May We Talk Science a Bit?

I was a microbiology major in college. I LOVED science. I lived, breathed, and ate it. So I thought that I would naturally enjoy doing science experiments in our school lessons. And while I love sitting down and reading living science books and exploring in the woods, I really fail at carrying through with experiments.

I think it has something to do with gathering supplies and the fact that I wait until the very last minute to do so. Maybe if I was more prepared and gathered the supplies for all the experiments at the beginning of the year and stuck everything in a box, I would be more likely to do the experiments.

This year we have been using Exploring Creation with Zoology 1: Flying Creatures of the 5th Day (Apologia Science Young Explorers) by Jeannie Fulbright. It's a great curriculum! The book is a textbook, but it is written in narrative style and flows very easy. It might look like a textbook, but it certainly doesn't sound like one. Ian also uses the program notebook for his notebooking assignments (this curriculum really encourages notebooking and observation.)

I just purchased Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding: A Science Curriculum for K-2for next year's science curriculum. This program got a ton of good reviews at various homeschooling review sites. Although it is not a Christian science program as Jeannie Fulbright's books are, the reviews stated that it wasn't a problem as it didn't specifically address that topic. I just received the copy and haven't had a chance to read through it yet, but the reviews seemed very impressive. And it's three years of curriculum for $25! I still plan on using more of Jeannie Fulbright's Exploring Creation books in the future as we really have enjoyed the Flying Creatures of the 5th Day book.

Last week, the kids were on a science roll so we pulled out our crystal-making kit. Now we have some beautiful orange crystals that are totally amazing to Lily! She checks on them several times a day to see how big they've gotten. It's so cute! It's actually the first time Lily's really shown any interest in science.

Ian got out his dinosaur excavation kit, and, can I just say, that he totally LOVED this thing. He had done a very small excavation kit before (I'm talking the size of an egg) so we bought him this bigger one for Christmas because he really enjoyed the little one. Now he's begging me for another kit! This is the one we got him at Christmas ~ Dig A Dino Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Here he is with the finished project. It took him about five hours to get it completely dug out and put together, but he really loved the challenge.

Oh, and our catepillar larvae just arrived in the mail yesterday. So, we're going to be raising some Painted Lady butterflies! This one's got me super excited. Ian is notebooking his daily observations of the metamorphosis. It's supposed to take three weeks for complete metamorphosis; I'm really hoping we're around when the butterflies break out of their crysalids!

So, as I do at the end of every school year, I hope to be more organized next year! :) Mainly with science and also with Lily's schooling. I just purchased her kindergarten curriculum for next year as she's not quite ready for Sonlight yet. I'm also going to be teaching my niece, Allie, from the same curriculum as well but I'm going to tailor it more towards the preschool level since she'll only be four. It will be a busy but challenging and fun year!

I just love talking homeschool! It's such a passion of mine!

Have a blessed day!!