Real Science-4-Kids Book 4
An easy-to-teach, engaging curriculum that helps kids apply real science to real life—building confidence, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills across all five core disciplines, with no required experiments and plenty of optional support.
$141
Quantity:
Nonreligious
Nonconsumable
In a Curriculum Kit
The Digital Dashboard is non-returnable.
2026 Fourth-Grade Curriculum Kit
Real Science-4-Kids Book 4
Real Science-4-Kids Book 4 is where science starts explaining itself.
In Book 3, students learned to apply scientific thinking to the world around them. In Book 4, they begin to make deeper connections among observations, evidence, and underlying causes. Instead of simply noticing what happens, they start asking why it happens.
Across chemistry, biology, physics, geology, and astronomy, students investigate patterns, relationships, and cause-and-effect connections. They explore questions such as why some reactions occur more quickly than others, how energy moves through living systems, and what clues scientists use to understand events that happened long ago.
One of the strengths of Book 4 is that it helps students move beyond isolated facts. As scientific ideas become more connected, children begin seeing science as an interconnected way of understanding the world rather than a collection of separate topics to memorize.
The lessons continue to build gradually, introducing more sophisticated thinking while remaining approachable and engaging. Parents don't need a science background to teach the material, and experiments remain optional for families who prefer a lighter science schedule.
Families who enjoy hands-on learning can add optional activities through the Digital Teaching Dashboard. The Dashboard also includes lesson plans, notebook pages, quizzes, answer keys, grading tools, and a digital flipbook with audio narration. The narration is particularly helpful for auditory learners and students encountering increasingly advanced scientific vocabulary.
Book 4 rewards curious students. By the end of the course, they are not only observing the world more carefully but also recognizing patterns, identifying causes, and connecting ideas across multiple scientific disciplines.
What's Included?
Book 4 Text + Digital Dashboard Set includes the hardcover text and 18 months of access to the Digital Teaching Dashboard with lesson plans, answer keys, student notebook pages, lab activities, quizzes, grading tools, and audio narration. This is the version included in Timberdoodle's Fourth-Grade Curriculum Kit.
Additional options include the hardcover text only, printed Student Pages, printed Teacher Pages, or Digital Dashboard access only.
Take a look inside the Real Science-4-Kids book here:
How to Use Real Science-4-Kids
- Plan to complete one chapter each week. With 22 chapters in the book, this pace fits comfortably into a typical school year while leaving room for breaks, field trips, and life's inevitable interruptions.
- Each chapter is divided into 5–11 short sections, making it easy to adjust the schedule to fit your family. Many families prefer to complete 4–5 sections per week, while others enjoy reading a section each day and finishing chapters more quickly.
- Read the lesson together or have your student read independently. The clear explanations and engaging illustrations make the material accessible. The audio-narrated digital flipbook provides additional support for auditory learners and emerging readers.
- Use the Student Pages, quizzes, and notebook activities as desired to reinforce learning. These optional resources help students process and apply what they have learned without turning science into a workbook-heavy subject.
- Experiments are entirely optional. If your family enjoys hands-on learning, choose activities from the Digital Teaching Dashboard that fit your schedule and interest level. If not, students can still gain a strong understanding of the material through the reading and discussion alone.
- Take time to discuss the ideas rather than rushing through them. Some of the best learning happens when students pause to ask questions, make connections, or relate new concepts to things they observe in everyday life.
Most importantly, keep science enjoyable. Real Science-4-Kids is designed to build understanding one step at a time, helping students develop a solid scientific foundation while maintaining the curiosity that makes science worth studying in the first place.
What's included?
- Book 4 Text + Digital Dashboard Set: Printed hardcover text plus 18 months of access to the Digital Teaching Dashboard. You'll get lesson plans, answer keys, student notebook pages, lab pages, and quizzes—all downloadable. The Book 4 Text digital flipbook with audio narration is especially helpful for auditory learners. With both a solid print foundation and flexible digital support, this is the set we include in the Fourth-Grade Curriculum Kit.
- Book 4 Text Only: Printed hardcover text. A simple option for families who want to read, learn, and skip the extra structure.
- Book 4 Student Pages Only: Printed softcover Student Pages. These turn reading into doing, with notebook prompts, experiment ideas, and quick quizzes to reinforce each chapter. Prefer paper in hand? This gives you key pieces of the digital content, already printed.
- Book 4 Teacher Pages Only: Printed softcover Teacher Pages with four-day pacing guides, answer keys, and clear lab notes to make experiments approachable. A practical print option if you'd rather not rely on the dashboard.
