaining the information- when I do up my own quiz at the end of each unit she's able to get 100%. (in Canada, my school board requires that I do some formal testing) I found I had to supplement A LOT to cover the topic adequately- for example when doing the book about forests, I had to go to library for video on forests, get some coloring sheets off internet & I also came up with an activity for her to do (in this case we made a diorama). Just doing the book that they recommend was not enough for my daughter in most cases- she wanted MORE. Also, it's been 5 months of "read 2 pages & write/sketch about it" so I'm finding I'm having to "spice" it up a bit to keep her interest.
I bought the whole kit & found the experiments to be satisfactory for gr. 1- if she were any older I'd have been disappointed. Overall, I really like NOEO, but for next year I will use some of their topic ideas but select my own books as I wasn't thrilled with the books they chose for each topic & ended up using library books instead in some cases. Once you do one year of it, it's easy enough to put together your own curriculum for the next. Sorry this is so long. Hope it helps.