Classical Homeschool Curriculum
A Homeschool Community for Classical Educators
The Sears-Kay Ruins hike was just what I was hoping for. A short hike (only 1.6 m round trip–enough that a toddler could walk it holding my hand) with lots to explore and look at and plenty of space to run wild and free. It delivered on all accounts. It was an easy 45min drive from my house in Paradise Valley. But once you got there it was felt like you were in the middle of nowhere. The city was nowhere to be seen and we really got to experience Read More …
Our 7th graders at co-op use the classical curriculum Book of the Trees from Memoria Press. As we are approaching the end of the curriculum it wants us to go out and nature journal a tree each week. This is exactly why we formed the Cardinal’s Nature Club – so we could see what we learn in science first hand. The Cave Creek Botanical Gardens is a free outdoor paved nature walk of all kinds of desert type botanicals. We saw lots of really interesting things and learned four new Read More …
In 6th grade, for science, we study birds. In our classically educating co-op we use the curriculum What’s That Bird? from Memoria Press. We learn to identify 30 of the most common birds by sight and by sound. We also learn about the anatomy of birds, how they fly, characteristics of different birds, etc. It’s a fascinating study and the children love it! To make science come alive we went to our local Audobon center (The Nina Mason Pulliam Rio Salado Audubon Center) and went a free guided bird tour. It Read More …
In his prophetic essay The Abolition of Man (1944), C. S. Lewis asked whether the triumphs of modern science “may have been too rapid and purchased at too high a price.” While there is a place for modern biology and sciences, there is still room for the simple study of nature. This is the very essence of natural history. Natural history is the branch of biological science that seeks to provide a descriptive account of plants and animals and the world in which they live. Although this branch of science been neglected in recent Read More …