Science would not be in my list of ‘strong subjects’. At high school I did ok with biology (earthworms, amoeba and hydra), but physics scared me (too much like complicated mathematics). And chemistry confused me (chemical formulae and smelly test tubes).
So ‘grown up’ science was just hard and scary. And when I first started homeschooling I found in-depth science hard to teach. I could do the young children science stuff, like household science (baking cakes) and playing with magnets. But going any deeper than that was hard for me.
However, over the years I have found such good quality support in teaching practical science that it has gradually stopped being scary and has even become almost a ‘fun subject’ for me and mine. And the best part is that I haven’t had to get lots of scary text books.
My support has come from people like Robert Krampf who has fabulous experiments that you can watch, read, and actually copy at home. If you look to the right of this article, you will see a little box link to Robert’s site, just click on the box. The videos are each about three or four minutes in length; they are really clear and easy to understand and follow. There are many local science teacher/homeschool mothers like Nathalie who run courses for homeschooling families. And there are the Brainiac experiments which we sometimes watch on YouTube.
We try to watch a couple of Robert Krampf’s videos each week and then we often try out the experiments. It’s a great feeling to be actually doing practical science at home in a way that even non-scientists can understand and enjoy.
I have also found that watching the experiments brings out the ‘scientist’ in me I sometimes catch myself or my children thinking like a scientist, and I see ‘science’ all around me now. I like the ‘magic’ of some of the chemistry experiments, and I love that I understand the theory behind the ‘magic’.
Science has developed so much in our house that I persuaded my daughter to enter the science fair, where she did really well. And I have even enrolled us both for a high school chemistry class.
But best of all, we are not scared text books or science any more.
We also love Robert Krampf’s website and newsletters. What a gem! Even my science-y hubby enjoys watching his videos. I highly recommend them whether science is your strong or weak area.