Dd10 hates Physics!!!

[thowell]

So this year I put together a year of physics and chemistry. We are using different resources like RS4K, Ellen McHenry and lapbooks from Hands of A Child. I am also adding in other reading and plenty of demonstrations as well. Dd10 hates it!!! She keeps telling me she wants to learn about animals, and bugs. She is reading the Storybook Of Science and loves that but it isn't enough by itself. So I am open to all ideas. I would like something with Creation  base or at least no evolution. I was planning to do Life Science with her next year in 6th and then Earth in 7th but I guess that will change as well. So I anxiously await your ideas!!

[Freckles]

I have absolutely no idea how to help you. I can say you are brave to do physics. In my mind that is a high school course. My dd has been using the ABeka science series. Lots of bugs, animals, planets all in color. I hope someone can help you.

[thowell]

Oh well it is Elementary Physics!! lol

[plain jane]

One of the programs I used when my girls did physics the first rotation was Exploration Education. It's very hands on and the experiments are interesting. They didn't absolutely love it but they tolerated it more than I thought they would (they actually said they liked it) and both ended up learning (and retaining ) quite a bit. I really liked how hands on it is. :)

[NittanyJen]

Check out:

 

Science Wiz kits (for Physics, there are inventions, Physics, Magnetism, and Light, maybe more, several experiments in each kit with everything you need included at $20 or less per kit; they are quite nice)

 

K'Nex Education Kits: Gears and Levers, Simple Machines, and similar: about $34 each.  Again hands on, well executed, and like Science Wiz above, the included book explains what is going on.

 

Book: Physics with Toys.  First edition relies mostly on generic toys many people own.  Second edition uses K'Nex kits for most exercises.

 

OR

 

For a radical departure, listen (in a sneaky way) to your kid.  Combine physics and biology.  Do anatomy.  Learn that muscles only pull, they never "push," but they must work in pairs-- cut up a chicken wing from the grocery store.  Remove the skin, carefully, with a pair of scissors (bleach it first if you are worried about bugs, and do work with gloves).  You should see a pair of muscles, one above and one below going from shoulder to elbow, and another pair from elbow to wing tip.  Hold the shoulder in place, and tug on one of the upper and lower muscles-- watch the wing unfurl.  Tug the opposing muscle and watch the wing retract.  See, muscles only pull, they never "push."  Now, what is the function of that skeleton?  What else supports the muscles?  DIssect away the muscle tissue carefully until you can see the ligaments and tendons and read up on what their function is.  Study the bones.  How does the skeleton support the wing and its motion?  Hmmm .  .. looks kind of like a lever, yes?  Now we are getting back around to physics!  Why would a bird need it's wing to operate like a lever?  What about your own arm, which works a lot like a chicken wing in some ways?  What other animals have levers as part of their bodies?  Study some gears.  Did you know there is a super cool insect that actually has "gears" to help it jump correctly, to time its legs?  Sounds like a great (and rewarding) internet search, with a really rewarding video at the end of it.

 

You could both win at the end of this one.

 

Animals and people and plants are loaded with simple machines, the need to overcome static and kinetic friction, use optical properties and sound wavelengths in differing situations (growers can induce plants to turn on and off their flowering cycles by exposing them to a single flash of red or far red light in the night-- why?  and what is "red" and "far red" light?)  How can birds fly (do not let anybody tell you it is all Bernoulli)?  You could have a physics year disguised as a biology year and have a lot of fun with it!

 

Or you could try some of the kits above and have fun building and playing with stuff :)  

 

 

[Farrar]

Elementary physics is just so much fun.  I can't imagine finding it difficult.  I second the physics with toys thing.  We love the Boston Children's Museum Activity Books for physics - they explore forces, light, mirrors, etc.  Are you doing anything with electricity?

 

Of course, if she's a kid who dislikes experiments and hands on stuff, then of course she wouldn't like it.  The stuff to read about elementary physics is not so hot.

