Homeschooling and Everyday Science
How to Homeschool Science: Top Ten Easy Ways to Introduce Science and Make it Fun!
When my children were young, we loved Alton Brown’s cooking show, Good Eats. Many of the episodes were rich in food history and science. To this day, I can’t use yeast without thinking of Alton Brown with his burping sock puppet! He has a gift for making food science fun and memorable, encouraging us to love science and want to learn more.
Everyday science is not only found in the kitchen. It can be found in the garden, in the garage, and everywhere! It surrounds us in ordinary activities, which offer us countless teaching moments. As home educators, we can take those everyday, mundane activities and use them to explore science in fun and creative ways. All we need is an open mind and a curious heart.
You don’t need a lab or fancy equipment to introduce science to younger children. All you need is a sense of wonderment. This is what will build a solid foundation for future, more complex science studies. As the old saying goes, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” We can lead our children to great academic investigations, but how do we get them to drink it in? To do that, we start with enjoyable lessons and cultivating wonder when they’re young.
Let’s Get Started!
In this blog post, we’ll explore ten easy and enjoyable ways to introduce science into your homeschool, turning everyday moments into fun lessons that spark curiosity and understanding. Hopefully, this will whet your appetite and motivate you to find other inventive ways to bring science alive in the most mundane of life’s everyday events.
Ready to make science fun and accessible for your children? I’ve included a few links to articles and videos that can help you explore the subject further…
Bake Cookies
Mixing flour, sugar, and eggs creates a mixture. The heat from the oven causes chemical reactions that turn the dough into delicious cookies. Discuss the concepts of mixtures, chemical reactions, and heat transfer. And, hey, don’t hesitate to throw in an episode of Good Eats!
Make Ice Cubes
Pour water into ice cube trays and place them in the freezer. Observe the freezing process and discuss how water changes from liquid to solid. Explore the concept of how the state of matter changes with temperature.
Feed Your Pets
You can talk about pets’ nutritional needs and how their bodies digest food. Ask your children questions. What do they think about the biology of digestion, the role of different nutrients, and the importance of a balanced diet for animals? Conversely, how is it different or the same for us humans? (For your pet-loving children, see MacBeth Derham’s fun animal biology courses: The Dog or The Cat.)
Garden
Plant seeds and nurture a garden. Discuss photosynthesis, the process by which plants convert sunlight into energy. Explore the life cycle of plants, soil composition, and the water cycle. Gardening is also a lesson in the importance of seeing a project throughout, from beginning to end, lest their plants die from lack of watering and weeding.
Wash Dishes
Encourage observation skills to study how soap interacts with grease and water to clean dishes. Discuss the properties of soap, emulsification, and surface tension. Whoever thought that doing the dishes could be so interesting?!
Fix a Bike
Repairing a bicycle involves understanding mechanics and physics. This is a great opportunity to observe and discuss gears, levers, and the principles of force and motion. Next, have your child look closely to figure out how the bicycle converts pedaling into forward motion.
Cook Eggs
Cooking eggs provides a lesson in protein denaturation. Examine how heat changes the structure of proteins, turning liquid egg whites into a solid. Explore the concepts of heat transfer and the science of cooking.
Make a Sandwich
Building a sandwich involves layers and textures. Discuss the properties of different ingredients and how they combine to create a tasty and balanced meal. Conversely, look at how some ingredients do not combine well. Explore the nutritional science behind food combinations.
Observe the Weather
Take note of daily weather patterns and discuss the science behind them. Explore the concepts of meteorology, including cloud formation, precipitation, and temperature changes. Discuss how weather forecasts are made. (Another great MacBeth Derham online course: Weather!)
Tune a Musical Instrument
Adjusting the strings on a guitar or piano involves understanding sound waves and vibrations. Observe how the sound changes as you make the adjustments. Discuss the physics of sound, frequency, and pitch. You can go even deeper by experimenting with how different materials produce different sounds.
Even More Everyday Science
There are so many other examples I could add, including:
- Changing the oil in the car
- Observing the moon phases
- Turning on a light switch
- Taking medication or vitamins
- Building a sandcastle
What other examples can you give? To continue the discussion, join me and other homeschooling parents at our Homeschool Connections Community or our Facebook group!
Fun, Online Science Resource!
At Homeschool Connections, we offer fun, engaging online science courses! With a wide range of high-interest topics, our courses include fascinating subjects like Astronomy, Spaceflight Science, Megafauna, Anatomy & Physiology, Geology, and so much more! Each course is crafted to spark curiosity and deepen students’ understanding of the world around them, making science both exciting and educational.
Conclusion
By acknowledging and welcoming these everyday opportunities, we can make science a natural and engaging part of homeschooling. As a result, our children’s curiosity and love for learning will grow and set the stage for future, more formal lessons. Simple, hands-on experiences not only teach key scientific concepts but also foster critical thinking and wonderment. So, the next time you’re in the kitchen, garden, or even fixing a bike, remember—there’s always a new opportunity to explore the fascinating world of science!
For more on this topic see Alex Resch’s excellent interview on the Homeschooling Saints Podcast here:
