Joy Hakim's new series, The Story of Science, may be just the ticket! http://www.joyhakim.com/jh.html

Is your oldest an adolescent yet? These teenaged brains seems to go through literal phases periodically--I can't imagine presenting day after day of abstract algebra when one just wants to whack the kid with a stick and say, "Wake up!" Our plan has been for my son to do the Dolciani/Beckenbach Introductory Analysis book next year and call it precalculus on his transcript. I feel that he will be sufficiently prepared to begin a traditional calculus course in the fall but fail to see the purpose of jumping on that bandwagon just because we can. I would rather prepare him for an Honors type of Calculus course which is precisely what the Intro Analysis text will do. More on the adolescent brain thing: our lad is gliding through math but has hit a wall in Latin. He can read Latin passages for the gist (something that he has always been good at), but just don't ask him to parse a sentence. Grammatical stuff that he has seen many times over has gone out the window. Note the word roots are there (hence the gist) but gone is all subtlety. This has happened before. It is as though a bank of switches has turned off in some part of his brain. Granted, he is nearing the end of his Latin grammatical studies and has had to process a great deal. It just seems peculiar that while he ebbs in one subject, he flows in another. And who knows what today will bring. Jane

Not an authority at all, but I believe that in some states the initial home owner is off the hook financially--although his credit record will stink. In other states, the home owner not only owes the difference but also the foreclosure costs. :eek: A daunting proposition for one in serious financial straits...

While I suspected as much, I still thought that he might appreciate a more rigorous course of study for those attempting the engineering route. In fact, I plan to be on the lookout for Beckenbach's Modern Mathematics for the Engineer. While I personally am not that interested in applied mathematics, I think that my son may benefit from it. And my husband would enjoy it as well. Cheers, Jane

Silly me. I thought that the trig portion of the Dolciani Algebra II/Trig text that my son is currently using would be the same as the Dolciani Modern Trigonometry text that I picked up at a library book sale last spring. (My new hobby is collecting old Dolciani texts on the cheap.) Imagine when I pulled the latter off the shelf and saw the name Bechenbach on the cover. Understand that the Dolciani/Bechenbach collaboration on Modern Introductory Analysis created a stellar high school math text that I used in the mid '70's. So my curiosity was piqued. This 1966 text begins where every old Dolciani text does: with sets and axioms. The trig begins in Chapter 2. I have taught trig from what seems to be a countless number of precalc texts. The subject usually begins with a discussion of radians, then defines the trig functions essentially as relationships of sides of the triangle in the four quadrants of the plane. Not this book. Chapter 2, entitled Circular Functions, begins with periodic functions. In the A portion of the first problem set students graph and determine the periodicity of things like f(x) = 2(x - [x]), where the bracket denotes the greatest integer function. The B sections contains proofs on periodic functions. And so it goes. There is no special chapter on proving trig identities. The proofs are throughout the book. Applications on things like uniform circular motion and simple harmonic motion are not lacking. But it gets even better. Chapter 6 is on vectors. Within the first section the idea of a commutative group is introduced, as well as a vector space. The engineering mathematics of vector applications to forces is all there but to arrive at it one must first work through theoretical material on inner products. Of course, finding this old text may be a challenge but there are copies floating around the Internet. This is obviously not going to be everyone's idea of a great trig text. But it looks like a wonderful book for someone who wants to treat trig as something other than a bunch of algorithms that you memorize, regurgitate and promptly forget after the test (which I am afraid is how many trig books treat the subject!) My son will start using this book next week, once he wraps up his logarithm material in Dolciani's Algebra II/Trig. Note: odd answers are in the back, but not any graphs. A solutions manual may be impossible to find! If anyone is interested in how it goes, I'll be happy to keep you posted either on this board or via a private message. Jane

The technology upon which our society relies is based on science. That alone is perhaps sufficient reason to study science, but I have another. The world is a beautiful place and the more I learn about it via travel and science, the more I appreciate it. I think that a great way for an adult to begin science education is with a really good science writer, someone like Sue Hubbell and her book A Country Year or A Book of Bees. A classic of environmental science is Aldo Leopold's book A Sand County Almanac. Search through some of the old boards to read Jean's posts on star gazing. Go into your backyard with your kids and a stack of guide books to identify insects and birds. Get out the binoculars, slow down and watch what is happening out there. Does your Extension service have a junior master gardener program or 4-H programs in horticulture, forestry, etc.? You might find that some of these programs can work for both science and extra-curricular activities. Jane

Oh my...it's a lawyer joke that is funny. Thank you for giving my son and me a laugh.

