Science books for non-Science-y People

Just some quick notes on a couple of  books and authors I've been enjoying recently:

In anticipation of my daughter's summer botany study, I read Andrea Wulf's The Brother Gardeners, about early American and English botanists who brought us the English Garden.  I enjoyed it way more than I expected to, and just grabbed Founding Gardeners from the library in the hope of starting on that soon.  Then I will read every other book of hers I can find. 

But first I have to finish Summer World: A Season of Bounty  by biologist Bernd Heinrich.  This is not my first of his books. Last year I read Winter World: The Ingenuity of Animal Survival and The Geese of Beaver Bog to my kids.  We loved both books, but really clicked with Geese because of the relationship between the humans and the birds.  I also saw, and grabbed, The Trees in my Forest  from the library yesterday. I'm going to try to preview that quickly to see if it's suitable for Eleanor.  Science books are tricky for her; she needs to read more nonfiction in general, and she enjoys the topics of birds and animals, but sometimes it just gets above her head. So we'll see. 

I am not a "science person" but I love reading about natural science when the book is not technical.  There is a bit of evolution and technical talk in Heinrich's books, but not so much that I can't read them.

Of course my very favorite natural history writer is Edwin Way Teale. We still read his seasonal travel books.  We've never managed to read one in full during the season, but we just pick  up where we left off last time.  It's time to pull out Journey into Summer, isn't it? 

I am linking my books to Goodreads.com rather than Amazon these days.  I find their reviews more helpful, generally, and everyone knows where to buy books.

What science books for non-science-y people do you recommend?

The thrill of the plan

Seems like I'm always engaged in homeschool planning.  Does a day go by that I don't think about curriculum?  You wouldn't know that answer to that unless you are a homeschool mommy; if you are, you know it's "no."  I'm always looking around and thinking.  I love that part of homeschooling best.  That seems wrong:  I should love implementing the plans more than making the plans.  But that's not the way it works for me, and from my reading around the homeschool boards and blogs, I'm not alone.

But I'm making progress on planning the continuation of my son's freshman year in high school. Is that a little confusing?  The typical academic year setting isn't working for us. Some of you might remember that last year was supposed to be James's freshman year, but he got sick and we got sidetracked.  But he continued to do some high school level work, so we're just going to go on with freshman year.

Since my daughter (legally entering 8th grade) is doing some high school level work, we might call it her freshman year too.  I'm not sure about that yet.

There seems to be two schools of thought on homeschooling high school.  One is that it has to be completed in four academic years, just like a "regular" school.  Five years  looks bad on the transcript. It might make the kid look like a slacker.  Or it might look like his mommy is trying to pad his transcript.  Colleges want things to look typical.

The other thought is: what does it matter, four years or five?  Does it even matter when the student does certain things?  Just do a transcript by subject and be done with it.  A subset of this says that the person with an unorthodox view of high school, transcripts, and credits is likely to apply to schools that will be accepting of unorthodoxy.  Schools that understand homeschooling is not "regular" school.  So quit worrying about it already.

We don't even know what college will look like in four years, so it makes more sense to do things the way they work best for us.  Which is why we homeschool anyway, isn't it?

So, the plan, as it is today.  Details may follow.

English:  Both kids are well on the way to a high school credit here, thanks to the speech class they took last January through May and some books already read, discussed, and written about.  We're using Easy Grammar Ultimate 9th grade, and Progeny Press literature study guides for Lord of the Rings, Beowulf, and a few others.  Oh, and the kids will go through Bravewriter's Help for High School.   Don't forget NaNoWriMo in November!

History:  This will require a post all its own, but we're doing Medieval history using an actual high school textbook (Glencoe World History) as a spine.  I'm also looking at an actual school syllabus for this, from Oak Meadow school. We'll do extra reading as outlined in The Well-Trained Mind.  Some of the reading will overlap with English, of course.

Latin:  Yes, we're going back to Latin.  We faded out with Getting Started with Latin - not getting a full start, you might say.  But we're moving to Visual Latin which is generally considered middle school, so adding their recommended supplement of Lingua Latina.

Math:  Continuing with Algebra 1 for James; Eleanor will continue Life of Fred Decimals and Percents, and Key to Percents, with the goal of getting quickly to and through Pre-Algebra before summer. 

Science:  As always, my most difficult area.  Eleanor is doing a little botany study this summer but I'm not sure what to do with her after that.  Seems like she's done a lot of "life science" and next year she'd be doing it again as Biology 1. She is not a science-y girl at all.  James has started Biology 1 using Biology: The Science of Life (from The Great Courses) but with the wrong book, so we're rebooting that.  I'm thinking of CK-12 Flexbooks  or the textbook our local high school uses.   Right now he's previewing both so we can get the right level for him.

Those are just the basics but doesn't that seem like enough work?  James is heavily involved in Boy Scouts.  If things go as planned, he will reach Life Rank this summer, which means lots of merit badge work and a big project for Eagle.  I think that's an elective right there.  Others may disagree, saying that it's an extracurricular and so shouldn't count.   When I start thinking too hard about that, my head starts to hurt.  (I have never figured out how something a person learns doesn't count.  Have you?)   I want Eleanor to focus on improving and expanding her art, and writing.

Will it all work?  Will I change my mind?  Will someone get sick again?   Check back to find out!

Crazy Summer

Wonder when I will give up my fantasy of schooling all year 'round, taking short breaks throughout the year instead of one long on in the summer?

I really rebel against the idea of the September - June academic year.  But I can't seem to stop following it.

Since we had such a bad start to our 2011/2012 academic year, I wanted to keep going even after the portfolios were turned in and our 180 school days fulfilled.  We can start counting days on July 1 and I love to start filling in that attendance chart - even as I lament that fact that I have to "keep attendance" at all.

It's already been a busy summer but not with school work.  Busy work:  doctor's appointments, housework, yard work (why is "housework" one word but "yard work" two?), Boy Scout merit badge work and meetings, get-togethers with friends.   There hasn't been time for school.

But, that's OK, we need a break, right?  July and August could be our big school months. Except they won't be.

My boy has three trips to go on this summer; my girl has one. Both are helping out at our church Summer Bible Camp (aka VBS). So, I find that in July, we have five uncommitted days when both kids are home. It's true that the afternoons of the Summer Bible Camp week are free (mostly), but having helped at such events before, I know that the afternoons will be better suited to swimming and lazing around than doing any sort of academic work.  

The first two weeks of August are full of camp for both kids.  So, as I see it, summer school can start around August 14. Or maybe the 20th, after they've recovered from camp and I've recovered from camp laundry. What was that about not following the academic year?

The mind is a funny thing. (Or maybe it's just my mind that's funny.)  I knew it was going to be a busy summer, but until I looked at the calendar, in "month at a glance" view, I didn't realize just how packed it was. 

But it's not that bad.  Camps count as school time in my homeschool.  My son's church youth missions trip will definitely count.  So my son is all set with summer school - just not the way I'd envisioned it.

And my daughter, who has fewer camp opportunities than her big brother, has a project that she's going to start on real soon now.  We've put together a casual Botany study, using a few books and a lot of colored pencils.  While the boy is away, she and I will be found in gardens and at the kitchen table, learning about plants. 

Not a bad summer school plan after all, huh?

The photo-less blog

After hitting "publish" on my last post.  I wondered if I should have added photos for all those books.  Nearly every personal blog (as opposed to news-type blogs like Althouse and Instapundit and such)  I come across now has scads of photos - sometimes more photos than text.  Cooking blogs document every step of the recipe with a photo. Book blogs show the cover.  Family blogs have photos of the kids and pets. 

I like photos.  Well, I don't like all the photos on the cooking blogs. I don't need to see a picture of melting butter, or a bowl full of dry ingredients.  Sometimes they are pretty and artistic, but more often a distraction. May I just see the recipe, please?   I do like photos of places visited, gardens, homes, family members, artwork. Stock photos stuck onto a blog post for no apparent reason (other than to have a photo) don't do much for me though. 

Do photos enhance your blog-reading experience?   Are they necessary to your enjoyment of a blog? 

June reading

June was a much better reading month for me. Must be because we practically abandoned homeschooling. I started and finished three books, and read parts of several others (some by design).

