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New science curriculum for the new year! Check out what's included in Sonlight Science E during my Sonlight curriculum unboxing.
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Hey there! I’m Sara, and I’m a teacher-turned-homeschooling mom to 4 kiddos (including a set of twins!). I balance homeschooling while working full-time from home, and am so thankful you are here.
I love sharing about homeschooling on my blog, Blessed Homeschool, where you’ll find tips, resources, and curriculum reviews. Whether you are a newbie or a veteran, I hope you will leave inspired and equipped with what you find.
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0:00
Look what came today. It feels like Christmas all over again. Christmas just ended
0:09
but it always feels a bit like Christmas when we get new curriculum in, right mom? I haven't
0:14
even opened this sucker up yet, so we're going to take a look together. Sarah and I want to welcome you to my channel, Blessed Homeschool. I've got four kids from ages
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five to 12. We're a busy family in our seventh year of homeschooling and I really love getting
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to know you guys and sharing tips, resources and encouragement with other moms here and on my
0:46
blog, blessed homeschool.com. Thank you so much for tuning into my channel and please take a second to
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hit those like and subscribe buttons. I hate to have to ask, but it truly helps me out and will
0:56
help get this video shown to other viewers who might want to see it. year I partnered with Sunlight to give their history, Bible, literature, curriculum a try
1:06
And I really enjoyed that because it was pretty different from what we had been using
1:10
If you're curious about their HBL packages, you might want to go watch my other video on that
1:15
I'm super excited to have the opportunity to work with them again. And this time we're going to be taking a peek at one of their science packages and a couple of
1:24
their unit studies. Now, this year, my three older kids and I are using my father's world, exploring
1:30
countries and cultures curriculum package, which does include a science portion man
1:34
I am really loving this curriculum and you know I'm a big fan of my father's world
1:40
However, science has felt just a little bit light this year. We are reading two different books focusing on different habitats that correlate to the
1:48
different countries that we're studying. And if I'm being honest, my kids could kind of take it or leave it
1:54
This one is mostly reading and this is what we're using with my father's world this year
1:59
And there is usually a worksheet to go along with it. And then this one, we read through this one
2:07
and then my kids have a short summary that they have to write about what they learned
2:12
and then they usually illustrate that. There are a few hands-on activities in this book
2:17
but personally, I haven't been too impressed with the suggestions and we pretty much skip them
2:25
And I really don't like that. I don't want to skip activities
2:29
I really want a science curriculum that my kids will get excited about
2:33
something that will provoke their natural curiosity, provide meaningful opportunities to explore this amazing world God has given us
2:41
I'm finding myself just wanting something a little bit more that will teach them to learn and use real scientific skills
2:48
that will give us experiments that are actually fun and add something to our learning
2:54
So when I got the chance to partner with sunlight again, I said I would love to check out their science curriculum
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see how it compares and if it's a better fit for us. So what I'm pretty sure is in here is
3:03
their science E package, which includes physical science, energy and ecosystems, earth and space
3:10
and engineering design. If you're not familiar with sunlight, they give age range suggestions
3:14
for their curriculum. So I chose this one because it was a good fit for the ages of my kids
3:19
It matched to the closest to what we're currently studying and it also looked like the topics
3:24
were interesting This particular curriculum is recommended for ages 10 to 13 or grade range about five to eight and you can choose a four day or five day per week option And I pick the four day week from the website
3:37
It looks like they're going to be weekly experiments that relate to our readings and what we'll be learning about
3:41
So I'm excited to see what these are like. Okay, enough talking. Let's open this box
3:56
Let's see we've got. Okay, so it looks like on top, this isn't related to the science curriculum, but we've actually got two of the unit studies in here that we're going to be trying out
4:11
One of them is an Advent unit study, so Tabitha's Travels. And the other one is a Lent Unit Study, Make Room
4:20
I'm really excited about these. We did the Lent Unit Study last year
4:24
We did Amman's Adventures. And so I'm excited to give this one a try
4:29
And then this one, obviously for Advent, Tabitha's Travels, we had Jotham's Journey this past year
4:37
which I actually didn't get to do because we are out of town, but we're going to, we'll have
4:43
to decide whether, you know, we want to do that one. Maybe we'll take a look at this one a little bit early and squeeze both of them in
4:50
But I'm excited to open this up to and see what this looks like. Okay
4:56
So it looks like we've got a Discover and Do science supplies kit
5:08
Level E science experiments. Listening to Cricket's book. How to be good at science, technology, and engineering
5:23
Okay, the trusty science instructors guide. Okay, and then we have Make Room
5:40
Oh, this is for a guide to Lent and Easter, so this is going to go with the unit studies
5:46
Water holds. This is Discover and Do Science, the Level E Experiments paper packets
6:00
We have the Usborn Book of Astronomy and Space. And then this again came with our Lent study
6:08
So we'll step that over here. I'm mainly going to talk about and look through the science stuff right now
6:13
Okay, so I'm curious to see what is in this kit right here, the Discover and Do
6:19
I really love when a science curriculum. has all the materials that you need because then there's less that we have to buy or
6:28
if the experiments include things that we typically have on hand. The less prep the
6:34
better. So let's see what's in here. Looks like there are some cups and there are
6:44
quite a bit of supplies in here. Okay. So we've got some sand. It looks like some
6:52
different balloons So yeah some masking tape Paper plates looks like maybe some foil another spoon a tube some clay So yeah it looks like there is quite a bit in here that we will be using I assuming
