i-Science - Secular Science Curriculum

Remember how I decided we wouldn't use a science curriculum? Remember how I finally bought one because the husband and daughter wanted to try on? Well, we have had i-Science from Singapore Math for about a month now and it's going really well.

When I bought it I went for the grade 5 curriculum as the grade 4 book seemed to cover stuff we were already very familiar with. When it arrived I went through the teacher's guide (which includes the textbook so I didn't buy a seperate text) and had visions of planning out lessons but the actual use of the text has been something like this: Read the textbook to Catherine, ask the questions in the text (she loves to be "interviewed"), leave the text and go to Brainpop or other resources. For me, the teacher's guide is rather useless and I should have saved some money and simply bought the textbook. I'm very glad for the basic structure the text can provide and it's real value to me is as a general guide from which Catherine and I can explore. Lesson learned for next year.

The workbooks are excellent. They aren't fill-in-the-blanks and wordsearch-galore type workbooks. They have labs and experiments with clear procedures and great questions. And it's not even $10 for the two workbooks you need for the year! Honestly, I think they're a great buy even if you're using a different curriculum or not using one at all.

For the whole shebang I spent $34.40 ($25 for the teacher's guide and $8.40 for both workbooks) before taxes and shipping. Cost was part of the reason I went with i-Science rather than Singapore Math's other offering, MPH Science. For a test run I didn't want to put out too much money. If I go with it again next year I'll simply buy the text and workbooks which would make it less then $20. Can't beat that!

I-Science is very good, cheap and flexible. 'Nuff said.