Planning Time: What’s Happening for the Younger (age 10)

After an email request for an update to my “What We Say We’re Doing” page, I decided it was indeed time to figure out what the heck we’re doing come fall.  I have plenty kicking around in my head, but that’s only the start of the real work.  Planning for my 10-year-old is the easier of the two jobs this year, so I’ll start with him.

Math:  Last year, more independent mathematical work was one of my goals.  My younger still has a fair amount of panic about getting problems wrong, so generally he checks in with me after each problem.  This drives me nuts, honestly, and while he’s sometimes willing to forgo that pattern when he’s feeling super-confident, he has a long way to go.  We slowed math down last year when his panic at the word “math” began to mount.  He’s mathematically talented, and I really struggle with his aversion to something he does so well.  We added some of Theoni Pappas‘ work for fun, and Penrose the Cat is a hit.  Anything with a cat is a hit, but I have yet to find the all-cat math curriculum. We’ll continue with Pappas and similar material as we finish up Singapore 6B and Singapore Challenging Word Problems 6, a project that shouldn’t take long.  Upon his request, we’ll work through Pre-Algebra I and II from Life of Fred. (He saw a friend’s copy and thought it looked okay.)I didn’t bother with pre-algebra with my older, heading straight to Jacob’s Algebra after Singapore 6, but this child needs confidence despite his obvious talent, and I hope time and some diversions into other aspects of math provides that.

Science:  We’re all on to Earth Science this year, using CPO Middle School Earth Science for my younger.  It’s an inquiry-based curriculum, which means that questioning comes before vocabulary and scientific thinking trumps rote comprehension questions.  I’m a fan of the inquiry method and excited to try this well-reviewed curriculum.  It’s not designed for homeschoolers, and I’ll try to keep track of changes we make and materials we need so others might benefit later.  We have a bit of Middle School Chemistry to finish still, but hopefully we’ll finish that up this summer.

History:  After a highly successful semester with Online G3‘s History of US 2B (1899 to the present), my younger’s eager to take the rest of her offerings.  First semester, he’ll take the corresponding 1A course, covering the first three books of the History of US series by Joy Hakim.  He’s likely to pick up another in the series come spring.  History is in Headmistress’ Guinevere’s hands. Whew.

Language Arts:  My younger devoured two levels of Michael Clay Thompson’s Grammar and Vocabulary books, so this year he hits the big leagues with Word Within the Word I and Magic Lens I.  As did his brother, he’ll do these with Online G3, but while I left his brother does his own devices and kept my nose (mostly) out of the class, I’ll keep tighter reign on my younger son.  We’ll read the books together, and I plan on more outside work on the vocabulary for him.  I probably should have done the latter with his older brother last year, but it just didn’t happen.  We’re only half-way through Paragraph Town’s 20 lessons, meaning the book has been read but that other activities are left to be done.  At the end of last school year, typing skills sharp from Online G3 classes, he started a blog (Bertram’s Blog).  He’s abandoned it so far this summer, but it’s built his confidence as a writer.  Hopefully, we’ll move into Essay Voyage as the year progresses.  For the fall, he’ll take Lightening Literature 7, again with Online G3.  Can you tell we adore Headmistress Guinevere and her classes?

The Rest:  As a family, we’re trying Rosetta Stone Spanish I in hopes of providing all of us with some exposure to the language before someone takes Spanish in a classroom (likely my older son, who needs two years of it before college).  Karate continues to be our main source of PE, and we may be up for our black belts in March.  Piano study for my younger also continues.  Spelling with Steck-Vaughn materials was a wild success.  Who knew we just needed a traditional old workbook approach for that subject?  He’ll move onto the 5th level this year, and he’s delighted.  Handwriting issues have hit and hit hard. A year and a half of cursive via Handwriting Without Tears has produced many tears and no usable cursive.  His older brother fared no better, so, like his older brother did, we’ll move him back to print and finish out Handwriting Without Tears Can-Do Print.  His printing is far better than his older brother’s who has some serious dysgraphia issues, but it is still a work in progress.  Thankfully, both boys type quite well.

Of course, these plans are all subject to change, but this is one year for one child that I feel I’m looking at plans that could really work. As always, suggestions and “been there, done that” stories are welcome.

 

 

 

 

Review: Real Science 4 Kids (Chemistry 1 and Biology 1)

We’ve been through plenty of science curriculum and learning supports.  From living books to documentaries, Bill Nye to NIH free resources, Singapore Science to mom-designed courses, we’ve tried a range of ways to bring science to life while teaching sound scientific thinking. For the evolution-teaching family, the options designed for homeschoolers (simpler labs, generally) are fairly slim.  Even with a disturbingly well-equipped home lab, it’s a stretch to use regular classroom texts at home.

