Science Overwhelm

[Five More Minutes]

I'm feeling overwhelmed and am looking for perspective and new ideas.

 

I have always thought of dd7 as my words girl, as this has been the area where I've seen obvious acceleration. (I haven't done gifted testing, as I haven't yet found a compelling reason to do so.) But I fear that in recognizing her language strengths, I've been overlooking another area of passion and strength for her: science.

 

Lately she has been asking for more and more science, which I noticed but didn't really pay attention to. This week, though, I heard loud and clear that she Needs More Science. She has, for example, become obsessed with the periodic table and announced that she wants to learn more about organic chemistry.

 

Maybe it's that I'm still recovering from February, but I'm feeling overwhelmed. We are already pouring a lot of energy into her passion for language. I've been using BFSU for science because I like how it flows, and because it's accessible for dd5. I really don't want to start splitting my students up for science, but dd7 clearly needs more and dd5 doesn't yet. I don't know if I can handle doing two (messy) science lessons in a day.

 

I'm happy for her, but I'm just a we bit discouraged at the same time. It seems so daunting to try to keep resources in front of her. I've been reading through past threads, and I know that this has happened to lots of you. So ... can you give me some perspective here? Do you have any ideas for how I can feed her growing science appetite while still meeting my younger dd's level? How can I realistically incorporate more hands-on activities at separate levels? Are there any great resources for a 7yo or 5yo to use independently for science discovery? As much as possible, I prefer to use secular science resources.

 

Thanks ...

[jar7709]

My language-y son sounds similar. He LOVES science. Both of them do, actually, but the older currently far, far outpaces the younger's reading ability. What I do, is continue to do BFSU with both kids combined, but I am moving through it slowly, and give each of them more science on thier own favorite topics as they ask and as opportunity presents. I think BFSU can be done with plenty of meat for an older child, but at a slower pace to bring the younger along. It is designed as a multi-year curriculum, after all. My kids' science supplemental to BFSU comes from a few sources:

• Each of my kids also has an Intellego or other unit on their own favorite science topic that they are working through at their own pace--right now, the younger is in a K-2 unit, and the older is in a higher level Solar System unit.
  
• I freely provide a variety of science books and tv documentaries. Books like the Horrible Science series, Eyewitness and DK books, Basher books, The Elements, etc are all in our collection and free for the using.
  
• Regular outdoor experiences, field trips, museums. Many of them with notebooks, loupes (Private Eye), binoculars, rock hammers, etc along for the ride.
  
• We study technological innovation and scientific advances as they tie in with our history study. For example, we are currently studying Shakespeare and the Elizabethans (which also hits that love of language) and made quill pens the other day. Which led to learning about anatomy of feathers, wicking and capillary action in different media, and trying out different types of feathers and cuts to see what worked best.
  
• Habits of daily observation and 'hey, look at this!' It's really everywhere when you train yourself how to look.
  

So that's how we manage it. I will say we are already a science-y family so this feels very natural to our lives, it looks a lot more intimidating written out this way! Science is fun, have fun with it. :)

[Five More Minutes]

My kids' science supplemental to BFSU comes from a few sources:

• Each of my kids also has an Intellego or other unit on their own favorite science topic that they are working through at their own pace--right now, the younger is in a K-2 unit, and the older is in a higher level Solar System unit.

 

 

Thanks for this. I'm curious -- does your younger one do the Intellego unit independently, or is that done with you?

[jar7709]

I can get her started, some of it is with me and some of it is independent. She needs help reading some of the web links, and I need to be there to get her going on the projects. Once she's started she can usually do them semi-independently, I need to be nearby and check-in with her regularly, maybe help her with reading or writing along the way. She's kind of a natural self-starter for hands-on stuff.

[dbmamaz]

my 9 yo has a bin of science books at his reading level, he can pick whatever he wants to read about each day. library trips . ..

[JennW in SoCal]

So ... can you give me some perspective here?

