Mini Science Posters

I first saw this in Biology Inquiries by Martin Shields and I had to laugh.  "Lapbooking for schools," was all I could think, but after having spent a bit of money and time helping my kids make large poster presentations, I thought this was a great idea.

The idea is to put two file folders together just like you would a lapbook, completely overlapping one side of each folder; that makes the tri-fold poster board that will stand on a display table.  Instead of mini books, kids place their information just as they would on a large poster. So instead of creating it as you go through a subject as you would a lapbook, this is meant to be a culmination of learning presented at the end.

This link goes to a blog entry written by a science teacher that shows a mini poster and how to construct it.  This link is to a pdf that gives an example of how to place information on the three panels.

Carnival of Homeschooling is Up

The Carnival of Homeschooling is now up, put together by Shez at Homeschooled Twins.  If you've never browsed this oldest and largest and most diverse homeschool blog carnival, treat yourself!

Living Science--literature v. mulitimedia

I have commented before about how limited the living science literature field really is. If you want a nature story, or a biography you're in luck, but beyond that you will have trouble. That's why I like to feature good living science literature here.

Interestingly, while discussing this topic on Julie's Living Math Forum Yahoo group, she noted how hard it was to find any biographies of mathematicians. It seems math is full of concept readers, where science is lacking, and science is full of biographies, where math is lacking. Both, of course, have their share of text books.

While I am not giving up on science literature by any means, I have discovered that it is much easier to find wonderful science multimedia and web sites than literature. I have mentioned some of them here, and will continue to do so.

A related topic came up on the MEP board in the context of being unable to advance in science because of a lag in math. Living science multimedia is one good way to continue learning science without the math intensity of a science curriculum.

Hands On Homeschool Blog Carnival--First Edition

I am excited to announce the first edition of the Hands On Homeschool Blog Carnival at Cheryl's blog, Talking to Myself. It has over a dozen entries and over half of them are science related (science naturally lends itself to hands on learning, doesn't it?)

I pray this blog carnival blesses your homeschooling endeavors. If you would like to contribute a hands on project to the next edition, you can do that here.

Snowflake pictures

It is snowing again today--big, light flakes. Inspired by In the Sparrow's Nest, I went out and took some pictures of these snowflakes. When you really take the time to observe them, like while trying to photograph them, you realize just how big they are.

The detail is amazing. You can clearly see in these photos that each has six sides and is unique. As you can see, the flakes show up best on a dark background, and you should let it get cold enough so that the flakes don't melt when they land on it. (Given that our temperatures are somewhere in the high 20's right now, it didn't take too long.)

You don't have to be as close as these photos appear; these are cropped, so at an arm's length you still get great detail.

Check out information on Wilson A. Bentley, The Snowflake Man, for more about these marvelous creations. (Thanks, Melissa!)

Living Science for middle school?

A cornerstone of a Charlotte Mason education is the "living book." What are the elements of a living book?

Books written by a single author with expertise and enthusiasm for a subject;

Books well written in an engaging style such that they are an enjoyment to read;

Books with high quality information, both in morality and depth.

Any book that does not contain these elements is considered twaddle. As ds#1 comes to the end of his elementary school years and I search for more engaging science material, I have come to find that the living science book selection for middle school is quite meager. Yes, nature books you can find in abundance, but as Comstock points out nature study is not science. It is the difference between bird watching and ornithology, the magnifying glass and the microscope. And what about the physical sciences?

Browse your local library collection for the older age group and here is what you are likely to find:

• Experiment books galore. Most of them do a poor job of putting experiments in context, or explaining the "informing ideas" as Miss Mason would say. These are but reference books for us.
• Biographies. Many of these are living books and are a must on our list; most, however, contain little actual science.
• Textbooks and other similar compilations. These are antitheses of living books.
• Nature books.
• Books about the human body, a lot of them, and rarely with any experiments.

The industry is clearly more excited about glossy photography and eye-popping illustrations than it is about content and writing. What concerns me most about content is that the middle school literature contains little more depth than the elementary literature, and is thus far behind high school textbooks.

You can search the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks (standards) by grade and subject. I compared the grades 6 through 8 standards with those for high school. Is it my imagination or does there seem to be a huge gulf between them? Perhaps I should start eyeing those high school standards more often and searching for books that will bridge that gulf.

A good way to get living books is to be quite specific about a topic. While a search for "ocean" is apt to get you a whole lot of twaddle, looking specifically for "tides" or "currents" will more likely turn up something more in depth and engaging. Don't be afraid of "feeding" your children these advanced concepts. Just like literature, children "hunger" for interesting learning. Don't settle for the Great Illustrated Classics version of science!

Cheap customizable dice

While browsing through our local Michael's store, I came across these in the woodcraft section and I immediately thought, "Wow, 24 6-sided dice for $4 that I can customize!"