So initially, I welcomed Real Science 4 Kids, by Dr. Rebecca Keller.  It didn’t teach evolution (see more on her and my musings about her approach in Curriculum Choices of Conscience), but it didn’t teach creationism or intelligent design either, and since our introduction to the series was Chemistry Level 1, I wasn’t initially concerned with that omission.

At this writing, Real Science 4 Kids consists of 3 levels, each with a varying number of topics.  I’ll limit my discussion to Level 1 Chemistry and Biology, since these are the only books I’ve used with enough rigor to evaluate them.  My older son did the first chapter of Chemistry Level II some years back, but that’s an insufficient experience by which to gauge that series and is under complete revision.

All the Level I subjects require a textbook, a lab workbook, and a teacher’s guide.  The teacher’s guide contains some notes on running the experiments, answers to all the questions, and some additional information on the subject matter.  The texts are attractive, multi-color hardbacks with large font, which is easy on young and old eyes.  Each text consists of ten chapters that align with ten labs and a few brief questions about the chapter, both of the latter found in the lab book.  At full retail, a year of science (Chemistry, Biology, and Physics) for Level I runs about $216 new (Astronomy is available without a teacher’s guide).  That’s a pretty pricey elementary science curriculum.  Used copies abound, but a new lab book for each student is necessary unless the child uses a separate notebook to do the written work.

Keller has numerous additional books, called Kogs, that extend science into vocabulary, philosophy, art, technology, critical thinking and history.  Samples online didn’t impress me, although I was taken with the idea of extending science across the curriculum, as some programs do with literature or history. My borrowed copy of the Language Kog to accompany Chemistry I didn’t hold my interest enough to introduce it to my son.  It introduced some roots, used them in words, and asked kids to give the definitions.  I expect more from a $27 book (and that’s just for one 10 chapter softcover consumable book)  For a full set of Kogs for Level I Chemistry, language Kogs for Physics and Biology, the tests (available soon), and study folders (available soon), and you’re in another $350.  Whoa.

The books are attractive for kids and parents and hold resale well (good, given their high price).  The experiments are highly homeschooler-friendly, requiring (mostly) basic household items, although a bit of specialty shopping online is needed for a few labs (a voltmeter for Physics and living protists and Red Congo stain in Biology, for example).  Two of the labs for Biology require planning and introduce animal life into your home: raising tadpoles into frogs and observing butterflies develop from caterpillars.  The first results in pets that are likely to live beyond when your children go to college (We did the tadpole thing on our own four years ago.  The frogs are still with us, and, according to a biologist friend, likely to spend up to 30 years with us.  No more experiments that require estate planning.)  The second requires timing your lab to meet shipping regulations of butterfly egg sellers.  These are exceptions, however, and one could omit growing living creatures that need prolonged care with a decent video or book on metamorphosis.

The labs book also contains a few questions about the text material.  Most of these are definitions or classification questions, and only on the most basic parts of the books material. Few if any require any critical thinking about the subject, making connections between topics, or analysis of information.  This is a serious downfall of the series.

I think Real Science 4 Kids continues to grow in the homeschooling community because it introduces high-level vocabulary to young children.    Sure, throughout Chemistry, you’ll see atoms and molecules introduced, however there’s no discussion of states of matter, a basic of any chemistry education.  Instead, this text includes titration, polymers, starches, cellulose, kinesin, along with dozens of other chemistry topics.  They’re interesting, but without a better grounding in chemistry basics, they’re like building a house on a sand — it’s just not going to stand.

On the whole, I found the chapters to be little more than 4 to 5 page introductions to a large subject with little focus on the hows and the whys.  Science is far more that what.  Science requires an understanding of how the world works and a grounding in scientific thinking.  I’d rather see far less terminology and far more grounding in the basics of the way the world works along with the tools to think like a scientist.  I’d like to see more inquiry based learning, where the learner asks a question and, with a good amount of guidance initially, figures out how to design an experiment to answer the question.  I’d like to see discussion of controls and variables as well.  Singapore Science does these well, teaching  scientific thinking grounded in the basics of matter and energy.  (That’s another review for another day.)

In short, Real Science 4 Kids is an attractive product with labs geared toward the homeschool lab.  It’s expensive and won’t span too many years of science education, and it tends to focus on vocabulary acquisition rather than deep understanding.  It’s free of any references to evolution or the origin of life, which sells books but also, in my opinion, leads to an incomplete education if used as the only biology or astronomy text.

I’d like to say I’ve found something equally easy to use at home with greater depth and an undercurrent of evolution, but I haven’t.  Singapore Science, with modifications to many labs, is a better bet, in my opinion, but that’s a fairly large task.  A recent find from the American Chemical Society, Middle School Science, is a far superior chemistry offer, and is online for free.  It’s inquiry-driven, the supplies for labs are easy to obtain, and it is the most sound chemistry program I’ve ever seen.  More on that when we’re farther along.

