If you used Ellen McHenry's Botany 8 Lessons, how did you do it?

[Nicholas_mom]

I just bought the book and it looks very intimidating. There is so much in there! I want to use it next year for my 5th grader. Tell me how you used it. I like hearing the examples. It is very inspiring to hear how someone has used a curriculum.

 

Thanks.

[Chelli]

:bigear: We are using this next year as part of our Botany studies. We will studying Botany for one semester. I am planning on adding in TOPS Radishes and something as a read-aloud spine (not sure what yet possibly the next Sassafras Botany book) with it as well. I'm glad to hear there is a lot of material there. Hopefully it will make it last longer than 8 weeks!

[Chrysalis Academy]

My 5th grader did it this year. She did it independently. She did one lesson a week for 8 weeks, she pretty much did Level 1 the first day, and Level 2 the sencond day (and other science on the other days - she did WP's Equine Science and MP's Entomology once a week each, at the same time). She did the reading, watched the videos, and I let her pick which activities she did, so she didn't do every single one, but most of them. She liked it and learned a lot. We did some additional reading of library books, especially on photosynthesis, that was the toughest lesson.

[Nicholas_mom]

Ah, yes TOPS. A couple of months ago I was thinking of using them with TOPS. I forgot about them. Thanks for reminding me.

 

Rose-- so basically, she spent 2 days on the lesson part and did she do the activities on one of the 2 days that she did level 2 lesson?

 

We have the Isaac Asimov " Photosynthesis" book at the library, so that will be one of the books he will read.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Ah, yes TOPS. A couple of months ago I was thinking of using them with TOPS. I forgot about them. Thanks for reminding me.

 

Rose-- so basically, she spent 2 days on the lesson part and did she do the activities on one of the 2 days that she did level 2 lesson?

 

We have the Isaac Asimov " Photosynthesis" book at the library, so that will be one of the books he will read.

 

Well, if I remember right, she did the Level 1 reading and activities on one day, then the level 2 reading and activities the second day. If I recall correctly, it was generally a pretty short read - 3-5 pp - and then 4-7 activities or videos to watch. We schedule an hour for science each day, but I don't think it ever took that long. The only exception to this was the Photosynthesis chapter, in this case she only did the Level 1. I thought the level 2 got into way more chemistry than she was prepared to process, given her background, and I didn't want to freak her out as this chapter was near the beginning (if not the first). For the rest of the lessons, the Level 2 activities were perfectly accessible, it was just that one chapter that was really technical & intense.

[Momling]

My 5th grader did it this year. She did it independently. She did one lesson a week for 8 weeks, she pretty much did Level 1 the first day, and Level 2 the sencond day (and other science on the other days - she did WP's Equine Science and MP's Entomology once a week each, at the same time). She did the reading, watched the videos, and I let her pick which activities she did, so she didn't do every single one, but most of them. She liked it and learned a lot. We did some additional reading of library books, especially on photosynthesis, that was the toughest lesson.

We did it just like this... Botany is not a subject I like much, so I did the assigning and grading and they were otherwise independent.

[lillybell]

I am using this right now and we are just doing it for the summer. So far we are really enjoying it. The way we do is that we do it together. My daughters take turns reading paragraphs out loud from lesson one on the first day. Then they elaborate over discussion on what they learned. We then watch the videos together on a tablet. On day 2, this is repeated with lesson 2. Then they do the written activities on their own. Over the next 3 days, we play the games together. We are finishing up week 2 right now and we are having a lot of fun. We played the games twice already and we also purchased the Shanleya's Quest card game that was recommended in the Botany book and we have played the different card games every day several times already. I guess the book is open and go except for the games, which do take some time to put together but I work on them over the weekend so they are ready for us during the week.

[Nicholas_mom]

Thanks everyone. This is very helpful. Those games listed in the book do feel overwhelming to put together, tho. I might be doing some over the summer as my prep work.