Science!
Wednesday, September 23, 2009 at 03:18AM So. If you know my boys, you know we're a bit heavy on the science around here. :) Being as science is probably one of my weakest subjects, it's an area I've struggled with for homeschooling. I'm not ashamed to admit that Noah knows more than me in this area, honest. Even without specific instruction, he soaks it all up on his own...through books and the science channel and just asking lots of questions. In particular, the boys are fond of shows like Mythbusters, the Magic School Bus series, and (for Noah) the Bashor science books (these are stinkin' awesome! Noah's already read the Periodic Table and Astronomy ones with Physics and Biology on the bookshelf and the Rocks and Gems one on the wishlist...I'm trying to work time in to read them myself so I can catch up with him!). It helps, too, obviously, that Nathan actually does know the answers and delights in exploring all things scientific with the boys. :)
In any case, it seems like every curriculum I've tried has ended up either being inadequate to challenge the boys, particularly Noah, or too complicated for me to teach. Thanks to numerous field trips and special events and the fact that the boys didn't seem in any way to be lagging behind, I've not really worried about it. (Thus far, btw, our science studies have been group efforts, though I can see that I'll need to separate it out in the coming year or so.) This year, though, I think we've found a winner! I'm so excited (which is saying something, LOL)!
Yup, a friend recommended Real Science 4 Kids and I'm hooked. We've only done a couple weeks' of lessons so far, but I'm delighted...
- by the subject matter (chemistry, physics and biology but targeted at 4-6th graders rather than repeatedly doing earth science, the human body and animals...which don't interest my boys and which we've covered repeatedly);
- by the organization (easy to follow textbook, accompanying project for the week and supplemental materials that line up well (we're doing chemistry right now and also have the history and language KOGs)); and,
- by the product itself (well written! and has a teacher's manual that explains things just for me).
Here's what we did last week:
;)
Marshmallow molecules. Totally easy and fun. And even though Micah and Asher probably won't remember the whole discussion about covalent vs ionic bonds, they definitely delighted in eating the fruits of their labors. (For what it's worth, we did start out with actual molecule representations but ended up letting them build pyramids and spaceships, lol!)
It feels strange, but I'm finally excited about science. :) I can't remember that ever happening before but now find myself actually looking forward to learning alongside the boys. Cool. Hopefully through these lessons I can finally start understanding what Noah's talking about when he gets into discussions like the one last week at the awesome little science store we found in Old Town (we'll so be spending more time there!)...he and the owner talked out the pros and cons of hydrogen powered cars and how the process worked. Yeah, science. ;)
Reader Comments (3)
Thanks for the great post! I was thinking of you the other day while we were reading _It's Elementary!_ Picked it up at *your* local library, but it will be due soon. Excellent primer to chemistry -- history and all -- for kids.
Too cute! I have one of those kits somewhere from college that I've saved all these years for my kids. Yes, I am a packrat. LOL!
What great photos! I think science can be SO fun and interesting, if presented in the right way...thanks for sharing this...I love hearing about your homeschooling adventures. We're using the www.k12.com curriculum and really like it. My 1st grader is using a scale to weigh objects (e.g. pencil on one end, and 3 gram cubes on the other end)!