Homeschool Science

Once you’ve found the homeschool science curriculum mandated by your state – you can find your state’s education website here at the United States Department of Education site if you have not yet done this – nces.ed.gov you may still be looking for some more support for actually planning what you’ll be doing in the classroom. This article shares some hints and tips for homeschool science.

The National Standards and Homeschool Art

The place to find the national standards for science curriculum is the National Science Teachers Association website at  nsta.org. The national curriculum presents eight content categories and five concepts and processes. The eight content categories are:

  • earth and space science
  • history and nature of science
  • life science
  • physical science
  • science and technology
  • science as inquiry
  • science in personal and social perspectives
  • unifying concepts and processes in science

You can see that some of them are similar to categories from the past like “Earth Science” and “Biology,” while others take a metacognitive approach to study scientific inquiry as a topic. The five concepts and categories are:

  • Change, constancy, and measurement
  • Evidence, models, and explanation
  • Evolution and equilibrium
  • Form and function
  • Systems, order, and organization

Even without very deep thought, one can see that these can be crossed in various ways with the content categories.

References for Homeschool Science

Any of these references may be handy to have for browsing, assignments, or lessons ideas:

  • The New York Public Library Science Desk Reference
  • Science almanacs, e.g., Popular Science Almanac for Kids, Discover Science Almanac
  • Various Time-Life Science series
  • An encyclopedia of science
  • A history of science, e.g., Science and Technology in World History: An Introduction, The History of Science and Technology: A Browser’s Guide to the Great Discoveries, Inventions, and the People Who Made Them from the Dawn of Time to Today, The Scientists: A History of Science Told Through the Lives of Its Greatest Inventors, and/or Technology in World Civilization: A Thousand-Year History

Supplies and Tools for Homeschool Science

Some supplies and tools for homeschool science will be very particular to a specific experiment or study, but here are some items that may prove useful.

  • Measuring tools, such as rulers, liquid measures, scales, tape measures
  • Observation tools, such as magnifying glass, microscope, telescope, binoculars
  • Specimen collection and maintenance tools, such as butterfly net, ant farm, terrarium, aquarium
  • Calculation tools, such as a calculator or science/math software with graphing ability
  • Lab equipment and chemistry supplies
  • Electronics equipment
  • Levers, wedges, pulleys, wheels, motors
  • Observation recording devices: notebook, tape recorder, digital camera

Projects for Homeschool Science          

There are a large number of suggestions for science projects available at [please fill in the main URL from which readers can reach the many science project articles I’ve completed recently for you]. These articles include hints for science projects at different grade levels in a large number of science areas, from Earth Science to Computer Science, along with some general articles with general information about science projects.

  • Science Fair Projects: juliantrubin.com
  • Science Fair Project Ideas: sciencebuddies.org

Web Resources for Homeschool Science

There are a number of really excellent web resources that can be incorporated into the homeschool science class:

  • Johnson Space Center Digital Image Collection images.jsc.nasa.gov
  • NASA Solar System Exploration > Kids solarsystem.nasa.gov
  • Discovery Channel Explore By Subject dsc.discovery.com
  • Hooked on Science: hookedonscience.org
  • Science News for Kids: sciencenewsforkids.org
  • Science Daily: sciencedaily.com

Field Trips for Homeschool Science

Visiting any type of biome or ecological community, including lakes, rivers, oceans, deserts, mountains, grasslands, marshlands, swamps, etc. in any latitude and observing the plants and animals can be a valuable science homeschool field trip. Here are some other ideas, too:

  • Planetarium
  • Aquarium
  • Science and Industry Museum
  • Natural History Museum
  • Aerospace Museum
  • Meteorological station
  • Watch scientists at work in laboratories and field settings, e.g., chemists, wildlife experts, etc.

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