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Mackfam
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| Posted: June 21 2011 at 5:56pm | IP Logged
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I can't say enough about the K'Nex sets...but they ARE pricey! I'm considering adding significantly to our ZOME collection this year to pursue a ZOME Geometry course...but it's also pricey! But my boys especially really respond to ZOMEs...anyway...still thinking on it.
Angel wrote:
| Jen, can I ask how you did your blog? Did you make a post with assignments for every day or week (or whatever) and just set them to post on the appropriate date? |
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Well, I've only just started building this blog for this Biology course, so I'm sure it will evolve as the year progresses so that it will be useful overall. It's not private, you can take a look if you like. (However, if anyone clicks through to look, please don't comment on the blog, that is reserved for my dd and I).
In general, I use the blog as a collection device, especially for online sources, and to outline work assignments. Most of the time, my dd will be reading, but special projects and link collections will be grouped and published on the blog. Some assignments will be posted here as well, but it may be random. I'll have to live it a bit to see what fits best, I guess. (What if I don't use it much at all? Possible.) I liked that I could directly link and group Biology ezines as easy-to-reference tabs across the top of the blog since my dd will do some work with current events in the field of Biology, and especially those that may relate to a topic she's studying. And we hope to keep some lab notes and lab assignments on the blog.
The assignments I've posted (only one so far on the Kingdoms of Life) are really just further collections that need a place to *live*.
Angel wrote:
| When I did the Wordpress blog, I had it set up in "units" and not divided into days. Every unit had a page with activities, reading, links - that kind of thing. |
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Yes, that's how I envision this blog working best for us as well. In chunks, or for a particular assignment, but not really a day-by-day log of assignments. We'll continue to use our paper lesson plans as a primary rudder for where to go and what to do next.
Well anyway, it's a work in progress, but I do like how I can keep everything together. The inspiration for the blog came from Willa's 9th grade planning blog. We really enjoyed making use of a blog that was subject-specific while we used Lingua Mater several years ago, and seeing how Willa was able to collect links and ideas in one place, especially when many resources were web based, allowed me to imagine that this might be a good fit for us in trying to contain collections of ideas in one place.
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Jen Mackintosh
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MichelleW
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| Posted: June 28 2011 at 6:40pm | IP Logged
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lapazfarm wrote:
Here is where I think looking at a sort of Reggio approach of project-based learning, conferencing with your kid and coming up with a project plan ahead of time would be helpful. Then you could do daily check-ins and weekly meetings to keep them on track, or adapt the plan as needed based on what is discovered while researching.
If I may share a bit of experience from my past,
when I taught at an Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound school we kicked off every "learning expedition" (basically a glorified unit-study) with a set of "leading questions." These were questions carefully crafted by the teacher to be very open-ended and very deep, so that students could approach them from many angles.
One example (say, for an earth science unit) would be something like:
"How does the earth continue to change over time?"
From this question we can see that to answer it completely, research could encompass both past, present and future processes of change on the earth. It may involve researching changes to both living and non-living systems, and could even involve political/ethical issues as well as science, math, economics, etc.
In other words, you could spend a lifetime on this one question! And typically we would craft three questions per expedition, and these would carry us over either 9 weeks or a semester's time, and incorporate every subject area.
I believe that if you were to craft a few questions like this, along with your child's input, you could certainly draw up a project plan to last as long as you wish.
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Ok, so this sounds fabulous, but I am so science impaired that I would love some help to come up with more of these. I can do science, but I find it hard to think science.
What kinds of questions would work for chemistry? For physics? My kids will be in 7th and 8th grades. I really need science help...
Thanks!!!
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Michelle
Mom to 3 (dd 14, ds 15, and ds 16)
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MichelleW
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I am bumping because I am really sweating science. What I really really want for my kids is an inductive study of science. Please help!
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Michelle
Mom to 3 (dd 14, ds 15, and ds 16)
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mariB
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Working on this too! Kind of doing science spanning over four years with our 15 year old. Did single classes with my other two high schoolers. Did Bio last year and still doing more bio with a natural history combo for tenth grade. Then...Chemistry and then ???
