One subject I’m apalled at myself for not thinking about too much yet is science. When I first made the decision to homeschool, science was one of the subjects I thought I would be very good at teaching, and couldn’t wait to get started! I’ve spent weeks or months thinking about almost everything else – reading, math, art… Five in a Row of course covers science, but now that I’m primarily following a classical education, I need to prepare for our science curriculum! Quoting Susan Wise Bauer at the Well Trained Mind:
The sciences are studied in a four-year pattern that roughly corresponds to the periods of scientific discovery: biology, classification and the human body (subjects known to the ancients); earth science and basic astronomy (which flowered during the early Renaissance); chemistry (which came into its own during the early modern period); and then basic physics and computer science (very modern subjects).
In typical Angela fashion, I make sure I got my bases covered by ordering a few programs. Right away I got a few fun Science books that have to do with experiments, games, and even art. But the first actual curriculum type science book I ordered back in June - Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding: A Science Curriculum for K-2 by Bernard J Nebel PhD.
I heard people talk about this book (he also wrote one on elementary education), and with one quick look, I knew this was a science book for me! I browsed through it, and it looks great, but it seems a bit more challenging than I expected to turn it into an actual curriculum, but I’m positive it will come in handy and I’m glad I have it.
Next (just tonight), I looked into R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey (I already purchased their History Odyssey program). This also is a secular science program that specifically follows a classical education. They only have the first 3 years out so far, but I’m sure when we reach Modern Times, they will have the 4th year ready. Of course we only need the first year when we start our classical education, and that is life science. Luckily, they have a very cool “Try Before You Buy” program.
I think this is the one we will follow this year. Here is the R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey Life Lesson plans.
It amazes me to see that quite a bit of this stuff we already covered briefly through FIAR.
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