After three years of homeschooling, I am reevaluating a lot of things. I decided I wanted to do a little bit more formal science with both boys this year. I don't feel secure in my own knowledge of science, so that's made choosing curriculum and fitting science into our daily life a challenge. My husband is a scientist, so fortunately they boys have picked up things from interacting with their dad. Bee has watched hundreds of science documentaries, and both boys have visited science museums many times in their lives.
Science is fun and interesting to both of them, and I'm concerned that my own hangups about it have prevented us from enjoying it like we could.
After giving it some thought, I selected Real Science for Kids. I watched the video of the author, Dr. Keller, on her website, and I really like her philosophy of science education. She says that many children do not learn science adequately because they do not learn chemistry and physics early enough. Instead, they are taught biology and earth science, but the problem is that these subjects do not make sense without a background in chemistry and physics, making it nearly impossible to retain knowledge. Something about this rang true for me. I also appreciated that when I signed up for the email list, I was not emailed every single day. (I had this problem with another science curriculum.)
I decided to order the Chemistry elementary book for Bug (rising kindergartener) and the Chemistry middle school for Bee (rising gifted 4th grader). I've received the books already. I ordered the package of student manual, teacher manual, and lab book. The books are attractive with colorful pictures on each page. I read each boy his first chapter, and I liked the way they were written, age appropriate and not too wordy. It will be easy to do the books simultaneously, as many of the experiments are the same, just more in depth at the middle school level.
The textbook and lab books are very short, with only 10 lessons in the textbook and ten activities/experiments in the lab book. To me, this is awesome because I feel that I can teach them a few important concepts that they can build upon. One of the most difficult aspects of homeschooling for me is deciding which information a child needs to know, especially when working outside my level of expertise. However, amongst the other reviews I've read of the product, many people think it's too short. They want more information and more activities. So, if you want a program with 180 days of lessons, this would be a poor choice.
I would rather work with a small amount of essential information and supplement it with videos, books, and additional experiments, depending on our time and level of interest in the various topics. What I absolutely don't want is a huge curriculum that I can't finish. I actually hope to be finished with our books by September. For the rest of the school year, we can informally reinforce and expand upon the concepts presented in the books.
After ordering the books, I researched the curriculum a little further and discovered that its author, Dr. Keller, is a proponent of intelligent design, although her curriculum is designed to be neutral on the subject of creation versus evolution. Therefore, in some of the books, the age of the universe, etc. and evolution are omitted. This appears to be a deal breaker for many secular homeschooler. Interestingly, it's also a deal breaker for many creationist Christians, who want a science curriculum that mentions the Bible.
Honestly, I do appreciate Dr. Keller trying to make something that every kind of homeschooler can use. Not many people are willing to do that. It makes me suspect that quality science education is more important to her than passing on an ideology. The lack of dates doesn't bother me very much, as it's fairly easy to print out timelines. If we decide to use her program for biology, however, it will take some effort to pick up some books on evolution. I'm willing to do that if we really enjoy the chemistry.
I'll post an update at the end of the summer and let everyone know how it went. Right now, I'm excited about my boys' enthusiasm for chemistry. We talked about atoms and molecules at dinner, and Bee has been poring over the periodic table on his own.
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