Format: bound with perforated pages, black/white interior
Pages: 328
Grade level: appropriate for 1st - 4th grade, target grade is 1st
Course type: textbook
Materials: For the most part, all lab materials are household items. Please refer to the Supplies tab for items that are not commonly found in households. Please see the Try Before You Buy file for a complete list of the lab supplies needed to complete this course. Home Science Tools offers supply kits for all RSO courses.
You will find R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey (RSO) to be unlike any other science curricula available. Most notably, it is secular: Science excludes any supernatural explanation for any event occurring in nature, including the origin of life. Only scientific inquiry and theory based on empirical and measurable evidence are understood to be valid and standard science in all of our RSO courses.
Also, RSO courses are written specifically for home and small group use. Packed full of serious science and loads of fun, RSO is an incremental program that gently builds on itself and incorporates mathematics, scientific method, and science terminology. Created with the science novice in mind, you don’t need any science background to teach RSO.
RSO Life (level one) is divided into three sections: the human body, the animal kingdom, and the plant kingdom. Students study the major body systems through making models and doing tests on their own bodies. Classification and the five kingdoms of living things are studied as students make an animal kingdom book. Animal kingdom labs include examining real worms, mollusks, arthropods, and butterfly metamorphosis. Students learn about the plant kingdom through looking at the makeup and function of seeds, flowers, leaves, stems, and roots.
The following is a list of topics your child will learn during the year while completing Life (level one). Each topic and/or subtopic will include 1 to 3 lessons complete with lesson story, labs, reading, and other activities. Each topic will take anywhere from 1 to 4 weeks to complete. Remember your child will also be having a whole lot of fun. Also included in this scope are laughing, playing, digging, exploring, reading, singing, and begging for more RSO!
What is Life?
- Living vs. nonliving
- Living characteristics
The Cell
- Cell, nucleus, membrane, vacuole, chloroplast
The Human Body
- Skeletal and muscular systems- structure and function
- Circulatory system- structure and function, blood and blood types
- Respiratory system- structure and function
- Digestive system – structure and function
- Nervous system – structure and function, five senses
- Growth and genetics – stages of growth and inheritance
Classifying Life
- Introduction to the Five Kingdoms of Living Things
- How and why scientists classify things
Animal Kingdom
- Cnidarians
- Worms
- Mollusk
- Echinoderm
- Arthropod (insects, arachnids, and crustaceans)
- Invertebrates vs. vertebrates
- Chordate (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals)
Plant Kingdom
- Seeds (parts and function)
- Flowers (parts and function)
- Leaves (photosynthesis and types)
- Stems and Roots (types and functions)
Uncommon Supplies Needed for Course Labs:
Science Thermometer– The liquid in good science thermometer goes down on its own, unlike the liquid in a medical thermometer, which must be shaken down. Some kitchen thermometers will work, but most do not go low enough. You will need a thermometer that will go down to 30° F or 0° C.
Butterfly house– homemade or purchased one from online science supply stores (comes with a certificate to get five butterfly larvae).
Live critters- garden snails, earthworms, butterfly larvae, spiders (optional), isopods (aka pill bugs or roly-polies)
Triple beam balance (optional)
Binoculars– I would avoid the $10 ones, but you don’t have to spend $100.
Please see the Try Before You Buy file for a complete list of the lab supplies needed to complete this course.
Home Science Tools offers supply kits for all RSO courses.
What Our Customers are Saying
The thing I love best about Pandia’s science books is that they don’t make me feel overwhelmed from the moment I open them up, like so many other curricula. Instead of being faced with wall to wall text, written just to the teacher...I am faced with pages of small sections of text, broken up in a bite-size, easy to understand way, with the student pages and their cute illustrations mixed in with the units to add to the visual appeal. Each section is labeled appropriately so I can tell at a glance what I am looking at and I know what I am to do with each section: Peruse the list of materials for that unit, read a section designated as “read aloud” to my child, learn the procedures that we are going to be doing for a lab (and background info), find the printables for my child that go with that unit...it’s all there, in clear, manageable sections that make me feel like I CAN DO THIS. Plus, it’s fun, interesting, and hands-on, with lots of cool labs using mostly things from around the house!! We love Pandia science!
We love REAL Science Odyssey! We've been using it for the last 2 years and already bought it (chemistry) for next year.
Reviews of Life 1
Video Review
Everything a Science Curriculum Needs To Be
One of the best things about homeschooling is how much fun it can be and how it can help keep a child’s love of learning thriving. Science can be one of the most fun subjects if it is done right . . .
Do you have something to say about RSO Life 1?
Please email pictures, videos, reviews, helpful links, blog posts, and any other information that you want to share about RSO Life 1 to [email protected].
Pages: 328
Grade level: appropriate for 1st – 4th grade, target grade is 1st
Course type: textbook
Materials: For the most part, all lab materials are household items. Please refer to the Supplies tab for items that are not commonly found in households. Home Science Tools offers supply kits for all RSO courses.
REAL Science Odyssey Life 1 Course Description
You will find REAL Science Odyssey to be unlike any other science curricula available. Most notably, it is secular. Only scientific inquiry and theory based on empirical and measurable evidence are understood to be valid and standard science in all of our REAL Science Odyssey courses.
REAL Science Odyssey courses are written specifically for home and small group use. Packed full of serious science and loads of fun, REAL Science Odyssey is an incremental program that gently builds on itself and incorporates mathematics, scientific method, and science terminology. Created with the science novice in mind, you don’t need any science background to teach REAL Science Odyssey.
REAL Science Odyssey Life (level one) is divided into three sections: the human body, the animal kingdom, and the plant kingdom. Students study the major body systems through making models and doing tests on their own bodies. Classification and the five kingdoms of living things are studied as students make an animal kingdom book. Animal kingdom labs include examining real worms, mollusks, arthropods, and butterfly metamorphosis. Students learn about the plant kingdom through looking at the makeup and function of seeds, flowers, leaves, stems, and roots.
The following is a list of topics your child will learn during the year while completing Life (level one). Each topic and/or subtopic will include 1 to 3 lessons complete with lesson story, labs, reading, and other activities. Each topic will take anywhere from 1 to 4 weeks to complete. Remember your child will also be having a whole lot of fun. Also included in this scope are laughing, playing, digging, exploring, reading, singing, and begging for more REAL Science Odyssey!
REAL Science Odyssey Life (Level 1)
Scope and Sequence

What is Life?
- Living vs. nonliving
- Living characteristics

The Cell
- Cell, nucleus, membrane, vacuole, chloroplast

Classifying Life
- Introduction to the Five Kingdoms of Living Things
- How and why scientists classify things

The Human Body
- Skeletal and muscular systems- structure and function
- Circulatory system- structure and function, blood and blood types
- Respiratory system- structure and function
- Digestive system – structure and function
- Nervous system – structure and function, five senses
- Growth and genetics – stages of growth and inheritance

Animal Kingdom
- Cnidarians
- Worms
- Mollusk
- Echinoderm
- Arthropod (insects, arachnids, and crustaceans)
- Invertebrates vs. vertebrates
- Chordate (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals)

Plant Kingdom
- Seeds (parts and function)
- Flowers (parts and function)
- Leaves (photosynthesis and types)
- Stems and Roots (types and functions)
Licensing is available for group, school, and co-op use. Please contact Pandia Press for details on group licensing ([email protected]).