Classical Conversations Science..fleshing it out?

[Samiam]

So I'm still deciding on science for the upcoming year. I've looked and looked at lots of programs. We also just signed up for our first year of CC.

 

I've read where many people make CC their core curriculum. I won't do that for history, as I'm set on our history for next year and don't think CC would be enough meat for history without ALOT of work on my part.

 

But science on the other hand...hmmm, thinking if CC is covering the science experiment, I might potentially be able to get away with a program at home that is not heavy on experiments....I could do one here or there, a few times a month, and that adding to the one at CC each week, would make my boys happy. (We also have a once a month class that is all hands on for science offered locally). I'm thinking that maybe I could take the CC science and flesh it out by adding in library books, Brainpop, and United Streaming, and a few narration/coloring/etc pages found online.

 

Could it be done? What exactly are the science topics covered in Cycle 2? Is it jumping from topic to topic every week, or does it stay on the same general topic for a while before changing subjects? I don't have the Foundations guide yet, only flipped through it a few times at meetings. Does the guide show clearly what the science topic will be that week?

[Plateau Mama]

They don't jump around. Next year the first 6 weeks are Ecology, the next 6 weeks are Astronomy, the last 12 weeks are physics. For my 5 yo I am going to do something along the lines of what you are thinking. I will do that for his first round thru the cycles, then do what I'm doing (below) for the second topi me thru.

 

For my older boy CC science is not enough. I am a tutor for the masters class. I have 8 boys (10-12) in my class, plus a 10 yo girl was just added. 90% of the experiements bore them to tears next year I'm going to see if I can beef them up somehow.

 

What I have done for my older is I let him pick out an Apologia book that relates to one of the topics. (We actually did two this year.). This year we started with Botony,which was CC's focus the first 1/2, and now we are doing Astronomy. Last year we did The Anatomy book. Next year we will do the new Chemistry/Physics book (he is so excited for this one).

[bamagirl]

We've done cc the past two years. I use cc as my science base and add lots of library books and supplemented this year with R.S.O. Life...it was a great fit. I will probably use RSO Earth& Space next year to supplement cycle 2.

 

[Samiam]

Great, Bamagirl, RSO Earth and Space was tops on my list (this week anyway, lol) for Science before I started toying with just using CC...maybe I'll go with that too.

[fourisenough]

 

For my older boy CC science is not enough.

 

What I have done for my older is I let him pick out an Apologia book that relates to one of the topics. (We actually did two this year.). This year we started with Botony,which was CC's focus the first 1/2, and now we are doing Astronomy. Last year we did The Anatomy book. Next year we will do the new Chemistry/Physics book (he is so excited for this one).

 

 

What ages are your boys? Thanks for the clarification on which topics CC Cycle 2 covers.

[fourisenough]

I'm thinking that maybe I could take the CC science and flesh it out by adding in library books, Brainpop, and United Streaming, and a few narration/coloring/etc pages found online.

 

 

 

This is what I'm thinking of doing with my 4 & 8 year olds. I plan to buy the science cards for this cycle. I will have my older daughter do some copy work/narration/dictation from the card and then dig deeper with library books (we have a fairly extensive home library and access to a very good public library), BrainPop videos, and an occasional lap book, project, or report.

 

What about having my 8 year old base most of her presentations on science topics, to give her a reason to do a little research/project/activity to present to her class?

[DiannaC]

I've been thinking about supplementing the CC science as well. My oldest will be in 1st grade & science should be fun at this point. I like Apologia, but I've thought I should wait until 3rd grade to start it.

[abrightmom]

Listening in.... We are also CC newbies this fall.

[aminuteorless]

ANy seasoned CC moms want to weigh in on this?

[stm4him]

This is our second full year of CC and we did a half of a year of cycle 2 a long time ago when my oldest was 5. Last year I tried to do apologia at the same time we were doing CC and it was too much for us (but I have a big family so take that with a grain of salt). I found that they were learning more from the memory work and related books and movies than they were from apologia, though we did end up cranking out the rest of the book during summer (which was brutal to some extent too b/c they just weren't ready for it). Anyway, what I found that worked really well last year was that we memorized the fronts of the science cards by chanting them every day. The phrases on the front of the cards are so helpful. We did that daily last year and we know those cards much better than this years' because we only did it once a week this year (and also reviewed last year's cards). Next year I will try to make it something we do more often.