That would have been my answer last week. This week my son completed a beautiful paper on the aftermath of the Hundreds Year War. It wowed me and immediately caused me to forget last week's battles when the exercise was declared "impossible". Sigh. OK--I'll second writing. Jane

My dear son turns 16 on Monday! Yikes! After much nagging on my part, he asked for sheet music from two of his favorite bands. Additionally he is receiving a "Macgyver tool" known as the Warranty Voider in the Make Magazine store: http://store.makezine.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=MKWVE4 My husband also ordered some electronics stuff from Make, although I'm not sure if this gift is exclusively for our son since his Dad is a fellow geek. Happy birthday to your daughter! Jane

The most important character trait that my son has developed was cultivated by his Montessori school: kindness. At the school, the older children regularly did activities with the younger. He was treated respectfully and reciprocated. Now I see his aspect of his personality when he volunteers with injured birds at the rehabilitation center as well as around younger children at 4-H. Academically, I think that the most important thing that my husband and I have done together is develop an avid reader. We are the sort of family that has library dates together, always travels with reading material, and talks about books. My sister in law was shocked to learn that we read the newspaper at breakfast and books or magazines at lunch (but not dinner--that is conversation time). From science books to Great Books, the kid will read it all.

You really need to be more specific. Are you talking Republic or Empire? Which Caesar?

There is also the irony of buying a book to explain why people buy stuff! But I thought that someone might find borrowing this book from their library to be worthwhile.

Inside the Mind Of a Debtor Nation By Michelle Singletary Sunday, March 2, 2008; F01 As the director of a financial ministry at my church, I get an up-close and personal look at the spending habits of a lot of people. And year after year, I am stunned by the decisions people make that get them into financial trouble. I've seen monthly car notes the size of mortgage payments. People take vacations or buy big-screen televisions and expensive jewelry while ignoring huge federal tax obligations. While it would be easy to judge these people for the messes they've gotten themselves into, I wonder -- even worry -- why they spend so much. Why do they continue to use credit even though they are already weighed down by so much debt? The problem is just as acute with many who use cash. They may not have credit card debt, but they struggle, too. I keep coming back to one question: What has made us into a nation of people who spend more than we earn? It's a question that led Stuart Vyse to write "Going Broke: Why Americans Can't Hold On to Their Money" (Oxford University Press). Because so many people need to know the answer before they can dig out of their own financial messes, I'm recommending "Going Broke" for the Color of Money Book Club for March. In this compelling and wide-ranging work, Vyse explores the history of lending in America, the invention of the shopping cart, the evolution of self-service discount shopping, and the explosion of branding and advertising. It's not a book I would recommend for people in financial trouble who need a quick fix. Vyse doesn't promise to help you go from broke to an automatic millionaire in 10 easy steps. Relying on psychology and behavioral economics, he analyzes the many influences that rob consumers of their self-control. He doesn't, however, absolve people of their wasteful spending habits. There really are two sides to why so many Americans overspend. "Part of the problem is simply a matter of how we think about money," Vyse writes. For example, we buy in bulk, thinking it saves money. But often it leads to more consumption and bigger waistlines, Vyse says. The other part of the problem is our economy's reliance on personal consumption. On some level, we all know our buying is out of control, but we are constantly bombarded with messages encouraging us to shop. The steady stream blunts our reasoning power. We don't even have to leave our homes to consume. Thanks to the Internet and toll-free retail lines, Vyse writes, it has become possible to spend in many more places, at any time and in any way. We're made to think cash is an inconvenience. Just consider the advertising campaign, "Life Takes Visa." The credit card giant has been running commercials in which people are hustling through checkout lines at fast food and retail stores. They buy what they want by merely waving or swiping their plastic Visa cards. But when a customer pulls out cash, everything comes to a screeching halt. The cash-paying customer gets harsh looks from fellow shoppers and the cashier. Then we hear an announcer say: "Don't let cash slow you down." The commercials are funny. But the subliminal message isn't. It's diabolical. "Much of the difficulty stems from new retail technologies that make it easy to act without thinking," Vyse says. What happens when we don't pause to consider our purchases -- whether paying with plastic or cash? What's the long-term effect of our overspending? We've created a new kind of poverty, Vyse says. We have people who should have adequate income but still struggle because they're laden with debt. Or they can't weather an economic storm because their overspending has left them with no savings. Vyse sees a continued instability in our economy. "A nation that is maxed out on debt and does not save is asking for disaster," he said. "The current foreclosure crisis is just the latest way Americans have found to spring a leak. The house used to be the replacement for a savings account, but that escape valve is gone for now." To break the pattern, we have to understand how we got to where we are, Vyse says. Only with this self-awareness can people start keeping their money. To become a member of the Color of Money Book Club, all you have to do is read the recommended book. I also invite you to join me online to chat with the author. If you want to explore the psychological reasons you spend too much, join me for a live discussion with Vyse at noon March 20 at http://www.washingtonpost.com. In addition, every month I randomly select readers to receive a copy of the book, donated by the publisher. For a chance to win a copy of "Going Broke: Why Americans Can't Hold On to Their Money," send an e-mail to colorofmoney@washpost.com. Please include your name and an address so we can send you a book if you win.

