I’m finally getting around to writing about our 2021-2022 school year picks for our combined subjects of science and social studies. I have a highlight on my Instagram page where I briefly run through this as well. This will not include any of our beauty subjects like art, music, poetry, and nature study directly. Some of these elements may be covered in these resources we are using, but I have a plan for these more specifically which I am excited to talk about next week! So without further adieu…
Science
I am super excited about what I’ve chosen for our science this year! My school aged kids are 5, 7, and 9 and I know that my 9 year old will need some more challenging science in the years to come. However, I think that these are still the perfect ages to do science all together right now. I started looking at different options that would work well for all three, or could be modified a bit for each child, while also not breaking the bank. Some science curriculums are seriously expensive. I’m not ready for that yet, mamas. This past school year I still did my usual thing with science, in that I pieced it together from different resources. A little bit of Exploring Nature With Children, a little Mystery Science, and some things that I just pulled together on my own.
I wanted to use something more cohesive this year with bringing in a third student more intentionally. My kids really enjoy Magic Treehouse books (I know there are some not so great things in these, but we talk about it and it hasn’t been an issue.) and the Secret of the Hidden Scrolls series, so when I heard about Elemental Science’s Sassafras Science Adventures from a friend, I started looking into it! Sassafras Science Adventures uses living books to teach science, along with adventures and mystery to keep the kids engaged. There is a sibling set who go to visit an uncle and they end up learning all of these science subject areas along the way! The first volume is Zoology, which is what we will be using for the first half of our year. If all goes well, we will move on to the second volume, Anatomy, for the second half of our school year. The Zoology volume covers:
- Mammals
- Birds
- Reptiles
- Amphibians
- Invertebrates (Insects)
- Animal Diet (carnivore, herbivore, and omnivore)
- Habitats (with a focus on the animals found there)
You can purchase a log book for each student where they will keep track of all of their animal adventures and the things they are learning along the way. I am not using this log book for my kindergartener, but plan to make something for her that will be more on her level. The teacher’s manual is also very helpful in laying out your weeks and getting prepared for the lessons. It includes things like chapter summaries, book lists, logbook information for the kids, hands-on science activities, copywork/dictation, crafts and projects, plus quizzes and coloring pages. I also opted to get the MP3 audio book because I have heard from others who have used this, that it will become a nice thing to have, if not a necessity! I think my plan is to play the MP3 during their lunch time and then go straight into the activities, experiments, or further research once we’ve finished eating.
As far as supplements to go with Zoology, I went ahead and picked up a few things in addition to pulling out what we already had at home. From top left: Dover Wild Animals Coloring Book, Atlas of Animal Adventures, Christian Liberty Nature Reader Book K, DK Encyclopedia of Animals (found on ThriftBooks!), Usborne Great Wildlife Search (my copy is older), and The Burgess Animal Book for Children. Oh, and before I forget to mention it, Lindsay at Little School of Smiths has curated an amazing Pinterest selection of crafts, experiments, and activities to go along with the Zoology unit!
I’m really looking forward to diving in with this and I hope my kids love it as much as I think they will! Have you used this before? How was your experience? Comment below!
Social Studies
Okay, this is my favorite subject! Always has been. Science and math, not so much. However, history and literature? Totally my jam. The last four years we have worked through the four volumes of Story of the World. It was a great introduction to world history and we really enjoyed it for the most part (especially my oldest son). We may or may not cycle back through it at some point in the future.
I could not be more excited about what I’m planning for my kids this year in this area. Are you ready for it?!? We are going to be doing cultural studies with Little World Wanderers and Thistles & Biscuits‘ units this year! Beth and Betsy have done an incredible job developing their respective units to highlight each country and culture in a way that is loving, genuine, engaged, and super informative.
Little World Wanderers (LWW) units are free and include things like folklore, historical context, language, activities and crafts, recipes, booklists, music and art, and so much more! Beth has such a heart for creating and supporting culturally inclusive homes. She is the real deal and I’m proud to call her my friend.
Thistles & Biscuits’ (T&B) units are similar in what they contain, and have the addition of Tim’s linguistic background and Betsy’s cultural anthology background along with her beautiful original art! Their global educational materials are sure to be a beautiful addition to our homeschool! (Adorable printable passport book from Thistles & Biscuits.)
My plan is to merge together what we are learning in our science unit with the cultural units the first half of the year. For instance, the first couple animals we will be covering in Sassafras have habitats in Africa. So we will be diving into units like Kenya and Madagascar. For each habitat area we study, I plan to pull in a couple units from LWW or T&B to be studying alongside. Cool, right? I thought so.
We have a ton of extra resources already in our home for maps and cultural guides. The gorgeous Maps book shown above is used all the time for lots of different subjects. A small sampling of other books we will be using when applicable:
Hungry Planet: What the World Eats has been in our possession since we first started homeschooling in 2017, and it is such a cool resource to really see what the cuisine is like in other parts of the world. It’s older, but can definitely still be a fun resource. I found my copy used somewhere online. Another older, but still valuable book, is Material World: A Global Family Portrait. It includes beautiful photography and details about different families across the globe. All of their earthly possessions laid out for all to see and bits and pieces about their life in their home country. I also found my copy of this used years ago. Kids love stickers, so I also plan to incorporate this Atlas of the World Sticker Book which we’ve had for a long time now. I actually have multiple copies. ALDI tends to have books like these closer to the start of the traditional school year. I usually pick up one or two. Other similar options like this, this, or this would be fun as well! I think I may do a whole separate blog post about other books and resources to go along with cultural units like this.
Oh, and that adorable Printable Passport Book from T&B I mentioned above? We will use that to track all the countries we learn about and I will either print a homemade “sticker” to paste in there or think of something else. I think it will be a fun keepsake for our time this coming year!
That’s about it. I could keep talking about this subject, but I don’t want to bore you. ha! Do you have any questions for me? Need any links? What are you doing for history/social studies this year? Comment below!