Curious how you decide on your science curriculum ideas...I'm in the US (and I have my elementary teaching degree so I don't need to have someone else evaluate my children's learning), so we really can do whatever we want for science each year. How do you decide? I'm juggling kids ages 9, 7, 5, and 2 so I also try to make it family-friendly yet don't want to short change my oldest with higher-level skills.
I loosely follow the plan from The Well-Trained Mind, which is 1st Grade: Life science (animals, humans, plants); 2nd Grade: Earth science and astronomy; 3rd Grade: Chemistry, 4th Grade: Physics, and then repeat in greater depth each time. This is the first year I’ve used SWB’s book recommendation. Usually we just borrow lots of relevant books, visit museums, look at the night sky etc. And although this year is officially chemistry, we follow the children’s interests and if they want to dive into something else we go for it. It’s hard not to study plants when everything is growing in spring, or weather when things get stormy in late summer! We’ve also used science boxes with ready-made experiments but they get expensive and also fill the house with creations I’m never allowed to throw out…!
Thanks! I like that transition between topic areas...I've just gone off of areas that my kids are interested in since there's already some eagerness and prior knowledge there. But I don't want to miss certain areas, so I'll have to look into the Well-Trained Mind. We've done the subscription boxes too, which are fun, but yes they do add extra "stuff" to the house!
Curious how you decide on your science curriculum ideas...I'm in the US (and I have my elementary teaching degree so I don't need to have someone else evaluate my children's learning), so we really can do whatever we want for science each year. How do you decide? I'm juggling kids ages 9, 7, 5, and 2 so I also try to make it family-friendly yet don't want to short change my oldest with higher-level skills.
I loosely follow the plan from The Well-Trained Mind, which is 1st Grade: Life science (animals, humans, plants); 2nd Grade: Earth science and astronomy; 3rd Grade: Chemistry, 4th Grade: Physics, and then repeat in greater depth each time. This is the first year I’ve used SWB’s book recommendation. Usually we just borrow lots of relevant books, visit museums, look at the night sky etc. And although this year is officially chemistry, we follow the children’s interests and if they want to dive into something else we go for it. It’s hard not to study plants when everything is growing in spring, or weather when things get stormy in late summer! We’ve also used science boxes with ready-made experiments but they get expensive and also fill the house with creations I’m never allowed to throw out…!
Thanks! I like that transition between topic areas...I've just gone off of areas that my kids are interested in since there's already some eagerness and prior knowledge there. But I don't want to miss certain areas, so I'll have to look into the Well-Trained Mind. We've done the subscription boxes too, which are fun, but yes they do add extra "stuff" to the house!