Friday, August 1, 2014

High School Sciences (A Charlotte Mason Approach)

(Biology with Living Books & Labs update shown below)

Who knew the average person was supposed to really LIKE sciences? Especially in high school. Sure, there are some people who have greater interest and are gifted in understanding science, but why can't we all appreciate those subjects? Because we learned it from dry and boring text books and memorized stuff that we didn't connect with anything we knew or cared about overall... When our approach changes from turning out little scientists (and mathematicians) to a focus on fostering an appreciation for the beauty and joy found in these disciplines, we end up with students who LIKE science (and even math). It's in the approach and methods...

I made a discovery several years ago-I was compartmentalizing our studies and following some traditional/system style approaches in certain subjects. I was somewhat skeptical and unsure of how to change how we approached those high school sciences. I decided to try and apply the same approach and methods we used in most other areas of schooling and try it out. I was pretty sure we were going to have some different results and like the outcome and our journey along the way much better. WE DID!

There is much to learn about Charlotte Mason's Educational Philosophy. I have blogged about many topics and you can find out more by looking at the labels and reading through the past posts. There is also a quick review of principles linked on the left side bar.

I have the Living Sciences page for you to take a look at the high school science guides we used. For those of you who have already used these, the Biology with Living Books & Labs Guide has been updated - cleaned up and reformatted with links and is overall much more user friendly now! Click on the link and download it free. Let me know if you use them and tell me what you think. I would love any feedback or would be happy to answer questions as you go. Remember, I am not a trained scientist and rely on the authors to share their knowledge, mind-to-mind with me and my students! I have been through the guides a few times though :-)

Here's what the biology looks like-it's linked through the High School Science w/ Living Books Page: