The Peaceful Press Elementary resources all include science experiments and concepts, and in the elementary years, most science should come through hands-on experiments and living books.
This is how we teach science in our new Peaceful Press Nature Book Flood and our other resources.
Nuclear chemist and Apologia high school science curriculum author Dr.Jay Wile made these recommendations about teaching science:
“Our courses start at the seventh grade, which is the first grade in which I think the student should have a structured science course. Prior to seventh grade, I would stress mathematics. I would make science a once-a-week or once-every-other-week activity based on unit studies.“
and Charlotte Mason encouraged parents to spread a wide feast in every subject with this advice,
“Science is one of these provinces. Here,the stars are measured, the ocean sounded,and the wind made the servant of man; here,every flower that blooms reveals the secret of its growth, and every grain of sand recounts its history. This is a vast and joyous realm; for the people who walk therein are always discovering new things, and each new thing isa delight, because the things are not a medley,but each is a part of the great whole. So immense is the realm of Science that one of the wisest and greatest travellers therein, who had discovered many things, said, when he was an old man, that he was only like a little child playing with pebbles on the beach”.-Charlotte Mason, Ourselves, p. 35So,
The boy playing with pebbles she refers to is Isaac Newton, and his education sheds even more light on how to teach science.
He wasn't an excellent student by some accounts, and his childhood was marked by loss, but as an adult he began playing with scientific ideas and testing theories when the plague forced him to stay home from university.
These theories became groundbreaking concepts that are still taught today.
So if your hope is that your children will be curious and make scientific discoveries, we can make a few suggestions based on learning from educators and scientists:
- Read living books about science topics.
- Respect your children's questions about science.
- Give your children experiences with science. This could be baking bread, doing chemistry experiments, letting them ask questions, etc.
- Give your children time to play in nature and make their own discoveries.
- Teach your children to journal their discoveries.
- Give them a basic science vocabulary.
By giving your children great stories about scientific concepts and discoveries, a vast vocabulary of scientific terms, and beautiful explorations in nature, you are giving them a strong foundation from which to pursue any vocation.
Homeschooled children can excel in science and literature and our new Peaceful Press Nature Book Flood is one tool to create connection in your family and with this beautiful world.
The Peaceful Press Nature Book Flood includes 48 weeks of nature themed picture books with Youtube links, poetry, art, music, science experiments, recipes, nature walk suggestions, nature journal pages, science observation guides, handcrafts, and more.
Every week we are adding videos of these science experiments to our Instagram and Youtube so you and your children can get visual instructions on completing them.
andk click the title here to purchase Peaceful Press Nature Book Flood, or our award winning Nourishing Nature Kindergarten.