Tuesday, 28 May 2013

Science in the Junior Years

Teaching Science - How do you do it?  Good question.  When any of us think of science our minds tend to think of high school / University labs and immediately we are filled with fear and trepidation. We start to panic and wonder how on earth we are going to accomplish teaching science ?? This fear in turn robs us of the pleasure of discovering just how much fun science can be.


Define: Science
  • The word science comes from the Latin "scientia," meaning knowledge especially knowledge based on reproducible data.
  • Science is the systematic knowledge of the physical or material world gained through observation and experimentation. 
From this definition we can see that science is not solely about science labs and microscopes, formulas and chemicals it's all about the world around us.

For us
Sir N will be eight years old in a weeks time and for us Science is all about discovery and fun.  Personally I am not a hands on learner but he is which has proven to be a little bit of a challenge.  In order to meet his need of hands on learning I have been actively seeking opportunities to join others on science adventures, even when that means traveling a 140 km round trip.  This year we have gone across town and played in a science lab and learned about static electricity and cold ice.

I have been teaching science using Sonlight - Exploring the wonders of God's World using living books.
Over the years I took a detour and did The Well Trained Mind path as well using some great Usborne Science Books.  I've also really liked the look of Noeo Science but the postage makes purchasing this curriculum a little out of reach from Australia.

Nature Study
Each family needs to find their own personal flavor in studying science in the younger years. For us I have been blessed because Paul's passion is all things nature and he generously shares his knowledge with our children. He has the most amazing instagram


Instagram @Servalpaul
In the Future
The more I learn about Delight Directed education the more I realize that science is about enjoying and appreciating the world around us. In order to do this more formally I would really like to do a lot more Nature Journaling at home.

Resources to help you start Nature Journaling

Resources to teach science at home

Science in Highschool



"Can I teach 
high school science?
 NO
As your student gets older, 
your role changes from 
teacher to fellow learner."

You can read my thoughs on science in the high school years in my Homeschool High School Post.

Be encouraged Science is not as big as we make it in our thinking and we do not need to feel that only professionally trained teachers can teach science. As home schoolers we can learn and discover alongside our children.  Have fun read some living books and try some science in your kitchen!

Blessings
Chareen


This week

 ---ooOoo---

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4 comments:

  1. Unknown29 May 2013 at 02:14

    Sounds like a great plan!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Erin29 May 2013 at 05:59

    So nodding away and agreeing with you here.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jenn30 May 2013 at 08:36

    Thank you so much for this post! I love the resources you listed. I pinned this to my Homeschool Science board. :)

    ReplyDelete

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