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MaryM
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You'll notice a new name to the Science and Nature Study forum here. I had heard recently that some folks didn't really know we had a science forum - hopefully the new title and the description will help members and reader find the topic more easily.
Jen and I have taken over moderating here and we'd like to share a little about our interest in this topic.
I love science. I love an active, hands on, real life approach to science education in the home and hope that this is something we can do here - be a great resource for sharing and encouraging science and nature study.
I have always had a love of science, especially since 6th grade when a wonderful teacher with a passion for the topic really sparked my interest in it as well. The approach she took and the activities we got to do were wonderful. In the years that followed, I wanted to be a geologist, then an astronomer, then a doctor. I majored in biology in college. I didn't end up in a science career (although parenting children really is one big experiment  ) and have only used my biology in my "living education lifestyle", but I so enjoy doing that.
I have 4 children, two of whom are in college (ages 21 and 18), currently
homeschooling a 9 and almost 14 year old. With my two older children they never really had much interest (as being illustrated by their each taking a single hokey non-science major class in college to meet their requirement - ha ha). But the two younger ones really enjoy all things science. We try to do a lot of hands on and "in the field" type study, but not as much as I would like. I figure involvement in this forum can help me with more accountability with that as well.
Special areas of interest for us are ornithology, botany, geology, astronomy, and meteorology. I've always gravitated to earth science and genetics study/topics.
I look forward to being" lab partners" with you all.
Who are you and what do you want to do?
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Mary M. in Denver
Our Domestic Church
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Mackfam
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| Posted: Nov 23 2009 at 2:09pm | IP Logged
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Oh, Mary, I too am so excited to be here and share! 
I'll share a little about myself and my love for science and nature study.
I grew up in labs - literally. My dad is a PhD in Microbiology and for over 20 years taught medical students Microbiology, Parasitology and Immunology. In addition, he pursued copious amounts of research for the National Institutes of Health and Center for Disease Control, so his labs were always our playground. Toys were rubber tubing, agar, beakers and microscopes. My mom spent years in labs as well, working both in research and as a lab tech. I guess you could say science is in our blood. My dad's own passion awakened in me a deep awe of God's majestic, orderly, beautiful Creation, as well as a desire to know.
My own background was spent in Aerospace Engineering (isn't that crazy?) and though I never completed my degree (I chose instead to pursue my vocation and Mr. Right!  ) I continue to hold a deep love for all branches of science.
I find great joy in observing the beauty in God's magnificent Creation and pondering and sharing with my children how fearfully and wonderfully we are made.
In my own home, science permeates much of what we do. We are eager consumers of natural history and nature study, embracing wholeheartedly the philosophy of Charlotte Mason's that "everyone should be a naturalist." As my oldest approaches high school, I envision us continuing to investigate, discover and experiment in science - only deeper, richer, and wider. I am looking forward equally to sharing and learning from all of you!
I can't wait to hear from each of you, to learn about your own backgrounds and interest in science and nature study, and I hope that those of you that feel timid or tentative about joining us here in Exploring God's Creation will feel welcome knowing that all that is required here is a sense of adventure and the ability to wonder aloud as a child!
Let's hear from you!
MaryM wrote:
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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MichelleW
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| Posted: Nov 23 2009 at 2:11pm | IP Logged
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broken wrist--please bear with the bad cap and punc...
i enjoy science but am terrible at thinking of sciencey things to do. my ds 12 is brilliant at science and so all my science ideas bore him and have resulted in him thinking that science is boring. i need serious help in this department!!
thx
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Michelle
Mom to 3 (dd 14, ds 15, and ds 16)
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SusanJ
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Jennifer, I think you need to hop right over to the new "one thing you didn't know about me" with that Aerospace Engineering thing 
I am one of those who didn't know we had a science forum but my kids are fairly young.
I can't say that I love science. I really disliked it all through school. In college I had my first real lab class and, though I'd been completely dreading it, I loved the lab section of the course. I remember almost making my now-husband faint while excitedly relating our mouse dissection day
So I am all about the hands-on stuff. Especially the "you have everything you need for this project in your kitchen" variety.
One of the things that most attracted me to homeschooling in the first place was the opportunity to rediscover these areas through the wondering eyes of my children.
