Mom2pandc Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 I'm trying to hammer out the last few details for our school year next year and am torn on science for my daughter who will be 4th grade next year. I'm looking at both Science in the Beginning and Apologia Zoology books. I think she would love Apologia and she has looked at them all today at a conference. But I think an entire year on one book (ex: flying creatures) would be tedious by about week 8. Lol. At least for me. I was thinking of picking up all three of the books and bouncing between them in units. She loves animals of all kinds and is very much a nature oriented kids. She told me today she would like the books even for reading books, not just school books. I wouldn't purchase the notebooks for each, but rather have her keep her own sort of journal. Really we could spend more than one year doing it this way as well. Anyone have experience of doing more two or more of these simultaneously? Any advice? Am I setting myself up to be overwhelmed? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 I haven't done it but I suppose you could . There will be references in later books to things learned in earlier books but you could probably adjust for that. Even though she could keep her own journal, and that honestly sounds like a great idea, you might consider getting just one of the pre-printed ones since there are some interesting items in there. DD and DS have liked doing some of the stuff in the pre-printed Journals. Could be a fun side thing she might be interested in doing during down times.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 Oh, and FWIW, DD and DS are using Zoology 2 with a one semester on-line course so we have actually been covering one book in 4 months instead of an entire year. Means we skip some of the activities/experiments, but we still are covering quite a bit. It hasn't been boring at all. You might look at doing one book in the summer, just for fun, then the next one in the Fall and the third one in the Spring of next year.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom2pandc Posted March 28, 2015 Author Share Posted March 28, 2015 Great idea about summer and one a semester! She tends to be more of a reluctant reader, so for her to be so ambitious with something I feel like I should sit up and pay attention. She was actually picking up their high school marine biology book and I had to convince her that it was a bit beyond an 8 years old and she start with the elementary books first. :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 We do a chapter a week so we break up the readings into segments and do discussion where they suggest to in the book. We also work on vocabulary and i have a running list so we review. I have seen suggestions of making flash cards with the term and definition on separate cards so you can do matching games. More fun. Also i think Quizzlet may already have this stuff available for computer games with the vocabulary. There are a lot of latin and greek roots mentioned. If you wanted to do a light mini study of latin and greek roots it would tie in well and reinforce the vocab. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 Since the class is compressed i like how she structures things as well and i thought i would Share some additional things that worked for us. She has the kids answer the questions at the end of each chapter which we usually do orally first so we can discuss then written down later on as review but she doesnt require that. She also has the kids pick an activity to do each week which could be one of the experiments or one of the hands on explorations or a notebooking page or watching a related movie or documentary and writing a summary, etc. The kids like getting to pick from a list each week but we usually pick more than just one. I also, for review, ask questions from previous chapters periodically to ensure long term retention. sometimes we act out the creatures from the chapter. Didnt think my 14 year old would get into that but she has. I do add in additional resources for my older one but she expressed interest. Honestly the book covers quite a bit. There are tons of great little videos on you tube that support specific sections of the book. The kids get a lot out of watching a 2-5 minute you tube video that shows exactly what the book is referencing and it doesnt make the day too long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aleoxmom Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 I am actually in the same boat as you. My kids are doing all three Zoology books this year. We started with the flying creatures book but decided that it would be more fun to do all three over the course of the year or however long it takes since we school all year.I have my 8 year old doing the regular notebooking journal and my 6 year old is doing the junior notebooking journal. They love to read the books even in their free time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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