Multi-age Resources for Science

[lizbusby]

Hello everyone. Long time lurker, homeschool-curious mom here. I have dabbled in curriculum since my oldest taught himself to read when he was two. Now I have 4 kids who are various levels of gifted (11DS, 9DS, 7DS, 4DD). My youngest had just been starting preschool this year and giving me some free time when corona virus happened. I was so glad I had my curriculum stash to fall back on while the schools figured things out. (I actually updated my theoretical curriculum and schedule "just in case" the schools shut down about two weeks before they did.)

We live in one of the hardest hit areas in Seattle, and there are rumors that schools will not be opening in the fall. Planning makes me feel secure, so I'm planning for next year as if we are homeschooling in case I decide not to put up with whatever the school district puts together.

My three month pandemic homeschooling experience has shown me exactly how much energy I have to go around (read: not a ton), so I'm looking to combine many of the "content" subjects into a family school type format that we can all do together and scale up or down to difficulty levels. Does anyone have hints on a science curriculum that could at least interest a 6th grader who's been in a public gifted program (so, learning at maybe 7th grade level) but also involve a preschooler or at least the 7yo? Or am I reaching too much? Would you put the 6th grader into an online class and focus on the other three together?

I'd also love any other hints on curriculum you've been able to use for multiple ages for gifted kids. I've been looking at the Arrow/Boomerang lit units from Brave Writer as all the kids are able to sit and listen to read aloud novels. And Story of the World seems like a good fit for history? Thoughts?

Good luck to everyone in these crazy times.

[mumto2]

I am a retired homeschooler so not up on the latest............but I am thinking fun and different for what might be a short time.

I think I would try to put together some books that are heavy on hands on, easy to do at home experiments.  Janice Van Cleeves books immediately came to mind ........ she has several books in her Let’s Play and Find Out About series for younger kids which could easily be paired with something for the older kids or not......the experiments are pretty well done.  This one had us build lungs and my kids loved it.  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2179438.Janice_VanCleave_s_Play_and_Find_Out_about_the_Human_Body

Life of Fred has some middle school science books that my kids enjoyed.......physics, biology....perhaps the chemistry.

Ellen McHenry’s curriculum is just plain awesome.  Make sure to browse through it.   https://ellenjmchenry.com/

 

[Cake and Pi]

So, first I'd just say don't even worry about the 4yo. If she's interested she can tag along as she's able, but there's really no point in putting a ton of effort into trying to include her in content subjects at this age. That simplifies things a bit because you'll have a smaller age range to accommodate if you want to combine the rest of them for science and history/ social studies.

What levels are the middle two kids working at? Can they read above grade level? What about maturity, interest, and motivation? 

Are you looking for Christian, neutral, or secular materials?

Have you thought about using a literature based curriculum at all? Doing so would probably make grouping for those content subjects pretty easy.

[J-rap]

This is a book/curriculum that can work up or down with multiple ages that we thoroughly enjoyed.  It's on clearance now, so you can't beat the price!

https://www.brightideaspress.com/shop/the-scientists-apprentice-clearance/

As I remember, it does have a slightly Christian emphasis, but not too much -- otherwise I wouldn't have used it.  (We're Christians but I mostly avoided Christian science curriculum.)

ETA:  I just checked that link and it looks like they're out of stock!  But you can find it at other places.  Amazon has one in stock.  Also, I think it recommends an age range, but our family's higher-end age range was above what they recommended and it was still a great curriculum for us.

Edited May 30, 2020 by J-rap

[lizbusby]

4 hours ago, Cake and Pi said:

So, first I'd just say don't even worry about the 4yo. If she's interested she can tag along as she's able, but there's really no point in putting a ton of effort into trying to include her in content subjects at this age. That simplifies things a bit because you'll have a smaller age range to accommodate if you want to combine the rest of them for science and history/ social studies.

What levels are the middle two kids working at? Can they read above grade level? What about maturity, interest, and motivation? 

