FAQ

One of the most common questions we receive is:

"Should my child start Science Book 1 in Grade 1, or wait until Grade 3?"

The answer depends on your child’s reading ability and whether you’ll be teaching with read-aloud support. RS4K’s atoms-first spiral model allows for flexibility — younger learners can begin with parent assistance, while independent readers may start at higher levels.

📖 Parent Note:

• Independent readers typically start Book 1 around Grade 3.
  
• Younger learners (Grades 1–2) can thrive with teacher read-aloud support.
  
• Strong readers in upper elementary may accelerate into Books 3–4.
  

✨ The goal is not to rush, but to build a strong, atoms-first foundation that will prepare your child for high school science and beyond.

Here’s our placement chart to guide your decision:

In her latest review dated August 14, 2025, renowned homeschool curriculum expert Cathy Duffy gives a great review to the updated Real Science-4-Kids series, calling it a standout choice for families seeking a substantive, hands-on science education. She emphasizes the innovative atoms-first approach, quoting Dr. Rebecca Woodbury: “Chemistry is the master key that unlocks all other areas of science, making science easier to learn!” Duffy notes that this chemistry foundation, combined with a spiral curriculum covering biology, physics, geology, and astronomy across seven books, builds a strong track record of success.Key highlights from the review include:

• Flexible Grade Levels: Suitable for grades 1-10, with parent support for younger learners (e.g., Books 1-3 for grades 3-5 independently, but adaptable earlier via read-alouds).
• Engaging Components: Full-color textbooks, creative student notebook pages with cartoon illustrations, and RATATAZ experiments that encourage iterative learning through "R-read | A-ask | T-test, tinker, try | A-answer | TAZ - talk, tell & dazzle."
• Improvements: Duffy specifically applauds the "new approach for the experiments and revamped layout of the student pages" as "big improvements," making the series more user-friendly and effective.
• Religiously Neutral: The content avoids contentious issues, promoting critical thinking by encouraging students to explore different perspectives.
• Hands-On Focus: Each book includes 22 chapters for a full school year, with quizzes, final exams, and experiments (kits in development; parents gather materials for now).

Duffy concludes that the series is challenging yet accessible, ideal for homeschoolers who want real science without overwhelming written work in early levels. Read the full review here: https://cathyduffyreviews.com/homeschool-reviews-core-curricula/science/textbooks-and-grade-level-resources/real-science-4-kids-series

Most science programs start with 18th and 19th century science focusing on the properties of matter and introducing misconceptions throughout (like saying weight and mass are the same - they are not). Later these same programs expect students to master 21st century concepts (atomic molecular theory and molecular kinetics) in high school and college. It's like trying to navigate a new world with an old map! Most students can't do it and grow up hating science. Real Science-4-Kids does it different. We start with a modern map right from the start! We introduce "atoms first" starting in kindergarten (yes, they can learn this) and we use correct vocabulary and accurate concepts preventing misconceptions before they begin. This makes us different!

Grades K-2: If your child is not yet reading independently, we suggest starting with our Science Literacy bundles and reading them aloud together before beginning the Science Series.

Grades 3-5: Once your child is reading start with Science Book 1. Once they've grasped the concepts in Book 1, just work through the subsequent books in the Science series.

Grades 6-12: If your child has an advanced reading level, we recommend starting with Book 4 or 5. Because the series follow a spiral curricular approach, Book 5 revisits introductory topics from Book 1 but with a higher reading level and more in-depth content.

Student Pages Workbook

This consumable softcover workbook replaces the older student laboratory notebook and includes:

• Study Notebook Pages
• A quick and clear guide to each experiment, using materials easily found at home.
• RATATAZ Experiment Pages
• Space for students to record hypotheses, observations, and conclusions.
• Chapter Quizzes and Final Exam
  

Perfect for writing directly into the book—no extra printouts or notebooks needed!