7:10
with all of our experiments. So that's really nice to see. That's one thing that sadly stops me from doing experiments sometime
7:19
Well, one, if they don't seem like they're going to add much to what we're actually learning. And two, if I am running late and forget to look at the supply list ahead of time
7:27
and get the things that I need, you know, then we can't do it
7:32
So to have things on hand is really great. All right, let's take a look
7:36
I'm curious about this experiments book. So there are about 36 different experiments in here
7:42
So we've got for this experiment, the first one, can you improve the catapult
7:46
You've got key concepts, tells you the materials needed, gives a little introduction
7:52
talks about the engineering design process, things to ponder. So right away I'm noticing pretty easy to read
8:00
It's broken down into sections. There's pictures in here. Very colorful. Kind of just step by step on how to do the experience with pictures
8:10
So that's kind of nice. And it even talks about, you know, what they want to make a list of, the scientific process
8:19
It also gives answers in here for some of these questions. I'm planning on using this as all three of my kids
8:25
So we will, it looks like we'll have a lot of good discussions with this
8:30
So I'm excited about this book. I'm sure they're going to be excited about some of the experiments too
8:36
All right, next I want to kind of open this up and see what the instructor's guide is like
8:41
Okay, so they are loose sheets and they're already three hole punched
8:47
So I'll have to find a binder or something for these. We've got the four-day program
8:52
All right. And I just looked through the first couple of pages. One of the words that caught my eye is evolution
8:58
So this says some of the books in our science programs contain materials supportive of evolution
9:03
Why do we include these books? First, we include them because the majority of the content in these resources is of high quality, offering visually and intellectually appealing material
9:12
Secondly, we don't take an isolationist approach to knowledge. The subject of evolution is not from me we want to teach students to avoid or put down without adequate understanding
9:23
Third, as the dominant perspective in contemporary science, evolution deserves mention and attention
9:28
even from those who disagree with its arguments. With that said, we do our best to provide balanced perspectives in relation to any potentially
9:35
divisive content, such as evolution. And then it goes on it, it gives a little bit of notes about macroevolution and microevolution
9:43
and what different people believe and talks a little bit, looks like at the bottom
9:49
about religious objections to evolution, where they tend to stem from. And yeah, I like that
9:59
I like that. It includes information about that. And it's going to provide some good discussion points
10:06
I agree that, you know, you should talk about it. You should be talking about these things with your kids because that's what the everybody
10:12
that is going to school, to public school is learning about. And so it's important to know
10:19
I like that they don't shy away from that and it's gonna, you know, my kids and I love to have conversations like this
10:25
So I think that gonna be really good That just caught my eyes I was flipping through the first couple pages of the instructor guide Okay so the first few pages of your instructor guide just give you kind of an introduction tell you what to expect You have a science supplies list in here and then it tells you what week we going to be using those supplies
10:44
So that's handy if you kind of want to gather materials all at once
10:50
If they're not in the box. I think a lot of it is in the box, though
10:57
All right. And then we've got schedule and notes. So this is what I really liked about the history Bible literature program that we reviewed as well
11:05
is that it is very broken down. So it goes week by week
11:10
So for our schedule, we chose a four-day week. And so it's broken down day one, day two, day three, day four
11:18
And it tells us exactly what we're going to be doing. So looks like, you know, we've got a little bit of this book in here
11:26
It tells us what activity. sheet questions and then on day four we're going to be doing that first experiment that I showed you in that book. I'll lay it out for you in one spot tells you your supplies and then your shopping or planning list. On the back they've got just some additional notes. So for day two, day three, different things that will want to be aware of. There are answer keys it looks like for activity sheets in here. It also looks like there are activity sheets for the kids in here too, the blank ones
11:57
Yeah, so you've got the blank worksheet and then the answers. So that's really nice, but that's all included in there
12:03
I love how sunlight structures their teacher manual. I love that it is pretty much open and go
12:11
They give you good heads up on what supplies that you're going to need
12:16
They give you, you know, what to say. They give you explanations for why they're including certain things
12:23
And I think that's really great and a big help to moms that are short on time
12:27
and might not want to plan everything out or pick everything out, pull it all together themselves
12:35
Okay, and then I also wanted to take a peek at these right here
12:43
These were the Level E experiments, the paper packet. So this was the other thing that was included besides the books
12:53
Okay, so the first thing that I see is a worksheet that goes along with that
12:57
experiment that I showed you in that book. So it looks like we've got, I wonder if this is the same
13:08
Okay, so yeah, these worksheets are exactly the same as what's in the book. So if you don't want to
13:13
write in the book or you wanted your kids, you know, to have something that they could put in
13:18
portfolio or put in a folder or something, these worksheets are coming straight from this book. So I really like that
13:26
It looks like all the ones that we're going to be using are here
13:30
So that's a nice feature of this as well. Okay, so there you have it
13:35
Sunlight Science E. Like I said, it feels like Christmas. It feels like the beginning of a new school year
13:40
even though we're smack dab in the middle of one. I'm feeling a bit hopeful about finishing out the year with something just a little bit new
13:47
And I will definitely try to give you guys an update once we're into it to share my thoughts
13:51
Thanks again so much for watching. I hope you enjoyed this video. drop a comment if you have any questions at all
13:57
I will see you next time
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