Time for science. ;) Much of what I want to say has already been said back here. Still loving that Real Science 4 Kids curriculum. We're in Biology right now (didn't move as quickly as I'd planned but not at all due to the program...totally just me slacking, lol). Will do Physics next and then I'm not sure...we might just go back and do it all again. ;)

Beyond the other stuff I mentioned back in that prior post (which is all still great!...especially loving that more Basher books are due out shortly!), I'll mention a couple of other things that I currently have in my hot little hands but have yet to start using. The first is a cool observation dealio called Private Eye. It might actually tie in more with language arts but I'll include it here. The idea, as I understand it, is to observe your world from a new perspective and then compare that to other things...creating analogies and stretching the imagination. Sounds fun, eh? Perfect for some fall walks...

The other thing is these Linkology games. I love the idea of making connections rather than just learning independent facts.

Oh, and as with history, a lot of learning goes on through field trips. Through our local homeschool group, we generally end up doing things like classes at our local Discovery Science Center, homeschool day down at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, the Little Shop of Physics, our own science fair, the CSU Water Festival, trips to the Butterfly Pavilion, tours of local robotics and plastics plants, and the like. 

Now, in the spirit of documentation, I'll also now briefly mention previous science programs we've used/tried... 

• From Butterflies to Thunderbolts. This is a fun little book that covers a variety of science topics through books kids love. We had a lot of fun with this but ultimately stopped. I can't remember why and now am thinking I may well go back and cover some of these again now that Micah's getting to be of age. 
• E. Encyclopedia Animal and Body. In trying to cover life sciences one year, we just bought big books like these and started talking about different animals and body parts/systems. It worked pretty well. That was at least 3 years ago, though. 
• Great Science Adventures. This is a line of books that touch on different science topics like landforms and the ocean and space. We finished the landforms book and then stopped. The material wasn't bad (very basic, though) but the work involved to cut out and make the little books that accompany each chapter got annoying.

Added to this, a great many of the books the boys naturally gravitate toward are of a science nature. They have a great number of science experiments to do at home type books and kits. And most of the shows they watch on television deal with science. So. Lots of stuff gets covered just on a daily basis because they love science. I'm not really that worried that we'll miss anything...more that I'll not know what they're talking about, lol.  

Three more quick thoughts on history...(read the previous post first if you haven't already)...

1. "Field trips" are also fabulous parts of our history curriculum. Now that Micah's getting older, we're trying to do more traveling and sight seeing, and the boys love it. Our recent Memorial Day weekend trip, for example, whilst also sporting science (inside the cave), had plenty of history to be discussed...who those faces on Mt. Rushmore were...how people did things back when the mountain was being created/sculpted...who lived in the Black Hills first...how those mammoths got preserved in Hot Springs...how people figure out stuff about really old things...LOL. See?

2. To be fair, I should mention that though *I* think covering history in order is awesome, Noah's not always so keen on the idea. Right now, he'd really most just like to cover the United States...particular the wars the United States has been involved in. The boy is alarmingly patriotic and a bit single-minded about it (yeah, you don't really want to watch the Olympics or similar things with him, lol...really not sure where this came from). This all just reinforces my thought that we should cover history in order, though. I think/hope it will ultimately help him put the United States in better perspective.

3. I do, though, let the boys watch a number of things on the history channel, so they are sometimes exposed to history out of order. ;) In particular, they love things about the machines of the first and second world wars. (Yes, this is probably where some of that patriotism stems from, lol. They especially love Dogfights.) Every so often, I also catch them watching stuff about dinosaurs or the Industrial Revolution. All sorts of good stuff. I particularly love "Modern Marvels"...a show that talks about all sorts of random things and, in doing so, traces their history and development.

Another subject soon... ;)

Back to homeschooling stuff. ;) Today, the subject is history. I like history. It's always been one of my favorites. Here's what we've used with the boys...

Story of the World. This is one of the few curriculums that just worked for us right off the bat. I've stuck with it since we started (have taken a few breaks now and then, but have always used this as our primary history program). What I love about it is that the chapters are a nice, manageable size...and that they cover history chronologically. Covering history "in order" just makes so very much sense to me. Seems infinitely more reasonable than spending the elementary years just focusing on the US and then waiting until high school to cover everything else.

This curriculum is designed as a simple and fun introduction to history for young children. It's presented in four volumes, starting with ancient times and working up to modern. "Ideally" you cover one text a year starting in first grade. Each text has roughly 40 chapters (so easily doable in just one chapter a week)...narratives that cover history without being too dry, often using stories (from that period, featuring kids from that period, or highlighting a figure from that period). If you also buy the activity book, you get a review of the chapter, additional reading material recommendations, and various activities (like art projects and games). 

We've just started on book 3. History is one of the subjects I do with all the boys together. I plan to go back over the same material once we finish book 4. That's part of the "plan" behind the curriculum. They figure that we should introduce it all at a young age and then revisit it a time or two to really help it sink in. Makes sense, eh? I figure that the timeline will be about right for Micah and anticipate going into more depth (and off on more tangents, lol) with the other two.

Book of Time. I haven't actually started this yet, but am very excited about it. I found these Book of Time books and just purchased one for each boy. They appear very sturdy and nicely put together (and this was easier than creating one myself, which was my next plan). I plan to start having the boys add notes as we cover things in history (and any other subject!). I've read about people doing this all the way through high school and having kids treasure this resource that can grow with them during that entire time.

Books. Aside from the great recommended reading list included with Story of the World, I always love finding great history books to read with the boys. Some of our favorites right now are:

• books by David Macaulay (we particularly like the building line of books...City, Castle, Cathedral, etc....for my very detail-oriented boys, these are great at really painting a picture of what life was like during that time period)
• Magic Tree House books (these are little chapter books about two kids who time travel to different points in history...not the most challenging material, but a fun springboard for discussion...plus they have great little research guides on many different topics that correlate with their books)
• the You Wouldn't Want To Be... series (a bunch of non-fiction picture books loaded with facts about different time periods...fun!)

That's pretty much it for history right now. Any resources you've come across that you'd like to share?