Middle School Homeschool Science on DVD Made Easy!
One of my students is on the home stretch of homeschool middle school and my goal during the middle school years is to give them the knowledge foundation they need for high school level classes.
We have spent the last few years of middle school homeschool science doing topical studies and I want to make sure we covered everything so I was looking for a general homeschool science curriculum for our 8th grade homeschool science this year.
Homeschool Science Curriculum on DVD
Timberdoodle had exactly what I needed in their 8th grade curriculum kit. General Science 101 is a DVD based, general homeschool science curriculum. It also has the bonus of being a Christian point of view which I want to include this year to show my student God’s order and design in the world of science that we see everyday. Although we are Christians, I don’t feel that our curriculum choices have to be explicitly “Christian” to be good material: however, I do like the way it was included in this program.
General Science 101 comes as a set of DVDs. One of the discs also includes PDF documents for lesson plans and a guidebook with written information and quizzes. If you don’t have a computer with a disc drive you can also email the company for the same files. Technology keeps changing and disc drives are less common on newer laptops.
General Science 101 Basics
There are 14 video lessons including an introduction lesson. The General Science 101 lesson plans suggest each unit takes 2 weeks, which makes the curriculum 28 weeks long. Each unit starts by watching the video lesson. These are between 30-45 minutes long. Each one is packed with information about one of the science disciplines.
The rest of the two weeks there are written assignments, labs, and art projects that ask the student to engage with the unit theme and topics. Each unit ends with watching the video a second time and taking a short quiz which is included in the Guidebook.
I really like the simple lesson plans that are provided to make my job as the teacher easier. The depth of information presented is designed for a teenage audience. A family could also easily choose to just watch the General Science 101 lesson videos as a family. The content is appropriate for the whole family to watch together.
The included lesson plans suggest 3-5 activities to go with each video. I can schedule these over the 2 weeks, so my student has three-four days of science each week.
I like that they don’t have to do it every day and the length of time the activity takes varies each day giving us some flexibility each week. There are labs for some of the units and a supply list is included with the lesson plans so I can prepare now, making it easy to do the activities when the time comes.
Assignments allow for Creativity
My student is excited to have less traditional assignments this year for the 8th grade homeschool science curriculum. They enjoy being creative and so far their assignments have been to draw the House of Science and to write reflections on what they learn in the DVD.
Later, we have some field trips scheduled to see a full moon and take a drive that illustrates the layers of the atmosphere! My 8th grader loves astronomy since we went star gazing at Arches National Park on our big road trip last year, so the full moon field trip will be a lot of fun.
I am wary of Christians homeschool science materials that look to the Bible first and scientific sources second. I was impressed that that was not the case with the General Science 101 DVD. Each video spends ample time looking at the history of that field of science and the progress of scientific thought, while also including discussions about God-given order in the world and Scriptures that relate to it.
For instance, in the Astronomy lesson it looks at the geocentric vs heliocentric ideas that were once commonly debated while also reminding us of the different moments where Biblical scripture tells of looking to the stars for the vastness of God’s love.
Considerations for Outside the Box Kids
For Outside the Box Learners, General Science 101 would only be a good fit if your child does well learning via video. The primary teaching is done via the long form DVD lessons. Each of the 14 lessons is between 30-45 minutes.
Additional information for each lesson is provided in the Guidebook, but it is not meant to be a replacement for the video content. Students with limited ability to focus may struggle because of the length of the videos. The lesson plans are easy to adjust for different abilities. Discussions can replace the written assignments and the art projects can be altered to a students ability.
I am excited for my student to use General Science 101 for their middle school homeschool science curriculum this year. I am excited about her studying God’s orderly design and creation being seen in the modern science disciplines and building a strong science foundation before we look to High School Science classes.
