My primary desire with this blog is to find solutions to the problems that drive us crazy. With respect to homeschooling, I know that one of the most crazy-making aspects of it is choosing curriculum. You spend HOURS researching. By the time you’re done, you can’t even remember what you’ve looked at and what you haven’t. If you make a choice that doesn’t fit, you start the process all over again.
Most of my education as a clinical psychologist wasn’t on treating patients, but on research. I really enjoy researching things and decided to research curriculum so you don’t have to! I thought science would be a quicker curriculum to research, and while it may have taken me less time than other subjects, IT TOOK ME A VERY LONG TIME. I have tremendous respect for the people who make their living by reviewing curricula. Whew!
How This List of the Best Homeschool Science Curriculum Will Save You Time
But you don’t want to read my whine about how long this took, do you? 🙂 You want the list of the best science curriculum! But before I share it with you, I want to explain how I’ve organized the research. You can read this list of my opinions of the best curricula, pin it, and share it–and I hope you do!
But the real gold I’ve produced is a complete PDF of all the best science curricula for elementary, junior high, and high school students. You can look through the tables within the PDF to find Christian, Catholic, or secular curricula. You can look for curricula by cost, difficulty, teacher involvement, or materials required. But even better, you can click on the BEST REVIEWS for each curriculum. No more Googling for you!! You can save the PDF to your computer for when your child reaches the next level of education or if you want to find something new. You can form your OWN opinions of the best homeschool science curriculum with this list.
The best news of all is that I’m not going to charge you for this great resource. You’ll get it for free when you subscribe to any of my email lists (which includes a Freebies Only list, meaning you’ll only be notified when a valuable freebie is ready for subscribers). Sound good? Click on the picture of the table below, add your email, and BAM! It’s yours as quick as it takes vinegar to react with baking soda. Now on to what, in my opinion, is the best of the best.
Best Elementary Homeschool Science Curriculum
Best Christian Science Curriculum
God’s Design for Science by Answers in Genesis is my top pick. Why? Because it takes the least amount of time to teach, is very interesting (I learn new things every week!), and is light on experiments. As a creationist, this perspective on science is also very important to me. But don’t worry, I’ve got you covered if you’re looking for something else. A very close second for best Christian elementary science curriculum is Berean Builders. I love that it’s written by Jay Wile and would be excellent preparation for higher-level science. I’m also crazy about the fact that it’s organized historically. How wonderful to have your science curriculum coincide with your history studies!
Best Secular Science Curriculum
Just because I’m calling a science curriculum secular doesn’t mean that it’s anti-creationist. None of the curriculum I’ve included on my complete list of the best (which you can get by scrolling down) is anti-creation. Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, my top pick in this area is Real Science 4 Kids. I love it because the lessons are short, engaging, and very easy to understand. The chemistry explanations are my favorite!
Best Science Curriculum for Experiment Lovers
Supercharged Science is my top pick. This curriculum is perfect for kids who love to investigate (and teachers, too). If you are raising a future inventor, I can’t think of a better choice. Runner-up in this category is R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey. One of the criticisms of it is it has too many labs. The reviews say they’re a lot of fun, so if you’re a lab lover but you don’t want to go full boar, this may be the perfect option.
Other Options
Not what you’re looking for? No worries! I have included several other elementary science curricula and all the info you need in the complete PDF. Click Here to Get the PDF!
Best Junior High Homeschool Science Curriculum
Both of my top picks for junior high homeschool science are Christian curricula.
Apologia is my favorite. It has just the right mix of interesting, conversational text with labs and it’s not expensive.
Runner-up is The Rainbow, which also has a conversational text and might be easier for some students. It is more expensive, however.
Best High School Homeschool Science Curriculum
Again my top picks are both Christian curricula.
Apologia is once again my favorite. Three of my children have used it and have enjoyed it. The criticism that it does not prepare students for college is unwarranted in my experience.
My second-place pick may be surprising. It’s Switched-On Schoolhouse or Monarch (the online version of SOS). I have been asked by parents of students who struggle with science what they should choose and this is it. It’s less challenging and the least demanding for teachers.
One final option is especially appropriate for high school and that is outside classes through local co-ops. The advantage is your student may enjoy doing labs with others and you won’t have to purchase equipment. If you have an advanced student, consider dual enrollment or AP classes online through programs like Pennsylvania Homeschoolers. My son had an excellent experience taking Advanced Chemistry through them.
If your students struggle with grammar or find it boring, you’ll love these free grammar websites that can serve as a complete curriculum, a great complement to your studies, or a fun, occasional break. I’ve reviewed dozens of grammar websites (so you don’t have to) and have determined that these are the best of the best! If you’re looking for grammar games be sure to check out this popular post.
