The Seashell on the Mountaintop (Book review)

The Seashell on the Mountaintop: A Story of Science, Sainthood, and the Humble Genius who Discovered a New History of the Earth, by Alan Cutler.  Dutton, 2003.

In Dr. Jay Wile's Exploring Creation With General Science, my seventh grader and I read about the principle of superposition, along with other basic geologic principles.  It wasn't a hard concept to grasp: the older things are lower down in the ground than the newer things. We compared it to a hypothetical bedroom floor that hasn't been picked up in several years and that holds an accumulation of clutter and debris relating to the owner's life over that time period.  Birthday cards from two years ago would be found somewhere below last week's dirty socks, and so on.  The scientist who is honoured by having those principles named for him, is Nicolaus (or Nicolas) Steno (1638-1686). In the 1600's, names were somewhat fluid, and Steno started out with a Danish name, but it changed depending on where he was and who he was writing to.

When we think of creationism today, there are certain points that we assume that Christians taking the Bible either "literally," or at least seriously, believe. But in the seventeenth century, taking the Bible literally included ideas that even creationists today would find strange; for example, that extinction of any species was Biblically impossible, because that would mean that God wasn't taking perfect care of his Creation. Any suggestion that any part of creation could change over time, or at least since the time of Noah's flood, was viewed with disdain and suspicion. It was impossible to imagine that dry land, especially high places and mountains, could at one time have been seas, and that those seas had deposited sediment that had become rock, and that inside that rock were the fossilized remains of creatures that were sometimes familiar, sometimes not. God's world a) just wasn't old enough to have gone through that much change, and b) wasn't supposed to change anyway. Everything was where it had been put at Creation, or possibly where it had gotten dumped in a short period of time during the Flood. Anything that didn't fit those parameters...well, there were always explanations. Fossilized sharks' teeth, seashells far from the sea, even stones must have fallen from the sky, or maybe grew from the ground. After all, didn't farmers find a brand new crop of stones in their fields every spring?

And this is where Nicolaus Steno entered the story.  He began as an anatomist, and quite a well known and skilled one; he discovered tear ducts and a few other important things about the human body. But a chance opportunity to dissect a very large shark's head forced him to notice the similarities between all those rows of teeth, and the petrified sharks' teeth that were popular for their "medicinal properties" but which were believed to be just tooth-shaped stones.  He gradually abandoned his anatomical studies for geological ones...except that there really was no such thing as geology, until he invented it, or specifically, stratigraphy.

There is much more to his personal story, his travels, his writing, and his discoveries; and as the author says somewhat regretfully, this particular book could not spend as many pages as he would have liked discussing Steno as an anatomist, and Steno as a priest (he converted to Catholicism, became a priest and then a bishop, and was beatified in 1988).  However, we do get quite a bit of those different sides of Steno's life, and I don't think most readers would find the story unbalanced.

I was a bit put off at first by a tone of  "people used to believe this, but we don't mix religion with science now," but as the book went on it seemed that the author expressed more respect for Steno's strong religious beliefs. As Cutler points out at the end of the book, in the post-Galileo world it was often not the church that argued with new ideas in science, but other scientists--physicists, for example, who wanted everything to line up neatly and rationally. He makes this comment in the epilogue: "Until very recently, religious and scientific arguments were advanced by both sides in every important scientific controversy. Too often what filters down to us in the history books are the scientific arguments of the winners and the religious arguments of the losers. Thus the picture of a long-standing rift between the two."

Having finished Seashell, and chewing on some of Steno's observations that would seem to cause trouble for young-earth creationists today (perhaps more than they did in his own time?), I did a short Google search for Nicolaus Steno plus creationism. I was not surprised to find a Christian Science Monitor article referring to him as "the saint who undermined Creationism"; but I was very surprised to see a page praising him highly on the Creation Ministries International website. I think that is due to the fact that although Steno opened the doors to a new understanding of the earth's history, which eventually led to the more problematic doctrines of geologists like Lyell, he did not get specific about when all this might have happened. What was revolutionary enough in his time was simply saying, first this, then this.

The book isn't difficult to read, and I think it would be quite suitable for students in middle school and up. It offers such a good introduction to the state of European religion, science, and life in general in the late seventeenth century, that it would be an excellent addition to a study of that time period.

