My Guilty Secret: Science was the first thing to Go.

I have a guilty confession.  I have been one of those homeschool moms that just didn’t do science.  It was hard, messy, and when your kid is struggling to identify letter/sounds trying to move on to science lessons seems moot at best. We just trudged through and focused on math and reading.  Then next day more math and reading.

This just kept happening until a few weeks turned into months and then into an entire school year where there was zero real science. The result after almost a year of math and reading is that none of us were very happy about homeschooling anymore.  I created my own homeschool burnout and all the guilt that came with it.

One of the reasons that I decided to homeschool was because there was too much pressure on kids (especially for kids with learning differences in math and reading). Math and reading are essential skills, but for most people, they are skills because we apply them other disciplines and careers.  Instead of using science lessons as a way to give meaning to all the math and reading, I got too focused on just the math and reading.

I lost my way a little bit. I forgot that science is beautiful, fun, and exciting and not just a chore.   It does require planning and a little effort.  Once you get to that point of burnout it can be hard to figure a way out.

I decided to stop being guilty and start taking action. Guilt is not productive and steals your joy. One of the things we have done to bring science joy back to our lives is to have a science date every other week with another family.  We are getting more science done that we have ever done consistently.

I have made science a priority and the kids have responded, accordingly.  The great thing is that we aren’t just doing the ta-dah experiments, but actually recording data, and analyzing results.    My kids get up and ask about what we are doing next?  My kids!  These are not the kids who typically hop out of bed excited to learn.

We are including science experiments in our history unit studies and everything has been amazing.  Not perfect.  I had to let go of perfection.   We do science experiments that don’t work – all the time.  We talk about failure and what failure really is and discuss possible problems and brainstorm solutions.  As a result, we are all learning.

 

Science isn’t about doing something fun.  It can be (and usually is) fun, but that isn’t the purpose. Science is all about finding problems and working towards a solution.  Don’t we want our kids to be able to do that?  Not just for themselves but society at large.

My kids are excited about the how and why.  One of the best suggestions I can give you is to stop demonstrating and start experimenting.  Flip the script on your science.  Create a learning experience where you are testing variables to see what will happen.  Don’t tell them what will happen first.  Stop demonstrating and start experimenting.

Stay with me.  I know this can seem intimidating at first.  The great thing is that by stepping outside of the equation and allowing the kids to investigate for themselves you are giving yourself (and them) permission to not know.  That is pretty freeing.  You are equipping them with the tools to encourage their curiosity.

If you don’t know where to start.  That’s ok.  Get on board for this month long Science Celebration here at The Learning Hypothesis.  We will be talking about biology, chemistry, physics, astronomy, environmental science, geology, nature studies, etc.  and there will be lots of great free resources for you to check out and begin using with your kids.