need to feel confident in CM science

I would highly recommend SCM’s 106 days of Creation. My children at that age soaked everything up. They can still tell me what part of their tongue is how you taste sweet, sour, etc.

I understand completely about being concerned about what your kids need to know. I still struggle with that everyday in fact. But let me reassure you that my kids have learned lots of things from reading living books in science. The Thornton W. Burgess books are entertaining I think for any age. After we read a chapter of one of these books I simply ask for character traits of the animals that they heard/read about today. If you want, to keep you more accountable, you could even create a log of what animals you read about and write their character traits with them.

But again if you want something for them to study other than animals try the 106 Days of Creation. My opinion, wonderful! I plan to repeat it next year with my older and younger kids. Also something fun is the book 100 science experiments (which if I recall correctly 106 DOC uses).

You could cover these categories in rotation using living books: General Science, Physical Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Human Body. This is the path that I am going to take with my children. We will be using the books suggested on this site under living science books as well as Apologia’s books that are written by Fulbright, Tiner’s books on various science subjects, and some random books from AIG… not the curriculum sets. It took me a while to feel confident in my decision, but after receiving some of the books in the mail I am so glad I trusted in God and took the plunge!! Children will have gaps no matter what. Do you remember all you read in as many text books? I don’t so I figure why not instill a love of learning in my children.

I brought my kids home in 2nd and 4th grades.  I sketched out areas of Science I wanted to cover each term (usually 3 per year) and then I gathered materials (all free) and wrote a lesson plan term by term.  Nothing too detailed … just what I wanted to cover that day and the list of resources I’d use.  Readings from various books living and otherwise (my children hated living Science books, the story detracted from the Science and that drove them nuts) followed with experiments or some type of hands on exploration.  That’s how we did Science until we hit 6th grade. 

Then we turned to a more formal study with memorization and quizes as well as what is normally accepted as CM – single readings, narrations, hands on experiments and explorations.  Lesson time for Science increased dramatically from maybe 25 minutes to an hour+ each lesson.  I might have done that a little more smoothly if I had the chance again. And we have gone from those hour + lessons to shorter daily lessons now too.  Which I think is very CM and works better.

But serious Science study can’t start soon enough!  I don’t have kids going in to Science fields – most likely – and so the scope with which I cover it may be the only time they have with it.  As a Liberal Arts major you’ll only be required to take a Biology and one other “lighter” Science like Geology, Ecology, Astronomy to meet your degree requirements at most colleges.  I’d like them to come away with at least a solid understanding of the basics of the major areas of Science.

A living book does not have to be a ‘story book’.  When I think of science living books there are some story books, yes, but there are also wonderful nonfiction books with a passionate, knowledgeable author who shares his love of the topic at hand.  For example, my kids have loved The Beetle Book by Steve Jenkins as well as his book Bones: Skeletons and How they Work.  I have one who has loved the Amazing Science: Simple Machines series by Michael Dahl with titles like Roll, Slope, and Slide.  They have loved books about stargazing, field guides for weather, and more. 

The Magic School Bus books have also been one my children like, though some may think them twaddle.  It’s up to your family.  We do talk about the evolution/old earth bias in the ones it comes up in.

We love the Apologia Elementary series, often my children take those to quiet time to read and explore. There are many different possibilities! 

This fall we’re doing AIG God’s Design for Science for the 7 younger children (blue books on space, earth, weather, and water). We’re using it like we would use a history spine – a guide to nudge us along the path of exploration.  We’ll add living books as desired and get outside for things like stargazing, exploring local bodies of water, etc. 

I hope that helps you see another possibility! 

Storybook of Science, I Wonder Why, I Wonder How, Jack’s Insects, Parables from Nature, Wild Animals I Have Known …. mine didn’t like these at all.  That’s what I’m meaning when I mention living Science books.  If they wanted to know about a wolf then they wanted to really know about a wolf – details, taxonomy, pictures to study, videos to see, a wolf they could watch in person, etc.  Not a story of a man’s encounter with a wolf even if (and these books do) it did relay a great deal of detail within the story line.  I think it’s just a personal preference. I thought these books looked great … I bought them all and here they sit on the shelf almost untouched! 

After about a year or so home I didn’t have any more luck with any type of formal Nature Study either with my kids.  They are wildly observant of nature and they spend a lot of time in it.  They have the curiousity to seek out answers from me or field guides when they encounter something new.  They love to explore.  They are adventurers.  But as far as translating that in to our formal lessons in the form of a Nature Study table and journals and such …. we just didn’t keep up that practice as they grew.  I wish we had because it LOOKS so pretty and tidy and delightful but maybe that is a really bad reason for wanting it!  Obviously they’ve got the meat of what matters in my mind – curiosity, respect, inquisitiveness.

I think this is sort of the debate going on in several posts right now regarding science.

I think journals and diaries by scientists are great.  We’ve loved those.  First hand accounts of scientists’ work … we’ve loved those too.  I WISH there were a great list of only those types of books somewhere.  And that that list contained all the great travel journals too for Geography.