Are you looking for Christian, neutral, or secular materials?

Have you thought about using a literature based curriculum at all? Doing so would probably make grouping for those content subjects pretty easy.

 

Literature based? For science? I was planning on using some Brave Writer curriculum for literature and writing stuff, but I hadn't heard of doing that for science.

So more about specific dynamics:

DS11 is the brightest, taught himself to read at age 2, amazing memory. He could easily work levels above where he is in the gifted program. He's currently finishing 5th grade, but they do a sixth grade level curriculum. However, he is level 1 autistic, so the social stuff is difficult for him, which is why we've kept him where he is. (A lot of other kids in the program are similar so he has a group.) He also struggles with output as he has dysgraphia. He does better with typed work, but still, he seeks to keep every answer as short as possible and does all math in his head. Generally, he is unmotivated to learn unless it has to do with video games or board games which he will research for hours. He claims that science is his favorite subject, so I was hoping to pick a challenging curriculum that might require more stretching for him. As he'll probably be returning to public school when this mess is over, I'm also concerned with aligning with what he would be getting in his middle school science course if he were in school. It seems to still be mixed random sciences, but says it has lab work, which I'm concerned we might not get from a younger curriculum that's mostly demos. Maybe I should write and ask for a syllabus.

DS9 is in 4th grade gifted, so working at 5th grade level. He also entered kindergarten early and so is really young for his grade. I feel like that curriculum level is really challenging for him and wouldn't go any higher than 6th grade for next year. He's also much more even across the board in terms of giftedness and much more self-motivated than his older brother.

DS7 is in 1st grade, not gifted as our program doesn't start until 2nd. He didn't manage to make the cut off for the full gifted program in reading but did qualify for advanced math. I'm not sure what to think about those testing results. He has some of the pokey-ness of DD11 and a mischievous streak a mile wide right now, so maybe he just blew the test off. He's capable of listening to novels and more advanced reading, but mostly reads comics on his own, though he does have a love for non-fiction. He is just finishing off the 2nd grade math section of Dreambox, and will probably fly through 3rd grade math next year and into 4th.

You're right about not worrying about DD4. Good point.

I lean towards secular materials as I minored in chemistry. 😄 I'm fine with scripture references, but I definitely want evolution and the big bang to be in my curriculum.

My other major requirement is I prefer something that's pretty simple to open and go. I understand science well, so I don't feel like that will be difficult. But I don't have time for fussy crafts (and DS11 and DS7 hate crafts anyway) or lots of gathering of resources or merging curriculums to cobble things together.  (I understand I'll need to pull resources together to do labs, but I'd love to buy kits if possible.) I'm looking for plug-and-play for grades 3-7, I guess. Maybe I ask for too much. 😄 

Edited May 30, 2020 by lizbusby

[mumto2]

Take a look at Timberdoodle for kits.  https://timberdoodle.com/.  

[wendyroo]

My kids are 4, 6, 9 and 11.

I mostly just read aloud for science.  Sometimes that is "curriculum" - we love Mr. Q Classical Science - but often it is just books about science.  That is what is typically meant by "literature based", just reading the best books you can get your hands on.

So, for example, I have read aloud to my kids: A Black Hole Is Not a Hole; Invincible Microbe: Tuberculosis and the Never-Ending Search for a Cure; Lives of the Scientists: Experiments, Explosions (and What the Neighbors Thought); Clan Apis; etc.

I check out every science picture book that looks interesting at the library...I read them to my youngers and sometimes the olders listen in or else sometimes they read them themselves.  Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K–12 is an awesome resource.  I also get a lot of ideas from the living books suggested in the Build Your Library curriculum.

I know on first glance this might not seem "rigorous" enough, but I have been able to read some very high-level books.  Our most recent read aloud was The Story of Life in 25 Fossils: Tales of Intrepid Fossil Hunters and the Wonders of Evolution...oh, my goodness, what a dense read.  It was fascinating, and all four of the kids were engaged and learning at ton, but it is far, far "above" what any curriculum would suggest for middle school.

