Friday, March 5, 2010

What My Child is Reading - March 6, 2010



We read a number of science related books this week - our bookshelf has never looked so intelligent.

We started out with three more Simon Basher books written by Dan Green:



I'm absolutely thrilled with this series. It really has the kids excited about science. The older children, ages 9-12, read these books on their own, without any prompting, which was great to see. The younger children enjoyed listening to the stories, and I think my seven year old, and maybe even my five year old, picked up an interest in science, even if they didn't get all the details.

A couple of small warnings:
These books are not written from a Christian perspective, so there is some mention of big bangs, and natural selection. Basher and Green are gentle with it though, it's not offensively in your face, but it's there. We generally don't run from secular science, the children are aware that Christian, and non-Christian world views are different, but I don't like books that are aggressively preachy with evolution.
And, the biology book covers both the sperm, and the egg. The approach is innocent, and straightforward, but it could lead to some awkward questions, if you're not prepared.

Moving on, we enjoyed Robert E. Wells' What's Smaller Than a Pygmy Shrew - which I reviewed, here.


And, Mickey's Magnet by Franklyn M. Branley, and Eleanor K. Vaughan. It's as sweet, and informative as I remembered, and was a big hit with the younger kids. I can see quite a bit more magnetic exploration coming up.

Our only dud was G is for Galaxy by Janis Campbell and Cathy Collison, another in the alphabet series from Sleeping Bear Press. After the excitement of the Basher books, it was rather dull. And, unlike Basher's Astronomy, it is very aggressive in it's secular approach - with B for the big bang, and D for the dinosaurs destroyed by a comet. I think we'll stick with the geography books in the series from now on.


To find out what others were reading this week, check out the What My Child Is Reading link up, at Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

5 comments:

Debbie said...

Looks like some great books. I will have to look at the Mickey's Magnet and see if it is one that Selena might enjoy!

Brimful Curiosities said...

We need to start looking at some science related books. Thanks for a few suggestions.

Natalie PlanetSmarty said...

Thanks for joining and reviewing your science picks. I really respect Christian homeschoolers that are not afraid to introduce the books that differ from "Young Earth theory". I am definitely going to look for the first series when Anna is 5+.

Ticia said...

I'm with you, I have no problem if the books are calmly talking through things I differ with, it's when they get over-the-top and in you face with their preachiness that I have a problem.
Good science books make me happy.

Debbie said...

I have a Reading Award for you at my blog!