Science . . . tracking down "curriculum"

[RachelChick]

Lewelma/Ruth - first off, thank you for all the time you have taken to discuss science with this group! Holy smokes! This particular convo is my favorite! 

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/425932-science-activities-setting-goals-and-evaluating-usefulness-of-activities/page-2

 

So good. (are you writing a book?!)

 

I absolutely love what you, 8, AVA, and regentrude have to say about this huge topic!

 

Secondly, I'm trying to figure out what to do for Science as we are just starting out and I love the idea of making a subject  for each year and then delving into topics for each term - as opposed to a broad curriculum. I love rabbit trails and lots of inquiry-driven exploration, but I'd also really like to have a way of making sure that we get to explore loads of different things that we may not have time for otherwise. I love science, I love learning about the way things work, so having a bit of a system seems like a great way to do that.

 

So how do I get the topics for the different sciences? Well, you do some research. Find out the big divisions within the subject for the year. Then, I check the library for good books. I check them out while I am planning for the following year and look over them and make sure there is enough of the good stuff at an appropriate level. If there is not, I have to buy some, but this has been pretty infrequent in 6 years. Then, I make a bit of a schedule. Each year has a subject (earth and space science), and each term has a topic (geology) and subtopics (crystals, volcanoes, ground water, erosion). The term topic is pretty well set in stone, but the subtopics can be very fluid. We often can't get to all of them, because we are following rabbit trails, which is just fine. Too much time spent on crystals and soil, leaves too little time on volcanoes and earthquakes. Oh well. There is always more to learn. But at the beginning of the next term, we start the new topic (switching from geology to oceanography which are all a part of the year's subject of earth science).

 

This is our first year homeschooling and after talking to my (very inquisitive) girls (9 & 11) we've decided to do Earth Science this year. You say that you use a "spine" for your different topics. First, I think I get the gist of what "spine" means, but maybe you could define, just so that I'm clear? And do you have any recommendations of "spine" for topics in Earth Science? Geology, Meteorology, Oceanology, Astronomy? I'm sure that we can find many that are great - be it through the library or buying some highly-rated texts - but if you have any that you've loved and have already vetted, I'd love to eliminate some of the trial and error. :)

[Coco_Clark]

Listening in. We are beginning an anatomy/Botony year but earth science is next year and its such a HUGE topic I know I'll need a good spine to lead me.

[librarymama]

I'm listening in as well! 

 

I'm still at the beginning of this homeschooling journey as my oldest is a 2nd grader. We have tried several different ways to do science over the past 2 years: BFSU, Science Fusion, Mr. Q, RS4K, EM Daily Science... That's a lot for just 2 years of being on this adventure!

 

By far the most effective and enjoyable way to learn science to this point has been reading books, watching videos, and exploring at our leisure. I am about to scrap Science Fusion (our latest attempt) and go back to what really truly works for us. My son loves science and I have been trying too hard to find a program when in reality, he does not need one! I hope to grow our science library so we can have good books at home to browse and study as the desire arises. 

[JubilantNest]

:bigear:

[lewelma]

Glad you liked that other thread. 

 

To answer you question, for me a spine is a book that we read and discuss together that has all the subtopics covered in decent detail.  At that age, I had one spine per topic and we went to the library every fortnight and got books out of the library for my boys to read independently that were on the subtopics we were reading about.  So for example, I would get one big book on Astronomy that was written at a higher level than they could process independently, and we would read it together.  When we were reading about planets, we would get books they could read independently that were about planets; when we read about space travel and space craft, we would get books out on NASA etc. The spine was just a way of organising our studies and keeping us moving forward.  But we were not slaves to it.  If we fell in love with planets and wanted to really dig deeper into them, that was fine, we just might run out of time for something else.  At the end of each term, we just moved to the next topic (Astronomy, Geology, Oceanography, Meteorology)

 

The spine you choose really depends on how much your kids already know and how much they can understand.  That is why I like the library so much.  I can check out a bunch of different things, evaluate them, pick one, trial it, and choose something else if it ends up too easy or too hard.  For my kids at that age we used these three, which may or may not be right for your kids:

Ocean http://www.amazon.co....0729099&sr=8-1
Eyewitness Earth http://www.amazon.co....0729126&sr=1-1
The Way the Universe Works http://www.amazon.co....0729156&sr=1-1

I never found a good spine for meteorology, so we used a so-so one.

