Published
Science for Young Minds
The Science Hour
You don't need to be a scientist to teach science at home to an 11- to 14-year-old. This book gives you a simple weekly Science Hour built around fair tests on the kitchen table, a notebook your student fills with what they actually measured, and good questions you're willing to wait on. Step by step, your student learns to turn a table into a graph into a sentence, and to back up a claim with evidence.
Editorial principle
Measure before you explain. Change one thing at a time. Place by skill, not by birthday. The student holds the notebook; the parent holds the key.
- Chronology
- 2026
- Length
- ~50,000 words
- Reading time
- ~3.5 hours · 182 pages
Authors
Michael Gannotti
The voices
1 figures across 2026. Each speaks in their own voice, through their own texts.
The parent-teacher
nowScience hour
Core question: What did you actually measure?
One adult, a fair test on the table — not a lab down the hall.
Chapters
14 chapters. The disagreement is not resolved.
- Complete
Welcome
Welcome
Why is a weekly science hour at home worth it for an 11- to 14-year-old, and what will it actually give our family?
Voices: parent-teacher
- Complete
How to Use
How to Use This Book This Week
How do we start this week with the time and materials we already have?
Voices: parent-teacher
- Complete
Five Things
If You Only Remember Five Things
If we forget everything else, which five habits keep our science hour on track?
Voices: parent-teacher
- Complete
The Hour
The Science Hour
What happens, step by step, in one Science Hour at our table?
Voices: parent-teacher
- Complete
Chapter 1
What science looks like at 11–14
What does real science look like at 11–14, and how do we place our student by skill instead of grade?
Voices: parent-teacher
- Complete
Chapter 2
Recording: table, graph, sentence
How does our student record a trial so a stranger could read it, from blank table to graph to one honest sentence?
Voices: parent-teacher
- Complete
Chapter 3
Fair tests with a named change
How do we set up a fair test where only one named thing changes, and catch it when more than one did?
Voices: parent-teacher
- Complete
Chapter 4
Models on the table
How can a drawn or built model help explain something, and how do we name what the model leaves out?
Voices: parent-teacher
- Complete
Chapter 5
Claim–Evidence–Reasoning light
How does our student make a claim, point to evidence in the notebook, and give a short reason that links them?
Voices: parent-teacher
- Complete
Chapter 6
Life, physical, and earth looking at middle grades
How do we explore life, physical, and earth science through a few deep looks instead of racing through every topic?
Voices: parent-teacher
- Complete
Chapter 7
Talking and writing science arguments
How do we help our student talk and write about science, from a spoken claim to a short paragraph with a limitation?
Voices: parent-teacher
- Complete
Chapter 8
Short assessments and progress checks
How can we check what our student can really do without turning science into scores and stress?
Voices: parent-teacher
- Complete
Chapter 9
Records
What records should we keep so anyone outside our home could see what our student learned?
Voices: parent-teacher
- Complete
Chapter 10
Resources
Which resources fit our family, starting with free ones like the library, museums, and the backyard?
Voices: parent-teacher