History and Science are not subjects that I have always included in our studies. Not that it mattered that much while they were younger. Now they are getting older, we are able to include these two subjects in our weekly line up and we are really enjoying them.
For several years I had read and heard about Apologia’s Science Curriculum. So, last year I purchased their Zoology Flying Creatures book. We really enjoyed this study. Even though we didn’t cover every chapter in this book, we covered a lot of material and learnt a lot. As we go about our day, the girls still talk about the thermal that they spot a bird gliding on. Or they will talk about how important bats are and how they benefit us. Things that I never knew or even considered. This book now sits in one of our bookshelves and can be pulled back down anytime someone is interested in flying creatures.
This year we started on Apologia’s Astronomy, as Miss 5 is fascinated with planets, planes, rockets and space in general. What I love about this curriculum, is that you read to all of them together. So for about 20 minutes, twice a week, we read from our science book. We discuss what we are reading and questions are always being asked. In this book, they have included questions to ask the children along the way. They include notebooking suggestions, experiments and other activities. I look forward to seeing what the girls choose to study next year. Start with a subject that interests your children and go from there.
In the past I had tried to include world history, mainly picking and choosing books from Sonlights book list. This approach didn’t work for a few reasons. The girls were not very interested, actually really disliked some of the books. I found it difficult to work out which box they all fit into, being different ages was difficult to find books that worked for all of them. Then we didn’t have any proof for recording purposes.
This year we began with Story of the World, Volume One Ancient Times. I am loving this one! Probably a little more than the girls 😉 Mainly because it gets done! And its a good fit for all of them! And there is proof for our records! So far its been a win win 😀 Usually three times a week, for about 20 minutes, I read to the girls from our SOTW book. While I am reading, they are colouring a picture that goes with the story. Then we discuss the story asking questions, narrating, and usually notebooking too. We also do map work with each chapter. All these extra activities are found in the Activity Book. This is perfect for the girls who are grade 4, grade 2 and prep. If we finish it this year, I plan on moving on to Volume 2 next year.