science and history for 7 yr old???

[star jewel]

What do you use for science and history for your 1st or 2nd grade-level kids? I've been homeschooling for a couple of months, using The Well-Trained Mind as a guide for choosing books. I ordered the Usborne Encyclo. of the Natural World for science and a world history encyclopedia from McGraw Hill. They're great, with beautiful illustrations, but too advanced for my ds (will be 7 this month). In fact, the history book is labelled "grades 4-8." I do want to use these texts when ds is ready, but what should I cover until then? I prefer to buy books rather than use a library; I live in a rural community and the closest large library is 75 miles away. Any suggestions would be appreciated!!

[Valerie.Qc]

History: you might want to buy The Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer. It's intended for reading aloud to first to forth grades If you prefer an encyclopedia, some likes the Kingfisher, some like the Usborne's one and others like the ??-Parr (can't remember the exact name... it's an illustrated encyclopedia of World History and it's available at ToysRUs).

[Shantimama]

Sonlioght has a great science program. Each of their "grades" is actually for a range of ages so that you can use it for more than one child at a time. My kids are loving it! They also have a good history program - their catalogue is worth checking out. Even if you don't want to buy their stuff you can get an idea of some books and topics to explore with your child.

[khrisday]

My son loves the usborne History of the World book suggested in TWTM. (I think that is the title) We would read a two page spread, and then add somethign to our timeline. We woudl read books about that period, and he woudl dictate a summary to me and we would add it to our notebook.

[Staceyhsmom1]

I highly recommend SOTW and the activity guide. For Ancients, there are so many cool activities to do. Susan W. B. recommends and Usborne World History book that is more age appropriate. Actually there are 2, one is internet linked and much larger. I have them both and either is fine for 1st graders.

[Queen Gwen]

Oh, definitely Story of the World. My kids enjoy it sooo much. And you can tweak it up or down...the lit. suggestions in the Activity Guide range from Rosemary Well's Max and Ruby to Henty novels.

Let's see, TWTM suggests biology for 1st grade science. As I recall, we dug up worms, looked at ants, spiders, bats (dd's choice!), cats, bees, butterflies, etc., using books from the library. You could make or buy an ant farm, visit a butterfly house, raise polliwogs, raise silkworms, keep a hermit crab...limitless possiblities. There are some books at the library along the lines of Pets In a Jar (I don't remember exact titles) that might be helpful. Dd likes to draw so she kept a nature notebook -- very good for encouraging close observation. Another idea for obervation -- mark off an area of ground with a small hula hoop or somesuch, get down and really look at what all's there.

Anatomy -- read Magic School Bus, play Aristoplay's Somebody game.

Botany -- do during warm weather, plant some stuff, look at it. My degree's in Horticulture, so I figure my kids absorb this stuff daily, so I was pretty unorganized about Botany.

The Well Trained Mind discussion boards have discussions on this sort of thing. Mostly, though 1st grade science seems to be about observation of the world around us.

For some reason we do history on MWF and science on TTh. Everyone likes knowing what to expect when.