Go on a dig or hunt!

 For years, my family rented a cottage on the Chesapeake Bay, near Calvert Cliffs, which are loaded with  fossils.  You can visit Calvert Cliffs State Park.  All of the nearby beaches have shark’s teeth.  Here is a field guide to those fossils.  There are places all over the world country where you can dig, gather, hunt or mine: Crater Diamonds State Park, Fossil Parks, Pan for Gold, Dig for Gemstones, Find Silver, or Rock Hounding.  Whenever I’m at a beach along the coast of Florida, I hunt for shark’s teeth, too.  Here are four U.S. locations.  Warning!  Hunting, panning, or digging are addictive!  I cannot walk a beach without hunting for fossils.  What do you do with them?  We made clay casts.  You could make jewelry, too.  Fall is ideal for fun home-school fieldtrips.  Why not plan a hunt?

Good Will Finds—including shark’s teeth and Seeing Stars!

  I love Good Will—both online and offline.  One interesting listing is for a set of Seeing Stars.  Here is more information.  From what I can understand, it looks as though it’s part of an intervention program for dyslexia.  Students should take a Barton Screening, with this link.  In any case there are several interesting listings on the Good Will site, including several LEGO Mindstorm kits.  I can’t resist shark’s teeth or Geoboards.  Take a look!

What is your philosophy? What are your strategies? How do you want to teach? What do you teach?

 Have you consider3d your educational philosophy? I bet you’re mainly in survival mode.  The first few years I taught, I have five different classes and taught French to the lower grades.  Additionally, I had a long commute, kiddos of my own, and boarding students from the private school where I taught.  I know a few things about navigating I survival mode.  Later, I had fewer preps and more resources.  My own philosophy is that every child can learn.  Later, I adopted my principal’s motto at the public school where I taught.  It is from Teddy Roosevelt: “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”  Those two principles guide my teaching.

My strategies developed from many years of teaching.  First, I use hands-on methods whenever possible.  Additionally, I try to use as many different modes as possible: Quizlet, videos, labs, concept maps, POGIL, models, projects, graphing or spreadsheet exercises, time-lines, etc.  My goal is to engage the kids to help them learn.  Every kid learns a little differently.  I try to saturate the kids from every direction.  I want them to read a topic, take notes, watch a quick video, do a related lab, etc.  I did some educational consulting with College Board and promoted these same strategies.  College Board had substantial evidence backing their training.  But, the approach makes sense to be based on experience.  Kids learn more by doing.  Look at Montessori and Charlotte Mason.  

What do you want to teach?  How do you assemble the materials which comprise any course?  I start with a textbook.  In Chemistry, Biology, Earth Science, and Physical Science, the textbooks tend to have roughly the same topics.  Teachers in science across the country generally agree on their subject matter.  (In other subjects, such as English and History, teachers can have much different opinions.  I’m glad to teach science.)  You can always supplement.  You’ll find that many public schools aren’t using textbooks.  In many cases teachers are buying their own curriculum.  Happily, as home-school educators, we have many textbooks. (Start with Cathy Duffy Reviews.)  

When I start a new course, I begin with a textbook.  All the content is right there available with Apologia. I can’t resist looking for additional ideas and resources.  For example, the Anatomy textbook has experiments.  I’m always adding a few more.  The textbook doesn’t mention using clay models; in the past, when I taught Human Anatomy, they helped kids understand bone or muscle better.  But, if you start with a textbook, you’ll have the content.  Having taught for awhile, I’ve used other textbooks, and used some of their resources.  You can make your own comparisons with Khan Academy’s program or Open Textbooks. I buy used copies of different commercial textbooks just to evaluate their curriculum.  Remember, I’ve been teaching for awhile; initially, I was wedded to my textbook, without any deviations. 

Start thinking about your personal philosophy, methods, and strategies.  It will improve your approach.  You’ll start reflecting on what works, what doesn’t, and what might be fun to try.

