Middle School Science 2023-2024

 

Usually during my school planning I put everything into one blog post. My brain needed a little more structure for science and I thought I would blog out the year for those interested in the resources and thoughts I have for middle school science!

A Charlotte Mason education in science is not just willy-nilly nature study outings. But it's also not a "sit at your desk and read a textbook and take tests" kind of class either. I won't repeat what has already been written by many bloggers and websites like Sabbath Mood homeschool or Charlotte Mason Poetry, however I will quote this passage from Volume 6:

"'Scientific truths,' said Descartes, 'are battles won.' Describe to the young the principal and most heroic of these battles; you will thus interest them in the results of science and you will develop in them a scientific spirit by means of the enthusiasm for the conquest of truth . . . How interesting Arithmetic and Geometry might be if we gave a short history of their principal theorems, if the child were meant to be present at the labours of a Pythagoras, a Plato, a Euclid, or in modern times, of a Descartes, a Pascal, or a Leibnitz. Great theories instead of being lifeless and anonymous abstractions would become living human truths each with its own history like a statue by Michael Angelo or like a painting by Raphael." -Vol 6 pg 111

I found a book for biology that fits the category of great literary quality and an amazing life. I was not expecting so much biology information to be within this biography when I first picked it up. The book is Aristotle Dean of Early Science from the Immortals of Science series.

I finished reading it earlier last week and kept notes alongside my reading to include activities that work with each chapter. There are 18 chapters and we will spread it out through the entire school year while keeping a narration notebook, and also writing our notes from the biology resources we will use throughout each semester.

The second book I am using throughout the entire year is All About the Flowering World, part of the All About series. This book has 8 chapters and again, my middle school children will be reading and keeping a narration notebook to write their thoughts on the subject.

As Charlotte Mason has said, "...for the last twelve years we have tried the plan of bringing children up on Books and Things, and, on the whole, the results are pleasing. The average child studies with 'delight.' We do not say he will remember all he knows, but, to use a phrase of Jane Austen's, he will have had his 'imagination warmed' in many regions of knowledge."

The "things" regarding science are the experiments that require more than just reading. This is why labs have always been a part of learning science. As we'll read in Aristotle's biography, he was constantly taking notes on the objects he observed, dissecting things from dolphins to sea sponges and recording his findings to help spread knowledge. Even though we have learned and discovered so much in science over the past millennia, the habit of observation and hands on discovery is important to pass on to our children.

For me, I am choosing to use dissection kits. In the first semester we will use this flower dissection: https://learning-center.homesciencetools.com/article/flower-dissection-science-project/
(This video will also help with the dissection)

In the second semester we will use this starfish dissection kit: https://www.homesciencetools.com/product/starfish-dissection-kit/
(This video is helpful but the guides should have pictures to aid the students.)

Now, for a resource that might be less likely in Charlotte Mason circles, we are using videos from the Amoeba Sisters. (Visit the playlist here!) I've previewed several and thing they look so fun and something I know Eva Mae will really enjoy. I plan to use this resource each week when my kids are on the computer for typing practice. They will watch two videos, send me an e-mail narration, and then work on their typing or coding practice.

Science in a Charlotte Mason education has also always been about observing nature. Our botany and biology will include many hands on observations but the HABIT of nature journaling in our homeschool will continue with our W+F teen group this year. Each month we will learn about and journal observations on species of edible plants that grow near our home. I'm hoping to have a little treat at our meetings like sumac lemonade and persimmon muffins! The book I'm using for students in our community is Sam Thayer's Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants which has a lot of amazing botany information in the back of the book.

Here is my at a glance for each month of the school year and our science subjects and assignments. I know there are premade guides and textbooks for homeschools but I have found that my children learn best through the best books and since I feel like I've found some of the best along with resources that give them some hands on experience, I feel good about our school year.

The key component in this schedule is narration. If you're not familiar with narration I recommend the book Know and Tell by Karen Glass. Keeping a narration notebook last year when my kids were 5th and 7th grade was a game changer. I loved looking through them and they enjoyed sharing their written narrations in our community time. This blog by Brandy Vencel at Afterthoughts Blog is also helpful on how to use notebooks for narration.

This will be the document that I print and reference for our school year. Books and Things! Reading, narrating, observing, and experimenting is the foundation for the subject of our science this year. Click the picture to download a PDF of my schedule.