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Question on God\'s Design Science
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I have a struggling 12yo daughter. I was planning to begin God’s Design for Life this year. Given her age/grade, I thought doing the 3rd-5th section would be suitable. But, as I read over some of the lessons, I really believe I will lose her in much of the reading. I honestly believe the level of reading in these books will be suitable for high school. Right now, I really think the beginning readings would be enough for her. This may sound too easy, but I am learning that less is more with my daughter. If I give her too much information at one time, she does not retain much of it. I need to keep things simple. I just wondered if anyone else has used God’s Design for high school. I need to make a decision about science. I am using Learning Adventures part of this year which includes science by reading library books. Or, I could use God’s Design and just read the beginning section and do the activities. But, my thought is, if I use it for high school, I don’t think I’d want to use it now, even simply. Any thoughts? I am leaning toward following Learning Adventure science and just read library books. But that would not cover the whole year, as I will be incorporating more ancients than what is included in LA Egypt unit and I need to do state history this year, so I will not always be using the LA guide. So I would need to use a different science during those times. Make sense?
We are heading into our second year using God’s Design for Science (this year the kids using it will be 5th, 4th, 2nd, 1st, with the four younger siblings tagging along). One possibility I didn’t see you mention – what about using God’s Design daily instead of 3 days per week and not planning to do the whole chapter each time? Just read a few paragraphs, as far as she is able to handle, and put a sticky note in to pick back up there next time.
Also, don’t forget to talk about the main points from the prior day’s reading before picking up the next day. Refreshing her memory and laying things out in a continuous ribbon that connects.
Maybe you won’t get through all 3 books of one color in a year – but so what? I suspect that if you take it slow and steady you will see improvement in her understanding by the end of the year, that she will be able to listen to or read a little bit more at a sitting.
And do you read it to her? What about having a second copy so she can follow along? I have one child who really needs to SEE it, not just hear it, so they sit right beside me and follow along. Auditory just doesn’t stick as well for them.
Tristan – Reading just part of the chapter is a good idea. I want to challenge her, but not overwhelm her. Having her follow along would not be a good idea because she has dyslexia. So, I am between a rock and a hard place. She has visual and auditory processing problems. This is what has made it very challenging to know how to teach her. She does well visually with hands-on activities, but the reading is not good. She does have pretty good comprehension, but the level of reading is a problem. I would be explaining a lot of the words to her. Expressive and receptive language is a problem as well. So, even though some things may be considered mild, her learning disabilities are complex.
How about Tristan’s idea of going slow — and taking it even slower by using books from the library to flesh out or help explain some of the lesson. It seems like there are library books about the AiG GD for Life topics in nearly every level – pre-reading up to adult.
(We used that series this past year and thoroughly enjoyed the animals book and the human body book. The plant book was a little boring for us. – perhaps it was my fault!)
So, you’d read half the lesson one day. Then on another day, refresh her memory and read a library book about that topic. Then finish the AiG G’sD lesson on another day.
Another way to stretch out the lesson would be to read half the lesson (or whatever amount) and then the next day do some kind of journaling – drawing a picture of whatever – and then the following day reading a library book and then the next day finishing the lesson…….or however. I guess there are myriad ways of drawing out the lesson.
You wouldn’t get through all three books — but that shouldn’t be a problem unless you have state requirements to worry about.
Karen – I am considering Tristan’s idea to stretch it out. I like your idea of using library books to go along with it. Funny you should mention the plant book. That is the one we are starting with, and that is one reason I have been concerned about doing this now. But, I think if we do little bits at a time and read interesting library books, she will learn something. I want to stretch her, so I think this will be a good way to do it, rather than just reading the easy section. Thank you both for the nudge to follow through with this curriculum. I know it will teach good stuff.
I am not too sure if this is helpful. My experience with God’s Design Science was with the Properties of Ecosystems when we did it in a year of My Father’s World.
My children were aged 10, 8 and 6 yo. I have to say that very quickly the younger two dropped out of our readings. Even my son, an avid reader, who comprehends way beyond his age, could only manage short readings.
But, and a big but, apparently POE is NOT the best one to judge the series by.
Also, we never even knew there were other parts to go with it, it was just the book 🙂
I took it off the shelf the other day and realized that my son would manage it on his own, at 13, and actually enjoy it, because he is into nature conservation. But, I still think it is pretty advanced for middle and junior school.
If I used it now, which I could, with my younger girls, I would rather read tiny sections at a time. We use Apologia now, as I can get it in South Africa, and I can read 5pg’s at a time. They seem to love it.
Lindy
The plant book just hasn’t been setting well with me right now, so I’ve decided to begin with God’s Design Human Body book. We are beginning with Creation and a little later in the year, we will be doing a unit in Learning Adventures on Ancient Greece. The science for the Greece unit is about the human body, so this God’s Design book will fit nicely. The plants book will fit with Learning Adventures science when we get to the Middle Ages even later. The human body book may be a little more interesting for my daughter right now. She loves babies and is so fascinated when a new baby is born. So, this should be a good study for her, to see how special God has made us. We began some school work yesterday, but not science, because I was balking at doing the plant book. Now we can begin science:) Thank you ladies for your replies.
Something that has really helped my daughter when we are reading science books is to stop often for her to narrate. It helps her to process the information as we go a long.
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