We have been touring the country as part of convention season recently. The response to the Sassafras series has been overwhelming!
We had a few screaming fans and loads of moms who told us that their kids were finally interested in science!
But the people who didn't know much about us were unsure of how you could use a living book to teach science.
Today, I want to highlight how living books can be used as spines or as supplements to teach science.
It is not a secret that I love living books. They definitely have a place in the educational landscape.
In some ways, living books are superior to textbooks and encyclopedias, because they are much more engaging. But living books do have a few drawbacks - mainly, they are limited to one topic that requires a whole book to explore.
So how can you use living books? There are two main ways you can use these resources in your school - let's take a closer look at both.
If you already have a science curriculum that you love, you can add in living books to reinforce or spice up what the students are learning.
Basically, you would:
In this case, the living books play a supportive role. The living book reinforces what the students are learning in their science curriculum, and the students benefit from the added exposure to the material.
Another possibility for adding living books is to use these resources as spines. In this case, the living book would act as the outline for your studies.
Basically, you would:
When you use a living book as the spine for your science studies, the students’ interest in the subject grows. Plus, since they are interested, their retention of the material generally increases.
When deciding how to use living books for your situation, you can ask yourself the following questions:
The answers to those questions will help you to determine whether you should seek to add living books as the spine or supplement of the science curriculum.
I trust that gives you a broad picture of how to use living books to teach science or any other subject! If you want to know more about living books or see them in action, check out the following posts:
Summer is the perfect time to start a practice of taking a walk in nature. Not only will these walks create memories, but they will help you sneak in a bit of science! Click "Read More" to see the benefits.
For season 9 of the Tips for Homeschool Science Show we talked about what homeschool science looks like in the classical education model. Click "Read More" to get both the audio and video of this season.
Science Chunks or Classical Science - which science series from Elemental Science is better for your homeschool next year? Click "Read More" to see a comparison of the two.
