Calling all planning buffs for history and science...

[julikins]

If any of you nice people have seen my threads lately on science and history, I think I've come to some sort of decision. For background, we live overseas and are only planning on coming to the States in December 2013. So I've been trying to figure out what to do for History and Science for the semester before we leave (we are doing Creation to Greeks MFW this year). And with all this planning, I needed to fit it into the long-term plans. These are for dd6th and ds3rd.

 

I had a heart-to-heart with my husband and he encouraged me to see what I already have here and see if I can use it for that semester. I was actually surprised as I looked through my files and shelves to find that I have quite a bit for studying Rome and quite a few science books we could go through.

 

That's helped me decide that I will do Rome for the semester we're here, then take our time in the States to enjoy being there, i.e. field trips, libraries, national parks, museums, etc.

 

History Studies: Roman Empire

Augustus Ceasar's World

Usborne Internet-Linked Enc. of Roman World

Going to War in Roman Times

Abeka Old World History and Geography 5th grade

City by David Macaulay

Detectives in Togas

Pearl Maiden

Cleopatra by Dianne Stanley

The Bronze Bow

Vinegar Boy

The Very First Easter

Matthew's Story

 

The questions I have: Is it enough? How would I arrange these to maximize our time together? I'm thinking this would take about 12 weeks, or is that too long? Is there something else I should buy to round this out? How would YOU do this?

 

For Science:

 

My children have been asking to study geology, meteorology, microscope stuff, and human anatomy.

 

I have:

The Usborne Science Encyclopedia

The Usborn Children's Encyclopedia

A World Encyclopedia

The Book of Knowledge

The Complete Book of the Microscope

The Complete Book of Earth and Space

Science Crafts for Kids

Eyewitness Book of Rocks and Minerals

The Bones and Skeletons Game Book

Uncover the Human Body

and quite a few other miscellaneous titles about Oceans, Birds, Animals, Nature Experiments and Crafts.

 

What would you do with this? Choose a topic and give the kids the books I have, make them outline or make a notebook, research in World book or internet, choose an experiment or two per week? I'm willing to try to do this, but am overwhelmed just looking at it.

 

Thanks in advance to any who can give me your opinion...

[julikins]

Anyone have any suggestions on how to figure out how to schedule these?

[Incognito]

I can bump you. Looks like a lot of interesting books.

[lewelma]

For Science:

 

My children have been asking to study geology, meteorology, microscope stuff, and human anatomy.

 

I have:

The Usborne Science Encyclopedia

The Usborn Children's Encyclopedia

A World Encyclopedia

The Book of Knowledge

The Complete Book of the Microscope

The Complete Book of Earth and Space

Science Crafts for Kids

Eyewitness Book of Rocks and Minerals

The Bones and Skeletons Game Book

Uncover the Human Body

and quite a few other miscellaneous titles about Oceans, Birds, Animals, Nature Experiments and Crafts.

 

What would you do with this? Choose a topic and give the kids the books I have, make them outline or make a notebook, research in World book or internet, choose an experiment or two per week? I'm willing to try to do this, but am overwhelmed just looking at it.

 

Thanks in advance to any who can give me your opinion...

 

I cannot help with history, but can give you some suggestions for science.

 

In order to make a tailored plan, I need you to answer a few questions:

 

1) Do you plan for your 6th and 3rd graders to do science together?

2) How much time do you have to work with them on science given that you have a newborn?

3) How much science do you know? This is from the point of using the encyclopedias. They often need some augmentation/discussion for young children to really draw much from them.

4) Do you have access to the internet regularly?

5) Do your kids like to do hands on? Do you? Are they able to learn from books without hands on?

6) Can you do any hands on work outside? Do you like to? What resources do you have like parks and ponds?

7) Do you want them to work on any other skills while learning science? Like reading skills, research skills, writing skills, outlining skills, or presentation skills?

8) How much time do they have to do science each day or each week? You said this was for a term, are you talking 4 months?

9) What are your goals? general knowledge on the topics listed? or will you use the books as a jumping off point for in-depth knowledge?

10) you said that it needs to lead into your long term plans. What are your long term plans? Are you talking middle school?

11) Do you have a microscope? slides? cover slips? prepared slides?

12) You did not mention astronomy as a topic, but you have an space book. Do you want to do astronomy?

13) What time of year are you doing this work? I am thinking about the darkest months for astronomy.

14) Can you buy anything extra? I'm thinking about a meteorology book if you want to study meteorology.

15) Do you need output for your own uses or for the state?

16) What previous science have your children done?

