We have shared literally hundreds of tips and tools over the years to help you teach science at home. And to make things easier for us all, we wanted to create a one-stop shop for our best pieces of advice for homeschool science!
Before we get to the top 50 tips, we wanted to share with you 5 free conference sessions. These were shared as part of season 2 of the Tips for Homeschool Science Show and are available in both audio and video form. Here are the links to these helpful training seminars:
Okay, let's get to the 50 tips...
If you are not yet convinced that you should teach science, check out our very first podcast episode:
After that, move onto tips and tools to help you create a plan for science that fits your unique homeschooling situation.
Let's start with the foundations of what your homeschool science plans should include:
Once you know what you need to have for each week, here are a few posts to help you determine which plans or programs will fit your homeschool:
If you love the idea of classical education, here are few posts you will want to check out:
If you love the idea of living books, here are a few posts you will want to check out:
If you love to DIY things, here are some tips on what to cover for each subject:
So now that you have a better idea of what your plans should look like, let's dig into the number one issue with teaching science - experiments!
To answer the number one question we get, yes you do need to do hands-on science. And here is why:
But the good news is that you have options! Here are a few posts to explore about adding hands-on science to your homeschool plans:
And here are tips to help you actually do those experiments each week:
Plus, you can look at things close-up with our microscope tips:
And don't forget about the science fair project:
Once you have a handle on the hands-on, check out the following tips and tools for gathering scientific information!
Teaching science is about more than just doing experiments, you need to learn about science. Here are a few tips on where to get your information:
If you want to dig deeper into what living books are, check out these posts:
Check out this post to get ideas of resources you can use to create your own unit:
For all those techies out there, here are a few resources for gathering information digitally:
Once you have gathered that info, you need to record it so that your students are more like to remember it.
Students (and parents) are far more likely to remember something if they write it down, which is why writing is also important for science. Here is a bit more information about writing in science:
Our favorite way to keep a record is through notebooking! If you haven't heard about notebooking before, these three articles will help you understand the basics:
And check out these posts for more nitty-gritty information on how to record the information your students have learned in science:
Now that you have a good understanding of the three essentials, you can add in a few extras for more interest!
Before you decided to add in more, have a listen to this episode about whether or not to add them in the first place:
Learn more about how we add in the extras once a week:
And here are several places you can go for ideas for more science activities:
And for "those days" when nothing seems to be going right or you question all your decisions about science, here are a few tips to encourage you or point you in the right direction:
Well, there you have it - 50 of our best tips and tools to help you teach science in your homeschool! If you still have questions, go ahead and leave them in the comments below. We'll either point you to another article to help or answer your question if there isn't a post on that topic yet!
We love notebooking at Sassafras Science! And these ten posts on notebooking will help you understand the how's and why's of this super effective tool.
Stop what you are doing, drop what is in your hands, grab a book, and start reading! And don't forget to come celebrate DEAR Day with Sassafras Science.
