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pumpkinmom
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| Posted: Oct 10 2014 at 7:12pm | IP Logged
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He always has but I was really hoping to step it up this year and have him ready for high school level science.
We started out with Memoria Press Book of Trees for a botany study. And he didn't like this and gave up on it.
I had Exploring the World of Physics next on on science list for the year so we just started that when he refused to do the botany study. He liked the first chapter and he understood it and all was well until the second chapter.  I cut his readings in half and I'm still getting hesitation from him. He says it's too hard. I read a chapter to him and that didn't help him either. He made the remark that he doesn't have enough background in science to understand.  I'm not sure if there is anything with that or if he was just trying to get me to say he didn't have to read it. He says he feels behind compared to his peers. I offered him an eight grade textbook similiar to what they use in public school and he said no to that.
Now do I just keep pushing through or do we do something else? The third book I had on my list was another Tiner book (Chemistry) but I see that as also being too hard (why I was saving it for the end of the year only if we had time). I almost forgot, but I have The New Way Things Work on his list and to read the last chapter on technology. This is probably were we should go next because he would enjoy that topic.
Back to the Tiner book, am I'm picking too hard of topics for him? He refuses to read a text book and I promised no more textbooks. Is he not trying and being difficult? A side note is we are working on some phonics as I've noticed he was struggling with reading. He wasn't able to sound out new words which could be a problem with science books as he will encounter many new words in each chapter. I could read science to him for a while until I see an improvement in his reading.
Any suggestions?
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Cassie
Homeschooling my little patch of Ds-14 and Ds-10
Tending the Pumpkin Patch
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guitarnan
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| Posted: Oct 10 2014 at 8:21pm | IP Logged
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Can you use videos and add in some brief readings from textbooks or books from the library?
You didn't say what your plans are for next year (keep homeschooling? traditional school?) and I think that does matter, because in traditional schools you do have to read a textbook and answer the chapter questions.
Were I you, here's what I would do. Feel free to disregard any or all of this advice, since I don't know your son and you do.
1. Let him choose the topic, but commit to it for the rest of the school year.
2. Use videos, books, labs (Janice Van Cleave's books are filled with simple labs you can do at home) and field trips to explore this topic. Your public library should have some useful DVDs and books.
3. If he chooses a topic (let's say astronomy) that you don't have a book for, you can still create "chapters" by looking at websites or library books. In our astronomy example, you could talk about stars, planets, constellations, the Sun, the Moon, asteroids, tides, solar flares, comets, space exploration and the history of astronomy (Copernicus, Galileo, etc.) and that would get you through the school year. Also, if you share the topic here, or do a search here, you are likely to find many resources to explore.
4. I would remind my own son that you can't get a science background without, well, doing some science. If textbooks aren't his thing, he is a typical 8th grade boy. Hands on science might very well be more appealing, and that is okay.
5. Take a look at meritbadge.org (the Boy Scout merit badge resource site) once he's selected his topic for the year. If the BSA has a merit badge that relates to his topic, you can use the merit badge requirements as activities he could complete for course credit. (Of course, you would select activities that work for him and for your family.) If he complains that they are too hard, you can remind him that Scouts as young as 11 are eligible to earn merit badges, so he is more than capable of completing the activities, step by step.
Science is usually fun for middle school boys. I hope he will be willing to choose a topic and stick with it for the year...there are so many things to choose from...but if he balks after you give him the choice, you'll need to stand firm and remind him of your agreement.
Topic suggestions:
Animal Study
Astronomy
Biology
Chemistry
Earth Science
Entomology (insects)
Geology
Herpetology (reptiles)
Marine Biology
Microbiology (works best if you have a microscope)
Oceanography
Ornithology (birds)
Paleontology (fossils/dinosaurs)
Physics
Weather Science
Mythbusters Science (yes, they wrote a book or two...maybe your library has them...)
There are more topics, but I'm sure you get the idea. God's creation is wonderful and amazing...