Anatomical Models

 I have had the best luck buying good anatomical models at Good Will, online.  Once, an eScience lab kit had a small skeleton with the kit.  Recently I bought the human torso and heart models.

Below are several anatomical models currently offered at Good Will.  Don’t forget to check the shipping before you place your bid.

Exploring Creation With Astronomy Kit

 Good Will has an Exploring Creation with Astronomy kit.  It looks as though it’s the kit used with Apologia’s Young Explorers Astronomy curriculum.  Here is the complete kit at Christianbook’s store.  Good Will online is a great place to find lab kits.  You do have to check the site regularly.

Anatomy: Learn the names of the bones!

 I started class with Halloween skeletons.  The kids used their textbooks to determine whether or not the Halloween skeletons are accurate.  My three-foot skeleton is pretty accurate.  I do this activity whenever I introduce the skeleton.  Next we reviewed the names of the bones to see what they remembered from the Young Explorers Human Anatomy.  They knew some names.  We reviewed the major names and quizzed a few times.  Here and here are the cranium and human skeleton worksheets we’re using to test ourselves.  Be sure to review the names of the bones frequently; otherwise kids just forget.  Now is the time to learn the sutures, bones, and processes of the skull or cranium.  It will make the brain parts much easier; many lobes are named based on the bone which protects it.  Below are two skeletons.  The left skeleton was in an eScience kit and is accurate.  The other one was a Temu purchase and has issues.  The Temu skeleton is still useful for the Body System in Clay activity we’ll do later.

Anatomy: Chicken Wing Dissection and Chicken Bone Labs

 I almost forgot to thaw the chicken wings.  I left the wings out overnight.  We are NOT eating any of the meat.   After the dissection, the tissue is in tatters anyway.  Yuck.

Next Tuesday, the Anatomy class is going to dissect Chicken Wings.  We’re using fresh wings.  My friend, Christine, is teaching Anatomy for the younger kids; she is pressure cooking the wings to crack the bones and observe the bone marrow.  After the dissection, we’ll do Chicken Bone labs.  It looks as though we’ll need to bone or bake the bones to remove all the meat.  There are several versions, including Rubber Bones, all examining calcium salts in skeletal bones.  I’ll post pix next week.  I did decide to dissect upstairs in the kitchen and try to save the meat instead of wasting it.

Chemmatters

 Are you teaching Chemistry this year?  Take a look at ChemMatters a Chemistry magazine from the American Chemical Society (ACS).  The articles are designed for high school, Chemistry students.  Take a look at Ötzi, the iceman, a fascinating topic.  Chemmatters has teacher docs; here is the guide for Ötzi, as an example.  The guide has reading questions and answers.  When I taught in private and public schools, I left copies of ChemMatters with guides as sub plans.  You can, too, when family crises make lessons too hard to prioritize.

Anatomy CD

When I buy science lab kits some come with the lab CD.  The lab kits, such as eScience Lab kits are available used.  College instructors who teach courses online assemble kits for their student to do at home or in their dorms.  Usually, the lab instructions are online; occasionally, the lab manual is on a CD with the kit.  I bought an older PAL CD on eBay for about $5.  It has dissection labs and a histology folder.  It’s the histology folder which is particularly valuable.  Here are slide micrographs to sketch, especially of a microscope or slides are too cost prohibitive.  I have many of the slides—but not all of the required histology slides.  Well use these micrographs to supplement the course.

How to teach note-taking

 Note-taking is tough!  Many teachers instruct Cornell Note Taking.  Personally, this is too formal.  What helps is to guide kids to their own note-taking system.  Right now I’m teaching Advanced Biology, Ana anatomy class, and helping kids in Geometry class, which my husband teaches for our Co-op.  In math, it helps to write, draw, and label—especially in Geometry.  Colored pencils help, too.  Most of the time, I’m guiding kids to write down definitions, copy notes from the board, and making symbols to highlight important ideas.  Make comparison charts.  Separate topics with lines or topic titles. 