 

 

This first bit of perspective I have for you is that your dd is just 7. You haven't let her down or neglected science, you are simply responding to her asking for more. You have years and years and years to give her more science.

 

 

• Each of my kids also has an Intellego or other unit on their own favorite science topic that they are working through at their own pace--right now, the younger is in a K-2 unit, and the older is in a higher level Solar System unit.

• I freely provide a variety of science books and tv documentaries. Books like the Horrible Science series, Eyewitness and DK books, Basher books, The Elements, etc are all in our collection and free for the using.

• Regular outdoor experiences, field trips, museums. Many of them with notebooks, loupes (Private Eye), binoculars, rock hammers, etc along for the ride.

• We study technological innovation and scientific advances as they tie in with our history study. For example, we are currently studying Shakespeare and the Elizabethans (which also hits that love of language) and made quill pens the other day. Which led to learning about anatomy of feathers, wicking and capillary action in different media, and trying out different types of feathers and cuts to see what worked best.

• Habits of daily observation and 'hey, look at this!' It's really everywhere when you train yourself how to look.

 

So that's how we manage it. I will say we are already a science-y family so this feels very natural to our lives, it looks a lot more intimidating written out this way! Science is fun, have fun with it. :)

 

 

:iagree: To all the above. I didn't use BFSU -- shoot I don't even know if it existed back when I had a 7yo! I never did use any formal science program or curricula, that is until high school, but I did all of the above in feeding a couple of un-satiable science appetites, one of whom is majoring in science in college.

 

Science doesn't have to be messy and mom organized. It doesn't even have to be big projects. Use the library to keep a rotating stock of interesting science books, magazines and dvds available and have magnifying glasses, magnates, binoculars and a little microscope accessible to kids at all times. Encourage them to keep notebooks -- it doesn't have to be a pretty nature study notebook, though it can turn into one. Have them draw what they see, measure what they see. Compare what they see one day to what they saw last week, and categorize the things you see by how they are the same or different. A true scientist has a child-like enthusiastic curiosity of the world -- you want to preserve that. And a true scientist spends most of his (or her) time observing, measuring and comparing. Just make that a habit.

 

Science also doesn't have to be planned, as there is always something fascinating going on in the world, and often just outside your door. For instance, there is supposed to be a comet visible in the sky just after sunset tomorrow. Take out the binoculars and try to find it. Read about it together on the internet or in a book. Bird watching is a wonderfully serendipitous way of practicing science. I always post about Project Feeder Watch in science threads because it is a wonderful and easy way of practicing science skills. They even have a small downloadable information kit for homeschoolers.

 

By the way, there is a very fun series of YouTube videos from Nottingham University on the different elements from the periodic table. I think they call the series the Periodic Table of Videos.

[Five More Minutes]

This first bit of perspective I have for you is that your dd is just 7. You haven't let her down or neglected science, you are simply responding to her asking for more. You have years and years and years to give her more science.

 

Thank you. I needed this.

 

Science doesn't have to be messy and mom organized. It doesn't even have to be big projects. Use the library to keep a rotating stock of interesting science books, magazines and dvds available and have magnifying glasses, magnates, binoculars and a little microscope accessible to kids at all times.

 

Thanks for this, too. I haven't been giving us credit for all of the science going on outside of "school time." We do spend lots of time bird watching, going on field trips / hikes, reading science books, watching DVDs. (Pats self on back.) :001_smile:

 

Encourage them to keep notebooks -- it doesn't have to be a pretty nature study notebook, though it can turn into one. Have them draw what they see, measure what they see. Compare what they see one day to what they saw last week, and categorize the things you see by how they are the same or different. A true scientist has a child-like enthusiastic curiosity of the world -- you want to preserve that. And a true scientist spends most of his (or her) time observing, measuring and comparing. Just make that a habit.

 

These are great ideas. I need to paste this on my fridge or something.

 

 

By the way, there is a very fun series of YouTube videos from Nottingham University on the different elements from the periodic table. I think they call the series the Periodic Table of Videos.

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Dd and I are very excited about these.