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Becky Parker
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| Posted: April 20 2012 at 3:27pm | IP Logged
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Well, I just lost a very long post so now I'm frustrated! I will make this next one short and sweet!
Bottom line is that I'm really interested in using Jen's ideas for science and history next year for my ds who will be in 6th grade.
I just wonder, these are some long lists of wonderful looking resources, but would it be too much for my ds? I know it's hard to answer that since you don't know him but I will tell you that he will be in 6th grade and has just really started reading this year. He reads the Redwall series and has read the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, so I think he's up to grade level. I just don't want to pile too much on him. Luckily, he enjoys reading (finally).
What do you think? ARe there some things that I should cut out? Any absolulte musts, Jenn (or anyone else who has used these resources)?
And, if I may, one more question  - regarding nature study I have decided to use some books for read alouds. We get out a lot in the fall and spring but it's nice to do "fireside nature study" in the winter when the weather is too nasty. I have several books on my wish list but I don't think I should get them all. Trouble is, I don't know which ones to throw back! I'd love your opinions here too! This is my list (so far  )
Among the _____ People There are actually several of these.
The Burgess Bird Book and the Burgess Animal Book for Children
A Field Guide to the Familiar
Outdoor Secrets
Thanks!
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Mackfam
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| Posted: April 20 2012 at 4:51pm | IP Logged
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Becky Parker wrote:
| Well, I just lost a very long post so now I'm frustrated! I will make this next one short and sweet! |
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Oh ugh! I'm so sorry about that, Becky! That IS really frustrating!
I have a few minutes before my next load of laundry is dry, so I thought I'd try to come give you some quick ideas here.
Becky Parker wrote:
| Bottom line is that I'm really interested in using Jenn's ideas for science |
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This study was largely child-propelled for a son that is a very hands-on learner. That meant the thrust of his learning was through exploring in hands-on projects (the K'Nex). We talked together a lot, and my son told me areas of interest, I'd find books to feed the interest. This is a passionate area for my son, so the list of books you saw might indeed seem quite large!
SIMPLIFIED
I'd say that if your son would enjoy a study in engineering, I'd work with Macauley's book and the K'Nex sets. And that's it.
IF....IF....IF....he voices interest in learning about a few areas, you can find a book or two to flesh out that area a bit more.
I'd also consider watching a Mythbusters that coordinates! These are fantastic and most often centered around Physics principles. We enjoyed a lot of for this study. Many are available on Netflix.
Does that help at all? That's one book, some enjoyable Physics programming, and hands-on projects using K'Nex. And more reading as desired.
Becky Parker wrote:
| and history next year for my ds who will be in 6th grade. |
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Assuming that you're really interested in studying this period of history, I'll give you the must-haves and don't-miss-this-book list: (and I can't link because my dryer is about to beep.  )
SIMPLIFIED
Castle and Cathedral by David Macauley - easy reads and highly visual
King Arthur and His Knights by Mabel Robinson
The Red Keep by Allen French
Joan of Arc by Nancy Wilson Ross
The Adventures of Marco Polo by Richard Walsh
Ships Boy with Magellan by William Lomask
Man of Two Worlds: Sir Walter Raleigh by Henrietta Buckmaster (Landmark series)
Cartier Sails the St. Lawrence retold by Esther Averill
The Explorations of Pere Marquette by Jim Kjelgaard (Landmark series)
and....Design Your Own Coat of Arms
That's 10 books, divided by 3 terms...would be roughly 3 books/term. Of course, you could certainly whittle this down more, or add and subtract. The books recommended are almost all older Landmarks, and as such, are eminently readable, especially to someone that has read LoTR.
Is this a help, Becky?
Becky Parker wrote:
| I just wonder, these are some long lists of wonderful looking resources, but would it be too much for my ds? I know it's hard to answer that since you don't know him but I will tell you that he will be in 6th grade and has just really started reading this year. He reads the Redwall series and has read the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, so I think he's up to grade level. I just don't want to pile too much on him. Luckily, he enjoys reading (finally). |
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Some of this is just a matter of layering and scheduling appropriately. The content will be fine for him. You may just have to get some plans down on paper with what *seems* a reasonable level of reading, and re-evaluate after a couple of weeks. This is EXACTLY what I have to do every year, and I HAVE eliminated books from the schedule at this re-evaluation. I also expect some disciplined work, so this isn't meant to be easy; and I do allow the reading (both content and amount) to gently stretch the children.
My dryer just beeped...so I'll quickly try to get to your last question....
Love this idea and we do this, too! It's a great way to use nature study reading time! The Burgess books are meaty, and both of the selections you mention above took us a year, sometimes a little more, to get through. If you're looking for a book to read through the winter term, I wouldn't recommend the Burgess books, but if you'd use one book for the entire year's worth of nature study read aloud time, either would be good.
I'm not familiar with A Field Guide to the Familiar, but it looks fantastic! Thanks for mentioning it.
Outdoor Secrets is short and fairly simple to get through. This would be my recommendation if this book is only to be read aloud for one term.
The Among the... books are good, but not my favorites. I'd defer to other books first.
Another option is to pick a naturalist and read aloud from his works for the year. We've been doing this for several years now and it allows us to become familiar with the style and specialties of various naturalists.
Ack...I'm typing fast! Got to get to that laundry! Hope this has been somewhat helpful, Becky!
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Mackfam
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| Posted: April 20 2012 at 5:08pm | IP Logged
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I wanted to quickly add that our history that year was sort of combined in a bit of a strange way...we covered Middle Ages and World Exploration, but you could choose to focus on only one of those areas. My son read several books on the Middle Ages/Knighthood independently, so I picked up a few extra books in this area to flesh out some context of the period, and then just combined reading of that period with a healthy dose of explorers and exploration.
The books on explorers could easily stand on their own for a year's worth of reading.
Or if you wanted to just focus on reading of the Middle Ages, I could give you some other book ideas to really flesh that out. I know there are others here that could chime in on great book ideas for the Middle Ages as well.
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: April 20 2012 at 5:15pm | IP Logged
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I'll comment only on the nature study books since I'm not familiar with Jenn's History and science lists.
Burgess books are probably too immature for a 6th grade boy as a read aloud. Same with "among" books.
Field guide to the Familiar is EXCELLENT! Highly recommend this title.
For this age I would recommend books by Ernest Thompson Seton, such as Wild Animals I have Known, Biography of a Grizzly and Woodland tales among many others. They are free in public domain and are just wonderful living nature books perfect for your son's age.
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Mackfam
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| Posted: April 20 2012 at 5:28pm | IP Logged
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Oh, that's true, Theresa's right. Burgess would be too immature for a 6th grader. I was thinking of a nature study read aloud for the entire family, so that it might need to span several ages and you'd err on the side of youngers, but if it's just for the 6th grader, the writing would not be engaging for him.
And I totally agree about the Seton books!!! They're fantastic for a 6th grader! Wild Animal Ways and Wild Animals I Have Known are both excellent! The Year Round by C.J. Hylander would be another fantastic read aloud for this purpose.
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: April 20 2012 at 5:33pm | IP Logged
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Mackfam wrote:
| The Year Round by C.J. Hylander would be another fantastic read aloud for this purpose. |
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Love that book! I didn't think anyone else had it! I should have known Jen would!LOL!
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Mimip
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| Posted: April 20 2012 at 7:49pm | IP Logged
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Ladies,
I see that Amazon has The Year Round. Would it be good for me in South Florida? Sometimes I get these Nature study books and they sit on my shelf because it simply does not apply to us for 10 months out of the year.
Sorry for the OFF topic
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lapazfarm
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Mimip wrote:
Ladies,
I see that Amazon has The Year Round. Would it be good for me in South Florida? Sometimes I get these Nature study books and they sit on my shelf because it simply does not apply to us for 10 months out of the year.
Sorry for the OFF topic |
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I know exactly what you mean!Having lived in South Florida and now in Alaska, there are very few of these older nature study books that are applicable to those areas.
This one is definitely geared toward the Northeast US, so you'd have to adapt much of it to your climate, though there should be some overlap in the most ubiquitous species.
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lapazfarm
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Mimi, have you seen this one?
Young Naturalist's Guide to Florida
I found it to be the most relevant for Florida.
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Becky Parker
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Thanks for the great nature book suggestions Jen and Theresa! I will check those out. I am thinking about a family read aloud here, mostly for my 9, 11, and 13 year olds. The younger kids just color and listen in, grasping what they can.
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| Posted: April 21 2012 at 6:37am | IP Logged
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Jen, thanks so much for taking the time (between dryer loads  ) to type that all out. It is very helpful.
