If teaching high school science in your homeschool gives you the jitters, you’re not alone! But there’s no need to feel ill-equipped. You can do it. And this YouTube playlist for science will help you.
The Ultimate Youtube Playlist for High School Physical Science is made with you in mind. I’m personally not very confident in my ability to explain the sciences, so I made this resource for my own homeschooled high schoolers. But I also know it will be super helpful to you too. Let’s jump right in a talk about how to use it.
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Science from K-8
Remember, from kindergarten all the way up to eighth grade, your goal for most subjects is exposure. Your kids will never master a subject in these years. So get rid of that nagging feeling that you are ruining your kids’ lives if you don’t teach them a certain topic in science, for example. No, you will not ruin their education. You want to expose them to science, history, art, music, literature, and the like so that they can explore their passions and gain a good foundation for high school and beyond.
I can only tell you what has worked for us. Definitely check out Cathy Duffy’s Homeschool curriculum review site for an exhaustive list of science resources.
Our family finally settled on the God’s Design for Science curriculum. This met our family’s priorities in a few key ways:
- multi-level curriculum :: I was able to buy the whole set (four year’s worth of curriculum for $299) and teach all my kids at the same time from K-8th. It has reading sections and assignments that are based on age. So, your 6th grader will have appropriately challenging work compared to your 1st grader. But the whole family can be immersed in the same topics at the same time.
- low price :: You can buy one year’s worth at a time, or the whole curriculum for $299. Granted, $299 is a hefty price tag, but when I considered that my five kids will each get nine years worth of science instruction from this one resource, that comes out to $6.64 science per child per year for science in K-8. Wow! And I will probably be able to get some money from it when I resell it.
- reusable :: This was already explained in the point above, but curriculum that is reusable rather than consumable always gets a high rating in our house!
- biblical worldview :: Having a science curriculum with a Biblical worldview is an important priority for our family, so this curriculum has worked great for us.
- flexible in its use :: You can choose to read the sections and notebook the entire year. We’ve done this many times. Or, this curriculum comes with CD’s for printable worksheets, quizzes, and tests for a more traditional approach.
High School Science
Make sure you check with your state’s requirements for high school graduation requirements. You will also want to consider the expectations of life after high school. Is your child college bound? What do the colleges expect to see on their transcripts?
For now, our high school science path will look like this:
- Apologia Biology
- Bob Jones Physical Science (edited: we switched over to Apologia Physical Science)
- Chemistry (probably Apologia)
- Physics (probably Apologia)
This school year my 9th and 10th graders will be completing Physical Science together. This physical science course is basically an introduction to both chemistry and physics, which they will later study in further depth.
You will want some kind of “spine” for your course. This might be a science encyclopedia or textbook.
We are using the Physical Science textbook from Bob Jones University Press. I was able to find a like-new copy on eBay for much cheaper. I also bought the lab manuals, tests and answer keys, and the teacher editions so that I have the answer keys.
(Edited: This was the original plan, but at the last minute when prepping for our school year, we decided to use Apologia Physical Science instead as our main text. Read about our decision HERE. Homeschool flexibility for the win! The daily flow that I’ve outlined below has not changed. Apologia includes note taking from the text, labs, and tests.)
High School Physical Science :: How it looks on a daily basis
One of my main goals for my high schoolers is that they take control of their education and learn to be as independent as they can. I become a facilitator, mentor, and coach as the kids get older. This is quite the change from the mom-intensive role when you have lots of littles!
So, if you’re wondering if I sit down with my high schoolers and teach them everyday, the answer would be no. I give them the resources and help them come up with a way to study the topic, if the curriculum is not already scripted out.
Here’s how my high schoolers will study physical science this year.
Read the text & outline
I know it sounds a bit boring, but there’s no better way to begin to learn the material than by simply reading the text. Adding the skill of outlining in daily is requiring the student to organize, analyze, and synthesize the information. These are all higher-order thinking skills! In a traditional classroom, the teacher does this hard work and simply repeats it to the student. In this home format, the student is responsible for it all.
Watch the videos from the Youtube Playlist for Science
The playlist is divided out according to the chapter titles in the BJUP textbook. However, you can still easily use this resource no matter which book you choose as your spine. Simply find the correct topic to go with that day’s lesson and click on the hyperlink in the Playlist document. (When you sign-up for the Playlist, save it on your computer, then it will be easy for your kids to find the Playlist and click on the link for each topic).
The beauty of this playlist is that your kids will have scientists and experts teaching them the concepts they need to know. And you won’t have to do the searching on Youtube each day or buy an expensive science course! I’ve done all the work for you.
>> Get access to the Playlist HERE <<
Check out these YouTube channels for additional science resources:
Complete lab activities
The BJUP curriculum comes with student lab books. I am not sure how many of these we will accomplish, so I will have to update this post after we have a year under our belts. But who wouldn’t want to experiment with chemistry and physics concepts in the kitchen and the back yard? Fun times ahead, I’m sure! (especially with four boys in the house!)
Take tests
The BJUP curriculum comes with tests and answer keys. So, this gives me peace of mind with being able to assess whether or not the boys are grasping the information. Plus, we need grades on their transcripts and this is an objective way to accomplish that purpose.
If you were wondering how to teach high school science, this playlist will be a great resource for you!
Are you teaching geography to your middle or high schooler too? You will want to check out my Ultimate Youtube Playlist for World Geography.
