Science - thinking of just winging it

[Michelle T]

Do any of you do your own thing, no formal science curriculum, with older (upper elementary/middle school age) kids?

 

My DS is 12, with severe LD's and ADHD. Very poor comprehension and retention. Every subject is a struggle, but science is particularly bad because he isn't really interested in it, and it tends to have more difficult concepts.

 

We've muddled through a variety of workbooks, textbooks, living books, etc. Nothing has been that great. Now I'm thinking of just chucking the whole idea of needing to cover the full range of science topics, and spending the next few years just doing whatever most interests DS using a variety of kits and a science encyclopedia. Once he is high school age, I'll spend those four years doing a "typical" science rotation.

 

Anyone else do this? Does it work for your older kids? I guess I know that it's perfectly fine for me to do whatever works for my DS (the reason we are homeschooling to begin with) but I need reassurance that it's okay to just forget about the usual elementary school scope & sequence and do what I want.

 

Anyone else out there doing this?

Michelle T

[Guest]

Sure! You have my permission. :)

[Guest Lorna]

Ditch those workbooks! :D

I really recommend Ellen McHenry's The Elements. It is so multi-facted that your son is sure to hook onto some aspect of it. It has jump-rope and clapping songs, crafts, experiments, games, internet links, and best of all it is beautifully written. Despite it's multi-media approach, the actual level of the chemistry is grade 4-8. I took chemistry at school right up to age 18 but I learnt a lot from it myself. You can easily have a go at her approach before buying because she has many samples for free here.

If he likes it you can move onto the follow up, Carbon Chemistry for grades 5-9.

For further inspiration on following science as an exploration rather than a curriculum these two blogs may help:

Home Biology

Home Chemistry

Think! (an engineering blog with challeneges each week)

[Lori D.]

Worked for us. : ) We used the Reader's Digest How...Works series, plus matching TOPS units and some other kits for added experiments. No formal science reports; lots of hands; had fun with some internet surfing, finding little video clips and websites on some of the topics; episodes of NOVA and other educational science videos; and we enjoyed some library books on specific topics when we ran into a topic we wanted to know more about.

 

By all means, use what YOUR family gets the most out of! That's what this homeschooling is all about. :D BEST wishes for super success, and my warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited November 12, 2008 by Lori D.
added info

[Jen the RD]

I am currently doing my own curriculum with my 5th grade dd and 1st grade dd. I agree with a previous poster about Ellen McHenry's stuff. Though I've not used it, it looks wonderfully hands on and gets rave reviews. I'm using the Usborne Internet linked Science Encyclopedia (UEOS) for my dd. In usual Usborne style it is very informative, to the point, with beautiful pictures and illustrations. Your ds would only be reading a 2 page spread on any one topic. That might appeal with a short attention span, so check that out. Also, Home Training Tools has some great model kits, biology kits, etc, that might help draw interest in science. When I saw SWB speak at a convention this summer, she highly recommended focusing on the "doing" part of science in the middle grades. If you'll check her blog at susanwisebauer.com (I think; don't have time to check for you--sorry), she did have lots of science models and kits listed.

 

HTH,

Jennifer

Edited November 12, 2008 by Jen the RD
typos

[Jenn Robinson]

:iagree:It's amazing what you can learn with a few field guides on your nature walks! We are doing that this year. We're studying animals (birds right now) and are learning a ton from our field guides!

[Garga]

Science experiments! Maybe just get a book of lots and lots of science experiments. Then when he's in high school, when it's time to go into the technical aspects of science, he'll remember doing the fun experiments and can relate it. But maybe now, it needs to be about showing how putting paper over a hot light bulb makes the paper move (you know--heat rises, birds fly on those thermals of hot air...) without worrying too much about WHY it does what it does.

 

I like the post about nature walks and studying birds, too. Make the science completely hands on now.