Living books? Ditching textbook Science? Etc?

[acsnmama]

Apologia. Love their Science, but it's another subject, not getting done. My son doesn't care for textbooks. I found that the notebooking journal is a cool idea, but it's not getting done. However, I like the texts for the questions, the main ideas, etc. I'm considering using them as my "spine" and for the super fun experiments, but get "living books" to study.

 

Says the homeschool Mom who was downright against literature based programs... now the majority of our curriculum this coming year are going to be living books, go figure!

 

I found the "one small square" books, and I think they are awesome, I got a few from the library and I WANT these to be on our bookshelf. I've tried Usborne books, but the layout is annoying, my son likes to read facts, but the pages seem cluttered. The one small square books seem to have a great layout and very basic, simple experiments, but ones that'll force us outside to discover for ourselves!

 

I'm finding I want to build a bookshelf of books WORTH having. Books that I can say, "go read a book about animals" or "george washington" or whatever.

 

Can someone direct me to the "relaxed homeschooling" threads?

 

My son can tell you pretty much anything you want to know about dinosaurs, through READING books about them.

 

I'd love to be able to ditch the extras and have them learn through reading and taking some notes.

[momto2Cs]

I love the One Small Square books! There are SO many good, "living" science books out there, and it is a great way to learn.

 

 

Living science book threads:

 

http://forums.welltr...s/#entry4529962

 

http://forums.welltr...s/#entry4310285

 

http://forums.welltr...e/#entry4262749

 

http://forums.welltr...s/#entry2576105

 

 

And some threads on relaxed homeschooling:

 

http://forums.welltr...ed#entry4517320

 

http://forums.welltr...ed#entry4495810

 

http://forums.welltr...ed#entry4473831

 

http://forums.welltr...ed#entry4386083

 

http://forums.welltr...ed#entry4431522

 

http://forums.welltr...ed#entry4414140

[Mystie]

We use the Apologia books as free reading books. My boys' (9yo & 7yo) are assigned each day to pick any section from any of the Apologia books, read it, then right 4-6 sentences about it or illustrate it with labels, a title, and a 1-3 sentence caption.

 

When we go to the library, we find the section of the shelf that has books on the topic they're interested in and pick 3-4 that look good. I also try to get some of the Ambleside suggestions like the Burgess books.

 

It's been working splendidly for us! As another plus, we are never behind in the plans and I get a lot less friction with the assignment since they get to pick what to read and write about.

[Julie Smith]

It isn't what you asked for, but it MIT work in your situation.

 

Perhaps try the Mr. q life science text book, (it's free) but instead of reading it just have your son listen to the audio version.