Dollygirl's Grade Seven: Plans for this week

 Jean-François Millet, The Seamstress

Daily opening time:  hymns, poems, current events

Monday

Current Events: The Ontario premier has announced an election for next month.

Old Testament: Book of Numbers. Write the best-guess date for these events in your Book of Centuries.

Handwriting, using Fix It...Write, Day 15 (the lessons are labelled by days)

Ivanhoe: Read chapter XXI (we read the whole thing), mostly about Cedric and Athelstane being imprisoned in Front-de-Boeuf's castle.  Cedric tells stories about King Harold, but Athelstane just wants his lunch.

English History: "How the Law Protects the Weak"; "Magna Charta and the Seamstress" (Dollygirl read that part to herself and then had a doll act it out)

Saxon Algebra 1/2 Second Edition, Lesson 45. Go over the new material in this lesson. Do the practice problems together. By yourself, work through the practice set problems 1-6. For Question 3, review the method for solving rate (ratio) problems. For Question 4, make sure you are clear on the place value of decimal numbers (go back to Lesson 6 if you need to review).

Literature-based grammar (review concepts covered this year).  "In the midst of this jolly company, Robin Hood and his men passed on into the town.  Here all was hubbub and merriment.  On every side were gay booths of colored canvas with floating flags and streamers, wherein cakes and barley sugar and many another good thing were for sale.  Tumblers were tumbling on the green, bag-pipes screeching, lads and lassies dancing, and within a ring in the town square a wrestling match was toward.  But Robin and his good fellows pressed on out the further gate of the town to the place reserved for the archery contest."  (My Book House)  In each sentence (where the constructions allow), cross out any prepositional phrases; underline the subject of the sentence, and double-underline the verb or verb phrase.  Look for direct and indirect objects. Look for examples of past, present or future progressive tense (forms of to be plus the present participle).

Apologia General Science: what proteins are, how they work. (pages 306, 307)

Music history: watched "Liszt's Rhapsody."

New read aloud: started The White Mountains, by John Christopher.

Tuesday (This was the original plan--but Tuesday's school is going to be cut down somewhat because we are going on a "field trip.")

New Testament: Gospel of Mark

Ourselves Book II, on History and Philosophy, pages 74-75. Why history? "He who reads history in this way, not to pass examinations, nor to obtain culture, or even for his own pleasure...but because he knows it to be his duty to his country to have some intelligent knowledge of the past, of other lands as well as of his own, must add solid worth to the nation that owns him. It is something to prepare for the uses of the State a just, liberal and enlightened patriotism in the breast of a single citizen."

"Believing that he is in the world to lay hold of all he can of those possessions which endure; that full, happy living, expansion, expression, resourcefulness, power of initiative, serviceableness––in a word, character, for him, depends upon how far he apprehends the relationships proper to him and how many of them he seizes, we should be gravely uneasy when his education leaves a young person with prejudices and caring for 'events' (in the sporting sense) rather than with interests and pursuits." ~~ Charlotte Mason, School Education

Dictation, from A History of Music for Young People (about Liszt)

Ivanhoe: finish Chapter XXI

Balance Benders Level 3

Natural History: Spring of the Year, "Palace in the Pig-Pen," about phoebes.  Look up phoebes online--what do they sound like? Look like?

Saxon Math, Lesson 45 Review the new material from yesterday. "On the board," work questions 7-10. Turn one of those questions into a word problem. For homework, do Problems 11-15.

Plutarch's Life of Cicero, Lesson 5. Cicero is put in the position of having to pass sentence on the conspirators. 

"We should like to add a word...emphasising the habit of reading as a chief acquirement of school life. It is only those who have read who do read."  ~~ Charlotte Mason, School Education

Wednesday

Old Testament: Book of Numbers.

Picture Talk: Vermeer.

Ourselves Book II, pages 75-76. Why philosophy? "The history of thought will bring us abundant evidence of the fallibility of reason; therefore, there is no certainty that what proves itself to us must be right."

General Science: pages 308-310. Finish reading about proteins.  Read the two review paragraphs and special points on page 308. Answer the two questions on page 308.  If there is time: do Experiment 12.3: Body Temperature. If you take your own temperature after getting quite hot or cold, will there be any difference in the readings? (Optional: watch "The Magic School Bus Gets Cold Feet.")

