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(continued from subject line) has always had trouble doing BHFHG science. It's week 28, and she's still has trouble guessing, just making a GUESS. She doesn't even know what it means to make a guess at some of the science questions. It is a tremendous frustration for her. Today the question is, "How is soap formed?" I'm a little disappointed she can't even think of any kind of guess by now.

I know I've written about her frustrations in BHFHG science before and the answer was press on... Well we've pressed on, but I don't see the progress.

Now I'm starting to get very concerned about continuing on with Preparing. I already bought the program but I haven't looked at it yet. Please, someone tell me the science is different. I hope it's based more on a reading and comprehension skills rather than guessing.

How can I teach her to guess? To be curious to guess?

Anyone?

Maybe phrase it differently? My kids would balk at guess, but "how do you think" is met with many words... Especially if at a different time than school I read over the project and ask it just randomly as I'm doing something else...

Like with your example... sometime while either I or she was washing hands I would say in an inquisitive tone "how do you think soap is made?" or even "I wonder how soap is made?" and then write down what she said.

The science in Bigger and Preparing are similar especially in format though in Preparing there is only one experiment per week. So there will only be one guess per week. The other days are spent notebooking, narrating, and answering some questions about the reading. So in some ways, it is more about the reading since there is the added day of answering comprehension questions in Preparing.

To help your dd on her guessing for the experiment, I would suggest to make sure she has read the assignment first and even let her look at the key idea if she needs. Quite often the answer is contained in one of those sources. I understand her reluctance to guess. Sometimes my dc are like that as well. They just want to say, "I don't know." So in those instances, I try to ask some leading questions to help them. I think it helps the dc to understand too that we aren't looking for them to know the answer to this question that it's just to get them thinking about it before doing the experiment. Perhaps helping her understand that there isn't a right answer will help her be willing to be more creative and come up with some ideas. My dc have really been enjoying the science in Preparing even when they are stumped sometimes by the guess.

By RevtoRev, the word "guess" will be replaced by the word "hypothesis". Perhaps it would seem more exciting if you explained that she is doing real science, just like real scientists? They make an educated "guess" (hypothesis) and test it by experimenting Reading comprehension is definitely an important part of the learning in Preparing and up, since the science is done independently, but this "guessing" even in Bigger is a real science skill that requires critical thinking too.

My apologies. I am a complete idiot. I totally missed the reading assignment that included the ANSWER. I don't know how I missed it, but I did. Ugh. I could have avoided yesterday's frustration if I would have just read more carefully.



Unfortunately, it doesn't change the fact that the science has been a source of frustration at times, even with the readings. I do try to explain things -- I want my daughter to feel competent. We talk. We have lots of conversations. Sometimes though, the questions are so open ended.

blessedmomof4 wrote:... but this "guessing" even in Bigger is a real science skill that requires critical thinking too.

So what are you saying? I mean she's 8 years old. Is she supposed to be thinking critically at this point in time?

We often add from netflix to help with school. There is a series "How It Is Made" that really draws my children into the questions. Such as the one about soap. I would google how it is made soap episode and I found that season 7 episode 6 shows among other things how soap is made. I would have my child watch this if they had no idea or did not get enthused over "guessing". You could also find such videos on you tube.

See, I don't read C the part where the answer is before we do the experiment, because the whole point is to make a hypothesis, or a guess. So I don't want her to know the answer before we do it. C balked at it some too, but I just explained that it isn't supposed to be right. It's just what she thinks might be the answer before we do it, and then the experiment will let us know how it is actually done, and we can see how close we were. So I'll go ahead and do my own "guess" too, and then let her do hers. I think some of our kiddos are just so afraid of being wrong, and this is an important skill to learn because being "wrong" can often help us learn things. It's all a part of the scientific process. Some amazing discoveries have been made because people were willing to guess and be wrong. When we make our guess and it turns out differently than the finally result, I will say something like "Look at that! We just learned something we both didn't know!" When the guess is correct I say something similar like "Wow! Our guess was right! That's really neat whe that happen, isn't it?" So maybe that will help?

blessedmomof4 wrote:... but this "guessing" even in Bigger is a real science skill that requires critical thinking too.

So what are you saying? I mean she's 8 years old. Is she supposed to be thinking critically at this point in time?[/quote]

I didn't mean for that to sound like something difficult. HOD guides develop critical thinking from the very start A dictionary definition of critical thinking is : "the mental process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating information to reach an answer or conclusion". To me, that simply means using what you know already and what you have recently learned to figure out something new or test the truth of something. This is different than just getting or finding the "right" answer, and is a very valuable skill. Even Little Hearts schedules a "Thinking Skills" book with its grade 1 package. I believe as Christians, we want our kiddos to "think critically" about all things in life, and HOD does a great job of gently building that ability through the years.