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Science Adventures Review
Great Science Adventures Review
Great Science Adventure Sale!
by Harriet Yoder
Great Science Adventures
 The Great Science Adventures Series
from Common Sense Press is a multilevel
K-8 home school science curriculum. I think authors Dinah Zike, M. Ed.
and Susan Simpson have done a very thorough job. There are presently six
topics (listed below) in the series with more planned in the future.
Standard Format
There
are 24 complete lessons in each of the books in the series. The authors
have been careful to format them in the same format. Hence, once you have
used one Great Science Adventure, you know how to use them all--a great
timesaver for the busy homeschool parent.
3D Graphic Organizers
Each Book Uses "3D Graphic Organizers". This could sound intimidating until you realize that it is neat ways
to fold regular 8 1/2" by 11" white paper into different little books. The
instructions are easy to follow and learnable. I have to tell you that
when I saw that part I was going to skip it, but I had to do it for my children
and this column. All of us enjoyed making the different organizers and
using them for review. In the
World of Tools and Technology, we
made a nifty timeline and used the graphic organizers to study each type of
tool.
Benefits Beyond This Program
My favorite "fold" is the pocket book which has many uses beyond
those listed in this book. One of our grandmas was ill and
I gave a "pocket book" paper to each child to create a get well card. We glued
them together to create a Get Well Book. Needless to say, Gram was impressed! That alone was worth the price of the book for me!
Lots of Science Library Books
Back To The Review! In each of the
24 lessons, the students make a "Lots of Science Library Book" using the
reproducible masters
provided. All of us liked the stories. (My fellow product testers
ranged in age from 5 to 11.) I appreciated the way the topics were
presented in an understandable fashion (with extra explanations in a smaller
print for the older crowd.)
One drawback: For those of us who
are veteran homeschoolers and former copy machine operators: you are
expected to make a copy of each little book by copying on both sides of page
MATCHING the little lines so when you cut the book apart all the pages are lined
up. Needless to say I only made one little book with my copying skills. I pulled out my handy dandy scissors and cut up (YES, CUT) my copy of The
World of Tools and Technology to make those cute little books. I would like to suggest that the publishers offer
a separate copy of the reproducibles for those of us who will pay NOT to have to
make copies and would like to keep their books intact (preferably in shrink
wrapped loose-leaf pages). It's not
a pretty sight when half the book is gone!
(OK, that is my only negative
comment about this series! Except for that, I really liked it and we are
planning to do either the
World of Insects and Arachnids or the
World
of Plants next--and cut the book!)
An Alternative: If you have a local
printing company that has a heavy duty cutter, you can pay a fee and have them
cut off the binding freeing each page. With the pages free, it may be
easier to make the lined up duplexed (copied on front and back) copies so you can make a copy of each book
for each child.
Lab Activities
The back cover
accurately says the Investigative Loop™
provides lab activities with complete, clear directions, material lists,
questions, and data for students to record. The activities were written
with the homeschool setting in mind! Everyone benefited from that part.
Enrichment Activities
Each lesson offers several individual and/or group enrichment experiences,
investigations, and research. Your students will be able to choose an
activity that is appropriate for the skill and interest level.
Overall, I recommend
the series for those who want a homeschool science program that is economical,
holds interest, is multilevel, has a structured format, is varied, and
enriching. The authors have made it something worth remembering!
Great Science Adventures Curriculum
Here are the titles that are currently available in
the Great Science Adventures series. Each title is on sale for $20.50. Life
Science
Physical Science
Earth Science
More information About Great Science Adventures
Great Science Adventures was chosen by homeschool
expert and author Cathy
Duffy as on of her "100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum" in the
science category.
Upcoming Titles for Great Science Adventures
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