Subjects: Science

I'm excited to start our science curriculum this year!  I've chosen Elemental Science: Chemistry for the Grammar Stage.   This Classical Science curriculum is written by Paige Hudson & I just love what I've seen so far!  They also offer Biology, Physics, Earth Science & Astronomy for the Grammar, Logic, & Rhetoric stages (this stage appears to still be in the works).  I am hoping this series works well for us, because I like the idea of sticking with one curriculum model all the way through!

Elemental Science comes with two books: a Student Workbook & a Teacher's Guide.  The workbook has pages for two Scientist biography studies, vocabulary pages with picture & narration spaces, summary pages with picture & narration spaces, experiment pages with picture, narration, & summary spaces, & a whole section of awesome pictures that go along with the definition & summary pages (so your child doesn't have to draw everything!).  Everything is very simple & not cluttered in its design.  My plan is to remove the pages as we use them & put them into a 1" 3-ring binder.

The second book, the Teacher's Guide, lays out 36 weeks' worth of lesson plans.  You can either choose a 5 day week or a 2 day week.  There's a handy weekly supply list at the front of the book, & I would suggest gathering all your supplies at one time into a box, so you have it all ready.  Who wants to search for iodine, steel wool, baby powder, or alligator clips the night before?  Almost all the items are basic "stuff" you have around the house, with the exception of a small handful things (6 volt lantern battery, film camera, Borax, etc).  There is no pre-assembled supply kit, which I have always purchased with our other curriculum guides, so I want to be sure I have everything in one place ahead of time!  I know myself...if I don't have it when I need it, I'll skip the experiment & will likely not get back to it!

In addition to the Student Workbook & the Teacher Guide, you will need to purchase a few books to work from.  Fizz, Bubble, Flash: Element Explorations & Atom Adventures and Adventures with Atoms and Molecules: Book 1  are used for experiments.  Usborne's Internet-linked Science Encyclopedia is used as a reference tool, & offers fantastic links to Usborne's website that coordinate with each topic.

The two books used for the scientist study are Marie Curie's Search for Radium and Pasteur's Fight Against Microbes, both by Beverly Birch.  Many libraries carry these, so check yours before buying if you want to save some money!  Of course, you could substitute with any appropriate level book about these two scientists.   We already own the Pasteur book, but will substitute something else for the Curie book because our library doesn't have it.

I would have thought Chemistry was too complex a subject for 3rd grade, but given this curriculum, it's easy & fun to learn about what makes up our everyday world!

Falling Into A Classical Definition

Jeff & I had never talked about homeschooling...it just sort of evolved. 

Before we were married, I taught 1st grade.  I went to school to be a teacher.  So once Reese was of Preschool age, we both agreed that sending him away to "learn" was not for us.  Once Kindergarten rolled around, it just seemed like a natural extension to stay at home & work together. 

In Kindergarten, we started with Saxon Phonics K only.  No formal math.  No formal anything else.  My main goal that year was to get him reading the Bob Books series.  Saxon Phonics is what I used when I taught 1st grade, so I was already comfortable with the program.  Things I loved about Saxon:

*The teacher's manual told me exactly what to say during the lessons.  It made the whole process very parent-friendly.

*The daily activities were short enough to hold Reese's interest. 

*Using letter cards to move & spell sounds and words made a huge difference.  We didn't have to focus on pencil skills, we could focus on the task at hand. 

The rest of our Kindergarten year was spent exploring our city, baking, playing games, seeing friends, taking nature walks...just really exploring our world.  It was the perfect pace & I'm glad we eased our way into schooling.

For first grade, I wanted a more scheduled curriculum, so we did another year of Saxon Phonics, & added most of the Sonlight curriculum to the mix.  This included Horizon Math 1, History (Ancients), Science, Bible study, Geography, Reading, Handwriting, & Spelling.  Our days were modeled somewhat like a classroom setting.  We have a school table.  We have a flag & say the Pledge.  We try to stick to our schedule.  I suppose we are closer to "school-at-home"-ers than anything else.  It works for us, so that's what we do!

Second grade brought some changes.  I stuck with Sonlight for another year, which covered our History (Medieval/Early Renaissance), Bible, Writing, & Reading.  I also added the following: Sequential Spelling Book 1, Saxon Math 3, multiple logic books from Mindware, Science (Magnets, Astronomy, & Birds studies), & Grammar (Language Lessons for the Very Young).  I found, though, as the year went on, I was changing almost 100% of what Sonlight had laid out for other things we liked better/worked better. 

I had decided to go at it on my own for third grade, planning-wise.  After three years of homeschooling, I feel confident in my curriculum skills. 

But I still didn't feel like I knew where this road was going.  I knew where I wanted to end, but how on earth were we going to get there?

So, I checked out every homeschool book I could find in the Flower Mound library and have been reading.  And I finally found a method that jives with what I believe, how we work (mostly), & makes sense to me.

Thanks to the Well Trained Mind, I now see we have actually been following a Classical Education model the whole time.  To simplify, a Classical Education is broken down into the Trivium, 3 stages of developmental study.  We're currently in the Grammar Stage.

Grades K-4 are the Grammar Stage, and focus heavily on memorizing facts, & exposing children to the story of everything!  Science, history, language....it all has a story!  It's not that I expect Reese to retain every minute detail, but (as the book says) it's the planting of those seeds in his brain.  You know how, if you see a particular actor in a movie, all the sudden he seems to be in lots of movies you've seen?  Or if you go look at a particular model of car to buy, & then you seem to see them everywhere?  It's the same idea.  Expose kids to great stories like the Oddesy, Beowulf, Robinson Crusoe, & Moby Dick.  Read them aloud together, get them familiar with the story, & then when it comes time to digest the story later in schooling years, it won't be so intimidating because, Hey!  I know that story!  

It gives me comfort to know where this road is leading.  We won't follow the Classical model to the letter, but that's the beauty of homeschool.  I can tailor it to be however we want!

It's like we've moved into this amazingly well-built house, with time-tested strength in its structure.  It's up to us to decorate however we like!