• The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton.  Another highly-satisfying book by Kate Morton.  The story is complex, the narrative jumps through time with abandon but it is so well-done it is never hard to follow.   Watch for the mention of Frances Hodgson Burnett, author of The Secret Garden.
  

• A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly.  I was attracted to this book by its setting: The Adirondack Mountain region of New York.  Long ago, before I was 10 years old, my family camped in those mountains many times, and though I don't really remember those trips, I have always been fascinated by the region.  A Northern Light is a coming-of-age story about a poor young farm girl who longs to go to the city and become a writer.  I enjoyed it, though at times I had an uneasy feeling that it was going to turn into something like The Awakening which is on my list of worst novels ever.  It didn't get quite that far, I'm happy to say.  This is considered a Young Adult book.  "Young Adult" is a broad term.  My 13-year-old browses the YA section now, and this book (among many others) is not for her.  Some of the incidents and language are just a bit too adult.  Maybe for a 17-year-old. And up!  It could easily fit in the adult section of the library.
  

• The Brother Gardeners by Andrea Wulf.   I'll be looking for more books by this author.  I never knew that the English Garden full of colorful flowers was mainly the product of plant imports.  John Bartram of Philadelphia figures heavily in this book, which annoys me only because I've lived here for five years and have never made it to visit Bartram's Garden, a park on his old estate.  It's a fascinating look at plant importation and the people who dedicated their lives to botany.  Lots of fun information: did you know that at the time of the famous mutiny, the Bounty was carrying a load of plants from the south seas to England?

•  I kept up with my daily Bible reading and am actually a bit ahead. I find that even when I don't have time to read all 4 chapters I want to read at least one every day.  My habits are changing, slowly.

I read parts of a few books which I'm looking at for homeschool history:

• The Middle Ages by Morris Bishop.  I saw a brief mention of this on the Well-Trained Mind forums, and picked it up from the library.  It is a narrative history of the period, not too detailed, with a nice flow and interesting anecdotes.  I think my kids will love it. I'm reading it for myself now and will get them copies for their own reading once we get into schooling mode again.  (Which is suppose to be Monday but won't be.)

• The Civilization of the Middle Ages by Norman F. Cantor.  Previewing this one for school as well.  I think I may use this one as a read-aloud.  I'm trying to get away from reading aloud so much, but this seems better suited to reading together.  We'll see.  This is the recommended "spine" for medieval history in The Well-Trained Mind.  I'm not doing history exactly "the WTM way" (as they say) but want to use this book as part of our study.

And I read about 100 pages of The Street of a  Thousand Blossoms by Gail Tsukiyama which I had to abandon.  I love this author's books (Women of the Silk was the first one I read, and it's just wonderful), but for some reason this one didn't work for me.  But 100 pages takes some time, and I'm accounting for my time here, so there it is.  I'm going to start another book by Ms Tsukiyama as soon as my library request is fulfilled. 

My Goodreads account is filling up with books to read, and more appear every day.  What are you reading?

PSA: Best granola bar recipe

Everyone needs a good granola bar recipe.  And I have the best one.  It's the best because it is simply a basic framework upon which one can build whatever type of granola bar one wants.

The basics are butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour, baking powder, and salt. And two cups of granola.  As you'll see from the recipe (which I have linked below), "granola" has a pretty fluid description.  And that's the beauty of the recipe.  Define granola as you wish, and make the bars. You have to love them.

Since I try to keep a variety of nuts, seeds, and grains around, I can have a lot of fun with this recipe. Last week my "granola" consisted of rolled oats, sunflower seeds, flaxseed meal, pecans, Bob's Red Mill High-Fiber Cereal, Bob's Red Mill Oat Bran cereal, and chocolate chips.  Oh, and some cocoa powder.  Yes, you might call that a brownie. But a somewhat healthful brownie.  They were delicious.  I had wondered if I should have increased the sugar to offset the bitterness of the cocoa, but as it happens, my family is losing our taste for super-sweet foods, so they were perfect.  They made a great take-along snack for our little vacation.  

There is a sweet story to go along with the recipe at The Baking Circle, the King Arthur Flour baking blog.  This recipe has been around a while - I found it in my KAF 200th Anniversary Baking Book which I have owned forever.  I use it so much the book just opens at that page.  I'm glad to have found it online because one day that book is just going to disintegrate!   But I suspect that when it does, I'll just buy another, because besides the best granola bar recipe, there is much to love in that cookbook. 