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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SeaStar
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| Posted: Oct 11 2014 at 6:12am | IP Logged
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Nancy has excellent suggestions!
It's hard to know sometimes if your child really can't do/understand a lesson or if he/she just doesn't *want* to do it.
And sometimes I fall into the trap of thinking that my kids should magically do more/all of their work independently- a thought I have to shake off because- hello to me!- teaching means: you teach. In school I was pretty much never/ rarely handed any book and told: OK, now go read it and figure it all out. The teachers spent 45 minutes (more or less) standing up and explaining things. Then I could/was expected to read more on my own.
My thoughts on science:
1. Science is fascinating to me, but I admit that maybe it is not fascinating to everyone
2. Science can be hard to understand simply because of the vocabulary (as you mentioned) ... tons of new/weird words, and that alone can be a stumbling block for students. I remember in college taking a mammalogy class and feeling like I was learning a foreign language. 
3. I read everything my kids read. I am often surprised at how many confusing/technical issues come up- maybe the concept is hard to understand or worded in a confusing way- even in books that are, imo, very good and generally "living" or user friendly.
If I can have trouble understanding it as an adult, I can hardly expect my kids to sit down and understand phloem and xylem on their own. So, at my house, science is a team sport. I read aloud, and we discuss. We learn it together. Picture books are a good thing at any age-it is surprising how much you can learn from one, even as an adult.
4. Science should be interesting at all times, but that won't necessarily make it easy.
Nancy has listed a ton of great ways to keep it interesting.
I am pretty ruthless about my science. If a book/article/text/video makes the topic too dull or too confusing, I ditch it. There are too many other good resources out there.
5. Science, like math, does take work- for the teacher and the student. Through college and beyond I remember the effort it took to get some ideas into my brain. I made flash cards, I reviewed terms often, I rewrote notes. I made use of my professor's office hours.
I use these same strategies with my dc. At my house, we review often. We narrate a lot. We supplement with dvds, youtube, picture books etc.
Overall, I find that science takes a lot of work on my part, but since I am a science gal, I enjoy it.
I would start with a topic that your son has an interest in, as Nancy suggested, and then I would plan to make science time a group time- let your ds know you are in this with him! I find that makes a huge difference at my house.
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
SQUILT Music Appreciation
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Mom21
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| Posted: Oct 14 2014 at 1:45pm | IP Logged
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We use the Apologia books and they are a real hit in our home. This year we're using the Human Anatomy and Physiology. The books are so well written that I enjoy them, too, and I am definitely not a science person. The activities are fun and practical as well as the narration and notebooking activities. I think the Apologia science books would be a real hit with Charlotte Mason homeschoolers.
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Angel
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| Posted: Oct 14 2014 at 7:04pm | IP Logged
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I think Nancy has very good suggestions, but I don't think I'd commit to one topic for the rest of the year. He's in 8th grade, you can switch up. Actually you could switch up all through high school; according to Laurie Bestvater's book, that's what Charlotte Mason's students did.
I've always taken a stealth approach to science, but then, I enjoy science as a lay person. So we have always watched NOVA, science documentaries, etc. and had science magazines (like Scientific American, Discover, Nature Friend, etc.) lying around. Now I e-mail my teenagers links to interesting articles, sites, etc. online that I come across. I subscribed to many of the science sites (like Scientific American) on twitter, so I can follow a link and then shoot it to the kid(s) I think will be interested.
I also think that when asking him what he's interested in, you should not use broad categories like "chemistry" or "physics", but instead focus on specifics, like... "Would you be interested in studying that pond where we take our nature walks?" or "I noticed that you seemed interested in the news about the supertyphoon... would you like to find out more about hurricanes?"
I have one kid for whom a project approach is the key to all understanding. Last year she could not seem to get biological classification. I don't know why. I think she found it boring to just memorize it. Then she decided she wanted to do a research project on marsupials. This was difficult; there isn't that much out there written about marsupials. But we were able to find a really good book on the platypus, which mostly focused on the history of its discovery and what it meant for biological classification. Once she understood the whys behind how animals get sorted into different categories, then it was interesting and she remembered it. And actually, she had a much deeper understanding than she would have if she had just read a textbook.