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marib-Mother to 22ds,21ds,18ds,15dd,11dd and wife to an amazing man for 23 years
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Misty
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I just read this older post about not using a text book for Science. I am wondering if any of you did this and found favor with it?
I was reading over 2 sites that have some wonderful lists of living books and I thought why not? Also, some online videos' for labs.
Has anyone not done labs in the home but watched online? I feel there is so much out there and might be a better fit for my children. Or do you think it's that important to have them dissecting in the home per say?
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Misty
Mom to ds16, ds15, ds13, ds11, ds8, dd6, dd4
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Mackfam
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Misty wrote:
I just read this older post about not using a text book for Science. I am wondering if any of you did this and found favor with it?
I was reading over 2 sites that have some wonderful lists of living books and I thought why not? Also, some online videos' for labs.
Has anyone not done labs in the home but watched online? I feel there is so much out there and might be a better fit for my children. Or do you think it's that important to have them dissecting in the home per say? |
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We have done this for three years now and it has really worked well for us. We have used a textbook a couple of times as a reference point, but never as the basis for an entire high school science class. It's a really good fit for our family. We've finished Biology and Physical Science as yearly courses and we're working on Chemistry this year, but we've also done a lot of Ornithology and Botany that extend beyond our regular courses.
We've used Khan Academy lectures (free) for both Biology and now Chemistry and really enjoy them. We use a combination of labs we find online as well as those we do at home; I think there is value in both. One of our favorite "lab" tools for Chemistry this year is an ipad app called Chemist. We can use a variety of chemicals and compounds, "virtually" add them to our beaker, and see the results...sometimes intentionally cause explosions (a favorite goal of my sons!)....all from the safety of the ipad. It's a great lab app!
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Jen Mackintosh
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Misty
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| Posted: Aug 24 2012 at 1:33pm | IP Logged
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Wonderful.. Cause I am leaning toward this approach as my kids can read through a "book" a lot faster than a textbook. I also, think their ability to get more involved might be spikes more with this approach as the textbook makes them feel like they need to do a. b. and then c.
Jen.. I am new to highschool and wondering then for say biology.. they read book and you just kept track of what they were and the hours? Then kept notes on papers writen or labs done? Also, same for anything you did online or in the home? Does this sound about right?
Thanks for your thoughts.
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Mackfam
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Misty wrote:
| Wonderful.. Cause I am leaning toward this approach as my kids can read through a "book" a lot faster than a textbook. |
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A faster read isn't necessarily a better read. I do pace my high schooler's reading of living science books, and you might be surprised at how slow this reading can sometimes be. (Example: 2 pages a day in Joy of Chemistry) It is paced for a reason though. The material is meaty and rich, and fast reading squanders the rich feast they're reading about. Slower reading also allows the student time to consider ideas presented, turning them over in the mind, which in turn generally leads to them seeking avenues of an idea they'd like to explore further - either through additional independent reading or a lab.
Misty wrote:
| I also, think their ability to get more involved might be spikes more with this approach as the textbook makes them feel like they need to do a. b. and then c. |
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This has certainly been our experience. The learning is grounded in the passion of various author's on their subject of expertise, and that passion is at times inspiring, while it is always at the very least sincere, reasonable and engaging.
Misty wrote:
| Jen.. I am new to highschool and wondering then for say biology.. they read book and you just kept track of what they were and the hours? Then kept notes on papers writen or labs done? Also, same for anything you did online or in the home? Does this sound about right? |
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Correct. For Biology my dd kept a simple composition notebook as a Biology notebook and used it to record written narrations from her reading, the Khan Academy Biology lectures, and her lab notes. Many of her written narrations were illustrations and diagrams with labels. This notebook was her responsibility. We're doing the same thing for Chemistry this year because the simple composition notebook worked so well. We taped the Periodic Table of Elements in the front as a fold-out and she's journaling her way through the Periodic Table as well as recording written narrations from her reading, Khan Academy Chemistry lectures, and lab notes.
I keep track of her reading list for the science of the year, the time spent, also keeping in mind the mastery and understanding of the concepts she conveyed, as a way of calculating "credit hours".