Hi Annie, I believe that your question can be restated as this: if one cannot see something like an an atom or a molecule, how did scientists begin to suspect their existence? While earlier philosophers and scientists had speculated on the existence of the very small, it was Boyle, Dalton and Brown who laid the foundation for atomic theory as it is accepted today. (Boyle was a 17th century scientist while Brown and Dalton worked in the early 19th century.) You can look up on the Internet the large cast of characters who contributed to the body of work that led to modern chemistry. By studying the behavior of certain elements, chemists were able to predict things that should happen. Repeatedly they were correct which led to generalizations, i.e. theory. Interestingly, technology is now available to "see" molecular images. Two scientists (Rohrer and Binning) won a Nobel Prize for their work on the scanning tunneling microscope which maps surfaces at the atomic level. I have never heard anyone argue against atomic theory being untrue because it lacks proof from direct observation. Does anyone want to correct me? Jane

Historians need us to write letters, keep paper journals and records, etc. How many people have kept their old technology that allows them to read floppies? How many people fail to back up their computers and lose their records and emails in computer crashes? I now send more emails than letters, but I still use snail mail and still buy far too much stationery. Jane

Well, Pam, I am doing this, but then I have to drive a distance just to go to the grocery. I combine my trips to the regular library, university library, Target, whatever. Beginning in April, CSA share pickup day will be my errand day. Jane

Apologia's course is marine biology, not oceanography, right? Related, but the latter has more of an emphasis on physical science. Jane

This is a course that I have not taught so I can't suggest a particular text. Rather I will suggest visiting the campus bookstore at a CC near you to see what they are using. She'll want both a business math and a bookkeeping course, I presume. You might want to glance at a basic accounting text while you are at it. The CCs often have more hands on accounting courses that do not transfer to university accounting programs, but instead introduce students to the use of spread sheets, etc. I would think that could be useful. Jane

Unfortunately this book is geared for grades 5 - 8, but it is terrific: http://www.lawrencehallofscience.org/gems/oceancurrents.html I did the activities in the book with a group of 6th graders. There are some wonderful explorations on currents, demonstrations in which students see how layering in the water occurs because of heat and salinity. The materials used in the demonstrations are easily acquired, making the labs an inexpensive component of the course. In addition, we used the book, The Mysterious Ocean Highway: Benjamin Franklin and the Gulf Stream. Again, this book is lower than what you want, but it may be possible to find something similar which explains the scientific research that Franklin performed while crossing the Atlantic to negotiate assistance from the French during our Revolutionary War. I do have a college Oceanography text on my shelf, Introductory Oceanography by Thurman and Burton. This is something that I picked up for $1 at a used book sale. It assumes that students have studied chemistry and biology. Some wonderful activities in the field of oceanography are suggested on the Sea Education Assocition's website: http://www.sea.edu/academics/k12.asp Jane

Early exposure to vocabulary at the grammar stage when children sponge this sort of thing is ideal in my book! This is why it surprised me that the local public school did no science when my son was elementary school age. (I don't know what they do or don't do now.) Another thing that frustrates me in science education is the "camp" mentality that makes mixing baking soda and vinegar together science. Well maybe it is at the grammar stage, but it is hard for a student to graduate from baking soda and vinegar play to a lab report. It seems that there needs to be a middle ground where things get somewhat formalized while still keeping some of the hands on activities. When I began homeschooling my son in 7th grade, we attempted chemistry as it was laid out in TWTM with the MicroChem Kit, lots of library books, etc. It was a bust. In fact, we abandoned it after a couple of months and instead did a Jason unit on wetlands and had my son participate in Envirothon for his science education. The Jason Project is still around but I believe has changed from its former self when the focus was on a specific topic annually. Interestingly, a year before Katrina hit we had spent months studying wetlands in general and the wetlands of southern Louisiana in particular. My son clearly understood more about what happened there in the aftermath of the storm that the newscasters! What also made the topic relevant for us is that we have a wetland at the end of our street. We live in an area where both traditional farms and wetland marshes were being transformed into golf courses at a rapid rate (things have now slowed down on the development front, thank goodness!) The science had immediate relevance. I think that our chemistry failure of 7th grade was due to some unreasonable expectations on my part, like in the area of lab reports. We should have done more hand holding and developed some transitional exercises to help him. It is clear that I would like to see the bar raised on science and mathematics education in this country, but not at the risk of abandoning history, literature, other languages, etc. The integration of math and science into daily discussions is something that I want not only in my own home and community but in the national media. It seems that being a good citizen involves understanding more than the Bill of Rights, but also understanding implications of decisions on a number of fronts, including science and technology. And we need to find more hours in the day to do it all. Jane

