I always maintain science is our weakest area in our little homeschool. I am so pleased I keep a blog because to my surprise, when I looked over the past year, I found we had done a reasonable amount! Over the past year we have done some Incr-Edible science (self penned food science), Spar-Klean science (another self penned science of cleaning) as well as heaps of Microbiological science, carried out project style. T12 is also studying to take his IGCSE in physics; we’ve studied Alhazan as a medieval science and I have also done some elementary science with my little ones. Not bad considering I don’t feel like we do much!
That said, it is still not really enough, given their ages and certainly it seems a little haphazard compared to our history learning. So this year I am hoping to make it a little more organised. So without further ado, these are our plans:
Independent Science: Chemistry and Physics
The older three will be working their way through the new Chemistry and Physics curriculum from Apologia:
I have chosen this because I thought it would reinforce some of the topics T is learning for his physics. Also I think T will be starting his chemistry IGCSE after taking the physics so this will be a nice introduction for him given we have done little in the way of chemistry. I will not be expecting any writing from them. They will read the chapter and do any activities associated with it. We have completed all the Apologia elementary texts apart from this one and Anatomy and Physiology.
The children will have one afternoon a week to work their way through and I am hoping that is enough to ensure it is finished by the end of June.
Project Based Science: Biological Science
This will also be done one afternoon each week, but for this everyone will be studying together at their own level. I hope to combine the IGCSE biology curriculum, Apologia Anatomy and Physiology and ‘How Your Body Works’, a weekly magazine we have been collecting for the past year:
I also have some go along dvd’s for all the ages and access to many more via YouTube, as well as many additional fun books and fun experimental kits:
Last year we covered the microbes part of the IGCSE curriculum, this year we will be covering the body part using Apology as our starting point. We will carry out our studies on a project learning basis, which worked so well during last year’s microbe study.
This is probably the most important part of our work next year. I have started A and P twice before but never finished it, preferring instead to take the children down the rabbit holes of Spar-Klean science and Incr-Edible science. This time I really want to finish what I have started!
Elementary Science
This year I want to cover some magnet exploration as well as the Dr Zeus books I have already mentioned in our Dr Zeus School.
Self Penned Curriculum
I tend to do these when we come across something in our everyday life that requires further study.
Incr-Edible Science
This is all about the science of cooking (Click on picture to bring up all posts). Two of three of my children have chosen to learn to cook as their electives next year. I know that along the way there will be opportunities for us to discover the science which goes into making cooking tasty and successful!
Spar-Klean Science
This is discovering the science of cleaning (Click on picture to bring up all posts). We started this last year when we were learning about microbes. I really enjoy this study and hope to take it to new levels with home-made products based on the science we have learnt
Be-You-tiful Science
This is my latest foray, and it’s into the science of beauty and the products associated with it. The girls are reaching an age when they are suddenly interested in how they look. I thought it would be fun to explore the truths and myths of the beauty industry.
These three sciences will happen on an ad hoc basis, whenever they crop up in real life. I therefore won’t be scheduling them into our already packed weeks, merely squeezing them in whenever opportunity calls!
If I follow through, this should be a science rich term, to make up for the science poor terms which came before!