You just brought that up so you could use the lollipop emoji! That does sound like a great lab, though! I’ve never synthesized any artificial flavors before --that sounds pretty advanced.
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Not to knock “Scratch” – I’m pretty impressed with it myself, but another alternative for those who have dabbled in the free (and now very user-friendly) Linux operating system shells like Ubuntu, there is “Kturtle”. It’s a bit more typing-based than the click-and-drag Scratch, but for that very reason it also gives a great feel for fun graphical programming in a simple environment.
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My father-in-law delegated his Christmas shopping to his new lady-friend last Christmas and she was not clued in to the typical price range (there are only five grandkids and two are babies) and she got my son Lego Mindstorms. He was so ecstatic. This book has been really helpful for him.
The internet definitely beats the second-hand encyclopedia set I was always referred to as a child.
Can your FIL add my son to his Christmas list?
Thanks for the book recommendation. Ordering it now! I know so little about computer programming, other than the one C++ class I took in college (and hated).
We are LEGOland members (a real hard knock life we live in SoCal), and they have a 45 min Mindstorms class for kids in 3rd grade and up. I cannot wait to take my son to it.
I have not heard of Kturtle - thanks!
Christy, I am jealous that your kids are in an immersive foreign language environment - although I’m sure there are plenty of hardships involved! I am trying to learn Spanish along with my 6- and 4-year-old. I have a Skype lesson once a week with a Nicaraguan woman I had the good fortune of meeting through an old neighbor when she visited the States. How are your children handling living where they are not native speakers of the language? Or am I assuming too much - do they already speak Spanish? I took one year of French and then five years of Latin in school, and I really regret not intensively studying a living language.
I am also wary of those who are absolutely certain that any educational option is the “right” one or the “Christian” one. This is definitely one of those “disputable matters” where some attempt to dogmatize their own choice and though I love and am a big fan of homeschooling for a number of reasons (and am slightly biased because I mostly loathed my own public school experience), I believe in grace for many different decisions! I have friends whom I admire deeply as parents who send their kids to public schools.
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Hi Ashley. Sorry it has taken me a while to get back to you. Every couple weeks I do field work where there is limited or no internet.
The oldest (11) is very social and highly motivated to have friends, so she can handle conversational Spanish pretty well. We are working through a Spanish 1 text book to hit on the grammar points she doesn’t pick up on just by participating.
The middle one is a boy, (9) very introverted, and could care less if he can ever communicate with anyone. When we are in Spanish speaking environments, I’m pretty sure he just thinks about other things and tunes it all out. It is amazing how little he understands after living here three years. We are trying to be more proactive about teaching some at home.
The youngest girl (8) usually refuses to speak Spanish to us, though evidently she does with other people who don’t speak English. I get the impression she understands way more than she lets on.
We also spend time in an indigenous area where most of the children and many of the adults speak very little Spanish, so all the kids know basic politeness phrases in that language.
It will be interesting to see how it all turns out. A really good book I read on bilingualism and children was by Colin Baker. I think it was called A Parents’ and Teachers’ Guide to Bilingualism. It was helpful in that it pointed out that total bilingualism is really rare unless you live in a bilingual society.
¡Buena suerte en tus estudios!
Hi Rydona,
I’m sorry I haven’t had time to contribute to the forum as much as I had hoped to this summer, but I have been reading faithfully, and your story stuck with me. I have been praying for you and your family.
How is it going with the new co-op idea? I’d love to hear an update if you are willing to share it.
Bruce
p.s. - As the forum’s geography nerd, I was quite pleased to learn through your story about Oshawa—a city I wasn’t previously familiar with.
Hello. I am homeschooling my only child, my 9th grade daughter. We live in an area in which most homeschoolers are YEC, many of whom teach that science and faith are incompatible. I stumbled across this site today; it looks like it is a good place to find reassurance that I’m not a complete freak. (Well, I’m probably mostly a freak, but not a complete one. 
)
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Glad you found us! You are not a complete freak, and partial freaks are totally welcome.
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@Homeschool_Forum Hi all! I am so glad to have discovered this site and forum and have been reading like crazy these past few days.
