When my oldest was starting high school, I started my research again. High School science. I had great ideas about what I wanted for him. I wanted hands-on, research-based learning. I didn't want him reading a textbook and regurgetating the facts he had just read on a test. I also don't want my kids to suffer with lab sciences and lack of materials because we home school. I want to see microscope work, dissection, and true experiments that use the scientific method.
Most everyone uses Apologia, so I looked at it. But, as you know by now, I am massively stubborn and can't just use what other people are using. Apologia seemed thorough and well-organized to me. It included labs and activities. It just felt too textbooky to me. I didn't want to just hand him the information. I wanted him to have to work for it.
I searched and I searched and I just could not find what I was seeking. I read review after review of all the typical curriculum choices, until I stumbled on a review for the Science for High School series. This was what I was looking for all this time. This series is research based. Each week, your student will be given a series of questions which they need to research answers. I bought my son a few standard textbooks he could use to do his research, but this research could be done on the internet or at a library, or a combination. Each week, the text included a relevant lab, as well as a quiz.
Our approach was basically background reading on Monday. Research on Tuesday and Wednesday. Discussion and lab on Thursday. Quiz on Friday. I also had him watch any relevant Khan videos, and write lab reports each week. For background reading, he read from Biology: A Self-Teaching Guide, as recommended in WTM.
We loved the approach to learning Biology. Active learning kept his interest and made him work for his knowledge and understanding. It was a good, basic first biology course and the labs were interesting and relevant. They included dissection and microscope work. You will definitely need a good microscope if you choose this curriculum. I had no difficulties finding the specimen and equipment we needed (Home Science Tools), and the author was easy to contact when I had questions. I did find a few errors in the teacher's book, and had to be careful grading because the numbering was different on a couple of quizzes, but overall, we were very pleased and plan to use the curriculum for chemistry next year. At this point, she has written physical science, biology, and chemistry. Physics is due out soon. Yes--that makes me very excited.
Our high school plan is Biology 1 in 9th, Chemistry in 10th, Advanced Biology with the intent of seeking AP credit and AP testing in 11th, and Physics in 12th. That plan might alter depending on the child and their interest/future plans, but that is the rough plan at this point.
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Super excited about my newest science finds!
You probably thought I would start with history didn't you??
My first disclaimer here is that in the past, I have typically done pretty much exactly what the WTM suggests for science. It can be done, and done well, if you have the time. Science curriculum isn't a necessity. And it is covered clearly and easily in the book honestly. I do not love textbooky science. We prefer real books and hands-on learning. Yet, seeing as how I have racked up so many library fines that I can not actually use the library, and they pretty much block the door when they see my noisy crew coming, I was looking for something a little different this year. But I love the WTM and I wanted whatever I used to stay true to that scope and sequence, and also the process--narration, hands on work, real books. Basically, I was looking for someone to plan out the WTM for me and give it to me in book format with worksheets and diagrams and narration pages and lab pages all ready to go. And I found that! Yes! Exactly that! Can you hear my excitement?!
This is what I found. Elemental Science. It's genius. Ok, so it's just the WTM all ready planned out and packaged for you, but it's exactly what I was looking for. Basically it follows the plan laid out in the WTM, but sets you up with your reading (using some awesome Usborne and Kingfisher spines), your narration pages, and your labs. It is divided into the 4 year cycle of the WTM--biology, earth/space, chemistry, and physics. And it has a grammar stage and a logic stage that can be coordinated or used separately.
(For WTM newbies, the grammar stage is 1st-4th grade when kids are focused on amassing facts and data and information. The logic stage is 5th-8th where the kids developmentally are ready to start questioning information, and when you start teaching them logic to deal with those questions. And the rhetoric stage is 9th-12th, when they learn how to present their own ideas).
My plan is to coordinate my grammar stage and logic stage students, but have my logic stage students complete the work in their level that goes beyond what my little ones are doing. We will be doing biology this year so even my preschooler will enjoy listening about animals and the body. We will also take a trip to the zoo or local science museum weekly to obeserve in person the animals we are studying. The curriculum provides blank observation forms for animal studies, as well as year long project ideas to take your studies even deeper. We are all excited about getting started!
I tend to do science and history with my kids, although I have been known to let my olders take the lead in labs and projects as they are able. For those of you who need science to be super independent, the logic stage is very suitable for independent work as needed, without much parental involvement. The student is actually given a checklist they can easily follow to complete the work each day.
The curriculum is also set up in 2 different plans--a 5 day week and a 2 day week. We do science twice a week, so I appreciate that option already being laid out for me with no tweaking.
So in summary, you can easily go to the WTM and put together your own science plans, or if you, like me, need a little break in one curriculum, but want to stay true to the WTM, then you might want to look into Elemental Science.
My first disclaimer here is that in the past, I have typically done pretty much exactly what the WTM suggests for science. It can be done, and done well, if you have the time. Science curriculum isn't a necessity. And it is covered clearly and easily in the book honestly. I do not love textbooky science. We prefer real books and hands-on learning. Yet, seeing as how I have racked up so many library fines that I can not actually use the library, and they pretty much block the door when they see my noisy crew coming, I was looking for something a little different this year. But I love the WTM and I wanted whatever I used to stay true to that scope and sequence, and also the process--narration, hands on work, real books. Basically, I was looking for someone to plan out the WTM for me and give it to me in book format with worksheets and diagrams and narration pages and lab pages all ready to go. And I found that! Yes! Exactly that! Can you hear my excitement?!
This is what I found. Elemental Science. It's genius. Ok, so it's just the WTM all ready planned out and packaged for you, but it's exactly what I was looking for. Basically it follows the plan laid out in the WTM, but sets you up with your reading (using some awesome Usborne and Kingfisher spines), your narration pages, and your labs. It is divided into the 4 year cycle of the WTM--biology, earth/space, chemistry, and physics. And it has a grammar stage and a logic stage that can be coordinated or used separately.
(For WTM newbies, the grammar stage is 1st-4th grade when kids are focused on amassing facts and data and information. The logic stage is 5th-8th where the kids developmentally are ready to start questioning information, and when you start teaching them logic to deal with those questions. And the rhetoric stage is 9th-12th, when they learn how to present their own ideas).
My plan is to coordinate my grammar stage and logic stage students, but have my logic stage students complete the work in their level that goes beyond what my little ones are doing. We will be doing biology this year so even my preschooler will enjoy listening about animals and the body. We will also take a trip to the zoo or local science museum weekly to obeserve in person the animals we are studying. The curriculum provides blank observation forms for animal studies, as well as year long project ideas to take your studies even deeper. We are all excited about getting started!
I tend to do science and history with my kids, although I have been known to let my olders take the lead in labs and projects as they are able. For those of you who need science to be super independent, the logic stage is very suitable for independent work as needed, without much parental involvement. The student is actually given a checklist they can easily follow to complete the work each day.
The curriculum is also set up in 2 different plans--a 5 day week and a 2 day week. We do science twice a week, so I appreciate that option already being laid out for me with no tweaking.
So in summary, you can easily go to the WTM and put together your own science plans, or if you, like me, need a little break in one curriculum, but want to stay true to the WTM, then you might want to look into Elemental Science.
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