[thowell]

 

 

Of course, if she's a kid who dislikes experiments and hands on stuff, then of course she wouldn't like it.  The stuff to read about elementary physics is not so hot.

 

I think this is the biggest part. She loves to read and loves the great pics that go along with nature study and more of life sciences but really has no interest in this field of study. We did do electricity and we used the science wiz kit. She tolerated it but was not impressed.

 

[Walking-Iris]

I don't see any reason to make a kid study physics at 10 if they are miserable. Sometimes it's fine to break away from the WTM science rotation. Just continue with nature study and biology. Or do both if your science rotation schedule is important to you. I see you're using RS4K...those books are super short. Get through it and then maybe add something like the activities in the Creepy Crawlies book---tons of bug study there and she'll learn about the scientific method and writing a lab report. Good skills to have regardless of where you are in your science rotation. 

 

I personally like the WTM science rotation, but I look at it as a tool for my own personal planning. I wouldn't try to force a kid with other interests to stick with it though.

 

If hands on projects aren't her thing, then just focus on reading and documentaries. 

 

OR you could take a Montessori approach to your physics projects. In a Montessori environment a child wouldn't be required to participate in a project, the teacher gives regular presentations and then the materials are left out available for the child to explore on their own. So just do the physics demonstration while talking about what is going on and then have an accessible area where she knows she can explore on her own terms those materials.

 

Keeping them visibly enticing is key. There's no point in pulling out a SnapCircuits or a science kit and "doing it" and then packing it all away. Do it while she watches, share the lesson, no questioning or expectations that she has to perform in any way, and then leave it out somewhere with the acknowledgement that she can explore It  on her own...whenever...no pressure.

 

It may be the best way to spark an interest in a topic for a kid who has no interest. Sometimes they just need to explore and learn on their own without any pressure or evaluations or assignments etc. 

 

 

[mom31257]

My understanding of the Apologia series books is that they include all kinds of science in the life science books. For example, the flying creatures book includes the physics of flight. Perhaps she would still learn some about the physical world in the context of a life science book if you used those. There are 3 creature books, 1 plant, and 1 anatomy. I've never used the series before this year, and our co-op is using the Chemistry and Physics book. I can't say that ds and I are loving it because it is conversational style and seems to take a long time to say something. Ds is also using an A Beka science book (he loves science, especially life science as well), and he is enjoying it much better than Apologia.  

[Hunter]

I find that many students want their science applicable to daily life. The trend is to make science more and more abstract and microscopic at younger and younger ages. This is NOT working for ALL students.

 

I like seeing which physical science topics were covered in the vintage geographies and nature study curricula. Heat is well covered in some of them, far above what most modern adults have learned. The home geographies and the first few chapters of the elementary geographies are full of good stuff, before they veer off into the outdated minutiae.

[Hunter]

Oh, and a lot of physical science is covered in the vintage biographies of inventors.

 

The vintage curricula covered most of what we still need to cover, but they had very different ways of categorizing information. Until you study entire K-8 course of studies, it's hard to understand where everything was covered. Geography covered a LOT.

[lillybell]

If she likes animals and bugs, I would put some sort of Life Science together. I would sneak in the Ellen McHenry Botany unit somewhere in the middle. My daughter loves animals and bugs as well. She has read every Zoobook out there as well as about 50 Ranger Rick magazines and a ton of animals books. She is a walking encyclopedia of animal facts. We just finished Physical Science but she wasn't crazy about it. She will be doing Biology this year. I settled on Classiquest for now and will see how that goes because it has a lot of writing and she likes more hands on activities. I am adding some Top Science units to enhance the hands on activities. There are some unit activity books that you might find of interest and may be able to incorporate into a life science study. They are the AIMS activity books. They are titled Concerning Critters and Field Detectives. They concern animals and bugs. I think you can probably pick and choose activities that wouldn't involve evolution. Since you are already familiar with Hands of a Child, you know they have many animal lapbooks. I have used many of their lapbooks as well and they are wonderful.