I’m a second-generation homeschooler (from Maine), and I grew up very YEC. I saw Kent Hovind speak when I was a kid and owned most of his VHS tapes (one I even bought with my own money). I just always enjoyed listening to him speak and hearing his stories. My family has been very invested in Answers in Genesis – we’ve been to the museum and my parents were five-year charter members (their name’s on a big wall of names at the museum – due to making a certain-sized donation, I’d assume).
I’ve been wrestling with my beliefs in this area for a while, and I know I still have more reading to do, but I’m about 1000% done with Answers in Genesis, after feeling pushed farther and farther away by Ken Ham’s antics over the years. I have come to realize (and I see I’m not alone!) that my faith was based much more on “proof” and “evidence” and one particular reading of Genesis 1-3 than on Jesus Christ. I was literally terrified to take a biology course in college, because I was afraid of how I’d respond to evolution without compromising my faith (but knew there was no way I could actually go toe-to-toe with a biology professor), and so ended up majoring in English since that seemed “safer.”
My issue now is what to do about homeschooling. Fortunately, we have some time since my oldest is only 4, but he has become a HUGE fan of dinosaurs (which helped spur my learning quest), and eventually he’s going to realize that his secular dinosaur books give him a different story from some of the Christian ones, or from the opinions of people at church,and I’m going to have to tell him something. I’m planning to use Sonlight and not stress about it for now, but I’m looking forward to reading the curriculum suggestions on this forum.
I’m also conflicted because my mom was pretty much my only teacher for 18 years of my life, and if she found out I am veering away from something she sees as so foundational to Christianity, I’m quite sure she’d be disappointed and possibly upset with me too.
Anyway, thanks for listening and thanks for creating a place where these things can be honestly discussed!
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What brought you to homeschooling?
We just kind of stumbled into it. We lived out in the country at the time and there were no good schools nearby. I hated the thought of my 5 year old spending two hours on the school bus every day (and honestly, I was not ready for him to leave period), so it seemed like homeschooling was our only option. When he was in the first grade we found out he was Gifted and didn’t fit into the regular school system anyways. So we’ve been homeschooling since the beginning and plan to continue through the end of high school.
What brought you to BioLogos?
I made the jump from YEC to Evolutionary Creationism a couple years ago. It was actually my son that started it all… he was born obsessed with Astronomy, something I knew next to nothing about. Through my own learning I realized there were things that did not add up with the YEC view. After a couple years of searching and studying I came across Hugh Ross and Reasons to Believe, then discovered Frances Collins. I read Collin’s books and found out about BioLogos that way.
How many kids do you have and what grades?
We have two kids, technically starting grade 6 and grade 3 but we don’t really follow grade levels for everything.
What is your “homeschool community” like?
We are lucky to live in an area now where there is a very vibrant and extensive homeschooling community. Unfortunately because my kids are “Gifted”, they don’t fit in with most of the co-ops or community courses. The one thing that has been a good match has been homeschool gymnastics. Besides that, we do random classes or short courses here and there but nothing year-long as it doesn’t suit where are kids are at academically or emotionally. We’ve met a lot of people through various events and field trips and it’s nice to have options available to us to choose from, when needed. We follow an eclectic/classical homeschool philosophy. There aren’t too many homeschoolers around here who are like that, so we definitely stick out. Most people around here just follow the regular school system curricula.
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I want to join in discussions. This intro tread seems like a great place to start.
I represent the Utah/Idaho part of the globe. I have two boys (7yrs&5yrs) who I homeschool… only because we think we can provide them more than the school systems (I will not speak against them, I think the systems make an excellent attempt and are needed).
For myself, I grew up in public school (k-5), then private christian (6-12). From church, it seems, I got enough of the YEC teachings that I didn’t notice if they taught any evolution in elementary, then of course, I got plenty in private school and entered college afraid to take any science classes. (When I finally had to, I managed just fine because I was “prepared” philosophically, and I took easy stuff just to get the credits.) I married a science lover who came to know the Lord in college (while majoring in Biology), so he was already convinced of evolution. He was gracious to my views and went easy on me. I came around to seeing all the real evidence for believing in a much older earth by watching cartoons with my oldest! (Dinosaur Train, especially.)
