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Would dropping General Science for Beef be a big mistake?
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Just wondered what you would do. We had planned on starting General Science (old ed.; Wile) for my dd age 12, 7th grade. I never expected this to happen, but as of last night we are officially going to be showing beef cattle in our local 4-H. We went to our first meeting last night with no agenda; we simply planned to gather info. etc. 24 hours later, we now have 3 Angus beef calves for show ( and a liitle lamb to be borrowed for dd 5yr)! This is going to be a very time consuming, but fun and exciting activity for my girls; my son even thinks he might try showing one as well. Would it be feasable to completely switch gears and simply call this my science for her? I have never done a so-called “Unit Study”, burt I could see how this could possibly morph into such a thing. That General Science book looks so, well, boring… would it be a sin to skip it and create a so-called “beef catttle” unit study? We have a co-op that teaches other Apologia sciences she could get in when she is older (9th and up) that start with Biology.
You can learn a LOT of biology showing animals! Not to mention business skills, presentation skills, etc. It’s a good activity. (Former country kid here!) I would definitely bring in some topics as they come up—and maybe add a short unit later on measurement and physical science? Then she’d be all set for bio in 9th.
Sounds like a fun learning experience! Not sure if this would help with making it a unit study, but I have this Hands of a Child kit on my wishlist. Some of it might work as a framework for your beef study.
Of the two options, I’m thinking only one of those would still be in her memory bank YEARS later. We, too, are struggling with that Gen. Science text, just like we did last year. I think your Beef study sounds wonderful and exciting! So many real-life learning opportunities. BTW, as my husband and I were discussing all our high school science courses (trying to decide how we’d proceed with science in high school) we couldn’t come up with one single memorable fact or event. I know my boys would be thrilled with such a science course!
I can’t wait to hear how your study goes. As a former 4-H student,
don’t forget to have them keep up with the cost throughout the year. (Feed, meds, supply for the pen or fence, …) Make sure they figure out the cost of buying, raising, and caring for the animals then compare with how much they sale for. Was there a profit of loss? It’s interesting. They may have given you the materials or catalog at the meeting – but if they didn’t you can go to the 4H website and order workbooks for different things – like raising a cow or lamb, and lots of other stuff as well. That would be a good spine to start with for your year.
don’t forget to have them keep up with the cost throughout the year. (Feed, meds, supply for the pen or fence, …) Make sure they figure out the cost of buying, raising, and caring for the animals then compare with how much they sale for. Was there a profit of loss? It’s interesting. 
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