Science in the desert...

[dripdripsplat]

Hi everyone! We're looking to start doing science in the CM style, but have stumbled across a problem. We live in the desert. There are no real trees, no real plants, and even our insects are pretty sad (although we do have a great ant hill in our backyard). I was trying to find a curriculum (book?) that we could use instead, and had been looking at Apologia until I read their sample pages. Twaddle, and inaccurate. Does anyone have any recommendations?

As a sidenote (actually, it's more important than a sidenote), if I'm going to get a curriculum, I want one that glorifies God and doesn't lean on evolution.

Thanks in advance!

[King Alfred Academy]

What about just making your own up? Read a bunch of living books and create lapbooks/notebooks?

We just finished Donald Silver's One Small Square: Cactus Desert (http://www.amazon.com/Cactus-Desert-One-Small-Square/dp/0070579342/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234920769&sr=8-1) and did this (http://www.homeschoolshare.com/desert_animals.php) lapbook (FREE!) from Homeschool Share (http://www.homeschoolshare.com).

We are continuing with some of the other One Small Square books in his series and doing worksheets printed off the internet and other lapbooks I have found for free.

Next is our human body study.

Baldwin Project (http://www.mainlesson.com/displaybooksbygenre.php) has a bunch of living books.

What about reading some of Thornton Burgess books and focusing on one animal at a time? There are lots of unit studies and lapbooks on animals at homeschoolshare.

Then, on top of your science studies, just get outside and explore! :001_smile:

Just some thoughts...:001_smile:

[KristenS]

The "One Small Square" series has a very nice desert title. Start with that.

Also, see if there are nature guides for the region you live in. You'd be surprised at what you might find.

Another option would be to try indoor gardening or container gardening, for a bit of variety.

If there's a Botanical Garden or zoo in your area, that would be a place to do some observations. And the internet has some good options, like zoo-cams and nature-cams and you-tube videos and stuff.

[LadyAberlin]

God's Design has a Botany book and the new edition that is about to come out is in full color.

[mdmurray]

I'll be reading replys with interest...we are in the desert as well. We do have a great desert gardens near and access to county extension office and master gardeners.

We did the Thorton Burgess Animal and Bird books and loved them.

The local Audobon society might have bird walks that you could take the children on for bird-watching.

[Kate in Arabia]

We also live in the desert, but we have a wealth of animals and plants, just not the ones I grew up with, lol. Fortunately we also have a wildlife center not terribly far that houses local animal species, which helps the kids see the richness of the environment here even though we may not be able to see it all for ourselves.

I only have experience with the first cycle of science, and we pretty much followed the WTM recommendations, which we are able to tailor to our own environment. My difficulty with many science texts for younger kids is that they base themselves on flora/fauna more in tune with a very different environment -- we don't have squirrels or chipmunks (although I did see some at the local pet store -- exotic pets!) and the like. We also get little to no rain, so when some talk about making a rain gauge or whatever, well, that wouldn't work here, lol.

So, I empathise with your position, and for us we put together our own things without a textbook.

hth!

Kate

[ElizabethB]

We recently watched Planet Earth and saw a lot of life in the desert...at night!

(They do have a few evolutionary comments in Planet Earth, but the beauty and complexity of what they explain just cries out creation, so we don't have a problem with it, and we occasionally clarify a statement they make.)

A really fun nature walk would be to rent some Night Vision Goggles and check out the desert at night. (Or, maybe buy a pair to share? I know they've gotten a lot cheaper.)