[lizbusby]

On 5/30/2020 at 4:58 AM, wendyroo said:

My kids are 4, 6, 9 and 11.

I mostly just read aloud for science.  Sometimes that is "curriculum" - we love Mr. Q Classical Science - but often it is just books about science.  That is what is typically meant by "literature based", just reading the best books you can get your hands on.

So, for example, I have read aloud to my kids: A Black Hole Is Not a Hole; Invincible Microbe: Tuberculosis and the Never-Ending Search for a Cure; Lives of the Scientists: Experiments, Explosions (and What the Neighbors Thought); Clan Apis; etc.

I check out every science picture book that looks interesting at the library...I read them to my youngers and sometimes the olders listen in or else sometimes they read them themselves.  Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K–12 is an awesome resource.  I also get a lot of ideas from the living books suggested in the Build Your Library curriculum.

I know on first glance this might not seem "rigorous" enough, but I have been able to read some very high-level books.  Our most recent read aloud was The Story of Life in 25 Fossils: Tales of Intrepid Fossil Hunters and the Wonders of Evolution...oh, my goodness, what a dense read.  It was fascinating, and all four of the kids were engaged and learning at ton, but it is far, far "above" what any curriculum would suggest for middle school.

 

This sounds like a really workable idea. The one thing that concerns me about it is finding the time to find all the books. How much time do you put into planning something like this?

As an introvert, I'm finding schooling my kids very draining, especially since I was looking forward to restarting my writing career this year with the preschooler in school. 😔 (Props to those of you who do this full time--it is a job, no doubt.) I really want to minimize planning time so I can carve out some time for me. So I'm very hesitant to embark on something so free-form. 

But on the other hand, I already spend time going to the library and buying books, so maybe it wouldn't be much more than that. What's your experience? 

[wendyroo]

38 minutes ago, lizbusby said:

This sounds like a really workable idea. The one thing that concerns me about it is finding the time to find all the books. How much time do you put into planning something like this?

As an introvert, I'm finding schooling my kids very draining, especially since I was looking forward to restarting my writing career this year with the preschooler in school. 😔 (Props to those of you who do this full time--it is a job, no doubt.) I really want to minimize planning time so I can carve out some time for me. So I'm very hesitant to embark on something so free-form. 

But on the other hand, I already spend time going to the library and buying books, so maybe it wouldn't be much more than that. What's your experience? 

I don't put a tremendous amount of time into it. 

I do think it is important for my kids to be exposed to a wide variety of science concepts and vocabulary, so each year I read through one of Mr. Q's textbooks.  "Textbook" is actually a bit of a stretch; Mr. Q is a science teacher who writes his books in a very casual, conversational, interactive tone...plus he includes comics, jokes, and really bad puns, but don't let that fool you - the science is actually very deep.  (The one down side is that he avoids discussing evolution...in fact, I think that is why he chose to write Advanced Anatomy and Physiology instead of Advanced Life Science.) 

So, each afternoon, while the kids eat snack, I spend ~20 minutes reading either a chapter from Mr. Q or some of our science read aloud.  Sometimes I tie our read aloud into our Mr. Q theme, and other time I choose something that complements it (such as the evolution book we just finished to complement our Mr. Q study of anatomy), or something on an entirely different topic.

As I said, to choose/gather books, I tend to browse a couple book lists that I like.  But, that normally just involves a couple hours once or twice a year while I watch TV in the evening.  I rely heavily on Amazon's Look Inside.  For example, I might look at the Noeo Science sight to see what they use for middle school chemistry.  I find the book Molecules: The Elements and the Architecture of Everything and look it up on Amazon.  I find it to be a feast for the eyes, truly mesmerizing.  Then I see that the same author has written other similar books.  From Build Your Library (level 10 because I never limit myself to the grades that my children are actually in), I find The Curious Naturalist: Nature's Everyday Mysteries, and I look that up.  Amazon says that that book is frequently bought with The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness; that clearly peaks my interest and I go look at that as well.  Biographies of scientists are great.  Joy Hakim has written a three book series on The Story of Science.  There are so many options.

