Year 4 science

Last year when I was planning our upcoming lessons, I challenged myself to create a science curriculum with what I had on hand. It was fun to do, and as we are now winding up our school year, it has occurred to me that I chose pretty well, and so I thought I'd share.

Spring and Summer and Fall and Winter in North Carolina Forests 

I've wanted to use these books in our school for along time, but I always chose Burgess books instead. But these were an excellent way to sort of "force" nature study, because so many of the plants and animals could be found right in our yard, so that as we read about them, we also went out to go see them, as much as possible. I liked that these books covered not only birds and mammals, but some reptiles and amphibians, as well as plants, mushrooms, and even discussed a bit of astronomy and geology. Spring and Summer has 33 chapters, and might have done well enough for the whole year, but I liked the other book so much as well that I squeezed both into our 36 weeks. The chapters were an easy read for our ten year old son, were illustrated nicely, and were written from a Christian point of view (published by Rod & Staff). I suspect that even though it SAYS North Carolina, any one living in the Appalachian areas of Virginia, Tennessee, and South Carolina would find it useful.  

The Friar Who Grew Peas, Snowflake Bentley, and The Boy Who Drew Birds

Next I wanted to include some biographies of naturalists and biologists. I actually purchased the Audubon one, because I'd wanted it forever, but I had the others on hand already. For some students three might have been enough, but I chose six for this year, 2 each term, or one every 6 weeks. If you're not familiar with these picture book biographies, please become so. Each one is a true living book, with a wealth of ideas easily dished up, and beautiful to behold.

Listening to Crickets, John Muir: My Life with Nature, and George Washington Carver

These three biographies are short chapter books, and I included them mostly to 1, keep my boy busy, in a good way, and 2. introduce him to naturalists whose works he would very soon be reading on his own. They did the job, but no need to rush out and buy them.

A Drop of Water, and How to Think Like a Scientist 

Finally, I wanted to include these two books because I just liked them so much. Drop of Water is an amazing book of photography that will inspire you to look a little more closely at a substance that covers 70% of our planet. It also encourages readers to "wonder why" and guides them through a few simple experiments in order that one might see for ones self. Think Like a Scientist is a great first logic book, which is somewhat of a pet subject for me. It is so important to me that my children learn to think logically and soundly, to discern strong evidence from weak, and to argue fairly. My son will not study logic formally for a few years yet, but this book is a great introduction.  

His "work" included nature notebook entries, biography narrations, and the suggested activities from the latter two books, and I think we had a pretty successful year. Check back soon for notes on what is in store for him in Year 5!

Shakespeare for kids

I have a secret: I don't read Shakespeare to young children.

Now some of you are like, I don't read Shakespeare at all! And I hear that. But in some homeschool circles, my little confession might seem very shocking. But I don't teach Shakespeare to grammar level/form I/II/III /elementary age students, and I will explain why.

So the Bard: Plot line: net very original, nothing special. Star crossed lovers, the Bad Boys of history, bottom line, he was looking for things that would make a good show, not trying to influence the course of the English language for centuries to come. That was just a happy coincidence. Besides, his plays were written for adults, and such, contain adult themes.

 No, the real reason to read Shakespeare is for the language, for his way expressing human emotion and feeling.  Words and phrases invented by Will are still in use today. And even though y'all know (or should know!) that I'm all about reading vocabulary-rich literature to children, there's a time and a place for everything. And the time for deciphering brilliant-but-archaic-poetic language is, in my opinion, not until age 12, at least. High school for some students.

Sure, you could read any of the many wonderfully done children's adaptations, but without the language, what's the point? Would you really be reading that story if it had any other name on it than William Shakespeare? 

Despite this belief, we have, as you can see, a fair amount of the Bard's plays in picture book format. In fact, this one (published by Candlewick) is one of my children's favorites. And I like them because even if you're an adult, it's incredibly helpful to have some prior knowledge of the plot before you dive into the original plays. If you're a visual person, having some illustrations can help you keep characters straight. Plus, they're just kinda fun :D Although my daughter tells me I should warn you that all the people in William's book have "kissy lips." ;D