I should have known that I'd home school for almost seven years when I watched the kids dig in the backyard (whether authorized or not). They love discovery. I do to, but I thought those who homeschooled were CRAZY back then. Discovery is one reason I became a science teacher
and love learning. But I haven't always
shared that love of learning with others.
Many moms would ask me how I even get to science, actual hands-on
exploration each week of homeschooling these three creative people. And, sadly, I haven't always had good answers
for my faith in the importance of science study.
The classical education is organized around reading and writing, arithmetic skills, and history.
The Well Trained Mind, p. 158.
Yes, we have to do spelling
and grammar and math, but those moms just didn't understand why they should have to
do science with their kids, when they themselves hated science from their own
school classroom experience. Well, I loved my
science class, teachers and experience.
I couldn't put it into words until I watched my kids begin to use the
scientific method in everyday stuff...how we've continued no matter how much we
stick in our classically educated schedule (and sometimes it seems like too
much), science is a mainstay and another reason I homeschool.
But for many, science isn't that easy to get to each
week. I've always regretted not having
the information for moms who are struggling to give their kids science lessons
each week. They would ask me what worked for me, and I answered that we were
constructing a grammar stage curriculum that is (k-4) from some suggestions in
The Well Trained Mind by Dr. Bauer. They looked at me blindly and changed the
topic. I didn't understand their reluctance to use this book. The book was easily available in my public
library, and told me to study biology for one for one year, geology,
meteorology, astronomy and oceanography another year, then chemistry and
physics. I agreed because my Junior High science classroom experience taught me
it was "wonky" to make kids study back and forth from one topic to
the next in successive chapters from a book called "7th grade
science" (otherwise known as integrated).
... classical education is...orderly. ...use notebook pages for their drawings..your record of their narrations from read alouds.
The Well Trained Mind, p. 160.
Often these moms change the
topic because Susan Wise Bauer wrote from a non-biased or non-biblical
perspective (for example secular vs religious; many people can be religious
about being secular as well). I rejoiced in the freedom of teaching my kids
about God's creations within the framework of
The Well Trained Mind structure
that closely follows a traditional classical education method. I've never been accused of being structured,
so WTM recommendations gave me guidelines. And I hadn't read about Charlotte Mason or The Bluedorns back when I found the TWM in the library.
...read something every day touching on science or nature. Teaching the Trivium, p. 382.
Now, I am emphatic about the same scientific method that I loved before the struggle to actually study science. I now suggest reading about nature and physics, chemistry and habitat. We record observations from all these experiences we have with science (suggested in nature study from
HFA Mom) and the format we've learned in
Elemental Science study.
I have bright kids and they seem to need more
challenge. So I introduced a creation
based text book, really that's what it was, for them to study about
astronomy. This lacked what we needed,
so we moved on to activities involving more hands on work to study astronomy.
We moved back into the textbook route to study birds and then ocean habitats,
but it never really kept them attentive. Then in 2nd/3rd grade (my children
were born within a 16 month period so they follow the same topics for science
and history each year) we found chemistry materials that moved us into a realm of
challenge, structure and substance that directly tied into the WTM suggested guidelines for science. Even if you are an eclectic, secular vs
traditional, Christian homeschooler who never "gets" to science,
don't let your kids miss out.
The main win with the lesson plans I bought for physics study was the use of Tiner's The World of Physics. The main deterrence to the plans were the lack of an answer key, which disquieted my troops at times to the nth degree. SERIOUSLY! We've been adding notebook pages to sections in the Elemental Science Grammar Stage Physics study from four years ago which did have defined expectations and was comforting as well as thorough. But, because the logic stage materials won't be available until this fall, I went with this option instead of a total text book curriculum that is popular within conservative homeschooling circles. The final transition for these 3Gs is the issue that I'm not doing demonstrations anymore as I did in the grammar stage science materials. Each of my logic stage students must complete their own experiments and writing individually. Incredible amounts of weeping and gnashing of teeth have been exhibited (not really), but each is "owning" their study with differing levels of interest depending on the sections in our curriculum to date. So, I'm hoping with the upcoming study of magnetism and then light that there is better participation and more epiphanies that take place (or at least less tween angst). 
