I wanted to share a couple of books that my daughters and I all enjoyed that are related to our conversations here.
The first was a biography of Charles Darwin young life. “The True Adventures of Charley Darwin” . We enjoyed this book as a read aloud. The novelization of Darwin’s life focused on his youth and the relationships he built during those years. It detailed his budding love of science and the natural world. And of course it covered his years aboard the Beagle, briefly closing with a few chapters about the rest of his life. I also shared the BioLogos Basics videos with my kids as we talked about the Darwin’s theory of evolution.
I also read the two books in the Calpurnia Tate series “The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate,” and “The Curious World of Calpurnia Tate.” Both of these books center around 12 year old Calpurnia who is growing up in central Texas in 1900. She develops a relationship with her grandfather who inspires her to keep a scientific notebook and teaches and participates in scientific study with her. These books were absolutely delightful. There are a couple of instances of coarse language to watch out for if that is a concern. The book isn’t solely focused on evolution, but there are many references to it and Calpurnia wishes to read Mr. Darwin’s book. Each chapter is also started with a quote from either “Origins of Species” or Darwin’s Beagle journal.
Finally, this last book didn’t address any evolution, but I found it a great accompaniment to science study for my late elementary aged kids. “One Minute Mysteries: 65 Short Mysteries You Solve With Science!” This book offers short little mysteries and students can see if they can spot the scientific principle needed to try to solve the mystery. I’m hoping to purchase the sequel, because we would often did 2 or 3 in a sitting and we ran out!
I’d love to see what little extras others have found to support science or math learning if you have anything to share!
I have the first one on my Kindle, but we haven’t read it yet. What do you think is the ideal age to read them/read them aloud? It was highly recommended on Common Sense Media, which I check out from time to time for book recommendations.
My girls are 11 and 8. The 11 year old loved it right away and the 8 year old warmed up to it pretty quickly. I would say later elementary through middle school is the ideal age.
I’m a grandparent of very young homeschooled children. We couldn’t find a book that respected both Science AND the Bible in the same discussion, so we created our own. I’m interested to see if it belongs to a wider audience than just our family. I would love some feedback, editorial comments, scientific corrections, and advice about if or how to pursue publishing it. Thank you.
I like that a lot. I’m going to share it with my daughters soon, too and see what they think. My none year old often expresses confusion between what I tell her about human history and what the Bible says about Adam and Eve. This may help clear it up further.
One change I would suggest is when you are talking about the first life on Earth. I would suggest that instead of using the word “mistake” to describe a mutation you use change or mutate. Sometimes it is a genetic mistake that causes mutation, but not always and I think it could come off to those who struggle with evolution as a negative connotation.
