Science

Time for science. ;) Much of what I want to say has already been said back here. Still loving that Real Science 4 Kids curriculum. We're in Biology right now (didn't move as quickly as I'd planned but not at all due to the program...totally just me slacking, lol). Will do Physics next and then I'm not sure...we might just go back and do it all again. ;)

Beyond the other stuff I mentioned back in that prior post (which is all still great!...especially loving that more Basher books are due out shortly!), I'll mention a couple of other things that I currently have in my hot little hands but have yet to start using. The first is a cool observation dealio called Private Eye. It might actually tie in more with language arts but I'll include it here. The idea, as I understand it, is to observe your world from a new perspective and then compare that to other things...creating analogies and stretching the imagination. Sounds fun, eh? Perfect for some fall walks...

The other thing is these Linkology games. I love the idea of making connections rather than just learning independent facts.

Oh, and as with history, a lot of learning goes on through field trips. Through our local homeschool group, we generally end up doing things like classes at our local Discovery Science Center, homeschool day down at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, the Little Shop of Physics, our own science fair, the CSU Water Festival, trips to the Butterfly Pavilion, tours of local robotics and plastics plants, and the like. 

Now, in the spirit of documentation, I'll also now briefly mention previous science programs we've used/tried... 

• From Butterflies to Thunderbolts. This is a fun little book that covers a variety of science topics through books kids love. We had a lot of fun with this but ultimately stopped. I can't remember why and now am thinking I may well go back and cover some of these again now that Micah's getting to be of age. 
• E. Encyclopedia Animal and Body. In trying to cover life sciences one year, we just bought big books like these and started talking about different animals and body parts/systems. It worked pretty well. That was at least 3 years ago, though. 
• Great Science Adventures. This is a line of books that touch on different science topics like landforms and the ocean and space. We finished the landforms book and then stopped. The material wasn't bad (very basic, though) but the work involved to cut out and make the little books that accompany each chapter got annoying.

Added to this, a great many of the books the boys naturally gravitate toward are of a science nature. They have a great number of science experiments to do at home type books and kits. And most of the shows they watch on television deal with science. So. Lots of stuff gets covered just on a daily basis because they love science. I'm not really that worried that we'll miss anything...more that I'll not know what they're talking about, lol.