Perfect Book for 8th/9th Grade Waldorf

I'm always on the lookout for interesting books I can use in home education. I'm pretty "picky" so new ones don't come along very often. My requirements are - they need to be interesting enough to capture the attention of a teenager (I have 13 and 15), they need to have enough information that I can justify taking my time away from something else to stop and share this book with my children, they need to fit into the natural progression of our Waldorf curriculum (see Waldorf 101 for a list of specific topics by grade) and it needs to cover more than just one topic. I am a great believer that educational topics span more than one category. You can't just study "American History" without "World History" and you can't study "Math" without art, design, architecture and so many other things. The last great book we shared was "The Physician" - it was an amazing historical fiction spanning the genres of medical history, European history and Middle Eastern and Asian history. And now I have discovered another gem - it is called "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" and I can't put it down.

In this book, a science journalist, tells the story of an African-American woman who's cells became one of the most important scientific discoveries of the last century. When I purchased the book I expected to read about how the cells had been discovered and how they managed to get the cells from her and perhaps what made her different from other people. I love reading about medical history so that is what I was expecting. I would have been pleased if it was mildly interesting and a quick read.

I was not expected to be so enraptured by the story that I could not put the book down. And on top of that this book contains a hunk of history that is often hard to teach to children. To make it even more perfect - it covers so many topics that are covered in the 8th grade Waldorf year - we are going to read it together even though my eldest is in 9th grade now.

Some highlights of this book:

* The author describes how cells work in a way that makes all scientific text books on the subject appear overly verbose (what a surprise lol ;) Her descriptions could encourage most anyone to get excited about cells.

* Her descriptions of African American history are refreshing - a new story - and told from a completely different point of view that the usual "required reading". Most required reading from this genre is written from an activist point of view or with the obvious purpose of creating awareness and/or sympathy. This story is written for the simple and honest reason of telling the story of a woman whose cells changed the world. Her history is only part of that story, which makes it all the more real and compelling.

* Other topics touched upon in the book are: agriculture, American History, medical history and more. And in each genre her descriptions are entertaining as well as highly educational. She has a gift for teaching in the most natural, organic way.

* The topic of how pap smears were invented and the history of cancer research was fascinating to me.

If you plan on reading this book with your older children please let us know so we can exchange ideas, thoughts and perhaps even extra reading or lesson extensions.

Note that the book is for older children as it does mention an early marriage, performing medical tests for pap smears, the cervix, diseases like syphilis and other more adult topics. There is nothing graphic, of course, it is all very scientific, but the topics come up naturally and kids will ask questions - so be prepared.

Here is another review of the book - I find it so interesting how every review of this book is so different: Boston Globe Review

Science Through Herbs & Healing

Dear Members,

For Sunday Sharing I would like to share a curriculum I have had available for some time but have not had listed on the main EarthSchooling website. It has been tucked away at the new (and thus not many visitors yet) www.TheNaturalLivingChannel.com for some months now so I am trying to get the word out to more people. I have now placed descriptions about this curriclum on the Earthschooling site at:

Kids Can Heal

These classes provide you and your child with a unique way to explore science. I want to share two reasons why this curriculum is so close to my heart:

1. I was never interested in science until I started studying herbs and natural healing. I was always an A student, and did well in class but I always thought of science as a chore until I was given an opportunity to study it in a new way - through herbs, energy healing, iridology, reflexology, health, natural living and more.

2. One reason I teach my children at home is because I feel that the school system leaves out a lot of important scientific facts and information. There is an entire field of science that has just emerged as legitimate science in the past ten years (see the book "The Field" by Lynne McTaggart") but the schools are still teaching our understanding of science from 10-20 years ago and leaving out a lot of the new science!

These lesson blocks help you to explore these areas with your children and to provide more opportunities for them to become interested in science.

I would like to share with you a wonderful poem/excerpt by Sigurd Olson:

Listening Point
While we are born with curiosity and wodner and our early years full of the adventure they bring,
I know such inherent joys are often lost,
I also know, that being deep within us,
their latent glow can be fanned to flame again
by awareness and an open mind.

The Egg & Phone Experiment

This can now be found at www.BEarthBLOG.com

Mystery Solved!

This is now part of the G3 Curriculum at www.Earthschooling.com

The Mystery Continues....Kids Starting to Catch On...

This is now part of the G3 curriculum at www.Earthschooling.com

Mystery and Adventure Continues...

This is now part of the G3 curriculum at www.Earthschooling.com

Waldorf Mystery of the Week

This post is now found in the G3 Gardening block at www.Earthschooling.com

Playing with Fire....Again

I came into the dining room today after being down in the basement with the laundry and thought the house was burning down.

Nope. Just Sunii playing with fire again. He found a new use for the fondue pot. He took a candle and melted it and has been dipping his fingers in it for about an hour now...making little "fairy pots" for his sister.

I love to see what they come up with in their "free time".

This is a great idea for what to do with wax though! Nice way to keep it warm in the winter. Sunii's tip....don't keep the fire on all the time. Melt the candle and then blow out the flame. When the wax starts to harden again...then light the fire again.

Let's Count BIRDS!

This post can now be found on our new BLOG HERE.