Help me with independent studies in History, Science or any elective

[mirabillis]

My 6th grader doesn't have enough work to do in the course of his day. He needs more. 

 

Currently he's good on:

Math

Writing

Literature

Grammar

Vocabulary

Handwriting

Spelling

 

We have science (Ellen McHenry's Elements) and History (SOTW audiotapes) which admittedly we don't get to often enough, as the plan is to combine these across an age spectrum and those other kids are never done.

 

So help me with some ideas for some new and/or independent subjects for him. History, Science, any elective possible. He has the time, he needs the challenge, so it's time to give him more.

 

This would be for open-and-go books, video-based instruction - preferably not live online classes or somesuch, as I'd like to go cheaper still at this young age. But it needs to be independent, without much in the way from me.

 

Thanks!!!

 

[homemommy83]

My kids like Notgrass for independent history. It also adds literature books and writing prompts along history studies.

[LMD]

Ellen McHenry's mapping the world with art for geography? She has videos lessons on her website.

 

I also assign extra books and require a response/output of some kind. For example, When dd did The Elements she made a Google slides presentation. She also read What Einstein Told His Cook and spent time trying the recipes - I wasn't involved in any of that.

[Milknhoney]

At grade 6, he should be able to do SOTW independently. Buy the PDF download of the printed comprehension questions. Then he can answer them on paper without you. Buy the tests. Get supplemental literature to his grade level. Give him access to the activity guide; he can look up the mapping activity instructions for himself.

[happypamama]

History Odyssey Level 2, using the k12 Human Odyssey books, and Notgrass have both been great for my middle school son who likes to read and who likes to work independently.

[fourisenough]

CLE History has been a huge hit with DD13 this year. She’s doing their 8th grade American History. Their 6th grade Latin American History looks excellent also.

 

FWIW, we generally prefer secular resources but we’re finding CLE history quite workable.

[8filltheheart]

Read? A 6th grader should be able to read independently 45 mins per day each for history and science. Expense? Go to the library and let him check out books on subjects he wants to read. History of pirates? Sailing? Knights? Mongol horde? Attila the Hun? Alexander the Great? Etc. There are great children's/YA biographies available. Same for science. Let him pick topics. How do radios work? TVs? Electricity? Engines? Etc.

 

Let him read and write a synopsis of a sub-topic once a week.

[HomeAgain]

Intellego might work.  It's independent/half computer based.  MobyMax also has history and science lessons.

 

For that age, though, I like Creek Edge Press task cards.  It's a set of simple weekly outlines of work - they/you pick the resources, but it offers a variety of projects, types of readings, mapwork..

[Momto6inIN]

Scratch for programming

Typing.com

Geography - we use Trail Guides

Logic - we use Thinking Toolbox at that age

Reading for 45 min/day from a reading list

 

Agreeing with PP that he could do the science and history on his own if you're not able to get to it as a group.

 

Sent from my Z988 using Tapatalk

[mirabillis]

Thanks ladies. Appreciate it. 

 

Any other open & go science alternatives? I prefer some kind of curriculum, rather than just reading for fun. He reads tons already, but for him, it would be better to have a curriculum. 

 

Any other suggestions (for science, history or any other elective)?

 

I have The Most Important Thing You'll Ever Study bible curriculum... not sure if this is appropriate for a 6th grader. Really would like a science book - as he's got a good brain for science and how things work... Could do online if it's not terribly expensive.

Edited December 8, 2017 by mirabillis

[Bocky]

Science: DD13 used Galore Park, So You Really Want to Learn Science independently: www.amazon.com/You-Really-Want-Learn-Science/dp/B01FIXFFMG . I had her make flashcards of all the vocabulary terms. She checked her answers in the Answer book.

 

Would Tinker Crate work? www.kiwico.com/tinker . DD13 finds the Tinker Crate too easy, but still enjoys the art project Doodle Crate.