 

For hands on we did the following:

Astronomy
star gazing
chart the moon cycles, try to tell the time based on the phase of the moon and its location in the sky
Chart the sun over 6 months

Draw a scale drawing of the solar system with planets as pin pricks.

Geology
Find rocks and identify them
Look at road cuts and look at soil strata
Get a book out of the library and visit all the interesting rock formations in your area
Go to a volcanic site

Join a geology club and went on fossicking field trips and also cut and polished rocks and made jewellery

Meteorology
Study weather maps
Make your own set of weather measurement gear (wind, rain, pressure) and chart daily weather
learn how to predict rain using clouds

Oceanography
Go to the ocean and study how the waves break on the sand
Visit dunes
Study tide charts and chart tides in your area

 

We also did these 2 month-long investigations in elementary school

Can I predict the weather accurately using only cloud formations?
What affects the topsoil depth in my woods?

 

 ++++++

 

You didn't ask for them, but I did find this list of documentaries that we watched:

 

National geographic:

Living Rock: an introduction to earths Geology
birth of the earth
birth of the solar system
birth of the universe
colliding continents
deadliest planets
death of the sun
destructive forces
earth's core
ring of Fire

BBC: How the Earth made us
Deep Earth
Water
Wind
Fire
People

Modern Marvels
Coal mines
diamond mines
Quarries
Renewable Energy
Salt Mines
Snow
Water
Weather prediction

BBC Planet Earth

BBC Space
Star Stuff
Staying Alive
black Holes
Are we alone
New worlds
Bodly go

BBC State of the Planet
Is there a crisis
why is there a crisis
the future of life

BBC The planets
Different wolrds
terra firma
giants
moon
star
atmosphere
life
\destiny

BBC Wild Weather
wind
wet
cold
heat

Individual docos:
Eyewitness: rocks and Minerals
Discovery: everything you need to know volcanoes
BBC Horizons: The Core
BBC: The jet stream and us
BBC Space Odysses: Voyage to the planets

 

++++

 

Hope that helps.  Happy to help you plan out how you might use the resources you decide on.

 

Ruth in NZ

[RachelChick]

Oh, Ruth. You are incredible. Thank you so much! I will be forever grateful for the amazing information that one can get in forums and for all the wonderful people who are so willing to share their time and information for the benefit of others. Thank you for you help . . . I'm sure that I will be asking for it again in the future. 

[Murrayshire]

Ruth: THANK YOU for that giant list of science docs! We will get great use out of those!😉

[SeaConquest]

Ruth, I have taken your advice on breaking down elementary science into subtopics. We plan to do Zoology, Ecology, Botany, and Anatomy this year, and Astronomy, Geology, Meteorology, and Oceanography next year. Do you have any recommendations for subtopics for a year of Chemistry and a year of Physics, as well as suggestions for spines? Thanks so much!

[lewelma]

Chemistry
 
Chemistry is kind of tough, and doesn't break down so neatly for young kids, but the topics to work through are: the Periodic Table, chemical reactions, and industry uses.
 
the best spine I found for chemistry was this one, but mostly I just used the materials listed below because chemistry is more integrated than Bio, Physics, and Earth Science.
 
For the different topics we used these books/curriciula:

Elements: Gray's the Elements, the Mystery of the Periodic Table (this is a history of the discovery of all the different atoms)

Basics of bonding and chemical reactions: McHenry's The Elements, and Carbon Chemistry for a more advanced kid

Industrial uses: These are from the library. Plastics, metals and alloys, fertlizers, oil and gasoline industry, nuclear energy, gems and jewellery, mining, food chemistry, atmospheric chemistry, water pollution, you get the idea
 
For older kids, the Cartoon Guide to Chemistry is good
 

+++++++++++++

Physics.
 
Topics are mechanics, electromagnetism, sound/light, modern
 
I used the Everyday Science series as a spine for these 4 topics.  There are 6 small books, and they are all are really good.  They explain the theoretical concepts and then work through the everyday uses.  Quite nice. 
 
Then we augmented with library books on each topic.  Constructing buildings, cranes, levers, magnets, electricity, sound, musical instruments, light, rainbows, prisms, how microscopes and telescopes work, mirrors, particle physics, quantum mechanics, nuclear energy, etc!
 
Also, The Way Things Work is excellent for mechanics.

 

HTH,

 

Ruth in NZ

[SeaConquest]

This is super helpful, Ruth. Thank you!

[idnib]

Ruth, do you have a list like post #5 for biology? I feel like I saw one somewhere.

 

Btw, how's that compilation of your posts coming?  :laugh: