Nature's Beautiful Order suggestions

[Rae]

I need some help and suggestions from those who may be more sensible than I am! Long story short, we are taking a semester in which I am tricking my child into thinking he is moving on, but he's basically reviewing and solidifying what he already knows. I've done this using some curricula I would normally choose so that his books look different, but the content isn't necessarily an entire level up. The idea is to build his confidence while allowing his maturity to catch up with his intellectual ability, if that makes sense. We just completed 5M with some minor changes.

The two caveats to this semi-level up business is that I did move him up to Elementary Greek II, and I picked up Nature's Beautiful Order. The Greek is going fine. The NBO book is something I foresee as a battle developing. We are on chapter two, so we aren't seriously invested yet. Upon further investigation, it seems most folks are using it at 7th, 8th grade as opposed to fifth going on 6th. The first chapter of workbook questions took a lot of summarizing and explaining and resummarizing and having him explain back to me. I am not of the school of thought that I shouldn't have to do that, but he is not enjoying the fact that so many of the answers aren't coming more naturally to him (very punny?).

Should I be quitter and shelf it until a more mature point in his reasoning ability? Should I lower the expectation and walk him through the questions and answers more? I fear continuing will frustrate us and not give us the full benefit of the book. I fear shelving it will send the wrong message, plus I don't have an alternative. He really wanted an animal centered nature/science book.

I'm trying to prepare him for some basic anatomy very soon, but anatomy which does not skip the repoductive bits. I was hoping to introduce some of that idea from an animal perspective as he could more easily relate to farm animals reproducing. He is an only child, and somehow he is blessed and cursed with such innocence that he quite literally believes an angel of the Lord will come upon a prospective mother and proclaim her with child! So there's that.

Obviously, we have issues.

[Mary]

Re: Nature's Beautiful Order suggestions

I need some help and suggestions from those who may be more sensible than I am! Long story short, we are taking a semester in which I am tricking my child into thinking he is moving on, but he's basically reviewing and solidifying what he already knows. I've done this using some curricula I would normally choose so that his books look different, but the content isn't necessarily an entire level up. The idea is to build his confidence while allowing his maturity to catch up with his intellectual ability, if that makes sense. We just completed 5M with some minor changes.

The two caveats to this semi-level up business is that I did move him up to Elementary Greek II, and I picked up Nature's Beautiful Order. The Greek is going fine. The NBO book is something I foresee as a battle developing. We are on chapter two, so we aren't seriously invested yet. Upon further investigation, it seems most folks are using it at 7th, 8th grade as opposed to fifth going on 6th. The first chapter of workbook questions took a lot of summarizing and explaining and resummarizing and having him explain back to me. I am not of the school of thought that I shouldn't have to do that, but he is not enjoying the fact that so many of the answers aren't coming more naturally to him (very punny?).

Should I be quitter and shelf it until a more mature point in his reasoning ability? Should I lower the expectation and walk him through the questions and answers more? I fear continuing will frustrate us and not give us the full benefit of the book. I fear shelving it will send the wrong message, plus I don't have an alternative. He really wanted an animal centered nature/science book.

I'm trying to prepare him for some basic anatomy very soon, but anatomy which does not skip the repoductive bits. I was hoping to introduce some of that idea from an animal perspective as he could more easily relate to farm animals reproducing. He is an only child, and somehow he is blessed and cursed with such innocence that he quite literally believes an angel of the Lord will come upon a prospective mother and proclaim her with child! So there's that.

Obviously, we have issues.

It's tough trying to place a child *just right* sometimes and I think it's wise of you to engage in some lateral movement to give time for review and to gain a bit of maturity. Nature's Beautiful Order is a great set but I worry that it may be just a bit too much for him. I am using it this fall with my 8th grade daughter, who needs some more time to finish pre-algebra. Like your son, she's very interested in biological sciences but not quite ready for the meaty stuff until she's got more math under her belt. However, NBO will be a good fit for her after completing previous years' science programs through MP (mammals, astronomy, insects, birds, trees). Has your son completed any or all of these yet? If not, I'd wonder if he might not really do better with a science program geared more toward his age level (thinking immediately that insects would be up his alley - or birds!).

My middle guy is your son's age - 5th going into 6th. He is just finishing up insects now and is looking forward to heading into birds next year. I know that he wouldn't be ready for NBO yet just because that age is just getting the hang of meatier abstract thinking and he needs another year or two until he can read at that level and summarize well without requiring me to be on top of him to read and re-read and analyze.

If you were to shelve this, you would absolutely not be a quitter! <3 Rather, you'd be putting it aside just for awhile until your son is really ready for it.

Of course, mine is just one opinion among many. I'm sure others will chime in with more good advice for you.

[KF2000]

Re: Nature's Beautiful Order suggestions

Hi Rae!

Mary is right in that there is no harm in realizing something is a bit above your child's current abilities and you plan to shelve it for now. No harm in that at all, and might be something you want to do here.

I will also just offer that since it is a course that is not included in any of the full cores, it is a good choice for what you are wanting right now. My son did it around 11 or 12, and what we found was that he really struggled with the first few chapters. They were more abstract than what he was used to or really felt ready for. But once we struggled through those early chapters, he got more used to it and really enjoyed the rest of it. To prove my point, I pulled it out for the next child to see if she wanted to do that versus what was listed for her core, and she asked her brother about it. I assumed (from my memory of how we struggled a bit with it) that he would grimace and tell her "stay away"! But his response was actually positive! He remembers it fondly, and even recommended it to her. I checked with him about it, and he confirmed that yes, it was hard at first, but after he got into it, he really did like it.

All of this is to say, yes, it may be hard for him right now. Yes, you guys may have to struggle a bit with it. And yes, he may not get as much out of it as if he were a bit older. But it can still end up being a really good course for him - one of those things that actually HELPS move your child into the "next level" of mature, abstract thinking because it is challenging him to do that.

I would encourage you to continue, and simply get from it what he is able to get from it.
AMDG,
Sarah

[Rae]

Re: Nature's Beautiful Order suggestions

Thank you all for your suggestions. Here's an update.

I didn't shelve it even though my husband looked through and suggested we do just that. We are still struggling through it. I am realizing that with some additional visual resources and lots of input on my part to summarize and encourage use of the dictionary, he is picking up more than he is successfully able to articulate in the workbook. For example, on the lobster chapter he did rather poorly in his student book. I had him write a short open-ended essay telling me all about the lobster as a "test". To my surprise, he picked out pretty significant and valuable pieces of info to share.

It does appear that as we progress and get to the more familiar subjects, he will do better. He is enjoying the book, and frequently reads ahead. Then he tells me about some new creature, and I have to pull him back in to the discussion of the creature we are currently studying. I suspect as we progress through this book and future biology resources, the pieces will come together in a way that surprises him.

That said, in hindsight, I WISH I had looked at it harder before introducing it to our semester plan because it is the "fight" subject of the semester. Last year it was the literature guides and composition. We never recovered from the Lassie literature guide!

[KF2000]

Re: Nature's Beautiful Order suggestions

So glad it is turning out to be a positive experience!

AMDG,
Sarah