A Quest for a Great Homeschool Year: The Sciences Overview for 2019-2020

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We have a plan in place for Science this year! Our younger son has eagerly begun studying Astronomy with Exploring Creation with Astronomy textbook and junior notebooking journal from Apologia and our teen will be studying Friendly Chemistry for Semester 1 and Botany for Semester 2. Our younger daughter will be studying Astronomy alongside her older brother as well as learning more about animals and plants.

Preschool

A lot of what we will be studying with our four-year-old consists of reading animal-related books and other science books that we pick up at the library. She will also be working alongside her older brother as he studies the stars and planets.

Elementary

There are so many different ways to study sciences when children are younger. From hands-on experiments to nature walks where they can learn about the world around them to visiting museums, reading books, and viewing online resources, children have so many doors available to open to learn about science. For our first grade son, the primary focus of science this year will be studying Astronomy.

We are using materials from Apologia as the core curriculum and then we will be adding in books, documentaries, and other activities as the year progresses. We started studying Exploring Creation with Astronomy a few weeks ago. Our children have been enjoying listening to me read aloud the text during lunch. Our six-year-old then works on completing the accompanying notebooking pages in his junior notebooking journal. He really enjoys the activities that allow him to create mini-books. I love the fact that the journal has copy work, pages for notes, pages to write about the activities and experiments, and coloring pages.


I also printed out some notebooking pages on Astronomy from Productive Homeschooling for our daughter so she can write and color alongside him. She loves working alongside her brother as he learns. The Astronomy Science Notebooking Pages offer coloring pages and a variety of lined pages for taking notes or practicing writing.

We will also be using several resources that we have from WriteBonnieRose for Life Science Level 1. We will complete "Familiar Plants and How They Grow" and "Fruits & Vegetables Around the World." I like the fact that our younger children can study a similar topic as their older brother (as he will be studying botany).

High School

Our teen will be taking two science courses this homeschool year. Friendly Chemistry and Botany. He will be taking both courses through SchoolhouseTeachers.com.

In Friendly Chemistry, he will begin the basics of chemistry that will serve him well if he should choose to take a more advanced chemistry course in the future. There are 12 lessons with activities, laboratory experiences, worksheets, video segments, and tests to help him learn about chemistry.

In the second semester, our junior will be studying Botany. The course is designed for students who wish to gain a foundation for a career in science as well as those homeschool students who wish to learn about the importance of plants in their lives and in the world. The course takes place over 17 weeks and includes worksheets, text-based lessons, experiments, and tests. From studying about soil and minerals to plants as medicine, the course promises to be an in-depth introduction to botany.

We will also be able to supplement all of our children's science studies with CrossWired Science which opens the avenue to study a myriad of topics at the student's discretion. You can read more about CrossWired Science in my review here.