3 Apr 2012

Exploring Anatomy

Somewhat less controversial than Bapu the skeleton, but no less fun, this anatomically correct jigsaw proved a fantastic way of learning the bones of the hand.

Beware - it's harder than it looks to fit all those iddy biddy bones into that wrist!

According to Jeannie Fulbright's Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology, there are 206 bones in a fully grown adult, and 106 of them are in the hands and feet alone. I did not realise that. Wow! You should be able to count 27 in the hand above if you count carefully.

Some of you were interested to hear how we are finding this book. You will be aware that I am wary about their suitability for inclusion in our Charlotte Mason style of schooling, and that it was with much trepidation that I began this book this term owing to Jemimah's great interest in the subject matter.

As it turns out, we're loving it. It is exactly what we were looking for. It is interesting, and the practical experiments are fun. That said, at the end of Term One - twelve weeks worth - we have only finished Chapter 2. These are not living books, they're text books written in a chatty, conversational tone, and to learn and remember their densely packed content takes time. Every page or two Fulbright includes narration prompts written in blue ink. One or two of these sections and the accompanying exercises is enough for us during a lesson. We read, we narrate and we're done. We are only doing a limited number of the notebooking exercises - those that we can use as written narration exercises, really. I guess in some ways I've been using the book as a spine to help me to cover all the topics that need to be covered. From there we turn to YouTube and our library shelves for appropriate accompanying material. The Khan Academy videos about cells, for example, were useful.

AO includes the Exploring Creation series as alternatives to their regular curriculum for years 3-6. To me the regular curriculum is far closer to what Miss Mason would have recommended, and it is what I would prefer to be doing. That said, going at the pace we are, this book is serving its purpose very well. I'm just not sure that I want to be covering human anatomy and physiology for the next three years.

Have you used these books successfully in a Charlotte Mason setting? How did you do it? Have you used something that you thought was better? Please share!

9 comments:

  1. There's a reason we quit senior science. lol Ick. There's a reason we have skin; so we can't see inside! ;P

    Glad you are loving your ick.

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  2. LOL Ganeida!

    Jeanne, I think that's a great activity. Could you tell us where you sourced it, please?

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  3. Sorry, Catherine. Hubby had it before we were married. I looked on google to see if I could find an equivalent, and wasn't able.

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  4. Ah well. I may have to check out some university stores/resources the next time I visit a campus.

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  5. Jeanne, I've been wondering about Apologia for Rebekah for next year when she does AO3. It seems like AO doesn't cover enough science - I get a bit nervous about the Board of Studies and their expectations I guess - which is why I've been thinking about Apologia for next year. I had a look at one of them a year or so ago and it seemed like the content did not lend itself to narration very well, it seemed too dry for a child to narrate. What do you think? Do you think it's interesting enough to narrate back? I also thought it looked too dense and if I were to do it I'd probably go at a very slow pace too! hmmm....still trying to work it all out:) Someone on AO recently said that they used the AO selections and Apologia as a reference book. I am wondering if I should do the same:) thanks for this post btw!

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  6. We bought one of the Apologia books for our oldest boy for his birthday a couple years ago. He was interested in creatures of the sea, so we thought it was a good fit. I haven't used it for lessons, though, just as a reference for him to peruse in his spare time. I have been amazed how much information he has soaked up through reading it, though. He is really beginning to know his sea stuff! ;)

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  7. Rosemary: I wouldn't recommend Apologia unless you have a very science oriented child. It is thorough but very academic; strong on scientific method which is a bit much for little ones. I never used the elementry books though but have friends who liked them very much.

    You might like http://www.eagleswingsed.com/products/cgc.html


    which has lots of hands on activities & narration type activies. ie you do an activity & discuss it. Comes with a dvd with songs for certain units.

    Star really liked this. Science for the arty/farty lot.

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  8. Oh cool! Thanks for the tip Ganeida, will look into that one. Don't think I've heard of that one before!

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  9. This book (see link below) is FABULOUS--you can build a working hand, make a very do-able model of the lungs, just amazing. http://www.amazon.com/How-Body-Works-It/dp/0751308331/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333640998&sr=8-1

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