17) Do your children like science? Do they like reading books about science?

 

I'm sure I will think of others,

 

Ruth in NZ

Edited November 10, 2012 by lewelma

[Penguin]

We also live overseas. I have to work with the books that I purchase (minimal English books in the library) and tracking down supplies for science experiments is a major pain.

 

We like to do science and history every day, but I balance out the activity. One bookish, one not. If the day's science consisted of taking notes from a textbook, then history might be drawing a map from Mapping the World with Art or something from a Time Travelers CD. If DS worked on summarizing the history text, then science might be time spent with the microscope or some nature study.

 

As for more involved science experiments, we do them when I can finally round up the stuff. I decided to give up caring whether or not the experiment lined up with what we are studying, and now I just call it the spiral method :tongue_smilie:

[Amy M]

Bumping with another thought on science:

I know you're not doing MFW, but it might work to sort of do what they do for that year; they study the human body for the 1st 20 weeks, then astronomy (to go along w/ when you hit Galileo, for example). You have some books on the body. What if you did a 12-18 week study on the body? Here's a link to some e-books you could get from Evan Moor to beef it up a bit...

http://www.evan-moor.com/Search/Default.aspx?Search=body

 

I just did a search for body, and came up with that; look at pages 1-3. You could get one for your older girl, and one for your younger son maybe. Just brainstorming. HTH :001_smile:

[Another Lynn]

History Studies: Roman Empire

Augustus Ceasar's World

Usborne Internet-Linked Enc. of Roman World

Going to War in Roman Times

Abeka Old World History and Geography 5th grade

City by David Macaulay

Detectives in Togas

Pearl Maiden

Cleopatra by Dianne Stanley

The Bronze Bow

Vinegar Boy

The Very First Easter

Matthew's Story

 

 

Thanks in advance to any who can give me your opinion...

 

Augustus Ceasar's World

Usborne Internet-Linked Enc. of Roman World

Abeka Old World History and Geography 5th grade

 

These three strike me as potential spines.... I would approach it this way....

 

Do I want to pick one to be a "read aloud" spine and assign the others as "readers?" For example would you want to read aloud Augustus Caesar's World to both, assign the Usborne book to the 2nd grader to read alone, and asign the Abeka book to the 5th grader to read alone? Or change this around. I haven't used any of these three before though I've used the Usborne Ancient book which I'm sure is similar. I would pre-read the Augustus Caesar book (I generally read warnings on that one for parents to pre-read anyway) and the Abeka book and decide how I want to use them..... whether my 2nd grader would get anything for either one read aloud and whether my 5th grader could hand reading either one alone. (Does that make any sense?)

 

Going to War in Roman Times

City by David Macaulay

Detectives in Togas

Pearl Maiden

Cleopatra by Dianne Stanley

The Bronze Bow

Vinegar Boy

The Very First Easter

Matthew's Story

 

These books could be used along side the other three. Some could be read alouds (your 2nd grader would possibly enjoy the City book and the Cleopatra book) and some could be assigned to the 5th grader as books he reads alone.

 

Also, think about what you will have your 2nd grader doing for reading. Some folks have 2nd graders who can pick up most any book and read it without problem. We were(are) always still working on reading skills in 2nd grade here, so most content subjects got done in the form of read alouds.

 

I'm sorry I wasn't more specific, but that's probably how I would approach it.

[Mommyfaithe]

Do you have the WTM?? Really, the method works with any books...

 

Read and outline or narrate your spine book

Read some more on one or 2 topics

Write a narration ( you can write down an oral narration from your younger child)

Color a map ( easy to find and print outline maps online)

Color a color page or draw a picture ( lots of coloring pages online)

 

For history you can do a project, craft, lapbook, notebook page or any other enrichment activity you find that looks fun....FUN being the important term here!

 

For science

Read your spine encyclopedia

Write out the Vocab words ( they are in bold usually:D)

do an experiment or 2 or 3 on your topic....write up a small lab report.

Do some extra reading or find an online game to back up what they learned if you like.

They can write a summary if you want them to....or make a poster....or not.

 

Seems like you have some good spine books.....I would just pick one on each child's level...and go from there.

 

Faithe

[julikins]

I just spent all day, with interruptions, answering all your questions Lewelma and I just lost it all. I don't have time today or tomorrow now to answer, but please don't give up on me.

[lewelma]

I just spent all day, with interruptions, answering all your questions Lewelma and I just lost it all. I don't have time today or tomorrow now to answer, but please don't give up on me.

