Some Middle School Weather Studies

Eric Sloane's Weather Book
by Eric Sloane

This book was included in the revised lesson plans for Level 4 (eighth grade) science at Mater Amabilis, which are a great improvement over the older plans. I bought it for Second Daughter to use a couple of years ago, when the revised plans were new.

First Son did a weather study using a different book by the same author, Eric Sloane, called Look at the Sky and Tell the Weather. You can find my original post on that book and the Sabbath Mood Homeschool plans here, but overall, the Weather Book is a better fit for an introduction to the study of weather. It's more straightforward and better organized.

Two years ago, I decided not to buy the suggested weather kit for Second Daughter. (First Daughter had already finished Level 4 and ended up missing out on studying weather officially in Levels 4-6.) Now the kit seems to be difficult to find. It's no longer listed on the company's website, so perhaps they have decided to stop making it.

For Second Son, therefore, I'm going to go back to the Sabbath Mood Homeschool plans I used with First Son, just for the activities. I also already own most of the supplies for them, so I should be able to pull together a set of lesson plans that don't take too much of an additional investment. If I were looking at Level 4 for my oldest child or didn't already have the Sabbath Mood plans, I would be very tempted by the Home Science Tools weather experiment kit. It looks more expensive than the Sabbath Mood plans at first, but when you factor in all the equipment you need, you might end up at a similar price point. The activities would be different, but I think they'd meet the needs of a Level 4 student. Plus, the Home Science Tools kit is more open-and-go than the Sabbath Mood activities.

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. Links to Amazon and Bookshop are affiliate links. Links to Sabbath Mood Homeschool and Home Science Tools are not affiliate links.

Reframing Our Experiences: The Expectation Effect

The Expectation Effect: How Your Mindset Can Change Your World
by David Robson

The brain interprets visual signals based on what it believes is being perceived. Sometimes, it adjusts what you perceive based on the signals, but sometimes, "its predictions may be so strong that it chooses to discount some signals while accentuating others." (p. 13)

This book surprised me on every page. It's not just that we are deluding ourselves, or, rather, that are brains are deluding us, but that our brains actually create physiological changes in our bodies in anticipation of a physical response that creates the physical response. That seems confusing, but the evidence is there. If, for example, you believe you will have a headache in the morning, your brain may literally initiate physiological processes in your body that manifest as physical pain. You do have a headache, but perhaps it's only because your brain has caused it.

Friends, I have had headaches daily since I had Covid in December 2020. Years of headaches. I tried medicines, but the side effects were worse than the headaches, so I've just muddled through. Reading this book hasn't cured my headaches, but I started reminding myself every time I felt like my head hurt that this pain is temporary, that I will not always have headaches. And honestly, I think they've gotten better. Whatever part of these headaches is caused by my belief that I'm going to have a headache - I want to be done with that part.

This book provides examples, evidence, and recommendations for how to reframe our experiences to expect better outcomes. It doesn't promise better outcomes, but gives us the opportunity to imagine and anticipate them, encouraging our brains to work for our best interests across social situations, our education and career goals, and our physical and mental health.

I almost believe this book is essential reading. I intend to add it to our health curriculum.

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. I borrowed this book from the library and later purchased a copy at regular price. Links to Amazon, Bookshop, and PaperBackSwap are affiliate links.

June 2022 Book Reports

The Hearthstone of My Heart by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino - link to my post (purchased used copy)

Three Men in a Boat: To Say Nothing of the Dog by Jerome K. Jerome - This book is the source of the title, and much of the plot humor, of one of my absolute favorite books, To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis. When I found out, I had to listen to it and then follow it up with another re-listen of the Willis book. Jerome's original book was intended as a useful travel book, but was instead loved for its hilarity. It was a wonderful summer listen. (Audible audiobook)

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate and The Curious World of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly - These are the first two books about a clever young girl living in a time when her career options seem limited. The books are full of exploration of the natural world of Texas. In the second book, the family is touched by the effects of the hurricane that his Galveston in 1900. If you are reading aloud to young children, you may want to be prepared for chapter 24, in which two of the family's hunting dogs have to be shot after a rattlesnake attack. Calpurnia's hopes for a career and education are still out of reach. We must wait for another installment in the series. (library copy)

Peter Duck by Arthur Ransome - The kids and I listened to this together. In this third book in the series, the Swallows and Amazons join their uncle for a cruise around the British isles, but instead end up following the trail of buried treasure when a wise old sailor joins the crew. This tale is meant to be an imaginary one, but it's full of summertime fun. Alison Larkin is the narrators of all the Swallows and Amazons books we have from Audible, and I could listen to her all day long. (Audible audiobook)

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. Links to Amazon, Bookshop, and PaperBackSwap are affiliate links.

Truth for a Modern World: Lights in a Dark Town

Lights in a Dark Town: A Story about John Henry Newman
by Meriol Trevor

This is a delightful novel of mid-1800s Birmingham, England, where Emmeline and her mother become friends with Father John Henry Newman. Through conversations and experiences shared with Father, Emmeline and her friends encounter the theological arguments and actions Newman recognized as the response to the modern world.

"The present critics of Christianity are not stupid, and what clever men argue today, ordinary men accept the day after. Especially as people increasingly judge everything by what they think is scientific reasoning. They look at the world and find no evidence for a loving Creator. Indeed, they have some justification, for the world as we see it can be interpreted in various ways."

"But doesn't that mean the atheists are right?" Emmeline said, puzzled. 

Father Newman smiled. "No, why should it? Christianity is not a deduction from the world we see. It's a history--almost a drama--about a person. We accept, we obey Him. And we find He is true." (pp. 225-226)

He concludes: 

"There are many other important things to do and say, but this seems to me the most fundamental, for in the end it is the idea people have of the world and their place in it which affects everything they do." (p. 226)

Second Daughter (Level 3 Year 2, seventh grade) read this book near the end of her world history for the year. I think it's written at a level good for a fifth to eighth grade student to read independently, but it would be appropriate for all ages as a read-aloud. I love St. John Henry Newman and am very pleased I had a reason to buy this book for our home library.

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. I purchased this book new. Links to Bookshop and Amazon are affiliate links.

A Catholic Perspective of the Creation Debate: Creator and Creation

Creator and Creation

by Mary O. Daly

I decided to modify the biology plan of First Son for First Daughter. Creator and Creation had been recommended many times, so I decided I'd finally just buy it for our biology course. Mary Daly was a scientist from a family of scientists who was passionate about allowing students to see the Lord at work in the natural world. Her books provide a solid foundation for Catholic students of science who, when they enter the university or academic world, will encounter resistance to the idea that you can be a faithful Catholic and an intelligent scientist.