English History and Book of Centuries:  "Things New and Old;" "The Famous Fifteen"

Handwriting, Day 16

Saxon Math, Lesson 45. "On the board," work questions 16 and 17 (multiplying and dividing mixed numbers). Review the "unit multipliers" work by doing questions 25 and 29 "on the board." (No homework!)

End-of-term special readaloud: The White Mountains.

Thursday

New Testament: Gospel of Mark

Key to Geometry: work through several pages.

Map Drills: Seterra Online

Shakespeare's King John

Transcription (copywork)

Money Matters for Teens: Keeping Track of All That Money

French History: read from de Joinville, Memoirs of the Crusades.  

"Thus, in readings on the period of the Armada, we should not devote the contemporary arithmetic lessons to calculations as to the amount of food necessary to sustain the Spanish fleet, because this is an arbitrary and not an inherent connection; but we should read such history, travels, and literature as would make the Spanish Armada live in the mind."  ~~ Charlotte Mason, School Education

End-of-term special readaloud: The White Mountains.

Friday

Basic Bible Studies: The Holy Spirit

Handwriting, Day 17

Ivanhoe: Chapter XXII

General Science: pages 311-312, Calories and Food.

Key to Geometry: work through several pages.

How to Read a Book: conclusion of the section on "unity," summing up a book with a few main thoughts.

Music history: What about Mendelssohn?

What will we talk about in science today? Carbon, macronutrients, and carbohydrates

The next section of General Science is about macronutrients, starting with carbohydrates.  However, I would like to back up a little bit, and talk about carbon.  Look at the double-spread page "The chemistry of carbon" in DK Chemistry.  Think about carbon paper, eggshells, diamonds, and chalk. (Do you remember learning about coal last year? Updated link)  Where does the name "carbohydrate" come from?

Now turn the page and look at "The chemistry of life" in the same book.  See the diagram/photograph of the carbon cycle?  What is metabolism?

Now let's read from General Science, starting on page 304, and discussing the different forms of carbohydrates (studying the diagrams there).  Work out the names for the simple and complex carbohydrates.

So where do we get carbohydrates?

SIMPLE CARBOHYDRATE:

Sugar - fruit, fruit juice, table sugar, honey, soft drinks, and other sweets

COMPLEX CARBOHYDRATE:

Starch - bread, cereal, potatoes, pasta, rice, and legumes (dried peas and beans)
Fiber - bran, whole-grain foods, raw vegetables and fruit (especially the seeds and skins), legumes, nuts, seeds and popcorn

(This list and other ideas taken from a lesson plan at Utah Education Network.)

Make a list of your ten favourite "carbohydrate" foods.  Mark down which ones are simple and which ones are complex.  (Use the chart provided.)  Does it matter to us if we eat more simple or more complex carbohydrates?  Why?  Here's one answer.

Cartoon found here.

Wednesday School Plans (Dollygirl's Grade Seven)

In the workboxes today:

1.  Old Testament:  finish the chapter of the Book of Numbers.

2.  Key to Geometry:  work several pages on your own.

3.  Ivanhoe.  Written narration.

4.  Architecture Shown to the Children:  continue the term's chapter (Gothic Architecture), reading about gargoyles and flying buttresses.  Make a drawing in your Book of Centuries.

5.  Apologia General Science.  The first of several lessons on macro- and micro-nutrients, beginning with carbohydrates.  (Coming up in another post.)

6.  Balance Benders Level 3.

7.  Shakespeare's King John: continue Act III.

8.  Handwriting practice from Fix It...Write.

9.  Map drills:  10 minutes with Seterra Online.

How to get good and excited about two chapters of science (Dollygirl's Grade Seven)

Yes, we are still using Exploring Creation With General Science (Apologia, first edition) this school year. When The Apprentice did this book about ten years ago, I had her do the study guides and the tests.  With Dollygirl I think we have done one or two of the tests, but that was it.  I am more interested in having her pick up the big ideas in the book than memorize every component of DNA.  We also don't do a lot of the experiments, either because it's the wrong season, we don't have the stuff, or it just doesn't seem worthwhile because you can figure out ahead of time exactly what's going to happen.  You know that if you leave a jar of chicken broth on the counter for a couple of days, it's going to get all cloudy and gross.  We would rather eat the chicken broth first and just imagine the rest.

