Science – Are We Equipping Our Kids for Life?
Several years ago our family visited South Africa where we had the privilege of meeting a man who operates a rehabilitation center for wildlife near the game reserve, Kruger National Park. From the time he was a young boy he has had some type of wildlife around him. When he married, it was a monkey that caused no end of trouble with his wife because it was jealous of him. Many humorous stories about that!
Today he has hippos, lions, cheetahs, hyenas, birds, badgers, etc. When the animal is injured by poachers or from another type of situation, he will be called upon to get the animal from the wild, doctor it and then to rehabilitate it for future release into the wild. However, there are some animals that they are never able to release and they end up staying there at Moholoholo. We spent a most amazing afternoon there back in 2006.
pet lion that he has had for many years
And then we had the privilege of hosting him and his wife when they came to the United States a few months later. My boys had a most amazing time with him. He could tell us more about our birds than we even knew. One day he took them on a walk to see if they could find a rattlesnake. He wanted to catch it so he could show the boys its fangs. It sounds crazy and dangerous but because animals had been his life study he was very comfortable with the idea and knew what to do.
So looking at this through the eyes of Charlotte Mason what can we learn? (Volume 6, Section III, The Knowledge of the Universe(a))
Charlotte Mason felt that learning science through literary means was the way to teach science…
So how did our friend Brian Jones captivate us? By stories. He told us so many stories about “his animals”. Stories of mischief, danger, protection. We were captivated and enthralled and learned more about those animals than we had ever known before.
But yet, we didn’t learn the minute details of how he gives shots, performs surgeries but were only given brief overviews of these things.
…while the details of their application are so technical and so minute as, —except by way of illustration, –to be unnecessary for school work or for general knowledge. –Charlotte Mason Vol. 6, pg. 219
If, on any matter, we had wanted to know more information our friend would have given it and knowing myself, I probably did ask many questions. 🙂
We find an American publication called The Sciences (whose author would seem to be an able man of literary power) of very great value in linking universal principles with common incidents of every day life in such a way that interest never palls and any child may learn on what principles an electric bell works, what sound means, how a steam engine works, and many other matters, explained here with great lucidity. –Charlotte Mason Vol. 6, pg. 219
The book Microbe Hunters by Paul de Kruif did this beautifully.. My boys loved reading this book when they were in their high school years and I even had one son order his own copy for him to keep in his personal library.
Read this description from Amazon. It’s a great example of how Science can be taught in a literary form such as Miss Mason suggests.
Paul de Kruif’s Microbe Hunters is a timeless dramatization of the scientists, bacteriologists, doctors, and medical technicians who discovered microbes and invented the vaccines to counter them. De Kruif reveals the now seemingly simple but really fundamental discoveries of science—for instance, how a microbe was first viewed in a clear drop of rain water, and when, for the first time ever, Louis Pasteur discovered that a simple vaccine could save a man from the ravages of rabies by attacking the microbes that cause it.
So how should we approach the teaching of Science to our children? By giving them…
…a wide syllabus introducing them [at any rate] to those branches of science of which every normal person should have some knowledge. –Charlotte Mason Vol. 6, pg. 222
So there are some things that all should know. What do you think they are? Are we teaching our children those things?
Charlotte Mason presents in her book that schools started teaching towards university entrance examinations instead of equipping them for life.
How are we measuring up? Are we teaching our kids scientific knowledge that will be practical and useful to them or are we concentrating on facts and experiments?
Joining up with the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival.
4 Comments
Lily
I love the DVD’s Brian Jones put out! Absolutely amazing. Your post is very thought provoking. This year we are studying plants and animals. Obviously we have the garden and have lots of hands on learning with that. I purchased Lyrical Life Science and Isaac and Becca have been learning one song at a time. For instance we sing the song “Vascular Plants”, collect leaves of different trees, look at/draw different plants, read a short synopsis on it then read a story about an insect from Jean Henry Fabre’s book. (Since I wasn’t aware of an interesting book on plants.)
I love reading good books to the kids, but I often wonder if I don’t need to provide a “hook” (if you would call it that) that allows the child to see where that bit of info. fits into the big picture. For instance, a relative of mine was homeschooled as a child and read tons of interesting literature, but she has voiced a concern of having no clue about geography. In this case, she could have been encouraged to find each place she read about on a globe or map.
Maybe it’s just my crazy need for order and a systematic approach, but I like to study one certain time period at a time, such as “Exploration to 1850”. I use a History book, such as Story of the World, reading two chapters a week from it, and then read lots of literature and history stories about those events. Sometimes we fill in maps, sometimes make “soap” the way they used to, eat some of the food from that country, play games they played, etc. For me I need to see where it fits in the big picture of history.
(I know I’m straying terribly from the Science part…my apologies.) But I guess I do the same thing with Science. I often plan a certain part of science to study for the year, such as electricity, use a basic book, such as: “The World of Science”, simply because I know next to nothing about it. We read a two page spread each day and do an experiment or two. I would think that a boy (especially) should know how to change a light fixture, replace an electrical outlet, fix a broken lamp, change headlights on a vehicle, know what to do and what not to do with recharging batteries, & replace a cord. I honestly don’t know of any interesting books on electricity, but I think it would be worth trying to find.
I ordered the book you suggested and “Nature Got There First”, which I saw recommended for science.
Thanks for getting me to think about this a bit more.
Anna
Wow! We’ve seen a DVD of his presentations at a youth camp a looooong time ago – so cool that you guys got to actually see Moholoholo for yourself!
Tammy Glaser
I think the “hook” for science boils down to a living book, the outdoor life, and notebooking. When we read a biography, we replicate the experiments or work that scientist did (or exploration related to the book). So, we are learning about electricity through the life of Michael Faraday and built our own battery out of lemons. Right now, we are working on making a Leyden jar. Learning about a topic in its infancy sets up building blocks for greater understanding.
In the outdoor life, you can learn to do things when your hand by building a raised garden bed, make a compost bin, etc. That leads naturally to seeing things outdoors, capturing them, and studying them before releasing. I think that in the early years exploring what is available and what catches the imagination enough. All of the things experienced, learned, and gleaned can become part of the high school years when the brain is more adept at abstract thinking.
We have adopted a nature trail that we walk every week and we are in our second year. Every week, we have an idea of what to expect and just keeping a nature notebook naturally build a systemized way of studying because the data is organized by season.
Tammy Glaser
Thank you for sharing about Brian Jones! His stories remind me of one of my favorite books “Tarantula in my Purse” by Jean Craighead George. I hope he writes a living book about his experiences some day!