In Creator and Creation, Daly begins with a clear explanation of terms like "creationism." She explores what the Church does and does not say about Creation and evolution. Early in the book, she quotes the Catechism:

Though faith is above reason, there can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason...methodical research in all branches of knowledge, provided it is carried out in a truly scientific manner and does not override moral laws, can never conflict with the faith, because the things of the world and the things of faith derive from the same God. (Catechism #159, labeled as #296, perhaps from an earlier edition)

Later she says:

The creationist says that he knows what he knows because he reads the Bible. The Catholic says we know what we know because men are children of the Creator with minds in His image, and we can, therefore, learn about our Father by studying both the Bible and creation, always working in unison with the stabilizing covenant community, the Church. We are certain that revelation and natural understanding do not conflict. (p. 90)

The book essentially rejects the fundamentalist idea of Creationism (a young earth), but it is more flexible in its treatment of evolution.

But there are many flaws with the concept of evolution as a system to explain the universe and the world, including the development of life on Earth. These are not flaws in the concept of evolution, which is powerful and fascinating; they are evidence against the sufficiency of evolution as a total cosmology. (p. 94) 

Daly provides a philosophical framework for considering the Catholic faith and the scientific ideas embedded in and surrounding Creation and evolution. It can help students carefully consider new ideas as they are reading science textbooks or articles or while listening to a lecture.

The universe is far more vast than medieval cosmology had numbers to express. The Earth is a tiny planet circling an insignificant star at the edge of a commonplace galaxy which spins within the wide universe as a mote of dust might drift along the edge of a soap bubble in a child's bath. If our value be measured in physical terms, it is too slight to notice.

Of course, faith tell us to measure it in spiritual terms. (pp. 101-102)

We learn that our planet is surprisingly perfect to foster life, particularly our life. 

All the things which seemed to leave us on the insignificant margins of the cosmos, actually belonged to the perfect fitting of our universe home.   (p. 102)

The book does suffer some stylistic and editorial flaws, which is common among those that are self-published. There are some scientific theories discussed which may, in time, be thoroughly disproven, but Daly's points are not dependent on any particular theories. She consistently insists we must follow where our rational minds and the created world lead us, secure in our faith of a good God who loves us. 

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. I believe new copies of Creator and Creation are only available through the Hedge School website, but there are used copies available in the usual places.

For the Love of Physics: Sabbath Mood Homeschool High School Physics

For the Love of Physics
by Walter Lewin

First Son and I have been reading this book together over the last three years along with Sabbath Mood Homeschool's high school physics course (Physics Part I, Part 2, and Part 3). Part 3 requires astronomy as a prerequisite. My son completed the Astronomy course as part of his high school earth sciences credit. I think there's enough astronomy in Mater Amabilis's Level 3 and 4 science plans that a student would be adequately prepared without the Sabbath Mood Astronomy guide.

I scheduled an integrated science curriculum for him, so he did Part 1 freshman year, Part 2 sophomore year, and Part 3 junior year. By the end of junior year, he earned a full credit of physics. He also finished a full credit of chemistry and a full credit of earth science.

We don't need to understand why a rainbow or fogbow or glassbow is formed in order to appreciate its beauty, of course, but understanding the physics of rainbows does give us a new set of eyes (I call this the beauty of knowledge). We become more alert to the little wonders we might just be able to spot on a foggy morning, or in the shower, or when walking by a fountain, or peeking out of an airplane window when everyone else is watching movies. (p. 102)

Dr. Lewin's book overflows with his infectious love of science, especially physics. He marvels at the wonders of the natural world, including parts that are only discernable with delicate instruments.

Ballooning was very romantic in its way. To be up at four o'clock in the morning, drive out to the airport, and see the sunrise and see the spectacular inflation of the balloon--this beautiful desert, under the sky, just stars at first, and then slowly seeing the Sun come up. Then, as the balloon was released and pulled itself into the sky, it shimmered silver and gold in the dawn. (p. 212)

The book covers a lot of basic physics in its pages, with a focus on the kinds of phenomena a reader is likely to notice in every day life, if he or she is paying attention. For the most part, I was able to understand the broader concepts fairly well just from the text. Sometimes the explanations were difficult to follow, but a student could always look up more detailed information online.

The experiments for the first two sections seemed about perfect to me. Some were relatively straight-forward. Others were more ambitious, probably more than I would have been on my own, and that meant they were a good challenge for First Son. We were never able to get our electromagnet working, but there is a benefit in making the attempt, even if it doesn't work. I think there might have been one other experiment that didn't work as well. We also skipped at least one that would have required a significant financial investment.

Part 3 has only a few real experiments or lab activities. Most of the time, the student was encouraging to conduct some reading research on a topic of astrophysics that had appeared in the text. It's hard to know if that truly counts as a lab (but I'm counting it for First Son), but it definitely made planning labs for that term a lot easier for me!

There are references in a couple of lessons in the Sabbath Mood Plans to creationist websites and articles, presumably to counter the long timeline of the universe's history presented in the text. We don't have any problems with the theory of the big bang or long timelines, so we just skipped those lessons. 

I am fairly certain I am not going to use these plans for First Daughter. She has ambitious ideas about possibly attending an elite college and I'm not entirely sure these are rigorous enough. I'm not opposed to conceptual physics courses, but this one seems lighter than a conceptual without upper level math problems. I think it might work for my younger daughter, though, who could benefit from a lighter load. 

I've also found the integrated approach using terms to be a little unwieldy for our transcript. It's not that you can't make a transcript based on three terms a year, but that science is the only course that is really in thirds. I think for the future, I'm going to figure out a way to use an integrated approach in semesters. I think you could do that with this course - just use Part 1 and about half of Part 2 for the first semester, then the rest of Part 2 and Part 3 for the second semester.

As in other Sabbath Mood Homeschool courses, the lessons are only three days a week. The student should be reading from a supplemental science book once a week and following a news source once a week for current events articles in science as well in order to ensure you have enough hours to justify a full credit by the end.

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. Links to Amazon and Bookshop are affiliate links. Links to Sabbath Mood Homeschool are not affiliate links. I purchased this book.

High School Astronomy: The Planets

The Planets

by Dava Sobel

This is such a delightful book through the solar system. There are chapters devoted to each of the planets (and some other astronomical bodies) that cover science along with history, mythology, poetry, and literature. The goal is not to impart all the knowledge possible, but to invite the reader to glory in the wonder and mystery of the universe, and to long to know more in the future.

I read this book a bit ahead of First Son this year as he completed the Astronomy study guide from Sabbath Mood Homeschool. This study is considered required for the Astrophysics one he will be completing in the third term, so I selected it for his Earth Sciences in eleventh grade, even though it's designed for Form 3-4 science. It does include activities and labs, which were relatively easy to implement. Certainly First Son had more success with them than with some of the chemistry and physics experiments we've attempted over the high school years.

I added some work to increase the difficulty level a little.

• I made all the math exercises required. (They are optional in the text.)
• First Son read the skipped chapters of The Planets.
• I also added Brother Guy Consolmagno's Brother Astronomer to his required reading, with narrations.
• I think we'll also have time at the end for him to listen to An Introduction to the Universe.
• I wanted to add some evenings at the local observatory, but between Covid restrictions and our own schedule, we didn't make it there even once. 