Go ahead, make your family happy and bake some of those bars today.

Vacation! And,questions I'd like to ask.

We went on a short vacation earlier last week.  My little family spent 3 days just 2 hours west of home, in Harrisburg, PA.  We had a tour of the state capitol, visited Gettysburg, and went to Hershey Park which is a huge amusement park in the town where Hershey's Chocolate was born.  I guess they traded factory jobs for hospitality jobs in Hershey.  Which is better, I wonder?

We had a nice time.  My kids are a pleasure to travel with, and have been (mostly) all their lives.  They don't nag us to buy stupid stuff.  They don't ask to play the games so they can win a giant, ugly stuffed animal.  Now that they are teens, they don't try to look as if they are not with parents.  You know what I'm talking about. I remember trying to cultivate that look of boredom and detachment when out with my folks. Now I wish they would have slapped that out of me.  But they did not.  And I probably wouldn't either.  I'm happy I don't have to! (Yet?)

It's easy (and fun!) to watch other people and criticize what they do.  I'm sure I've had my share of public parenting failures.  I remember a couple quite clearly. But now that my kids are somewhat grown, I can step back and view others.  I do have to wonder what parents are thinking sometimes.

When we went to the State Capitol for our tour, we dressed up just a little bit.  Not church or party dressed up, but not shorts and t-shirts dressed down.  We were not too surprised (but dismayed nonetheless) to see kids dressed sloppily (as opposed to more casually) there.  But the real stunner was the kid hooked up to his mp3 player, obviously listening to it and looking at the screen during the tour.  What an insult to the tour guide, not to mention the surroundings. The tour was interesting, the building beautiful.  Everyone isn't interested in art, I know. But a person can zone out on a tour without appliances.  The few minutes we spent listening to House business was not terribly exciting, though we did learn why the Piper Cub should be our state aircraft.   But at least my kids listened respectfully to that, rather than their playlists.

I had to wonder why a parent would even allow a teen to do that. I'd like to ask the parents: "is it that hard to ask your child to be polite and put away his ipod?" 

The next day we visited Gettysburg battlefield.  We may have had a bit of a parenting failure of our own there:  we didn't arrive early enough and nearly ran out of time.  My husband and I have a way of doing that.  We knew we needed a couple of hours for the visitor's center and Cyclorama, and James wanted to show us a specific part of the battlefield he'd seen on a Boy Scout hike there.  We should have known that, once there, we'd want to spend more time and see more.  But it worked out.

The visitor's center there is wonderful, and the video presentation well done and interesting.  But it is about a war.   So it was a little disconcerting to hear a little voice, like that of a 4 or 5-year-old, saying "Daddy, this is scary!"  I'm not complaining about hearing the voice at all - I know little kids can't help but speak up sometimes, and normally it wouldn't be distracting.  But the film was so obviously not for such a small child.  I couldn't see the family configuration so I don't know if there were two parents or one; several children or just the unhappy little girl.  I would have loved to ask the daddy: "what were you thinking, bringing this little one in here?"

Hershey Park is a nice, clean, wholesome amusement park.  There are a lot of roller coasters.  I limit myself to coasters that don't do anything extreme, such as go upside down. If I have to go on one, my preference is for the old wooden coasters, but I don't really like those anymore either. James wanted to go on them all, but Eleanor was hesitant.  He didn't want to ride alone. Finally we forced/shamed/begged her to go on one of the looping ones, and she came out all smiles.  She said "I'm so glad I went on that!  Now I can go on any roller coaster!"  Yea!  The two of them took off, leaving Dad and me to wander.  I was left happy in the knowledge that I never have to go on another roller coaster again. 

Hershey is so nice and the crowd so civilized that I didn't see much to criticize.  There were the usual screams for candy or toys.  The clothing wasn't bad, even at the water park; apparently the dress-code rules posted outside the park are enforced.  So I am limited to just one question to a young mom:

"If you didn't want people staring at your legs, why did you have big skulls tattooed on them?"

Maybe they were temporary tattooes, and she was conducting a sociology experiment with her preschoolers.  Yeah, I think I'll go with that.