Jude AgbayaniIt’s been almost a month since we started our school year and Coby hasn’t opened his Science book yet. I was unsure whether to use the old Science curriculum or get a new one for his fourth grade. Though I really wanted to use the new one, Singapore Science, I opted the old one, Science by Scott Foresman. And because of that, I delayed studying Science because at the back of my mind, I knew I would change curriculum very soon.
Unfortunately, Coby cannot hold his enthusiasm anymore in Science. He was so eager to jump right in and just do it. In fact, he was reading his textbook as soon as we bought it. He is our Science boy. He loves Science so much that depriving him of the “did-you-know-facts” is like telling him not to draw or keeping all his art materials.
So finally, I decided to start with cells, which was the first lesson in the textbook. It would have been great to have our own microscope but Google Images can substitute in the meantime. We talked about the onion and how it looked like under the microscope. Told him to compare and contrast the onion with and without the microscope.
In order to make your lessons really interesting and get your child’s attention, you need to KNOW your child. What are his interests, what makes him excited… At 9 years old, he still loves building with his Lego and K’Nex. So I integrated Lego building with cells. How each lego block or piece is connected to each other to make one house, a car or whatever. Cells are the same. They are called the building blocks of life because life indeed starts with just a single cell. Same cells performing the same function are grouped together to form a tissue. A group of tissue to form an organ. Organs then form an entire system then all the systems connected to each other to create a living organism, whether an animal, a plant or a baby.
As we repeated the process over and over, he had his aha moment. He said, “So, Mama, are you saying that’s how I was formed inside your tummy? I started with a cell, then tissue, then organ and then became a person?” With my eyes sparkling with delight at how he connected our lesson to his own life, I eagerly answered, “Yes!”
His eyes grew big and I could really sense that he GOT it. He kept saying, “That’s awesome!” He appreciated how God created minute living cells to form an organism, a man in his own image. I immediately put a note in my lesson notebook to remind me of the day that Coby had that aha moment.
One of the best things about homeschooling is that not only does the child learns the lesson and memorize it but he learns life lessons without memorizing and connecting all lessons to his life and to God. There are times we intentionally integrate love for God in the lessons but most of the time God really intervenes and allows His lessons to be learned by the child personally. Thank you God for allowing Coby to see You in our lesson today. May you forever be praised!
13 You created the deepest parts of my being.
You put me together inside my mother’s body.
14 How you made me is amazing and wonderful.
I praise you for that.
What you have done is wonderful.
I know that very well.
15 None of my bones was hidden from you
when you made me inside my mother’s body.
That place was as dark as the deepest parts of the earth.
When you were putting me together there,
16 your eyes saw my body even before it was formed.
You planned how many days I would live.
You wrote down the number of them in your book
before I had lived through even one of them. Psalm 139:13-16
