secular science curriculum

[mcconnellboys]

I have picked up a couple of these for physical sciences and do like the look of them. I have not yet begun delving into them deeply yet, so can't comment on specifics.

[mcconnellboys]

I don't know of anything that covers all subjects except maybe Singapore, and I haven't used it.

 

For chemistry, I like Ellen McHenry's Elements intro and the follow-up, on organic chemistry:

 

http://ellenjmchenry.com/id25.html

 

For geology, I like Oregon State's Volcano World site:

 

http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/education/vwlessons/lessons/lesson.html

 

NASA has several astronomy sites, which I can't seem to locate in my favorites right now, and I also like this one:

 

http://www.cosmos4kids.com/index.html

[Truscifi]

My library was able to get My Favorite Universe through ILL for me, so we will be using that for a while, and I like the looks of cosmos4kids as well.

 

I have heard a lot of mention of The Elements for chemistry - is it for grammar stage or logic stage? (We are in grammar stage right now.) I had originally planned to keep going with REAL Science, as it was such a good fit for ds6 at the beginning of this year, but he has far outstripped it in earth and space and we have had to supplement like crazy. Now I am hesitant to try it for chemistry.

 

BTW - the How the Earth Was Made shows on History Channel are really interesting and have a lot of geology built in. They are secular and look at it from an old earth/evolution perspective.

[Crimson Wife]

I have heard a lot of mention of The Elements for chemistry - is it for grammar stage or logic stage? (We are in grammar stage right now.)

 

The Elements is designed for 4th-8th graders but is totally do-able by a bright younger child so long as he/she is reading well. My just turned 7 y.o. did it this past semester and she IMHO totally would've been fine with it last spring.

[Halcyon]

My 7 yo has been happy with K12.com's science program. I can't remember the cost, but i really like that they send you almost all the stuff you'll need for science and that you can 'step through' units on sound, motion, gravity, etc.

 

We also really like The Young Scientist's Club, although we don't do the experiments as often as we would like.

[iwjeanie]

 

http://www.nancylarson.com/index_hs2.html I thought this looked interesting and was wondering if anyone has tried this curriculum?

[Guest]

I know that homeschooling parents are really pressed for time, but I'll put in my two cents for a non-kit program: GEMS, from Lawrence Hall of Science. It's what I've used with my daughter and kids in a co-op for a number of years and it has been smashingly successful.

 

GEMS topics run from the early years through about 8th grade. The underlying idea is that kids need to do "messy" science: explore materials before using them in directed ways, think up their own ideas and questions, focus on processes in terms of scientific thinking and also understanding the material processes of bioglogy, chemistry, physics, etc. So you need to be comfortable with letting kids play around for a bit and understand that they are still learning during this phase.

 

There is a LOT of material-hunting and prep work for these studies. I found that I could do nearly everything on-line, at the hardware store, and the grocery store, so got into a kind of routine by the end of the first few times I floundered around. It DOES get easy. You find you accumulate stuff and don't need to keep hunting down every single ingredient or tool for every single topic of study; you might need only a few things by the third or fourth unit.

 

I handled the prep work by letting the kids do it. For example, one of the units we did was called Life Through Time. There was a fish tank, a rather large one, that got filled with materials each week as we moved through time, beginning with just rocks and paper volcanoes, moving on to plastic bugs, etc. The instructions call for the teacher to set this up and do a kind of grand unveiling each week; but I put the kids in charge. They had to look up in the instruction book what changed, find the materials, and then they got to set up the tank for the others to look at, which they LOVED. When we did a unit on Plate Tectonics they made their own volcanoes to erupt, etc.

 

You can easily add more activities to these guides that you find on the internet, add library books, etc. But they are pretty complete, with lots of activities suggested for extension. If you allow yourself to slow down and do depth rather than breadth, you'll find that you only need about three units during the entire year --maybe four at a stretch. But the kids will really get the underlying processes and begin to understand that scientists do not work only in the canned format of question-hypothesis-experiment-results.

 

And the kids were really, really excited. Once I had collected the materials, which I admit was a bit of work, the lessons ran themselves and I basically sat back and watched and commented. The kids did the set-up and clean-up. They always ran over time and could hardly wait for the next class. And it wasn't me -- I was just sitting there. The materials and the projects are really engaging.

