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Greetings!

Deborah Wuehler and family

Having an engineer for a husband, our kids are exposed to science, whether it's entomology or nature studies, or chemistry. Their dad is the guy to go to for science in our homeschool. Although he doesn't wear a white coat, he often conducts experiments or stops everything to take a teachable moment and show us something about water, electricity, air currents, or whatever is going on naturally around us.

I am sure the kids retain more from those times than from the science books and curriculum I have them read. This is because children are built to retain more information if it comes through all their senses, especially anything hands-on.

Jesus also knew that we retain more knowledge when we see or even participate in some action related to that knowledge. Reading through the gospels, we see that Jesus is preaching often, but we are not often told what He is preaching about. But, we are told of the miracles that He performs, or certain scenarios that were visible examples of His power. The preaching that is recorded is often simple parables of everyday life that Jesus used to impart wisdom.

I am thinking about the disciples as each were assigned a group of thousands to feed with only the little bit of food Jesus prayed over. It must have felt amazingly miraculous to continuously have more and more to pass out to the crowd. Real food for real hunger for real people provided through a simple prayer to a great and powerful Creator. A hands-on learning experience the disciples would never forget.

There is more hands-on learning recorded in Mark 2. Jesus is preaching, while desperate friends brought a desperate man dying in sin and body and lowered him through the roof. Jesus not only forgave his sins, but healed his body; a visible representation of His power to do both. There was something memorable in the scene of a broken roof and a broken man. The power of God to heal spirit, soul, and body was manifested through Jesus Christ that day and it surely left a lasting impression on His hearers.

If your children are struggling to retain knowledge; whether science facts or math facts, spelling words or Bible verses, put on those white coats, and use all their senses to awaken that potential of not just retaining information, but engaging in real learning for a lifetime.

~Deborah

TOS Senior Editor

SeniorEditor@TheHomeschoolMagazine.com  

PS. Check out this article in the October issue on making fun and yummy edible things from science.

Diana Waring

Dear Friends,

Honestly, when it comes to science, I'm out of my league. Give me a history book any day!!

However, having now come clean with you, I can share what I learned from real, live, bonafide scientists that I met at homeschool conventions. Poor things, as soon as I discovered they were a scientist, I frantically buttonholed them with the question, "Help! How do I teach science to my kids when I don't know anything about it????"

Isn't it amazing to discover that every single one of them had the same basic response: "Take your kids outside and let them play in the dirt . . . Let them walk on the seashore, walk in the forest, be outside. Give them lots of opportunities to interact with nature--it's the best preparation for science you can give them."

That was the advice of folks who actually made it as scientists in the real world. And you know, it was quite surprising to me. I sort of expected them to tell me we needed to put a poster of the periodic table up on the wall.

So, if playing with dirt is so helpful to a budding scientist (it certainly was for the young George Washington Carver!), what other ways can your kids interact with nature in order to learn science stuff? Microscopes (or magnifying lens), butterfly nets, aquariums, bugs, plants, dry ice, baking soda and vinegar are all possibilities . . . the list of "science experiments" is nearly endless.  

One more thought about what these experts shared with me. Not a single one of them indicated that I was supposed to create an academic environment around this personal interaction with nature. It was not so much a case of "you must do these experiments" as it was "let them play and experiment and discover things in the natural world." Is the difference clear? I was not to check my list to make sure they had done experiment A, B, and C. Instead, I was to gently encourage them to observe and try and consider and play with nature.

So, off with the white coats! (Unless they enjoy the look.)  

On with the great outdoors!

And, if you can find them, the Backyard Scientist books by Jane Hoffman are a fabulous, though out-of-print, collection of experiments for kids!

Remember, stay relational.

Diana

PS. One of my favorite hymns contains these words, which I have often pondered in considering the beauties of God's creation:

Were the whole realm of nature mine,

That were a present far too small;

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Raising Real Men

www.RaisingRealMen.com  

Hal & Melanie Young

True Confessions: I Murdered Science  

I was so excited about teaching science at home that I killed it. Seriously. My degree is in the hard sciences and I was thrilled to teach our boys. I made so many mistakes in the way I handled it with our oldest son, though, that I just about killed any love of science with him. Listen to what we learned and maybe you'll do a better job than I did. Being an expert is a dangerous thing when it comes to homeschooling . . .  

-Melanie

Teach what you're teaching. A mom came up to us at a homeschool conference and said, "My son just hates science!" Turns out he hated answering all those questions at the end of the chapter. Uh oh! "Danger, Will Robinson!" We'd seen this before! Melanie was in love with the idea of having them do proper lab notebooks--written in ink, no erasures, with the procedures and results all written out legibly. What she didn't realize is that handwriting is hard work for young boys. Their fine motor skills develop more slowly than their large motor skills. Why not do it orally? Or write it down for him? Or just do a chart for the results? "Isn't that cheating?" No. No, it's not. When he gets older, it will be a lot easier. If you are teaching penmanship, have them shove that pencil across the page, but if you are teaching science, don't lose the joy to get it written.

Buy the lab kit. We know all about having to scrimp and save--we speak and write full time now and that generally means there's not a bit extra anywhere in our budget. It's tempting when you consider the supplies you need for science lab to think, "It's just mostly household supplies, I'll make do!" but do you really have time to track down Epsom salts, a 9-volt battery, a sewing needle, two test tubes, and the 21 other items you need today (hey, that's a real lab supply list!)? That'll result in actually doing a science lab approximately twice a year. Ask us how we know.

Just do the labs. Even if you muck it up. Even if you don't know the answers. (Hint: Search on the name of the lab on the net and get some help). Even though it seems like an awful mess. It's the part that makes learning come alive. It's the part that makes your children love science. Just go do it.

Time to do some labs!

Hal & Melanie Young

PS. Wondering how to motivate your 9-12 year old boy? We've just started the latest session of our most popular interactive class series, Boot Camp 9-12: Getting Geared Up for the Teen Years, and it's not too late to join!  

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