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ALmom
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| Posted: July 20 2009 at 9:12pm | IP Logged
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What do you do with a 7th grade science fan? I need to provide materials and loose structure, but this kid will honestly invent his own experiements though this mama feels better if I have a few things like homescience tools kits to kind of jump start the process in a new field or experiments in some kind of book - (but since we bought almost everything in chemistry and physical science last year, there isn't much money this year). Is there a basic spine. Most everything I've seen that is written as a text for 7th or 8th graders, he's already done and learned that stuff.
We are thinking maybe astronomy and life science will be our focus - but if there are some really deep botany, that might work as well since he is the expert gardener at this house. He has done quite a bit on his own in botany so he'll have a lot of knowledge already.
I'm kind of lost. I am not a science person so I have no clue what to look for. Mostly, I pick up something, have my son look at it and then if it looks good, we go with it. Right now, I'm not sure I have much in the house that this son hasn't read. I did just pick up a book on Entymology, and I have Astronomy for All Ages.
I'm open to any and all suggestions. I have to have my books ordered and my booklist into my school by Thursday. Can you tell, I'm panicing 
Janet
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Birdie
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| Posted: July 20 2009 at 11:02pm | IP Logged
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Janet,
I chose Christian Kids Explore Chemistry this year. I have never used this series so I don't know how it will go, but from the description it looked like something my science minded 6th and 7th grader might enjoy. I figured my nine year old could follow along as well. Here is a link:
http://www.brightideaspress.com/CKEChemistry.htm
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Susan (Birdie)
A Charlotte Mason Education
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ALmom
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| Posted: July 20 2009 at 11:14pm | IP Logged
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Susan:
He has done everything in the Kolbe Prentice Hall Physical Science text (first half is pretty intense chemistry, imo) except the math. He wants to learn to balance chemical equations but really needs a bit more math background before tackling that. He was going to try. He knows and understands the periodic table well enough to have explained chemistry concepts to my music dd to help her through her college course. I'm sure he will join in on the chemistry experiments my highschooler does for chemistry. That is my problem. I just don't know what to do with him. He is doing Singapore 6 B in math - probably move quickly through that, then I'll do a placement test and see what he is ready for. He wants to retackle this book once he begins Algebra. Until then, I just don't know what to do with him. I probably shouldn't worry and if I had endless money, I'd just have lots of stuff here because he is fine with teaching himself. He likes to make up his own experiments to test things a textbook claims. He has been answering my questions about how he learned science cause obviously something is working. I just don't know how to keep him challenged.
Janet
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mooreboyz
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| Posted: July 23 2009 at 7:57am | IP Logged
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There is a lot he could do with Botany this year if he is interested in it. I started my boys last year learning the different families. We started with a book called Shanleya's Quest which helped explain the main families in a nice easy story type format. The book Botany in a Day is the more adult version, but your son will have no trouble understanding it. Here is the author's website where you can find a lot of info along with the books:
wildflowers and weeks
My kids have enjoyed going on walks after learning the families and identifying plants.
I also used a lot of the Montessori materials that you can get for free online or purchase on parts of the plant, flower, different root systems, etc.
This year I'm expanding on their knowledge as we do some herb study and learn how to make some healing concoctions . We will be using The Kids Herb Book and this kit:
herb kit
and this game:
wildcraft
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Jackie
7 boys - 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 15, 17 years
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ALmom
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| Posted: July 23 2009 at 5:39pm | IP Logged
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Jackie:
Thank you so much!!! Botany in a Day is just perfect for my science fan - and the other book you mention is probably perfect for my 4th grader who is his apprentice and will probably be more my speed and a good read aloud for the 6 year old. (I no longer even attempt to teach science to my younger folks - they tag along with science fan, and I have whatever books I can gather. They are quickly becoming much more educated than any of my others ever were in science. The youngers even go to science fan for questions, which books to dig into, help on why something doesn't work as they know mom is hopelessly inept here and even for the aid of someone with a bit more eye-hand dexterity to help with their creations -.) I cannot believe the paddle boat being made - all from their own head and one little, very old 25 C book from friends of the library with a simple picture and short paragraph on the history of boats - no technical diagrams or anything.
I've bookmarked that sight and when I have more time after dinner, I'll be checking out the rest of your recommendations - and hopefully ordering a few of them, at least. My son has a large herb garden - mostly spices we use in quantity but at least one for a more medicinal purpose (lemon balm). Thank you very much. This really fits what we'd settled on doing - basically Life sciences in general - with a lot of focus on botany, plus some anatomy and classification of living things. I do have the Montessori free things you mentioned - pretty much printed off everything that was free in science way back when Montessori was the rage here and those were the first starts - just needed to expand from the simpler to deeper and didn't know where to turn cause I haven't really grasped the simpler yet. Things are really coming together. This son has already been experimenting with different ways of reproducing his own plants (so he can plant more, for less). He has learned a lot on his own through doing - now he is ready for some more information and taking it to the next level. He reads mostly adult books in science, honestly.
Thanks so much for taking the time to post those books. They really do look like a perfect fit and just what I wanted to find without knowing what or how to find it.
Janet
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ALmom
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| Posted: July 30 2009 at 8:57pm | IP Logged
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I ordered the books and wanted you to know that I love the card game and the Botany in a Day and know we will get much use out of those two - so thank you. I'm relieved to have some resources to take us deeper. Just didn't feel quite right about Shanleya's Quest but perhaps I'm missing something. In any case, we have plenty with the card game and the Botany in a Day.
Janet
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4Real Forums : Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science
Topic: science question
