Curriculum Review: Science

So while writing my math review last week I realized there was another subject which Merry has used one curriculum exclusively, science. 

Her older sister had used public school text books I had bought from a library sale for the first 3 years, but when Merry started first grade I wanted something they could use together. So began our journey with Apologia, the Exploring Creation series.

We started with Birds, which was by far our favorite, then Water Creatures followed by Land Creatures. While the main focus of each of those was exactly what you would expect, the different types of animals, I appreciated the amount of other science stuff they threw in. For example, while studying birds we also learned about aerodynamics and how planes get lift.  The curriculum also did a great job preparing students for the observation side of science class.

So even when I was back to one child in the elementary grades, we continued with the series; studying Astronomy, Physics, and Botany. Now these courses were very much designed for elementary, so while they were very well rounded, they were not intense or all inclusive.  To me elementary science was a subject that was meant to be fun, not meant to take a lot of time.

Middle school science is a different ball game. It was important to have a more structured class with experiments as well as textbook learning. Middle school is also when subjects like science and history start having the same value as math and writing. Apologia General Science was a great text for starting this more intensive class schedule. It even has a daily work schedule mapped out for students at the front of the notebook.

The Student notebooks that are a part of the upper level courses were easy to use and familiar to Merry since they were similar to the elementary version. And I still wanted science to be fun, so using a curriculum with easy to follow experiments was important too.

Now we haven’t been entirely successful with the curriculum. Biology in particular was rough because of the amount of microscopic things we were supposed to look at. With my older daughter we tried using a hobby grade microscope but we were unsuccessful and it was more frustrating than educational. With Merry we opted instead to YouTube videos of microscopic images. That was more successful but not a perfect solution.

That brings us to this year, we will be using Apologia Chemistry. From previous experience I know we will want to use the lab kit, just to make sure we have all the supplies on hand. And Merry will be using the notebook that goes with the textbook. So yep, we will keep on keeping on.

Curriculum Review: Math

Hopefully this will be a series were I look back at our previous curriculum choices and see how we got to where we are. Starting with Mathematics since for Merry it’s been a constant.

We first started Life of Fred in September of 2011, in fact I even made a blog post about it. (https://caytw.blogspot.com/2011/09/happiness-is-new-math-book.html?m=0)

In the beginning we supplemented with a lot of math practice tools, like flash cards, dollar store workbooks, and various math games.  Now that she is in high school math it is much harder to find extras that we can add on and it is less of a necessity. Math starts with a lot of facts to memorize, addition tables, multiplication tables, and orders of operation being prime examples. But in higher levels it is less about memorizing and more about a way of thinking, the logic behind it.

Life of Fred emphasizes that way of thinking even in the lower level book, which since I love mathematics appealed to me. Merry also would rather think about one problem for ten minutes than do ten problems in one minute, so the curriculum has been a good fit.

That’s not to say that we don’t supplement a little, even now. I discovered math vocabulary posters from Virginia’s state government page. (https://www.doe.virginia.gov/instruction/mathematics/resources/vocab_cards/index.shtml) And we have been using these as part of our “morning time” for the past 4 years. Math can be like a foreign language, so knowing how to express yourself and what you are thinking is important.

This next year we will also be using YouTube, https://youtube.com/user/numberphile, and learning about various American mathematicians using Wikipedia and Google. 

While I’m excited for Merry to move forward with Trigonometry, I also want her to have a better understanding of math in the real world and how mathematicians have made impacts.

2021 School Year Here We Come

Nothing like a new school year to get you all excited about curriculum and learning goal!  I love planning so Merry’s cart has been prepped, restocked with supplies, and waiting for September since early July.

Despite it being a very full cart, there are some subjects that aren’t even on the cart, namely her computer programming course which will be completely online through “CompuScholars” (https://www.compuscholar.com/homeschool/). Her other elective will also be online. A digital art class though “school house teacher”, she’ll be learning how to use Inkscape (https://schoolhouseteachers.com/school-subjects/art/inkscape-online-adventure/).

She’ll still be doing her core subjects with me, and we’ve found our groove, so to speak, with those curriculums.

Math will once again be Life of Fred. She is now in Trigonometry. Science will be Apologia again, this year she is in Chemistry. And writing will be WriteShop, starting book 2 this year.

History, we took a break from last year but will be using Notgrass again. She’ll be doing American History. To go along with the history she’ll be studying American Literature as well. The curriculum for that will be Lightning Literature. While she’s used that curriculum before this will be her first time with the high school level.

Which just leaves one more subject, for her notably full load, Latin. She will be continuing to use Latin Alive, but since she is now beyond my level of Latin we have decided to put her in an online class. Unlike the other online classes, which are independent study, this will be a classroom setting with a teacher and other student for her to interact with. And since it is a completely new set up she will be retaking level 3. 

So there are the plans for next year. Always subject to change of course. We’ll see how much she is able to keep up without being overwhelmed by the amount of work. But I’m excited!