Thoughts on SL science from a secular POV

[Aoife]

Ok so we are almost 100% on this using sonlight thing LOL my next burning question is about the science for core 1 lvl up. Is it secular or is it ID based? I know I can just skip it and use something else but again it's that open box ready to go aspect that is really appealing LOL In all of my research science is the spot I have struggled with the most as I have found it near impossible to find a good everything you need science curriculum written in a secular way which is important to us. I keep going back and forth about doing science the WTM way or being easy on myself planning wise and just buying something that is already made for me and ready to go :tongue_smilie: I caved for K and got Mcguffy but I think I want something a bit meatier and more experimenty for 1st on up if possible. Dh and I are big science geeks and will supplement like crazy regardless but it would be nice to have an open box to use as the spine. ooo also does it progress in a WTM sort of way or does it sort of skip around topic wise for each level?

 

thanks again all!

[Spock]

the science for core 1 lvl up. Is it secular or is it ID based?

 

For levels 1-6, it is mixed. Most of the books are secular, but a few young earth creation books are included (The Great Dinosaur Mystery in year 2, and Dry Bones and Other Fossils in year 5 or 6 that I can remember. I haven't looked much at Sonlight in several years, so there may be others that have been added since). Years 7 and up use Apologia, so they would not be appropriate for your family.

 

The teacher's guide used to have some young earth commentary for the secular books (though very little). Then, in 1999 John Holzmann switched to personally believing in old earth creation and dropped that commentary. I only used the 1998 Year 1 and the 1999 Year 2, plus a few books from other years, so I can't help much on how extensive the commentary in the upper years is now. I also never used the guides for much more than a schedule anyway, since I didn't see much need for the commentary at that level.

 

The years I used SL were before they added the worksheets, so I don't know what they are like. Also, we do believe in creation, so we might not be as sensitive to ID based materials as you would be (Though the BJU books--not used in Sonlight, but used in our home-- sometimes get too heavy handed even for us. I can't imagine what they would be like for someone who disagrees with the material they are pushing so hard.)

 

ooo also does it progress in a WTM sort of way or does it sort of skip around topic wise for each level?

 

 

Years 1-2 are a random mix of interesting topics, with experiments on yet other topics (no correlation whatever between reading topics and experiment topics in those years).

 

Year 3 has mostly a biology theme for both readings and experiments, with a few other books. Year 4 has mostly a light/magnetism theme. Year 5 concentrates mostly on the human body, though I think there are some earth science books either that year or the next. Year 6 has several chemistry themed books, but I don't remember what else. Before the Apologia books came out for that level there was a year 7 with an earth science theme. Those books were mostly either dropped or moved to years 4-6.

 

I hope someone with more recent information can help you more.

[Jennay]

For levels 1-6, it is mixed. Most of the books are secular, but a few young earth creation books are included (The Great Dinosaur Mystery in year 2, and Dry Bones and Other Fossils in year 5 or 6 that I can remember. I haven't looked much at Sonlight in several years, so there may be others that have been added since). Years 7 and up use Apologia, so they would not be appropriate for your family.

 

The teacher's guide used to have some young earth commentary for the secular books (though very little). Then, in 1999 John Holzmann switched to personally believing in old earth creation and dropped that commentary. I only used the 1998 Year 1 and the 1999 Year 2, plus a few books from other years, so I can't help much on how extensive the commentary in the upper years is now. I also never used the guides for much more than a schedule anyway, since I didn't see much need for the commentary at that level.

 

The years I used SL were before they added the worksheets, so I don't know what they are like. Also, we do believe in creation, so we might not be as sensitive to ID based materials as you would be (Though the BJU books--not used in Sonlight, but used in our home-- sometimes get too heavy handed even for us. I can't imagine what they would be like for someone who disagrees with the material they are pushing so hard.)

 

 

 

Years 1-2 are a random mix of interesting topics, with experiments on yet other topics (no correlation whatever between reading topics and experiment topics in those years).

 

Year 3 has mostly a biology theme for both readings and experiments, with a few other books. Year 4 has mostly a light/magnetism theme. Year 5 concentrates mostly on the human body, though I think there are some earth science books either that year or the next. Year 6 has several chemistry themed books, but I don't remember what else. Before the Apologia books came out for that level there was a year 7 with an earth science theme. Those books were mostly either dropped or moved to years 4-6.

 

I hope someone with more recent information can help you more.

 

SL has recently revised the science program and now the experiments in these levels correlate much better.

