Sue G in PA Posted July 10, 2010 Share Posted July 10, 2010 Bringing ds12 home from a year at ps...against his will. His favorite subject is science and I really need something to "hook" him so he won't be so miserable at home. I don't think using a curriculum would be a good idea at this point but I am considering General Science (Apologia). How would put together an interest-led science program for 7th grade? What components should it include? I'm at a loss as to how to plan this. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JennW in SoCal Posted July 10, 2010 Share Posted July 10, 2010 Well, what exactly does he like about science? Physics, electronics and engineering? Biology, nature and animals? How about having a text to use as a reference, but letting him primarily use "living books" and kits or projects on whatever interests him? Have his assignments be that he has to present a project to you each month, and otherwise let him read and explore on his own. If he likes building things, or is interested in electronics, there are numerous kits out there. Mr. Circuit from Rainbow Resources. There were 3 different levels from basic electronics and up Lego Mindstorms. You could combine that with basic electronics or simple computer programming With either or these you could watch documentaries on engineering projects. Perhaps there is a First Lego League competitive robotics team in your area? Rocketry: You could read about the space program, read Rocket Boys (the book on which October Sky was based) do basic physics demonstrations such as these from NASA. A natural extension would be astronomy, and there are many good books, web sites, and astronomy clubs that could help with that If he likes nature, animals, and biology, then something like Project Feeder Watch. You could study weather and your neighborhood environment, study anatomy. There are oodles of wonderful books by naturalists such as My Family and Other Animals by Gerrald Durrell. Boy Scouts have lots of science related activities. There are Audubon societies and astronomy clubs and rocketry clubs all around. Making use of these will give your son the social time he may want and will help you give him the hands on science that he craves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted July 10, 2010 Share Posted July 10, 2010 I don't know what is available to you locally. If you have a great science or natural history museum that caters to adults as much as kids, he would be able to benefit from hard use of their programs. One of those marine science museums around here sponsors a speaker series that is very reasonably priced. One year we saw a woman astronaut (I think the second or third American woman in space--really quite a celebrity!), the founder of the successful restoration project that literally saved the local falcons, and a marine science researcher who made the case for longterm longitudinal studies to support climate and habitat research. My DD was only about 9 when we attended these talks, and so she was introduced to academic science at a popular level at a very early age. It was great. Take him to one of those museums every week for a long time--4 hours maybe, and tell him that he must find 10 new things that he did not know before. That will get increasingly difficult and make him dig deeper and deeper. If he gets really interested in something, enable him to study it more fully using library books and consulting local scientists. This is the kind of thing that homeschoolers can uniquely do. Also, you might consider buying a complete set of Science Explorer books (they are cheap on ebay) and letting him choose the order in which he does them. There is plenty of material for 3-4 years at the middle school level. If he is sciencey he could maybe learn all of them in 2 years, something that I don't think many kids do. I strongly recommend Real Science 4 Kids Chemistry Level II as well. It's real science, and very impressive. It starts to use a little unit analysis, too--begins to put some math into the science. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Another Lynn Posted July 10, 2010 Share Posted July 10, 2010 Not interest led, but maybe more fun than Apologia? (can't say for sure - just going on impressions here) - have you looked at Rainbow Science? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnandtinagilbert Posted July 10, 2010 Share Posted July 10, 2010 Thames and Kosmos has a large variety of kits. Have him look through them and pick a few for the year. You can save $ and buy them one at a time (not so hard on the budget) and each kit comes with explicit instruction booklets for each experiment and the principles behind each. Hope you're well! Looking forward to shipping you something wonderful in October! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue G in PA Posted July 11, 2010 Author Share Posted July 11, 2010 Thanks all. Will look into those suggestions. And yes, Tina, I am looking forward to it! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corraleno Posted July 11, 2010 Share Posted July 11, 2010 Take him to one of those museums every week for a long time--4 hours maybe, and tell him that he must find 10 new things that he did not know before. That will get increasingly difficult and make him dig deeper and deeper. I love this! We go to the Natural History Museum at least twice a month, and I think DS has practical memorized the displays and labels there, so I love the idea of forcing him to find (and remember) ten new things each time. Thanks for the idea! Jackie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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