I also find one particular thing irritating about this volume, and I don't know if it's been improved in later editions: it could have used some editing to take out a large amount of repetition, and also the too-frequent phrase "You'll learn more about this when you take Biology."  That pops up about as often as references to Mr. Pipes' wiggling eyebrows in Douglas Bond's books, and if you don't get that, never mind.

However, there is one thing I do like about the book, and it's one of the main reasons we're using it.  It encourages the "science of relations."  One topic works its way into another one, just like real life.  It's a bit like Charles Kingsley's Madam How and Lady Why in that way; in Kingsley, a conversation can start with a rock on the ground, and end up talking about prehistoric oceans and sea life.  In this book, we were talking about geology in Module (Chapter) 6, which led to fossils in Modules 7 and 8, and because fossils had to come from living things, that led to the question "What is Life?" in Module 9, and then classification in Module 10.  Both of those modules kept coming back to the question of cells: cells that did not have organelles but did have DNA (Monera), animal cells with organelles, plant cells with organelles; and then the idea that "all life forms have a method by which they take energy from the surroundings and convert it into energy that helps them live."  Every living body makes food from something else.  And the big word that's coming up is:  COMBUSTION.

Well, before that, we do have to get through some basic human body components: bones, muscles and skin.  The chapter compares our physiology to that of other organisms.  But then we get into Module 12: Energy and Life.  How do organisms get their energy from food?  Didn't you always want to know that?  Isn't that more relevant than ever in these days of trying to force fast-food restaurants to post the calorie counts of milkshakes and burgers?  What actually gets burned for energy?  There's a discussion of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, and our basal metabolic rate...and all this combustion happens within the cell.  Does that amaze you, get you excited to think about how this is more than just a lesson on digestion?

We are, as we've been told, fearfully and wonderfully made.  If any science book, textbook-shaped or not, can get that idea across, I am content.

School plans for this week: On weekly timetables and the second half of the year (Dollygirl's Grade Seven)

Charlotte Mason approved of school and home classrooms following a predictable weekly timetable.  Lots of variety, but a definite pattern to Monday and Wednesday geography, or Tuesday Shakespeare, or Saturday review.  (Yes, back then they went to school on Saturdays.)

Our problem with that is that, sometimes, often, we get Monday or Friday school cut off by a holiday:  religious, government-mandated, or all-the-other-schools-in-town-have-today-off-so-why-don't-we.  But never on Tuesday, or Wednesday, or Thursday, unless it's weather-related.  So that means we have to either never schedule anything important or interesting or at least weekly on Monday or Friday (unless we want to move whatever it is to Tuesday or Thursday that week)...or try a slightly different method of scheduling. (Also there are a couple of homeschool group field trips and events that also take place on Fridays...sigh.)

For the rest of Term II, a season that has more than its share of interrupted weeks, we're falling back on a different method, one we've used before.  I took the 28 scheduled school days that are left in the term, and just divided up the lessons and readings as evenly as I could.  For the two Apologia modules we're doing, I used the schedule from Donna Young's Homeschool Resources. (Except that we won't be doing the experiments that require digging up worms and dirt...um, not in February.)

So we have Day 1, Day 2, and so on, each with its own work, rather than a definite plan for Mondays and Tuesdays.  It may not look as neat on the wall as a weekly schedule, but at least it's laid out.

Also, we're doing some slightly different math for the rest of this term:  working through old Gauss competition pages, as review and also as a kind of diagnostic tool to see what we've missed.  In the third term we'll probably use Key to Geometry.

So this is the plan, more or less, for this week's school.  The lessons are not in the order we're doing them, but the way I have them written down by subject.  I've left off our opening-time routine: hymns, sometimes a poem, a reading from Ourselves or a Bible passage.

And  a bonus for this week: something fun for teatime, Snowflake Buns or Bread Snowflakes.  (You gently fold circles of bread dough and snip them with scissors, as if you were making paper snowflakes. Then bake and sprinkle with powdered sugar.  Idea from Electric Bread for Kids.

