Farrar Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 Planning life science for next year for my boys, who will be 8 in the fall. What were your favorite things for life science? Books, movies, experiments, etc. I'm not really looking for a curriculum (I prefer to plan myself for science) but anything short of that... And did you do animal dissections for elementary? If so, what? I'm a bit on the fence about it, but my boys saw all the dissection possibilities in the Home Science Tools catalog and are now over the moon with the idea. One of my ds actually says at unexpected moments, "Sheep brain!" I'm not sure if this is a sign he'll be a crazy person or a biologist when he grows up. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalmia Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 (edited) Good read alouds (nature studyish) mostly vintage. Wild Season by Allan W. Eckert (food chains, be aware a snake eats a baby bunny--mommy cried, boy said "Cool.") Plants and Their Children by Mrs. William Starr Dana (beginning botany) can be read on GoogleBooks or available used. Insect Ways by Clarence M. Weed (abebooks) The Living Year by Richard Headstrom (the seasonal round) Adventures with Insects by Richard Headstrom (hands on investigations) Adventures with a Microscope by Richard Headstrom Adventures with Freshwater Animals by Richard Headstrom Edited July 23, 2012 by Kalmia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 DVDs: (all by BBC, oddly enough) Planet Earth Blue Planet The Secret Life of Mammals The Secret Life of Birds Books: Clara Dillingham Pierson's Complete Among the People Series One Small Square books Mysteries and Marvels of Nature Fabre's Book of Insects Basher Biology Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmmaNadine Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 Redwoods by Jason Chin is a creative non-fiction book about a boy who discovers a book about redwood trees and his imaginary adventures amongst the trees as he reads. It won the Giverny award (best children's biology book) in 2010. It's absolutely fantastic. http://www.15degreelab.com/givernyawardwinnerlist.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 Any David Attenborough DVD - they are truly amazing and will mesmerize my kids for hours. Content warning - the insect one is basically an hour of insects mating, after which my dd6 had *lots* of interesting questions! ;) Another favorite was The View From the Oak by Kohl - all about point of view in space and time, and what the world looks like to you if you are an insect/bird/mammal/etc. Really wonderful, and such a different perspective than most science books for kids. The Magic of Reality is another essential resource at our house. It's not all related to biology, but several chapters are and it has an excellent discussion of natural selection/evolution, if you are looking for such a thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alte Veste Academy Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 (edited) Videos... So many wonderful videos! Too many to name. Watch them all. :D Life in a Bucket of Soil A World in a Drop of Water Pond Water Zoo The Usborne Complete Book of the Microscope Benny's Animals and How He Put Them in Order The Kingdoms of Life: Classification Living Sunlight (My kids love this book.) Insectigations Gardening Wizardry for Kids (love the relations to history in this book) DK Natural History (also Ocean, Animal, etc. My kids are lovers of coffee table books.) Creepy Crawlies and the Scientific Method There are too many more to list. You can get something at the library for a study of biomes/habitats and animals/adaptations, etc. The highlight of biology for my kids was making life-size cut-outs of their bodies and coloring/pasting their organs in (from My Body) as we learned about the body's systems. I'll scan my shelves and my memory later to see if I can think of more. ETA: We have not yet done dissections but I would not hesitate to do them with an interested child with a strong stomach. Edited July 23, 2012 by Alte Veste Academy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 Videos... So many wonderful videos! Too many to name. Watch them all. :D Life in a Bucket of Soil A World in a Drop of Water Pond Water Zoo The Usborne Complete Book of the Microscope Benny's Animals and How He Put Them in Order The Kingdoms of Life: Classification Living Sunlight (My kids love this book.) Insectigations Gardening Wizardry for Kids (love the relations to history in this book) DK Natural History (also Ocean, Animal, etc. My kids are lovers of coffee table books.) Creepy Crawlies and the Scientific Method There are too many more to list. You can get something at the library for a study of biomes/habitats and animals/adaptations, etc. The highlight of biology for my kids was making life-size cut-outs of their bodies and coloring/pasting their organs in (from My Body) as we learned about the body's systems. I'll scan my shelves and my memory later to see if I can think of more. ETA: We have not yet done dissections but I would not hesitate to do them with an interested child with a strong stomach. Kristina, this is an amazing list! And my library has most of them. :auto: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleIzumi Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 Also the MicroCosmos documentary, and the Ellen McHenry Brain and Cells curriculum, having a microscope on hand, and yes, we do dissections. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msk Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 We have not yet done dissections but I would not hesitate to do them with an interested child with a strong stomach. I agree! I took a dissection summer school class when I was 8 or 9 and still remember how much I loved it, and how fascinating it was! Dissections seem surprisingly unpopular on this board, but unless your family is vegetarian I don't see what all the fuss is about. I like the idea of getting them interested in these things while they're young, before they've bowed to social pressure to be grossed out by everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted July 24, 2012 Author Share Posted July 24, 2012 Ooh, so many good things! I think we might need a documentary day every week! Keep them coming! I think my hesitation about dissections (because we usually dive into experiments) is that I didn't do them really. I was an animal rights activist through most of high school and got out of all of them. I don't believe the same things that I did then now though, so there's no moral objection. Maybe we'll plow forward and just do a bunch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TriciaS Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 I think my hesitation about dissections (because we usually dive into experiments) is that I didn't do them really. I was an animal rights activist through most of high school and got out of all of them. I don't believe the same things that I did then now though, so there's no moral objection. Maybe we'll plow forward and just do a bunch. Do you know any medical people that could come over while you do it? I told my husband and my mother that they can handle the dissection stuff if/when I decide to try it (right now, 7 y/o gets pale and nauseous if the word "blood" is spoken out loud....we'll be waiting a couple years before we try cutting open any bodies, lol!). They're used to organs and all that. I'll just watch and learn with the kids! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Ooh, so many good things! I think we might need a documentary day every week! Keep them coming! I think my hesitation about dissections (because we usually dive into experiments) is that I didn't do them really. I was an animal rights activist through most of high school and got out of all of them. I don't believe the same things that I did then now though, so there's no moral objection. Maybe we'll plow forward and just do a bunch. The Brown Paper School book "Blood and Guts" has lots of activities, including dissections as well as models (like of the lungs), using regular sorts of body parts that you could find at a reasonably well stocked meat store/counter. So like, a sheep's eye or kidney instead of the sort you have to send away for. Somehow I find this less creepy than a fetal pig, which just seems so wrong. Also some of the experiments/models don't involve animal body parts but simulations, like a 2 L soda bottle or whatever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ApronMama Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Our local science museum does dissection classes--that's my solution! They offer cow eye and squid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incognito Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 If you want to test the waters with dissection, try an earthworm. Free and convenient for a fresh specimen. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted July 24, 2012 Author Share Posted July 24, 2012 The Brown Paper School book "Blood and Guts" has lots of activities, including dissections as well as models (like of the lungs), using regular sorts of body parts that you could find at a reasonably well stocked meat store/counter. So like, a sheep's eye or kidney instead of the sort you have to send away for. Somehow I find this less creepy than a fetal pig, which just seems so wrong. Also some of the experiments/models don't involve animal body parts but simulations, like a 2 L soda bottle or whatever. I have that on my wish list. Those Brown Paper School books are so good. I like the idea of dissections of things I can just get - worms, meat market leftovers... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ecclecticmum Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 I like WP, so I think their book lists are great for ideas (take a look at the Animal Worlds program) they also used to have a selection of books lined up, "Animal Defenses" and a few others available from someplace called something to do with "nature" and "Acorns". My brain is oh so broken tonight. :lol: Some WTM threads of Interest: Great Nature Printables! Ideas for Science without a Curriculum Printables: Enchanted Learning LearningPage.com Videos/Video Based: AHA! Science Adaptive Science The Happy Scientist Discovery Science Brainpop/Jr Magic School Bus Sid the Science Kid Bill Nye Extras/Others: Guesthollow's Stuff (she has all sorts of Biology/Life science extras) Homeschool Den (Old Site, but has all her unit studies - good for biology, scroll down, on left hand side will be the categories Creekside Learning - Has Biology/Life Science posts My Pinterest Enrichment folder has a number of Life Science Experiments/Ideas HTH a little :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 I have that on my wish list. Those Brown Paper School books are so good. I like the idea of dissections of things I can just get - worms, meat market leftovers... The vast majority of projects in the book don't involve animal body parts. I see activities using animal body parts for: * Skin - none * Bones - Chicken bones; soup bones * Teeth - tooth [smashing it with a hammer], activity given for egg in eggshell soaking in acid and soda * Muscles - small piece of raw steak or chicken (dissection), attached chicken drumstick + thigh [meat could easily still be cooked and eaten afterwards] * Heart - dissection of lamb heart * Lungs - none * Cells - none * Digestion - none * Kidneys - lambs' kidneys (with warning that it's very smelly and many kids won't want to do) * Eyes - sheep or cow eye * Ears - none * Balance - none * Brain/nervous system - beef brain * Reproductive system - none I love Brown Paper School books too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckens Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 1) Bug cups! We think these are the best ones, and I knew I had crossed a "line of no return" in homeschooling when I started buying them in bulk! When dd was 3, she ran screaming across the yard because of a spider. "Shall we put it in a bug cup???'' It immediately changed the dynamic of the spider situation. These are small enough that they are easy to throw into the back of the stroller whenever we go on a nature walk in case we find something interesting. 2) "A butterfly net and a pond net" is the recommendation of one of the naturalists at the local Nature Center. We have even used our butterfly net to catch a couple of orphaned goslings running through our yard. The pond net is cool for digging stuff out of the pond and looking at on the shore. 