They come in larger and smaller sizes, too. (Kids gravitate to unusual sizes.)

This has endless math applications, and I am sure I can think of some science ones, too. Maybe something with elements on it? Please comment if you create something interesting!

Math, Science, Art, and Fibonacci

Science, Math, and Nature are so closely related one can scarcely separate them. So while this is a science blog, and not a math blog, math will come up from time to time.

An excellent example of the intertwined existence of Science, Math, and Nature are Fibonacci numbers and the Golden Ratio. And yes, there's Art, too.

The Fibonacci sequence is easy to construct. Starting with 1 (one) and 1 (one), you add the previous two numbers to get the next in the sequence. 1, 1, 2 (from 1 + 1), 3 (from 1 + 2), 5 (from 2 + 3), 8 (from 3 + 5) and so on.

You can then construct a spiral by creating squares with each side the length of a Fibonacci number and put them together such that they go around in a circle, as in the picture to the left. See the two 1x1 squares stacked one on the other in the center? There's a 2x2 box attached to the left of those, a 3x3 box below that, a 5x5 box to the right of that, an 8x8 box above that, and so on. Using a curved line through each box, a spiral is created.

It turns out that these numbers and spirals occur frequently in nature. A nautilus shell and flower seed head exactly spiral in this way. The number of petals on a flower are almost always a Fibonacci number. Wild Fibonacci by Joy Hulme is a wonderful introduction to this connection for young readers.

Also notice that with the addition of each new square, the final drawing forms a rectangle. The ratio of the long side to the short side in this rectangle (which is the ratio of two consecutive Fibonacci numbers, a Fibonacci number and the number before it in the sequence) is the Golden Ratio, or Φ (Phi) and equals 1.618. O.K., enough math.

Besides appearing so much in Nature, this rectangle seems to be appealing to people, too, for we often use it in our art. Check out Fibonacci Numbers and Nature and Fibonacci Numbers and The Golden Section in Art, Architecture, and Music, both full of more details, pictures, links, and fun activities.

This is a great way to combine Nature Study, Math, and Art Appreciation.

Finding Living Science Books

O.K. I admit that finding true living science books is a bit of a challenge. Unlike math and history, both of which have more living books than a child could possibly read, science is heavily dominated by experiment and fact books. Most of the really good living science books relate to nature studies, a subject that lends itself well to the style. Even the biographies are more life facts than science facts. Still, gems can be found among the rubble.

Here are a few things to help you in your search:

• I tag books "Living Science" and "Science Spines" on LibraryThing and I add informative notes whenever possible.
• I will be blogging more about Living Science Authors and Living Science Series here.
• You can see my book reviews pop-up when your mouse moves over a book on the Shelfari book shelf on the left; you can scroll through the books with a button at the bottom of the shelf. These are also tagged "Living Science" and "Science Spines"

These tags and reviews reflect our family's experience; you may have a completely different take on a book. Still, I hope you can at least get an idea of a book's general nature so you can decide if it is worth your time checking out. (I do have an Amazon Associate number that will help support this work should you buy a book through the link in the pop-up. I thank you if you should choose to do so.)

A great reference source for living books in all subjects is For the Love of Literature by Maureen Wittmann. Simply Charlotte Mason has a book finder that hopefully will have more user reviews as time goes on. There's always Amazon's comment section for each book, too, that can be a source of good information once you know a title you're interested in.

Hopefully this will help you find living books to more easily study science without a curriculum. Please comment on any other sources you use to find living science books!

Thinking outside the science textbook

This is the time of the year when we all think about what we will be doing next year. A cornerstone of Charlotte Mason educational philosophy is using "living books" because they inspire children to learn by definition. This applies to science and math as much as it applies to history and literature. Science curricula, however, are based on workbooks or textbooks. Home Science Tools carries the most popular programs, though the list is not comprehensive. One other worth mentioning not on that list is Universe in My Hands, which present science based on order of magnitude (molecule to universe.)

In the end these curricula, though excellent, are still textbooks. Some people, like me, have a tendency to focus on following and finishing the curriculum in one school year for fear of "missing something important" or "falling behind," usually at the expense of our children's enthusiasm. We lose the spark that is the love of learning. Like any subject, we will never cover it all, much less learn it all. There will be holes. Our child will seem behind in some areas yet far ahead in others compared to some other child.

Science comes down to reading books, asking questions, performing experiments, and making observations regardless of the type of science you are studying at the moment. So how do we replace the textbooks? I first like to create an overall structure of science learning. You can basically separate Science into three fields, realizing, of course, that there's overlap:

• Life sciences (biology, human body)
• Physical sciences (chemistry and physics)
• Earth and space sciences
  

Technology and engineering, the products of science, can be included as well. I like to look at our state or national standards only for a list of topics, paying little attention to exact grade levels. Sometimes I download the scope and sequence or table of contents for popular science programs to get an idea of what to cover.

