This high school study guide is one part of a three-part course in high school earth science. In this study guide, students will learn to observe the weather and make predictions for their local microclimate.

The study guide includes reading assignments from the spine text, narration prompts, and open discussion questions. Experiments related to the reading are also included. Optional supplemental activities, such as current events, videos, and article suggestions when there is time, are also included. Finally, you will find a link to an exam for each course in the introductory material.

Pages: 68
Prerequisites: Form 3-4 Weather recommended
This study can be used as one-third of a high school earth science credit. Learn more about high school transcripts in this article.

Spine Text

This study guide accompanies the living book The Secret World of Weather by Tristan Gooley (The Experiment, 2021, ISBN: 1615197540), which must be purchased separately.

332 pages, 22 chapters (206 pp, 11 chapters completed in this guide. This book is too long to complete in one term; some chapters have been omitted from the assigned work. Students should feel free to read those chapters during their free time.)

Reading Level: grade 9 and up

The Secret World of Weather is also available as a well-read audiobook which might be a nice option if your student would benefit from reading along. Look for it on Audible.com.

Tristan Gooley grew up as a “suburban kid” in the UK, but he always loved the chance to get into the woods with his friends. Unstructured and informal times outdoors were his favorites, even if it was on a football pitch, with no structured game, please. Always journey driven, and as young as he can remember, his thoughts ran along the lines of, “I wonder if my friends and me can get from here to there?”.

Nicknamed the “Sherlock Holmes of nature”, Tristan Gooley’s philosophy is “Everything we see and sense outdoors has meaning, it is a clue or sign to something else.” Mr. Gooley loves to help people get away from screens and dials, to have a small, deep understanding that using something like birdsong can help you understand you’ve gotten to the edge of the woods or the wind you are feeling and the landscape you are on can help you navigate and predict the weather.

The Natural Navigator is a pilot, sailor, researcher, communicator, investigator, adventurer, and writer, just to name a few. He has even named a kind of path, which the Royal Institute of Navigation has formally christened. It is the “smile path”. Can you deduce what that might be? —Michele Jahncke (source)

Other Necessary Items to Complement This Course

Review the Supply List for this course.

Schedule:

This study guide includes 33 lessons, each requiring approximately 30-40 minutes. You can either schedule it:

Three times a week for 11 weeks allowing for exams during the 12th week, or
Once a week for an entire year, allowing time for exams at the end of each term, and including other science subjects on the other days of the week.

We have been using SMH for several years now and could not be happier with it as a science curriculum. My husband is a high school science teacher so he is fairly picky about our curriculum choices in math and science but he is thrilled with the choice of living books coupled with hands on activities that promote inquiry and build a strong scientific mind. It is now the only science curriculum we use!

—Trish T.

Sample Lessons