Maybe I'll get over here once in awhile now that I know it's here 
__________________
Mom to Joseph-8, Margaret-6, William-4, Gregory-2, and new little one due 11/1
Life Together
[URL=http://thejohnstonkids.blogspot.com]The Kids' Blog[/UR
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Martha
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Hi ladies!
I'll share my secret shame...
maybe you all can help or at least alliviate some of my guilt.
I love science. Even when I stink at it (majority of the time) I love it. I find it fascinating.
I want to go live at Laura or Teresa's house.
I can't, so I just drool in envy over the awesomeness of their science.
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Martha
mama to 7 boys & 4 girls
Yes, they're all ours!
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MaryM
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| Posted: Nov 23 2009 at 2:44pm | IP Logged
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Oh, this definitely isn't meant as a place only for science lovers - it is that place to assist and inspire those who find it challenging to teach and engage children. So please seek out that assistance with specific questions. And hopefully those who have great ideas and resources to share will do as well. We are all here to support and inspire each other.
Glad you'll be coming over to see us, Susan.
Hey, Michelle are you taking advantage of the broken bone to learn about bone fractures, how bones regenerate, first aid? 
Keep coming and drooling, Martha! their enthusiasm is contagious.
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Mary M. in Denver
Our Domestic Church
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Martha
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My shame is that I'd love, love, LOVE to do science like they do.
But when contemplating doing it on the large family scale that I have, my brain spazes and shuts down. 
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Martha
mama to 7 boys & 4 girls
Yes, they're all ours!
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AtHomeScience
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I am new to the 4Real Forums, but I'm having a wonderful time, especially on this board! My background is in medicine (I'm a physician assistant and I teach paramedics) with undergrad degrees in Biology and Computer Science. It has been soooo long since I've done anything with basic science that about the best I can say is that I am familiar with it.
I do, however, love science--and math, too! I am most comfortable teaching this above all other subjects. I tried curricula without success, so now we only do living science. I write a homeschool science blog, At Home Science if you are curious what we do.
Without textbooks or curricula I am always looking for good science resources--books, web sites, movies, animations, and so on. This board is a wonderful place to share these things. Even in the short time here I have discovered many treasures!
Blessings,
Kris
At Home Science (science blog)
Science of Relations (homeschooling blog)
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AndieF
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I love science - started out as a Microbiology major in college, but Organic Chem II hung me up, and I ended up in English. But I worked as a technical writer for several years, so I ended up using my right and left brain! LOL
My kids (and my dear nephews who I also homeschool) love Science too. Last year, when I was just homeschooling my then 9 year old daughter, we focused on botany (using Shanlaya's Quest) and science trays. This year, I've got a 7 year old, an 8 year old, and two 10 year olds. So I went with Apologia Botany and Apology Astronomy and we alternate days learning them. And of course, we do outdoor nature study often too, it just more spotaneous.
They all really love studying Botany and Astronomy, although they all want to do Chemistry and Earth Science next year.
Andie
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Angie Mc
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Wow...what a gathering!
I'm looking for simple projects to do with my 4, 10, and 14yo together. I also want to enjoy nature study with journaling. I'm thinking of a family journal/binder to insert pages. I need simple, simple, and more simple.
Thanks for helping!
Love,
__________________
Angie Mc
Maimeo to Henry! Dave's wife, mom to Mrs. Devin+Michael Pope, Aiden 20,Ian 17,John Paul 11,Catherine (heaven 6/07)
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lapazfarm
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Well, I love science, but mainly because I love nature. My love for science grew from the outside in, so to speak. As a child I was always to be found outdoors, exploring, examining, observing, and just enjoying all the amazing and beautiful things around me. And as I soaked it all in I found I had questions and wanted to know more, and more, and more about what I was seeing and not seeing, you know? Eventually this lead to a biology major in college where I was lucky to work under one of the top arachnologists in the world (and get paid! and published!). It was while working as a biology lab instructor that I met my dh, who was my student.Then on to grad school where I flip flopped around studying everything I could from forest ecology, aquatic ecology, ethology, soil science, algae, ichthyology, genetics and evolution, wetlands and water quality to my final project which was a status survey of a tiny endangered spider.I just thrived on soaking up all that fabulous knowledge!LOL! In the mean time I was raising my family, homeschooling on and off with stints of teaching science and math (with a little LA thrown in for good measure)at middle and high school levels.
