Early elementary science || Masterbooks God's Design for Beginners || TGTB Little Hearts & Hands

[@evalinemama]

My now 4th grader did Life for Beginners from Masterbooks for her 2nd grade year. We liked it. It wasn't information overload and the activities were simple. I also don't like heavy science experiments with lots of prep. I will be doing Little Hearts and Hands Fields and Flowers with my now 1st grader this year. I agree with what you said about Usborne. On the surface they are very pretty books, but if you read them the information is really not much less dry than a regular textbook. I love that TGTB teaches many of their lessons with stories.

[@GardenMinistry.]

We have been doing Life For Beginners this year with my Kindergartener and 1st grader, and we're sooooo happy with it. We just wrapped up the 1st quarter (plants) and they have retained a lot, especially because it's so short and age appropriate. We also appreciate the real life photos. Based on this experience, we are definitely looking forward to Heaven And Earth For Beginners next year for 1st, and 2nd grade (we'll have to save our planetarium field trip for that.) The only "negative" thing I've read/heard is some people think it's not thorough enough, but that can easily be remedied by a few extra library books on the subject, nature walks, documentaries, or KZbin searches, that's what I've personally done and it's worked great for those expected rabbit holes. Great choice ❤️

[@thepracticalhomeschooler]

I totally could see that about the depth, but like you said you can always add in more to flesh it out a bit. On the other hand, it’s harder to make it simpler if it’s too deep for a little one.

[@GardenMinistry.]

@@thepracticalhomeschooler Exactly 😊👍🏽

[@RockSimmer-gal4God]

We don’t know how to teach weather to my youngest so the God‘s design for beginners could be a good fit!!! We love the older series!!! Even tho I love hands on learning we get to them later on sometimes!!! I don’t want to go deep in with her but teach her what she needs to know at the moment!!!

[@thepracticalhomeschooler]

Sounds great! ❤️

[@verriitas]

This was really helpful. I got the Good and the Beautiful curriculum for my 5-year-old, and now seeing Heaven and Earth, I know I made the right choice. My daughter isn't yet writing, so the more in-depth activities with H&E would be too advanced for her. It looks perfect for where we'll probably be next year though!

[@cynthiacarter9055]

Same. By spring, my 5yos might be ready for some of the H&E activities (the material looks great!), but I think I'll just go ahead and use the tgatb for now as their natural world intro. :)

[@thepracticalhomeschooler]

Sounds great!!

[@saraavila695]

This was really helpful. I was 99% going with TGTB but after seeing this I feel like it’s not the right fit for us when we add in science. And I had no clue about the Heaven and Earth from Masterbooks. Thank you!

[@thepracticalhomeschooler]

I’m glad it was helpful to you and you were able to figure out a direction you want to go!

[@BustlingHome]

I agree about Usborne books. Their layout is too chaotic for me.

[@jess_athome2018]

We are using Heaven and Earth for Beginners with my second grader, we did Life for Beginners last year and enjoyed it. Most lessons my boys ask if we can find a KZbin video to watch along with the lesson to learn more about the topic and that has been really fun for them! I also appreciate how simple the experiments are - I usually have the materials on hand already.

[@thepracticalhomeschooler]

Same! I’ve found materials are pretty simple!

[@beloved-1]

We absolutely loved both life science for beginners and earth science for beginners. My son liked it two years ago and now my daughter enjoys it. The pictures are great, the activities and the reading is enough. It’s just right for 1st and 2nd grade, no fluff or unnecessary boring info. It glorifies God in a way that they can understand and gets us worshipping and understanding “God’s design’ in a deeper way. They also think it’s fun and very interesting. Glad you chose this! I even suggested to MB that they consider a beginners version for physical science too…my son would’ve enjoyed that for 3rd grade, we went with Abeka however and that was still good too 😊

[@Brigsgirl22]

That's great that you're doing both! What's funny is I have been doing both as well all year with my 2 Kindergarteners ☺️

[@thepracticalhomeschooler]

Awesome!! ❤️

[@hn2340]

This video was just what I need! I’ve been going back and forth. I guess I’ll use both :)

[@thepracticalhomeschooler]

Nice!!

[@avahorton4977]

Ditto its a great combo! TGTB will have Wind and Water this summer ❤

[@jannabiscegliaengell9284]

Thanks for the comparison! That is so helpful. I’m planning on using Fields and Flowers next year for my preschooler and 2nd grader together, but adding a Charlotte Mason style nature journal for a 2nd grader to bring it up a level.

[@lifewithginab]

Love how you are using both curriculums!

[@thepracticalhomeschooler]

It’s a good balance!

[@brittanyolga]

Both of these sciences looks so sweet !!! Ugh !it is going to be so hard choosing kindergarten curriculum .😂

[@thepracticalhomeschooler]

I know 😩😂

[@brittanyolga]

@@thepracticalhomeschooler 🤣🤣🤣

[@trainthemup]

Thanks for the comparison! We’re loving TGTB science for little hearts and hands right now but I think I’d like to try the Masterbooks Science for when my daughter is in K.

[@thepracticalhomeschooler]

☺️☺️☺️

[@user-fb5ze9fx7e]

I already have Little Hearts and Hands as well as Blossom & Root's Kindergarten science (focuses on space). If those end up being a bust, I'll definitely get the God's Design for Beginners. Looks great. Is there a lot of religion in it? I don't mind mentions here or there, but some programs get very didactic by including it on every page.

[@kimberlygoudzwaard2811]

Thank you for the in depth flip through! It’s hard to find really good flip throughs of this book. I’m wondering if I could use next year when my older two are 3rd and 2nd grade, just maybe adding extra read aloud as to go a little deeper. I feel like 3rd grade is a weird spot for science- there’s alot for kinder and first but then everything else looks much harder, like for 4th/5th grade. Science is a tough one to figure out!!

[@thepracticalhomeschooler]

Yea it is! And I know many kids do like to delve deep into science but not all, so it’s nice to have something that introduces the topics without having to be too detailed or risk going over their head.

[@Brazilmoon]

Thinking of combining MB heaven & earth w/ TGTB wind & waves + sparks & stars. Think that wolf’s be good for a 1st & 3rd grader family style science??

[@thepracticalhomeschooler]

That sounds great! Perfect for those ages

[@NightwingAquaman]

Thanks for posting a flip through! It’s very helpful. I’m new to all of these curriculums. Would you mind telling me why you don’t like usborne books?

[@thepracticalhomeschooler]

Too much going on all over the pages 🥴

[@user-bn7dg2km2d]

I have been trying to figure out what to do for science for my kindergartner. I was having her do unit studies through tgatb, with her older sister, but it's too old for her and she gets bored fast. I thought of getting their younger science curriculum. 🤔

[@jenniferday1435]

Great review!

[@thepracticalhomeschooler]

Thank you!!

[@tatyana1324]

I did find it very helpful 👍 thank you 😊

[@thepracticalhomeschooler]

Haha good 😊

[@elaineknoche]

How did you decide between design for life series and adventures in gods design? Thanks for sharing !!!

[@thepracticalhomeschooler]

They both looked good! It was a hard choice…no reason in particular. Just went with what I thought would fit us better.

[@captain7471]

Why don’t you like Usbourn books?

[@thepracticalhomeschooler]

Nothing wrong with them, I just personally don’t love how they’re laid out with little tiny paragraphs of text splattered all over the pages instead of just traditionally all on one part of the page in one or several uniform paragraphs…it’s too random and distracting for me. 🥴 I think I’m just strange though cuz everyone else seems to love them 🤦🏻‍♀️😄😄

[@captain7471]

@@thepracticalhomeschooler I think it’s laid out more so for the kids to just get little bite sized information so it’s not overwhelming to them. I agree they can be hard to read with the short sentences here and there all over the pages, they are good for the pictures but not super in-depth information.

[@heatherwiltshire0182]

We have TGTB one but I havent started it yet with my little guy because I also have an older daughter and finding the time is hard. Does your older daughter join in? Do you think its possible to to some how alter it to include an older child?

[@thepracticalhomeschooler]

No she doesn’t. She starts on her school. She does enough with her science that she doesn’t join us. How to add more for an older child? Maybe have them check out books from the library that go into further detail or look at KZbin videos that cover the topic. Or choose a lesson/topic and have them do a deep dive and write a report. Just a few things off the top of my head

[@garrettandcorynncollins586]

I’ve been looking at this master books science but it says it takes 45-60min a lesson so I’m a little nervous about that. Would you say it takes that long?

[@thepracticalhomeschooler]

Absolutely not. My 6 year old couldn’t sit still for a 45 minute lesson. Are you looking at the older version of the masterbooks science? That might be the time frame for it…but definitely not this one. It take 10-15 minutes

[@GardenMinistry.]

Garrett/Corynn are you guys looking at the "Beginners" version or the regular (older grades) version? We have younger elementary aged kids and finish our science lesson in 15 minutes (like Lauren wrote) while using the "Beginners" version. We usually have to add a KZbin video, library books, or coloring page to "bulk up" our lessons, that's the beauty of the Masterbooks Science Beginners series, they are short, easy, and age appropriate, that way you can add more fun stuff if you'd like.

[@MsZarate88]

I like this I'm not liking Abeka science