Start with definitions.  Have kids write the term and its meaning.  Answer the study guide questions.  In math, the kids need to copy examples.  Learn to add a big circle or Star by concepts which will rear their ugly heads on a test.  Here is an article explaining why note-taking is key.  In my own experience, written notes are retained better than typed notes.  I’m writing my notes on paper by hand before typing them into a slide deck.  I find my own grasp is better.  Show kids how you make class notes.  Below are a few of my notes.  In class, I teach with slide decks; we use concept maps and t-charts with our notes. The key point is to write notes down on paper.

Advanced Biology Modules: Update

 As I work my way through Apologia’s Advanced Biology course, I’m updating and making changes to the modules, such as Module 2.  For example, I added the link for one of the POGIL activities, created more notes, and added the skin model to make.  I’ll try to remember to post these updates as I make changes.  While I’ve taught Anatomy before, I haven’t taught Advanced Biology before. 

Batch Work

 We work in batches as much as humanly possible.  For example, today the teens in Anatomy are doing microscope slides.  I don’t assign one microscope lab at a time.  Instead, we spend 90 minutes examining and sketching as many slides as possible.  The kids are working through several modules. Why?  Most of the kids loathe slides.  Let’s block time to do slides.  This works for many subjects.  Kids often prefer to do a week’s worth of geography or vocabulary.  They might spend an afternoon reading instead of 30 minutes each day.  I think core subjects, such as math, are better taught daily.  Consider which subjects your teen would prefer to tackle all at once, rather than little by little.

What age should my child take different science courses?

 Our Co-op teachers are asked all the time about grouping kids into a class.  We are a smaller Co-op and get to know kids well.  Often, the parents and teachers discuss a child and his or her placement.  Some classes lend themselves well for younger kids.  For example, Apologia’s Young Explorer Science Series is easily adapted to kids aged six to eleven.  I’ve taught mixed-aged groups.  It’s best to be able to divide the kids from time to time for best results.  

Middle School kids, aged eleven to thirteen, often differ developmentally. However, a bright child can learn Physical Science in seventh or eighth grade; eighth or ninth grade is usually the best time for a teen to take Physical Science.  I’m not a big fan of General Science.  I think the Young Explorer’s Chemistry and Physics course, Botany, or the Astronomy class is more fun for Middle School kids.  

The child’s academic level in high school science often is based on his or her math level.  Teens in eighth or ninth grade can usually manage Biology.  However, Chemistry requires a mastery of Algebra and some developmental maturity.  A bright child can handle Chemistry in tenth grade; most kids should wait until they are at a junior level of reasoning.  My husband feels that kids need to have mastered Algebra II before taking Physics; however a motivated teen can tackle Physics simultaneously with Algebra II, typically as a junior or senior.  The course requires advanced reasoning. 

These are good general guidelines.  I have taught an enormous number of children, some extraordinarily gifted.  One young friend took eleven AP classes in high school.  I struggled to keep him interested as his sixth grade teacher.  Use your best judgement and be flexible.  If the child is bored to tears, try a harder science subject.  If your teen is in tears, ease up!

POGIL: Do you need a workshop?

 Do you need a POGIL workshop to use POGIL activities?  I don’t think so.  In another life, I did some consulting.  For several years, I was an AP Reader, which just means I helped grade AP exams.  During the grading session, there are evening workshops.  One I attended was for POGIL and AP Chemistry.  The workshop was led by the author.  He set the teachers up into groups of four with different jobs.  We tackled a couple POGIL activities.  The author explained that the instructor’s job was to restate questions, do a little clarification, or redirect students.  Basically, kids do the work themselves. Instructors might review the questions after the exercise with the entire class.  See, this isn’t hard to replicate. 

