Carolyn Reeves

*For the rest of my review, check out the Teacher's Guide and Student Journal reviews for this program.*

There are quite a few Christian-based science curriculums available for children to choose from in the realm of the life sciences. Resources for physical sciences however, are much more limited. This is what makes the Elementary Physical Science programs from Master Books so exciting!

Designed for students from grades 3 - 8 (simple graphing, division, and other age appropriate math skills are required), Forces and Motion is a hands-on; activity based learning approach that teaches first through observation, and then through the application of scientific principles and concepts after they have already been observed. I love that - learning through life and the real application of science rather than just through book learning!

There are three books required for Forces and Motion, a student journal (consumable, but affordable with a suggested retail of $4.99), a teacher's guide ($4.99), and the text itself ($12.99). The supplies needed are a combination of common household supplies and some you'll need to purchase from a science supplier. I recommend you go through the program and make a shopping list before you begin. The 20 investigations are recommended as an 18-week (or one semester) course of study with approximately 5 hours of work estimated per week.

The text is full-color, and looks much like a traditional textbook with many short segments included for each investigation (lesson.) It includes the instructions for each hands-on segment, the explanation of the scientific principles, information on major scientists behind discoveries, discussion prompts, and more.

Personally, the three-volume approach isn't as intuitive for me to use as a parent. I love resources that are "all-in-one" grab and go volumes, so this format is a bit trickier for me to figure out. If you are used to more of an Apologia approach for elementary science it might take a while to get the three volumes to flow together easily.

I wasn't sure how Christian elements could be interwoven with physical science, but I was pleased to see an emphasis on the faith of scientists such as Newton, scripture references, creation apologetics, and praise for the Creator of our universe. If you haven't been sure how to tie together concepts such as friction, and God's design of the world, this will be an incredibly helpful guide to get some conversations started.

I really like the emphasis on hands-on followed by scientific discussions and concepts, allowing children to have a real-life anchor to peg scientific concepts into. While the format isn't my favorite, I'm still pleased to see a multi-age resource provided for families that incorporates the nitty-gritties of physical science (the precursor of physics) in a real-life setting with math included as an integral, real-life-application part of the study.

Reviewed at quiverfullfamily.com… (altro)

*For the rest of my review, check out the Student's Journal and Text reviews for this program.*

The student journal is black and white, with room for observations (graphing activities, diagrams, and tables), short answer questions, math activities, true/false questions, fill in the blanks etc.) – these vary from lesson to lesson (not all of these are presented for each activity.) A separate notebook will also be required for recording answers to the longer questions in the “What Did You Learn?” section for each activity. Some of the questions are presented fully in the journal, others will need to be looked up in the text, such as the “Dig Deeper” research components.

Reviewed at quiverfullfamily.com… (altro)

*For the rest of my review, check out the Teacher's Guide and Text reviews for this program.*

The student journal is black and white, with room for observations (graphing activities, diagrams, and tables), short answer questions, math activities, true/false questions, fill in the blanks etc.) – these vary from lesson to lesson (not all of these are presented for each activity.) A separate notebook will also be required for recording answers to the longer questions in the “What Did You Learn?” section for each activity. Some of the questions are presented fully in the journal, others will need to be looked up in the text, such as the “Dig Deeper” research components.

Reviewed at quiverfullfamily.com… (altro)