That's what I called our latest unit this spring. It included basic botany concepts, hands-on learning in the garden, plant- or gardening-related copywork, and instruction about healing herbs. I followed the basic outline of the Apologia book Exploring Creation With Botany. (It is elementary level, but the concepts are easily expanded.) Each week we covered one chapter in the book, spent a few hours in the garden, and "met" two healing herbs. The kids each made a notebook of what they learned.
Week 1
*Plants are classified by whether they have tubes and by how they make seeds.
*How do non-vascular plants work?
*Make dandelion root tea.
Week 2
*Dissect a bean seed.
*Make a flip book about germination of a seed.
*Find out the difference between monocots and dicots.
*Learn about fennel and garlic. Make fennel candy (for digestion).
Week 3
*Dissect a flower
*Learn about flower families
*Discover yarrow and elder
Week 4
*Discuss various types of pollination
*Get to know comfrey and clove
Week 5
*What is the real definition of fruit?
*Classify types of fruit.
*Learn about cayenne and peppermint.
Other books I used were 10 Essential Herbs by Lalitha Thomas (a real gem, but currently out of print) and A Kid's Herb Book by Lesley Tierra. I highly recommend both. We found some good pictures of herbs in Medicinal Plants Coloring Book by Ilil Arbel.
Do you have a more lengthy synopsis written out? I would love to see it. :)
ReplyDeleteNothing more is written out because I didn't want a huge post! Maybe we can email about the specifics you want.
ReplyDelete