10 Great ways to Celebrate Summer without Forgetting Science!

Part 1

Are you interested in action, adventure, mystery, intrigue, and discovery? Well science contains all these elements and many more! I can just see you shaking your head in denial. Yes, I am using those adjectives in the same breath as the words science.

Summer doesn’t have to be a time to allow your kids to park their brains. Instead, here are some ways to make your science program so exciting that your children will be asking you to do science everyday! Without God’s grace I wouldn’t be writing this. I disliked science as a student, teacher and even homeschool parent!

I had purchased various books for our first year of homeschooling, yet my child was having difficulty with some of the books. He just wasn’t showing the same enthusiasm he did when we went to the library and checked out non-fiction books. I also noticed strange things, such as the fact that he couldn’t wait until a rain storm ended. You see, we live in Florida in an area once known as the Cypress Slough. Translation for those of you not from this area, it floods during the summer rainy season! My children loved to wear big rubber boots and carry their treasures in a red wagon, which they towed along. They asked so many questions such as, “Mom, what do frogs eat?” Or “Mom how can you tell if it's a poisonous snake? Is it red on black friend of Jack, or red on yellow, kill a fellow?” Yikes! It’s time to get out the books.

If they found new pets they spent more time researching and categorizing and learning than I could ever get them to do with my hand picked curriculum. As I began to pray the Lord opened my eyes to see that, gosh, they really like science and they are doing all this learning on their own with a little encouragement. I found I could really teach them so much more if only I gave them a few resources and basic provisions. As an aside here, by planning your curriculum ask the Lord to help you it is amazing how He will! So, slowly my curriculum began to look a bit different incorporating many hands on activities. (And eventually I wrote the book, "Teaching Science and Having Fun" that is in the 5th edition!)

I believe science is the study of the wonderful world God has given us. You can learn so much with so little. You don’t need expensive lab equipment to begin with, or even at all. Teaching Science is important for many reasons. It utilizes all of the senses; it encompasses reading, comprehension, writing, spelling, mathematics, history, and critical thinking. Science is not cut and dry, it requires research and hands on activities. Often times we spend money on expensive critical thinking programs and workbooks. Science naturally causes curiosity in children.

...to be continued.