 

:tongue_smilie: Well, at least you have done all the thinking. :001_smile:

[julikins]

Thanks to all the sweet ladies that have answered. I appreciate you putting the WTM method in writing for me, Faithe. I'm intrigued now by the Evan Moore Daily Science. Maybe while in the States, or usable for my youngest? I'm thinking about all the possibilities...that's where things get dangerous, though .

Something I’d like to point out is the timeline of events I’m struggling with. We will be finishing the material I have a plan for (2nd/5th) in June. What I need help with is while we’re in Brazil from August to November 2013. Then we travel to the States December 2013 to September 2014. I’m planning on taking those months lightly, library trips, nature walks, some weather observations, or maybe more project based. We return to Brazil then for DD’s 7th grade in Sept. 2014. If anything is unclear, it’s because it’s late. Please feel free to ask anything else. Thanks for all of this.

[julikins]

Here we go, Ruth, I’m going to try again. I’ve cooled off a bit after losing everything I already wrote out, but I figured I better do it now while it’s fresh on mind. The next few days are so busy I’m afraid I’ll forget.

 

I'm having to split this because it's too long.

 

 

1) Do you plan for your 6th and 3rd graders to do science together? I think it would be a good idea for the next year while we’re dealing with traveling. Once dd starts Junior High they'll probably need to split off. Though I love the look of McHenry's book The Elements and History of Science which I think they could do together, but where to fit it in and does it fit the needs my daughter has for future courses.

2) How much time do you have to work with them on science given that you have a newborn? My baby is now 7 months. My time I can devote to really teaching is limited to her naps because she’s starting to crawl and get into everything and will be walking soon. So morning nap (about 1 ½ hours) is what I have set aside for direct instruction from me for History and Science 5 times per week. I would like to do it 4 times but we usually have some work we need to make up on Fridays.

3) How much science do you know? This is from the point of using the encyclopedias. They often need some augmentation/discussion for young children to really draw much from them. Honestly, not a ton. I went to a Missionary Kid school that didn’t have a ton of supplies. I loved Biology and did well in it, but didn’t do well in Chemistry due to lack of supplies and poor math skills. That’s all I took in highschool. I don’t want my kids to have that same experience so am working to give them a good math base (MUS for dd5th—she does really well with it) and I’m willing to put forth effort and learn along with them.

4) Do you have access to the internet regularly? Regularly, yes, but very slow. Like it takes a long time (an hour) to download a video from You tube.

5) Do your kids like to do hands on? Do you? Are they able to learn from books without hands on? Yes, they love it. That’s mostly what we’ve done for science: DVD’s or reading then an experiment. This year we’re doing Genesis for Kids with lots of experiments, but it’s really light. Both of the children do read from science info books themselves and enjoy what they learn, but if I talk too much their eyes glaze over.

6) Can you do any hands on work outside? Do you like to? What resources do you have like parks and ponds? I don’t mind doing work outside a little, but we basically live in a desert—it’s extremely hot, so we would have to do it early in the morning or after 4pm. There are parks and ponds up the mountain about an hour away. We've got lots of sand nad dirt around here. We have a river that fills up (quite large) during the rainy season from January to about April and dries up by July. But we have to be careful with snakes around the river and in the desert, so everywhere.

7) Do you want them to work on any other skills while learning science? Like reading skills, research skills, writing skills, outlining skills, or presentation skills? Absolutely! Their reading is pretty strong now and their comprehension is improving. They don’t have developed research skills or presentation skills. We’re working on writing with a curriculum, but they don’t get much practice outside of language arts, where my daughter is learning outlining this semester.

8) How much time do they have to do science each day or each week? You said this was for a term, are you talking 4 months? If I have to be directly involved with everything they do for science, then I think we only have 2 days a week available for science. But if they could do some of their work independently, then I would love for them to do science 4-5 times per week. (And they'd enjoy it too). I need help planning the semester (August-November) before we go to the States mostly. That’s the resources I have listed now. But then I’m not sure what to do while we’re in the States either.

9) What are your goals? general knowledge on the topics listed? or will you use the books as a jumping off point for in-depth knowledge?Do I have time for my daughter to go in-depth in topics, right now? Is it better for her to have a general knowledge of many things, or an in-depth knowledge of only a few things at this point? See 10 for the rest of the answer to the question.

