Introductory Science {TOS Review}

Mercie, my 8 year old, has been using Science Shepherd's Introductory Science program the past few month. Science Shepherd sent us the Introductory Science Student Workbook A, Answer Key, and a full-year of access to the Daily Video Lessons to review.

Introductory Science is a full-year curriculum for students ages 6-11. It is to be used 5 days a week for 35 weeks. The topics covered are:

• Science Skills and Technology
• Meteorology
• Geology
• Oceanography
• Plants
• Astronomy
• Underwater Creatures
• Flying Creatures
• Land Creatures
• Human Beings
• Be Healthy
• Ecology and Natural Resources
• Matter
• Energy
• Motion
• Magnets

HOW INTRODUCTORY SCIENCE WORKS:

Your child will log on to the website each day to watch a short, 2-5 minute video. Then, your child will answer questions in the Student Workbook. There are two levels to the workbook - Level A and Level B. Level A is for children 6-8, while Level B is for children 9-11. Some days, there is also an activity to do, such as a word search, matching activity, or drawing. Other days, there is a Video Activity. Your child will watch an additional, short video that explains the activity, and then she will complete the activity.

An example of an activity is a classification activity. Mercie had to color flowers different colors, cut them out, and then classify them by color and the number of petals. She enjoyed this activity.

An example of a Video Activity is making a bird feeder using a pinecone, peanut butter, and bird seed. A bonus activity is to record the birds that are observed at the bird feeder.

WHAT WE THOUGHT OF INTRODUCTORY SCIENCE:

Science Shepherd has done a really good job creating this curriculum. The Student Workbook is very well-done. The font is a very readable, very large size, with plenty of room to write answers. There is a good mix of circling the answer, writing the answer, and matching the answers. The puzzles in the Student Workbook are the correct skill level for my daughter, which is wonderful. She tends to get overwhelmed when puzzles and worksheets are too difficult for her, yet she gets bored when they are too easy. This was the perfect balance.

The Daily On Demand Videos are where my daughter lost interest. For one thing, the videos feature a man sitting behind a desk and speaking. The videos are extremely quiet, and even with our volume turned up to 100, we could barely hear him. I even tried on my mom's computer, and we had the same problem, so I know it wasn't my computer. Also, the videos were very boring for my daughter. The man featured wasn't very interesting. There were some beautiful, colorful pictures presented in the video, and my daughter did enjoy looking at those, but she did not want to watch the videos. She kept saying she wanted to do the Workbook, but not watch the video. I had to explain to her that she had to watch the video to learn the information presented in the workbook.

Introductory Science would be a wonderful curriculum for any child that enjoys video lessons. The Introductory Science Video Course is available for $35, and the Student Workbooks are $12 and $15 {for Levels A and B, respectively}.