science & history questions

[4ofus]

Hi all!

 

I have 2 boys, currently 1st & 2nd grade, that I am considering homeschooling next year. I never knew how many choices were out there! It's pretty endless!

 

Anyway, I know I shouldn't be hung up on this, but I am, so here it is.

 

I would like to do science & history together, but am concerned that if I start with earth science, my older son will be hearing much of it for the second time. If I start with chemistry, my youngest son will miss out on much of earth science.

 

Same thing with history. I'm concerned that unless I split it up little will miss something significant, or big will be duplicating material he's learned at school this year already.

 

My husband reminds me daily not to get hung up here, but I'm still dwelling. That & other things of course. "I know they're going to learn levers & pulleys in ps in 3rd grade! That's not earth science or chemistry! Augh!" He says I'm getting caught up in the little stuff. True. It's a flaw, what can I say :).

 

 

Feedback? Thanks!

[boscopup]

Don't worry about what your kids have learned in ps in science and history. Have they even done that much in either one? Most ps's do very little at that age. It's more "water cycle" and "holidays" and "neighborhoods", stuff like that.

 

Are you planning to follow the WTM history and science cycles? If so, stick the kids on the same topic. It will come around again in 4 years, so the younger one isn't missing anything, plus they're doing it together, so they ARE getting it. And feel free to go on rabbit trails, especially in science. We're doing sort of an interest-led science thing and learning all kinds of things. Just some simple library books are a great way to start!

 

For history, WTM does the 4 year world history cycle. Start in ancients with both kids, the next year do middle ages, the next year do early modern, and the next year do modern. After that, repeat the cycle until everyone is graduated. :D They will get it again and again. It does not matter what grade they are when they get it.

 

ETA: It's VERY easy to get caught up in history and science. Trust me, I have BTDT!!!! I have to keep reminding myself that the 3Rs are the most important at this age. History and science are gravy, and they will come around again, so it doesn't matter that much what we do the first time around. Exposure is key! Yet I still have threads on here worrying about both. :lol:

Edited April 16, 2011 by boscopup

[NittanyJen]

Are you planning to permanenty HS? If so, then don't worry what the PS will be doing in the 3rd grade; you're in charge now.

 

I also wouldn't worry too much about duplicating last year in order to get one kid or the other caught up, or letting one kid "skip" something for now; if you plan to do a repeat-every-four-years sequence and they're only in 1st and 2nd grades now, which means they'll get two more times to pick it up if they skip. The reason I wouldn't worry about "duplicating" is that with homeschooling, you have the latitude to do so much more with a topic that you are likely to do things they never did in school-- reading real books, doing hands-on projects, covering civilizations or parts of science that they never touched in school, depending upon your location, means, and resources, possibly field trips near or far, fully exploiting internet resources (my 4th & 2nd grade ds certainly never built his own aquaduct on the internet toured the local university to identify Ionic, Doric, and Corinthian columns, taking digital photos to stick in their books, we read Padric Colum's "Children's Homer" out loud, etc) . . . far beyond anything they have ever done in school. My 4th grader was fascinated with Alexander the Great, and is reading a biography about him; my second-grader did the same with Socrates; 2nd grader is supplementing with fiction stories about Rome and Greece such as Magic Treehouse and Time Warp Trio and the You Wouldn't Want To and If I were a Kid In series; the 4th Grader is supplementing with older books and devouring anything he can about mythology, as well as filling in timelines and maps (my 2nd grader is enjoying timelines and mapping too).

 

The same goes with science. You can supplement science with real books and tons of great, kid-friendly experiments that will far exceed what the kids have done in school, and at least in most schools at the elementary level, kids have gotten a few weeks of this and a few weeks of that rather than a coherent plan of study of anything, so I wouldn't worry about duplication. You wouldn't really be "skipping" so much as just choosing for yourself what order you wish to complete the various sciences in; there is no set order in which you must do science.

 

Hope that helps!

 

Jen

http://hillandalefarmschool.blogspot.com/

[Aurelia]

What did he learn this year? If he covered ancient history, you can move on to the middle ages, but if he did PS social studies, you would be better off starting with ancient history and biology if you want to follow the neo-classical rotation.

[kalanamak]

Start with the ancients. There is SO much fun in learning about the ancients: making a mummy, reading the Greek myths and Homer, making a sugar cube ziggurat. So much! It will enthuse you kids.

 

What about biology? That is also a good fire-starter for love of learning: grow butterflies, plant a garden, put up a bird feeder, so frogging at the pond, dissect a flower and look at it under the viewing scope, go to zoos and fish farms, dissect a cow eye, outline the boys and glue in guts and muscles.

 

That is what I'd do, although you could easily throw in some Chemistry for Every Kid and Physics for Every Kid by VanCleave if you wanted other exposures, and do a rock ID kit, with a scratch test, acid, streak plate.

[ProudGrandma]

I pulled my 2 older kids when they were in 1 and 2nd grade...and started using SOTW 1...for sure there was no doubling up...at that age, most PS kids get Social Studies...not History...but for Science I was all over the board, but i have finally settled down and am using Nancy Larson Science which we all LOVE and we are doing somethings we have done before, but because we are using a different curriculum (from what I started using 1 1/2 years ago) they cover some of the same things, but in a different way which makes it interesting to them. I wouldn't worry so much about that...because what is nice about homeschooling is you are allowed to tweek things for your kids...add or subratct as you want..add enrichment activities for your older if you want. Hope that helps.

[duckens]

I would like to do science & history together, but am concerned that if I start with earth science, my older son will be hearing much of it for the second time. If I start with chemistry, my youngest son will miss out on much of earth science.

These situations occur in public school, too.

When I was a kid, we only moved once in my childhood -- in the middle of my Kindergarten year. And yet there were duplicate lessons from one year to the next, (learning weather in both 5th and 7th grade, but not learning ANYTHING new; sitting through repetitive math and grammar lessons, looking back that I probably could have aced a pre-test if it had been an option). I'm sure there are things that I missed, too, because they weren't offered (Latin, Japanese, a decent science curriculum in 9th grade, etc).

 

Thank goodness you're homeschool. You can tailor your children's educational choices.