10) you said that it needs to lead into your long term plans. What are your long term plans? Are you talking middle school? I’m going to answer this more from the perspective of what my oldest, dd5th, needs. She would love to go into the zoology field. And she loves science, anything we’ve studied so far, but especially about animals and biology. So, working backwards, I believe she’ll be using a curriculum provider’s science textbook/series like Apologia or BJU Science that will give her a good base for College science, probably a Biology major. Of course, this is subject to change, but I'm not sure it will. There could be other good ones out highschool courses out there that I’m not familiar with. So to prepare for highschool, I’ve looked at Rainbow and Apologia Physical Science. The cost of both years of Rainbow is pretty high, over $400, but it comes with everything we need. If we did Rainbow, I would probably try to do it in one year. I think it would be too advanced for my son (then in 4th) to do alongside, but I could save it for him for jr. high. I think Apologia’s Physical Science sounds pretty interesting and would help her get used to learning from a textbook, so maybe use that in 8th. The big blank space then is next year, 6th grade, and 7th grade. My son is 3 years behind her and I can have more of a plan for him.

11) Do you have a microscope? slides? cover slips? prepared slides? Yes, we have a nice used microscope that has everything to go with it. Some prepared slides and empty slides, and cover slips. We don’t have the glue to glue them on, though. My husband wasn’t sure what kind we would need. But we can go after supplies in the main city. (I used a microscope maybe once in highschool, so my husband is willing to help out with this for us, once per week. He even thought about doing it this year using the book we have to help add some science to this year's curriculum.)

12) You did not mention astronomy as a topic, but you have a space book. Do you want to do astronomy? The only reason I didn’t mention astronomy is because if I were to use MFW’s RtR, it would be scheduled for the semester after we return from the States. But I’m not sure I’m going to use MFW and so I’m not tied to their schedule. The more I think about it, the more interesting it would be, especially having the experience of being in both hemispheres.

13) What time of year are you doing this work? I am thinking about the darkest months for astronomy. If we did it before leaving Brazil it would be August –November in the Southern Hemisphere or January – June in the Northern Hemisphere. We wouldn't be returning to Brazil until September though. I do have some star charts and some constellation cards, I just remembered that.

[julikins]

Ruth's questions answered: Part 2

 

14) Can you buy anything extra? I'm thinking about a meteorology book if you want to study meteorology. I will need to have some math and LA books brought down, so I could probably include very few other books for history and science. But I'm hoping to buy a Kindle, then I would be able to download e-books, or download things to the computer to print.

15) Do you need output for your own uses or for the state? Technically, no. But we do try to keep a portfolio of sorts because homeschooling is not legal in Brazil. Since we aren’t Brazilian citizens we aren’t held to that rule, but we could have people that don’t know that give us trouble at any time. So we keep a good variety of things around to show the kids progress and we do yearly testing as well.

16) What previous science have your children done? It’s been quite a hodge-podge. My oldest did Sonlight K science for Kindergarten. In 1st and 2nd she did Discover and Do DVD’s along with Usborne Science books like Starting Point Science, Flip-Flap Body book, Book of Knowledge and First book of Nature. My son has done the DVD’s and Usborne books too. In 3rd grade, DD did Switched on School House Science 3 which covered human body, volcanoes and other stuff, I don’t remember, but nothing was covered in-depth. She’s done an Abeka Health book and care of Girls book. In 4th grade we did MFW’s ECC which used the Living World Encyclopedia and Properties of Ecosystems. We weren’t great at getting science done with those, so I added in writing a few sentences from readings from The World of Animals and another Discover and Do Dvd with experiments a couple times per week. I hope to be able to have a better plan for my son. This year we're doing Genesis for Kids and Pyramids along with an Archimedes book.

17) Do your children like science? Do they like reading books about science? Yes, they love science and science experiments. They are excited about. They do pick science books from the book basket, more my son than my daughter, though. She’s always been much more hands-on and auditory learning though. She listened to the School House Rock DVD 3 times and had several of the songs memorized word for word. And she memorizes movies, accurately. He loves to read Magic School Bus as well.

The more I think about the topics, etc. I wonder if it wouldn’t be nice to do Earth and Space. I could do Human Anatomy (like a small unit—4 to 6 weeks or something) using the books I have. Then jump into Earth and Space while we’re still here (my son has a huge rock collection with some good granites, crystals, marbles, sulfur looking rocks, fools gold, blue stuff, lead, iron, etc. here in Brazil). Then we could continue some of it, like meteorology while in the States (study the differences of the lay of the land, climate, weather etc. from the tropics to the winter weather in the Midwest of the U.S.). We could spend a week at the beach here and take the oceanography book. Then while in the States and traveling along the coast we can stop at beaches all along the way from Florida to Maine and chart the differences. We could start Astronomy in the States and then conclude it in Brazil, again noting the differences between the hemispheres. It would be 3 semesters worth. But then the kids could go really in-depth in it. Or am I going the wrong direction with this? My kids haven’t studied much at all about chemistry or physics, though. Maybe that would be too much time on one subject when there is so much else they haven’t been exposed to? Questions and ideas abound…:tongue_smilie:

