How We do Faith-Based Science: An Inside Look At What Our Science Time Looks Like
Are you curious about what science looks like in other homeschools? Check out how we do faith based science with a glimpse into one day of our lives.
My oldest boys were having their annual check-up, and the doctor was making small talk.
“So what is your favorite subject,” she asked.
My oldest son’s face lit up, “Science,” he exclaimed! “We are learning about our bodies.”
“Oh, anatomy!” she replied. “That is my favorite subject too!”
Yes, science is my little man’s favorite subject and with that comes a responsibility on my part to provide experiences for him that will allow this enthusiasm to grow. And this is not always easy.
I received this product for free and was compensated for my time. But all opinions are honest, and I was not required to post a positive review.
By Design Science for grades 1-8.
We are apart of a wonderful homeschool program that encourages a large amount of memory work in the early years. I love to take what my little ones are memorizing and allow them to expand their knowledge.
But let’s face it. We are busy. And searching out and finding activities for each memory fact is a lot of work….that is until we started using By Design Science
Now I had materials in front of me that would allow me to build upon the facts, let them explore with experiments, have STEM opportunities, and even do some critical thinking. All of this faith-based science was happening with very little planning on my part.
Our science time now looks a little different, and I’m loving our new format.
Reading:
As I said before, we have science sentences to memorize for each week. At the beginning of the year, I was trying to find science books that would give us more insight into what we were memorized. This required trips to the library, and
Once Kendall Hunt Religious Publishers sent us By Design Science my job has been much easier. Now instead of heading to the library, I have short, easy reading passages that I can use to expound on our memory work.
Since our memory work for the first 12 weeks was about anatomy, that is where we started in the book.
Today our reading was all about the ear. The bright colorful picture game all four of my children from pre-k to second grade a great visual of the ear and what the three parts of the ear looked like.
Exploring:
I will be completely honest. I hate searching the internet to find activities, but I’m not very creative when it comes to creating science experiments. And let’s face it….that is the fun of science.
I love how By Design Science gives numerous opportunities to explore, and all I have to do is provide the materials.
Today, we got to explore how hearing works with this fun game. And I loved it because the whole family was able to participate. In this exploration, we were experimenting with using one ear to listen vs both ears.
One kiddo would stand in the middle of the room, and close their eyes. Another would quietly move to a corner of the room and then make a sound. The person in the middle of the room had to point to where the sound was coming from. Then they had to try it with one hand on their eyes and one hand on one ear. It was amazing how they weren’t as sure the second time around.
Once again all my babies got to participate.
Here my four-year-old is getting help fro her big brother so she could cover up her eyes and an ear!!!
This was an easy, no mess exploration…but others are a little more complicated. Just like the one below, you can see that the children must use critical thinking to make objects move. Great learning and requires very little prep from you!!!
Adding On:
My second grader, with his inquisitive mind, asks questions that are often not addressed in the short passages. When this happens we use youtube or the internet to do a little more exploring.
This is what we love about homeschooling. We can add on a little and learn more.
Today, we watched this cute video on youtube and then printed off another picture that added to the vocabulary we had already learned. Then we finished off with modeling the ear out of playdough.
Both boys were fascinated with the cochlea. Here my second grader exaggerated that part of the ear.
My first grader also created the cochlea but added hair to his. See the hair illustrated by the beans???
The Faith-Based Science Part:
We firmly believe that everything we see is not here by accident, but created by a living God. And I love it when a science curriculum includes this aspect. By Design Science has weaved this throughout their whole curriculum.
Scripture can be found in the reading passages, and often there are activities to reinforce this faith-based science.
As we finished up our chapter on the five senses, we got to step back and think about ways we can use three of these senses to praise God.
Both of my boys came up great ideas, and ones I will challenge them to implement in their lives daily. Here are a few of the ideas they came up with…
- Listen to my Sunday School teachers
- Tell Others about God
- Sing Songs of Praise
- Help Mom Clean Up…..yes please!!!!!!
A faith-based science curriculum is important to us, and we have thoroughly enjoyed using By Design Science to expound on the memory work we are already doing! It has been a blessing to our sceince time!
You’ve Got This
Rachel
You may also be interested in the other product lines by Kendall Hunt Religious Publishers
Pathways Reading Language Art grades 1-8 https://rpd.kendallhunt.com/program/pathways
Kindergarten Stepping Stones https://rpd.kendallhunt.com/program/kindergarten-stepping-stones
In addition, Kendall Hunt offers Talented and Gifted programs in mathematics (M2 and M3) as well as products developed in collaboration with the CFGE (Center for Gifted Education) College of William and Mary in subject areas such as language arts, social studies, and science.
