Please scroll down for ideas on teaching science through home education.
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Young children
have a natural curiosity about how the world works and science
is essentially about discovering more about this through research
and experimentation.
The home-educated children I know tend to retain an enthusiasm for science throughout their lives and the world is full of opportunities to experiment and research. This means that young children may be best learning by exploring the world around them, with some guidance and plenty of opportunity to ask 'why' things work. Older kids could benefit from more structure and perhaps a tutor, like the one advertised on the right.
We have two younger children and follow an autonomous approach to learning, which means we tend to seize opportunities to explore science when they occur naturally. An obversation of how beautiful the moon looks might lead to a conversation about gravity, the tides, eclipses, reflection of sunlight and space travel.
Often we don't know the answer, in which case we do research together (on the Internet or in illustrated books) to discover it - whether it is the name of an insect we have found or why when you fill a cup of water the top of the water is higher than the edge of the cup.
We have also recently started doing experiments (the experiments themselves often only take a minute or two, but can lead to long fascinating discussions). For some great suggestions of easy science experiments, see:
Helping
your child learn science and
Creative Chemistry
NB, The details at the top of this page are for a chemistry tutor offering science tution in Nottingham and Derby and throughout Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.