Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments science curriculum like Beast Academy?

There is a lot you can do with science with evolution or creation coming up. I don't recall either being covered in any of my classes - either high school or university. Evolution was discussed in relation to changes to species especially micro-organisms but not in the grand scheme of the beginning of life. I think evolution was assumed but I met my first creationists at university.

In the rest of the World (outside of the USA) there just isn't the hysteria around religion versus evolution as though one threatens the other at all.

A couple to trips to the local library/Wikipedia/other online encyclopedias are all that's needed, frankly. There is SO much more to explore in the Physical sciences without the need for excitement over this topic ( either way).

I can see how the home schooling curricula providers may skirt around this because many home schooling families are home schooling purely because they want their children to grow up not exposed to theories like Evolution etc - it would be bad for business ( and these people are not doing this for fun, right?). Better for them to let sleeping dogs lie and let the individual families decide on their own than risk upsetting their customer bases.

Like Puffin, Evolution was just assumed in the UK and I went to Catholic schools! I wouldn't black ball a curriculum just because it didn't cover a contentious issue and instead left covering it and the depth/breadth of coverage to the children's parents myself...

I agree with everything else you said but this. There is such a wide and varied world populace of homeschoolers now that this is really not the average anymore. Even here in South Africa the mix of reasons for choosing homeschooling as an educational option are so diverse that I think you would have a hard time trying to decide on the "main reason".

Also, the variety of family types who homeschool are just not quantifiable by a specific imaginary stereotype. People that choose this educational path vary from professionals (doctors, teachers, lawyers) through to seasonal workers who move around a lot. You get those who homeschool because their kid struggles, because he is moving too quickly, because they want less pressure for their child and because their child is an aspiring actor/sportsperson. Some choose it because they live too far out, because there is no school that caters to their child's learning style and for allergies or health issues.

Yes there are those who choose to homeschool to avoid (or to push) certain topics, and there are those who do it to provide a wider variety of topics and learning opportunities as well. You just cannot make a blanket statement like this about what is arguably the world's fastest growing learning style without annoying those of us who are choosing this path for our own varied reasons.

And I have found that many curriculum providers DID start out as someone wanting to make a discernable difference in education - that it grew into a business model that supports hundred of various curriculum and support providers is just further proof of the invalidity of your statement.

It shouldn't be - it should be a wonderful opportunity to teach respect and acceptance of everyone's point of view in my opinion as well as a great chance to show kids that there is not necessarily one absolute truth that is infallible.

But I hear you and I know it's not like that in reality.

I think adults could use this as a wonderful teaching opportunity of even how to respectfully debate AND how to think critically for themselves.

I guess I am spoilt by our unschooling group where the kids openly discuss this, share their ideas and accept everyone's point of view and allow all the kids to express their feelings on the topic without judgement, pressure or angst.

No offense intended, but you're obviously not familiar with these debates in the US, because the creationists love your message, and they use that argument all the time. It's one of the main pillars of their strategy.

Not as meaty as Beast Academy, but the Max Axiom series provide a nice introduction to many science topics. Our library carries them. I don't necessarily see them as worth investing in due to price for length and depth but definitely worth checking out from the library for elementary age.

*boggle*

How? My children have been asking me questions that naturally led to discussion of evolution since they were like 3. How old is the earth? How did we get here? Where did human beings come from? Why is X species not around any more? Any visit to a natural history museum is utterly devoid of sense without discussion of evolution. Any discussions of the epochs of geologic time makes no sense without it.

Which reminds me, Skeptic magazine has some great material in their Junior edition:
http://www.skeptic.com/junior_skeptic/

Different than coursework, but the tone, content, and depth of thoughtwork is in lines with what I saw in Beast Academy.