I'm going to pare down the science a lot and just start with the "New Way Things Work", and maybe one other book. We'll also get the K'Nex kits. I saw them in the Emmanuel catalog and wanted to get them last year. I held off and now I'm glad I did since I can use them for a whole science study. I can always add more in if we need to. For that matter, I have TOPS kits for Magnetism and Electricity that I can bring out if I need to.
I'm so excited about history because I think my ds is just going to love it. My dd will be following the MODG syllabus for 8th grade (she is enrolled) so she and her brother will be able to do some things together.
I like the idea of having him study the explorers as well though. I think we tend to skim over these, the kids forget who discovered what, (except Christopher Columbus) and then we move right into American History. I want to spend more time with the explorers so I really like your suggestions Jen. There's another book I was looking at, ARound the World in 100 Years . Does anyone have experience with that one? There's another one, Explorer's Who Got Lost but that might be too much.
Thanks for all your help. I'm having fun just planning this one!
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Grace&Chaos
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Hi Becky, late with some opinion here. My oldest didn't take to Burgess but just loved Seton. This was her first Natural History reading (Wild Animals I Have Known) and she was hooked. I haven't heard of the two explorer books you've mentioned but we are going to give M.B. Synge a try next year: A Book of Discovery.
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It's a good book, quite humorous, but will be a little young for your 6th grader. It'd be great if you have youngers following along with their reading of the period.
It's an interesting book, but it gets a little top-heavy with details and facts so that it can be somewhat hard to read and enjoy. It's less of a story narrative and more a collection of interesting and hardly known facts.
Grace&Chaos wrote:
| Hi Becky, late with some opinion here. My oldest didn't take to Burgess but just loved Seton. |
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I've been thinking about those silly Burgess books since you posted, Becky. And I have no idea why! But, I did want to come back and echo the same. My kids loved Thornton Burgess books like The Adventures of Reddy Fox, but just for enjoyable reading. Like Jenny's daughter, my kids and I really had a hard time getting into the Burgess nature study books like his Bird book and Animal book. We MUCH, MUCH preferred Fabre's books like Storybook of Science and The Secret of Everyday Things, and Seton's books, and Arabella Buckley.
Becky Parker wrote:
| Thanks for the great nature book suggestions Jen and Theresa! I will check those out. I am thinking about a family read aloud here, mostly for my 9, 11, and 13 year olds. The younger kids just color and listen in, grasping what they can. |
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I have another recommendation for you then...Stories for the Nature Hour by Ada and Eleanor Skinner. It's a lovely collection of absolutely charming and delightful stories that works well as a read aloud for a wide age group. The group of stories were compiled by the Skinner sisters, and some were written by them, but most of the stories are authored by others. Here are some authors you might recognize:
The Snowdrop by Hans Christian Anderston
The Boy Who Discovered Spring by Raymond MacDonald Alden
Robin Redbreast by Selma Lagerloff
The Dragon Fly by Mrs. Alfred Gatty ....who wrote Parables from Nature which is on the AO list. By the way, Gatty's book, Parables would make a good read aloud because it works better as a group narration. It's a tough book to narrate. It's helpful when the group of kids narrate together because they can prompt each other. The dragonfly story is not in her Parables collection. ...and there are many, many other authors, and the collection is really quite enjoyable. I'm sure I'm just making this harder for you to whittle down, rather than easier, but file that little treasure away for "one day" because it's a good one!
So many of Ada and Eleanor Skinner's books are available free, so I'm not sure why this one isn't??  If you can find it for a good price, it's worth it. I found my (March 1920) copy and received it and it has a wonderful inscription in it:
Quote:
With love to May for highest marks in PNEU work
From A. C. Ellis
Feb. 12th 1931 |
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Isn't that neat?
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Angel
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| Posted: April 21 2012 at 1:38pm | IP Logged
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Not that you need another title, Becky, but I just bought a book that would go along with the engineering study. It's a history of engineering, published in the late 50's so some of it is outdated, but definitely a living book:
The Boy Engineer
I bought it because my dad has his original copy of The Boy Scientist, its companion book.
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Becky, just had to pop in with our favorite explorer's book: The World's Most Daring Explorers
It does cover a range of explorers up to the 20th century. I got this after seeing it recommended at Mater Amabilis. My ds loved it. It is written in a storyline style and there are multiple line drawings in the margins similar to the Holling C. Holling books.
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Mimip
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Off to order at Amazon! 
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Mimi
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Too Much?