Monday: 
Basic Bible Studies: continue study of salvation
Math page
Watership Down chapters 13, 14
Start Ivanhoe together
Copywork
English History:  Short chapter on the Saxon cultural traditions such as shires
Nature study
Science: wrap up the previous module
French: start a lesson about the map of the world (continuing through the week)

Tuesday (planning to go hear a jazz trio at lunchtime)
Math page
Watership Down chapters 15, 16
Return of the King
Easy Grammar Plus page 92
Geography:  Heidi's Alp, finish the chapter where they arrive in Germany
Write dictation from Geography chapter
Science  Read pages 217-219, introduction and "DNA and Life"
Grammar of Poetry: review old work (only if we have time)

Wednesday: 
Mr. Pipes, The Accidental Voyage: Finish chapter 10.
Math page
Watership Down chapters 17, 18
Ivanhoe
Easy Grammar Plus page 94
Architecture: finish the chapter on Norman architecture
Write in the Book of Centuries
Science: continue reading about DNA; build a model of DNA, and I hope I remembered to buy pipe cleaners for that. If I didn't, we may have to get out our old plastic dollar-store model instead.

Thursday:

Basic Bible Studies
Math page
Watership Down chapters 19, 20
Return of the King
Easy Grammar Plus page 95
English history:  one chapter
Science:--continue chapter..
Music history: starting chapter on Haydn and Mozart.
Whatever Happened to Penny Candy?--almost finished this book.

Friday:
Basic Bible Studies
Watership Down chapters 21, 22
Ivanhoe
Copywork
Heidi's Alp, part of chapter 6 (about Germany)
Science:  see Thursday.
Plutarch's Life of Demosthenes, Lesson 7, The Battle of Chaeronea
Picture Talk.

Dollygirl's Grade Seven: Term 2, Week Five

Plans for this week's school:

Christian Studies
Basic Bible Studies #12: "Salvation—How?"

Optional: The Accidental Voyage, finish chapter 9.

Citizenship

Ourselves Book II:  "We are not Free to give Ourselves without Reserve"; the bad example of Edward II and his close friend Gaveston. "If we choose to yield ourselves to the domination of another, so that our will is paralysed and we are unable to think or act except upon that other's initiative, are incapable of being happy and at ease except in his presence, then we too have sown disorder..."

Plutarch's Life of Demosthenes

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy?--continue

Math

Algebra, Lesson 6: Some Rules of Algebra

Geography

Heidi's Alp: finish "Of Tivoli and Travellers". Map work. (" With 4.033 million visitors in 2012, Tivoli is the second most popular seasonal theme park in the world, the most visited theme park in Scandanavia and the fourth most visited in Europe... " -- Wikipedia)

Literature

Watership Down--continue
Sigurd the Volsung--continue

Return of the King--continue

Poetry Reading and Memory Work
Grammar of Poetry: Dactyls

History

English History: Chapter X, The Norman Conquerors 1066

If we have time:  French History: 1098 Siege of Antioch; 1099 Capture of Jerusalem

Natural History
The Lay of the Land: finish "A Cure for Winter"

Keeping a Nature Journal

Science

Apologia Science: Finish Module 7 (features of the fossil record; differing viewpoints on the origin of the Grand Canyon). Start Module 8 (further discussion of Uniformitarianism and Catastrophism)

Read Dinosaur Ghosts: The Mystery of Coelophysis, by Douglas Henderson.

Grammar and Composition
Grammar—Verb tenses

Copywork

Dictation

Composition

Fine Arts
Artist Study: contiue Oscar Kokoschka and Expressionism

Composer Study: Go hear the Madawaska String Quartet on Tuesday.

Dollygirl's First Term Exam Questions

December 2013 Grade 7 Examination Questions (adapted from original PNEU term exams, available on the Ambleside Online website)

Christian Studies.  Choose two of these:
1. Describe one of the journeys of St. Paul. What was the result of his preaching?

2. Describe Annie and Drew's visit to either the Catacombs, or the Duomo in Milan (the third-largest church in the world).

3.  Describe the portrayal of Jesus  in The Bronze Bow.  Do you think it is accurate?  Use examples from the book to support your argument. (question from Learning Language Arts Through Literature, Tan Book)

Writing.
Write ten lines of poetry from memory.

Dictation.

From The Sword and the Circle.

English Grammar.

The chess club served pop and chips at the end of the meeting.

On the way out, many members stopped to read the posters about the upcoming tournament.

We cleaned the room after the club members left.

Several of the members had stuck gum under the desks.

In the sentences above, cross out any prepositional phrases. Underline the subject once and the verb or verb phrase twice. Place any infinitive in parentheses. Mark any direct objects with the initials "D.O."