Grammar games are included with the Grammar Galaxy lessons your student will love!
Best Free Grammar Websites for Beginner to Upper Level Students
If you’re looking for a complete, free language arts curriculum, look no further. I’m crazy about Easy Peasy All in One Homeschool because it offers pre-planned instruction online. If you want only grammar lessons, students can complete just those sections.
I’m crazy about the Virtual Grammar Lab because it provides a search engine of grammar websites for grammar concept and type of activity. Search results tell you if the activity is easy, medium, or difficult. It could serve as a complete curriculum if you used a scope and sequence like this one from Easy Grammar. You can also sign up for a free account so you can track your students’ progress.
I’m crazy about Daily Grammar because it can easily serve as a complete grammar curriculum. Lessons include practice questions and quizzes follow every five lessons.
While the English Media Lab is designed primarily for English as Second Language students, I’m crazy about the breadth of activities listed at this site for all students of grammar. If you’re working with a scope and sequence of some sort, this site will provide you with everything you need to teach and enrich the study of grammar.
Best Free Grammar Websites for Beginner to Intermediate Students
I’m crazy about these classic videos that I remember from childhood. If I remember them, our kids will, too! You can find the grammar videos among all the School House Rock videos on this Disney curated playlist.
I’m crazy about Grammar Practice Park because it offers games to teach grammar concepts like proper / common nouns and sentence type for grades 3 through 5. Grammar Gold, also through Harcourt School Publishers, offers grammar downloads for grades 1 through 5.
I’m crazy about Arcademic Skil Builders because it has the most game-like interface of the websites I reviewed. While it doesn’t offer a lot of games (Furious Frogs, Word Frog, Verb Viper, and Word Invasion are the true grammar games), your students are likely to enjoy them.
I’m crazy about Grammar Gorillas because it’s a great alternative to sentence diagramming. Beginners can choose nouns and verbs from sentences and intermediate learners can identify all the main parts of speech to earn bananas.
Once your students know the main part of speech, they can do Mad Libs online. I’m crazy about Mad Libs because rather than just identifying nouns and adjectives, kids have to choose them. As with any Mad Libs, the results can be entertaining.
I’m crazy about Grammar Ninja because it’s a great way to entice boys to practice identifying parts of speech. Throwing stars get stuck in the words that are chosen correctly and “ninjas” are encouraged for correct responses.
I’m crazy about Maggie’s Earth Adventures because of the real-life contexts for the games. Nouns and verbs get sorted into recycling bins. If a student makes a mistake, the sand gets littered with that word’s trash. The editing game involves helping a reporter get his grammar correct by retyping. Other games help students with prefixes and suffixes and word matching.
I’m crazy about Grammar Blast because it offers grade-level quizzes (for 2nd through 5th grade) that mimic questions kids will encounter on standardized testing. Kids will like earning points for correct responses on multiple grammar subjects.
I’m crazy about Grammar Man because the site uses comics (in printed and movie form) to teach grammar concepts. There are some excellent printables on vocabulary and reading here as well.
I’m crazy about Quill because of its beautiful interface and the practice students will get typing their answers, rather than just choosing a multiple choice radio button.
I’m crazy about Grammar Bytes because its exercises offer teaching followed by funny responses to your answers and even more importantly, a thorough explanation for incorrect answers. Power Points, online exercises, and accompanying handouts are available.
This is one of the most unique grammar websites and may be super motivating for your students. Movie clips are used to teach grammar concepts. There are exercises and associated worksheets.
I’m crazy about Grammar Arcade because it also has a true gaming interface that middle and high school students will enjoy. There are 10 concepts for students to study. Note that if you are sent to Classzone’s main page, you will need to click on California on the map and then click GO to access the grammar arcade.
I’m crazy about the British Council’s Learn English because it teaches students a grammar concept and follows the lesson with interactive quizzes which can earn points. Fifty grammar concepts are covered.
I’m crazy about the Blue Book site because has a number of excellent free grammar lessons and quizzes and in particular has a great grammar pretest and mastery test.
I’m crazy about this website because it can serve as a complete grammar course for your upper level students. Students must score 80% or better on quizzes before continuing.
I’m crazy about the Guide to Grammar and Writing because it’s an extremely thorough treatment of grammar with associated quizzes that could serve as a complete grammar curriculum for your upper level students.
My youngest three kids read Mr. Popper’s Penguins for the literature class we do with another family. Two of my kids also completed a unit study using the book through a larger homeschool co-op. They enjoyed it, but I was stunned when the book unexpectedly came to life for my family. I will share some ideas for turning the book into a fun winter unit study, but I will end with the information that really brought the study to life for us (and no, we weren’t sent a penguin!).
The Book
You’ll want to start by getting Mr. Popper’s Penguins from the library, or purchase it in paperback or digitally very inexpensively.
