How can I possibly teach science? I don’t know enough! How often has this soundtrack played in your mind?

For season 8, we are taking these negative soundtracks, or beliefs, and turning the volume dial down. Then, we are turning the dial up on a new soundtrack – one that will help us share science with our kiddos.

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Episode 109 - Don't know enough. {Science Soundtracks #8}

I am not a scientist.

I didn’t understand science in high school.

I don’t know enough to teach science to my kiddos.

This soundtrack tends to go with another one, the one that says – I cannot teach science, but we already explored and flipped that belief in episode 107.

So is this lack of knowledge idea helping us share the wonders of science with our kiddos? Let’s put this belief, or soundtrack, through the 3-question litmus test.

If you remember, I shared Jon Acuff’s soundtrack litmus test back in the introduction to this season. If you haven’t listened to that yet, hit pause to go back and listen to episode 101. It explains a bit about soundtracks and how season 8 came to life, plus it will help this episode make a lot more sense.

That said, let’s put this soundtrack through the litmus test:

• Is the idea that I don’t know enough about science true? (Well, yes and no. I would answer this no because I am confident that you do know enough to teach the basics of science. But you know I will keep it real with you guys. So, the answer is also yes because as your kids get older, it becomes harder to teach them about science without good materials if you don’t have a background in science. But don’t tune out on me yet – we’re going to give this half a point – just keep listening for hope as we flip this soundtrack!)
• Is the idea that I don’t know enough about science helpful? (Again, yes and no. It’s not helpful in some ways as it doesn’t exactly give you the warm and fuzzy’s. But it is helpful to have a realistic picture of where you are at in order to move forward. We’ll give this half a point, too.)
• Is the idea that I don’t know enough about science kind? (Once more, the answer is yes and no because it really depends on how you look at this. No, it’s not kind to think that you will never know enough to teach science to your kids. But yes, it is kind to honestly assess your weaknesses – more on this in a minute. For now, another 0.5 is added to the total.)

Tally up the score and the idea that I don’t know enough about science scores a 1.5 out of 3 points. Though it pains me to admit this, this soundtrack is merely teetering on the edge of failure. It’s halfway there. But even so, we are going to call this a failure of the litmus test. So as Mr. Acuff says in his book, Soundtracks, “That’s enough of doing it that way, let’s try something else.”

Let’s stop saying I don’t know enough about science to teach it. Instead, let’s flip that soundtrack to:

What I do not know about science, I can learn or find someone else who can help me teach it.

To be honest with you, this belief is a foundational one for homeschooling.

We, as home educators, don’t have to know it all.

We can learn what we need to know, modeling a life-long pursuit of knowledge. I know from experience that we can learn alongside of our children, and this leads to some wonderful memories.

Our other option is to find a program or person that can do the heavy lifting for us! We can trade subjects with a homeschooling friend who lives nearby. We can send our kids to a co-op. We can find a program that lays everything out for us. Or we can have online classes for those subjects, like science, where we feel we don’t know enough to teach them.

The key is to be honest about our weaknesses, but gentle enough to accept them because we know that there are plenty of resources out there to help us teach science to our kiddos.

So at the beginning of this episode, we put that old, tired don’t-know-enough soundtrack through the litmus test and it failed to eek by. Let’s try out our new soundtrack to see if it passes the test:

• Is the idea that what I don’t know, I can learn or find someone else to help true? (Yes, there is so much out there to help you either learn about science or take on the heavy lifting of teaching science for you. A full point.)
• Is the idea that what I don’t know, I can learn or find someone else to help helpful? (Again, yes, it is helpful to know that there is a solution and there is help out there for us when it comes to teaching science at home. Another point awarded.)
• Is the idea that what I don’t know, I can learn or find someone else to help kind? (Once more, yes, it is kind to admit that you may have a weakness, but to also say that you can turn it into a strength. A final point.)

That’s a 3 out of 3 points for the idea that what I don’t know about science, I can either learn or find someone to help me teach it. Really, you can substitute any subject into this soundtrack because it’s true for all of homeschooling. You don’t have to know it all, you just have to be willing to either learn or turn over the reins to someone who can help.

So, let’s turn the dial down on the idea that you don’t know enough to teach science and turn the dial up on the belief that what you don’t know, you can learn or find someone to help!

Because when we change the soundtrack we have been listening to about teaching science it changes the way we approach teaching science, which changes the outcome of the success of science education in our home.

Thanks for listening and I hope you have a great week sharing science!