Pondering Science with my 12 yo

[deltagal]

Hi there,

My 12 yo son is in Preparing. He quite capably and competently and with a very good attitude carries out the assignments each day in his guide. BUT several times as he has pulled together the supplies for his Science Experiment he says with a sigh, "I already know what the outcome is going to be, but I still do this because it is in my lesson." Today I asked him to tell me more about his thoughts and he just indicated that it was all a bit simplistic. He's right, of course. I'm just thinking about that. Should it be more? He's in unit 7. He LOVES the One Small Square books and the writing assignments. It is just the experiments. Any thoughts?

[Carrie]

Florence,

I am in agreement with you that with the target age range of the Preparing guide being for ages 8-10 that the experiments in the science boxes are going to be geared for that age level. However, I do still think there is much to be gained for an older child in completing the science lab sheet and in thinking through questions that could be asked about what is within the readings. To extend the science experiments, you may want to consider asking your son to do the experiment and fill out the lab sheet as instructed in the guide, but then ask him to take the experiment idea one step further, if possible. Ask him to think of any other questions that the experiment may have brought up for him. Then, see if he can write down one question of his own and figure out a way to test it each week.

Blessings,
Carrie

[MainelyJen]

I vote for persevering with the science. Have you read through all the science assignments that are coming up in the guide? Has he already read The Great Dinosaur Mystery and the Bible? Find the Constellations? The scientist biographies?

My own thought is that the science portion of Preparing is so much more than just doing experiments. With the readings, notebooking, and biographies it is working on many skills at once. I think it's a great guide to using a literature approach to science!

If he's enjoying the notebook, drawing, and the literature itself, but just would like different experiments, you might try just adding in something like this from Home Science Tools http://www.hometrainingtools.com/produc ... ce-of-life and letting him have at it on Fridays independently. Or any experiment kit on a topic of interest to him.

Another thing I've done with my kids is getting the Moody science dvds through Netflix. Maybe he'd like to watch these after he completes the experiment and written lab report on his 4th science day each unit?

[deltagal]

Hi Jen,

I agree completely. The Science literature is a great fit for him. He has actually already read the marjority of the books that are coming up - Costellations, all the Biographies, but I know he'll enjoy redoing them with the notebooking. In fact, he tells me every day how much he enjoys the reading and the notebooking. It is strictly the experiements. I'll check out the Home Science Tools. Thanks for the tip!