I intend to assign this study and book to First Daughter next year in ninth grade. I will probably keep the extra assignments the same for her. I expect it to be a good fit for freshman year.

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. I purchased the Sabbath Mood Homeschool study guide and will receive nothing if you follow the link. I received my copy of The Planets from a member of PaperBackSwap.com (not an affiliate link). Links to Bookshop are affiliate links.

Science through Space: Voyager's Greatest Hits

Voyager's Greatest Hits: The Epic Trek to Interstellar Space

by Alexandra Siy

This is a fascinating book describing the Voyagers, their creation, and their discoveries. It has lovely photographs to inspire and solid diagrams to illuminate scientific principles. The author explores the process of the mathematical equations to identify that a time when such a project could succeed in visiting multiple planets of the solar system, the development of the technology to build the Voyagers, amazing pictures sent back, and some of the questions scientists were able to answer using the data. There are also some interesting questions we have now because of what we learned!

One of the things I noticed was the relatively high number of female scientists mentioned in the text, especially as the data from Voyagers came back over the years. I believe the author must have done so on purpose, though she doesn't say so explicitly (and the book is the better for it).

It does mention the Galileo affair in the usual sense:

In 1632 Galileo was arrested by the Roman Catholic Church and locked up for the rest of his life. His crime? Refusing to take back his statement that Earth and the other planets revolve around the Sun.

So one more opportunity to remind our students there was a little more to the story. 

I intend to assign this book in Level 3 (6th grade) in our astronomy unit (after Our Universe and The Stars). The chapters are short so an advanced reader can probably read more than one in a day and cover the book in a week with narrations. It would be an excellent book for strewing, too, if you had the kind of student who would pick it up and read it on their own.

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. Links to Bookshop and Amazon are affiliate links. 

Evaluating Science: The Monkey's Voyage

The Monkey's Voyage: How Improbable Journeys Shaped the History of Life

by Alan de Queiroz

Alan de Queiroz gives an extensive history of biogeography, the study of why plants and animals live where they do and not in other places. He also provides interesting perspectives on the kinds of assumptions scientists make about their fields and how those assumptions may be challenged over time. When the theory of continental drift became more accepted, biogeographical studies became constrained by the idea that all geographical differences were caused by the separation of land masses through continental drift. de Queiroz provides extensive evidence for the surprising idea that a few random long distance journeys by living things dramatically shaped the biogeographical landscape we have today.

Obviously, the continents had moved--nobody was claiming that the theory of plate tectonics was wrong--and obviously, they had carried species with them, but somehow, these facts did not explain nearly as much about the modern living world as we had thought.

One aspect I liked was how he showed the way scientists (really, anyone) tend to tackle any problem with the tools they know, the tools they have, or the tools that are new. Molecular modeling and dating (using changes in nucleotide sequences over time to determine how long ago a new species appears) and PCR were two tools that changes biogeographical studies. Whether those tools were used in the best manner or make the most comprehensive arguments is an interesting discussion to address before assuming results based on those tools are trustworthy. Those kinds of questions are important to ask. For some people, it's important just to realize and acknowledge that those questions exist. It is very easy to skip that step. (The alternate is also important: being able to read some eccentric website calling into question a standard scientific practice and recognize it for the fringe attack it is, rather than a valid argument.)

Building on those ideas, the author also discussed the value of scientific studies based on their methodology. Even within studies using the same models, some studies can be universally acknowledged superior or inferior, but there's a lot of room for gray area. de Quiroz explores many studies, identifying how the same method or tool can be used well or poorly, depending on the initial assumptions of the researchers. I found de Queiroz's detailed analyses informative, for anyone interested in science. The kinds of questions he asks can be translated to any other scientific discipline.

Throughout the book, the author interviews and introduces a large number of different scientists. They are real people with quirks, biases, and families. He even includes pictures of them. There are also lots of instances where scientists with very particular areas of interest talk with each other and make connections each alone would be unable to discern; that's real science in action. 

This book contains a fairly heavy dose of scientific analysis, but it is fascinating if you can wade through it all. Following the trail of studies and their value was one of my favorite biology major projects. It was fun to spend a little time thinking deeply about how research is done and whether it was valid.

This would be a fantastic geography and earth studies book for an interested and ambitious late high school student. While the study descriptions are sometimes dense, they are generally understandable for anyone willing to concentrate. You could also glean a lot from the book even if you can't follow every argument. That being said, I'm not sure most high school students would be willing to put in the effort.

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. Links to Bookshop are affiliate links.

Pondering the Marvels of Creation: Great Catholic Scientists

Great Catholic Scientists: Discoveries and Lives of Faith

Dr. Guy Consolmagno, SJ and Dr. Michelle Francl-Donnay

This is a wonderful little audiobook, almost like a collection of podcasts. Dr. Consolmagno and Dr. Francl-Donnay chat together about science and religion through the stories of Catholic scientists from all over the world and throughout history. They are collected in twelve chapters of 20-25 minutes each, focused on areas like medicine or mathematics, but freely wandering in the discussions.

Some of the featured scientists are saints. Some are famous. All of them are examples of real people doing science - showing up at work and persevering through mundane day-to-day activities.

Dr. Consolmango and Dr. Francl-Donnay talk often of the characteristics that make a good Catholic scientist (spoiler alert - they are the same ones that make a good scientist), but they also talk about some of the characteristics of a Catholic that provide a foundation of education, learning, and curiosity which allows a scientist to explore God's creation with joy. There are instances where their faith allowed a scientist to ask questions and be comfortable in areas of uncertainty.

I have assigned these lectures to my daughter, currently in eighth grade, at the beginning of her year, as a kind of introduction to science and how to think like a scientist. It's a lovely sweep through the history of science that touches on a wide variety of areas. So many secular books on science begin with an assumption that a person of faith cannot also be a person of science, an erroneous but pervasive assumption. This audiobook provides one more layer of protection for a student who can then more easily discard mistaken ideas like that as he or she is reading.

My daughter is listening to them straight through, but I think any individual lecture could be enjoyed without listening to all of them, and there's no real reason they must be in this particular order. Though I think the authors tried to follow a chronological order, there is a lot of overlap on the lectures. I've made a little list below in case someone wants to choose just one or two or wants to schedule them within a particular study.

Chapter 1 (4 min intro) and Chapter 2: What Makes a Scientist Catholic?
(Hildegard of Bingen, Georges Lemaître)
This is probably the lecture that most directly addresses the apparent disconnect between faith and reason. Instead, it suggests our faith leads directly to exploring the world and the universe, God's creation. Science as a discipline only makes sense if the universe is not random. Dr. Consolmango and Dr. Francl-Donnay find great joy and delight in their scientific studies.

Chapter 3: Overthrowing Aristotle
(Hildegard of Bingen, Albert the Great, José de Acosta, Athanasius Kircher)
In this chapter, they explain how changes in the world (stability, improvements in communications, large enough populations so some people can study just for the sake of knowledge, etc.) led to the sudden growth of "science." Catholic monasteries and universities were an integral part of this culture.

Chapter 4: Into the Depths of the Atom
(Henri Becquerel, George de Hevesy, Roger Boscovich, Amedeo Avogadro)
As Catholics, we already believe in the unseen and do not fear the mysterious. We also have faith that our experiences tell us something meaningful about the world. This chapter talks about mysteries, and how the most interesting answers and discoveries are the ones that lead to more questions.

Chapter 5: What Is Life?
(René Haüy, Louis Pasteur, Gregor Mendel, Marthe Gautier and Jérôme Lejeune)
This chapter begins with a discussion about a philosophical (and scientific) definition of life. It touches on the humanness of scientists. They have the same trials, controversies, and need to make a living as anyone else.

Chapter 6: Materia Medica
(Hildegard of Bingen, Georg Joseph Kamel, Pierre Joseph Pelletier, John Clark Sheehan, René Laennec, Ethelbert Blatter)
In this chapter, they discuss how a fallen world leads to illness but that God's creation and his gift to us of reason allow us to discover and develop methods of healing. Over the centuries, the Jesuits in particular have had the opportunities to explore the world, learning from other cultures, and regular communications with others to share that knowledge.

Chapter 7: Merciful Science
(Laudato Si', Mary Poonen Lukose, Bernardo Alberto Houssay, Carl Ferdinand Cori and Gerty Theresa Cori)
Pope St. John Paul II said that science and theology work together, like two wings that lift us to the contemplation of truth. We have obligations beyond just doing the science, always asking ourselves "What are the implications for the most vulnerable?"

Chapter 8: God’s Language
(Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Baron Augustin-Louis Cauchy, Pope Sylvester II)
This chapter focuses on mathematics and the question "how do you describe the world using mathematical equations?" For some, math is a kind of prayer, a focus on truth as the greatest earthly joy. “Mathematics forces you to confront the infinite.”

Chapter 9: Explorers of a New Space
(Sisters of the Holy Child Mary: Sisters Emilia Ponzoni, Regina Colombo, Concetta Finardi and Luigia Panceri; Mary Kenneth Keller, Mary Celine Fasenmyer, Francesco Faà di Bruno, Roberto Busa)
This chapter describes how an ambitious project to create a catalog of every known star begun in 1887 required the creation of new strategies and ways of thinking that, over time, evolved into digital humanities. Religious life and the support of the Church allow space and freedom for work to be done that doesn't fall into a three year grant cycle.

Chapter 10: Taking the Temperature of the World
(Jean Leurechon, Nicolas Steno, André-Marie Ampère, Alessandro Volta)
Communicating about science and what you've learned about the world depends on a system of measurement that is consistent from place to place and person to person. This chapter shares about some Catholics who devised reliable methods of quantification, thereby making more scientific discoveries possible.

Chapter 11: Not Where but What
(Angelo Secchi, James Macelwane, Eduard Heis, Agnes Mary Clerke)
This chapter looks at scientists who look beyond the earth's atmosphere or deep into the earth, beyond what we can measure directly. Many scientists never become famous, working in hidden lives at building a foundation of slow painstaking work for greater understanding. “Wherever your niche is, there’s something for you to do.”

Chapter 12: Our Place in the Universe
(Maximilian Hell, Johann Georg Hagen, Georges Lemaître)
This chapter shares the stories of three notable priest astronomers that gave us a sense of where we are in the universe: the scale of the solar system, the position of stars, the motions beneath our feet, and the origin of the universe itself.

Chapter 13: There is always more to know
(Marie Lavoisier, Blaise Pascal, René Descartes)
This final chapter summarizes many of the themes regarding faith and science that surface, submerge, and resurface in earlier chapters. Faith and science are not big books of facts that might agree or disagree with each other. Faith and science both allow us to "grapple with mysteries, the mysteries of how and why we came to be." It includes a litany of all the men and women of God (and science) included in the audiobook.

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. I purchased this audiobook from Audible. Links to Amazon and Bookshop are affiliate links.

Seventh Grade Science: More Fleisher and TOPScience Analysis, Oxidation, and Electricity (Seventh Grade)

Mater Amabilis™ Level 3 Year 2 science is a continuation of the physics and chemistry in Year 1.

The study includes two books by Paul Fleisher: Matter and Energy: Principles of Matter and Thermodynamics (Bookshop or Amazon) and Waves: Principles of Light, Electricity and Magnetism (Bookshop or Amazon). These two books are as wonderful as the sixth grade ones by Fleisher. Even better, Living Book Press has reprinted all of the Secrets of the Universe books with revisions by the author and the original illustrations. This is one of the few instances where it's worth it to find a new copy.

First Son identified sugar with a burning test

The third book scheduled for the year is The Mystery of the Periodic Table by Benjamin D. Wiker (Amazon). I love this book. It covers some pretty difficult scientific topics in an engaging way. Describing phlogiston ("the element that wasn't") in a way middle school students can understand is impressive.

Essential to the course of study in seventh grade are the activity cards from TOPScience: #10 Analysis, #11 Oxidation, and #32 Electricity. I love these cards! With a box of materials, most of the activities can be done with limited input from parents, though I always stay near-by, especially when flames are involved.

The cards are available as books, but I think the PDF files are the best value. The purchaser has permission to print cards for every student and you can just open the file and print when you have another student in seventh grade without holding a book open over your printer for every page.

You can also purchase kits from TOPS with everything you need for the set. (Choose the starter kit in the dropdown on the order page for the book.) I bought the kits for all three sets when First Son was a seventh grader and they made everything really easy, though most people probably have everything they need for electricity. For First Daughter, I ordered just a few things to refill our kits. You can see the complete lists on the TOPS website so you know exactly what you need and what's included when you buy the kit.

Every activity card has an "answer" card that includes not only the answers, but explanations that actually helped as I talked with my students about the activities.

First Son's alcohol fire

The one and only problem I had with the TOPS cards in seventh grade was the instruction to make limewater using garden lime. I bought garden lime and tried twice to make limewater. Kansas Dad tried to make limewater. We just couldn't get it to work. So we skipped all the limewater activities with First Son. I later found instructions at Home Science Tools using actual calcium hydroxide that work perfectly, so that's what we did for First Daughter last year. (I bought the calcium hydroxide at Home Science Tools.)

The Mater Amabilis™ site contains a schedule of lessons for the year that we followed almost exactly. Activities from the TOPS cards and readings are intermingled so well you might even think the TOPS cards were designed for the Mater Amabilis™ books.

The only difference I made was to combine some of the activity cards for Electricity (which is the easiest set, a nice way to end the year) so that we had time to do some of the reading and activities on electricity from Simple Machines and Fantastic Physics (Wildflowers and Marbles). We do most of that study in fifth grade, but it turned out to be a bit too long for my students, so I moved some of the electricity, magnetism, and computing to seventh and eighth grades.