[lewelma]

Thanks for answering all my questions. Unfortunately, my 103 year old grandmother just died and I am off to NC for the funeral. I'll bring your notes to give me something to think about on the 30-hour plane flight. ;) And will get back to you in 10+ days. :tongue_smilie:

 

Ruth in NZ

[ELITEANDLOVINGIT]

Honestly I would outline a few questions from a "feature" book, hand them both a sketchbook, let the them take turns reading the "feature" to each other then let them find the main idea, key point, thought or idea that has come to them as a result of their reading and draw a picture, plus add a sentence or quote from the reading that inspired their drawing. The questions are so you can check for comprehension / memory later (perhaps while stirring up dinner?)

 

We were doing this with Story of Science then switched to the student quest. Now we are getting so involved with our unit study in Chemistry that I am switching back to the drawings for Story of Science next week...I actually believe my daughter was retaining more this way anyhow.

 

Given you don't have access to experiments, you might direct them to interactive websites, or perhaps download a web quest unit study from Intellego? They are cheap and while there are experiments, you can absolutely skip them.

[julikins]

Thanks Kerryfrank for your suggestions. Ruth, I'm sorry for your loss. 103 years is amazing though. May the Lord grant you peace thoughout this time with family in NC.

[lewelma]

Well, I've been thinking while packing. :001_smile:

 

When designing a middle school science program (grades 6 though 8), I try to make sure that all the different topics within science are covered, so that the content in high school science is not completely new. So to inform 6th and 7th grade, I went and looked at the scope and sequence of both apologia and the rainbow (my husband thought I was nuts). I do think that apologia is harder, and the experiments really do use household supplies. Both are very readable, but apologia is definitely written for the student to work through independently, which would be good experience to prepare for High School. So personally, I would choose Apologia if it was between these 2 curricula.

 

If you use Apologia, you don't want to overlap topics in 6th and 7th. Apologia Physical Science covers: some chemistry, more physics, and half of the typical earth science topics (including weather, plate tectonics, and earthquakes/volcanoes but not geology, or oceanography), and a light astronomy unit. What it does not include is any biology. Given that she is interested in Biology, she definitely needs some time with the harder concepts in Middle school, specifically Biochemistry and Genetics. Not heavy, but I would not make her first exposure to these topics under the pressure of high school. JMHO. I used The Way Life Works, which covers DNA, transcription, translation, mitosis, meiosis, etc. with cartoons. It is fun and approachable, but it does have some evolutionary content in the last few chapters. I also used Cartoon Guide to Genetics, which my ds loved. These books are difficult, so I would definitely recommend them for late 7th grade. If you think these topics are going to be too difficult, I would recommend some other biology topics like ecology or botany etc. But something that gets into some meat, not just fluffy animals.

 

To ease the transition to a textbook in 8th, I would introduce physics in 6th hand 7th using the videos -- The Way Things Work. And I would use The Elements for Chemistry because it is just wonderful, cheap, can be used with both your kids, and covers chemistry topics that are not covered in Apologia PS.

 

So in 6th and 7th, I would choose the following topics given what resources you have and your travelling plans:

6th grade, August - December: Astronomy, Geology, Human Biology, and microscope work

6th grade, December - August: Oceanography, Meteorology, more Astronomy

7th grade, August - December: Periodic Table Trends (using The Elements)

7th grade, December - August: Biochemistry and Genetics and Cell Biology

8th Apologia Physical Science

 

Astronomy I would put in the darkest months of both hemispheres which is why I have it put in 2 different semesters. Otherwise you are going to be up quite late at night!

 

If all this sounds good, I will start thinking up a more detailed plan. If you want to use The Rainbow, I would probably choose slightly different topics as its scope and sequence is different than apologia. So really look at the two programs and decide.

 

Ruth in NZ

Edited November 13, 2012 by lewelma

[julikins]

Ruth, My husband and I think you're amazing. Thanks for taking the time and mental energy to do this while packing and doing everything else.

 

I do like how you broke down the topics. Part of my issue is that I'm not even sure what "Physical Science" usually entails, to know what would be covered, or to know what is missing. So it helps so much that you have this experience to pull from. What an encouragement you have been!

 

Concerning the resource, I've been leaning more toward Apologia than Rainbow because the price was prohibitive.

