A wonderful thing happened Wednesday, through the wonderful moms who attend this monthly meeting we were able to get volunteers to run the meeting and take notes on the great speaker we had that night, Dr. Keller of Real Science 4 Kids, because I could not attend. These circumstances occurred because my daughter is going to her first tournament this weekend and the coach wanted her at an extra practice that night and she looked at me and said 'I want you there mom' so I had to be. That is why we homeschool, why we parent, why we have the community we do so that we can be there for our kids when they need us, when they are doing something that excites them or learn something new! I am so grateful for our community members that pulled together to help me out and I look forward to more great learning experiences and camaraderie in the future. Here are the notes put together, look for my next community night to be advertised this weekend:
Dr. Keller: She has a Ph.D. in biophysical chemistry. She has 3 children whom she homeschooled all the way, with the oldest now in public high school, and the younger two still at home. What pushed her to develop this science curriculum was her own struggles in the sciences, particularly in her basic level college chemistry class. It was all "Greek", having never seen or heard about many of these topics, and she spent more time trying to catch up, while losing the points of the lecture. Her take on what is missing in science education these days can be found in the front pages of their catalog. In a nutshell: traditionally math is taught as a separate entity, and then you receive general science through earth and space, and biology texts. You may get 1 semester each of physics and chemistry in high school..but by then a lot of the inquisitiveness of youth has been traded in for worries over grades and transcripts.....and let's face it-one semester is not enough to get a good grasp on these hefty subjects. She believes that any any science topic is properly and more thoroughly explained through a combination of the disciplines, for example: photosynthesis= biology+ chemistry, etc. When you leave out the chemistry, there are gaping holes in the knowledge. Too many science texts today give tons of unrelated facts, which kids are expected to memorize and "regurgitate" on a test or quiz. But do they really know the how and why? And how these facts connect into the scheme of something bigger? Her curriculum aims to give children a good foundation in chemistry, biology, and physics beginning at the K-3rd level, so that they can more readily grasp science concepts and fit them together.
Eventually they hope to have texts for all three disciplines in every grade level, but for the time being she created the ones for the grades that seem to be lacking in science the most. Each text has a corresponding lab workbook and teacher manual (which helps with the labs.) The focus of the labs is to get kids to use their scientific minds. Beginning labs have experiments to use, but as the children progress, they will design their own experiments and labs. They will have scientific confidence!! On another note-she is developing a line of workbooks designed to bring chemistry, biology, and physics across the curriculum and tie it to 6 other areas: language, technology, critical thinking, history, art/literature/music, and philosophy. So far the language one is available for purchase for each of the science disciplines.
So far the texts available (along with supporting materials) are:
Chemistry Pre-Level I-(K-3rd)
Chemistry Level I
Biology Level I
Physics Level I (level I is for 4th-6th grade)
Chemistry Level II (7th-9th grade)
She recommends taking a semester for each text, or longer if the child is really into the labs! She also recommends taking them in the following order: chemistry, biology, then physics. Even though there is not a text available for every discipline in every grade, she says completing these books will lay the foundation for your student to be able to navigate areas of other chemistry, biology , or physics books with confidence.
Their website is : www.gravitaspublications.com
Their numbers are: 505-266-2761, or toll free 1-888-466-2761
The website is having ordering difficulty at the time, but you can always order by phone. Or call to make an appointment to thumb through the materials. And if you are local, order by phone (speak to Mary) and pick up your order to avoid shipping costs associated with web orders. The website also has neat links to blogs that give additional homeschooling and science info.
Finally! A curriculum that makes science easy to comprehend! Michelle Johns
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