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Jen Mackintosh
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Wildflowers and Marbles
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Mackfam
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Mackfam wrote:
| I keep track of her reading list for the science of the year, the time spent, also keeping in mind the mastery and understanding of the concepts she conveyed, as a way of calculating "credit hours". |
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I wanted to clarify this a little further. I keep track of average time spent on a subject. We don't keep a "time log", clocking her in and out of Biology reading for the day. Some days reading and labs and investigations comprise a considerable amount of time, other days it's less. I take the average to calculate a credit hour's worth of studies for the year...and I allow mastery of concepts and material to trump any arbitrary mathematical equation that is supposed to yield "one credit hour".
That's just how we work it. I'm sure others can (and hopefully will  ) chime in and offer other perspectives for how high school science without a text can look!
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Jen Mackintosh
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Erin
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Bumping this thread. Came over to find this and share with a fellow Aussie blogger, the information and ideas shared here is brilliant 
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pumpkinmom
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I wanted to bump this thread up. I'm trying to plan science for next school year for my 8th grader and I realize that I need to do some high school planning along side. I need to make sure he is ready for what is planned in 9th grade and above.
Does anyone have anything else to add? This thread is 4 years old, so some of you may have gone through a few years of high school science or almost completed it. Any more thoughts?
I've not had any luck with using text books with my boys and I really don't see us trying to use them in high school, but I'm worried about knowing what to cover.
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Cassie
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Erin
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Cassie
Adding Science Matters - Robert Hazen
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Erin
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Mackfam
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pumpkinmom wrote:
Does anyone have anything else to add? This thread is 4 years old, so some of you may have gone through a few years of high school science or almost completed it. Any more thoughts?
I've not had any luck with using text books with my boys and I really don't see us trying to use them in high school, but I'm worried about knowing what to cover. |
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My oldest will graduate in the spring, Cassie, and we completed high school science without a textbook for her. I'm not sure I have anything more to add, except to say that I'm more certain than ever that this is what we will continue doing with the rest of the children. Each of my children is very, VERY different in terms of passion and aptitude with regard to the sciences, yet in spite of their differences, I see this method of approaching science a universal fit because it can meet the child. The child is not struggling/working or even outpacing/bored-with the "curriculum".
My next child is an extremely science passionate kid. He has already completed a great deal of high school level science reading, so we're just going to continue what we've always done here - a little wider and a little deeper.
I will affirm again our experience with the Khan Academy lectures for all high school level science courses. It's just an EXCELLENT resource and if I had to identify a "spine" -- Khan Academy lectures are it!
As far as what to cover - pick a field of study, and then search here! That's what I did! Admittedly, high school science without a text is not popular (even in CM circles), and there just aren't many good book lists and ideas for it, but there ARE some, and what I've found is meaty enough that we still have to walk away from some great options.
** Search the archives here - Theresa/lapazfarm has offered great suggestions over the years.
** MacBeth's high school science recommendations have been invaluable to me over the years.
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Jen Mackintosh
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Mimip
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| Posted: Feb 06 2014 at 5:31am | IP Logged
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I came to this thread from a link up and needed to read it desperately!!!!
So, what about 8th grade physical Science? My oldest daughter loves Science but the Math part is really holding her up. I used to teach Science to our Home school co OP and taught using the Apologia texts. So naturally after using their k-6 texts transitioned into using their General Science book last year (it was okay, not stellar) and added some living books as well but this year it's HORRIBLE! She literally cries when I get the book out and we are only in Module 4!!!! It's February and I'm seriously thinking of starting with something else but WHAT?
Here's what I want:
Physical Science at a 8-9th grade level so that next year she can take Biology.
Do I just find another text? Or do I try to find living books? I'm so frustrated I haven't even searched here in the archives. Okay, I'm off to do that but I know some of you have done this so was hoping you had some words of wisdom. Off to search....