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. Links to Bookshop and Amazon are affiliate links. Links to TOPScience, Home Science Tools, Living Book Press, and other sites are not affiliate links.

Finally - Actual Crystals!

One of the activities in the Mater Amabilis™ Mountains and Volcanoes study in Level 1A Year 2 (third grade) is to grow a crystal. We tried some different kits and methods with First Son, First Daughter, and Second Daughter, with varying degrees of success.

This year, I purchased the 4M Crystal Growing Experimental Kit and it was far and away the best kit we've ever used. Second Son (the third grader) used it to grow enormous crystals. It actually got away from us. Then later in the year, First Son (the tenth grader) used it to grow a second set of crystals for his geology term.

There's enough left for another set but I don't know if it'll still be around in three years when First Daughter is ready for tenth grade geology. We may have to use them up just for fun before then.

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. Links to Amazon are affiliate links.

March and April 2020 Book Reports

Strangers in a Strange Land: Living the Catholic Faith in a Post-Christian World by Charles J. Chaput - link to my post (inter-library loan copy)

The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol by Nikolai Gogol, translated and annotated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky - link to my post (Kansas Dad's copy)

Why Buddhism Is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment by Robert Wright - This book would probably be better titled "How Successful Mindfulness Meditation Practices Seem to be Explained by Recent Scientific Research" but that's not quite as catchy. While the author takes some time to explain Buddhist philosophy, he's really only interested in the aspects of it that define and direct mindfulness meditation. Anything "religious" (Buddhist/Christian/etc.) is set aside, though respectfully. The supporting relationship between recent research and scholarship and mindfulness medication practices is fascinating. Kansas Dad (who was the first to listen to the book) was immediately asking questions about the Truth found in this modern research and how it might be related to what we know is True through our Catholic faith. He also found interesting lines of thought in considering past failures and potential successes in evangelizing amongst those who follow Buddhist philosophies. I am still thinking about this book and its implications. (purchased Audible book)

The Stand by Stephen King - Believe it or not, I didn't seek this book out in the midst of the impending pandemic. It literally just happened to be next on my list. I enjoyed reading it and found some scenes presented in unexpected ways. Overall, however, my view of the great battle between Good and Evil varies considerably from that of King which led directly to a feeling of dissatisfaction with the ending of the novel. I also know just enough biology and genetics to be distracted by what are probably inaccurate predictions of how such a deadly epidemic would happen. Of course, he didn't have the "luxury" of coronavirus in his past at that point. (library copy)

Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life by Steve Martin - I picked this book up at our library sale. I thoroughly enjoyed it, though it's certainly not for the young or sensitive reader. I was surprised at how thoughtful Steve Martin is and at the honesty with which he shared some of the difficulties in his life while still being respectful of the privacy of some of those closest to him. It was a good read. (purchased used)

Something Beautiful for God by Malcolm Muggeridge - This book is Mr. Muggeridge's comments on Mother Teresa and his interviews and television recordings with her. It's more a collection of thoughts than a focused book. It was interesting to read as a glimpse into how St. Teresa of Kolkata was viewed and understood in her own lifetime, but it's not a comprehensive book on her life or her philosophies. I enjoyed it, but it will not be the book I offer to my Level 4 student next year. (library copy)

The Last Whalers: Three Years in the Far Pacific with a Courageous Tribe and a Vanishing Way of Life by Doug Bock Clark - link to my post (library copy)

The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare (No Fear Shakespeare) - This is one of the recommended Shakespeare plays for high schoolers in the Mater Amabilis™ curriculum. (See the English course here.) While this play is much lighter-hearted than Hamlet, which First Son and First Daughter just finished reading, it still surfaces questions about marriage, fidelity, trust, and responsibility toward children. I'm not sure I'd consider it one of the top ten plays a student should study in high school, but if you've already read many of the more common ones, it's a good option. It's not too long and contains one of the most unusual stage directions of all time: "Exit, pursued by bear." (purchased copy)

Mother Teresa of Calcutta: A Personal Portrait by Fr. Leo Maasburg - link to my post (library copy)

It's Not What It Looks Like by Molly Burke - This was one of the better Audible originals offered free to members. I've never watched the author's YouTube channel, so her story was entirely new to me. I enjoyed her youthful voice and her ability to speak authentically for the blind and other disabled people. Her story includes some tough struggles with depression, anxiety, and suicide ideation, which could be difficult for some people to hear, but are shared to support and encourage others. (offered free to Audible members in August 2019)

Theatre of Fish: Travels through Newfoundland and Labrador by John Gimlette - I read Gilmette's Wild Coast and requested this because I enjoyed that one so much. Theatre of Fish is a little more depressing overall, though it has similar moments of witty remarks and insight. There are quite a few references to multiple instances of terrible abuse at the hands of priests or religious. (requested from PaperBackSwap.com)

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez translated by Gregory Rabassa - link to my post (requested from PaperBackSwap.com)

I have received nothing for this post. All opinions are honest and my own. Links to Amazon or PaperBackSwap are affiliate links.

Begin by Looking Up: Introduction to Astronomy

An Introduction to the Universe: The Big Ideas of Astronomy

by Brother Guy Consolmagno

I recognized Brother Consolmagno's name from Brother Astronomer when I saw this audiobook and a few others in a recent Audible sale. This series of twelve audio lectures, each less than thirty minutes in length, begins with an exhortation to go outside and look at the sky, to document it over days, months, even a year.

It begins with wonder.

For Brother Guy, an astronomer with a degree from M.I.T. and a position at the Vatican Observatory, the night sky and the big ideas of astronomy connect directly to our Creator. He covers a wide range of astronomical topics in a conversational manner, none of them in the kind of detail you would encounter in an astronomy course, but all of them with delight. He also balances well the scientific rigor of the academic world with the rational exploration of how those academic facts and ideas inform our spiritual lives.

My husband is a Catholic theologian and I am a scientist by training (a biology degree many years in the past). This course includes many of the ideas and questions we want our children to consider. It will be, I think, a perfect "introduction" to a brief look at astronomy (currently planned for third term of junior year in high school; the last part of our earth sciences which will also include weather in ninth grade and geology in tenth grade). I do want to find something a little more academic to include as well, but this is where we'll start.

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. I purchased this audiobook during an Audible sale. Links to Amazon are affiliate links.

