The Paynes LOVE Science

Our homeschool has been in session for close to a month now and I wish there was enough time to share all that we've been up to!  We are really enjoying it.

Our School Tree on August 1st.  We'll take a picture on the first day of each month to track how it changes throughout the year. 

Last May, after school was over we sat with Lucy and asked her what her favorite part of school was, what she would like to learn more about this year, what she could do without.  We don't subscribe to a teaching philosophy that lets the kids make all the calls but we do want to teach to her strengths and capitalize on her interests.

Underground habitats lesson.  Experiment:  Will the worm prefer a wet paper towel over a dry one?  Yes!  They like it dark and moist.  He wiggled his way from the dry area to the wet.  Amazing how he knew what to do!

Her answers were not surprising.  She loves all things SCIENCE and ART.

We knew we would stay with our main curriculum (My Father's World) for the core subjects but I wanted to find a more comprehensive science curriculum filled with experiments.  I also wanted/needed and all-inclusive package when it came to experiments.  Everything had to come in the box so I could just open it and make an experiment happen without tons of planning and scheming.

Using the sun's thermal energy to carve names into wood.

The flame caused by the sun's heat going through the magnifying glass

Another requirement was that science theory would be explained at a level that she really understood, no big words or complicated terminology.  We are not big on "sit down" work here at our house.  We love all things "hands-on".

Lucy's carving

Jenna's carving

Our final requirement was for the curriculum to study science from a biblical worldview and not secular humanism. 

Rivers & Water bodies Lesson:  Backyard foil river

We found EVERYTHING we were looking for in NEOE Science.  It is amazing and we look forward to using it for the next few years.  We are starting with the Physics I program this year.

Setting up for the object floating experiment

which object would make it to the end first and why?

As part of our RIVERS unit we learned about EROSION and the way the water flow naturally weathers and carves the surfaces around it.

We used rough gravel in plastic jar filled with water that we shook about a thousand times.  We then filtered the water to observe the small particles the water movement had carved out of the rocks.

filtering the water

the littles never miss a thing!

comparing the "weathered" rocks with the original rocks

Our lesson on units of measurement was especially fun.  One day we talked about the gallon, the quart and the cup.

we dyed the liquid a different color for each unit of measurement

and put together Mr. Gallon to show how many quarts and cups make a gallon

One other thing we are trying to do this year is using the random questions the kids ask as a starting point for a science lesson.  So, we've taken some tangents in our science studies to explore:

the caterpillar that came to fatten up in one of our plants

the 100+ tadpoles that made our fountain their home

Lucy's sudden interest in the sky

which caused the other kids to join her

I look forward to sharing our new adventures with her other special interest:  ART.  What a blessing to witness our children growing and enjoying God's amazing creation.