Good Morning,

I would love to hear ideas about different areas/disciplines of science to study with each unit. For instance, we are just starting out with UG and LG students and plan to study simple machines alongside Y1U1, Egypt. (How did they make those pyramids anyway?) Has anyone thought out a plan for the remaining years?

Thanks,
Kymberly in NC

We used to have a plan on our website using Usborne books. As I recall, we studied the heavens (Sun, planets, solar system, stars, etc.) while doing weeks 4-9. One could also do light: properties and colors thereof during the Creation, Week 4. I think your simple machines idea is great, but it would also work in Unit 3 alongside Archimedes. I think that we did some earth science (geology: core, crust, lava, volcanoes, etc.) in Unit 2.

In Unit 2 also were the people who used purple dye made from Murex snails. We did diffusion, and all the cool dyeing experiments (food coloring and water, color theory, etc.). In Unit 4 we did some botany, as I recall it, but I'm drawing a bit of a blank there. We did the simple machines, too. Mmmm... not sure about the rest, sorry.

Anyways, you CAN do it. A good way to think of it, I found, after I had older kids, was to think in terms of Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Earth Sciences. A little from each, each year, in context. Usborne books were definitely the BEST for it. We did lots of hands-on experiments.

We do have a gleam in our eye on this one. If all goes well and we come out of the other end of the four-year tunnel that we call the Redesign project, we'll be looking to incorporate Science next.

I am pretty sure that I have these PDF's saved from the old web site if anyone needs them and it's ok to share.

Hope this helps some!

Rhonda,

I read earlier threads that refered to such a document, but the website seems to have been reconfigured since then. I would love a copy, as a launching place for ideas! You can e-mail me personally if it is not appropriate for the document to be posted here.

thanks,
Kymberly
gfarana@msn.com

Kymberly,

The Well Trained Mind suggests a four year cycle of the same broad topics Marcia listed, but in this order: biology corresponding with Year 1, astronomy and earth science with Year 2, chemistry with Year 3, and physics with Year 4.

Jeannie Fulbright, who wrote the elementary science books for Apologia, has a great article on the Immersion approach to science where students spend an entire year on one topic instead of skipping around. You can find it here: http://www.jeanniefulbright.com/immersion.html Her books are an excellent resource.

Sharon,

Is there a rational for the order of the science disciplines recommened by Well Trained Mind? Thank you for taking time to reply to my questions. I enjoyed reading the article by Jeannie Fulbright. We are retrenching our homeschooling approach this summer, and there is much to consider.

with gratitude,
Kymberly

Kymberly,

According to TWTM:

biology comes first because when "studying the ancients, learn about things the Ancients could see - animal life, the human body, and plants"

earth and space science is "a division designed to go along with the medieval - early Renaissance period, when Copernicus and Tycho Brahe observed the heavens"

chemistry during "the period spanning 1600 to 1850, the years when the first great chemists lived - Robert Boyle, Georg Ernst Stahl, Antoine Lavoisier, John Dalton"

and physics during modern times, along with computer science.

You can see the TWTM eras do not correspond exactly with ToG eras in years 3 and 4. I don't think this is too big of a problem with the general flow of science. And I could buy the argument of putting earth and space science before biology because of the creation order of earth, sun, and stars before life. I think the idea is making a general connection between areas of major scientific discovery and the time period you are studying.

Hope this helps,
Sharon