ksva
04-28-2008, 12:28 PM
At the suggestion of mother, and at my own instigation, i've decided to post my various reflections on three major subject: science, bible study, and history. Science first.
Over the years of scientific study, I developed my own system, combining SWB’s schedule with my own ideas.
I organize my study around the approach I take to the primary texts, not because they're more important, but because they need special attention. Originally I started with SWB’s schedule, but grew frustrated when reading the original text of a science I was not studying or had not finished because I found myself wondering about the scientific truth of the book, rather than the author’s arguments. So I decided that only after I had gotten a grasp of the main body of the science and understood its general history would I study the original text. For me, this made the texts easier to understand, because I was no longer wondering whether the content of the book was scientifically accurate; I could tell. Instead I paid attention to the author’s thoughts, and how he came to his conclusions (and discoveries), which is why he wrote his work and why we read it. In short, I did not read the texts to gain an understanding of the body of science, but rather the ways in which great men made small developements.
There will be gaps in the sciences (not much ancient chemistry, or
original sources between 1800 and 1950).
(I’ve found I could do the experiments anywhere in the schedule. )
As I have recently done Chemistry this way, I will give the schedule and books in chronological order:
CHEMISTRY
I. TEXT: Chemistry: A self Teaching Guide.
A. Read chapter slowly.
B. Copy Vocab, referencing anything incompletely understood.
C. Outline or Summarize.
(D. Research topics once in a while.)
E. Review throughout II. and III.
II. Experiments.
A. Assemble instructions, supplies
B. Experiment, taking notes
C. Write summary(s)
III. History.
A. Through Alchemy to Chemistry (John Read)
1. JUST read to ~1500
B. Robert Boyle’s Skeptical Chemist
1. Read text
2. Notes (minimal, to avoid disrupting author’s arguments)
3. Summary or analysis or critique…
C. Through Alchemy to Chemistry (John Read) to ~1770
D. Antione Laviosier Elements
1. Read
2. Notes
3. Summary…
E. Through Alchemy to Chemistry (John Read) to ~1880
F. Research Mendeleyev and Periodic Table
G. “Through Alchemy to Chemistry” (John Read) Finish
(H. James D. Watson’s Double Helix)
(Note that you may insert any text from history that you want in the history textbook, and it will be in proper context and historical order. I used a small history text because it was largely just to put the work in it’s context.)
This completes the ‘high-school’ course. As I am 23 and studying a sort of ‘college-at-home,’ I began reading Linus Pauling’s monumental (it’s huge) chemistry text after studying Mendeleyev, as he brings one into the modern age of quantum mechanics and nuclear physics.
As far as I can tell, you can apply this system to any science you want, to various extents. I hope to do so with physics once i've finished off chemistry.
I hope this helps y’all, and I would strongly recommend elements of it to SWB, as I thought her math and science schedules incomplete at times.
Over the years of scientific study, I developed my own system, combining SWB’s schedule with my own ideas.
I organize my study around the approach I take to the primary texts, not because they're more important, but because they need special attention. Originally I started with SWB’s schedule, but grew frustrated when reading the original text of a science I was not studying or had not finished because I found myself wondering about the scientific truth of the book, rather than the author’s arguments. So I decided that only after I had gotten a grasp of the main body of the science and understood its general history would I study the original text. For me, this made the texts easier to understand, because I was no longer wondering whether the content of the book was scientifically accurate; I could tell. Instead I paid attention to the author’s thoughts, and how he came to his conclusions (and discoveries), which is why he wrote his work and why we read it. In short, I did not read the texts to gain an understanding of the body of science, but rather the ways in which great men made small developements.
There will be gaps in the sciences (not much ancient chemistry, or
original sources between 1800 and 1950).
(I’ve found I could do the experiments anywhere in the schedule. )
As I have recently done Chemistry this way, I will give the schedule and books in chronological order:
CHEMISTRY
I. TEXT: Chemistry: A self Teaching Guide.
A. Read chapter slowly.
B. Copy Vocab, referencing anything incompletely understood.
C. Outline or Summarize.
(D. Research topics once in a while.)
E. Review throughout II. and III.
II. Experiments.
A. Assemble instructions, supplies
B. Experiment, taking notes
C. Write summary(s)
III. History.
A. Through Alchemy to Chemistry (John Read)
1. JUST read to ~1500
B. Robert Boyle’s Skeptical Chemist
1. Read text
2. Notes (minimal, to avoid disrupting author’s arguments)
3. Summary or analysis or critique…
C. Through Alchemy to Chemistry (John Read) to ~1770
D. Antione Laviosier Elements
1. Read
2. Notes
3. Summary…
E. Through Alchemy to Chemistry (John Read) to ~1880
F. Research Mendeleyev and Periodic Table
G. “Through Alchemy to Chemistry” (John Read) Finish
(H. James D. Watson’s Double Helix)
(Note that you may insert any text from history that you want in the history textbook, and it will be in proper context and historical order. I used a small history text because it was largely just to put the work in it’s context.)
This completes the ‘high-school’ course. As I am 23 and studying a sort of ‘college-at-home,’ I began reading Linus Pauling’s monumental (it’s huge) chemistry text after studying Mendeleyev, as he brings one into the modern age of quantum mechanics and nuclear physics.
As far as I can tell, you can apply this system to any science you want, to various extents. I hope to do so with physics once i've finished off chemistry.
I hope this helps y’all, and I would strongly recommend elements of it to SWB, as I thought her math and science schedules incomplete at times.