I make a point to teach them the knowledge, vocabulary, and basic understanding of how things are structured and interrelated in order to build a solid foundation for more rigorous studies. I try to put things in terms of:

• Atoms, molecules, and the Periodic Table
• Cells and cellular processes
• Groupings, patterns, and properties
• Systems and cycles
• Forces and energy
  

Using all these as a guide, I look for living books, lesson plans, experiments, and activities—anything but workbooks—for my kids to use. With this approach children of different ages can work on the same subject at varying levels. I can study topics by the kit, week, month, or term, or pick projects based on the season. I can incorporate science with other subjects or interests. And when we go about our science studies, I put any products of these investigations—photos, narrations, experiment write-ups, drawings, definitions, or whatever—in a science notebook.

One final note in our approach to science is regarding science philosophy, two disciplines that in modern times have become seemingly irreparably separated. We always seek the truth through observation and experimentation using the scientific method. God designed all of what we discover and learn. And what we do with that knowledge, just like everything else in our lives, is completely subject to His Word.

Biomimetics

This National Geographic link shows a photo display of biomimetics, or adapting designs from nature (God) for modern use. I am also hoping to read a popular title on the subject, The Gecko's Foot by Peter Forbes. This would make a great high school level science topic that integrates nature studies with technology and engineering.

Simple K – 2 science curriculum

Getting young kids interested in science builds their interest in exploring and problem solving. While we focus so much on The 3 (or 4) R's (Reading, Writing, 'Rithmatic, and for many, Religion) at this age, there's no need to neglect science altogether. Some states require it of homeschoolers. The Charlotte Mason approach uses Nature Studies exclusively for science in order to build observation and attentiveness habits. By adding other areas of science children learn curiosity and early reasoning skills, so why not broaden your children's science studies?

The Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science series (see my review here) is so extensive that it can be used as a K – 2 curriculum, starting with the level 1 books in kindergarten. You can do the activities that are suggested in some of the books, or couple it with an experiment book geared towards younger kids, like My Big Science Book, Janice VanCleave's Play and Find Out about Science: Easy Experiments for Young Children, or Backyard Scientist series 1 or 3. As they get older, you can add in Magic School Bus books for even more detailed information. It's simple and inexpensive, yet thorough, and easy to expand upon.

Science notebooks

Science notebooking does not need to be complicated. We use a sheet of paper with a blank box at the top and ruled lines at the bottom for my sons to draw and take notes about something we read or saw. My 8 year old fills out his own sheet while my 6 year old tells me what to write. In Charlotte Mason terms, this is narration in all 3 of its forms. For "experiments" I have another form that has What I did at the top, What I saw in the middle (lined for writing or blank box for drawing), and What happened? at the bottom. Noeo Science comes with similar reproducible sheets that can be downloaded from their site, but I just made my own. I can decorate them as I want that way. They all get placed in a 3-ring binder throughout the year. You can easily add photos of your science adventures and creations. You can do lapbooks as well, something our family is starting to get into. It's all so much more beautiful to look back on than test sheets!

Why teach science to younger kids?

Why do we need to “do” science with preschool and early elementary children? Shouldn’t the focus be on the four R’s: Reading, Writing, ‘Rithmetic, and Religion? Yes, it should—all the more reason science should be less formal and more about great reading and fun activities that expose kids to science concepts. Charlotte Mason homeschoolers begin a rigorous reading schedule, as well as nature studies and journaling, at age 6. Why exclude short pieces of science literature, or fun activity books, dealing with other aspects of the world around us?

Early science education has many benefits:

- It fosters a love for God's world, and an eagerness to learn more about it
- Growing up with science makes it less intimidating
- Learning basic concepts early makes formal science learning easier later

I encourage you to look at the books tagged ”Preschool” and “Beginner” at the LibraryThing site and borrow them from your local library. Some are literature and others are activity books. Simply reading these books and performing some of the experiments, in no particular order other than what appeals to you and your children, is the perfect way to learn early science. Of course, you can also take a more planned approach or use a literature-based curriculum like Noeo Science, too.

Interestingly enough, as you use this approach with young children, you will become more comfortable using it with older children such that you will find less dependence on those expensive, boring textbooks. Who reads textbooks once you finish school, anyway? At Home Science is the foundation for life-long learning.

How do I start?

Read. This is the foundation of Charlotte Mason’s philosophy—reading good single-authored, engaging books. Living books pique a child’s interest and imagination. Children sense the author’s excitement for a subject which often makes them excited about it as well. These same principles apply to science and math as they do to history and literature, though non-nature science is the most scarce.