Literature.
 1. Write the script for a scene from Coriolanus in which his mother Volumnia appears. (This could be for Sock Puppet Theatre.)
2. Explain and give examples of simile, metaphor, pun, iambic meter.

3. Tell what you know of the life of either Bede or Caedmon.

English History.

      1. What impact did the Roman occupation have on Great Britain (good and bad)?

      2. Why are English people described as Anglo-Saxons? Give some account of the history contained in this term. What traces of it have we still? (from a PNEU exam)
      3. Describe the conversion of King Ethelbert (you may wish to mention Queen Bertha, St. Augustine, Coifi).

French History.
      1. Write an account of (a), Clovis, (b),Charlemagne. (from a PNEU exam)
      2. Describe the coming of the Northmen. (from a PNEU exam)

Citizenship and Economics.
   1. What do you understand by humility? What is false humility? In what various ways should humility be shown?
   2. You are an economic advisor to the Queen. The Queen proposes to end poverty in her kingdom by ordering the royal coin-makers to create extra money. What problems might this cause? What do you advise?

Geography. Choose two of these three questions:
1. "There is nothing in Ely but the cathedral; and the cathedral is a lady." Explain.

2. "In a cosy vale is the village of Stiffkey.  It is a curious little village noted for its cockle women." Tell about the rest of H.V. Morton's visit here.

3. "Do you really? We had another song on the Wall: 'Old soldiers never die, never die, never die; old soldiers never die, they only sneeze awayee.'" Explain where this imaginary conversation took place and what it was about.

General Science

1. What are the three types of rock? Give one specific example of each.

         2. Explain and give examples of physical weathering, chemical weathering, erosion.

         3.  (question about dishwasher additives taken from Apologia General Science test booklet)

Architecture.
1. How would you recognize a Romanesque building? Can you describe or draw one?

Natural History.
1. Explain the differences and similarities between the amanita ("destroying angel") and the puffball; OR tell how you would identify poison ivy.

Picture Study.
   Describe Corot's "The Bridge at Mantes," OR another of his paintings that you like.

Arithmetic and Algebra.
    1. In the following expression, how many terms are there? And each term has how many factors? 2a + 4ab + 5a(b+c)
    2. How far would a train go in 15 hours at the rate of 48 km an hour? How many metres a minute does this train travel?
    3. Add according to the rules for adding terms. -6 + (-2) =

French.

(see attached page)

Drawing.
      1. A new book cover for Sigurd the Volsung or Lord of the Rings.
      2. Something you have observed on a nature walk.

Musical Appreciation.
      1. What do you know of madrigals?
      2. Describe a concert you have attended, including the instruments used and the type of music played.

Recitations.
      A hymn, a poem, or a scene from Shakespeare, and a passage from the Book of Romans.

Reading.
      Father to choose an unseen passsage, giving marks for enunciation. (PNEU exam)

In which we finish the fall term (Dollygirl's Grade Seven)

So how's it gong, Dollygirl?  Highs and lows?  Favourite subjects or books?  "Lord of the Rings, Balance Benders, handicrafts, and The Bronze Bow, most of it.  Geography is okay."

Not as good?  "Grammar, French, math except for Balance Benders."

What would you like to do more of?  "Algebra.  Arithmecode puzzles. Writing stories."

Today's school plans:

Poems (each one choose one)

Music history: "The Beginnings of Opera and the Rise of Instrumental Music."  "The time had come to link up music a good deal more closely with human affairs--human characters, moods, stories, situations--and to cause music to be an expression rather than merely a design.  Music moved towards plays and stories, and the result was the 'new music': the twin forms of opera and oratorio." (John Russell, A History of Music for Young People)

Play nature card game

Algebra: continue lesson on signed numbers, using TheMathPage.com

The Sword and the Circle (Rosemary Sutcliff)

Apologia General Science:  review physical and chemical weathering, read about erosion

Exam practice (written narrations)

Return of the King (continuing into next term)

Dollygirl's Grade Seven: Just one school-plans post for this week

For this week of Reformation Day, Hallowe'en, and All Saints' Day, I'm just going to post this once about school plans.  And if something goes awry or we have a great awakening, I'll come back later.



