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Science living books?


DragonFaerie
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Living books are books that warm the imagination, as Charlotte Mason said. They draw you in, they are engaging, well written, and usually timeless. Whether the book was written in 2012 or 1812, a living book nourishes the mind with fruitful ideas. Living books also do not talk down to readers, whether children or adults.

 

Looking at books through these criteria, we can choose our own living books according to our family situation, interests, etc.

 

You can start with the first item in the list below and work from there. As for everything else, I started with Tanglewood Education.com's reading list, so it will always be fond to me.

 

http://www.pennygardner.com/charlotte_mason_links.html

http://www.tanglewoodeducation.com/bkslit.htm

 

Living science books:

 

http://www.pennygardner.com/sciencebks.html

http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/sciencebooks.htm

 

 

There are also books about choosing good books.

 

Honey For A Child's Heart

Books Children Love (my favorite)

The Read Aloud Handbook

 

Familiarize yourself with these and you will start to spot living books everywhere - including for you :)

 

Good luck.

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I can't speak to whether all of these would be appropriate for a 4th - 6th grader, but my dh & I have really enjoyed several titles on this list by nmoira. (We rave about "The Disappearing Spoon" by Sam Kean and also enjoyed "Calendar : humanity's epic struggle to determine a true and accurate year" by David Ewing Duncan.)

 

"Living books" bring things (history, science) alive and they can make a subject very interesting while still imparting facts.

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I always considered "real books" to mean books about a subject rather than a text book about a subject.

 

So...want to learn about oceans, kids? Let's check out a bunch of books from the library and read about oceans. To "show you know," we can do lap books, or write a summary, you can narrate, draw a picture, etc.

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Yeah, I don't guess I'm getting this. The books on these lists either don't sound like very interesting reading (The American Heritage Student Science Dictionary? No thanks.) or they are books of experiments like the Janice Van Cleave books, or they are very topic-specific (snowflakes or the ant or Einstein).

 

Did you check out my link to nmoira's list? Because they sound interesting (The Case of the Missing Cutthroats, There's an Owl in the Shower, Why Fish Fart and Other Useless (Or Gross) Information About the World), there aren't a ton of experiment books -- although there are some (How to Fossilize Your Hamster: And Other Amazing Experiments for the Armchair Scientist or How To Build a Rocket (How To)), but I have to disagree about your last point.

 

Of course some living books are going to be topic-specific. Just like historicaly fiction is sometimes extremely topic-specific, so are some living books with science topics. What's wrong with that?

 

For example: The Chemist Who Lost His Head: The Story of Antoine Laurent Lavoisier. Just because it is a biography of a French chemist from the Middle Ages doesn't mean it might not be interesting to your kid(s) and be a good introduction to chemistry.

 

Or The Hive Detectives: Chronicle of a Honey Bee Catastrophe (Scientists in the Field Series) could lead to ecological discussions or a discussion with your kid proposing how HE might go about finding out why the bees are disappearing (colony collapse disorder).

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Yeah, I don't guess I'm getting this. The books on these lists either don't sound like very interesting reading (The American Heritage Student Science Dictionary? No thanks.) or they are books of experiments like the Janice Van Cleave books, or they are very topic-specific (snowflakes or the ant or Einstein).

 

Each person has their definition of living books, this is why you see multiple links. People are clamoring for living books lists, many families are wondering all the time, "What do I use for reference, a science dictionary?" etc.

 

Having read Charlotte Mason's books and familiarizing myself with living book lists, I am confident enough to check these lists for myself and choosing from these lists (and others).

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I do appreciate all the information and I'm going to explore all of these links further. My problem may just be that I don't like science and putting together a science curriculum of any sort may be well beyond my capabilities.

 

:grouphug: You will find your way. You can choose from among the books that engage you and/or your children. The ones that speak to you. That's all that matters :)

 

For science in early elementary I love the Let's Read and Find Out series, and for late elementary we enjoy reading Alvin and Virginia Silverstein science titles.

Edited by sagira
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I have a bunch of links to lists on my blog.

 

We use what I would consider living books for science. For example, right now we're using The World in a Drop of Water as a guide. We added in a biography of van Leeuwenhoek. Next up I think we'll work on fossils, reading about Mary Anning, etc.

 

Also, with my ds, we're reading about various scientists using this book.

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I have a bunch of links to lists on my blog.

 

We use what I would consider living books for science. For example, right now we're using The World in a Drop of Water as a guide. We added in a biography of van Leeuwenhoek. Next up I think we'll work on fossils, reading about Mary Anning, etc.

 

Also, with my ds, we're reading about various scientists using this book.

 

Cannot wait to pick around your blog! Your philosophy sounds a lot like mine :)

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My problem may just be that I don't like science and putting together a science curriculum of any sort may be well beyond my capabilities.

 

We really enjoy Sonlight Science through 6th grade for just this reason!

 

A couple of years ago I wrote:

This has been our best year of science ever! (In the past we've done BJU Science 2, Rod and Staff Science 2 & 3, Apologia Astronomy, and NOEO Chemistry.)

 

The books chosen are very interesting. The questions to answer are thought provoking. The science experiments with the DVD are wonderful. Seriously, my boys watch and re-watch the DVDs any time I give them a chance, LOL!

