Need ideas for science output for ds13

[jkl]

Our family is going through a crazy time with tons of appointments, some health issues, etc.  I am struggling with science for my 7th grader.  He loves learning about animals, and I was thinking about having him watch some animal documentaries on youtube (there are tons of National Geographic ones that would be perfect for him).  I feel like it would be nice to have him do something with the info he learns.  Any ideas?

[MerryAtHope]

Have him write 1-3 new things he learns about each animal. Then once a month or so, let him choose one he wants to learn more about and do more research.

[hollyhock2]

My similar-age kid did much the same thing last year. I just had him write a 1-2 paragraph summary of the lesson, or about an animal, about once per week. It wasn't much but it was something.

[jkl]

Thanks guys.  These are both great ideas.  I was thinking of making a sheet for him that he would fill out where he could write something he'd learned and something he'd like to learn more about and then letting him research a bit. 

[2_girls_mommy]

In 7th grade my dd wanted to learn about animals. And we discovered Thinking Tree Journals. They are like books of notebooking pages that you can pair with anything you are already doing or any library books and videos. There are some with just animal topics. The one my dd got had a horse on the cover and included some pages that said write a story about a picture, and the pictures had family themes of sisters that she liked, so it got her doing creative writings, but there are specific animal or science ones too. But the rest of the book she used with her animal theme.  She picked an animal encylopedia that we had and a couple animal series that she would watch for the film pages. That made a wonderful year for her. She loved that book. It had pages where it told her to read from four different books, so we chose other books for her pile including just the books I was having her read for school, and it had little squares for brief narrations. It had handwriting practice pages, which aren't unnecessary. I had her do cursive copywork on those or quotes from her books or dialogue if we were working on proper punctuations in speech, just whatever I needed her to do. For whatever reason, that journal really made her 7th grade animal year. We now have a giant stack of them that she uses for all kinds of things. I don't know if notebooking would appeal to yours, but it did give some direction to her studies without much planning from me. 

Edited January 14, 2019 by 2_girls_mommy

[jkl]

Thanks!  I got him the nature study one for Christmas, but it seems almost too open-ended for him.  I LOVE the journals though!

Edited January 18, 2019 by jkl

[2_girls_mommy]

On 1/18/2019 at 5:50 PM, jkl said:

Thanks!  I got him the nature study one for Christmas, but it seems almost too open-ended for him.  I LOVE the journals though!

Too bad. We love them here. The open endedness doesn't work super well for one of mine, but I still like them. So for her, she does a page a day to start the day of one journal that I picked out for her. It rotates activities and includes a lot of quick journal ideas that she needs practice with and rotates in subjects that we don't get to all of the time. It is a nice way to get some things in. The other dd that thrived with the first one in 7th grade now has a basket full of them. We wrote a schedule, and she uses one a day to start the day,using different sources with each one. She works an hour or so in one each morning, even now in high school. I can't wait to start our History of Fashion Course as an elective next year beside American History/Government using the Fashion Dreams one, a History of Fashion text, and some Dover coloring books and other odds and ends!