This is from the xkcd store. And I covet the t-shirt with this. Just putting that out there. Also, do check out the actual xkcd comic site - which is brilliant, even if sometimes (often) I don't understand it.
This is the time of year when my doorstep is littered with delivery boxes and the package delivery folks & I strike up conversations since we see each other almost daily. Yes, it's curriculum shopping time!
Hugo especially is always extremely curious about what's inside the boxes and volunteers to open them for me. I wish I could say that there are loud ooooh's and aaaaaah's when the grammar and Latin books arrive. Because you know how homeschooled kids are supposed to embody the spirit of endless curiousity and enthusiasm about learning (my kids didn't read that memo). Mostly there's a 'Hm. I hope this is better than what we suffered through last year' kind of feeling.
But this one book fired Hugo right up.
I have some videos already of the project he's done from this book, and we've only had it for a week or so.
I'm still trying to figure out what we'll be doing for science this year. Because we're a pretty science oriented household anyway, I've been happy to mostly wing it up till now. But suddenly I really wanted a coherent planned curriculum, esp something for Chem, as it's right up Hugo's alley. Unfortunately, almost all the science curricula out there designed for homeschoolers are written by folks who are creationists (who come in two main flavours: young & old earth) or intelligent design proponents. In case you're wondering, the public school curricula, esp for chemistry, are heavily geared to use in a school with full lab and are apparently difficult to adapt to use at home; nevertheless I'm still considering ordering a set of Singapore Science because they're inexpensive and maybe I could figure out a way to make the labs work....
So I've spent the summer trying to find a packaged curriculum I could use & I have got nowhere, mostly because I refuse to support authors who are ID or creationist. Actually, old earth creationists I could live with. (well, not actually live with..... but I think I could use their books). Just when I thought I'd found something, I'd dig around, ask around on the boards & find out the author's leanings were not something I could support. So here I am in mid-August, and still no coherent curriculum.
In July, when I realized things were not going to go smoothly with this, I decided I'd better stock up on some basic books and if worst came to worst, I'd have to make up my own curriculum (in my vast spare time!)
So I ordered the book above, along with
All this, put together with my university Chem textbook and the biggest Thames & Kosmos kit I can get in Canada (which I think is the C1000; the others apparently contain 'dangerous chemicals' which won't be allowed over the border) should somehow gel together into an interesting year of study.
4 comments:
I had the same trouble with Chem. last year around planning time. We thought the backyard ballistics book was awesome. Let us know what you think of Science Matters; I have it on my wish list (our library doesn't have a copy yet).
Hey, I managed to get the Chem C3000 set across the border. Maybe that was an oops on the part of the supplier! I know that Efston Science doesn't carry it - but maybe they could order it in for you?
Sounds like it will be a fabulous science year. Have a blast (in a non-explosive way).
I've been eyeballing Backyard Ballistics for a year or so. I haven't put enough thought into science activities for this year, so now you've put me in belated shopping mode.
We *love* BB, and the chemistry experiment book!
I hope you'll post about Hands-On Chemistry -- I'm hoping to use that for the kids in high school, with the experiment book, but that's still off in the distance.
Rebecca, just *how* did you get the chemistry set over the border? My sons dream about that one...
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