Fun Experiments
After studying General Science with Dr. Wylie last year, this year she was looking forward to what type of interesting experiments Wylie’s physical science course would have.
In the photo below, my kids purposely chose the duck(y) with an egg book to be at the top of the stack for the incline. My kids’ just crack me up!
As a result of watching all the fun, my son can’t wait to study General Science next year.
My daughter had loads of fun chasing the white balloon with the green balloon.
For more photos check my Flickr set.
Well-written Science Curriculum
After two years of studying with Dr. Wylie’s books, we’ve seen lots of consistencies that are helpful.
His books read like a conversation, as if he’s talking to them instead of at them.
His experiments are approachable, with guidance and expectations explained, while using common household items. As a result we can actually be successful with most of them.
Multimedia discs are available for purchase, which allows dd to watch cool movies and graphics that pertain to her studies. That’s more than I got in public school, even in honors classes!
MP3 audio files are available, that she makes great use of since she has vision issues.
At the end of each chapter is a study guide which helps her determine which parts she needs to further study for the test.
Dialectically Making Connections
Learning to study for chapter tests, she memorizes all the science vocabulary.
Since each test begins with a vocabulary section, I explained to her that Dr. Wylie does that for a reason. It’s a warmup for the rest of the test where higher level thinking is needed. Strong knowledge of vocabulary is needed to communicate and understand scientific concepts.
After completing the experiments, my daughter writes a KWO (like she learned with Institute in Excellence in Writing) in preparation to write a lab report.
The write up of the lab report causes her to think through the connections of the whys and hows of the experiment, which is a dialectic aspect of classical education. This helps her to cement information for the chapter test.
Epilogue 2024
Although the old curriculum we used is no longer in print as Dr. Wylie wrote it, he now has a new science series through Berean Builders! I love the name of his new company, which he explains at the bottom of the previous link. Here is an old blog post my mine that I wrote about becoming Bereans, so I’m excited about potentially sharing this new series with the grandkids. I’m sure my kids will be all-in!