 

Anyway, if anyone is feeling brave enough to tackle the job of tracking down materials, I highly recommend this series.

[Makita]

I know that homeschooling parents are really pressed for time, but I'll put in my two cents for a non-kit program: GEMS, from Lawrence Hall of Science. It's what I've used with my daughter and kids in a co-op for a number of years and it has been smashingly successful.

 

 

I used GEMS units extensively in the classroom (4th - 6th) and they were always successful. The kids enjoyed them - frequently the GEMS units were their favorite - and they were easy to follow. As KarenAnne stated, some do require some footwork to gather materials. I love the idea of letting the kids do it!

 

:D

[nicholsonhomeschool]

We are working through R.E.A.L science and enjoying it -- I appreciate that there are lists of additional books on each topic which makes it very easy to grab supplemental books at the library.

[~Kirsten~]

I don't think anyone has yet mentioned Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding by Dr. Bernard Nebel. At this exact moment, he only has a K-2 version; however, he recently announced that in June he will have the follow-up program available, and it is his intention that the program will cover from 3rd to 8th grades as well as prepare students to begin AP-level coursework.

 

I'm incredibly impressed with his program for young children, so I personally anticipate that the next level will be excellent. He does cover all subject matters. I don't know that it will be in-depth enough to actually take 5 years to complete, but the rigor should be there, and I'm sure it will be secular.

 

Just something to keep in mind and consider. :001_smile:

Edited January 30, 2010 by ~Kirsten~
June, not March (as the book is to go to the publisher in March)

[Nan in Mass]

Is this the same Nebel as Nebel's Elementary Education? I loved the science in that.

[Nan in Mass]

What age is this meant for? I like the overseas breakdown of topics better than the US ones I've seen.

[Jen500]

Is this the same Nebel as Nebel's Elementary Education? I loved the science in that.

 

Yes, the same Bernard Nebel.

[~Kirsten~]

Yes, the same Bernard Nebel.

:iagree: Yes, it is. Since that, he wrote a curriculum intended for grades K through 2. The follow-up book was originally supposed to be for grades 3 to 5, though he has verbally revised that to be grades 3 to 8.

 

I'm not sure about the overseas breakdown of topics that you mention, so I can't help there.

[happycc]

sold by Prufrock Press? Will those work in a homeschool setting?

[EKS]

There is K12 science. It is secular and fairly easy to accelerate though after a few years it does seem to get repetitive.

 

After we left K12 science when my son was 8, we moved to Science Explorer, which is a standard middle school series. We use it as a spine and add in activities and living books. Another good middle school program is CPO.

 

Ellen McHenry's materials are wonderful as supplements, though there is some question about how secular they are. We used the Elements and I didn't notice any religious references.

 

I don't care for RS4K for a variety of reasons. I don't think the material is presented clearly, though this is mostly evident in the physics and biology books. Also, I firmly believe that if you leave out evolution, you are leaving out the essence of modern biology.

 

ETA: It's nice to know that I'm somewhat consistent with my comments. I didn't realize that this thread was so old!

Edited December 19, 2011 by EKS

[nmoira]

 

Ellen McHenry's materials are wonderful as supplements, though there is some question about how secular they are. We used the Elements and I didn't notice any religious references.

Carbon Chemistry is the problematic unit; however, she told me all but one of the references have been removed (and it's possible that it will be removed as well in a future edition). Remaining is a parenthetical remark, "A world-wide flood would certainly have provided the right conditions for the formation of crude oil."

[EKS]

Remaining is a parenthetical remark, "A world-wide flood would certainly have provided the right conditions for the formation of crude oil."

 

:ack2:

 

I haven't seen Carbon Chemistry, but I hadn't gathered that the remarks were quite that blatant. Thanks for providing the example.

[AimeeM]

We weren't fans of RS4K for our gifted-in-science daughter. Simply too SIMPLE. With that said, the author makes no plays about it - they aren't intended to be secular.

From what I understand, the only book in Ellen McHenry's series that could be questioned was her Carbon Chem... and I say "was" because, from what I understand, she "fixed" that. It no longer presents an Intelligent Design POV.

I have Elements (Ellen McHenry) and haven't seen anything that seems biased. Seems quite secular to me.