A couple of good hymns for this week, besides the obvious "A Mighty Fortress":  "Christ is Made the Sure Foundation," sung to either "Regent Square" (a.k.a. Angels From the Realms of Glory) or the somewhat fancier "Westminster Abbey" by Purcell; "O God, We Praise Thee," based on the Te Deum laudamus.  The interesting thing we discovered for ourselves is that the words to "O God, We Praise Thee" are very similar to "Holy God, We Praise Thy Name"; and by reading the authors and sources beside the hymns (I can't help it, I always do), the reason is simple: "Holy God" is based on the same Latin hymn.

(Did you know you can still buy The (1969) Mennonite Hymnal?  With shaped notes, even. All our home copies were bought, somewhat battered, at thrift shops; I didn't know you could buy new ones.)

Apologia General Science:  A couple of sick days and other interruptions meant that the boats-in-the-bathtub experiment from Module 3 never got done, and that one's actually fun (not to mention satisfyingly wet and messy), so I didn't want Dollygirl to skip it completely.  She also still has to write the test for that module.  We are skipping Module 4 (about levers and other simple machines, which we've done already), and I want to do Module 5 together all this week even if she's still finishing Module 3 at other times.  Module 5 is kind of, well, different than you'd expect a chapter to be about Archaeology and Paleontology.  Mostly it ends up being about evidence for theories and things you'd like to prove, such as ancient manuscripts (i.e. the Bible).  In Module 6, we'll seriously get into rocks, but Module 5 is more something to read together and discuss.

Stuff to read:  Sigurd the Volsung, Shakespeare's Coriolanus, Ourselves, the architecture chapter we never finished (same interruptions).

Math:  Continuing Beat Algebra Before It Beats You.

Those are the most important things for this week.

Dollygirl's Grade Seven: We start Week Five

Daily opening time: hymn, memory work, go over corrected work

Poems:  each pick one to read.

How to Read a Book, pages 11-15 (finish Chapter 1).

Discovering Mathematical Thought, by Hal Torrance.  What can you discover by carefully observing photographs of a sunflower, a subway entrance, a pile of barrels in a city square?

Exploring Creation Through General Science, start Module 2. Read pages 35-39, What Science is NOT.  Experiment 2.1: How Does Weight Affect the Speed?  Experiment 2.2: Learning More About Weight and Speed.

Christian Studies: Book of Acts, Chapter 7.

Easy Grammar Plus: One page per day, finishing the unit on prepositions except for the review exercises (do those next week).

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy?, chapter 5. Key quote: “At bottom, inflation is an ethics problem.”

Powerglide French: Demonstrate your mastery of  "white and black things."

Readalouds (The Two Towers) and crafts.

Countdown to School: a closer look at the first science units

I like Donna Young's handy outlines for Apologia Science, and especially the vocabulary bookmarks (see "Bookmarks for Lesson Plan #2).  But I realized that, for the first few weeks, especially having an every-other-day science class, it would work better to figure out our own schedule.  So Donna Young gets the credit for the original of this plan, and Dr. Jay Wile gets the credit for  the actual content of General Science (I added the part about lab safety rules); but the rest of it is a Mama Squirrel plan.

This should take us partway into October.  "Days" refer to the first day we do science, the second day we do science, and so on (not the first day of school, second day of school).  After that, we will probably just use Donna Young's schedule for the rest of the term.

Science Outline, Weeks 1-6, using Modules 1-3 of Exploring Creation with General Science, 1st Edition.

