[Jenneve]

Anyone ever heard of this? Know anything about it? I still haven't found a science that I really love (that doesn't cost an arm & a leg) and my sister was telling me about this, although she never used it herself. I can't really find much on it.

[Retrocutie]

My MIL used this with her kids and loved it. But it's an older series from like the 80's and 90's or something like that and is hard to find. I have book two (MIL kept this one, but she had the whole set at one time) and it looks good! But I wish I had the first book because book 2 is on chemistry and we're not quite ready for that yet.

[Butter]

I haven't heard of it. It's hard to find a good elementary science program I think.

We are using NOEO and LOVING IT! I figure I can use it with both boys at the same time OR buy for Bryce but then save them for Scotty...which makes the arm and a leg thing bearable. Maybe you could do that since you have 3 boys that will use it in the future. ???

I have heard good and bad things about the program you mention - mostly from posts on the WTM forum. I hate to even venture a guess since I haven't used it myself. You may want to see if you can get your hands on it before you buy.

[Jenneve]

From what I could find on it, I have noticed that it's older, which is one reason why I hesitate. I would LOVE to use the NOEO. It looks awesome! But I freak when I see the price. If I can get myself over the price tag, I'll probably go with that. I may just have to convince myself to put some $$$ aside a little at a time & call it my science fund.

You know, I love everything we're using this year except science. I have the hardest time finding a good science program. I don't know if I just have difficult standards or what, but so far nothing has delivered for me. I don't want it to cost too much, but at the same time I understand I'm going to have to pay a price for something worthwhile. I don't want just a bunch of experiments/activities with no instruction as to the how's & why's, but at the same time I don't want to be overloaded with reading and just a few experiments/activities. So far this year we've used Apologia (too much reading, not enough activities) and Hands On Science (too many activities, not enough instruction/explanation). Isn't there anything in between??? And I would like something they can all do together as a group, rather than 3 different grade levels. Is that too much to ask? Also, I have a hard time with knowing exactly what needs to be taught at what grade level. At Jared's & Justin's ages (6 & 7) I think anything is fine as long as they are getting exposure. At Jack's age/grade (9, 4th gr.) though, shouldn't he be getting something more structured? Ugh! Science is tough subject to plan out!

[JustAKrazymom]

WOW On NOEO Um..I need it... I think the price is reasonable for the complete set... hummmm I think I need to get that soon!!!

[Jenneve]

Well, dh and I just looked at the website again together. We've decided to go ahead & get it. We won't be getting it right now. I'm going to finish what we have & get NOEO later.

[JustAKrazymom]

I am going to order it once I am done with Christmas shopping..which shoul dbe this payday..yeppie..LOL

NOEO comes with a guide that tells the home teacher what to do on what day. It can be used for all three of your kids Jenn! What you would do is order one of the 3 level I sets (the reason I went with level one is because it all has to do with reading level and not so much instruction or material covered). Then with Jack, have him do all of the summaries, definitions, and experiment sheets. With Justin, maybe just require drawings and a verbal summary that you write for him, and with Jack, just have him do the drawings. Bryce has a notebook that he does for NOEO and the notebook is a really important part, IMO...but Scotty does not keep a notebook right now because he really just participates in the experiments. We discuss the concepts, but they go over his head for now.

The schedule usually has 2 experiments and 2 readings per week, but it does vary. One week, we read all 4 days, another week, we did 6 smaller experiments and read on 2 days. It just depends, but I like the way they do it. With Bryce doing all of the notebooking sheets, we do the 4 day schedule, but it can easily be done in 2 days as well by combining their schedules for days 1 and 2, days 3 and 4.

I don't think either of you will be disappointed. My kids really like it and so do I...even though I have never liked Science at all. And Bryce can do a lot of it himself which is a big woo-hoo for me too when I am pressed for time and he needs to just read and summarize.

[Jenneve]

I really wish we could order it right now since they're having a 20% off sale on their website, but I have to wait. I probably won't order it until March or April. But at least now I know that's what we'll get & dh has okay'd the cost, which really isn't as bad as I had previously thought when you consider the fact that everything's included!

20% off sale! WHAT?? I should have waited! Drat! LOL

Oh and when they say everything is included, the do mean EVERYTHING. The experiment kits are incredible - they have every little piece you need to do the experiments other than like tape and glue. There were even pennies and a paperclip in there. I was impressed. And each kit has a guide where the children read along (or the parents read in our case) as you do the experiement and it further explains what you are doing and how it pertains to what you are learning about. Pretty neato in my opinion.

20% off sale! WHAT?? I should have waited! Drat! LOL

Oh and when they say everything is included, the do mean EVERYTHING. The experiment kits are incredible - they have every little piece you need to do the experiments other than like tape and glue. There were even pennies and a paperclip in there. I was impressed. And each kit has a guide where the children read along (or the parents read in our case) as you do the experiement and it further explains what you are doing and how it pertains to what you are learning about. Pretty neato in my opinion.

[Jenneve]

Hmmm, actually I think I misread that. It says "Save 20% on complete sets." So I'm guessing that's the price all the time. I'm such a dork.

You people have fascinated me!!!!!! I really like how this program looks. I was originally going to go with Apologia myself for science once we hit Gr. 3 or so......now I can't decide. Ah, decisions!