December 2019 Book Reports

The Confessions by Saint Augustine, translated by Maria Boulding, O.S.B. - link to my review (Kansas Dad's copy)

Wild Coast: Travels on South American's Untamed Edge by John Gilmette - link to my review (library copy)

Children of Summer: Henri Fabre's Insects by Margaret J. Anderson - link to my review (library copy)

Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah - link to my review (library copy)

The History of Science: 1700-1900 (The Great Courses) by Frederick Gregory - This series of lectures was not as good as The Rise and Fall of the British Empire, but I'm a biologist by training who has always enjoyed the history of science. I appreciated the even-handedness of the professor when discussing the relationship between faith and science. He included frequent reminders that most of the scientists in this time were devout (or lukewarm) Christians and that the apparent separation of faith and reason as understood in modern times really didn't develop at all until later. In fact, he specifically refers to the Scopes trial in the American South. (purchased copy in an Audible sale)

A Man of the Beatitudes: Pier Giorgio Frassati by Luciana Frassati - link to my review (parish library copy)

The Man Who Knew the Way to the Moon by Todd Zwillich - This short audiobook is like an extended NPR segment. It follows the story of one man who championed the use of a lunar module for the Apollo moon landing, in the course of which it explores the history of science, the sometimes contentious relationships of scientists, and the most interesting question of whether we'd be farther along in space travel if President Kennedy had not made a moon landing a political deadline. (one of the free Audible offerings for members in an earlier month)

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows - This book is presented as a series of letters, which I found a bit annoying at first. I find it difficult to keep track of who is writing when the narrator bounces around so much. After a while, though, I was able to enjoy it. The people of Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands between France and England, remain hopeful amid the harsh conditions of the German occupation during World War II. (library copy)

The Sea-Hawk by Rafael Sabatini - link to my post (purchased used)

Antarctica's Lost Aviator: The Epic Adventure to Explore the Last Frontier on Earth by Jeff Maynard - This book focuses on Lincoln Ellsworth who was one of a two-man team to first fly across Antarctica and who must surely rank among the most incompetent successful explorers. It seems to be exceptionally well-researched. In addition, the description of the flight was exciting. Overall, though, I just didn't find Ellsworth inspiring and will look for another option for our high school geography course on Antarctica. (library copy)

Alone Across the Arctic: One Woman's Epic Journey by Dog Team by Pam Flowers with Ann Dixon - link to my post (library copy)

I have received nothing for this post. All opinions are honest and my own. Links to Amazon or PaperBackSwap are affiliate links.

Becoming More Fully Human: Beauty for Truth's Sake

Beauty for Truth's Sake: On the Re-enchantment of Education

by Stratford Caldecott

This book was my meaty read for summer 2018. I didn't finish it before becoming swamped by high school planning, so it carried over into 2019. For many years, we have struggled in our homeschool to avoid viewing math as drudgery. I think we are fairly good at creating an environment in which math is often fun with Life of Fred books as our math texts and plenty of math games from books and our shelves.

Yet this environment is only partially meeting my goal. I have always thought the children should also learn to find the beauty and truth in mathematics, that it should somehow connect them to the natural world,  even though this beauty is something I only vaguely understand myself.

I hoped this book would show me how to reveal the beauty and truth of mathematics to my children in our homeschool.

The Forward is by Ken Myers (of Mars Hill Audio Journal):

Since the Logos is love, and since all things are created through him and for him and are held together in him, we should expect the logic, the rationality, the intelligibility of the world to usher in the delight that beauty bestows. 

A substantial part of the book focused on arguments explaining why the study of science and mathematics is enhanced and fulfilled through explicit relationships to the humanities and liberal arts. Among the many voices Caldecott gathers together in his reasoning are those of James S. Taylor in Poetic Knowledge, Bl. John Henry Newman in The Idea of a University, and Josef Pieper in Leisure the Basis of Culture. That last one is on my wish list.

An integrated curriculum must teach subjects, and it must teach the right subjects, but it should do so by incorporating each subject, even mathematics and the hard sciences, within the history of ideas, which is the history of our culture. Every subject has a history, a drama, and by imaginatively engaging with these stories we become part of the tradition.

Most of these ideas are not new to me and frankly, I was convinced of this much before I started the book, but Caldecott drew connections throughout history from ancient Greece to modern times that I found helpful. His prose is as elegant as you might hope based on the gorgeous cover of this book.

The purpose of an education is not merely to communicate information, let alone current scientific opinion, nor to train future workers and managers. It is to teach the ability to think, discriminate, speak, and write, and, along with this, the ability to perceive the inner, connecting principles, the intrinsic relations, the logoi, of creation, which the ancient Christian Pythagorean tradition (right through the medieval period) understood in terms of number and cosmic harmony.

Homeschooling with Charlotte Mason's philosophy means this relationship of ideas is already integral to our curriculum. We are reading history and science and geography together, allowing the story of humanity to be woven by the student from these different threads. Or rather, allowing the opportunity for these relationships to be developed; each student does his or her own hard work.

Moreover, though we have every intention of our children going to college or trade school and learning how to earn a salary so they can care for a family, either in a domestic church or in the Church, our educational goals are focused on providing the wonder and wisdom for our children to become the people God wants them to be. A job is only a small part of their lives.

The principle remains the same: knowledge is its own end--"worth possessing for what it is, and not merely for what it does." It is not to be valued for the power it gives us over nature, or even for the moral improvement it may bring about in us (even if these things may flow from it). It is to be valued for its beauty. "There is a physical beauty and a moral: there is a beauty of person, there is a beauty of our moral being, which is natural virtue; and in like manner there is a beauty, there is a perfection, of the intellect."

The quotes are Newman's from The Idea of a University.

After these basic arguments, Caldecott begins exploring numbers, shapes, and supernatural relationships. For example, he examines the "irrational beauty" of the golden ratio, phi, and the Fibonacci sequence. Supernatural relationships, like that between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, can be represented geometrically, revealing a greater depth to the relationship.

Then [pi] could be read as describing the relationship between the Persons, a relationship that is infinitely fruitful and never ending. Thus the endlessly flowing numbers of [pi] suggest the super-abundance of God's mercy, the infinite quality of his love, and the unlimited space opened up within the Trinity for the act of creation.

These explorations were exactly the kind of material I sought. Much of it is understandable without knowing too much higher level math, but the combination of mathematics and philosophy and theology made many of the discourses difficult to follow. Thales (before Pythagoras) showed how

the perpendicular line drawn from a right angle touching the circumference back to the hypotenuse will always equal the mean proportional between the segments into which it divides the diameter[.]

There's a diagram in the book for this one (and many others) that helps a little, but I still often found myself reading sections a second or third time to try to understand exactly what Caldecott meant. I'm certain I could glean even more from the book if I read it again.

In the end, though, the important idea is that these sorts of explorations reveal an inherent perfection of the universe which point us always to the Creator and his relationship with Creation.

Speculations like those I have mentioned in this chapter will appear forced to many. Yet we must return to the central idea that God's archetypal forms or Ideas are inevitably found within nature at every level, reflected with greater or lesser degrees of accuracy. That is not pantheism but Christian Platonism, perfectly compatible with the insights of theology and revelations of scripture.

Discussions of frequency, harmonics, and Chladni patterns allows Caldecott to connect a celestial harmony with liturgy, worship, and prayer. He quotes C. S. Lewis (Planet Narnia: The Seven Harmonies in the Imagination of C. S. Lewis by Micheal Ward).