- Book 4 Digital Dashboard Only: 18 months of access to the full Digital Teaching Dashboard, including lesson plans, student and teacher pages, labs, quizzes, and grading tools—plus the digital flipbook of the Book 4 Text with audio narration.
Publisher: Gravitas Publications Inc
Author: Rebecca Woodbury, Ph.D., M.Ed.
Illustrator: Janet Moneymaker
Age Recommendation: 9
Grade Recommendation: 4th Grade
Faith-Based: No
Consumable: Text & Teacher Pages: No, Student Pages: Yes
ISBN: Text: 9781941181881, Teacher Pages: 9781941181904, Student Pages: 9781941181898
Format: Text: Hardcover, Teacher & Student Pages: Softcover, Digital Dashboard: Online
Copyright: 2024
Language: English
- Well-Trained Mind - Top Recommendation
- Cathy Duffy - One of 103 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum (2022)
- Practical Homeschooling - 2018 Reader Award
- Practical Homeschooling - 2015 Reader Award
- Practical Homeschooling - 2014 Reader Award
- About.com - 2012 Readers Choice Finalist
- Practical Homeschooling - 2009 Reader Award
- Practical Homeschooling - 2008 Reader Award
Explore two real Teacher Dashboards to see how chapter-by-chapter organization works.
Not sure where to start your student? Take their placement quiz to find out.
“This textbook is perfect for homeschool families—especially with multiple kids—because you can just sit down anywhere and dive right into the book. No scrambling to find a dozen supplies or decipher a science experiment that looks more like a Pinterest fail waiting to happen.” Read the Review.
Find answers to the most frequently asked questions about this product below:
Yes. It is by the same author, but has been substantially updated.
What we love about the update is that it removes the pressure of experiments and lab notebooks while retaining rigorous scientific instruction. Plus, the redesigned books are a visual step up, too.
One of the most common questions we get: "Should my child start with Book 1 in first grade, or wait until third?"
The short answer: it depends on reading ability and how much support you'll provide. RS4K's atoms-first spiral model is designed for flexibility—younger learners can begin with parent read-aloud support, while independent learners can pick a level that fits their reading level and science knowledge.
Students who start with Timberdoodle kits in the early grades and work through the sequence year by year should be well-prepared for each book as it arrives — including Books 6 and 7 in middle school, which build on everything that came before.
If you're starting RS4K mid-sequence, use the chart below as your guide. Books 6 and 7 in particular require some prerequisite knowledge—a student jumping in at that level without the earlier books might want to back down a book or two first.
The goal isn't to rush. It's to build the kind of atomic-level foundation that makes high school science feel manageable — even exciting.
Real Science-4-Kids stays neutral on origins—it doesn't explicitly teach creation or evolution, leaving those conversations to your family.
Access begins as soon as our team processes your order and continues for 18 months—plenty of wiggle room if you're not starting right away or need a little extra time to finish.
Any of these options can be a great fit, depending on how you want to teach science this year.
Families who want a straightforward yet thorough approach may find the print text is all they need. It covers the topics in depth, with no experiments, no worksheets, no fuss.
Many families like to add an occasional experiment or activity as time allows. For these families, the print text + digital dashboard is a great combo — you get the hardcover book for regular science learning, plus downloadable resources to access when you want them. The read-aloud flipbook is also a hit for any family who struggles with pronunciation. This is the option we include in our curriculum kits—the print text keeps learning simple and solid, while the digital dashboard is there when you want to go deeper.
Want everything in print? Choose the print text, printed student pages, and printed teacher pages — everything you need, nothing that requires a screen.
Prefer to learn on the go, or know the read-aloud flipbook will be the best fit for your student? The digital dashboard only is a natural choice.
Customers earn Doodle Dollars for reviewing products they've purchased, and some promotions add an entry in a prize drawing. Rewards never depend on the rating given.
- September 18, 2026
Krystal D.
Real Science 4 Kids is a fun easy to read and understand text. This program provides assessments, experiments, and resources.
- April 17, 2026
KitMama
My son enjoys this curriculum. He likes the textbook and the workbook pages that go with each chapter. The textbook does a pretty good job at explaining all of the concepts, but some parts are still a little complex and could be worded better. I like that there are now quizzes for each chapter as the midterms and final tests cover a lot and can get overwhelming. However, I find the teaching guide and answer book to be really lacking and not very helpful at all. Overall, it’s an ok curriculum and I feel like my son has learned a lot from it.
