Hey Loves!
I’m nearing the end of this curriculum update series-thankfully these updates serve you and I as research for next year will hopefully not send me into hysterics or prompt more grey hairs to sprout.
I digress. On to the goods- Science and Social Studies. Out of all the subjects, these two were the easiest to plan, prepare for and execute. That doesn’t mean I didn’t have to shift a bit.
As always, the post detailing all our curricula for these subjects is here and for your viewing pleasure, I have YouTube videos here.
While science was easy to plan, thanks to it all it being mapped out, complete with supplementary books and activities from Elemental science, the physical book reading just wasn’t for us. My kids, who will normally listen to me read anything were not feeling this. As a last shot, I decided to try the audiobook. Friends, this was the way to go! The story is so so great! In addition, my children and I have learned about so many animals and every continent. Pairing that with an animal encyclopedia, TV docuseries Secrets of the Zoo and Disney’s Animal Kingdom, YouTube and more books, James’ hunger to learn about animals is temporarily satisfied, just like his actual hunger, it keeps returning.
My hope is that we can come back to the physical book when they are older and get good use of it. If not, it is homeschool curriculum sale bound with no sweat off my back. I also purchased the digital download of the SCIDAT logbook. It was a bit much to introduce the first half of the year, but I think James would really enjoy it now.
For social studies, my plan was to study the culture, cuisine and contributions of the country discussed in the science readings. This didn’t work out and I’m glad about it. Here’s why: Honestly, I took the easy road in planning. In the midst of a pandemic, a civil rights insurgence, a historic election, holidays and so much to celebrate, I decided to let that guide us. Did we, in fact, learn about several cultures on just about every continent? Yes! Was it mundane so my kids can spit facts? No. They were able to sympathize and empathize. They were encouraged to serve and practice non-performative allyship. What’s more, they got watch their parents and friends do so too.
All in all, both of these subjects, from what we learned to how we learned it, laid a really good foundation for us to grow from and I am so excited to do so.
Love you. Mean it.