4 hours ago
At various times this summer...stumbling across a book by chance, seeing the news story about a lost submarine, and getting thalassaphobia videos recommended to me on Youtube (how did Youtube know I have thalassaphobia?)...I've been reminded of the incredible fact that we know so little about our own oceans. More people have been to space than have been to the deepest parts of the ocean. That is wild when you think about it! I thought studying what we DO know about the deep ocean would be a fun rabbit hole to go down with my kids in this late summer stage of the school year.
I did a little research and found a bunch of great picture books about the deep ocean and ocean exploration. These are not books about the beach, but books about the parts of the ocean that are not easy to get to, and all the creatures that lurk down there.
I encourage you to read through the descriptions before picking up any of these books for your family, because I didn't agree with everything in every one of these books, and tried to make note of that where I could. However, I think taken together, these books give a really fascinating look at the deep ocean for kids!
I also included a couple documentaries having to do with underwater creatures, if you want to make a unit study out of this list. From deep ocean creatures, submersibles, historical figures that mapped the ocean, and more - there is alot to get you started on an ocean study here!
Giant Squid by Candace Fleming - This picture book tells in pretty good detail about the mysterious Giant Squid, including it's tentacles, beak, large eye, babies, etc. The illustrations are interesting, and there is more in-depth information on the last page of the book.
Otis And Will Discover The Deep by Barb Rosenstock - A very interesting book about the first men to build their own deep-sea submersible in 1930. There is biographical information given in the back of the book as well. I love how the formatting of the words on the page add to the feel of the story!
How Deep Is The Sea by Anna Wilbourne - A great picture book to help kids understand the vastness of the ocean and the scale of how deep it really is!
Field Trip To The Ocean Deep by John Hare - This is a book with no words, with illustrations of a group of kids diving to the ocean floor in scuba gear and taking a bunch of pictures. A quirky and fun picture book!
Diving Deep by Michelle Cusolito - The previous book gives an imaginative look at diving to the ocean floor, but this book goes through all the ways that humans actually DO dive down into the ocean! Great illustrations and lots of facts included. One reference to "millions of years".
Flying Deep by Michelle Cusolito - Another book by the same author, taking a closer look at what it would be like to go down to the sea floor onboard a submersible such as the Alvin, which is the longest continually-operating submersible in the world.
From Shore To Ocean Floor by Gill Arbuthnott - A very detailed book about the history of ocean exploration, and what we do know about the ocean floors. There are some things in this book I wouldn't agree with or appreciate - for example, assumptions about the age of the earth, environmentalism, information about various false gods/goddesses in ocean lore. But there is so much other interesting information in this book that it outweighs the negative aspects, so I think it's worthwhile if you're willing to wade through it.
How Deep Is The Ocean? by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld - A great picture book about various creatures that live at different ocean depths, including information about the pressures deep down in the ocean. The illustrations are colorful and fun in this picture book!
Dive To The Deep Ocean by Deborah Kovacs - A very detailed history about the Alvin submersible, and others that came after it. The Alvin was the first submersible to explore the wreck of the Titanic!
Solving The Puzzle Under The Sea by Robert Burleigh - This book is about Marie Tharp, who was one of the people to first create a map of the ocean floor using sonar. There are a couple different picture books about Marie Tharp, but this one was the less obnoxiously feminist of the two I read. I also liked that it was more detailed about the process of mapping the ocean floor.
Trail Blazer Of The Sea by Jean Lee Latham - This chapter book is the one and only book for children that I could find about Matthew Maury, who was the first person to recognize that there were currents in the ocean and map them. This book is hard to find - in print, I could only find it on Purple House Press, but it's well written and worth the effort to search it out if you are doing an ocean study! You can also read it on the computer only here if you are interested in previewing it.
Yoshi And The Ocean by Lindsay Moore - This book is about a sea turtle that was nursed back to health and then released. We follow her as she travels all through the ocean and back to the beach where she was born. It is amazing that little sea turtles can travel so incredibly far in the ocean, and this book gives lots of additional information about sea turtles in the back as well.