 

I will wait patiently (:001_smile:) for your trip and your thoughts. Please take care of yourself and your family through this time and we'll get together about this when you come back.

[julikins]

Lewelma, Have you returned from North Carolina? I hope you are well and recovering from your trip. Just thought I'd bring this thread back up and see. Thanks for all who have shared ideas. I'm putting some stuff together for history...but science is another beast.

[lewelma]

I got back yesterday. I actually had a very nice time.

 

I got on the board yesterday to see the new format, and added the silver fern :001_smile: . I really hated the shadow man! Then I went looking for your post but could not find any advanced features for searching, so I am glad you brought your thread back to the top. I will reread it today and give it some thought.

 

Ruth in NZ

[julikins]

Sounds good, Ruth. I'm glad you were able to have a nice time in the U.S. Time to recover from traveling! I know all about that with living overseas most of my life. Take your time, kay. Talk with you soon. By the way, your silver fern is very nice :)

[lewelma]

Well, it took me some thinking, and rethinking, but I have something for you to chew on. Here are some overview thoughts. They may not make sense until you read through the plan and then reread these notes.

 

First of all, I worked on the assumption that your kids love science and would be happy to work on it for 1 to 1.5 hours per day but that you were only available for 2 of those days. Please note that you can easily switch it to 4 days or just 1 hour for 5 days or whatever. Just reduce the amount of time spent on their projects and give them 3 weeks instead of 2 for each one. simple. You also said your kids like reading and hands on, but don't like much for you to read to them. And that you would definitely like them to work on skill areas rather than just read about scientific topics. This information completely informed the way I designed the program. So if any of them are not accurate 8 months from now when you start, you will need to adjust the plan.

 

I am working under the assumption that you will be using Apologia Physical Science for 8^th, but really any physical science program would be fine, there just might be a bit of overlap with what I have laid out for 6^th and 7^th. I also am focusing on your older child, because it is really more important to get it right as she approaches high school, so since they will be working together, please please please adapt it for your younger so that he is not overwhelmed. I have included quite a lot of output and much variety. If you find that your kids would prefer to do more reading and less output, then simply adjust the schedule for what is appropriate for them. My kids hate output for science, so I just let them read read read. To each his own. Just don't feel obligated to make them put pen to paper if they really hate it.

 

In answer to one of your questions, I would only do 1 year of earth science because there is quite a large unit of Earth Science in Apologia Physical Science, so you don't want to overdo it. So 6^th grade would be earth science and 7^th grade would be chemistry and biology. This combination will allow you to work with the resources at hand and with your travelling schedule, but also make sure that they cover all the different areas of science before she hits high school. Both kids can work together until the biology unit in the 2^nd half of 7^th and then you will need to pick different materials for your son because the biology topics will be too difficult.

 

Personally, I don't like to stay up late to star gaze, so I would put Astronomy in August in Brazil, and pick it up again in January in the USA. In addition, this will allow your kids to study the change in sun position over the seasons. Also, I think you will have a difficult time squeezing in the human body in addition to astronomy and geology in just 4 months. I would wait and put human body with the biology unit in 7^th . But if you find that you do not have enough material for the 4 months in 2013 with just astronomy and geology, you could do a unit on the human body. But in my experience, each unit usually takes 2 months, so I did not want to over load their schedules.

 

Finally, I have chosen the biggest resource you have for each topic, but please use the encyclopedias as supplimentary resources. Sometimes they can be quite disjointed, but that might lead to some nice internet research questions. But if your students find them difficult to read, just don't use them.

 

I'm breaking this up because it got kind of long (ok, really long)

 

Ruth in NZ

[lewelma]

Goals for Middle School Science (6^th – 8^th)

 

Content: Gain a broad overview of Biology, Earth Science, Astronomy, Chemistry, and Physics

 

Skills: improve non-fiction reading, presentation skills, drawing/diagramming skills, observation skills, notebook organization, research skills, outlining skills, understanding/creating and beginning experimentation skills.

