When You Have a Science Minded Homeschooled Kid And You Aren’t

When you have a science – minded homeschooled kid and you aren’t, it almost makes you feel ill-equipped to teach science.

Not wanting to squelch my oldest son’s love for discovery, I was up for the challenge though not every day did I always feel prepared.

It was when Mr. Senior 2013 entered middle school and high school that I felt I was not going to be prepared.

Let me back up first and share some sanity saving tips at each level that really helped me as each son came along because I was so tickled that they had a spark of curiosity that I wanted to feed.

Homeschooling Science-Minded Little Ones

Realizing early on that science is about hands-on exploring saved me.

No, don’t get me wrong, I would rather be the homeschool mom who throws a worksheet at my sons and get it done.

I learned that technique didn’t teach anything and well it actually made it harder for me to teach science. You wouldn’t think so, but it did because it stifled the love of naturally learning.

When the kids were excited about science and I followed their lead, it was easier to cover science for the day.  I didn’t have to “teach”, I just had to show up prepared with some useful resources and follow their natural leanings toward science.

Sanity saving tips:

• Easy hands-on activities are a must so you can feed their love of learning.  Get all the help you can and I did by using this book, 365 Simple Science Experiments With Everyday Materials.  I realized the key to keeping the hands-on stress free for me was to use everyday things I had around the house. They even now have this book, 365 MORE Simple Science Experiments with Everyday Materials.
• Books about science matter at this age even more because it sets the tone for learning in higher grades. I started gathering resources for older grades like How the Earth Works (How It Works)series. Little did I know then that these types of resources can span several grades and have been some of our all time favorites.
• Zoos, nature walks, field trips and park learning.

Kids this age naturally want to be out doors and I took advantage of that time to add in learning at the zoo, on nature walks, at field trips and when we went to the park.

The bottom line, I learned that if I followed the lead of my first son, I didn’t have to work so hard to get science in.

Homeschooling Science-Minded Middle School Kids

Then I was just sure I would fall short of feeding all of my sons’ love for science as they entered the middle grades.  Somehow, you rise to the occasion though.

{Mr. Senior 2013 learning from a lover of science, Dr. David Shormann, creator of DIVE into math and science. We were so grateful to have lived close by him and more grateful that he came over and taught our kids some science.}

Sanity saving tips:

• 4-H club.  When I was in public school, I guess I didn’t know about 4-H because I thought you had to have a goat, sheep, pig or cow to join.  Little did I know that 4-H covers a wide range of subjects from quilting, to horse back riding to science.  It just took a few moms to start the group and since it was a private group, it was limited to just homeschooling kids.

So during the middle school years, we joined a 4-H homeschool group that was set up for the love of science.

Rubbing shoulders each week with other moms who had a natural love of science rekindled my love for science again.

The approach they took to keeping it hands-on during the middle school years stuck with me. They invited science speakers like Dr.  Shormann to come and share things he collected with our kids.

I am glad I joined this group to keep me rounded out because again, I was ready to throw a textbook at them.

It would have been okay to use a textbook and I did but I learned to not give up valuable hands-on projects and that I could still keep science easy.

• Science kits. In the early part of their middle school years, I invested in some ready made science kits from The Young Scientist Club to come to the house.
• Textbook help for mom.  Too, I realized now that it was okay to add a textbook because not only did I want them to do more formal work but I needed the help of laid out curriculum. Mr. Senior 2013 loved the series from Apologia, but Mr. Awesome preferred the Bob Jones science books.
• Rainbow Science too.  As if that wasn’t enough help for me, I made sure I had a backup system too which was Rainbow Science.  I found a used one at a curriculum fair and supplemented with it also. The description on the website says: The Rainbow is a serious, two-year, total science curriculum for 12-14 year-old students.

Homeschooling Science-Minded High School Kids

You think I wouldn’t doubt myself by now, but again entering uncharted waters in high school, I felt vulnerable again.

By this time I had learned that high school is just a continuation of what I have been doing all along.

All I needed to do was to create the environment, steer my sons to some great homeschooling products and keep doing what I was doing it.

Sanity saving tips:

• Outsourcing at the high school level can be fun. Though we had co-ops in our area, we had been homeschooling for a while now and felt comfortable at this point by going it alone. However, outsourcing science at the high school level is a doable and enjoyable part of schooling teens.
• Take advantage of online classes like CurrClick . By this age, there are many issues of science that are much more enjoyable when discussing them with other science loving kids.
• Computer based multimedia providers like Switched-on Schoolhouse. By this grade, Mr. Senior 2013 liked textbooks and computer based learning. Switched-On Schoolhouse starts off with physics & chemistry in 9th grade and we just worked out with through it using other resources. My oldest son liked the combination of videos, quizzes, interactive content and reading.
• Don’t give up living books either.

Don’t be afraid to jump head first into a subject that you don’t feel particularly equipped to teach.  Who is afraid of a challenge anyway?

I learned to follow the natural enthusiasm my sons had for science, don’t force them to make conclusions about science activities too soon because part of science is discussing thought provoking issues and keep it hands-on where possible while feeding their knowledge about science through books.

Are you homeschooling a science-minded kid?

Hugs and love ya,

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