Series: Teaching Multiple Grade Levels With the Same Curriculum: Science

There are many different ways to teach science with all ages. When your children get into high school this will be a little tricky if they are trying to meet specific credit requirements by taking certain classes. I love combining ages in elementary and you can even do this with middle school and elementary grades. You can read books on specific science subjects, you can do nature studies which count as Science, you can create your own unit studies or you can use a specific curriculum. 

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If you have multiple ages, have you ever thought about teaching some of the subjects at the same time with all of your children? Teaching multiple grades, levels and different ages can be quite taxing if you are using different methods, or different curricula for each subject and each child. If you aren’t careful you could be homeschooling ALL day long! Teaching multiple grades doesn’t have to be overwhelming or difficult though!

In this series I am talking about different ways to do this with curriculum suggestions and ideas for the subjects. This week we are talking about Science!

Homeschool Science Curriculum Suggestions for teaching science with many different ages:

Discovering Nature Series by Queen Homeschool Supply

The Discovering Nature Series is a Charlotte Mason Style Science Curriculum. It is a different approach to science by using nature studies, living book style stories and research on the topics. These books are very flexible and can be used with multiple ages. There are elementary volumes that span many grade and age levels and then there are middle school and highschool volumes. All you need to do is pick a topic and book that interests your family and just look at the suggested age range. We have used Our Animal Friends with my 6 and 8 year old and they loved it! There is no additional teacher guide that needs to be purchased. All you need is one book per student as all of their notebooking pages, drawings and research are included in one book which makes a great keepsake at the end of the year.

Christian Liberty Press Nature Readers

The Nature Readers Series is a six-volume set that covers topics that fascinate young minds and create a desire to read. Beginning with an alphabet of stories about animals, the series progresses through insects, spiders, birds, shellfish, turtles, and more, finally ending with a study of the human senses. Most important is the common theme that everything is a part of God’s wonderful creation. 

What I love most about this series is that each book is a nature reader. There are no additional supplies needed and they are very affordable! These are great for busy seasons in your life when you don’t have time to teach a formal science curriculum. The stories and pictures are so fascinating and interesting and you don’t even realize that you are learning by just reading alone. They can spark your child’s interest to want to further research and study more on certain animals and topics. This is easy to do by checking out books from the library looking up animal videos online etc… These are broken down by grade, but we haven’t used them that way. I usually read them aloud with all ages gathered around me and I have had my oldest son who is in highschool now read them to the younger girls while I am tending to the baby etc.. These are very flexible and a must have in every homeschool!

Considering God’s Creation by Eagle’s Wings

Considering God’s Creation is a creative, in-depth encounter with natural Science from a Biblical perspective. This curriculum is loved by many Charlotte Mason style homeschoolers and is easily adaptable to use with all ages. Cathy Duffy says, “. . .this curriculum seems to come closer than any others I can think of for meeting the needs of a home school family that wants a Christian science curriculum that can be used to teach a broad span of grade levels together.” Included in the curriculum are many beautiful and in depth notebooking/lapbooking pages. It is very in depth and hands on.

When I used it with my son who was in 7th grade, my 1st grader sat and listened daily to the read aloud portions and begged me to let her help with the notebooking pages and coloring animals and assembling the mini books. This is an affordable, fun and detailed Science book that covers so many topics. It is so detailed that you can probably even use it over a two year period and can easily be used with 1st grade through 8th graders!

Apologia Young Explorer Series

The Young Explorer Series from Apologia are science books for elementary students taught by immersing the children into the topics. They are written in a conversational, living book style, utilizing a combination of the Charlotte Mason and Classical Method. When read aloud, they are engaging and interesting and not dry or stuffy like a  science text book.

What I like about this series is that it is easily adaptable to all ages in elementary. There are two different notebooking journals available: a junior otebooking journal for K-3rd grades and a regular notebooking journal for 4-6th and above, making it easy to use with all elementary grades. You will need one reader or audio cd and the notebooks best suited for each of your children. The material is VERY detailed and slightly advanced that I see no problem with using these with middle schoolers if you wanted to keep all of your children learning the same thing and don’t plan on using the Middle school science books.

Check out the other posts in our series:
Teaching Multiple Grade Levels With the Same Curriculum: Bible
Teaching Multiple Grade Levels With the Same Curriculum: History