I have seen my son experiencing the conflict of teachings because of church, the homeschool group, and I think Awanas. I have addressed it head on by telling him Christians have different views, that some Christians even feel scared of evolution. Even though he is only in first grade, I wrote a couple of lessons for our science studies this year that described what we believe Genesis 1 teaches. I was to use them again for the next couple years to remind him solidly of what we believe, then hopefully, he has a way to reply to his teachers, especially if they get carried away and pointedly tell him he’s wrong. I told him he can say, “my parents told me…,” supposing maybe he can find neutral ground and blame any confusion on us. I pray and trust God to help him work out what/who to believe when he sees the views juxtaposed. His thinking is super literal, flavored with mild Autism.
One last thing, in my search for science curriculum, I decided that most of what is out there is equivalent to doing craft projects and calling it art. I wanted real science… google searched “chemistry for kids” and found the curriculum “Real Science-4-Kids.” I am pleased (reassured) to see it listed on BioLogos suggested curriculum page. It is REAL SCIENCE described at their level. When the author introduced Biology, she admitted that there must be a beginning and that there are differing views. This makes it possible for parents to add their philosophical opinion, then she gets right back to the facts and science. I, myself am no longer afraid of science and am loving leading my children to the many varied learning opportunities in God’s creation!
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Great to have you join us, Charlene! The homeschool forum isn’t always hopping, but the threads stay open indefinitely so anyone can pick up a conversation where it left off, even if it’s from a while ago. Feel free to jump in anywhere or start your own new thread anytime you like. I think several other people are here because of Dinosaur Train, so you are in good company.
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Welcome, Charlene! Thanks for the curriculum recommendation. I’m also glad to hear your thoughts on helping your child navigate conflicting views – my church uses AIG curriculum for Sunday School, and it hasn’t caused any issues yet, but I’m sure it will, and my kiddo can also be fairly “black and white” about things too. I guess they’re never too young to learn that Christians can hold different views on things and still (hopefully) get along with each other.
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G’Day everyone.
I’m a transplanted Aussie now living in Canada and a new homeschooling dad.
I was a product of the public education system in Australia and it took a while for my Canuck wife to bring me round to the idea of homeschooling. In the end, I was won over by the freedom to choose the educational approach, methodologies and timing that best suit my child. We are two days into our homeschool journey.
I came to BioLogos via a post shared by a facebook friend. I was actually agnostic on the YEC-OEC issue until I watched some YEC videos in my early twenties that turned me pretty solidly against the YEC position.
I have 3 kids. Only the oldest is in school.
We live in a part of Canada that has a pretty solid homeschooling community. We are still exploring all the groups and resources out there (which BioLogos and this forum just became another of!)
I appreciate that this space exists. I anticipate that I will be doing more reading, observing and listening at first before jumping into the discussions.
I look forward to learning!
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Welcome @Alkemita Micheal, good to have you here! The homeschool forum could use a little more action, so don’t be shy about starting a new thread if you find something itching to be discussed in your perusal of BioLogos materials.
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Hi Michael,
Let me add another warm welcome to the forum! There are not a lot of homeschooling dads who have contributed here, so I was excited to see your note. I’m also one who does more reading than writing on this forum—more because of time constraints than anything else.
I gather from your message that you’ll be taking an active role in teaching your kids. If you’re willing to share, I’d love to learn how you and your wife are going to approach things. I sometimes ask dads from homeschooling families what role they take in their kids’ education, and quite often the answer is essentially “not much.” That’s not to be critical of such families, but only to say that I feel like I’ve found a kindred spirit when I come across a father who wants to be directly involved in educating his children.
This was one of the key things that steered my wife and me to homeschooling as well. In case you’re interested, there was also some discussion about reasons people chose homeschooling in this thread: Reasons to homeschool?.
May God guide, empower, and reward you and your family along this homeschooling journey.
Bruce