In the end, I often choose based on what I can cheaply buy used on Amazon.  I have a loose budget in my head, and just start ordering based on what I most want to read and what I think the kids will most enjoy and learn from.  Then I supplement that prodigiously with picture books and graphic novels and anything else science-y we find at the library.  There is very little method to the madness, just an overarching plan to keep immersing them in science that spark their interests and fill their minds.

[8filltheheart]

2 hours ago, lizbusby said:

This sounds like a really workable idea. The one thing that concerns me about it is finding the time to find all the books. How much time do you put into planning something like this?

As an introvert, I'm finding schooling my kids very draining, especially since I was looking forward to restarting my writing career this year with the preschooler in school. 😔 (Props to those of you who do this full time--it is a job, no doubt.) I really want to minimize planning time so I can carve out some time for me. So I'm very hesitant to embark on something so free-form. 

But on the other hand, I already spend time going to the library and buying books, so maybe it wouldn't be much more than that. What's your experience? 

My kids only read whole books for science until high school science credits.  Once they are in 4th-5th grade, they are reading the books on their own.  We simply have conversations about what they read.  I assign writing across subjects, so science topics are about every 3 weeks or so.  I pick topics from their reading that I want them to research more deeply for their papers.

I don't control what topics they read about. They get to choose.  I expect them to read about 30-45 mins per day (depends on the age/student).  

It has worked here.  I have kids who have pursued science fields as adults.  High school science starts at the "beginning." So does college science for that matter.  My kids haven't missed a beat between switching from our whole book approach to traditional textbooks.

[4KookieKids]

So we do mostly secular curriculum just because it's the best fit for my kids' needs, but science is the one area where we do a mix of secular and faith-based. My kids are 10, 8, 6, and 5. As a family, we have really enjoyed going through the science units that The Good and The Beautiful puts out. They are fun, low-key, and requiring almost no prep on my part. While they are faith based, none of the ones that we have done contain anything specifically "young earth" or "old earth," it's more from a perspective of "Wow, look at how amazing God is that he created such intricate bodies/systems." All my kids love these units and they have fun little activities that even my oldest enjoys (he's bright, but still just a kid. lol). That being said, they definitely don't stretch my ds10 very much.  So while we do TGTB science units together. once a week, we also watch a ton of science shows online (We have movie nights, but pretty much only watch science shows, lol. Nova and National Geographic are favorites here, but they've also gotten really into One Strange Rock, which is definitely evolutionary in nature.) As far as "actual curriculum" goes for my oldest, this past year we signed him for uzinggo middle level science. He is also autistic, dyslexic, adhd and dysgraphic with some EF struggles, so we were looking for something high-input with low-output requirements. Uzinggo was perfect, and he completed all three middle school courses in 8 months (life science, earth and space science, and physical science). We had planned to sign him up for their set of four high school classes next year, but they've said they're actually discontinuing uzinggo for another project that has yet to be released (so maybe their new project would be a good fit for your oldest?) If their new program isn't appealing to us, we'll probably just fall back on Khan academy Chemistry and Biology for next year. He's still young enough that my main concern is just that he's enjoying learning, and not with any sort of long-term plan for what he "has" to learn. Recently, he's also been listening to some science Great Courses, and I just ask him to tell me the coolest thing he learned that day or week. Our plan is to let him keep doing "fun" science with the younger kids weekly, but to continue supplementing him at a higher level. 

ETA: He does also read a LOT of science (like Horrible Science), but we're not near much in terms of good library selection.

Edited June 7, 2020 by 4KookieKids