We are trying something new for science this year, and I want to share our experiences so far with you. We actually began the first unit last spring, so we have completed three sections by now.
What is Considering God’s Creation?
This is a one to three year program that claims to be suitable for grades 2-7. We are using it for 3rd and 5th grade, and I do think it is a bit on the light side for my 5th grader. I’m perfectly fine with that, however, since we will probably beef up her science quite a bit for middle school next year and that will offer more of a challenge.
There are 36 lessons about natural science, covering topics such as astronomy, earth science, weather, plants, animals and human body. Some lessons have much more to them than others, but the author says you can either complete one a week to finish the course in one year or stretch each lesson out for two or three weeks, which would mean this program could last for up to three years. Personally, I feel it would require a large amount of supplementation to stretch it out that long, but you could totally do it if you were up to finding the additional resources.
Essentially, it consists of a teacher manual and a student notebook. I have a hard copy of the teacher manual that I purchased used, and a pdf file of the student notebook that I purchased from the publisher’s website. Having both of these items is absolutely necessary in order to complete the course! There is also an audio CD (pictured above) that includes the songs that are in some of the lessons. I do not have this and we don’t do anything with the songs.
Lessons are laid out well in an organized, easy to use way. They include:
- Preparation: a list of items needed to complete the lesson (usually a notebook page and sometimes materials for a simple experiment/ demonstration)
- Vocabulary: words and definitions that will be encountered in the lesson (including the Latin or Greek roots- yay!)
- Introduction: read this to explain the topic to the student
- Bible Reading: a paragraph about how this topic relates to Scripture with relevant verses that the student can look up
- Notebook: explains how to complete the notebook activity
- Song/ Poem: some lessons have an original song set to music (if you purchase the CD)
- Evolution Stumpers: something to ponder; an example of how the topic shows God as Creator
- Review: questions and answers to review the lesson/ previous lessons
- Digging Deeper: suggestions for exploring the topic through books or media, performing additional experiments, or completing a research project
This is really what sets the program apart from other science curricula. Almost every lesson has at least one notebook page, and most lessons have several. These are definitely NOT your typical notebook pages, nor are they typical worksheets. Much of the lesson is actually taught through these pages, and my kids love doing them.
What I like:
- My kids LOVE the notebook pages and find the material interesting.
- The focus on creation and biblical perspective
- You can make it what you want.
- Not too many experiments
What I wish was different:
- A lot of the information is just read to the kids. This works fine because they are usually interacting with the notebook pages at the same time, but sometimes it feels a bit dry.
- Along with the last point, there are no pictures with the reading, just the black and white illustrations on the notebook page. We use science encyclopedias and living books along with the program, which gives us better visuals.
- Information on each topic is pretty brief. Makes sense when you consider how many different topics are being covered in the year.
- Honestly, the most frustrating factor to me is that there is no “answer key” to the notebook pages! I wish there was a copy of their pages WITH ANSWERS contained within the lessons, since sometimes I’m initially stumped about what they are supposed to do.
Overall, I think this is pretty good option if your kids a) like to color, cut, and glue; b) are in around 2-5th grades; and c) don’t feel the need to do tons of experiments or go too in depth with a topic.
I hope to share more about our experiences with this program as we continue.