Science Curriculum. . . as a longtime homeschooler, it's not the curriculum that teaches kids science.
A few kids grab hold of science and love it no matter what science books are lying around. Remarkably, I think the reverse is true for all other kids, no matter what kind of great science curriculum we have--it's tough for them to grab hold of it.
That's because when we talk about science, we're talking about how the world works. Reading about it is better after you've seen it, smelled it, etc. Making science "homeschooly" is surprisingly do-able. In our communities there are people, scientists, engineers, doctors, dentists, lab techs., nurses, all kinds of people, retired science teachers, who we already know just what our kids need to know, only they can show and tell far better than our science curriculum, and than we. Making cookies for a science-oriented retired neighbor, and asking that person to come over during the eclipse and expain the whole thing, was a great, great idea. Doctors, who you know can help your family do a dissection. Once we asked the dentist to explain teeth-related anatomy. Again, because we knew our dentist really well, home-make cookies were the cost!!! .Real people from the community infuse science with learnability! The kids never, never, never forget it!!!
Surprisingly!!! those people are SO available to us!!!
Whenever we found local people, local science and medical people, (retired ones are the best!) to come over and share what they know with us, dissect something with us, look at the eclipse with us, etc. that's when science comes alive, and not just for that moment.
