Science experiment guilt

[ByGrace3]

Ok, we are wrapping up the year..completing what I feel we need to in order to call it "done". As I reflect upon our year I am frustrated with how much guilt I feel over how few science experiments we got to. (Only a handful all year). We did more history projects....but science is the "back burner" subject here. We did the reading and notebooking for ES but not the experiments. So then looking to next year I wonder if I should just pick something with less experiments to rid myself of this guilt.

 

How big a deal is it to not do the experiments at this age? I just feel like I can't do everything in the "ideal" way...maybe alternate science and history doing both but every other year do a text or something less time consuming for one? Thing is we all love history...they like science, would love it if I did more hands on...I just feel overwhelmed trying to get it in every week. So it's like I never get to that part.

 

I am considering an online type of science with maybe an experiment a month instead of a week? Is there something out there like that? I also considered apologia -- one of the ones that has an audio so they could listen and notebook.. An occasional experiment thrown in for fun but I won't feel bad for not "checking it off."

 

I need some perspective here...and suggestions if you have one. :) thanks!

 

Appease my guilt or tell me to step it up! ;) it's ok, I can handle it. :)

 

Eta: how important are the experiments in Mr. Q? Looking at chemistry.

[TraceyS/FL]

Did you try to do history and science each 5 days a week? That would do me in - and I love science. I would do science only 5 days a week happily - but all that other "stuff" gets in the way.

 

So for us the plan is 2 days of history, 2 days of science, with the extra day up for grabs. I'm not sure this summer how that will play out - technically, we will have more time.... i'm working on schedules today with OLLY. I thought I had everything planned out enough for this quarter - but I didn't realize I needed more strung together for me to grab and go.

 

Would it help to pick the science early this summer, then "kit" the experiments now? So then all you have to do is grab box "Week 3" and go with it. I think i just added to my to-do list. I know that even when I bought the kit for BJU Life Science, I still had to dig thru the box to find the stuff for her (there was a frog in the box - she wouldn't go near it! LOL!!). If I had taken the time to put it all together better it would have worked better.

 

I don't think chemistry would be very fun without experiments..... :D

[Five More Minutes]

I've been doing a major rethink of science here, and Ruth (lewelma) has offered great perspective on the topic. This thread on the value of reading science was helpful for me. (Post 24 is where she starts to talk about the value of science activities / demonstrations / investigations.) She also refers to this thread about setting goals for science activities, which has helped me to define better what it is I want from our science activities.

 

What she has helped me see is that understanding the reason why you want to do science activities will help you to determine what types of activities you want to invest in, and how you may want to modify them. If your goal is to encourage a love of science, then is it possible to do something very simple that isn't preplanned? (For example, we set up a bird feeder and are practicing identifying birds, recording which ones we see each day. It's simple, but I value it because it's teaching us all how to observe.)

[PachiSusan]

I have science guilt too. We cover the subject matter fully but we rarely get to experiments. SIGH...

[Arcadia]

We do science twice a week. My boys do whatever extra science experiements they feel like outside "school time". Like sinking styrofoam "boats" in the bathtub or playing with food dyes.

 

If your goal is to encourage a love of science, then is it possible to do something very simple that isn't preplanned? (For example, we set up a bird feeder and are practicing identifying birds, recording which ones we see each day. It's simple, but I value it because it's teaching us all how to observe.)

 

 

When my kids have their bird feeders, we change the bird feed too just to see which kind attract more birds. Unfortunately the birds poop all over my patio floor so we stop putting out bird feeders.

[8filltheheart]

We don't do science experiments until high school. We read lots and lots of science topical books. It has not hampered my kids' ability to do science, learn science, appreciate scientific theory, or want to become scientists or pursue science-oriented careers.....contrary to the "children must do science experiments to learn and understand scientific theory" argument. :)

 

If you want to read a book that teaches science very much the way Ruth describes, I recommend The Wonder Book of Chemistry by Fabre. It is written in story format as "Uncle Paul" teaches his nephews all about chemistry via short investigations (not long projects) and spurring them to think through results.

 

http://archive.org/details/wonderbookofchem00fabr

 

(note that some of the terms and names are out-of-date compared to modern chemistry. It is also a rough translation, so I use this book as a read aloud so that I can improve upon it while reading.)

 

There are literally thousands of wonderful children's science books. Your children can be completely immersed in science and the thoughts of scientists w/o having to replicate Ms. Frizzle.

[Hunter]

Most of the Bill Nye videos show a science experiment. Some are too hard to do at home, so just watching is great. Some are easy to do at home, and the kids can often do them on their own.

[happypamama]

Eh, science is hardest for me to get to as well, especially experiments, but it's also very likely to come up in daily life -- they saw a rattlesnake (and got out of the way quickly!) while hiking with DH one day, they got to see ultrasound in use both on one brother's heart and when we saw our preborn baby, they get curious about a plant or bird they saw, etc. We don't do a lot of formal experiments, but they know a lot about the natural world.

 

That being said, I do want to remedy that for next year, because I think at least my DD, if not my 8yo DS1, could use a bit more direction about the scientific discovery process. So we're going with Mr. Q's Chemistry next year because it's all laid out for me. At your kids' age, though, you might just try raising ladybugs or butterflies and keeping a log (just a calendar with drawings or photographs of the creatures' development) and adding some supplemental books.

[Rosie_0801]

Your kids are a good age to start nature journalling. My dd loves hers. I'm not really sure why, but she does. :) Have a look online and see if there is a gem show in your area. They're a bit of fun.