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Mimi
Wife of 16 years to Tom, Mom of DD'00, DD'02, '04(in heaven) DS'05, DS'08 and DS '12
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Mackfam
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Hi Mimi,
This is our booklist from a 9th grade Physical Science course (using living books only - no text). This 9th grader completed a pretty heavy Natural History course (emphasis on Zoology) alongside this Physical Science course. I spread these books out across 3 terms, she completed some labs alongside her reading (her reading just naturally prompted our lab choices - we didn't follow a lab book).
This was a positive course for us, and a good introduction to physical science. I really wish that this child had completed this Physical Science course in 8th grade, but she isn't a *science passionate* kid, and needed a good intro before we dug into high school level sciences and this course served that purpose. She followed it with Biology in 10th grade, Chemistry in 11th grade, and Conceptual Physics (not Calculus based) in 12th grade.
9th grade Physical Science
GENERAL
Creator and Creation by Mary Daly
Copernicus, Galileo, and the Catholic Sponsorship of Science by Jane Meyerhofer
CHEMISTRY
The Chemical History of a Candle by Michael Faraday
The Mystery of the Periodic Table by Benjamin Wiker
Periodic Table of Elements Videos -- University of Nottingham
METEOROLOGY
The Invention of Clouds: How an Amateur Meteorologist Forged the Language of the Skies by Richard Hamblyn
GEOLOGY
Basin and Range by John McFee
The Practical Geologist by Dougal Dixon
The Sea Around Us by Rachel Carson
The Seashell on the Mountaintop: A Story of Science, Sainthood, and the Humble Genius who Discovered a New History of the Earth by Alan Cutler
PHYSICS
The Flying Circus of Physics by Jearl Walker
Instant Physics by Tony Rothman (read later but really fits here as a good, understandable intro to Physics)
Physical Science
ASTRONOMY
Brother Astronomer - Adventures of a Vatican Scientist by Guy Consolmagno
Turn Left at Orion by Guy Consolmagno, Dan Davis
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Jen Mackintosh
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Mimip
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| Posted: Feb 06 2014 at 11:32am | IP Logged
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Bless you Jen!!!!!
I went to my daughter this morning while she was still in bed and talked to her about Her Science this year and she was thrilled with a chance to "start over" Physical Science. She even was willing to committing to doing it over the summer break to catch up!!!!!
Off to order books!!!!
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Mimi
Wife of 16 years to Tom, Mom of DD'00, DD'02, '04(in heaven) DS'05, DS'08 and DS '12
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pumpkinmom
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Thank you Jen!
We are doing a very similiar study to finish up this year and next year (8th). I had it on my wishlist to see what books you used, but hadn't made it there yet.
I see my oldest doing biology in 9th, Chemistry in 10th, and Physics in 11th. Since dh and I both have degrees in the biology field I'm hoping he is up for some sort of "advanced" biology course in 12th grade but we will leave that open to focusing on what interest him if it isn't biology.
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Cassie
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Mackfam
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Y'all are both so welcome! Glad to be a booklist starting point!
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Jen Mackintosh
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MaryM
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That is a great list, Jen.
Last year I taught our co-op's Physical Science class for this age. I used the Prentice Hall Physical Science book - not as a text for students, but as a reference for me for topics to cover. We did the whole class as demonstrations and experiments.
Another option that relies heavily on experiments and demonstration is The Rainbow course from Beginnings Publishing. It is designed as a 7th-9th grade curriculum. They have one year of physical/chemical science and one of life/earth science. The text reading is a little more conversational so has living discussion kind of feel. Some don't care for that style, but I think many non-science oriented students are more drawn to it. I think it is a good middle school option and you can focus on the experiment/demo side. The nice thing is that they have all the experiments and all the materials ready for you so it makes it very easy for a parent who doesn't want to be gathering everything.
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Misty
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Jen - just trying to clarify.. the list above is for your daughters 9th grade science full year class. Did you ever post the other science classes and book lists here or anywhere? 
My 1st son is doing great with Apologia, but my 2nd son did ok with General science (at least enough for me), but is really struggling this year through Physical science. Next year is Biology and I would love to do more of a living book approach!
Thanks Misty
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4Real Forums : High School Years and Beyond
Topic: high school science without a textbook