 

I recommend getting the basic supply science kit along with the grade specific supply kit.

 

Even if you don't buy the whole shebang, I recommend checking out the book lists for levels D-G. It might give you a good place to start.

Edited by Heather in WI
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The All About Series. There are atleast 32 books like All ABout Weather, All About Insects, All About Biology, etc. :)

 

Here is a link to one of them http://www.amazon.com/About-Insect-World-Allabout-Books/dp/B0007E1DUK/ref=sr_1_46?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347886989&sr=1-46&keywords=all+about+insects

 

They were written in the 1950's and alot of the information is still revelant. Also, they are easy to spot at Thrift Stores, Used Books for cheap. I found 10 books over the weekend at an Antique Mall for $2-3.00 a piece. I just read some of the "All About Electricity" this weekend and thought what a great book that explains the concepts so well and chronologically.

 

All About Electricity -- http://www.amazon.com/Electricity-Illustrated-Evelyn-Urbanowich-Freeman/dp/B000OGFEAG/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347887300&sr=1-4&keywords=all+about+electricity

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I want to comment on the complaint that many "living books" - for me this would usually mean an engaging narrative - are topic-specific.

 

Yes. This is true, but there is a (very good) reason for it.

 

Scientists tend to specialize in a very narrow field. A biologist, for example, may know more than anyone else in the world about a specific ant species, but nothing at all about frogs. And so on. And when or if he decides to write a book about science, he will write a passionate, interesting, humorous accounting of the life of ants. If he had to write on frogs, he might get the facts across, but not the passion for the subject.

 

Teaching All Of Science is impossible. There will always be holes. But sparking a kid's interest with real-life naturalist stories is a FANTASTIC way to light the science fire.

 

I was, in a previous life, a scientist- a physicist to be exact. But recently on a whim, I picked up the book The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms. And wow! Earthworms are FASCINATING!!!

 

If you want to cover the basics in science, I love the Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding (we're in the first volume, but all three look great). We are doing this series, and using Let's Read and Find Out books to supplement. Then I count nature study as a separate thing, and use "living books" to inspire a passion for the subject. Obviously my kids are young yet, but I know that *I* would have loved to do science this way.

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I want to comment on the complaint that many "living books" - for me this would usually mean an engaging narrative - are topic-specific.

 

Yes. This is true, but there is a (very good) reason for it.

 

Scientists tend to specialize in a very narrow field. A biologist, for example, may know more than anyone else in the world about a specific ant species, but nothing at all about frogs. And so on. And when or if he decides to write a book about science, he will write a passionate, interesting, humorous accounting of the life of ants. If he had to write on frogs, he might get the facts across, but not the passion for the subject.

 

Teaching All Of Science is impossible. There will always be holes. But sparking a kid's interest with real-life naturalist stories is a FANTASTIC way to light the science fire.

 

I was, in a previous life, a scientist- a physicist to be exact. But recently on a whim, I picked up the book The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms. And wow! Earthworms are FASCINATING!!!

 

If you want to cover the basics in science, I love the Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding (we're in the first volume, but all three look great). We are doing this series, and using Let's Read and Find Out books to supplement. Then I count nature study as a separate thing, and use "living books" to inspire a passion for the subject. Obviously my kids are young yet, but I know that *I* would have loved to do science this way.

 

:iagree: with everything that she said. I wanted to add that one cannot be passionate about everything, and a scientist who is fascinated with, say, volcanoes, will be conveying that enthusiasm to his readers. But forced to write a book on ALL of science, only the part on volcanoes and geology would likely have some redeeming value. This is why the book The Natural History of Orca Whales was a fascinating read to me when I wanted to know more about these cetaceans. Now my ds9 is reading The Shark Lady by Ann McGovern. The latter book has inspired people to go into marine biology, from the reviews. So far he greatly enjoys it.

 

For all science, a guide is ideal. A training in habits of thinking like a scientist. And for that you can't beat BFSU. I love it and we are in our fourth year of using this curriculum. It complements living books wonderfully. In fact, living books complement BFSU perfectly.

 

This approach is not open and go. It takes work and planning. That said, I enjoy doing it, and the customization you achieve with your child is wonderful. I'm starting BFSU K-2 anew with my second child, my dd, and it's different through her eyes, questions, observations, style. With ds everything was physical, large, running around the house organizing boxes for the first lesson on categorization. With dd, it was neat and quiet, sorting buttons. For her, that brought the lesson home. The buttons would have been scattered all over the floor with ds at that age :tongue_smilie: :D

 

She's interested in animals, as ds was, but her approach is different. Whereas ds wanted to know about all kinds of animals and be able to name them, dd wants to know what they eat, how to take care of them. She loves drawing, too.

 

In short, this inspiring book about sharks ds is reading may reach dd in another way when it's her turn. At the least it will spark an interest in science. At the most it will inspire a career in science. There is a whole range in between. I believe with BFSU, inquiry, and living books, you have an unbeatable combination for the homeschooling teacher who likes to have control over her own lessons and materials, while still following the interests of the child.

Edited by sagira
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