It’s Secular Thursday!
(Okay. So it’s actually Saturday as I’m sure you are aware, but I’m still getting in this Secular Thursday rhythm, so bear with me here. I’m also trying to work up some sort of witty Secular Thursday intro to use regularly, but the coughing spasms are interfering with my creativity for the moment.)
Anyway, those who pop by here regularly or are stuck with our company out and about in the big, bad real world will recall that Athena has expressed interest in adding physics to the agenda for next school year. This means Crunchy Mama has been back on the secular science hunt. And contrary to the Associated Press’ recent lame assertion, I feel that there is a fair amount of material to check out. This year, it is looking like by the time we wrap things up, we will have torn through solidly two and maybe three chemistry spines. So when I say I’m looking for physics material, I mean I need several different options. We use just oodles of supplementary materials, living books, documentaries, web resources and such, but Athena and I both like to use curricula as a tool to sort of outline our study and keep us on track during the year.
I already have one or two curricular options on hand, but I was still in the market for another as crazy as that sounds. Athena has really enjoyed Mr. Q’s Classic Science, which has been one of our primary chemistry spines this year. So I fully intend to use his physics edition next year as one resource; possibly in a group setting. I’m also looking over the Thames & Kosmos kits and since Athena also wants to continue further with chemistry, maybe Ellen J. McHenry’s Carbon Chemistry which I already have on hand. But I wanted one more spine to have available and utilize depending on how the year unfolds. I refuse to use Real Science 4 Kids for a few different reasons (hence no linky love for them) so I was mostly considering the other main options I knew about for the level she needs right now: REAL Science Odyssey vs. Prentice Hall’s Science Explorer vs. the fairly new, homeschool mom written Science Logic. Unfortunately, REAL Science Odyssey and Science Logic do not yet contain any physics specific material and probably wont for some time if ever. I’m still following Makita’s posts on her Science Logic blog though to see how her program develops. If I run out of chemistry materials to keep Athena happy any time soon, I might try out Cool Chemistry since it’s relatively inexpensive and the sample pages look intriguing. Science Explorer has gotten great reviews from those I know who use it, but I really intend to wait and hang onto that as a possibility for a few years from now. There’s nothing like curricular discontent to make a homeschooling mom go a’hunting. And a’hunting I did go. I found what I was looking for on the shelves of a local homeschool center and store that regularly seeks out secular materials from a variety of publishers that homeschoolers sometimes overlook. I love that, by the way.
The program is from Great Source. It’s available directly from the publisher and through Rainbow Resource Center and I’m sure other places, but since I already have mine in hand, I didn’t bother tracking that information down. The first part of the program is the Sciencesaurus Handbook. It is the book that contains the bulk of the reading material. I have the Grade 6-8 book (grade level assigned by the publisher,) but there are two other volumes available for Grades 2-3 and 4-5. It’s colorful without being distractingly so and has hefty amount of high quality science material in it on the various topics grouped roughly by Life, Earth and Physical Science. Then there are the Science Daybooks that come with it. There are no Daybooks at the Grade 2-3 level, only one Daybook at the Grade 4-5 level, but three at the Grade 6-8 level. The Grade 6-8 level books are broken down by Life, Earth and Physical Science Daybooks. In the Daybooks, the student can read supplementary material on a topic often tied into “real world” issues or history topics, references the right sections of the Sciencesaurus book for further information, log onto the web and use a keyword and access code from the book for more information on the topic and answer comprehension and critical thinking questions related to the material. The Teacher Guides for the Daybooks include information for further discussion and scripted extension activities, enrichment ideas and easy hands-on experiments. Each Daybook at the Grade 6-8 level has about sixty lessons in it give or take, so I can see that you could use the one Sciencesaurus book and the three Daybooks for about three years worth of science easily.
The way I foresee us using this is starting in the Daybook with the initial short readings there. Then we can follow the referenced pages in Sciencesaurus and the SciLinks (Athena loves internet linked stuff.) After that we can return to the Daybook to do the critical thinking exercises and cap the lesson off with the enrichment activity/experiment from the Teacher Guide. Given the asynchronicity between Athena’s reading and writing abilities and her science comprehension level, I anticipate a fair amount of reading aloud on my part (what else is new?) and lots more discussion than independent reading and writing. But I think that might work to my advantage as using the material that way may allow me to purchase only one of each of the Daybooks, yet revisit them with more than one child over our family’s entire homeschooling career. And what homeschooler doesn’t like stretching his or her curriculum dollar? As I mentioned before, I do like how it ties science concepts into “real life.” Force and motion? Let’s talk rollercoasters and segways then. Magnetism? How about those maglev trains, eh? And it ties into history well. For example, a lesson on simple machines visits Leonardo DaVinci’s legacy and one on electricity naturally addresses the work of Thomas Edison.
I purchased the Sciencesaurus book, the Physical Science Daybook and the Physical Science Teacher Guide for use next year, so after we’ve taken it out for a spin, I’ll be happy to share how it’s gone. If Athena takes to it, then I’ll invest in the Earth and Life Science Daybooks as well.
I’m always all ears for any other secular science spines other homeschoolers have really dug into and enjoyed, so please feel free to let me know if you’ve got a suggestion for me to take a look at. Go on and enable a curricula junkie. You know you wanna!
Also, as a quick science aside– in response to the AP article, there is a new Facebook group for homeschoolers who teach and discuss the accurate science of evolution in their homes. If you’re the Facebook type, click here to check it out and consider joining the fun. It’s worth the click just for the link to the creator, Cara’s, blog post with several useful evolution teaching resources.