Well I feel that I am a child of Dolciani or at least a disciple. Under Dolciani's tutelage (via her text books) I became a math major. They worked for me and they are apparently working for my son. Jane

In several recent threads there have been discussions on curricular materials and methodologies used in various disciplines. Given that science is the field in which people tend to be more text book or box curriculum oriented, I wanted to comment on a science course that my son took over the weekend that incorporated what I feel are "WTM" type methods. The course was on Neuroscience of the Senses and met for fifteen hours between Saturday and Sunday. (Obviously not a class for the faint of heart!) While the students were waiting for everyone to get checked in and find the classroom, participants were given a 60 page primer on the brain and nervous system to read through. This was essentially their text for the course. After introductions, the students were provided a basic overview of anatomy and the neural system before being divided into subgroups and being assigned a sense to research and eventually report on. I think we fail as teachers when we tell our students to go figure something out without laying the proper foundation and then providing leading questions. Their instructor gave them a list of questions to investigate: What are the main parts of this system? What do they do? Draw and label a diagram of your system. What is the neural pathway for your system? What can go wrong with your system? Devise a simple experiment to do with the class illustrating something about your system. The kids in my son's group divided up the research questions and determined who would do what aspects of the presentation on their system. The instructor and the T.A. would come by to see how they were doing, comment and ask more leading questions. They gave their presentations Saturday night and were ready to go to the next level on Sunday morning when they dissected a sheep's brain and cow's eye (one each for every two students). This was followed by a discussion of autism and other disorders, as well as ethical considerations as more is understood about brain development. Note the general scheme: 1) foundation; 2) student research directed by leading questions; 3) teacher led activity to solidify material (in this case dissection); 4) examples to demonstrate that things can go wrong; 5) ethical implications. It would seem that this scheme could be adapted for numerous situations: 1) foundations of angiosperms; 2) student research into seed germination; 3) experiment with some sort of plant 4) change some variable in the process to see what happens; 5) discussion of genetically modified seeds. Or: 1) define Bernoulli's principle; 2) student research in how the principle is used in flight; 3) simple experiment to demonstrate Bernoulli's principle; 4) tinker with 3; 5) discuss how airplanes have changed our concept of time and space. Science need not be memorization of a list of facts! Jane

Hugs to you. Despite the circumstances, I know how much you will enjoy seeing your son. Give him our best regards! Jane

I spoke to Bridget Ardoin and had the chance to examine her materials at the NC Homeschool conference a couple of years ago. I rather liked the concept. She poses leading questions in her book which students then research. Given her background as a microbiologist, she opted to take this investigatory approach. We chose to go with Campbell this year, following an AP Biology path which made sense for us given my son's strong biology background. I have not implemented Ms. Ardoin's course, so I can't say that it is superior to other programs with which I am also inexperienced. I can say that when I was at the NC conference, I found myself drawn to her table several times to read and reread her book. I found it to be refreshing, but I am an inquiry based, hands on kind of science gal. Jane

With the foundation she receives at Concordia, I suspect that she would not have any problem jumping into this program. You need to buy a text, workbook, audio CDs, and a student guide. Videos which accompany the program are available for viewing on the Internet through the Annenberg Foundation. My son and I are working through this curriculum together without any prior French knowledge on my part, although both of us have a background in Latin (decades ago in my case; my son is currently working in the Oxford Latin III text.) I hired a tutor last year to work on conversation, but this year we are focusing on reading comprehension, grammar and listening skills in French. I just keep my fingers crossed that one of these days my son will stumble across the opportunity to practice his French! Take a peak into the program via the videos: http://www.learner.org/resources/series83.html Good luck, Jane