The Science of Change

I've been thinking a lot about science, it is the foremost subject on my mind. It is my "pet" subject, the one I can really shape and mold to our liking without messing it up too much.

So, I've been reading what everyone thinks about science, Christine Miller of classical-homeschooling.org, Ruth Beechick, Laura Berquist, Elizabeth Foss, the Bluedorns, even a few online academies like Great Books Academy.

I've come to the conclusion that studying natural science without a formal curriculum is the preferred way to go. I'm still ironing out some details that I'm not ready to share but it is highly likely we will not be studying Chemistry next year or if we do it will be very brief, only for one quarter.

There are certain elements that are very important to me and have been but I haven't had the courage to break away from The Well-Trained Mind until now.

- short lessons
- nature study
- use of living books*
- scheduling our year into 4 quarters
- trivium as an organizer for subjects and depth

*Living books- what I consider living books are books that are engaging, authored by someone who has a passion for the subject in which they have written about. They are not non-fiction, just give me the facts please, books. Books that provide the same benefits as interviewing someone in their field of study, or biographies which share the passion of the person in which the biography is about.

Sometimes an author writes about many subjects and it is apparent that the actual subjects is not that person's passion, in certain cases that is deceiving. An author who is passionate about writing comes across as passionate in their writing, no matter the subject. Because this is a science post, here's the living science books that I have added to our wishlist. Most of these books are highly rated at Amazon through their review system.