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ALmom
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| Posted: Feb 03 2007 at 6:33am | IP Logged
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MacBeth:
I cannot even find my original thread where you graciously extended the offer to PM you with questions. I am sure you must have been praying for this crazy lady who is so frightened of science (or at least how to respond) as my PM went all over the place but was mostly a desperate panic. Anyways I'm posting this here as a public thank you for your site and to say I'm a testament to what traditional education (textbook style) can do and how the prayers (yours and whoever else has been praying for me -like the women responding to the publicly begging thread) make a huge difference. Ok here goes:
Thanks for the prayers, we are so exited now and our main problem is affording all the books we now want to order  . I think the main result of prayers was that two things finally dawned on me.
One: my experience of science was so dismal in school that I just figured I was a hopeless failure in science and had us frozen in my fear. I struggled with every single experiment and either was frustrated because I wasn't allowed the time to figure out why I wasn't getting "the correct answer" or the explanations for why weren't appreciated. And the one experiment I remember in depth, was the one I came back after school out of sheer stubborness, determined to get the "right answer" and instead discovered as I ran out of time that I wasn't seeing the electromagnetic current because the A/C was blowing on my experiment.  Now why didn't the science teacher notice that small but significant detail? Of course that insight wasn't considered profound insight - just stupidity, so I was once again a science failure - except that I could memorize answers for a test  and plug numbers into formulas mostly memorized and do the math involved. Perusing your site, it suddenly dawned on me that real science is so much more about real observations - and I've always been good about that. That is how we figured out what was wrong with dc, that is why my lab reports always had detailed descriptions of whatever I saw (even though it never was what I was supposed to see) and some attempt at a reasonable explanation for why I got the answer I did. It is why I'd always slip away in the early dawn hours (even though I am a night owl) to try and spot wildlife before the rest of the world started making so much noise. I may never have learned all the scientific names of plants and animals from Kwajalein, but we sure knew the habits of the fish in our tank, where to find things, the tide, etc. from observation. I was also the one who figured out that our brine shrimp was killing all our Lion fish by nipping at it a bit at a time and immobilizing the poor thing. Now, I know I am not a genius or anything and may need help from time to time with technical explanations of what we see and why - but we can do this - and that brings me to the second ah hah that should have been obvious:
I don't have to go this alone or find a local, non-existent mentor. If we get stuck, I just post here and all you wonderful ladies will help me.
A few things of practical account - in case you ever have to advise another panicky mom  :
It took me a while to figure out that all those blue highlights on your descriptions of backyard science, etc. were links to books to help the process along. I was initially thinking that, ok, we make a compost pile but I dont' know the first thing about this ... gee what are we going to do and will the children and I get frustrated trying to second guess. What a relief to realize that those things were a different color for a reason  . I guess one of the things about getting older is that you tend to be stuck in old ways and I am slower than most in figuring out all this computer stuff.
The other thing that helped was having my science fan look at the site with me. His enthusiasm suddenly made it less intimidating (your site wasn't, but science, due to my school experience, was) - ie he was confident that he could do all this stuff with these books and by the time we had made our lists (everything in the elementary section and the high school biology section), we were both jumping up and down and exited to turn a new leaf and ditch the textbook! I feel like a breath of fresh air is blowing through our household!
So now I am only left with one basic question before we get started. Is it too late for my highschooler to do no textbook science? Is it best to wean her a bit - ie use the text as vocabulary reference while reading the other books? What is your insight or guidance here? I'm sure I'm not the first to make an about face! I'm sure I'll post specific and, hopefully, to the point questions as we get started - and maybe even a photo or two but for now I did want to relieve you from having to answer all that disjointed PM! If you havn't read it yet, feel free to ignore it. If you have, you probably had plenty to offer up as you bogged through it. Of course, any advice/suggestions are welcome.
Janet
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MacBeth
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Probably at the beach...
Joined: Jan 27 2005
Location: New York
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| Posted: Feb 03 2007 at 10:59am | IP Logged
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Janet, I have printed out your PM, and have read it several times. Unfortunately, I type and think about these things very slowly , and my back has been troublesome this past week--I have not been able to sit at my computer for more than a few minutes, and the kids are tired of typing as I dictate  . It's better now, and I promise to get back to you (and all the other good folk waiting for replies to all sorts of questions) shortly. I am really sorry!
In answer to your quick question, yes, it is not too late to do a non-text science course. It'll be great. Just let me pull those resources together in some kind of order.
__________________
God Bless!
MacBeth in NY
Don's wife since '88; "Mom" to the Fab 4
Nature Study
MacBeth's Blog
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ALmom
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| Posted: Feb 06 2007 at 2:54pm | IP Logged
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Please, please do not apologize! I am very happy to wait for your input and sorry your back gave you fits. Wow, putting the resources in some kind of order - I am relieved, celebrating, excited and looking forward to doing things differently. I am sure any wait will be well worth it for us - and just so appreciate you taking the time to help us out this way. Wish I could return the favor somehow!
Janet
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4Real Forums : Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science
Topic: Thanks and my crazy PM
