Starting Science

This was the absolutely easiest subject to get up and running. My son’s 7^th grade class had just finished a unit on weather. So, we were able to jump right into cells. There were several big issues I had with the way he was being taught science in middle school. My older child had also had this particular teacher and had complete lost any interest in science. Fortunately, she had an amazing run of science teachers after that and is now considering a career in biology.

So, what did her great teachers do that the 7^th grade teacher didn’t? Simple. They made science fun and hands-on with minimal bookwork. With that in mind, here was the frame work for future our science lessons:

1. Start each unit with defining new vocabulary and terms: That’s it. No drawing pictures. No making up sentences. No rewriting the word x number of times. The list is simple for future reference to aid in understanding what is being explained in videos and print.

2. Use fun videos whenever possible: My first stop is Brain Pop. Usually, we pull the unit’s terms from their lists. The graphic organizers are also useful. Once my son has a general idea of the new topic, we watch a Crash Course video. It is truly amazing to see how much of a high school level biology course he is able to absorb.

3. Finish off with a lab: Wednesdays are lab days. The messier the better. Eventually, he’ll have to write formal lab reports, but for now a short summary paragraph will do.

The next step in getting science up and running was to outfit our lab. We’ve ordered so many supplies, I expect the police to show up looking for illegal activity. I’ll post details about our lab in the next post.