Explore. Children learn through play, adults learn through experience. Activities and experiments are at the core of science learning. Charlotte Mason considered the laboratory first and then the engaging books to go along with it. Science is about understanding and describing God’s world around us. It usually starts with an observation, followed by a question, which is then answered through experimentation. Not all children are going to be scientists; still there is merit in the observation-question-experiment paradigm. It promotes reflective thinking when considering why things happen, and logical thinking when designing even simple experiments. These skills can be applied to other areas of life as well. How you integrate reading and exploring is up to you and your children, and hope to give you some great ideas here.

With a good activity book and a shelf full of Living Science books, you’re ready to go!

Building a home library

Three words say it all: Library Book Sales. Here in Massachusetts these sales are abundant. Libraries or library societies sell used books that are either donated or withdrawn from the library stacks (the so-called ex-library books.) Children’s books are usually lowest in price—typically $.25 - $1.00 per book, paperback at the lower end, hardcover at the upper end. Sometimes books are priced by hand, or nice old books are sold separately at higher prices (book dealers frequent these sales as well.) At these prices, building a large library is quite affordable.

Of course you get whatever happens to be there. For non-fiction, I don’t find this to be much of a problem for younger children. (As for fiction, skip the abundance of twaddle you’ll find; classics are common at these sales.) Non-fiction twaddle still contains facts, even if it is not literary and not as engaging. You might just pick up a vintage ex-library that you would never have looked at otherwise and find it to be a real gem. It might even be part of a series, and then you’re on the hunt for others in the series at subsequent book sales. You might even start looking at used book sites, like abebooks.com. The next thing you know, you’re a bibliophile in need of more bookshelves!

As the At Home Science catalogue grows I will be entering more ratings and reviews. Anything with 5 stars is something for which I would pay full price (though I rarely do!) It’s the kind of book that will remain permanently on our shelves; the kind of book that would make me gasp loudly for joy should I ever see it at a library book sale (I did that when I dug into an unopened box under a table and about three books down I found Holling C. Holling’s Pagoo. I gave it to one of the other moms I was with that did not have that title yet.) Some of the books have wonderful pictures, others great activities, still others good facts if never read aloud.

And there’s twaddle, too, I admit it. I’ll donate those to my local library when my kids have outgrown them. They’ll have 1 star beside them.

About the Library

LibraryThing is a free site in which you can get and display book information. You can also add tags, comments, ratings, and reviews. Since At Home Science has books at its core, the information at LibraryThing is half of this project! To get to the At Home Science Library, click on the LibraryThing icon. If you click on a picture, and if the picture is supplied by Amazon, you will be brought to Amazon.com; if you click on the title/author, you will be brought to LibraryThing social data for that book (owners, reviews, tag cloud, and such.)

I use the tags for subject categorization. Here’s a list:

Activities (books with experiments or other activities)
Biology (processes, internal anatomy, classification, microscopic life)
Biomes (describes flora, fauna, and geologic features together)
Chemistry
Earth
Natural History
Nature (external, visual features and habits of plants and animals)
Physics
Space
Weather

Other tags describe the general reader level:

Preschool (up to first grade and is mostly picture books or short texts)
Beginner (present an introduction to a topic without going too in depth)
Intermediate (books contain more extensive and in-depth information)
Advanced (books are for high school level)

I don’t find ages or grades to be as useful as this system. You may have a 5th grader that has never covered a topic before and may do better starting out with a beginner book. You may have a 3rd grader that loves science and is quite ready for intermediate books and activities.

I also use other tags and comments and labels to describe the books, like:

Literature (a story with a narrative style)
Resource
Pictorial (photographs/illustrations are particularly good)
Series names

This is the labeling scheme as it currently stands. I will, of course, edit this document to reflect any changes that may occur. Feedback on this is greatly appreciated!

Welcome to the home page of

At Home Science

Books, tips, and resources for teaching science at home.

Why At Home Science? I am primarily a homeschooling mom of three boys; I also work and teach part time in the medical field. I follow the Charlotte Mason's educational philosophy and approach, using living books and experiential learning to foster a lifetime love of learning. Charlotte Mason wrote at the end of the nineteenth century, so her science education focused almost exclusively on Nature Studies, whereas our family, and this site, explores science broadly though still using the same educational philosophy.

We all have subjects that evoke joy and others that evoke anxiety. I believe much of this is induced by large-group education in which all children are expected to perform in a certain way at a certain time in order to pass an assessment. This is just one reason why I homeschool. For me, science is a joy! I hope to create a resource for homeschoolers intimidated by science and those with the same joy we have. Charlotte Mason's educational philosophy has been life-changing for our family, and the more I read about it and use it, the more convinced and secure I am in her ways. Nothing surpasses literature and experience as the center of learning for kids and adults alike, and for all subjects including science and math. Here I present myriad alternatives to textbooks and highlight some real gems of science literature and resources. I look forward to hearing from you, and I pray these resources serve your at home science needs.