3) TV magnifier --This instrument plugs into your tv and makes it a "super magnifier." Things will not be as magnified as with a microscope, unless you are thinking of a dissecting microscope, but..... --this is a good solution for kids that are too young for a microscope --this tool is good for group exploration and discussion --it's so easy to do science when you send your kids and their cousins outside for 5 minutes and ask them to each bring in 3 items. Rocks, leaves, flowers, shells...anything they find is super to explore. Inside the house, look at orange peels, teddy bears, hair, and money. It's all so cool!!!! Our first tv magnifier was from Toys To Grow On. It was really easy to use, but didn't last as long as we needed it to. This is our second one: Eyeclops I'm still figuring it out, but I honestly haven't put the time into it. 4) Ant farms, Ladybug habitats, caterpillars that change into butterflies, and tadpoles that change into frogs are all animals we have had in our house. I would like to do them once a year, but we didn't do it last year (new baby in the house), and I haven't gotten to it yet this year. I don't want to order them and risk them in my superhot mailbox. I think this is the company I have ordered from before, but I can't really remember. There are several who will send you caterpillars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmmaNadine Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 ...a few others available from someplace called something to do with "nature" and "Acorns". My brain is oh so broken tonight. :lol: Acorn Naturalists. They have everything! I could spend years teaching biology if I could afford everything I wanted out of that catalog. Nature Watch is the other biology/naturalist catalog that I adore. They even sell some of their most popular classroom kits as singles for homeschoolers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lea1 Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Planning life science for next year for my boys, who will be 8 in the fall. What were your favorite things for life science? Books, movies, experiments, etc. I'm not really looking for a curriculum (I prefer to plan myself for science) but anything short of that... And did you do animal dissections for elementary? If so, what? I'm a bit on the fence about it, but my boys saw all the dissection possibilities in the Home Science Tools catalog and are now over the moon with the idea. One of my ds actually says at unexpected moments, "Sheep brain!" I'm not sure if this is a sign he'll be a crazy person or a biologist when he grows up. :tongue_smilie: I spent some time enjoying your blog yesterday (while I'm sick with a cold) and was very impressed with how you teach science. Do you use a particular spine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted July 24, 2012 Author Share Posted July 24, 2012 I spent some time enjoying your blog yesterday (while I'm sick with a cold) and was very impressed with how you teach science. Do you use a particular spine? Thanks, Lea. I kind of lost my momentum with posting for it this year. :blush: But the old posts are all there. We had been using the Usborne Encyclopedia, but mostly as a sort of outline. That worked really well for physics - there were a few topics that clearly needed to be skipped (I didn't do more than mention the existence of nuclear power, for example) but mostly it worked. For chemistry and earth science, it was less clear, but it still gave me a basic guide. Beyond that, I'm mostly winging it along with my friend, who is the parent of the other kids who occasionally pop up in our science pictures on my blog. Thanks for the continued suggestions, everyone. I saw you mention that Acorn Naturalists catalog before, Emma. Anything especially awesome in it? We already have a nice microscope, by the way, but any microscope accessories anyone? All I have now is a few blank slides for us to use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Embassy Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 (edited) David Attenborough series Youtube Zoo Microscope with Kids Microscope Slide Set at Home Science Tools Exploring the Oceans series Projects like a worm bin, raising slugs, growing food, brain string art, biomes video, mammal classification book, edible skin model, dna extraction, bacteria in petri dishes I put my own stuff together for biology and I've posted our studies with resources online. Maybe there will be additional resources that may help you plan. Here are the ones I currently have posted: Food Chains, Biomes, and Ecology Botany (we are doing this one right now) Human Body Invertebrates: Sponges, Mollusks, and I'm almost done with the insects part, but I haven't posted it yet. There are TOO MANY insects in this world! Oceans Mammals Edited July 24, 2012 by Wehomeschool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmmaNadine Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 I highly recommend the catalog, just because one of the wonderful things about it is the huge number of wonderful books they review. The catalog is about 200 pages, but it's pretty, not like some other enormous homeschool catalogs. Some specifics: Animal discovery kits, including some designed specifically for those in urban areas. I have a weakness for mobiles. Hit the Habitat game. Lots of ideas for combining science and art. LaMotte test kits for hands on research. Appropriate birdhouses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleIzumi Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Oh! There's a PBS series called, "Inside Nature's Giants" where they dissect, well, nature's giants! Things like a beached sperm whale, where they can't save the animal so when it dies, it is used for science. Dd LOVED it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted July 25, 2012 Author Share Posted July 25, 2012 I highly recommend the catalog, just because one of the wonderful things about it is the huge number of wonderful books they review. The catalog is about 200 pages, but it's pretty, not like some other enormous homeschool catalogs. :D Oh! There's a PBS series called, "Inside Nature's Giants" where they dissect, well, nature's giants! Things like a beached sperm whale, where they can't save the animal so when it dies, it is used for science. Dd LOVED it. Ooh, that looks neat. There are really so many documentaries. I think we could drown in them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tammyw Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Wow, great lists! I'm definitely using lots of these. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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