Science is an important subject that can be a daunting undertaking to teach to young children, but I was blessed with a review subscription to Science4Us.com and can tell you – this is an easier way!  Sceince4Us.com is an interactive science website for kids from Kindergarten through Second Grade to experience a standards-based curriculum complete with hands-on activities.  The Science4Us.com Online Subscription costs just $7.95 per month, per student.

Science is a subject I struggle with teaching my kids.  Even with a terrific curriculum, I have a hard time keeping interest myself, which makes it a challenge and chore to teach my children sometimes.  I need something organized for me so that instruction is simple and direct.

Science4Us.com is for early education kids that learn well by interacting with an online program.  They have access to over 350 activities, ranging from worksheets, to online lessons, to many great hands-on activities as well.  This science program is from the creators of VocabularySpellingCity.com, so you can rest assured that the quality and standards are high!

When students log in, they can choose which type of science they would like to study.  There is Inquiry (Science Skills), Physical (Matter, Energy, Force and Motion), Life (Living Things, Balance in Nature), and Earth/Space (Earth, Space).  Once a student has chosen their course of study, they are taken to the related activities and learning modules.

On the student side, navigation can be a little tricky for the younger ones that aren’t reading well, but the program keeps it fairly easy to move along with arrows and lit up icons to lead the way.  As students move through the activities, information is being logged for parents/teachers to be able to check as well.

The Teacher area of the website is extremely resourceful!  At first glance, it looks like there might not be a lot of correlating activities, but that is not so!  For each science category, there are various printable/offline materials for teachers (parents) to access.  I enjoyed the Prior Knowledge Activities.

Not only that, but for each module, there is a guide for daily activities.  If following this guide, each set of daily activities (including online exposure) should take 30 minutes or less.  The printable activities that go along with the online information remind me a lot of lapbooks.  They are different for each one, but there may be puzzles, flashcards, worksheets, or even hands-on activities for them to test out scientific principles.

At $7.95 a month, this is a good value for families needing a little extra help and some well-planned lesson plans and activities.  I only wish it was available for higher grades as well, but it does serve as a good review for older students as well (I would say up to 5th or 6th grade as a general review or overview for older students.).

First Grade Science Curriculum

I used this mainly for my first grade son.  However, we also had a 4 year old tagalong and a 3rd grade helper as well.  All 3 of my big kids enjoyed this program and asked to do it any time they got on the computer!

They preferred the online activities to the offline activities.  For my first grader, he simply followed the arrows and completed the activities.  He enjoyed the freedom that many of the assignments gave, and chose to learn about Earth and Space.  Doing this program about 3 times a week was a winner, because it allowed him to really dig in and enjoy his studies without being too much.

Once I introduced the printed activities, he was delighted to see that he could connect some more traditional methods of homeschool learning with what he was learning on the computer.  I was able to see what and how he was doing when he was logged in without having to hover over him, and that made it easier to tailor the lessons to focus on specific concepts more or less.  I love interest-led learning, so this made it very easy!  They were ALL *very* interested, so learning science with Science4Us.com was never a chore.

I allowed my kids to fill out the information and learn with the printed materials together.  While the online learning portion is for a single person, which makes sense for reporting purposes, the offline activities were a lot of fun to do as a group activity.  Combining teaching is my favorite way to save time in homeschooling, so this was a nice perk that I wasn’t really thinking about when I initially started this program with my kids since they each have their own online accounts.

Two Thumbs Up

I give the program two thumbs up.  This program can be used casually or more intensely.  Either way, it provides a thorough and complete science education for students in Kingergarten, First Grade, or Second Grade.  The information can be stretched out over several sessions each, both on and offline, to provide a more in depth look, or students can breeze through more quickly with more intense interest.

My family enjoys it a lot, especially my first grader.  My 4 year old and 3rd grader do also enjoy it at a supplement.  As I said, they also enjoyed doing the offline (printed) activities as a family to reinforce learning as well.

I loved that the online activities weren’t mindless games.  There were built-in assessments, and each activity was focused on the child actually learning.

Find Out More

Check out Science4Us.com for more information about the program.  You can also connect with them on Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus.  For a further glimpse into the program, check out the Science4Us.com Pinterest boards.  Not only are there pins with information on the curriculum itself, but they also have great information on hands-on science, center ideas, careers in science, STEM, and more!