To read about “Our Twist” in general, please click here.
What’s the Flavour of This “Peppermint Stick” Twist for Science?
- Age-appropriate science vocabulary and explanations
- Early and gentle development of explanations and summary note-taking (an independent learning skill)
- Simple and comprehensive
- A focus on the processes, the “hows” and “whys” and “what happens if” (cause and effect) concepts instead of only a memorization of names, history of, or classifications. Science is not just a set of vocabulary to define.
- A focus on what is practical for real life and for future studies in science, rather than what is only trivia or short-term entertainment or busywork. Build a solid foundation with broad-based topics!
- A focus on making studies fun and easy-to-do, even if learning in a busy household with the littles!
- A focus on being able to accomplish a lot of learning, even when someone is just a young reader! We hope that the suggested “around-the-home” materials are properly taken out AND put away :-).
- Designed to assist with a Biblical perspective when issues arise. Most lessons in our science resources do not integrate the Bible within the main pages but instead, may put verses or other things in an appendix to supplement if desired.
- Designed with an appealing visual layout – hand-drawn illustrations with a handful of photos, age-appropriate print, non-distracting pages which teach. There is also no need for teacher’s manuals.
- Designed to be able to be used by one student or many! Individual learning is fine and so is multi-grade or classroom.
- Refreshingly Unique!
- Reusable, e.g. printable e-books!
- Canadian!
There is so much to discover and it can be very humbling and exciting as you observe both the natural world and study about what people have been given abilities to design and use!
We use a balance of all learning styles – variety works!
Written – copywork, highlighting, summarizing, researching; reading and making diagrams and charts (not a lot of tests), notebooking.
Hands-On and Experiential – design and build models (not as many experiments/demonstrations), enjoy purposeful play, explore science at your home and community.
Verbal/Oral – discuss concepts informally or assign “Show and Tell” oral presentations to demonstrate understanding.
Click to download a free checklist for what to consider when looking for science curriculum: Science Checklist
Go to our LISTS menu item to see our recommendations for books and videos, some of which introduce or reinforce science topics.
Our approach is really not a “Self-Discovery/Inquiry-Based” science program. Not all lessons have activities. And most of the hands-on lessons tend to explain something FIRST, then have those ideas confirmed by the activity. The general knowledge learned might be further put into use with an occasional independent-type project after that. I’ve written a blog post about “Inquiry-based Science” here.