 

History: I like Hakim, A History of US for middle school. There are ten volumes. DD13 enjoys the informal, conversational narrative voice. There are teaching pages and projects available online, but mostly I had my dd write a summary from each chapter.

 

Elective: The Fallacy Detective was a big hit, and completely independent here.

[SporkUK]

My Year 6 child likes Science Detectives from the Critical Thinking Company - it's an open and go and gets in her into the habit of finding evidence for her answers which I like and I find it works well as a spine for other reading and resources. There are two levels (I don't find the grade levels work well for mine), which one will fit depends on the child, particularly how comfortable they are at writing answers to open ended science questions. For science, I have a basic spreadsheet document that is divided by science topic so all of mine are on the similar topics most of the time and I can bring in other resources on the topics. For her, that includes CGP KS2 science book which I use as an end of section review, Horrible Science which she reads aloud to her younger siblings (I try to prioritize reading aloud to help their speaking skills and the 8 year old loves science but she finds reading hard/tiring so two stones, one solution for us), relevant other books and videos. I've not found any of the video curriculums retain or work well as an intro to a topic for mine so I mostly use them to expand things they're doing or just general interest rather than for lessons. 

 

For independent work, she also does typingclub, geography games (state tetris and seterra are her favourites with Geography Now videos), she uses khan academy to review grammar terms outside of grammar lessons & has her own personal spelling words to practice outside of spelling lessons, drawing practice from the drawing textbook alongside a lot of reading. 

 

We're in the middle of tweaking history...again...humanities in general really. I have been looking at CTC's World History Detective but undecided.

[J-rap]

My kids enjoyed the science workbooks that focus on one subject at a time.  They're usually a combination of reading, short assignments and quizzes, related activities and puzzles, generally all done pretty independently and all in one workbook.  Different companies have their own versions.  I used to get workbooks like that at Lakeshore Learning, but I can't seem to find them on their website.  I'm sure you can find workbooks like that at a lot of different places.   Each workbook could be done in a month or two.

[lexi]

My dd is doing a Tiner science book. She is using history from master books. She does mastering essentials math. She does a vocab book and logic books from critical thinking co. She also does Bju science online. She’s also reading hakim books alongside her history. She does Latin for children.

All of these are very independent.

[mirabillis]

i will be researching all of these over the holidays. thank you! he is very much still in need of more... so now time for me to find the time - to research what that 'more' will be. ;-)

 

still open to hear any & all suggestions anyone has... 

Edited December 14, 2017 by mirabillis

[eternalsummer]

Well, I have a 7th grader, and what we do for history right now is this: she picks a topic.  I don't care one bit what it is, nor do I try to guide it, although I may nix a topic if there's not enough material for it at her level (early HS input).  So recently she picked WW2, great.  I bought a series of teaching courses lectures on WW2 and the recommended books to go with, a general kids' overview (this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0794510442/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1)and various historical fiction - so far I think she's read Briar Rose by Yolen, Number the Stars by Lowry, the Winged Watchmen by I can't remember who, Blackout and All Clear by Connie Willis, etc.  Eventually I'll show her some related films.

 

I have nothing to do with any of it, I just buy it.  She's interested enough in historical fiction and movies to be self-motivated; I do tell her to watch a lecture every few days and we discuss the questions at the end (I listen to the lecture while working).  There's not a lot of output, other than the discussion questions; I'm not looking for a systematic understanding or analysis of history at this point.  I'm just trying to give her some content knowledge to hang her later systematic investigations on.  

 

It's interest led in that she chooses the topic, but not interest led in that she would be happy to abandon after 2 or 3 days and I insist on finishing out the materials I've bought, so that it takes about a month or two.  

[Syllieann]

The memoria press science courses are fabulous. I think anything from astronomy on up would work. I think that one says 3rd grade on it or something, but it’s not babyish at all. The history courses from mp seem to be independent based on the samples, but we have not used those so I couldn’t say for sure.