We love it, by the way. My scientist hubster believes that with the right supplements, this course stands alone (not as a supplement; but as a core).

There is K12 science. It is secular and fairly easy to accelerate though after a few years it does seem to get repetitive.

 

After we left K12 science when my son was 8, we moved to Science Explorer, which is a standard middle school series. We use it as a spine and add in activities and living books. Another good middle school program is CPO.

 

Ellen McHenry's materials are wonderful as supplements, though there is some question about how secular they are. We used the Elements and I didn't notice any religious references.

 

I don't care for RS4K for a variety of reasons. I don't think the material is presented clearly, though this is mostly evident in the physics and biology books. Also, I firmly believe that if you leave out evolution, you are leaving out the essence of modern biology.

[Halcyon]

The follow-up book was originally supposed to be for grades 3 to 5, though he has verbally revised that to be grades 3 to 8.

 

 

Interesting! We are using this now, and I adore it. Much more love than for Volume 1...maybe it's because it's exploring concepts that _I_ don't have a firm grasp on :tongue_smilie:

 

Did he make this comment on his yahoo group? I haven't purchased Vol 3 so I can't compare...(mental note: purchase volume 3)

[mcconnellboys]

She has out a follow-up, organic chemistry, that you could use after going through Elements. We also used Friendly Chemistry, which includes a lot of writing of notation, because I already owned it. I hear that it is more pricey now, so don't know if you'd want to invest in it. There are some great, online chemistry shorts available on the different elements through the University of Nottingham. We got a kick out of them.....

[mcconnellboys]

I believe she has been at the Cincy convention the last few years, but because she doesn't offer anything yet for older kids, I haven't really looked too closely at her materials. The info included in her sets looks good....

[mcconnellboys]

That's right! I keep forgetting that there are some such comments in that second text....

[hsmom2011]

We just finished Real Science 4 Kids and loved it.

 

:iagree: We are using and loving RS4K!

[Brad S]

On recommendation, we tried the RS4K Level 1 Biology "text," but I thought it was simplistic and didn't teach much; it might be ok as graphics for a simple parental presentation, but it's pretty expensive for what you get. On another recommendation (and more careful review), we got the text Biology Matters. It's from Singapore and is designed as a high school text but had been recommended by another late elem school student's family. I didn't find other materials I liked, so we used the first half of the book and would return to the rest later. Our then-9.5 year read the first half and we discussed what he read after each section. It wasn't at an easy level, but I think it worked out ok and it seems to be very good content and well explained. Son hadn't had a lot of biology background previously but was a pretty good reader. I'd say Biology Matters is worth considering. They seem to focus on fewer things than a typical high school text, so not as many topics are covered, but they seem to be done well. Fewer topics makes it easier to cover substantial material with younger kids. They also have Chemistry Matters and I think Physics Matters; I heard that Chemistry Matters is good too. The Singapore My Pals Are Here looks pretty good too and is more geared for elementary kids. All the above from Singapore are apparently secular. You may also want to consider Life of Fred Pre-Algebra 1 with Biology to supplement the biology and apply the math. Although I think there's reference to prayer somewhere, the material seems secular.

Edited December 22, 2011 by Brad S
add that it's apparently secular and add LOF reference

[radiobrain]

I believe she has been at the Cincy convention the last few years, but because she doesn't offer anything yet for older kids, I haven't really looked too closely at her materials. The info included in her sets looks good....

 

Who are you talking about? Keller or McHenry? Keller was at 2 of the Cincinnati conventions, but McHenry has never been to one.

 

I think it is time for someone to really write a good secular science text for HSers. They would make a fortune! :D

[DandelionMom]

We like "Science Made Easy" series...which is a UK-based curriculum but is extremely thorough and sequential. I buy mine on Amazon or Ebay...or you could have them shipped directly from the UK of course...

Here is the link...

http://www.dk.co.uk/static/html/features/made_easy/science.html

[eclecticmom]

Love this link! Thanks! ... oh, the one for Home School Free Thinkers.

Edited January 4, 2012 by eclecticmom
left off too soon

[laundrycrisis]

This is science "lite", but the Steck Vaughn Focus on Science series workbooks are helping out here to get it done. I can combine those with some Brainpop lessons and some reading in the Usborne science encyclopedia and cover a lot this way.