My husband’s friend, Paul Dowkontt, recently wrote him and other friends about his research and visit to a penguin colony in Antarctica. The kids and I were so fascinated by Paul’s superb writing and photographs that I asked if I could share this with you. If you enjoy it like we did, please comment so we can let Paul know. I have added a couple of notes of explanation.
We’ve been making good progress on assembling and testing our ANITA instrument. On Sunday we were given our first day off. My friend Dennis the Ice Driller has a good friend who does penguin research out at Cape Royds. She arranged for us to go out with her for the day to see the penguin colony at Cape Royds. We went by snowmobile. The 25-mile trip out there took us about an hour going non-stop.
Here’s a map of Cape Royds.
This is the McMurdo parking lot for snowmobiles. It is at the edge of McMurdo Sound. Observation hill (Ob hill) is on the left:
Getting our snowmobiles ready for the trip:
Here we are strapping down the survival bags to a sled. Because the weather can change so quickly here in Antarctica, we are required to take survival bags for everyone, radios, and all our ECW gear. The survival bags contain tents, sleeping bags, and food. We radio the McMurdo firehouse our destination, departure time, estimated return time, and number of souls going. If a storm would kick in, we might not get back to McMurdo for a few days. If we don’t report back in by our estimated arrival time, they will send out the search-and-rescue crew to find us. Safety is of primary concern here in Antarctica.
I am ready and excited to start our snowmobile trip. I’m wearing all my ECW gear, including “big red” parka, wind pants, bunny boots, gloves with liners, balaclava, wool ski hat, and helmet.
On our snowmobile, Dennis the ice driller was the driver and I sat behind him. He weighs about 230 lbs and I weigh 136 lbs. I had about 10 inches of seat space while Dennis kept complaining that he didn’t have enough room. As soon as we started, it became clear that I had to hang on for dear life. We were travelling at about 25 MPH. The sastrugi on the surface of the sea ice gave us constant bumps, jolts, and sideways jarring. After my first 6 breaths, my sunglasses and helmet visor fogged up completely. And on every bump, my wool hat under my helmet slipped slightly down over my eyes. After the first 8 minutes, it was lights-out for me until we reached our destination.
After an hour we arrived at Cape Royds. Dennis and I are both 63 and neither one of us could move to get off the snowmobile because our muscles had stiffened up during the long jarring ride. I finally fell off sideways and then waddled around like a duck for a minute or two. This is our arrival at Cape Royds:
Cape Royds is on the coast and is a roosting site for Adelie penguins. Walking out to the penguin colony:
In 1908 there was a British Antarctic Expedition led by Ernest Shackelton. [Here’s an article for kids about Shackleton.]They built this hut here at Cape Royds. In the past, we were allowed to enter all of the original expedition huts. Inside, they were “frozen in time” exactly as they had been left in the early 1900’s by those early explorers. Today, we were not allowed to enter this hut in order to preserve its historical value.
Fortunately, Google has given us a 360-degree tour of the inside of the hut!
Boxes of food stacked outside the Shackleton Hut from the British Antarctic Expedition of 1908. Roast Mutton was on the menu.
This is the Adelie penguin colony. We were not allowed to go close because it is a protected area. Researches have permits allowing them to walk amongst the penguins. Because they have no predators out of the water, the Adelies are unafraid of humans walking amongst them. Our host researcher, Jean Pennecook, does Skype video calls to school classrooms back in the USA while surrounded by Adelies. The kids love it.
Adelies are cute little penguins about 20” tall. They walk with a funny waddle and with their wings spread out wide to the side. On the ice, they waddle and also slide on their bellies. It amazes me how they can get around this rugged terrain with such short legs. In the water, however, they swim with great speed and agility.
I was surprised how far the Adelies had to walk from the colony on land out to the open sea where they could feed. The frozen sea ice extended over a mile and took them a long time to get to the open sea. Here are two Adelies walking back from the sea:
Cape Royds also has a hut used by researchers. It has an outhouse, a phone to McMurdo, and some cooking facilities. The researchers usually stay in tents because the hut is small. They can stay out here for a month or two during the Summer roosting season, getting resupplied by helicopter.
Language arts is arguably the most important subject to teach. Thankfully, there are so many wonderful free resources out there to teach it! I’m sharing 100 links that include hundreds of worksheet, game, notebooking and reference pages for you to print. I’ve organized them so you can use them to teach grammar, handwriting/copywork, literature, phonics/reading, spelling/vocabulary, and writing.
You’ll want to pin this post for later because it contains links for students of all ages. Please visit my Pinterest board for graphics of all these printables and the iHomeschool Network bloggers other 100 list posts.