Into The Deep: An Exploration Of Our Oceans by Annika Seems and Wolfgang Dreyer - This is a big book, full of colorful illustrations and lots of information about different sea creatures and the ocean itself. This is a long one, so I haven't read every page yet, but from a limited flip-through I didn't see any references to evolution, etc. There is page after page of beautiful illustrations and information, and I think we'll be looking through this one for a while!
Documentaries:
The Riot And The Dance: Water - My kids have watched this documentary a couple times now, and my oldest declared it "such a good documentary" - I have to agree! It's a nature documentary from a Christian perspective, and it is truly impressive the quality of shots they were able to get on a relatively low budget. The music really sets the mood for a documentary, and I also learned about some creatures I legitimately never knew about before. Really interesting, and inspiring!
My Octopus Teacher - This documentary isn't so much about the deep ocean, but it is an interesting peek into the world of an octopus. I had two different people recommending this to me, and after watching it I know why! Some mentions of "millions of years of evolution" in this documentary, so when I let my kids watch it we will just talk about that beforehand.
I have been procrastinating on sharing this post because I keep thinking that as soon as I share it, I'll stumble across other books or documentaries that I'll wish I included - but it's time to get this published. Expect this post to be updated with more resources as time goes on, and if you know of any great resources about the deep ocean, please let me know!
I waver between feeling excited for the school year and very nervous. This is the first year that I'll be doing work with all five kids, and the thought overwhelms me. I try to remember that I felt that way each time I added a new student to the mix. This is the last time I'll have to recalibrate.
We've been making good use of our last week. Yesterday we went mini-golfing with our dear friends who now live a couple states over. I'm so happy whenever we get to see them, and we talk and laugh like we still see each other every week. Friends like that are special, something to treasure. The hardest part is always saying goodbye, until the next time they come here or we go there.
Later this week the kids have "cousin camp" at grandma's house, which means that Derek and I get a date night which we don't quite now what to do with. I'm hoping to do something fun on Saturday as a last hoorah for summer break.
The plan for today is a hike up in a state park, perhaps to an old broken-down lumber mill we discovered a couple weeks ago. Or perhaps we'll try a new trail. The kids are packing nature notebooks, binoculars, and snacks into their packs. I try to get them to draw something each time we go out into the mountains, but we are meeting a friend today, so my expectations are low for amazing nature drawings. Laughter, and silliness, and foot races, and sun-kissed cheeks are on the agenda.
We've been watching movies on the porch this summer. The kids lay out their sleeping bags, and we all wear long sleeves and pants to protect ourselves against mosquitos as the sun fades. The TV glows in the dusk, hummingbirds whir past our porch, and the kids laugh as we introduce them to childhood classics, like The Princess Bride and Hook. When my littlest looks cold I call her over to settle on my lap and zip her up inside my over-sized sweatshirt. She giggles against my chest at the defeat of the pirate captain.
The swimming pools have officially closed, despite my wish that they would stay open until Labor Day. Before they did, I took the kids to every family swim night I could, and I'm impressed with how much their swimming has improved. It's rather a magical stage, swimming right now. I stand in the pool and watch them play, but they mostly entertain themselves with very little help from me. I can just enjoy the sunshine and the sound of their antics. We always bring licorice or skittles for a snack on the way home.
I've had a running to-do list for several weeks now. Every time I crossed one thing off, two more were added, but I've finally chipped away at it this week. Plan enrichment subjects? Check. Choose read-alouds for the year? Mostly check. Set up sewing station, clean out the kids' toys, schedule doctor appointments, do the grocery shopping? All check. The things that are left are mostly the items I wanted to do for fun or things I've been putting off. Work on researching my family tree. Make clay earrings. Clean out the car. Organize the kids' fall clothes.
We are going on a vacation in September, and those last two things need to be accomplished before then. I'm just excited to get to go on vacation at all, since every unexpected expense this summer cut into our vacation budget. It'll be a shorter trip, but we have alot of interesting stops planned, and you can bet I'll count every educational experience as a school field trip, because we can. I don't typically like taking trips in the fall instead of the summer, but out of necessity it has started to grow on me. It also makes it easier to get started on school when I know that we have more fun things coming right around the corner.
My coffee is lukewarm. It's time for a warm-up so I will close this out. I wish you all the last bits of summer fun you can muster before pumpkin spice starts to fill the air!
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