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Surviving Science, by Missie Shimizu
What happens if you decide to homeschool and you failed science class, not just one science class but practically all of them? On the other hand, what happens if you decide to homeschool and you got an “A” in chemistry, but you never did anything to merit that grade, and therefore you don’t know the first thing about chemistry?
That about sums up my science class record. I either didn’t do very well or I passed with flying colors all to the tune of helping the teacher grade papers. At the time I loved it. I thought, “This is grand! I don’t have to do the work, and I pass anyway!” However, it wasn’t grand, at least not as I look back on the experience. I really could use that knowledge right about now. What happens if you decide to homeschool and you get to LEARN science right along with your children?
That’s exactly what I decided to do. I never intended to homeschool my children, but life has a funny way of placing you in situations that you never planned to be. I’m thankful I found myself in this position, but I wasn’t happy about my lack of knowledge in the science department. What did I do?
I began with a book– The Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer. This book became my homeschool “bible”. I use it to plan what I will teach and when I will teach it. I especially like the section on how she pairs history with science. She believes that you should teach both subjects with the same timeline, which makes perfect sense to me. When you teach ancient history, you study the human body; when you teach Middle Ages, study the earth and space; and when you study the modern age, you also explore chemistry and physics. The student will grasp the entire development of science within the realm of history. Many times my students will correlate historical events with scientific discoveries. I attribute this solely to the fact that we study them at the same time.
I was already struggling with the three R’s our first year of homeschooling, so science was on the back burner in my agenda. Yet, I knew I still had to give the subject some effort. I stumbled upon a simple book of experiments for children. It was titled Fizz, Bubble Pop by the Ooey Gooey Lady. Since my children were fresh out of first grade and kindergarten, they were the perfect age to benefit from these experiments, which meant science was all hands-on. I didn’t have them write anything down. We just had fun with the experiments and talked about what was happening. We used the backyard for the bulk of the experiments. Note about the backyard: Don’t leave flour and water on the patio overnight. It hardens and is extremely difficult to get off! We spent most of one afternoon on our hands and knees scrubbing the patio. Of course the experiment was fun but not worth that price.
Source: http://survivalblog.com/surviving-science-by-missie-shimizu/