But even with all that schooling, I can honestly say that the best teacher is still nature itself, for myself and my children. When I say "the world is our classroom", I mean that in every way. I feel we have learned more from just exploring fully all of the places we've been and seen (from the tropics to the tundra) than we will ever learn from a book (though I admit to dragging along a ton of field guides wherever I go.LOL!)
What do I hope to get here? The opportunity to help if I can, and to share my love and enthusiasm for nature and all its wonders.
So, that is me in a nutshell (where all good nuts belong)and I'm sure more than anyone wants to know!
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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Paula in MN
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Hate. Science.
But, I want my kids to learn and explore - and hopefully they will love it as much as my husband does!
And Jen, a former friend of mine from High School was an Astronaut and has been in "outer space" twice!
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Paula
A Catholic Harvest
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ALmom
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Well, I'm one of the folks who come here to get ideas on what to do - usually around the end of the summer and around now as we move to second semester - and often with desperate pleas for help.
I am one of those who did well in science classes in school - but learned nothing. I loved math and in high school that was what most folks had trouble with so most of the time was spent explaining the math- not the concepts of science. I just couldn't picture anything so it was all a matter of memorizing terms, doing the math and faking a few things here and there. I gave a whole oral presentation on weather. If someone had asked me a question, I would have been a total blank - it was all an act. I honestly had no idea what I was talking about. Of course I also loved history and politics and writing and literature and .... - so I majored in math and history in college and decided I was going to teach - until I got to trying to manage a classroom of 30 kids. I am not a good group teacher - but still love to tutor.
As far as science - I managed to get utterly frustrated trying to get experiments to work - every single one was a total flop and dd and I eventually threw up our hands in total exasperation and frustration and then let science languish for a while, then tried textbooks without any better success. (I've noticed that textbooks today are even more poorly written than in my day. At least in my day they seemed a bit more systematic so you could get at least a few things out of it - like I still do use things from physics. I had the same trouble with labs in high school as I did with trying to do experiments with my kids - I could write pages and pages of stuff about (mostly creative writing on my part in an attempt to salvage an A) why things didn't work - like the time I spent hours untold - over many different days trying to get my silly little electromagnetic field to do right. It never pushed out the way it was supposed to. Eventually, some smart kid walking by just happened to notice that I'd set everything up under the air vent - no wonder my results seemed totally random.  Somewhere around there, I gave up, decided experiments were stupid, and my job was just to read the book, fake it well and get my grade and go - couldn't ruin the GPA ya know. I definitely wanted something different for my children.
Now, when my oldest came along we were going to have fun with science and I was determined we would really learn it. Problem was - not sure how to go about it. We ordered all kinds of hands on interesting things and I got totally frustrated along with my dd - and those books went into a pile of give aways until 4th child discovered them and got every single experiment to work through tinkering.
God must have had a sense of humor. Boy #1 (3rd child) wasn't a super fan of science - but wanted to be a pilot from early on, so suddenly there was a fire lit to try and find a way to inspire us somehow. Again, no success unless he could self -learn - which was primarily restricted to things like lift, weather, etc. - ya know, those things relevant to pilots.
Then God sent us son #2 and child # 4. This child lives, breathes and moves with science in his blood. I honestly have no idea how he learned it. I was too busy trying to put out fires with the older ones at the time so I guess he spent most of his time outside playing. I often ask him trying to come with ideas on how to teach the youngers. He has told me things like - he likes to read stuff and think up ways to test and see if it is really true - or he is making something happen through his research. Everything he sees, inspires him to some question. Suddenly, he reinvigorated our whole family. He learns from whatever is here - whether it is a boring text or a mud pile and everything in between.
I am still no good at science - but am gaining in appreciation. I have always enjoyed being out in the woods and watching and observing (limited though I am by my inability to use both eyes together and poor focusing abilities). I have even gotten a few aha moments. I wish I knew enough to do science the way Mackfam does - no textbooks, etc. Instead, we have relied more on a judicious tutor and hoping for the basic foundation using a text for lack of anything else for some of my olders while trying to let the younger run free a bit.