Day	Assignments and Experiments
1	Read the beginning of the book, notes and introduction. Read handouts for lab safety (school and home). Creatively present the importance of using equipment and materials safely.  Your choice of format: comic, poster, song, drama script.  Due in two days. ***Vocabulary: Learn these terms: science, papyrus, spontaneous generation, counter-example, hypothesis, theory, scientific law, experimental variable, control, blind studies, double-blind studies, subjective/objective data; any other vocabulary listed on the bookmarks for Modules 1-3.  Use drills and games on Quizlet.com to practice vocabulary (whenever appropriate).
2	Read textbook pages 1-3, The First Inklings of Science. Read pages 4-8, True science begins to emerge. Be able to identify (briefly) significant events / people in science history.  Make a timeline to illustrate this, as you study the chapter.  You may want to just keep notes now, then set up the timeline later.  It must be done neatly, on good paper, and not just in pencil.  Illustrations or cutouts will make it more visually effective.
3	Know the acceptable format for lab reports for this class.  Carry out the simple experiments from these chapters, as practice for later lab work.  Experiment 1.1: Density in Nature. Experiment 1.2: Atomic motion
4	(Pages) 8-12 Three other notable Greek scientists 12-16 Be able to tell what happened to science during the Dark Ages. What changed this situation? Experiment 1.3: a chemical reaction
5	16-19 Science begins to pick up speed again 19-23 The Renaissance Experiment 1.4: mapping the paths of the planets (optional)
6	23-25 The Era of Newton 25-26 The Enlightenment and the industrial revolution
7	27-29 The rest of the 19th century 29-31 Modern science 31 Summing it up.   Homework: do the study questions for module 1.
8	Write test for module 1.  Completed timeline to be handed in with test.
9	Module 2: Read Introduction;  What science is not. Experiment 2.1: how weight affects speed Experiment 2.2: more about weight and speed
10	Read 40-44 : The Scientific Method.  Be able to describe the scientific method verbally or with a diagram.  What is it used for?  Why is it important?  Experiment 2.3: the broken flashlight
11	Read 45-48 Failures of the scientific method Read 49-55 The Limitations of science; Science and Christianity.  Homework: do the study questions for module 2.
12	Write test for module 2
13	Experiment 3.1: a floating egg? Experiment 3.2: which boat will move? Experiment 3.3: what does soap do to water?, part 1 Experiment 3.4: what does soap do to water, part 2
14	Complete lab reports for experiments done previously. Read pages 59-69, From Introduction; stop at “Recognizing experimental variables when they are not obvious.”  Do the “On Your Own” questions.
15	Read 70-73, Recognizing experimental variables when they are not obvious Read 73-76, Interpreting the results of experiments: study  the chart in fig. 1.1 Homework: do the study questions for module 3.
16	Write test for module 3.

Countdown to school: The Universe and Everything

"Section III: The Knowledge of the Universe:  Science and Geography; Mathematics; Physical Development and Handicrafts"   ~~ Charlotte Mason, Toward a Philosophy of Education

It's three weeks till school starts.

What do homeschool parents worry most about in finding the right kind of science curriculum?

If they're Christians, the answer might be that they want something that glorifies God; sometimes that just means they want something that gives at least some credence to creationism.

But aside from that, there's often a concern that in whatever we're doing, we might "miss something."  Or do it "wrong." The public worries of the public schools (and the media in general) include the never-ending fuss over whether children are getting enough science, the right kind of science, up-to-date science.  Tiny little kids have as many science objectives as the big ones.  The biggest guns aimed at homeschoolers (besides the religious issues) come from the high school level:  You Can't Do Lab Science.  Not at home, not without a trained teacher, not without the books and equipment, at least not without filling your kitchen with rat cages and bottles of chemicals that a ditzy homeschooler might mistake for nutmeg and vinegar.  Science, all the cute videos and chemistry kits aside, has become very much a domain of the initiated.

A sub-worry is finding an effective teaching style for our circumstances and our children.  Yes, hands-on is good, but does that mean that books are no good?  Field trips are good, if you have the places to go and can get there.  Experts, ditto.  You-tube and other videos, good to a point but can be overused.  Does it have to be planned out, formally taught, with lots of objectives, right from the start?  The Apprentice's elementary-level science curriculum was kind of osmosis-style, "relaxed homeschooling," and included a large amount of help from Ms. Frizzle; we didn't use a textbook or even a really formal plan for science until middle school.

There's always a worry, too, that if something just seems like fun...maybe it's not learning.  That can be quite true: for instance, we used to visit the Toronto Science Centre when we were kids, but I cannot tell you if we really learned much science while we were there.  The exhibits were "neat" and "cool," there was the big static ball that made people's hair stand up on end, there were anatomical models and lots of buttons to push, but our visits were really for entertainment, not education.  The same can go for what someone called "zip, pop, bang" science experiments.  Do the effects of dropping pepper in a plateful of soapy water make as much of an impression on our children as we think?  Is it really worth building a whole papier-mache volcano just to let it splurt baking soda and vinegar all over the place?

And where does "nature study" fit in?

What is the science, and why is it, that we're really trying to teach?  Maybe the "why" should direct the "what" and "how."

More in the next post.