Disclosure:  I’ve received no compensation in money or materials for this review.

Knowing My Place

I’ve become accustomed to small explosions.  For several days, my older enjoyed dropping aluminum foil balls into a test tube of sodium hydroxide capped with a stopper and tube that led to a bowl of soapy water.  Hydrogen bubbles soon would coat the top of the soapy water. Add a  lit match to the bubbles, and BOOM!  Very satisfying.

My older son is obsessed with chemistry.  For Christmas 2009, he asked for (and received)  the Thames and Kosmos Chem3000 kit.  No more baking soda and vinegar for him, he announced.  He wanted the real thing, and the Chem 3ooo kit is certainly that.  For several years, we’ve had a respectably stocked science cabinet with an assortment of glassware and a dozen or so compounds we’ve used for experiments.  When we started homeschooling five years ago, science education was a top priority for my older son and I, thus the collection.  While the glassware has seen regular use over the years, many of the chemicals have been used only once or twice.  Now they’re  regularly on the lab bench desk, and I’m delighted. 

Aside from the kit itself, his inspiration and information come from Theodore Gray’s books, The Periodic Table and Mad Science:  Experiments You Could Do at Home…but Probably Shouldn’t,  an assortment of websites,  and a few friends.  He’s a pretty cautious kid, thank goodness, so my safety-concious self is coping well, thank you.  It’s fire that worries me the most.  He’s fairly likely to forget the burner is on and pass a paper/sleeve/hand through the flame.  No injuries yet, but no flame allowed if I’m not on the same floor as my young scientist. I’m actively seeking an adult mentor for him, largely to keep myself out of the path of his learning.  Years of  special interests (space, electricity, meteorology, and more) have taught me my role in these interests: facilitate, don’t teach.  I may approve chemical purchases, suggest technique (obliquely is best), and keep the fire extinguisher handy, but I should keep my instructional hat off.  Ask probing questions?  Yes.  Insist on answers backed by research?  No.

Of course, formally,  we’re studying biology this year, not chemistry.  Chemistry is next year, at least on my schedule.  But for my older, the best part is now.  So I’ll drive to the library, find a mentor, answer questions when asked, and insist on eye protection.  But mostly, I’ll stand back and delight in his true satisfaction of teaching himself.

Here are a few favorite chemistry websites:

United Nuclear (Chemistry supply retailer now in Michigan.  Can you say “field trip”?)

Digital Lab Techniques (MIT open courseware videos)

The Periodic Table of Videos (These are quite fun, if you’re really into the elements)

Theodore Gray’s Website (The guy who wrote the books.)

The Elements Song  (By Tom Lehrer)

MakerSHED (Associated with MAKE magazine.  Great supplies)

Digest This

My small biology class (two boys) left the world of prokaryotes and jumped to animal form and function, although given my bent, it’s largely human anatomy and physiology.  This week, the digestive system. I love the digestive system.  Basically, we all have a tube running through us that isn’t us.  We’re like a stack of bagels, with the holes lined up to be our digestive system.  Sure, we secrete enzymes and the like and absorb nutrients, but much of what comes in the top goes out the other end, never becoming part of us.

It’s a pretty easy system to teach due to our intimate personal experience with it.  We all eat, we all excrete, and we’ve all had the system go wrong on us.  Experimenting with it, however, presents a bit more challenge.  We’d already chewed a bland cracker for long enough to taste the starch break into sugars thanks to amylase (a digestive enzyme secreted in the mouth).  After they’d read on the system, and I’d lectured on it a bit, I set them to design labs to explore amylase activity and ideal conditions for pepsin activity, (an enzyme that breaks down proteins in the stomach).  Each boy took a subject, and, after some research on their particular enzyme, asked a question to answer with an experiment of his own design.

Despite some initial anxiety from my own child (that blank page gets him every time), the boys did a brilliant job.  I’m quite a fan of inquiry learning, although I can easily get lazy and give the kids cookbook labs — instructions of what to do and why you’re doing it, outcome predictable.  Cookbook labs have their place, especially to teach a specific laboratory skill or to work with potentially dangerous materials.  I’m all for creative thinking, but safety comes first.   But one of the most important reasons to teach science is to foster scientific thinking.  ”Real” scientists study the world, ask questions, and then experiment.  The results of the experiment lead to more questions and more experimenting.  Scientific knowledge occurs in context, not in a vacuum.  When I read, I forget; what I do, I remember, and all that.

I’m eager to hear their lab presentations next week.  They’re terrific boys with amazing minds and boundless energy.  Some of that energy found its way to biology on Wednesday, and the minds followed.  Gotta love it.