lisabees Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 (edited) Can you share some ideas on some interesting resources for me? I like the idea of doing Botany, Zoology, Nature Study, environmental studies topics throughout the year. I think I need to slim my topic list and streamline my resources. DD is now heavily involved in horse riding and will be at the barn many days, so maybe some equine science? Can you share what has worked best for you? I am open to McHenry materials, Coursera type courses, living books, documentaries. I told myself that I would be organized about this, so any supporting materials and schedules are welcomed. But, I still want to take advantage of this being a non-high school science that can be fun and lead to rabbit trails. p.s. If you followed my other thread, I have decided on History at out House for history. We took a free, one-hour class on Outschool and absolutely loved it. Whew. One subject down. Edited July 23, 2016 by lisabees 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisabees Posted July 24, 2016 Author Share Posted July 24, 2016 Any thoughts on Memoria Press's Book of Trees unit? Or similar ones? Definitely looking for secular and not sure if these would fit the bill. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted July 24, 2016 Share Posted July 24, 2016 Lisa, you are in luck! I just got my office floor finished and moved my books back in yesterday, so I can look at them all standing on the shelves in order,, and let you knowsome of what we've used and what we plan. As BTDT stuff - Shannon did the MP trees unit and enjoyed it very much. It was secular, and the trade books it uses were just fantastic. I added this book - Seeing Trees - which was fabulous. She did it independently and we did "field trips" to find and ID particular trees. She has done the Equine Science unit from WP, which was pretty much secular after the first lesson or two. She did it independently in 5th. She really liked it. She did use McHenry's Botany unit, as it was being created and released unit-by-unit online for free. I want to say 6th grade? She enjoyed that too. I like McHenry's stuff, but I don't over-the-top love it. It seems ideal for co-ops or groups, but Shannon has done most of her units over the course of the middle grades, and she has enjoyed them all. I highly recommend the books Watersheds and The View from the Oak. This year coming year, 9th grade, is our big Ecology/Natural History year. I can post our tentative syllabus/work plan for that if you are interested in, but here are some of the books that I'm planning to use - I'll list the ones with field/investigation/experiment components first: Ace Your Ecology and Environmental Science Experiment Prairies Fields and Meadows Woods and Forests Rivers and Streams Watershed Investigations Forestry Field Studies Argument Driven Inquiry in Biology Reading The Environment (this is a rhetoric & reader focused on ES articles and excerpts - I'm super excited about it) California's Changing Landscape Secrets of the Oak Woodland A Sand County Almanac Why Big Fierce Animals are Rare The Hidden Forest Our spine is Miller's Living in the Environment, although we're just doing the core Ecology chapters. We're also using the Biozone modular workbook on Ecology. We're also using a bunch of HHMI/Biointeractive.org units. There, see how I narrowed it all down for you? ;) :D 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisabees Posted July 24, 2016 Author Share Posted July 24, 2016 Rose, you know I love you, right? You have chosen the perfect year to do Ecology/Natural History! Thank you so much for compiling and linking all of the resources in your post. So many fabulous bits you have planned. Another great year for Shannon. Any thoughts on other MP units as far as secular content? I have only used McHenry's The Elements - ds was not a fan. Nor was I. We just never found it inspiring - just a lot of facts to remember out of context. I fear that Botany in 8 would be the same. I want us to do hands on stuff - observing, exploring, labs, journaling, etc. Maybe I'll go with Quark Chronicles and bits of Guest Hollow and supplement with other books and documentaries. See - now I am getting out of control. And that's only the Botany unit. Sigh. I wonder if it would be better to follow a spine to keep me directed. Oak Meadow? CK-12? The spine you're using? It's only July. I have time. Right? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted July 24, 2016 Share Posted July 24, 2016 Shannon used MP's Insects unit, and it was totally secular as far as I recall. The only other thing of theirs I have is the American Lit: Poetry & Short Stories unit. We haven't used it yet, so I can't promise it is 100% secular but I didn't see anything that bugged me as I thumbed through it. I like the looks of a lot of their things, although I wouldn't use their materials for multiple subjects, they are a little too workbooky for our normal style. But perfect for when I need something independent for her. I like to have a textbook spine as I get started planning my year, but then I end up diverging from it so radically I'm glad I didn't pay for something pricey like OM. I'm sure their ES syllable is great, but I can't see paying a bunch of money for something I know I'm going to completely change anyway. :001_rolleyes: The Miller text helped me decide how to organize my subjects, but we're only going to end up covering about 5 chapters out of that book - for the rest we're using other materials to cover the relevant topics. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisabees Posted July 25, 2016 Author Share Posted July 25, 2016 Thanks Rose. And boy do I know what you mean about not using a spine in the way it's intended. I usually don't even bother with one. I am signing dd up for History in Our House, but will add OUP, documentaries and a variety of good lit. I just cannot leave well enough alone. I haven't even planned English yet. Thank goodness math is only AoPs. EO Wilson has that free Life on Earth app. That might be a good spine to use for science. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 Thanks Rose. And boy do I know what you mean about not using a spine in the way it's intended. I usually don't even bother with one. I am signing dd up for History in Our House, but will add OUP, documentaries and a variety of good lit. I just cannot leave well enough alone. I haven't even planned English yet. Thank goodness math is only AoPs. EO Wilson has that free Life on Earth app. That might be a good spine to use for science. Yeah, that app may be the thing that tips me over the edge to buying an ipad. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 I'm using Exploring the Way Life Works by Hoagland for a spine this year. It's a "non-major" sort of book written for high school. It's high interest and pleasant to read. DD has pulled it off the shelf just to flip through a few times this summer. I'm going to add extra readers on the side, and she'll probably join in her siblings' high school bio labs. I ought to pull some activities/experiments that she can run herself too. She is very interested in the human part and especially anything having to do with forensics, but I'll get some plants and animal readers in there too. DD likes the idea of Lyrical Life Science, but I'm not convinced she's actually going to enjoy it for long. There are a couple volumes on the shelf for her to try anyway. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 I'm using Exploring the Way Life Works by Hoagland for a spine this year. It's a "non-major" sort of book written for high school. It's high interest and pleasant to read. DD has pulled it off the shelf just to flip through a few times this summer. I'm going to add extra readers on the side, and she'll probably join in her siblings' high school bio labs. I ought to pull some activities/experiments that she can run herself too. She is very interested in the human part and especially anything having to do with forensics, but I'll get some plants and animal readers in there too. DD likes the idea of Lyrical Life Science, but I'm not convinced she's actually going to enjoy it for long. There are a couple volumes on the shelf for her to try anyway. Yeah, I really like that book and wanted Shannon to work through it, but she didn't care for it. We compromised - she did McHenry's Cells instead. But I was bummed, I'm not sure what it was about the book she didn't like, but it just didn't click for her. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisabees Posted July 25, 2016 Author Share Posted July 25, 2016 (edited) Thanks for the reminder about the Hoagland text. I haven't looked at it in a while. I just checked out Lyrical Life Science. I can't say I quite get it. Is it secular? I just ordered the Trees Unit. I have put a bunch of books on hold at the library to view - mainly the ones listed on the GuestHollow site. I will incorporate her stuff as best as I can. I am not sure what I think about McHenry's Botany unit or Quark Chronicles yet. But I do think we will enjoy the EO Wilson Book. We can add documentaries and outings. Not sure about hands on stuff yet - gardening, labs. Ideas? I should consider Nature Journaling (Bravewriter class maybe). The Michener Art Museum has a fall class for homeschoolers called Forests and Fields. That sounds apropos. We can start off the year with Calpurnia Tate and Miss Potter (need to squeeze that film in somewhere). Okay - this is a start. Maybe 8 weeks? Then on to another unit. Edited July 25, 2016 by lisabees Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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