[StephanieZ]

Science 3 is *very* young earth creationist, IMHO, with much of the cost of the core being several creation resources that I was not at all interested in. Took it off the table for me.

 

I didn't look closely at the science levels under 3, so they may be OK.

 

Science 4 is pretty easy to modify for secular use -- as it is mostly physics and related subjects not involving creation/evol. I really liked SL Science 4 and will use it again with my youngest when she is that age. I think 4 is the exception for me.

 

I love the all-in-a-box aspect of SL Science, but couldn't bring myself to try any of the levels other than 4 b/c just looking at the resource lists, they are so heavy on creationism. I felt like I'd spend too much $$ on the core to have to rewrite/skip much of it.

 

SL6 & up are based on Apologia, which is def. a creationist/ID resource and I won't have it in my house.

 

Sooo, for my youngest, I've chosen Elemental Science for the next couple/few years. It is very much a WTM style science, but all pulled together for you and very well organized. I find it very easy to implement and like having the schedule done. . . gives me much of the benefits of SL (well selected resources and clearly laid out schedule) w/o the irritation of dealing with religous issues in my science program. The experiment books it uses have many, many additional experiments, so it is easy to supplement with additional exp'ts w/o even having to buy more books. I am very satisfied so far. I think you might like it. Check it out.

 

HTH

[calandalsmom]

I didn't like SL science. For such a young age unschooling science is a fair way to go about it, esp if your dh and you already have a sciencey bent. Interest led learning and nature study seem like all you need.

 

I love your user name. It was top pick for a girl's name here but we were afraid it would confound too many people.

[AngieW in Texas]

We enjoyed SL Science at first. It was pretty easy to make secular. I just didn't buy the religious books. Instead of their book that had dinosaurs on Noah's ark, I used an Usborne book about dinosaurs and prehistoric animals.

 

My sciency dd didn't like it though. SL science was primarily Usborne books and she liked to read those for fun. She said that using them for school ruined them for her. She wanted a textbook.

 

After that, I used Scott Foresman science in elementary and Prentice Hall Science Explorer (PHSE) in middle school. I'm mostly using Oak Meadow (OM) for high school. If I didn't already own PHSE, I'd probably use OM for middle school science as well.

[krisperry]

I used Sonlight Science 1 this year. Easy-peasy to make secular. Just the dinosaur book had to go. Since we had covered dinosaurs already, I basically skipped that week (maybe two weeks) and let them do more nature studies.

 

There is a secular sonlight yahoo group ;)

[RedHouse]

Science 3 is *very* young earth creationist, IMHO, with much of the cost of the core being several creation resources that I was not at all interested in. Took it off the table for me.

 

 

 

Can you expand on that? We'll be doing core 3 this year and I am *this* close to ordering the science 3 as well. The only thing that looks like it would be young earth to me is possibly the Incredible Creatures DVD. Is the REAL science book young earth also?

 

It would be great if Sonlight would address this in their product descriptions, like Rainbow Resource does.

[Heather in WI]

We completed Science 2 and 4 this year. I would estimate that what the student themselves sees, in these two years, is 99% secular.

 

For example, in Science 4, the book that the student reads that covers the origin of the earth is The Usborne Internet-Linked Book of Astronomy & Space.

 

What the student sees on their worksheet:

 

 

 

Discuss questions 6-9 with Mom or Dad.

 

 

 

6. Do you think the Big Bang theory agrees with what the Bible says about creation? Explain. (pp. 8-9)

 

 

 

7. Does the Big Bang theory raise any questions in your mind? If so, write one here. (pp. 8-9)

 

 

 

8. If scientists believe that everything exploded into existence at the Big Bang, what do they think caused it? What do you think caused it? (pp. 8-9)

 

 

 

9. Do you think it's a better explanation to believe the universe came into existence as a result of the undirected process of a Big Bang or as a result of an intelligently directed process (God)? (pp. 8-9)

 

[Lovedtodeath]

Noeo uses all secular resources and is similar to Sonlight with experiment kits included. You might also look at Living Learning Books.

[Lovedtodeath]

Can you expand on that? We'll be doing core 3 this year and I am *this* close to ordering the science 3 as well. The only thing that looks like it would be young earth to me is possibly the Incredible Creatures DVD. Is the REAL science book young earth also?

 

It would be great if Sonlight would address this in their product descriptions, like Rainbow Resource does.

Real Science 4 Kids is a secular resource, written by someone who supports Intelligent Design and has purportedly been sneaky about it. It is up to you whether that bothers you to the point that you will not want to use it.