Upgrading Science and Literature

The Science class was pretty heavy on astronomy and agriculture, focusing on the Ancient Civilizations' understanding and research of earth and space with contrasts to what we know now.

Spoiler Alert: this was going to be very awesome.

After a lot of research, I picked up R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey Earth & Space (Level One) by Pandia Press. [Buy it here] This is supposedly for grades 1-4. There's not a lot for fourth graders. In fact, this is a good first grader science book and that's it. However, not losing hope, this book contains some solid experiments that can be used to apply to more advanced lessons. Then I added another resource material to help broaden the imagination: "What If?" by Randall Munroe. [Buy it here]

I'm pretty sure this is exactly what Randall Monroe did NOT want
to happen with his book, but here we are and my nine year-old is loving it.

This week for science class

This week is energy sources. Last year, we covered fossil fuels, what they are, how they are found, what they provide, how they are harnessed for energy, and the damage that they can cause when used in different ways (or just in the manner that they're extracted from the earth). So, we dove right into renewable energy, what they are, how they are found, what they provide, how they are harnessed for energy, and the damage that they can cause when used in different ways. Additionally, we have an interesting exploration of the natural ways the Earth has been using renewable energy since the beginning. Reo is interested in learning how other planets use renewable energy. Venus, and its possible metal snow, is an intriguing concept to him.

There will be experiments! Oh, the experiments! Sun, Water, Wind, Soil! From what can we extract energy and what is the measure of how renewable it is. Is it safe? Is it prevalent? Is it productive? Can we cook a hotdog?

This week for literature

Reo has finished Per-Bast and furnished his book review. He's identified the fact from the myth, the non-fiction elements from the fictional story, and provided a good summary of what he gained from reading this book. I think Lara-Dawn Stiegler would be pleased at his approval and insight into her clever novel and I would thank her kindly for that opportunity.

Now, he wants a change of pace. Something different. I didn't want to throw the Narnia series at him so I took a lighter edge and provided a book that gave insight into serious subjects with an incredible amount of humor.

You have no idea how hard it was to wrestle this book away
from my older kids. I'm lucky to still have my life.

Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate situations, flawed coping mechanisms, mayhem, and other things that happened by Allie Brosh. [Buy it here] I am reading this with Reo for age-appropriate censorship. Allie Brosh's subjects are fine enough but sometimes the language is a bit adult. An occassional profane word is not going to destroy my child but he takes offense to it, so to provide some general comfort for his personal preferences, I read this to eliminate the occassional uses of profanity. He's sitting right by me. He can see the words are there. I don't get it, but it's what's working.

The important thing is that he's gaining some personal insight into how emotions can behave for other people, how situations can be different, how others can feel and respond differently to the world around them, how depression creates chaos for his big sister... He's learning compassion and understanding. And he's laughing his ass off while he's learning because Allie Brosh is funny.

This will channel into an assignment but I haven't decided what it will be, yet. We have time.