 

Middle School Plan

6^th Grade: Earth Science

7th Grade: Chemistry and Biology

8th Grade: Apologia Physical Science (more than half of it is physics)

 

6th Grade: Earth Science

 

1st half of 6th grade: August - November 2013

 

Aug - Sept:

Content: Astronomy

Resources: The Complete Book of Earth and Space (just read the space section)

Science Encyclopedias and Book of Knowledge as appropriate

 

October-November

Content: Geology

Resources: Eyewitness book of rocks and minerals

Geology section of The Complete Book of Earth and Space

Science Encyclopedias and Book of Knowledge as appropriate

 

Hands on for Astronomy

Observe the night sky

Chart the moon cycles: where in the sky given the phase

Make a scale drawing of the solar system (you need to tape together a number of sheets of paper, and make each planet a dot)

Chart the change in altitude of the sun over the seasons (this will go from August to November)

Chart the location of the sun in the sky (also from August to November)

 

Hands on for Geology

Classify rocks

Field trip to collect rocks and study road cuts

Hardness tests

Construct nets for crystaline structures

 

Output

 

Report, presentation, poster, OR detailed diagram (1 per week or fortnight). I would suggest that you have 1 project per week or fortnight that rotates through the different styles. So over 4 months they would write 2 reports, make 2 presentations, make 2 posters, and draw/label 2 diagrams. Each week they come up with a topic that interests them from their reading from the previous week, and then spend some time with you on the internet researching the topic. If you can find the top 10 sites, you will reduce their frustration with a slow internet. So NASA, wikipedia, National Geographic, etc would be logical choices.

 

Notetaking: I find that taking notes at a young age kills the love of science, so I have only included it once per week. I would suggest that they outline or take notes on whatever topic is the most interesting to them, and that they use their notes for memory work in the following week. This way they are memorizing what they find interesting, rather than some preconceived notion of what they should know.

 

Hands on: I have come up with a few ideas to get you started. They will need your help to set up the charts and graphs that they will be filling in over the months for Astronomy and over a few days for Geology.

 

Schedule (You suggested they would love 1.5 hours per day, obviously you can make this into anything you want)

 

M 30 min independent reading. 1 hr Research topic for the week or fortnight on the internet

T 30 min independent reading. 10 min memory work. 50 min hands on

W 30 min independent reading. 1 hr Work on report, presentation, poster, or diagram

H 30 min independent reading. 10 min memory work. 50 min hands on

F 30 min note taking on favourite topic of week. 1 hr work on report, presentation, poster, or diagram

 

I am guessing that they would need you the most for the hands on work. But would also need guidance on the other projects and research.

 

2nd half of 6th grade: December 2013- August 2014

 

Content: Meteorology and Oceanography

 

Resources

The complete book of earth and space

You mentioned an oceanography book ?

I would buy a meteorology book and an oceanography book (if you don't have one) when you are in the USA.

 

Hands on Meteorology

Understanding weather maps

Identifying clouds

Predicting rain using cloud formations

 

Hands on Oceanography

Observing: long shore transport, marine life, rocky intertidal zone

Collecting and classifying shells, seaweeds, marine life

Dissect jelly fish, mussel, fish

Chart tides, read tide charts, compare to moon cycles

Human intervention: affect of jetties, sea walls, dredging of inlets

 

Hands on Astronomy

I would continue with the activities I listed above, but in the Northern hemisphere.

 

Output

 

Scrap book with photos: Given that you will be travelling and that you said you wanted to take it easy. I would suggest you have the kids take photos of what they are learning, develop them every week, and make a scrap book. Have them document the field trips and what they found particularly interesting. They can also include brochures from Nature reserves.

 

Research: I am assuming that you will have better internet access in the USA, so I would have you kids spend the time to follow their interests on the internet since they can't really do it easily in Brazil. YouTube videos are often just great. I would suggest that you have them document the best sites and videos that they find, not only so that they (and you) realize how much they learned, but also so that they can revisit their favourites in Brazil more easily because the know exactly where to go.

 

Field Notebook: In addition to their scrap book, I would suggest that they keep a notebook of observations, sketches, diagrams, charts, etc for all of their lab work. It might be easier to draw their dissections or create their charts flat on the table and then paste them in, etc. But having it all in one place would keep it organized.

 

Schedule

Can't really suggest anything because I am not clear on your travel plans.

[lewelma]

7th grade: Chemistry for 1st half of year

 

Resources: You will need to buy a few things, but they are reasonably cheap

The Elements curriculum by McHenry (and if they wiz through it, then Carbon Chemistry also)

Mystery of the Periodic Table

The Elements by Gray

 

While you are in the USA I would suggest you buy some other chemistry books, like Chemical Chaos or Eyewitness Chemistry, so that your kids have something to read independently. Much of the Elements by McHenry requires adult interaction.

 

Documentaries: they would love the periodic table of elements, but given your slow internet speed, I would recommend that you download all 109 mini-videos prior to them watching them

 

Memory work: There are quite a few games in The Elements that they can play together to help them memorize a lot.