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Angela
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Three Plus Two
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MichelleW
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| Posted: Oct 15 2014 at 7:54pm | IP Logged
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8th grade is often "General Science." That gave me permission to relax. I decided that the goal was to have a passing acquaintance with the natural world, scientific terminology and general concepts. I ended up using engaging books written by naturalists. My kids loved books like Sy Montgomery's "Curious Naturalist," and Edward Duensig's "Talking to Fireflies, Shrinking the Moon." We discussed using the scientific method and applied it to cooking. My kids made lab reports that explained the problem, hypothesis and method, then would cook something, and draw conclusions. I subscribed to National Geographic and had them find interesting articles to tell us about at the dinner table. I got into the habit of asking why--"why does that work?" or "why does that happen?"--and then sending the kids to find the answers.
I know it doesn't sound very rigorous, but these kinds of things were sufficient for them to develop the scientific vocabulary they needed.
Sorry I don't have a program or curriculum to suggest. This is just what we did.
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Michelle
Mom to 3 (dd 14, ds 15, and ds 16)
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pumpkinmom
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| Posted: Oct 15 2014 at 10:15pm | IP Logged
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Thanks everyone for all the suggestions. Instead of asking him what he is interested in learning about, I took a guess. 
I also decided that I just would have to make the time and do science with him and see if that helps. I have read a chapter here and there when it gets hard, but I need to read ahead and have plans ready in advance. No more saying just read and narrate. More of read together and discuss.
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Cassie
Homeschooling my little patch of Ds-14 and Ds-10
Tending the Pumpkin Patch
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SallyT
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| Posted: Oct 16 2014 at 12:02pm | IP Logged
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I've gone to that approach with my 12yo, because it just wasn't going in, or engaging him, otherwise. I didn't change our book -- we're using an old physical-science book called Common Science, which is pretty engagingly written, but I've moved it to our lunch-basket reading and involved my 10yo as well. We do it really casually, with me reading aloud and then some conversation, and the occasional experiment (yesterday it was center-of-gravity/stability principles, and I was able to do one of the experiments kind of off-the-cuff, to illustrate the principle). Integrating it into our family conversation helps a lot.
Like Angela, we also just have a lot of science reading strewn around. My 16yo is very sciency, so we tend to have magazines, books, petri dishes, etc, in our environment.
Last time I did 8th grade, we did do a number of topics, mostly chosen by my son, and mostly via living books. I'll have to look back at what he read that year, because I can't remember now, but my main goal was, "Be interested in how scientists think and approach things! Be interested in how scientific ideas shape our world!" It was relatively easy, because he was already interested (and I always marvel that probably the *least* living book in our house was what sparked his initial interest in biology . . . ), but it was a pretty good approach for middle school, I still think.
Sally
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pumpkinmom
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| Posted: Oct 16 2014 at 12:56pm | IP Logged
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SallyT wrote:
| main goal was, "Be interested in how scientists think and approach things! Be interested in how scientific ideas shape our world!" |
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Love this, Sally! This is a great goal for science.
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Cassie
Homeschooling my little patch of Ds-14 and Ds-10
Tending the Pumpkin Patch
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pumpkinmom
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| Posted: Nov 22 2014 at 2:22pm | IP Logged
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We started another science book since I wrote this in October and it was a bust too. I hope to have something planned out to start after Christmas Break.
I did purchased the Curious Naturalist that Michelle recommended and it's just what I want in a science book! I wish all science books read like that.
Maybe I can put something together using the Curious Naturalist. I'm realizing this boy's science is going to need to be custom made for him but I'm dragging my feet on this. That is a lot of work on my part! 
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Cassie
Homeschooling my little patch of Ds-14 and Ds-10
Tending the Pumpkin Patch
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4Real Forums : Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science
Topic: My 8th grader is struggling in science
