Science and Stuff

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Welcome to Week 2 of the 2016 Virtual Curriculum Fair! We're "Discovering Patterns" this week, and talking about science and math. Thank you to Laura at Day By Day In Our World, Chareen at Every Bed of Roses, and Kristen at Sunrise to Sunset for hosting and organizing this event! You'll find links to all the participating blogs at the end of this post.

Science has been one of the tougher subject areas for us when it comes to the high school levels. We had all kinds of fun with elementary and middle school sciences, partly because we had so much freedom in what we would study, but also because we all worked together. My favorite curriculum series during those years was God's Design for Science. We used every book except the one about human anatomy, and I can't recommend these books highly enough for Grades 3 through 8, and especially for families wanting to do one science course with several students at different grade levels.  (See my post How I Finally Learned to Love Science for more information about the series.)  This series highlights the patterns evident throughout creation and in all branches of science that point towards a Creator.

A few years ago, we used Signs and Seasons : Understanding the Elements of Classical Astronomy. This excellent science elective course was completed by all three of my kids, and the boys (in high school and in 8th grade at the time) both earned high school credit for it. Kennady was in 6th grade and did great with it as well; she just didn't do all of the field activities with the boys. This is another curriculum that is great for families that are working together. The book itself is non-consumable, and there's an optional field guide you can purchase, which contains chapter tests, templates and instructions for all the field activities, and places to keep records. (See my post C is for Classical Astronomy for more details.)  This curriculum helps us understand the patterns of movement of the heavenly bodies and how they truly are designed for signs and seasons.

Landon has met his requirement for a Biology credit as well as one other Science (which was Classical Astronomy), but Kennady entered high school this year and will need to come up with two Science credits. She really didn't have a good idea what she wanted to do, but when I showed her this general science course, she thought it might be a good fit. Turns out Landon liked the idea of it too, because he needed one more elective credit, and an overview of Science is probably a smart choice. So both kids are working on the Survey of Science History & Concepts. This course is an overview of Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics; so it provides the foundational knowledge in the concepts of each of these branches of science. It's not a rigorous course, but does give a solid foundation in the concepts and developments of each of these branches of Science, and is good for what we needed - a foundation course for first year high school, or an elective with decent academic value. In these books, the pattern of the contributions of Christian scientists and thinkers throughout history is highlighted, as well as the ways in which scientific discovery lines up with what the Bible says about the world and how God designed it.

We are supplementing the written work portion of that course with some extra worksheets from HelpTeaching.com.

Algebra is a subject that causes anxiety for many homeschool moms, because most of us just don't remember much of what we learned in our own high school math classes. I sure didn't look forward to trying to teach a subject that I didn't do well in myself, so I've tried to choose curriculum that does much of the work of teaching for me. As I've worked with my students, attempted to help them with some concepts, and graded their work, I've realized that math is, of course, a discipline of understanding and predicting numerical patterns. Here's what we've been using.

VideoText Interactive earned top grades from Landon (and from me!) since we reviewed it a few years ago. This one is comprehensive and taught expertly. Lessons are taught in short videos and followed by student practice problems and quizzes. The teaching is done for you, but you will still need to check lesson practice and tests. This was Landon's choice for his Algebra I and Algebra II credits.

Kennady thinks very differently from Landon, and therefore needs a different kind of math curriculum. We've found Life of Fred to be the best fit for her so far, because it teaches in a story format. She may switch to VideoText in a year or two to finish up - we just don't know yet. 

I'm looking for suggestions for a high school Biology course that Kennady might like for next year. If you've used something that worked great for a kid who wouldn't list Science as a favorite subject, let me know what it is!

This post is linked at Blogging Through the Alphabet, hosted by Cristi at Through the Calm and Through the Storm and Meg at Adventures with Jude. This week participating bloggers are featuring the letter S.

What are your favorite Science and Math resources? Leave a comment and let me know! Also, please visit my fellow homeschool bloggers as they share thoughts on "Discovering Patterns: Mathematics, Logic, and Science" in this week's Virtual Curriculum Fair.

This year the Virtual Curriculum Fair is hosted by Laura @ Day by Day in Our World, Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses, and Kristen @ Sunrise to Sunset.

Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses - Thoughts on Math and Science

Kristen @ Sunrise to Sunset  - From Counting to Calculus

Laura @ Day by Day in Our World  - How We Approach Math in This Homeschool Year

Annette @ A Net In Time - Struggling with Math, Loving Science

Annette @ A Net In Time  - Lego Pulleys and Levers

Yvie @ Gypsy Road Hands - On Math with Special Needs Learners

Chelli @ The Planted Trees  - Chemistry Using Living Books

Lisa @ GoldenGrasses  - An Appalling Lack of Curiosity

Edie @ Carter Chaos  - Our Favorite Ways to Study Numbers

Tracey @ A Learning Journey  - Robot Area and Perimeter Art Project

Jennifer @ A Glimpse of Our Life  - Math and Standardized Tests

Jen @ Chestnut Grove Academy  - Discovering Patterns: Mathematics, Logic, and Science

Sarah @ DeliveringGrace  - Learning Multiplication Tables

Kylie @ Our Worldwide Classroom  - Multisensory Multiplication

Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break  - Science and Stuff

Kemi Quinn @ Homemaking Organized  - Math in Our Homeschool for a Later Elementary Organized Reader

Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory  - Math and Logic - Our Steady Path

Laura @ Four Little Penguins  - Math and Science Love

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