Curriculum that integrates science & social studies thru literature (chapter books)

[ereks mom]

I did find this teacher resource (Intermediate Science Through Children's Literature) which is something along the lines of what I'm looking for. It uses chapter books as a resource for teaching upper grammar kids and it would be possible to connect earth science & environmental science to U.S. geography, and of course, some American history topics. However, while the book has suggestions for teaching, but there are no reproducible student pages, and I would have to come up with my own writing assignments, etc.

 

I also found this program (Moving Beyond the Page) that looks GREAT, but it is WAY expensive (for me, anyway).

 

I'm hoping there is some affordable program I'm overlooking that would have something like this all laid out for me so I can get books from the library, gather household materials for science experiments, print the (provided) reproducible student pages, and go. Do you know of anything like this?

 

ETA: Found this one (Christian Cottage Volume 3 "God Bless America" 2nd Ed.), and it looks like it could be what I'm looking for. Anyone care to review it for me? If you've used it, what ages does it work best for?

Edited July 24, 2010 by ereks mom

[tiredbuthappy]

There is a Yahoo Group for Moving Beyond the Page and people often list used units for sale. There are some listings on homeschoolclassifieds as well. We really liked the looks of it too, but the cost of it all together was too much as well, so we are using a couple of LA units from it to suppliment (I have ferocious readers who need more to read than POE gives is by itself). I just bought the units I wanted used.

[shinyhappypeople]

Rainbow Resource has individual MBTP lit units for around $20 for everything (book/s, MBTP guide) Here's the link.

 

I'd love to use these with the DDs in a year or two.

[Guest mrsjamiesouth]

We used Christian Cottage Unit studies last year and really enjoyed them! It is basically a bunch of projects and crafts that go along with a book list. There were lots of good books to read, but you would need to get them from the library or buy them. The projects were very "Mom friendly" almost all the supplies I had on hand already.

You can download individual units instead of the whole year at Currclick. They also have a Free Oceanography unit so you can see how it works.

One of the projects in oceanography was to make waves in the bathtub with a toy boat. Another thing we did last year was Orienteering with a compass. It took us in a circle around the house. Another project was to make a salt dough map of the US and mark some landmarks.

 

It is set up for K-8. I used it with K and 4th.

Edited July 24, 2010 by mrsjamiesouth

[mktkcb]

What about Beautiful Feet History of Science? http://www.bfbooks.com/s.nl/sc.18/category.858/.f

[hsmomsg]

Heart of Dakota does exactly what you are asking. History and Science is learned through some of the greatest living books! The kids love them and so do I. The neatest thing is that most of the books used are not common and I would never have found them on my own, but each one is a true gem. Check it out at www.heartofdakota.com

[Tracy]

Are you looking for classical social studies? I thought of Beyond Five in a Row, but that would not be classical.

[ereks mom]

Are you looking for classical social studies? I thought of Beyond Five in a Row, but that would not be classical.

 

No, I don't adhere to the 4-year cycle for youngers. I thought of BYFIAR too, but have never used it. Care to share any thoughts about it?

[Tracy]

No, I don't adhere to the 4-year cycle for youngers. I thought of BYFIAR too, but have never used it. Care to share any thoughts about it?

 

I have never used BYFIAR, though we just finished FIAR, which we loved. If BYFIAR is anything like FIAR, then there are lots of lessons to choose from for each book. I would post a specific question about it to get more and better reviews. I would also look through the book lists to get a feel for what you will be reading.