[Celestial harmony] is the only sound which has never for one split second ceased in any part of the universe; with this positive we have no negative to contrast. Presumably if (per impossibile) it ever did stop, then with terror and dismay, with a dislocation of our whole auditory life, we should feel that the bottom had dropped out of our lives. But it never does. The music which is too familiar to be heard enfolds us day and night and in all ages.

All of these subjects must come together in our education. According to Caldecott, integrating science with poetry, art, music, and the humanities allows students, all of us, to understand the universe in a more complete way, one which will at the same time, allow for greater understanding in scientific and mathematical disciplines.

Music, architecture, astronomy, and physics--the physical arts and their applications--demonstrate the fundamental intuition behind the Liberal Arts tradition of education, which is that the world is an ordered whole, a "cosmos," whose beauty becomes more apparent the more carefully and deeply we study it. By preparing ourselves in this way to contemplate the higher mysteries of philosophy and theology, we become more alive, more fully human.

After reading this book, I have a greater appreciation myself for the beauty of mathematical thought and how the underlying principles of mathematics can reveal universal truths. It is not, however, a book I can simply read to my children or even realistically assign to a high school student. While it's been many years since I was in a college classroom, I have a far greater knowledge base than most high schoolers, and certainly a greater intrinsic interest, and I often struggled while reading the book.

So what I need know is for someone to take the next step. Use Caldecott's philosophy to write a mathematics curriculum or supplement or something I can share with my children.

I have received nothing in exchange for this post; all opinions are my own. I purchased this book at a local bookstore. Links to Amazon are affiliate links. 

May 2019 Book Reports

Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials that Shape Our Man-Made World by Mark Miodownik - link to my post. (library copy)

Economics: The User's Guide by Ha-Joon Chang - link to my post. (library copy)

The Odyssey by Homer and Elizabeth Vandiver's The Odyssey of Homer - link to my post. (purchased copies)

A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt - link to my post. (PaperBackSwap)

Elemental: How the Periodic Table Can Now Explain (Nearly) Everything by Tim James - This is another book I pre-read in the search of a chemistry free read for my high school son. It's a light breezy book perfect for a high school reading level that includes some great explanations of chemical principles. It's also full of the kind of humor a 15-year-old boy would appreciate (lots of death and destruction). Its greatest defect is the lack of a periodic table anywhere in the text. To really follow the reasoning, you would need to dig one up to keep alongside you as you read. For a Christian, there are also numerous side comments intended to be humorous but I think go just a little too far and are therefore flippant or dismissive toward the faith (any faith). Weirdly enough, the author bio specifically mentions how he grew up in Africa because his parents were missionaries. He also casually mentions a non-traditional living arrangement for a scientist and assumes people who found it scandalous were clearly mistaken. While I wouldn't mind if my high-schooler read this book, I'm not going to assign it. (library copy)

The Omnivore's Dilemma: Young Readers Edition by Michael Pollan - This book is an adaptation I'm going to have my high-schooler read as part of a health course alongside anatomy next year (tenth grade). It's far below his reading level, but that will work well as I'd like to include a handful of other books in addition and the original (which we own) would simply take him too long. It covers all four of the meals (industrial, industrial organic, local sustainable, and hunter-gatherer) plus a new preface and an afterword. Pollan's food rules are included as well. Despite the easy text, I'd hesitate to give it to a really young reader as some of the scenes described, especially in the course of the industrial meal, are quite distressing. I discouraged my twelve-year-old from reading it yet. (library copy)

You Need a Budget by Jesse Mecham - link to my post. (library copy)

Brother Astronomer: Adventures of a Vatican Scientist by Brother Guy Consolmagno - link to my post. (library copy)

I have received nothing in exchange for these posts. All opinions are my own. Links to Amazon, RC History, and PaperBackSwap are affiliate links.

Faith, Science, Life: Brother Astronomer

Brother Astronomer: Adventures of a Vatican Scientist

by Brother Guy Consolmagno

A fellow member of the Mater Amabilis™ Facebook group recommended this book as a living book on astronomy. I have read The Heavens Proclaim by the same Jesuit brother and was thrilled to find this one at our library. It will be a marvelous supplement to our study of astronomy in eleventh grade.

The book is a mixture of essays and explorations on the relationship between faith and science and stories of his own personal experiences as a scientist and as a Jesuit scientist. It feels a little disjointed rather than a coherent whole as it seems to be a mixture of essays he'd originally written for other publications, but I think it's still valuable.

Brother Consolmagno writes about his life as a scientist at the Vatican. Most days are spent answering emails and examining meteors or preparing presentations or papers, but he does share some dramatic experiences as well. He writes about his reluctance to get up early to see a comet in person because he'd learned so much about them in books and pictures. When he woke and couldn't go back to sleep, he dragged himself from bed.

It was simply the most stunningly spectacular sight in the sky I have ever seen. It was as big and bright as a photograph on a planetarium ceiling. Five times as big as Comet Hale-Bopp. I would not call it impressive; I would call it frightening. In a world where the regularity of the stars is one of the few things that can be counted on, the presence of this flamboyant looming stranger shook me to my core.

We had a similar experience when we changed our vacation plans to drive through the full eclipse of the sun in 2017. We wondered whether it was worth changing everything and planning our vacation around an eclipse, but it was mesmerizing and unforgettable.

There is a long section in the book where Brother Consolmagno examines the historical facts of Galileo's trial and its enduring effects on the modern understanding of the relationship between faith and science.

But it was the jealous, possessive attitude of Grassi and Galileo -- all the more offensive for coming from supposedly calm and rational men of science -- that caused the final breach. The ill feeling on both sides that led to Galileo's final trial in 1633 helped set back science in Italy for years, and has fed antireligious and antiscience bigots on both sides of the issue every since.

Brother Consolmagno explicitly and clearly states that the Church was wrong it its treatment of Galileo. Unfortunately, that wrong has created a perceived insurmountable rift between faith and science in the modern world. Our response as Catholics to modern scientific theories has lasting effects on the ability to evangelize our modern society.

So why does everyone still think a Church-science conflict exists? Why is it that in the popular culture, science and religion are thought to be opposed? To understand why, we need to look not at science, nor at religion, but at the popular culture.

He talks about where people learn about the faith, pointing out that much of what we know comes from Sunday school, an hour a week during the school year when we are in elementary school. People who leave the church at a young age understandably have a childish view of religion. Similarly, most people stop studying science seriously in high school, or perhaps even younger. Finally, modern society draws on media accounts highlighting dramatic conflict, popular books with simplistic (and misleading) explanations of scientific principles, or books on astrology or UFOs, and most of all, fiction.

So what do our stories tell us about science and religion? One message all too present is that both are to be feared, each in its own way. In the movies, all preachers are power-hungry, money-driven hypocrites; all scientists are mad. They're both caricatured by wild hair and a fanatical gleam in the eye.

