Science Add-Ons To Curriculum
October 22, 2022
One of the advantages to homeschooling is being able to pick curricula. Most of us would agree that our children can recite movie lines – sometimes even if they’ve just seen the movie twice.
We used BBC Nature with David Attenborough for science for as long as we had access to it. It showed nature in its entire splendor. Of course, as with Carl Sagan’s Cosmos Series, we had to reflect on their errors in timeline and regarding the theory of macro-evolution. We would say things like, “look at how amazing God’s creation is!” and as they got older, invite them to ask and investigate the question, “why do these scientists believe in millions of years instead of thousands?”
In depth studies of animal adaptations and human interference in our food (animal and plant husbandry) have led to the understanding that “kinds” of animals adapt by losing a recessive trait rather than by adding a completely new trait. This led to my kids saying “oh yes, I believe evolution happens, do you understand the true meaning of the word evolution?” (Spoiler: it simply means change) But have you ever been able to add anything to a creature or plant? We have bred plants, raised animals (Becky bred chickens to get specific traits or colors), watched and observed the genetic traits pass in Guinea Pigs, chickens, and parakeets.
Imagine their surprise and excitement when we discovered a video series that discussed the same adaptation and genetic issues they had seen in life!
We discovered The Ark Encounter website along with Creation Museum and their affiliated YouTube channel called “Answers In Genesis!” Wow! They are not afraid to take on difficult subjects and ask and investigate so many fascinating things about our biology, animal adaptation, DNA structures, explanations of the how and why behind so many scientific theories. It is a wealth of information.
The first single episode we watched (it was almost an hour long) on dinosaurs in the Bible had my youngest five captivated the entire time. Even Theadora, who interprets every video in terms of “Paw Patrol” at the moment, sat on the couch with her snuggly blanket the entire rainy Sunday afternoon as we watched the long dinosaur episode and three others! The podcast episodes are more for those with longer attention spans. The lectures and Ark Encounter and Ark Exploration videos are fascinating.
Well-done science videos help my younglings to remember the subject matter better than simply reading it in a textbook. Apologia science (our core science) textbooks are amazing because they are bright and have experiments that bring the science to life for the students. Adding videos as supplements to our coursework aids in bringing the words off the page and into “real life;” we are a visual people. We like to touch, taste, see, and feel the world around us. If you can’t physically see the Grand Canyon with your own eyes, it certainly helps to be able to watch a video showing it. The tools available to my children far exceed those I had access to 35 years ago. I still default on books, but I am totally willing to include new tools to help them answer tough questions in any subject.
Check out the Ark Encounter website or look up “Answers in Genesis” on YouTube. You will be amazed at the wealth of scholastic information in their videos. Second best to sitting in the actual lecture hall (actually, Louis thinks it’s better because we can pause it, pull out books, and do our own discussion and additional research as they talk).
I’ll type later about our super history supplements (also free from YouTube!) we’ve discovered.
Thank you for reading and I hope this helps you explore some cool new teaching tools!
Type at you next time,
~Nancy Tart