Questions about new Science Curriculum

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  • June 26, 2021 at 5:10 pm
    asher.and.oak
    Participant

    I have a few questions about the new Discovering What God Has Made curriculum. The scope looks amazing and it would be great to finally have an all-enveloping CM science curriculum. Any help would be much appreciated!
    1. I understand that it’s organized around the six days of Creation, but is there anything in this curriculum that teaches or insinuates a historical/factual young earth creationism?
    2. I noticed there are bible readings in many of the lessons in the sample. If we were doing separate bible study as a family, would it not be confusing to also be doing bible readings from another section on top of what we’re already doing? Is there a way to do the curriculum without the Bible readings or is it truly intrinsic to every lesson? Hope that makes sense.
    3. If nature study is separate, are there suggestions for tie-ins or would it essentially be an entirely different course of study? I’m a little confused as to how to go about that. We did nature study alongside Outdoor Secrets for science in year 1 so I’m struggling with how that would tie in yet be separate, and am also unsure that we have time to do both as I work from home and we do 4 day school weeks.

    Thanks so much!

    June 26, 2021 at 6:43 pm
    asher.and.oak
    Participant

    Oh, also – I see that each guide is for 3 years, but then the lesson plans are laid out for one year – does this mean that we would be repeating the course for 3 years or picking only 1 yr to use this guide then using another year long guide or curriculum for the other years? Sorry to have so many questions, I’m intrigued but there so little about it yet since it’s new! Thanks

    June 28, 2021 at 12:39 pm
    Karen Smith
    Moderator

    Let me see if I can answer your questions adequately.

    1. We never tell you what to think about what the Bible says, but always encourage you to draw your own conclusions. That being said, both Discovering What God Has Made and Exploring What God Has Made are written from a young earth creation perspective. The first lessons in each course instruct you to read the full creation account from Genesis 1, then either read a book that gently illustrates the idea of happening by chance and being purposefully made (this is the lesson in Discovering What God Has Made) or doing further research on creation and evolution (this is in several lessons in Exploring What God Has Made.)

    Also, throughout both courses, there are suggestions for reading books with evolutionary content in a way that is not contrary to a young earth creation interpretation of Genesis 1. It is your choice to use those suggestions or ignore them.

    2. Nope, it will not be confusing because the Bible readings you will be doing for science will be associated with what is being learned for science. In my family, we read the Bible together as a family, memorize Bible verses together, read the Bible as part of our school, and each family member has their own private time to read the Bible. None of my children are ever confused with all of that Bible reading. Children are usually able to keep them it straight without any trouble at all.

    Because Discovering What God Has Made is based on the days of creation, it is highly recommended that you read the Bible when it is scheduled for a lesson. Your child will be making a Creation notebook throughout the year with divisions for each day of creation. If you don’t read the Bible passages, then the Creation notebook won’t make much sense to your child.

    3. We recommend doing formal science lessons twice a week for grades 1-3, with an additional day for a separate time of nature study. There are nature study activities scheduled in Discovering What God Has Made that relate to what the child is learning about in the lessons. The separate day of nature study that we recommend is a time for your child to explore nature on his/her own. It doesn’t need to relate to anything that the child is learning in his/her formal science lessons, but should focus on the nature that is in your area.

    4. Discovering What God Has Made is a one-year study that is suitable for grades 1-3. Use it for one year, then choose another study.

    We have three science courses that are suitable for about grades 1-3 that can be used in whichever order you prefer. We also have three science courses that are suitable for grades 4-6. Again, you can use those in any order. Our recommended order for using our science courses is:

    • grade 1 — Outdoor Secrets
    • grade 2 — Pond and Stream
    • grade 3 — Discovering What God Has Made
    • grade 4 — Learning About Birds
    • grade 5 — Exploring What God Has Made
    • grade 6 — Jack’s Insects

     

    July 12, 2021 at 9:34 am
    asher.and.oak
    Participant

    Thank you so much Karen! I threw a lot of questions out there and it’s pretty amazing to have the content’s author answer each point so clearly and thoroughly themselves.
    That is all very helpful, especially the suggested year-to-year scope of study.

    August 20, 2021 at 7:48 pm
    Yulia Korotysh
    Participant

    Wonderfully answered previous questions about new science courses made me think even harder what to choose for my family. I have a 4th grader and kindergartener this year. We started homeschooling 6 months ago and while I was figuring everything out by the end of the day we were able to accomplish mostly only basics. So my former 3d grader had very little of science. what would you recommend for our family (not just for 4th grader) : to do Discovering what God has made together with kindergartener or move on to learning about birds?

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