Hello! I’m looking for a book recommendation or any other resources for my 13 year old. Our homeschooling friends are in the young earth belief and really only use Apologia for science. I am pretty open minded when it comes to how the earth started and love learning about all the possibilities and I teach from that point of view, too. We’re Christians and love Jesus, but get the idea from others in our homeschooling community that we aren’t AS Christian if we don’t believe in Young Earth Creationism. I need some books or resources for my 13 year old so he can defend his faith and at the same time his openness to evolution and science in general. Thank you! So glad I stumbled upon this website and community!
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Hello! Welcome to the forum! I’ve found it very helpful as well to be able to ask questions among a group that does not assume a YEC point of view.
In case you haven’t already come across it, here’s BioLogos’s resource page for educators, with some curriculum and other book recommendations: K-12 Educators Resource Center - BioLogos
I don’t have any children at the middle school level yet, so hopefully others will chime in with what they’ve found helpful. For what it’s worth, I used Apologia in high school and while the biology textbook was from a YEC perspective, I don’t remember that topic coming up in the chemistry textbook – I really appreciated Jay Wile as an author because he wrote with a conversational style that helped me to not hate chemistry, so there is that.
@amatt
We just finished Science Geek Sam and his Secret Logbook that @kendra reviewed here: New Book for Middle School Students: Science Geek Sam and his Secret Logbook - Article - BioLogos
It was a fun read aloud and very validating for them to see someone like themselves as a protagonist. (My kids are 13, 11, and 9)
Hi, Amatt, and welcome to the forum.
I’ll just put Novare Science and Math out here – not as an endorsement since I’ve never used or even vetted these myself; but I did review and give advice for a science lab manual for John Mays some years ago, and remember being impressed by what I saw of his lab philosophy then.
They are not YEC, and appear to be robustly Christian [and they do bill themselves as robustly, intellectually challenging – not dismissive of science at large.] What I’m not sure about is if they are high school only or if their resources extend down into the junior high age level. So it could be advanced for what you need.
I also can’t speak to how expensive or not they are. Others here who may have heard of them may be able to chime in on quality or cost of their materials.
They are typical textbook prices. They have an earth science text that some people use in junior high. The downside is they are designed for classroom teachers who have a science background, not homeschool parents. You would have to come up with your own lesson plans and be comfortable enough with the subject matter to teach using just a teacher’s edition. Some homeschooling parents use them though, and I believe the website has some articles about how to use the materials in a homeschool setting.
Amatt, I am just an ordinary person… not a theologian nor a research scientist, but I am a devout Christian who is trying to follow Jesus as best I can. I have authored a very small book explaining to my own grandchildren how the Bible and science can be friends. It is not “professional”, but it is a work of love. I actually posted it here in the BioLogos Homeschool group, and you can see it under the thread entitled “Seeking publisher for Christian Children’s book that believes in evolution” Look on April 26,2018. Non-techie me then went on to self publish it on Amazon for about $10. You can look on Amazon under the title “Billions of Years or Six Days? Nana Help!” Many of my friends are telling me that it is very helpful to them. I hope you will look at it, and even perhaps purchase it. I am making only $1 in royalties per copy sold, so I didn’t publish it to get rich. I published it for people like you.