While most homeschooling families are generally content with the science curriculum they’ve chosen, there's always room for improvement. Some families prefer homeschooling evolution, and others teach creationism, but whatever your stance on that controversial issue, if you're looking to make a year’s worth of Life Science bigger and better, some of these ideas may be worth considering.
Many families enjoy unit studies because they’re so flexible and can be tailored to whatever level of intensity you want. I’m having my oldest daughter choose a few projects throughout the year that she’d like to learn more about. So far, she’s made a poster-sized chart about taxonomy and classification of plants and animals, and she wants to try replicating some form Mendelian genetics by crossing different seedlings of green bean plants to vary their characteristics.
Hands-on activities are important when teaching kids about science, so even though it isn’t specifically recommended in our science text, we’re going to dissect a frog. I’m waiting until my daughter has finished the unit on body systems, and then I plan to order a frog and dissecting kit from a science supply store online. Stores like that are chock full of great ideas, experiments, and supplies to help round out your curriculum.
There are sometimes resources available in the local community too. The children’s museum in my city offers monthly classes for homeschoolers, and while they don’t always pertain to Life Science, I made sure to sign up my daughter for the ones I thought would be helpful. She’ll be learning how to use a microscope and get some hands-on experience learning about ecosystems and habitat, among other things. One of the farms in our area rents out small incubators each spring that kids can take home and watch a chicken egg hatch. These kinds of opportunities are everywhere, if you know where to look.
Overall, the year is going well and, I have to admit, I’m learning right along with my daughter. She’s enjoying the projects, local classes, an online homeschool science curriculum, and other supplemental things I’ve come up with for Life Science, and adding something extra to a traditional science curriculum has really helped us both stay excited about schoolwork.
We are trying to teach our boys about evolution, creationism and intelligent design. I know where I stand on the topic, but I want them to be able to form their own opinion as they get older...not believe what I tell them to believe, you know? :)
ReplyDeleteGreat point about the unit studies...I need to remember that for my 4th grader. I think he would enjoy doing unit studies from time to time, as a break from his normal science program. :)
Katie