Curriculum (Part 4A)!

It's taken me for ever to write my science curriculum post. After all, we've been working on it for the past six years. It was too overwhelming for me to write in just one part, so I've finally broken down and, well, broken it down.

Science has never been one of my favorite subjects to teach. When we began hsing Holly in first grade, we tried Sonlight's science. It was too structured for me; I didn't care for the jumping around from book to book, and the experiments had no connection to what was otherwise being taught.

We quickly began loosely following Core Knowledge science. Trevor was almost four and followed along when it interested him. CK was fun. I could pick and choose between free online lesson plans within a few different grade levels, and we could go at our own pace. I would pick up extra library books, and the kids would eagerly devour them without any encouragement from me.

We were at a baseball game when Trevor was five, and the man behind us told my kids, "Hey, there's a cricket here, if you want to pick him up." Trevor took one look at the cricket and informed the man, "It's a girl." I knew exactly where he'd learned that--CK was definitely engaging!

Curriculum junkie that I am, it was during this time that was also tried Considering God's Creation and Nebel's, and surely one or two more, but we always fell back on CK.

As CK advanced, it began to promote an agenda with which we did not agree. We wanted a Biblically-based science curriculum. Apologia had just picked up Jeannie Fulbright's Science for Jesus books, with the Astronomy book just becoming available. I chose it from a pre-publication draft that I saw at the CHEC homeschool conference.

This was a terrific book with so many advantages. It was just one book, just one thing to buy. It used a Charlotte Mason approach, reading on the couch, discussing, with oral and written narration prompts, and lots of hands on activities to further cement the concepts. Although it seemed a little odd at the time, we embraced the idea of learning one topic in depth over the course of the year. Jeannie believes that it's better to truly learn about a subject, instead of superficially covering several each year.

At some point, though, we burned out a little. It might have been me, not being such a big science person. It might have been that science wasn't such a priority, as I scheduled it in the afternoons, usually twice a week. The book was originally written as, and can easily be completed as, a semester long program. However, Dr. Wile determined it was better to spread it out over a year. We took about a year and a half.

I bought the Botany book, and while the kids enjoyed looking through it, we've never used it formally for school. Last year, they both wanted to use the Zoology I book, Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day. I was able to keep a better schedule and move through the book more timely. We didn't finish is completely last year, but we came close.

This year, I separated the kids in science. It was time to move Holly up to something appropriate for jr. high. For several months, I've considered different options for Trevor. He really enjoys science, and I knew this was a great opportunity for him to pursue whatever subject appealed to him. My only consideration was to keep the cost down. He commented several times that he was interested in rocks, volcanoes . . . earth science. I wasn't finding a curriculum that I felt would work for him, and I continued to put off any decision.

Hah. Current science choices will be in the next Curriculum! post.