No scientist has achieved their goals or made new findings without plenty of science frustration along the way. With the world of science always changing and growing, there’s so much to learn in so little time! As a homeschool parent or teacher, you may feel this pressure and frustration yourself.
Turning Science Frustration Into Science Success
If you’re struggling to keep up with the many facets of teaching science – labs, reading, quizzes, memory work, etc. – we want to help you turn that frustration into a science success. Through the writing and design of our many science courses at Journey Homeschool Academy, we’ve learned a few ways to help you and your homeschoolers succeed at science, no frustration necessary. And we hope you’ll find science to be fun, too!
For the Teacher Feeling Overloaded With Prep Work
If there’s one thing we know about homeschooling, it’s that the prep work can be a LOT. When you’re responsible for teaching multiple subjects, sometimes to multiple grade levels, it’s totally normal to feel overwhelmed. Science can especially feel time-consuming. There are experiments and labs to plan and execute; there are quizzes and tests to administer and grade. Oftentimes, there’s a lot of reading to supervise.
And on top of it all, you want to make sure that all of the information your student is learning is actually being understood and remembered. That is a lot!
If you’re the teacher feeling overloaded with everything you need to get done to even just teach a single week of science, we’ve got your back. For starters, don’t feel obligated to stick perfectly to the curriculum you’ve chosen. Remember, you’re homeschooling for a reason, and we’re guessing one of those reasons might be flexibility! Feel free to tailor the curriculum to what works best for your family.
If you have time, set aside a half hour the night before the start of each school week. Look over the course material for that week and put it next to your family’s schedule for that week. Gauge what you have time for – and what you don’t. Invest in a homeschool planner, if that helps. And if it doesn’t all get done, it doesn’t! Prep work isn’t a reason for science to become a main frustration in your homeschooling journey.
For the Parent Feeling Like Their Student Doesn’t Care
This is one we hear about a lot: “My kid just doesn’t like science.”
It’s more common with middle and high school students, but it’s a perfect chance to turn a frustration into a success. Check out a few of our blog posts we’ve written just for this very reason!
Engaging Artsy Kids in Science: Fusing Creativity and STEM Education
Inspiring Girls to Embrace Science: Encouraging a Love for STEM
Helping Struggling Students Succeed in Science: Tips and Strategies for Parents
Remember, most kids will always choose playing outside or video games over schooling. It’s our job to reign them back in and encourage them to fall in love with science. And if they love it, they’ll care about getting their work done!
For the Teacher Who Doesn’t Even Like Science
So, we’ve addressed kids who don’t like science, but what about the teacher who doesn’t even like science? This is probably more common than you think! Like your kids, you have a preferred learning style, and science might just not fit into that for you. Perhaps you fall more towards the artsy side of learning instead of STEM.
Again, we totally get it! This is where we tell you that you don’t have to love every subject that you teach. It’s much more important that you have an enthusiasm for your student’s engagement in learning. If you’re excited for them to learn, they will be more excited to learn. Studying the digestive system might gross you out, but you can and should still provide the tools for your student to help them grasp each concept.
Also, as we’ve previously talked about, if a parent shows interest in teaching science, the student is likely to mimic that interest. This is a vice-versa situation! If your student is having fun engaging in science, you might just find yourself learning to love science too. Keep an open mind!
For the Parent Wondering Where to Even Begin
We gotcha. The authors of our science courses at Journey Homeschool Academy are parents and homeschool teachers themselves. They’ve put countless hours of work into making sure that our curriculum is an engaging experience for students and teachers. Homeschooling is a family affair!
To get a glimpse of our science courses, we encourage you to sign up to preview 2 lessons from any of our courses! You’ll be able to better understand how we teach (through actually interesting video instructions), how our course schedule fits into your life, and how you and your student’s learning styles fit into each aspect of our curriculum. Hint: We think they’ll fit quite nicely!
Science frustration is common, but we’re confident that you can turn it into a scientific success.