 

Anyway, what we did this year that was great was they copied the front of the card and the memory work onto a notebook page and drew the illustration. Then they had to spend 15 minutes reading about our science topic of the week. I read them the back and we discussed it. I still think more meat could be added so next year I will have them do some kind of outline or report (at least for the older one). This summer I'm going to have them read RS4K Biology and Geology (when it comes out). Next summer I may go back to apologia for my oldest and just have her read it, as well as the middle school RS4K. I am pulling together a bunch of notebooking and workbook and lapbook type pages related to the topics we studied this past year and I'm going to have them make a book while I read to them from God's Design and Christian Kids Explore. They will get to choose what pages or templates to do and customize it to their liking. I think they will enjoy that.

 

Another great thing we did this year was to have them do the experiment pages from CC Connected for each experiment and discuss it together. Next year my oldest will write out a full report on each lab. For the weeks when we do a science project instead of an experiment I will have her make a poster presentation of what we did.

 

Also, I HIGHLY recommend using Amy Joy Tofte's songs on CC Connected to memorize the science memory work. Even if you don't like them (which some moms don't because I guess they are too high or too annoying?) they REALLY helped my kids learn the memory work this year much better than last year....

 

Three suggested resources beyond what I mentioned here:

 

- Wisdom and Righteousness and A Journey Through Learning lapbooks (directly tied to CC memory work)

-Homeschool Curriculum Co. Science Unit Studies (directly tied to CC memory work)

-John Hudson Tiner's books go very well with CC and often tie in history:

 

Cycle 1: Exploring the World of Biology and Exploring Planet Earth

Cycle 2: Exploring the World Around You (this one is by Gary Parker) and Exploring the World of Physics

Cycle 3: Exploring the History of Medicine and Exploring the World of Chemistry

 

There is no book for astronomy but I think Master Books (that publishes these) has another book on astronomy that is escaping me.....

 

HTH!

[fourisenough]

Three suggested resources beyond what I mentioned here:

 

- Wisdom and Righteousness and A Journey Through Learning lapbooks (directly tied to CC memory work)

-Homeschool Curriculum Co. Science Unit Studies (directly tied to CC memory work)

-John Hudson Tiner's books go very well with CC and often tie in history:

 

 

 

Can you provide a link for the Homeschool Curriculum Co. Science Unit Studies? I found a few hits, but I'm not sure if any are the correct one. Thanks for your detailed write-up of your family's experience with CC & science.

[abrightmom]

 

 

Can you provide a link for the Homeschool Curriculum Co. Science Unit Studies? I found a few hits, but I'm not sure if any are the correct one. Thanks for your detailed write-up of your family's experience with CC & science.

 

Here....

http://www.homeschool-curriculum.co/

[ohmommatxca]

I just found this thread today as I am thinking about CC and Science for next year with my four kiddos. We've been in CC for four years and enjoy/love/cant get enough of the program :laugh: . However, I have found in the switch to CC four years ago, science has really been lacking in our home outside the "listen to the Science weeks 13-24 for memory masters" or pick a topic in the Usborne Science encyclopedia and go for it!". My oldest is entering Challenge A next year and really is a humanities kid and could care less about science. However, I do feel he will be at a disadvantage even though he knows the science memory work for three cycles well. We all know there is much more to science than that! I did apologia 4 years ago and that was too much, but I am willing to visit it again for all of them and adjust it for my youngers. Has anyone done this? (Right now we are plugging along through Science core F and Core B and think we are in week 16--gasp! LOL!) (DS 9 and DS 7 are real science kids by the way) So, do I:

 

1) Have DS age 12 finish Sonlight F through the summer, then have him do science with CC next year, which is more in depth study of what he is doing now, human body, and piece science together according to CC's science sentences with the youngers

 

2) Throw out all the Sonlight for both age groups this summer and then go ahead and do Apologia general science together as a family this summer and hopefully DS who will in Challenge will be able to handle the double science load along with everything else

 

I am going to pray and research some of the information that others have posted, but would appreciate any wisdom from those who have gone before me.

 

Blessings!

[stm4him]

Well, I posted above so you can see what I'm planning to do to flesh out science for my younger kids. I am planning to have mine do General Science in 8th grade either while in Challenge B or before or after it in the summer since they will do Physical Science in Challenge 1. I am not having them do it because CC's science in Challenge isn't enough, but because I really want them to go through the whole Apologia series. I would just have him read through a series of the elementary books. He's probably got the hang of experiments and the Sonlight DVD's probably also show him enough other experiments. Here are some series he could read through:

 

God's Design

Apologia (elementary)

RS4K

Tiner books

 

These would give him enough background for sure. You can have him pick the one he likes or the one that costs the least, etc. You can have him do some writing with it if you want to, but I find that the memory work is such a magnet that probably enough of it will stick. I also have mine memorize the fronts of the Acts and Facts cards and those terms (and dates) have also been very useful to us.

