Science the Painless Way

When my children were little, my favorite science resource was life.  I mean, all you have to do is go outside and turn over a log to find enough bugs to keep you (and your children) busy for hours.  Fill a bird feeder for regular visits from your fine feathered friends.  Lie down on a blanket and watch the clouds go by.  God's creation is the best resource for early childhood science.  And it's free!
 
Then the kids got a little older, and we got theme park tickets.  I know what you're thinking, but Sea World is the best marine mammal unit study you could ever want!  And Disney's Animal Kingdom?  Well, there is every type of mammal, reptile, bird, or fish you can think of.  In spite of my desperate desire to have more than one season a year, it does pay to live in Central Florida!

Then the kids got, well, even older.  And I had the good fortune to review Apologia Science right around that time.  I fell in love.  Having not received an education with a Christian worldview myself, it was imperative for me to find a curriculum that taught solid science with an emphasis on the Creator of it all.  It's a mastery approach, meaning you learn about each topic in depth instead of a little bit year after year.  But it's so beautifully written and always points back to God as the masterful designer of it all-no matter what area you are studying.  But because it's the mastery approach, the questions are sometimes little "too smart" for my children.  And that's what brings me to my favorite science resource...

Live and Learn Press's Learn 'N Folders .  If you are familiar with lapbooks or notebooking, they are similar to that.  But of all the different companies who make companion products for Apologia (including Apologia itself), these are the ones I like the best.  They make science painless.  There is something much more palatable for each of my children (ages 14, 12, and 10) about filling out a mini-book than there is about answering the same question straight out of the book.  I don't claim to understand it- I just can tell you it works.  And with mini-books, I can easily edit which questions I want them to answer by only giving them the corresponding mini-books, meaning I can tailor it so that the questions aren't "too smart" for the child I'm giving them to.  I tell you, I'm smitten.  At the end or the year, we have a notebook full of mini-books with all the important information from whatever book we have studied.  The kids can go back and easily review and we can look them over year after year to keep the information fresh (if we want to).

So there you have it...my favorite science resource is Learn 'N Folders from Live and Learn Press.  To see what other members of the TOS Crew consider to be their favorite science resource, go HERE.