I’ll admit it. I’ve missed opportunities to give to charities like Samaritan’s Purse because I wasn’t organized. This week, we will make sure this doesn’t happen again! With the holidays approaching, charities and ministries are counting on our gifts of time and money. Here’s how to get started:
#1 Discuss options and pray
The number of charities and ministries vying for my family’s time and money is frankly overwhelming. I need to consult with my husband and children about where God is calling us to give. Of course, we don’t want to be so planned that we can’t respond to the Holy Spirit’s prompting. But neither do we want to be wondering what to do about every need.
You may have discussed your budget for charitable giving during the Organize Your Finances Challenge. If not, this is the time to talk about how much money the Lord is calling you to give, aside from your tithe. Of course, that amount can change, but at least you will know approximate limits. You will also need to talk about your schedule and whether you can commit to one-time or ongoing service.
Make a list of charities you already give to or have the opportunity to give to. Pray about them and come to agreement about how you will invest the time and money God has blessed your family with. One thing you may want to consider is the personal connections God has used to introduce you to ministries. For example, we often give to missionaries we know personally because they know the needs of the people they’re working with and ensure the money gets to the people. That isn’t to say we don’t give to organizations where there is no personal connection, but our loyalty is to those we know.
#2 Research
Once you have selected charities you would like to get involved with or to continue supporting, find out where the greatest needs are or where your family is uniquely suited to be of assistance. Many ministries have specific requests during the holidays, for example. Others may have days set aside for volunteers. Last year, we helped pack meals for Feed My Starving Children and I was so thrilled that:
My children were allowed to help
Our family learned what a blessing it is to have food to eat and to have an education
We discovered how much fun it can be to volunteer
I’m thankful that our good friend found out about this ministry and has been the liaison between our homeschooling group and the church sponsoring the ministry. We learned when they most need our help so we can volunteer again this week.
#3 Use your calendar and reminders
Add any deadlines or dates you find to your calendar for the upcoming months. I’ve had our meal packing day on the calendar for weeks so I wouldn’t plan anything else for that time. If, for example, you learn that your shoe boxes for Samaritan’s Purse are due in early November, set up a reminder at least a week ahead to take the kids shopping for items to fill them.
#4 Organize
Many of the charities we support (including our church) want us to buy gifts for needy children. If I don’t plan for this and keep them in order, I can end up spending too much money or getting confused about why I bought what I bought. I love to shop for these gifts online during Black Friday week. I find fabulous deals on toys my kids are too old for or already have. I buy them to use for charity gifts. I keep them organized before I wrap them with the mGifts app. You can also use a Christmas gift list like this one.
If you make gifts for charities or ministries, set up a gift making station. If possible, make an assembly line and let your kids get in on the action.
If you or your children are donating money to a charity, you may want to create a giving jar so the giving is tangible for kids. Or prepare a giving jar like this one with ideas for serving others. It’s definitely not too early to get started!
My daughter, Elaina, loves the two girls around her age, Carlota and Blanca, but there’s just one problem. Their English far surpasses my daughter’s Spanish.
Foreign Language Curriculum Needs
The answer was obviously to have Elaina study Spanish. But I had another problem. I needed a curriculum that was:
self-directed (I can’t fit in any more one-on-one teaching time with my five children)
easy (I also don’t have time to help my daughter if it gets difficult, because I’m trying to learn Spanish myself)
fun (I knew my daughter would stay motivated to learn if the lessons were presented in a variety of formats and aided conversation)
I was thrilled to have the opportunity to try Middlebury’s Elementary Spanish curriculum with my daughter. I was interested to see if it would be a good fit for the rest of my children as well. The video made me think it would be.
Our Results
The curriculum met our criteria and then some! Elaina was able to do Spanish on her own and found it easy!
I loved hearing truly conversational Spanish lessons being taught, rather than isolated words. The bonus for me was that I could see how Elaina was progressing through the lessons with the clear parent/teacher dashboard.
The final criterion for success for me was that the curriculum be affordable. Middlebury is offering homeschoolers a 10% discount on their initial order with code: HomeschoolFirst10.
Even better, Middlebury is giving away 10 one-semester courses (the level of your choice, AP excluded, value $119). Be sure to enter to win below and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
I’m a Christian psychologist turned homeschooling mother of six. My life can be a little crazy, so I look for sanity-saving ideas to use and share. I hope you’ll read my About page to learn more.
My primary desire with this blog is to find solutions to the problems that drive us crazy. With respect to homeschooling, I know that one of the most crazy-making aspects of it is choosing curriculum. You spend HOURS researching. By the time you’re done, you can’t even remember what you’ve looked at and what you haven’t. If you make a choice that doesn’t fit, you start the process all over again.
Best Secular Science Curriculum
Best Science Curriculum for Experiment Lovers
