If you've been looking for a faith based science curriculum, then look no further, because I have just the product for you!
I am really excited about Christian Kids Explore Biology by Bright Ideas Press. This one stop science shop has been a wonderful fit for my daughters. The curriculum is geared toward 3rd through 6th graders, but as the book itself (and my 1st and 2nd graders) states, it is "easily adaptable for younger students, also." And the best part, as far as I'm concerned, is that it freely declares to be "unabashedly Christian." Yeah it is!
What you'll find:
Well, there are 8 separate units divided up into 35 weeks of lessons, and it may seem obvious to say this, but I will anyway - each lesson is meant to be completed in a week's time, following a two day a week schedule. This has worked well for us, although the girls would like to do more, so we may be increasing the pace.
How the lessons work:
At the start of each unit, there is a finely detailed coloring page relating to that unit's theme. (These are great for the younger students, giving them a little something to do while the lesson is being read.)
Day one is Teaching Time. This will be a text to be read by the parent, or if the kids are older, they can read it. It includes scripture memory, vocabulary, and once you get going in the book, review.
I mentioned that I have younger students, and some of the text is a little beyond them. They've been tracking pretty well though, and just to keep them engaged, I'll ask them to repeat some of the bigger words after me to help keep their attention.
Speaking of tracking, the creators of this fine resource have included among the many great reproducible sheets within the book, a Daily Reading Sheet to fill out after the Teaching Time. This documents the topic read, what your student enjoyed learning, information they didn't know before, vocabulary words, and what they would like to learn more about.
As you make your way through the lessons, you'll likely find the need to store all of these Daily Reading sheets, won't you? This is where your science notebook will come in handy, Your what? Your notebook silly. Now hold on, don't let that scare you off. This book has done all of the heavy lifting for you, providing all of the reproducible scripture memory cards, reading lists, field trip forms and more.
All you need to do is get a binder and divider tabs for the 8 units, and there you go! You're notebooking! My girls love having their own notebooks!
Now back to the lessons. You've got your Teaching Time for day one. Now for day two. This is a really fun part- Hands On! Science is so much more fun when you can get your hands dirty :)
This section will be where you have an experiment or some type of project to apply what was learned on day one.
So you might make a playdough or papier mache model of the Earth. Or a jello cell model.
One of my daughters very favorites was the first Hands On activity. To illustrate the point that order doesn't come from disorder (Think the Big Bang Theory), we took colored craft sticks and took turns throwing them in the air, and watching the mess they made. Simple but effective.
We have looked forward to our science lessons from the first lesson of Christian Kids Explore Biology. Personally, I couldn't ask more of a book that has planned most everything out for me. And it's so refreshing to find a curriculum that supports my faith. We're still working our way through the book, but I'll have no problem encouraging the girls to keep going to the end through the summer. They wouldn't let me stop now if I wanted to anyway ;)
There are more titles in the Christian Kids Explore series and if you click here you can take a look.
And, visit the TOS Homeschool Crew page to see what my crewmates reviewed and what they thought.
Disclaimer: I received a free print copy of Christian Kids Explore Biology in exchange for my honest review, with no additional compensation.
Bright Ideas Press
Christian Kids Explore Biology
Price: $34.95 for print copy
Ages: 3rd-6th grade - adaptable for younger students
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