TOS Crew Review: Christian Kids Explore Science

I have to admit, even after several years, it still boggles my mind abit at how much my kids LOVE science!! I was never a fan, though I agree that the stuff we do now is alot more fun than I remember science class being.

So, when we had the chance to review one of the books in the Christian Kids Explore Science series from Bright Ideas Press, I talked to the girls about it and they enthusiastically agreed. The hard part was deciding WHICH book to choose. After much arguing discussion, they decided on Christian Kids Explore Earth and Space. I think it was the promise of building a volcano that finally swayed them LOL.

Christian Kids Explore Earth and Space is a 30 week, science curriculum for grades 3-6, covering the Lithosphere, Hydrosphere, Atmosphere, Weather, and Space.


Each lesson includes a short lesson to read and then a hands-on activity. In many cases there is a second hands-on option for younger children as well. We have been working through this as quickly as we can, with everything else we've had going on, to get a good feel for it during the review period. Now that the review period is over, we're planning to fall into the rhythm recommended, which is 1 lesson per week, spread over 2 days, one day for the reading, one day for the hands-on activity.

While the stated age range is grades 3-6, my girls definitely aren't finding it too advanced (granted we're only on the 2nd unit). We don't really "do grade levels" here, so it's hard to say exactly what grade level they equate to, but I would guess they are roughly 3rd-4th grade. In the instances where there has been a "younger child option" it has seemed too young for them. So I would say you could use this for 1st and 2nd graders as well, as long as you're reading the lesson to them, not asking them to read it on their own. I would guess that by the time my girls are 5th-6th grade age they would find this too simple, but they love science so that might make them more advanced than their age would indicate, I don't really know. Because of the hands-on activities, this works well for a variety of learning/teaching styles. If you follow the suggestions on how to structure things, to the letter, this would be a very structured program, but we've found it easy to adapt to our eclectic style, as well. By following the 2 day format, there is very little teacher-prep required. I read the text to them the first day and at the end of reading it, I also read the basic directions of the hand-son portion to them. In doing that, it also tells us what supplies we will need for the next day and we can gather them.

In addition to Earth & Space ($34.95), the Christian Kids Explore Science series includes several other science books. You can see them here. The TOS Crew reviewed several of these titles, so be sure to go to the crew blog to see other reviews on all of these!

Disclaimer: I received the above mentioned product in exchange for writing an honest review. No other compensation was received and all opinions are those of myself or my children, as stated.