One thing I was concerned about for our school year was a science curriculum. We hadn’t really found one we like that meshed with our home education curriculum. Part Charlotte Mason and part Classical Education we are very hands on and use lots of discussion to teach our children. Textbook science will not work for us and we find it very bland and boring.
Bright Ideas Press sent me the Christian Kids Explore Biology to review as part of the TOS Homeschool Crew. What a blessing! I will say right off the bat that this is a good fit for our family though we do have some theological differences. I will discuss those disagreements later.
Written by homeschool mom, Stephanie L. Redmond, there are 35 weekly lessons in this 291 page book. Broken up into eight units you cover everything from creation, photosynthesis, and bird structure to aquatic animals, human reproduction, insects and amphibians. There is a lot packed into this book.
I found this science curriculum easy to use and made planning simple. Two huge pluses in my book. There is a “How to Use This Book” section that will guide you in how to teach using the text, making the most of hands-on time, utilizing the provided coloring pages and more. At the beginning of each unit you will also find a vocabulary listing that will help you see at a glance what words will be included in discussion. A materials needed list is also provided.
*Quick note about the coloring pages: you are given permission by the author to copy these for your home education. This huge as you do not have to purchase an additional book for each child!*
While this book was designed for grades 3-6 it was easily adaptable for my younger children. The above-mentioned coloring pages gave them an activity to complete while I was bringing about the concepts and discussion. They were able to hang up their pictures and that reinforced what they learned whenever they looked at them. There are also many hands-on time activities suggested that get you out of the classroom and have your students learning by doing. Another huge positive for me was that the chapters are short and sweet. Because you are doing coloring pages and experiments and holding discussions you get away from the text-book style of learning.
Also included are appendices which provide reproducible forms and maps such as an experiment form or field trip journal, memorization or reference lists (these were exceptionally helpful to me!), scripture memories, an ABC Book for your children to make, and supplemental activities.
A few things that I chose to skip or correct were in the first chapter in which the following sentence was included: “Not all creationists believe the world was formed exactly as the Bible says, but many do.” I find this statement erroneous as I believe that if you are a true creationist you must believe that the Bible is correct in describing how God made the world. Also, our family does not hold to the idea that man is an animal. Unfortunately we found this book to include man in the animal kingdom and so we skipped over those portions which this was taught.
This book is affordable at $34.95 and there are other books in the Christian Kids Explore series: Physics, Earth and Space, and Chemistry. Check these out, I think you’ll find that they just might fit your family!