I do NOT use groups of four; each person has a team role.  Four in a group will have a slacker.  Even a team of three will have a slacker.  My kids work in pairs.  (This year, my husband, Rob, and I are leading groups because we have three teens with learning differences in class.  Ordinarily, kids work apart.)  After we go over the answers, discuss the purpose, and hit the high points.  Yes, even during the workshop I was stream-lining the process because I thought it would waste a lot of time otherwise.  Do we need a speaker every time?  Does every kid make a good facilitator?  Is it likely the kids will engage in consensus building—ever!?  Don’t all of the kids watch the clock?  What is the likelihood the kids will pause for an extended discussion or simply work through the activity?  As a result, we use these to supplement our studies—not to replace the entire course.  Many colleges use POGIL (Geneva College) for all of the course instruction.  I think I would die if I did.  I made that decision during the original workshop.   But it makes a great supplement.

More about POGIL

 Apologia’s Advanced Biology (Anatomy) class is exacting.  I have kids who struggle.  We’re using every tool: clay models, anatomical structures, charts, etc—and POGIL Anatomy and Physiology.  I bought three copies for class. Here is the table of contents with the names of each topic.  We started with The Language of Science and Medicine.  Some POGIL activities, such as Skin and Temperature Control or Epithelial Tissue are online.  POGIL guards against answer keys online. Remember, POGIL provides models which usually contain all the information necessary to answer the questions. If you are really stumped, the AI answers has helpful hints.

 The Anatomy POGIL book doesn’t have a teacher’s guide with answers.  However, Flinn offers POGIL for High School biology, earth science, and chemistry books have teacher’s guides with answers.  I have worked with Flinn as a home-school teacher.  They require that one ships to a school.  I made arrangements between Flinn and the church office to order materials, explaining that I was a Co-op instructor.  On that basis, Flinn will supply the teacher resources, too.  Sadly, they do not have POGIL Anatomy; I ordered used copies from eBay and Amazon.  I’ll muddle through.  Don’t hesitate to Google any answer which is confusing.  Make your kids try their textbook first before they surrender to Dr. Google.

How to Write a Lab Report

 Here is a slide deck explaining how to write a formal lab report.  Here is the lab report rubric I use.  Home Science Tools (HST) has a guide; Apologia also has a lab report manual.  Both are useful.  I’ve been reading more and more disturbing information about AI; consequently, I want my kids to hand-write their labs (and tests, and homework questions).  My kids have to edit their labs.  I’m strict about using the third person and complete sentences.  Usually, there are spelling issues.  I think it’s fine to look up a word on a tablet or device.  Please feel free to go old school and make your teen use a dictionary.  (The only problem with a dictionary is that kids with dyslexia have trouble getting the spelling clones to the real word.  AI will make a guess.)  Our science classes do loads of labs, but only write four, formal lab reports.  The main, online schools require four reports.  We do create spreadsheets, make sketches, write summaries, etc for the other labs—just not lengthy reports.  Some teens with more profound learning differences find a slide deck easier to use to write a lab report, especially if the headings are already in the slides.  I don’t know why; I just know it works.  I hope this helps!

Let’s minimize AI!

 There have several news articles and opinion articles about the impact of AI on student brains.  Have you read the MIT article?   As a result of this evidence, I’m doing everything I can to minimize use of AI. ( I don’t encourage the use of AI, with the exception of  Grammarly AI , and only for  kids with profound learning differences.) How?  Kids are hand-writing their lab reports, homework, and tests.  We’re collecting data on paper and later creating spreadsheets.  I think we should resume using textbooks whenever possible.  Yes, I’m still using tech, such as slide decks.  I’m insisting the kids look up terms in their books or use instructional videos from class.  Going forward I’m evaluating each assignment in light of these studies about cognitive decline and AI.

Homeostasis labs

 We did two homeostasis labs: Trendy Teacher’s Homer-o-stasis lab and The Effects of Exercise on Homeostasis.  The kids are combining the two labs into one lab report.  (Many online schools require four, formal lab reports.)  They were effective.  The kids understand the dynamic nature of homeostasis.  Yeah!