Homeschool – Science
Science. Well, it was never my favourite subject in school. I may have excelled in the subject… with the exception of human biology. There are a lot of good, true, and beautiful things to study in science. My favourite subjects are always mathematics and history though. So don’t forget to read those homeschool articles. Plus, download our free History notebooking pages.
Ways to Teach Science
Home school resources available for science continue to change and develop. Part of this is because science develops over time. (We witness this especially in our study of astronomy, for example). The other reason is that there are less excellent resources for science compared to other subjects such as math and literature. One particular concern I have for science resources is the abundance of anti-Catholic philosophy embedded in curriculum.
Right now I am really excited for Tan Book’s new science series. Not only is it not anti-Catholic, but it actually includes some theology lessons with the science! (So the book on Oceans explains the symbolism of water in baptism, as well as why Mary is called the Star of the Sea). Before discovering this series, I was mainly intending to use an encyclopedia approach to science. And now I am going to combine the encyclopedia approach with the Tan Book’s Foundations of Science series!
And so, with that in mind, let’s look at how we can give our children an excellent grounding in science through home school.
Teaching Science with Textbooks
There are two great options for how to teach science. The first is by using a science textbook. The benefits of a textbook approach include the fact that lessons are structured for you, you shouldn’t have to worry about missing major concepts, and information is presented in a uniform way. If you don’t have a lot of time to pull together resources, a textbook is a great option. The downside of textbooks is that most science texts are anti-theist in their philosophy. And the ones that support theism may still express biases against Catholicism.
So, how may we use a science textbook in our homeschool?
Check out the number of chapters, units, or lessons in the textbook. Divide this by the number of weeks in your school year, to find out about how much you want to get done a week. Remember that you may not finish the textbook, and that is okay. I don’t remember ever getting through a full textbook in a brick and mortar school either!
If you know you want to use a textbook as the core of your science program, skip down to the exploring scientific learning through notebooking section!
Teaching with Science Encyclopedias
If you aren’t happy with the idea of using a science textbook, another option is to use an encyclopedia. There are many Children’s Science Encyclopedias out there, many of which can be bought used for a good price. The main benefit of an encyclopedia is that you can really customize your science program. It is easy to skip topics you feel are overly biased, or to simply use a different source for those. The downside is it takes more effort on the parent’s behalf to ensure important scientific concepts are being covered. It also takes more effort to plan what will be studied on a day to day basis.
If you are using a science encyclopedia, you have to decide do you want to do a whole year of biology, or switch between the sciences every few weeks. If you stick with biology all year, for example, you may want to do 18 weeks on the animal kingdom, (picking various animals and filling out Zoology and Classification notebooking pages), 10 weeks on the human body, and then 8 weeks on plants (in the spring). Or you might want to divide it up into 9 weeks of biology topics, 9 weeks of earth science or astronomy topics, 9 weeks of chemistry, and 9 weeks of physics.
A book of science experiments may help direct encyclopedia learning. Plan an experiment for the end of the week, and look up related or relevant topics in the encyclopedia earlier in the week to prepare for the experiment.
Exploring Scientific Learning Through Notebooking
There are a couple different ways to record learning in science. However, I think notebooking pages provide the most versatility without becoming busy work! And that is why I put together a free printable set to go along with any elementary or middle school science program. You don’t need my free science notebooking printable set to follow these suggestions; however, the set makes this easier.
Steps to Notebooking in grades 1-4:
- Read from textbook or science encyclopedia.
- If child is not confident with writing, have the child tell you 1-3 things learned from the textbook reading. Write these down on a narration notebook page. If the child is writing fluently, the child may record what was learned in his or her own handwriting.
- Finally, do some science projects or experiments as often as you are able (a few suggestions given in my free printable packet).
Steps to Notebooking in grades 5-8:
- Read from the textbook or the science encyclopedia.
- Have the child record any bolded words from the textbook, than the definition of the words or a description of the process the words are referring to in a notebooking page.
- If there are no bold words, see if the child can identify some important words to record instead.
- When any type of classification comes up (types of animals, kinds of planets, etc) record the details of how to sort into the scientific classification system.
- Do science projects and experiment as before, but be sure to include information about what the child predicts will happen before doing each experiment.
- Finally, talk with your child about the philosophical implication of varies technologies, scientific development, and theories. Spend time talking about how different scientific theories affect how people view the world. Consider how some scientific theories promote the value of life, while others harm it. What technologies support this value? Which technologies do not support this value? Consider with you child the ethical implications of scientific studies. (The research done by Nazi’s in WW2 illustrates this). By helping our children find and discuss these issues, we help the child to see that science is not simply a neutral subject.
Science in High School
Although the encyclopedia approach works well for elementary and middle school, high school science is more difficult to navigate. A high school level science homeschool text satisfies state/provincial requirements. Plus, these help fulfil homeschool science lab requirements.
One addition I recommend for high school is reading some source texts for each scientific field. In biology, for example, you might have your child read Hippocrate’s On Airs, Waters, and Places, and Aristotle’s History of Animals. A more modern addition to this list: Gregor Mendel’s Experiments in Plant Hybridization. In Chemistry, have your child read Robert Boyle’s The Sceptical Chemist and the first draft of the periodic table by Dmitri Mendeleev. For astronomy, there is Ptolemy’s Almagest and Nicolas Copernicus’ Commentariolus. Finally, for physics, there is Aristotle’s Physics, Luretius’s On the Nature of Things, and Albert Einstein’s Relativity: the Special and General Theory.
The Byzantine Life
Thank you for checking out this article in our Homeschool Series! Be sure to check out our similar post on Teaching History. And our article on Teaching Mathematics. Also be sure to download our FREE science notebooking printable set here.
Follow us on social media! Check out our Pinterest for boards about homeschool activities and family life ! Also, you can follow our Facebook to see our latest blog posts as they publish. The Badger Dad also runs our Twitter (@TheByzLife) and Instagram accounts (username: thebyzantinelife)!
Do you appreciate our work at TheByzantineLife.com? Consider joining us on Patreon for as little as $5 a month. In other words, you can help us run this website and produce quality content. And in return, you get exclusive access to special posts, photos, and updates from our family! As more people join, we will be adding bonus faith and family resources too. In short, click here to find out more here: https://www.patreon.com/thebyzantinelife