I am currently trying to find out more about Explora Vision and science fairs as this would be just science fan's thing (well he was a bit disappointed looking at the rules for science fair - most of his idea stuff, I think, is ruled out for "safety" reasons). However, I am not at all likely to be a good coach or mentor so I'm looking for someone to serve in that capacity with him. We just joined the Civil Air Patrol and there may be quite a few opportunities here for both the pilot want to be, the emergency responder want a be and the budding chemical engineer (science fan). I'm trying to trust that we are ok venturing out into the world a bit more here. I'm more in the cheering section as I stand back in awe of our boys. From science fan on down, everyone is a big science fan. I expect I'll be learning a lot of science in the next few years.
Janet
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Willa
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| Posted: Nov 24 2009 at 6:55pm | IP Logged
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Martha wrote:
I'll share my secret shame...
maybe you all can help or at least alliviate some of my guilt.
I love science. Even when I stink at it (majority of the time) I love it. I find it fascinating. |
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Gosh, I will just ditto that since you said everything I would want to say. I'm a lit major, so I always had to keep my love for science and math carefully hidden from my verbal-linguistic peer group, but luckily I married a science/math major and had a bunch of boys, which gives me a chance to get my vicarious kicks out of their interests
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AMDG
Willa
hsing boys ages 11, 14, almost 18 (+ 4 homeschool grads ages 20 to 27)
Take Up and Read
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MichelleW
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MaryM wrote:
Hey, Michelle are you taking advantage of the broken bone to learn about bone fractures, how bones regenerate, first aid? |
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no, but this is a great idea, how would i go about doing this?
__________________
Michelle
Mom to 3 (dd 14, ds 15, and ds 16)
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MaryM
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MichelleW wrote:
MaryM wrote:
Hey, Michelle are you taking advantage of the broken bone to learn about bone fractures, how bones regenerate, first aid? |
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no, but this is a great idea, how would i go about doing this? |
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I just posted a thread with some ideas, which I hope others will add to as well.
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Mary M. in Denver
Our Domestic Church
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Mimip
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I totally missed this thread!!!!
I think it was right around Thanksgiving so I might have just skimmed over. Found it while searching for Solar System ideas (found a ton!!!)
I love Science, mostly Anatomy and biology. My dad is a neurosurgeon and that 's what I wanted to be all my life until I realized that he was gone A LOT and that I wanted a family. Went into teaching instead and taught science and spanish.
I would love some practical ideas for science for example:
How do you plan a curriculum? I was planning on using Apologia because that is what I taught but I think my kids don't really like it, (not in the younger grades anyways)
Do you just choose a topic for the year and go at it?
Or do you do month baskets? If you do, how does that look as kids get older?
I also struggle to get it into the day. Do you do longer blocks of time a few days a week? or even once a week? I'm not talking about Nature Study here, we do that daily, but other things?KWIM?
Okay I'll stop now, Looking forward to the reponses 
__________________
In Christ,
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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Mimi,
I'm so glad you found this thread!! I'm going to make your question a topic of its own because I think it's probably one that a lot of people either wonder about as well, or have thoughts or strategies that might spark ideas! I'll move ekbell's response to you as well.
Your new thread is right here!
Chime in if you've got ideas to share everyone!
__________________
Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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drmommy
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I LOVE natural and life science.
Hate physical science (except for chem).
Which is why I am a doctor of chiropractic. Third generation with over 80 in my family. It is kind of in the blood I think.
I fell absolutely in love with the human body, genetics, microbiology and cellular biology. Loved physical chem, and organic chem, oh, and bio chemistry. I just LOVE physiology and how the body works and how it processes chemicals and the response to them.
So, my poor children are surrounded by that constantly and I am always talking about eating right, correct posture and balance, getting adjusted regularly, etc.
However, I have to struggle and put on the smile when we go over the other sciences ...you know, make it all seem like fun !
We do a lot of outside study, as we live in near the ocean, so my children get a lot of marine biology and hands on nature studies (and weekly trips to the beach!). We also volunteer at a ranch, so they get more science and animal care there.
I pretty much follow the curriculum, but do a lot of adding in when possible.
I really should visit the Planetarium with them, so they can be exposed more to Astronomy (hate it! )
I loved reading the responses...we are all blessed with so many gifts and talents, and I just love that. God is so good to us...
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4Real Forums : Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science
Topic: Science forum - what are you looking for?