👩‍🏫 Teacher Pages Workbook

This softcover teacher resource replaces the older teacher manual. It provides everything educators need to lead effective science lessons:

• Weekly Lesson Plans
• Structured outlines with pacing, objectives, and teaching notes.
• Full Experiment Guides
• Clear instructions and tips for leading RATATAZ experiments.
• Answer Keys
  
  Complete solutions for the Study Notebook, Experiment Pages, Chapter Quizzes, and Final Exam.

We use a print-on-demand provider that produces high quality hard cover textbooks and your book is printed when you place your order. But - this means we are not very speedy. It can take up to 2 weeks to start printing your book and another week or more to get it shipped.

If you want your books faster, we recommend ordering from one of our distributors. Rainbow Resource will ship your book on the day you place your order (if it is before their cutoff)!

Yes! Real Science-4-Kids is an approved vendor for the Arizona Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESA).

How do I find RS4K on ClassWallet?
Log in to your ClassWallet account and search for “Real Science-4-Kids” in the vendor list or Marketplace. Place your order right there!  https://classwallet.com/marketplace/

What makes RS4K different?
Created by Dr. Rebecca Woodbury, RS4K is built with atoms-first approach—starting with atomic theory to build a true understanding of chemistry, biology, physics, and more. It’s science that makes sense.

Is RS4K a full science curriculum?
Yes. Each Science book is designed for a full school year, complete with student notebook pages, experiments, and quizzes.

Yes, we are an approved vendor for scholarship programs in Arkansas and New Hampshire.

• Arkansas: http://dese.link/efa
  
• New Hampshire: https://nh.scholarshipfund.org/

This is a long, complex story, involving lots of money, what turns out to be shoddy science, and fealty to old fashioned ideas about how kids learn. Dr. Woodbury developed Real Science-4-Kids before the NGSS was created and approached her curriculum with student learning (not student assessment) as the desired outcome. Programs that align to the NGSS give students the bare minimum (yes, despite the "3D" learning hoopla) and although there is a way to map the NGSS onto the RS4K program, there are some aspects that simply can't be aligned (yes, we teach modern concepts like atoms in elementary school). It's like trying to fit new territory (RS4K content) onto an old map (the NGSS framework) and it just doesn't work. Our advice is that if you are required to follow the NGSS do it sparingly and make sure the program you are using doesn't introduce inaccuracies that could turn into huge misconceptions later (heat and force are processes, not entities; mass and weight are not the same; the word atom has a specific meaning and history in chemistry, so don't only call it a particle, etc.)21

Dr. Woodbury's first book was Level I Chemistry and it was written for Grade 3. In fact, this was the only book she planned to write. But her friends and their friends and then their friends wanted more and they wanted books for younger students and then older students and more subjects, so she kept going.

Pre-Level I and Level I were awkward titles, so we changed them to Focus On. The Focus On Series is a unit study program that focuses on one subject at a time (chemistry, biology, physics, astronomy and geology). Each book covers a semester of instruction. We currently don’t sell the Focus On 3rd edition through our website (but we will sell the 4th edition upgrade when we finish it) but you can order it through some of our distributors, like Rainbow Resource.

The Building Block Series was written as more customers requested year long programs. The Building Block Series has been rewritten and renamed the Science Series (we had some issues with the title). Our Science Series is essentially an updated Building Block series and the teacher's manuals and student workbooks for Building Blocks still work. However, we also updated the experiments and so the new Science Series has RATATAZ experiments (see the next FAQ).

One of Dr. Woodbury's goals has been to find a way to package her graduate school experience to give kids a better way to learn about science. RATATAZ is her latest answer. Although scientists repeat other scientists' experiments, science isn't really about following a recipe. Yes, scientists do follow a "scientific method" and this is important, but they also use iterative design, creative problem solving, and lots of question asking and answering in the lab. RATATAZ combines several different learning modalities to capture how real scientists do real science to the best of our ability.

We beta tested a few RATATAZ kit concepts last year, but we are redesigning them and hope to have new RATATAZ kits that match with our new Science series (and future Focus On series) available soon.

But - we will have our new student pages and teacher pages with the RATATAZ experiments available soon and in the meantime we encourage you to purchase your own materials and not buy RS4K kits from other sources. These are unlicensed and we don't control what is in them.