If your child wanted to study plants and you'd like them to be independent...

[3lilreds in NC]

I told my girls they could each choose a topic for independent study this year. Emma, unsurprisingly, chose horses. Abbie came and told me she wanted to study aquatic plants. :confused:

 

We got some great info and a wonderful book called "The Ecology of the Planted Aquarium" and will be setting up a fish tank with plants, as soon as I can figure out where to set it up. However, I think she should study plants in general, since we haven't done that yet.

 

I've looked at the HOC Plants lapbook, and at Apologia's Botany curriculum with their notebooking option. I'd like her to be able to do it fairly independently, with me available to ask questions, of course. I know with Apologia there would be experiments and such, but if she could read the info herself, that would be lovely.

 

Any suggestions? I am not sure I can add another thing to MY plate for teaching, since we're already doing a science curriculum together. Perhaps I need to drop that and focus on this... except I think my husband might be displeased if I do that since I already have all the books! :D

[Rosie_0801]

Sounds like she needs a garden bed and to learn to grow sprouts for the kitchen.

 

Rosie

[Goldilocks]

My 10 yo ds is doing science independently this year. This is what we are doing:

 

Using the Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia, I chose the pages that cover topics related to Physics (our topic this year). You could choose the Plants and Fungi section. I made a list of the topics and assigned one topic per week. Then I bought a few other experiment or activity books and selected experiments or chapters that have activities/experiments related to that topic and matched them up on my list. For example, this week's topic is heat transfer and there is a chapter titled "Heat" in one of our experiment books. So his assignment is to choose an experiment from that chapter. (I didn't have the time to choose one myself.)

 

So, his assignment sheet looks like this:

 

Day 1: Read about Heat Transfer on pages XX. Do an experiment from chapter 4 of _________.

 

Day 2: Make a notebook page about Heat Transfer. Do an experiment from chapter 4 of _____________.

 

Day 3: Explore internet links about Heat Transfer.

 

BTW, he loves experiments and hates writing. I insist on some writing, but don't want to crush his curiosity and interest by making him write up every topic and experiment.

[Pata]

Have you seen the Life of Plant Series? They are at most libraries and you dd should be able to read them on her own. They are full color inside and the information is thorough yet readable. I believe there are five in the series. Amazon has four of them, but I think there's a fifth on Plant Habitats, but I could be wrong. I'll link the four below, unfortunately there's no look inside feature, but there are a few reviews. Hope that helps!

 

Plant Growth

Plant Parts

Plant Reproduction

Plant Classification

[Mallory]

TOPS Radishes or Corn and Beans might work, especially if you pick up the Sonlight Science 3 Discover and Do DVD, cause it will walk her through the steps (you can find all of them used here for pretty cheap).

[MerryAtHope]

My 11 yo is doing Apologia Botany and the notebook on her own. I told her she could pick & choose what to do as far as experiments and in the notebook, just to let me know what she needed. She's really enjoying it! (Hey, I've even learned what plumules are, but she's learning way more than I am!)

 

Merry :-)

[3lilreds in NC]

You guys are the BEST! Thank you so much for all the great ideas. I'm going to see if our library has the Life of Plant books, and look into getting Apologia. I think she would like that with the experiments, etc. I would also like to get her the carnivorous plants kit that I've seen - she would get a kick out of that. And, we will set up our fish tank and work on getting our aquatic plants going.

 

Again, thank you! I love coming here and experiencing the wealth of knowledge that is so willingly shared. :grouphug: