Teaching Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) with Confidence
July 18, 2018
Mercy Every Minute  
I believe science education starts in the book of Genesis as our Creator in all His glory is revealed in His Creation! So, while teaching these STEM subjects throughout their education years, I always have my children read through the Bible by the end of their school years, so they know true wisdom and not just scientific knowledge.

Here are three ways to handle STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) in your homeschooling:

Prepare, pray, and trust God.
Prepare
I believe the wonder of home education is that our children can be prepared for whatever their future holds because we expose them to so many varied activities, studies, people, classes, and disciplines. Here are just a couple of suggestions:

Elementary through Middle School:  Here are hands-on STEM activities and projects by grade level.

High School: Here is a list of job opportunities in each of the STEM categories.

Also, if your high school students are interested in pursuing any of the STEM disciplines, they can also do their own research by checking each prospective college’s science department and discern their philosophies on Creation v. evolution, and read through the class descriptions to see which colleges are a good fit with their worldview.

Pray
If you have children interested in STEM, pray that God would open up doors and orchestrate the people and events in their lives to bring them to what He has planned for them.
Pray that whatever gifts, abilities, talents, jobs, or college searches, God would be glorified in all those choices. Pray for their salvation and their sanctification. What good is it if they gain the whole science world, but lose their own soul?

Trust God
Then trust that God will sovereignly lead you and your children through these school years and into their future. He desires to do so. I know He will reward your obedience as you have set your children apart and separated them from the world and its teachers so that they would be raised in Godliness for His purposes.

“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” - Proverbs 3:5, 6

Prepare, Pray, and Trust God. 

Trusting with you,
~Deborah
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Why Studying Science Means Living the Faith

As homeschoolers, we often look at the remaining stretch of our children’s education, and try to plan what it will look like. But for many families, there’s a big splotch in high school that they either cannot or do not want to think about —teaching science and math.

Even if your student does not dream of becoming a rocket scientist, having a basic understanding of these fields will be required to thrive in the workplace of the future.

I often talk with parents about the life importance of teaching science to their children. Even if your student is not pursuing a career in science, having a basic understanding of anatomy and physiology will be helpful when they find themselves up at 2 a.m. with a sick toddler, right? A STEM education will help your children go boldly into the world as young adults, prepared to live and defend the faith in whatever journey God has planned for them.

Consider the four components of a STEM education. Science is a way of thinking, a method for asking questions and looking for the answers to them. Technology is a tool, using the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, such as sharing of information and connectivity. Engineering is the application of these concepts, using them in real-world situations such as design and construction. Math is a means for studying collected data and evaluating the results.

Each component is key to studying the world around us in an orderly manner and applying that knowledge to benefit everyone. Isn’t that what we do as homeschoolers? We come alongside our children and study the world, whether through literature, science, history, Bible, or math. We apply that information to how we live our lives. If God created our world and desires us to know Him, then by studying His world we learn more about our Creator!

Before Sherri Seligson was “promoted” to the position of homeschooling mom, she worked as a marine biologist at Walt Disney World’s Living Seas pavilion and published shark behavior research. She is the author of Apologia’s  Exploring Creation with Marine Biology  and  Internship for High School Credit.  She is the featured instructor on Apologia’s high school science instructional DVDs. Sherri blogs at JustExtraordinary.com. She has developed a free resource How to Write a Lab Report . View the video & PDF here.  
Danika Cooley
I started college as a pre-med student. My sister had epilepsy when I was a child, and I really wanted to be a neurosurgeon-scientist. As earnest as my desire to cure epilepsy may have been, it soon became evident my aspirations were far outside what the Lord designed me for. I volunteered at the university hospital for a semester before deciding I was meant to earn a degree in fine art.

By the time I began homeschooling my youngest two children, I was writing about the Bible and Christian history for kids and designing resources to equip parents in teaching the Bible. Teaching STEM subjects seemed a little daunting. It had been a long time since I set the college chemistry lab on fire.

Our kids are working on finishing up their homeschool careers, and never once have I felt that homeschooling STEM subjects has left them at a disadvantage. I'll tell you my secret: curriculum and books. I've used lots and lots of curricula from great scientists, mathematicians, tech gurus, and engineers. There are so many fabulous resources available--some of them are free. We've also been careful to include great books about science in our home library.

My kids have never been left wanting in the STEM department. In fact, our boys have studied STEM subjects since first grade.

In addition to an amazing curriculum, we made sure our kids had access to extracurricular activities that included a science, math, and technology focus. We've visited science exhibits, toured a submarine, taken nature walks, and talked to professionals in the sciences. When the boys learned about a new animal, we would grab a measuring tape and sidewalk chalk and head to the driveway to measure out the size of the creature. Our kids have built so many dams in so many creeks that for a while I was certain they would be hydroelectric engineers. We've taken advantage of every possible opportunity to experience STEM subjects in a hands-on way.

If you're wondering how to include STEM subjects in your homeschool when math, science, and technology just aren't your gifting, never fear. Science and math are all around us. There are amazing resources and opportunities available today. If this artist/writer/curriculum developer can teach science and math to her kids at home, you've definitely got this handled.

Need some cool curriculum ideas? Grab your free Armor of God: Write, Color, & Memorize Set ! and enter Thinking Kids' huge homeschool giveaway !

Danika Cooley is an author and homeschool mother of four. Her passion is equipping parents to teach Scripture and Christian history to their families. You can learn more about Danika's popular  Bible Road Trip™  curriculum  and teen historical novel  When Lightning Struck!: The Story of Martin Luther  at  Thinking Kids .

You'll find hundreds of  subscriber gifts  there, too!
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My first exposure to homeschooling happened when I was on the chemistry and physics faculty at Ball State University. My best students were the homeschool graduates. Since that time, I have worked with many homeschoolers, and I can say without a doubt that homeschooling is the best environment for a child to learn science. There are three reasons for this.

First, homeschooling allows the student to explore his or her own personal interests. Suppose, for example, you are reading a book about insects. Your student learns that some insects (like ants) are social. They live in big colonies in which all the individuals have assigned roles. This interests him, and he wants to learn more. If he were in school, he wouldn’t be allowed to do that. There are other subjects that “must” be covered, and the class just doesn’t have any more time to spend on social insects. At home, however, he is free to learn all he wants. He can read more books about insects, keep an ant farm, and investigate the insects in his backyard. He can get his hands dirty and find out for himself! That’s how real scientists learn.

Second, homeschooling allows the student to examine the controversies that exist in the sciences. Most schools are afraid of teaching scientific controversies because they are . . . well . . . controversial. As a homeschooler, you can examine those subjects, and your student will benefit, because studies clearly show that science is learned better when it is explored in the setting of controversy. As Dr. Jonathan Osborne wrote in the journal Science , “Research shows that argumentation in the classroom can improve conceptual learning.”

Finally, you are free to teach it from a Christian perspective. As Dr. Loren Eiseley (who was Benjamin Franklin Professor of Anthropology and the History of Science at the University of Pennsylvania) once said, “In one of those strange permutations of which history yields occasional rare examples, it is the Christian world which finally gave birth in a clear, articulate fashion to the experimental method of science itself.” Since Christianity produced science, it only stands to reason that those who study it from a Christian perspective will learn it better.

You might not know a lot about science, but that doesn’t matter. You can give your child the best science education in the world by being willing to get your hands dirty and explore God’s Creation with him!

Dr. Jay L. Wile holds an earned Ph.D. in nuclear chemistry. He is an author, international speaker, and adjunct professor at Anderson University. His award-winning elementary curriculum teaches science using history as a guide, and he recently published a new high-school chemistry course, Discovering Design with Chemistry. You can see all of his books at Berean Builders Publishing,   http://www.bereanbuilders.com .
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Contest Corner  
For the month of July

There are a lot of history lovers in our house, and while most of the books are great for the older crew, the younger crew still wants to be involved in a good book. Solomon Schmidt did just this when he wrote the U.S. History Bites collection that so far includes U.S. History Bites and U.S. Presidential History Bites . My eight-year-old fell in love instantly, and so did Dad!

We had the chance to look at both books for this review. The author, Solomon Schmidt is a kid, yes, a kid! He wrote these books for kids using words that kids can understand, yet still adding in all the facts that need to be included when it comes to learning about our history and our presidents. This made it easy for the kids to read and understand!

U.S. History Bites covers thirty topics from American History. These start with Christopher Columbus and Exploration and end with The New Millennium, covering everything in-between like The American Revolution, The Trail of Tears, both World Wars and even The Cuban Missile Crisis and Watergate! All the main topics of American History that every American needs to know about!

Each topic is only about two pages in length, so short and sweet, yet informative. Following the pages of information, you will find Review Bites. This section includes the vocabulary from the section, a fun fact and some simple review questions. These questions are easy to answer, and the answers are listed at the bottom of the page. This was the time when I would quiz my son on what he read, and having him able to answer these questions made both of us happy.

The U.S. Presidential History Bites is the same setup as the original U.S. History Bites . This one book has all the presidents from Washington to Trump listed in it! This was a surprise to me, but one I loved to see! The difference with this one is that I noticed four pages instead of two, full of reading and facts. We also had some good pictures to go with each president.

Each one of the presidents was followed with the same vocabulary, fun fact, and review questions. These were once again easy to answer and yet full of information. I knew that my son had learned something when he was able to answer the questions without hesitation. (. . .)

I am so glad that we found books that appeal to the kids and that deal with history in this way. I am impatiently waiting for Solomon to write more books! If he does, I want to add them all to our shelf and into the hands of my kids! These books need to be on the shelves of every American that has kids in the house. Every kid should have access to these books, and the information they give to us!


YOU can WIN both books for your homeschool!

TO ENTER: Click on over to our entry page and follow the instructions! Contest ends at midnight, the last day of the month.
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