 

Output: The Elements by McHenry has a few craft type projects, but not much in reports, presentations etc. If you would like them to continue with a decent amount of output, then you could have them work on a project throughout the week like they did in the prior year. Research something that they find interesting, and either write a report, create/give a presentation, make a poster, or draw/label a chemical reaction.

 

Lab work: there are not a lot of labs in the Elements. If you want your kids to do more then here are some options:

make litmus paper from purple cabbage and test the pH of household items

Mix different things from the kitchen together and see if they react (lemon juice, milk, eggs, sugar, salt, etc)

You could buy an experiment book if you are really keen.

 

Schedule:

 

M 30 min independent reading from supplementary books. 1 hour The Elements McHenry with you

T 30 min independent reading. 10 min memory work. 50 min work on presentation or report or poster

W 30 min independent reading. 1 hour The Elements McHenry with you

H 30 min independent reading. 10 min memory work. 50 min work on presentation or report or poster

F 30 minutes, take notes on what they want to learn. 1 hour The Elements McHenry with you

 

You could also just go with McHenry's The Elements and Carbon Chemistry and skip all the extra books, labs, projects etc. The main problem I see with that approach is that McHenry's materials do require quite a bit of teacher interaction, so you need to judge whether you have the time. The other stuff I put in because they can do a lot of it independently, or at least mostly independently.

 

7th grade: Biology for 2nd ½ of year

 

Happy to help you make a plan, but need to settle on some topics you would want to study and resources you would use. Plus, I am getting pretty tired out!!!!

 

8th Grade:

Apologia Physical Science

 

Ok, that is it for me. If there is something that clearly will not work, let me know, and I can rejig this plan. Plus, of course, make the plan your own. This is obviously just one of many ways you could teach your children. So do what will work and make them passionate about science.

 

Ruth in NZ

[julikins]

Thanks, Ruth. I can totally see this! I understand toning it down for my younger ds but I know he will love it too!

 

I'm running to look at the books to see it laid out in front of me. And will soon write back. Thanks! :)

Processing...processing...

[lewelma]

You will need to take the main spine for each topic and count the number of sections. Then, think about how many weeks you will work on the topic, and calculate how many sections you need to cover per week. (I cannot do this for you because I don't have the books!) Finally, you link the hands on work with the sections. So for example, if I had 8 weeks for astronomy and was using my text book, I would sort them to make the hands on stuff work. I would need to put the solar system, sun, and moon first because the hands on stuff will take a number of months. I would put the galaxies second, because there is no hands on. Here is a sample plan:

 

week

1 Sun, seasons. Begin charting sun location (this will take 4 to 6 months)

2 Moon and its phases. Begin charting moon phases (this will take a month)

3 Planets. Do the scale model of planets

4 Comets, asteroids, etc

5 Stars. Learn constellations and understand why the stars spin

6 Galaxies, nebulas

7 Super novas and black holes

8 Space travel, rockets, etc

 

The moon cycle and sun movement charts would continue through the entire 8 weeks. Each week or 2 would have a report/presentation/poster on the most interesting thing. It might be that you want to spend more time on Astronomy and less on rocks/crystals, you will need to look at your resources.

 

Your kids could either read the corresponding sections from other books you own on the above topics, or they could just read other books and know that the more "official" topic will be studied using the main spine. You would make sure that they fully understand the main topic each week when you work with them on the hands on stuff. And you could help guide them in choosing the most important info for each week's topic to memorize. You said that their eye's glaze over when you read to them, but you might want to read them the spine for 10 minutes 2 times per week to make sure that they really "get it," even if they have read the material before independently from you.

 

Oh, one more thing, when you are considering what parts of your books to use, remember that Apologia Physical Science has short units on the hydrosphere, lithosphere, and atmosphere. You can look at their Table of Contents to help you figure out what to skip.

 

HTH,

 

Ruth in NZ

[Murrayshire]

Bumping this so I can find it later! Ruth is amazing!!

[julikins]

Isn't she! I feel so blessed that she helped me put this together. I have direction and a plan and don't feel so lost any more! Thanks Ruth! And Hope you are having a great semester with your kiddos! Is it about time for Science Fair?

[lewelma]

You guys are really kind. Thanks.

 

Yes, it is just about time to start it up. I need to send out the first e-mail this week. I have already had 6 families approach me for advice. :tongue_smilie:

[Murrayshire]

You guys are really kind. Thanks.

 

Yes, it is just about time to start it up. I need to send out the first e-mail this week. I have already had 6 families approach me for advice. :tongue_smilie:

 

I posted on logic board about Physical Science for my 8th grader. When you get time, could you peek at what I wrote?

Thank you, thank you!