 

I think sometimes when we try to do a whole curriculum it doesn't necessarily get done, but if it is just a matter of reading through a series of books to gain some in depth background info (which he can do on his own) then possibly telling about it or writing about it to help with retention that will more likely get done....

 

HTH!

[Paula in MS]

We have completed 2 years of Classical Conversations, but I am one of the moms who use CC as an "extra" while I do my own thing at home. With that being said, if I were to go about using CC as my spine for science, I would not try to line it up by week. Looking at the broad categories, I would plan to study ecology topics the first 6 weeks. I would not take week 1 (which is biomes) and try to study every biome in one week. I think you will have better luck if you are a little flexible. Do not have the expectation that every science experiment will be directly related to the topic you are studying. Sometimes they are not, so, again, be flexible. I have found the experiments and science projects to be extremely beneficial even though we may not be studying that particular topic at home.

 

My science plan for next year is to do BJU Science 6 because I feel that my science-oriented child needs a challenge in that area. This year, I had her read 3 Apologia Science books (Botany, Land, Swimming) for science. Keep in mind that this was only reading with no other requirements. I think there are many directions to go here. The easiest way to flesh out the science would be to keep a pile of library books that coordinate with them topics and read through them.

 

I also recommend Amy Joy Tofte's science songs from CC connected. Yes, the older children will complain that they are high and hard to sing, but I promise you they work. My daughter really excelled in the science memory work because of these songs.

 

You will also want to check out the Half a Hundred Acre Wood blog for Cycle 2 ideas. She has already begun posting. She will give you tons of ideas to flesh out science--worksheets, videos, books, etc. There are also many people who post ideas to pinterest.

 

I really hope you enjoy CC next year. It has been a real blessing to us.

[stm4him]

Paula,

 

Can you tell me how it went to have your daughter (I'm not sure what age she was) read those Apologia books. How hard was it and how much did she from it? Also, I looked at BJU recently for the younger grades and was not that impressed. I have not looked at Abeka. I was thinking something that stayed on topic may be better for us. Out of curiosity, why did you choose BJU? Maybe I should look at the 6th grade level text......

[thegeyser]

Is there a place to access/purchase Amy Joy's CDs outside of CC connected? Thanks! I've bought a CC Cd before and very little was to song. The CC Connected fee is pretty unreasonable if you are not affiliated with a local community. We'll be doing Physics next year and the songs would be a nice supplement. Thanks!

[Paula in MS]

Paula,

 

Can you tell me how it went to have your daughter (I'm not sure what age she was) read those Apologia books. How hard was it and how much did she from it? Also, I looked at BJU recently for the younger grades and was not that impressed. I have not looked at Abeka. I was thinking something that stayed on topic may be better for us. Out of curiosity, why did you choose BJU? Maybe I should look at the 6th grade level text......

 

 

I had a couple of reasons for going the Apologia route this year. The first is that she was a struggling reader that needed to read more. The second is that it was time to do life science again. How it worked for us is that she just read a few pages every day. We began botany last June, and she is almost finished with the third book. She seems to have retained the information, but the scope is pretty narrow which is one reason I was looking for a more general science for 6th grade.

 

I chose BJU because it seems to be one of the more rigorous elementary programs, it has an online option, and it includes testing. I am really trying to ramp up what I require of her next year in anticipation of the challenge program. I also really considered Rainbow Science which is very hands on, but for the same price, I could purchase the BJU online option. Also, CC provides plenty of hands on science. All that to say....I haven't actually ordered it yet, so I could change my mind. :) Also, knowing that challenge A is life science, I have steered away from too much if that for 6th grade.I have looked at Abeka's elementary program several times, and it seems lighter. But I have not done a side by side comparison. I have also ordered the Middle Ages Veritas Press self paced online course for history. This is the first time I have considered online/video courses, so we will see how it goes. I have an only child, though. I would not be able to afford online courses for more than one, and I hear the teacher for BJU science really makes the course.

 

 

 

 

[stm4him]

If your child read the other apologia books this coming year wouldn't that give her a complete science overview minus earth science (since they are coming out with a physics/chemistry book this summer)? RS4K is coming out with geology books this spring......

 

I know Apologia is narrow in scope, but it is thorough on each topic which also has its benefits. I think well chosen memory work combined with hands on experiments (both in CC) and depth of information on each topic (via textbooks or living books) makes a great science education....Throw in some nature study and you're good!