Another spring, and yet another year of frustration with homeschool science curricula. Why doesn't someone out there write a homeschool friendly secular science curriculum for secondary students? It seems that all the options out there are either boring school texts, with completely unaffordable teaching materials, or Apologia. What about the kids who like more hands-on exploration and experimentation?
You would think that with a co-op as wonderful as ours, the science dilemna would be over. But alas, I designed our group for the teacher's to choose their own curriculum (since they are volunteers). And our lead science teacher has been teaching with Apologia for years, and while she doesn't love it , she is also a very busy full-time physician at the local hospital. She doesn't want to reinvent the wheel with all new lesson planning, and her two youngest are ready for physcial science this year.
However, that leaves me in the lurch. HoneyGirl loves the woman who is teaching the class, but one look at the textbook made her cringe. "Mom, science has got to be about more than learning lists of vocabulary words!"
My girl wants to take the principles and ideas and run with them.
Time restrictions have always been the thing that kept me from taking on full out science beyond the environmental. I am not strong in the field, and as such relied too heavily on pre-packaged curriculum. But next year, Buzz is off to college, and Honey is taking a large number of classes at the co-op, relieving me of much of the burdens of planning. I finally have the time to make science a subject that is living and dynamic at home.
I now have the perfect oppotunity to take the plunge into "guided rabbit trail science. " I picked the brain of dear friend who also teaches at the co-op that just happens to have a PhD in biophysics and cell biology. She has researched this dilemna a ton more than I have, and she offered some great suggestions. We had a wonderful brainstorming session, and she gave me a great wealth of ideas.
Then, HoneyGirl and I sat and had our own brainstorming session. She is always so attuned to her learning desires, and offered great insight. She wants to do a few 6-8 week units, with lots of hands on projects. She is definitely interested in physical science, chemistry, human biology and conservation science.
Physical Science is pretty easy, thanks to a lead from my friend. Science MaTe has solid online curriculum that is secular, fairly completed and FREE. I'm going to gather up a number of resources on fun labs and activities, and create unit boxes for her. Books like Teaching Physics with Toys and Hands On Physcial Science Activities will be great jumping off places. Having boxes filled with bottles, alka selzer, rockets, magnets, and thermometers will surely tempt!
Science MaTe also has curriculum for human biology, which can be the bones for another unit. I am going to have to research a book I had seen a while back, full of experiments on the human body that the student performs on the self through fitness, diet, etc. that should be quite fun. I'll post when I locate the title.
I am still looking for a nice chemistry unit, but this interests me: Principles of Alchemy. I need to do more research, but again, this might be great bones that I can add to the box approach. I have seen some great stuff on teaching period table , and we have one of those CHEM LAB 2000 setting around. Send unique lab suggestions please!
Lastly, I pondered ideas about conservation science. We have done so much through all the years of environmental science about reduced carbon footprint and recycling, etc. This is 9th grade, and we both want something bigger. Then I remembered a kit I was drooling over in the science center gift shop: Thames and Kosmos Power House.
From the manufacturer:
Learn to Use Sustainable Resources to Survive!
You are about to be stranded on an island, where you will need to learn to live sustainably using the resources available to you on the small island. To survive, you must learn how to harness the power of the sun and the wind as well as tap the energy of other physical forces. You will read the journal entries of islanders and build models of the same projects or conduct the same experiments right alongside them.
You’ll build a model house complete with solar panels, windmill, greenhouse, and desalination system. You can build and operate an electric train, solar cooker, solar hot water tank, hygrometer, electric motor, power hoist, sail car and more! This kit includes a 96-page full color manual with 70 experiments and 20 building projects.
This is a great starting point for activities, that we can then follow down rabbit trails further to explore the science and current technology trends. Not sure if I am going to purchase the kit, or just steal the ideas and search for plans on the internet to do full-size models of the various experiments.
Yes, science is suddenly looking much more interesting!
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6 comments:
How timely, Amelia is just doing her science lesson right now and I was thinking about the curriculum she is doing and how much dry, busy work there is associated with this book (Oak Meadow- Earth Science). I was just thinking about what to do for next year, what is essential?, what does she really need to know?, are endless vocabulary list really necessary?, is there something that uses hands on learning and then backs it up with some meaningful book work? It really makes me value the science teachers I had in school, I never found science boring, maybe a bit repetitive though. Suddenly I am thinking it may just be me unwilling to do all the work necessary to teach this subject.
I definitely know what you are saying about the lack of good science stuff. (I personally would rather gouge out my eyes than use Apologia.)What you have come up with sounds good. I have been drooling over that Power house kit for years now. But the pricetag...ouch!
Oh, and don't forget about the power of an excellent documentary. For your human biology course there is a Discovery Channel series called Human Body: pushing the limits, which is available on Netflix and is really, really good. And there are tons of great physical science DVDs like Building Big, Extreme Machines, etc. We also have enjoyed a series called "Rough Science" which is kind of cheesy but fun and interesting.
Anyway, have fun with it!I look forward to seeing what you do with it all.
This is why I started community college early - for the science! I did all my high school level science at the local community college.
Have you looked at Amsco. I used them for Marine Science, Biology and Physical Science.
http://homebiology.blogspot.com/2008/10/free-biology-texts-from-amsco.html
I hear you on the frustration about trying to find good resources for science that don't take a "Young Earth" Creationist viewpoint. You'd think these days there would be a big enough market given the expansion in popularity of homeschooling.
Thank you for all these fabulous ideas! I'm one of the organizers of a local homeschool co-op, and we're about to start planning for next year, so this is perfect timing!
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