These ideas are ones that my children will regularly encounter, helping them to build a foundation of understanding not only the true relationship of faith and science, but also why modern culture's misunderstanding persists. After a chapter presenting how our culture has come to see science and religion as opposed, Brother Consolmagno affirms the roles they each play in supporting the other.

Good science is a very religious act. The search for Truth is the same as the search for God. And if you accept that God was the creator of this physical universe, then it immediately follows that studying creation is a way of worshipping the creator. 

Later he says:

The desire for truth and understanding, including understanding the truth of the natural world, was given to us by God in order to lead us to God. It is the desire for God. It is why I am a scientist; it is why the Vatican supports me.

St. Athanasius's On the Incarnation receives much attention in an essay called "Finding God in Creation." Mater Amabilis™ includes it in Level 5 Year 1 (ninth grade) as optional reading, so some students may be pleasantly surprised to see it related to the modern studies of faith and science (as I was).

There is even a chapter on extraterrestrial life.

People think we're looking for philosophical answers with our telescopes. What we're actually doing is inspiring philosophical questions. 

Brother Consolmagno writes about his time as a student when physics was a struggle. He writes later about what his days are like at the Vatican Observatory and about his visit to Antarctica to search for meterorites. He talks about his life as a Jesuit and how his faith is strengthened by his study of the natural world. These sections are perfect for a student considering a life in physics, geology, or astronomy.

Though I haven't selected a text or thought seriously about lesson plans for our eleventh grade earth sciences exploration of astronomy, Brother Astronomer is going to be on the free reading list as a complement to whatever else we do.

I have received nothing for this post; all opinions are my own. Links to Amazon are affiliate links. I borrowed this book from our library.

Hurricane without Warning: Isaac's Storm

Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History

by Erik Larson

As I mentioned in a previous post, this year, for First Son's ninth grade science, I decided to use Sabbath Mood Homeschool's study guides. First Son is spending one term studying Chemistry, one term studying Physics, one term studying Weather, and a whole year studying Biology (but only the equivalent of a term as it's only once a week). The study guide for weather, like the others, contains a list of suggestions for independent reading during the term related to the science. Isaac's Storm was the book I selected for our term on Weather. I was able to request a copy from another member at PaperBackSwap.com.

(Side note: I seriously considered having First Son read Warnings, which I read many years ago, or another book on tornadoes, which would be appropriate for Kansas. Another good Kansas option might be The Worst Hard Time, which is a fantastic book, but I couldn't remember how much actual "weather" is described in it. In the end, I picked Isaac's Storm, partly because the reviews looked good enough that I wanted to read it and partly because I prefer to own our assigned books and this was the easiest one to get in hard copy. For First Daughter in a few years, I'll probably put them all on a list and let her choose one...and she'll probably read all of them.)

This book describes the hurricane that devastated Galveston, TX, in 1900. Told from the viewpoint, mostly, of Isaac Cline, the resident meteorologist, it also includes descriptions of the storm as it moves through space, escalating in strength. In 1900, there were no satellites to track hurricanes from space so the author relied on ships' logs and current knowledge of hurricanes. Moving over the open sea, it was completely hidden from everyone on shore until it struck with unprecedented force.

The author visited Galveston and spent hours poring over surviving photographs, augmenting the story with vivid descriptions of the bustling city before the storm. Besides Cline's experiences, interviews and written memoirs of a few others weave through the book, providing eyewitness accounts of the storm from different vantage points.

The Galveston hurricane was horrifyingly deadly. There are no pictures in the book (though some exist) but the descriptions of the death and destruction will be difficult for sensitive readers.

It's a masterful account and a compelling complement to our Weather study.

I received nothing in exchange for this post. This review contains my own opinions. Links above to Amazon and PaperBackSwap are affiliate links.

The Thrill of Illumination: The Electric Life of Michael Faraday

The Electric Life of Michael Faraday

by Alan Hirshfeld

This year, in ninth grade, I decided to use Sabbath Mood Homeschool's study guides for our science courses. First Son is spending one term studying Chemistry, one term studying Physics, one term studying Weather, and a whole year studying Biology (but only the equivalent of a term as it's only once a week). The study guides suggest students may enjoy reading a biography each term of a prominent scientist of the field. I had trouble finding many of the ones recommended in the guide, but this one was available at PaperBackSwap, so I decided we'd give it a try. I finished it ahead of him as he's been focused on his history independent reading. (I think he's just going in order of his list, rather than trying to match them up to his course-work.) It's a wonderful book on Faraday, covering his personal and professional life in a way that presents the science without overwhelming the non-scientist (or student) reader.

The wonderful aspect of reading biographies like this is how they reveal to the reader the vast intellectual leaps (through often brain-numbing repetition of experiments) by placing scientists within their own time. It also emphasizes the kinds of characteristics that provide a foundation for strong scientific practices.

If there was one overriding element to Faraday's character, it was humility....Faraday approached both his science and his everyday conduct unhampered by ego, envy, or negative emotion. In his work, he assumed the inevitability of error and failure; whenever possible, he harness these as guides toward further investigation.

I was pleased to find one of First Son's first experiments of the year described in the text: splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen. (This experiment was relatively easy to do at home and yet one I would never have considered or attempted without it being listed right there in the study guide. It helped to have Kansas Dad home to supervise, too.)

Faraday's humility and dedication to unimpeachable laboratory experiments are an inspiration. When searching for an effect of magnetism on light, he adjusted polarity, magnetic strength, and pole positions, without any indication he would ever find a change.

Paragraph after paragraph, page after page, nothing but mind-numbing particulars, penned with drab uniformity in his own hand. Until September 13, 1845, paragraph 7,504. Here appears, in stout capital letters and underlined three times, a large exclamatory "BUT." That single word, an island rising above a tedious sea of ink, illuminated Faraday's joy as surely as the lamplight that suddenly illuminated his eye.

There are points where the scientific accounts are more difficult to follow. A student may need to read some chapters more slowly than others. Many of the descriptions are beneficial, though; I still often confuse current and voltage, but there is an excellent explanation of the difference in the book.

Near the end of his career, Faraday devoted some of his time to campaigning for better and extended science education in schools. He wanted students to learn real science not just to draw them into the field, but also to equip them with the knowledge and skills to assess assertions and ideas they would encounter throughout their lives.

During a career that spanned more than four decades, Faraday laid the experimental foundations of our technological society; made important discoveries in chemistry, optics, geology, and metallurgy; developed prescient theories about space, force, and light; pressed for a scientifically literate populace years before science had been deemed worthy of common study; and manned the barricades against superstition and pseudoscience. He sought no financial gain or honorifics from any of his discoveries.

This is an excellent biography for our science studies and complements well the work First Son did in the Physics part 1 guide.

I received nothing in exchange for this review which is only my honest opinion. I found this book recommended in the Sabbath Mood Homeschool study guide above (not an affiliate link). The link to Amazon is an affiliate link. I purchased this book used.