My oldest child will be in 6th grade next year. He has done all of the SCM science guides along with our other children and this year he is doing Jack’s Insects on his own. He is really enjoying it too. I am thinking through our options for next year and would love to hear from you mamas who have done science for this age that is rooted in living books. I don’t mind pulling something together but I would like to have a plan. I so wish SCM had one more science guide for older elementary kids. Jack’s Insects has been a huge hit for him this year and we would love one more year of being guided with living books while also having the ability to work independently. Maybe the SCM team will add that to their already full to do list *wink, wink 🙂 Thanks for any feedback in advance.
Maybe take a look at some of Memoria Press’s science courses for late elementary. They have some really nice nature ones. My son did the bird one in 6th grade and really enjoyed it. They also have one about trees and a few others.
My 9th grade daughter has a learning disability, so she is not working at a high school level. I asked for similar suggestions recently, and I have come to the conclusion, for my daughter, the best way to do science is to get library/living books on the topic of study, and do oral or written narrations. I need to stay away from a ‘text’. So, if you want to stick to a CM science, I would suggest using living books in the area of interest and do narration and maybe drawing and hands-on activities. I know it takes some planning, but I’m looking forward to it. I think my daughter will enjoy science much more this way.
This spring/summer, I am planning to use the Burgess Flower book (oop), along with some picture books about flowers. Our nature walks and nature notebooks would focus on spring flowers. And we can plant flowers and give away flowers. I might pull out Exploring Creation through Botany for a few experiments. Dover has a flower coloring book we might use called The Language of Flowers.
We like the Wonders of Creation books from Masterbooks.
In the past, my son used The Sciences by Holden and I put other books with it, as each chapter focused on a different topic. I will try to find one of my older posts.
I second the Wonders of Creation suggestion, by Wings2fly. I use those (gently) as a sort of guide for science studies with living books. I choose living books to accompany each chapter subject.
We’re using the New Astronomy Book (gently) with our living books for science as we study the solar system. I bought the New Ocean book, but we are waiting to begin our new school year before getting into it. I appreciate this series for several reasons. First, the information comes from a Creationist viewpoint, and I don’t worry about questionable content. Also, these books aren’t as wordy as some other textbooks; the publisher has separated the text into three colored sections. Each color is for a different age group, so the older students get the most text out of the book, and younger kids are not overwhelmed. I know it is more of a textbook, but the pictures are great, and the chapters are easy to use as topics for living books (to guide mom through planning). The WOC books are inexpensive, as well …. Which helps when you plan to buy some great living books to enjoy. There are so many good living books out there to use for science studies, but as my son gets older, I’m finding that having a solid spine/guide that comes from a Creationist viewpoint just helps me in planning, even if we only read a portion of the spine. In the New Ocean book, there are parts we may not read, but I love that information on the Genesis Flood is there waiting for us. We enjoy science so much with the freedom to plan and choose.