We've had similar concerns in our homeschooling. We're on our 5th
homeschooler since around 1986. We took an eclectic approach to curriculum
so have never been bound to stick with one program. After trying the BJUP
first grade science and having objections similar to yours to the YEC
approach, we switched to the Scott Foresman science curriculum. Of course,
it teaches the mainstream view on age of the earth, evolution, etc. but we
had no objections to that because it is not presented in an anti-Christian
or anti-religious manner and because we don't believe that those scientific
views are contrary to a Christian worldview. It's also full of suggestions
for hands on activities with a significant stress on science methodology,
especially integrating data analysis, graphing etc. and then drawing
conclusions from the data.
The underlying theistic principles--God as creator, sustainer, governor,
provider, etc. aren't covered in the curriculum, but can be discussed
especially if you have a "life as religion" approach to life and learning.
Also, we did some supplementing when the text discussed human origins,
giving special attention to the idea of man as the divine image-bearer.
Also, at appropriate points the controversies can be introduced and
discussed using materials from ASA and elsewhere. Slapping a Bible verse
on every page does not a make a curriculum a Christian one. To be honest
if you believe that scientific methodology is rooted in a Christian
theistic worldview, i.e. God as the faithful governor whose faithfulness is
demonstrated in the regularities of creation, then teaching "secular"
science is indeed teaching "Christian" science.
There are a number of resources available on general principles that relate
a Christian worldview to the practice of science. If you are interested I
can send you some material that I used in several classes when I taught at
Calvin College that discusses these sorts of things.
TG
>Hi. My wife is just beginning homeschooling our 5 year old. She's found a
>great Christian curriculum that is really effective for teaching him. The
>one problem is that the science portion is distinctly YEC, which is not what
>we wish to teach him. Granted, at this stage, he's only learning really
>basic stuff and we could modify the curriculum on the fly, but we'd like to
>replace that portion so that we have a program in place for the next several
>years. At any rate, I'm interested in any links, resources, curriculum, or
>sage advice regarding how to teach Theocentric non-YEC science. TIA.
>--
>Jeff Lee
>Carlsbad, California
>http://www.users.cts.com/king/c/cjlee/
>http://www.stmichaelsbythesea.org/
>Public Key: ftp://ftp.cts.com/users/king/c/cjlee/jal_key.txt
>______________________________________
>Lo! he comes to keep his word, Light and joy his looks impart;
>Go ye forth to meet your Lord, And meet him in your heart.
> -- John Wesley
_________________
Terry M. Gray, Ph.D., Computer Support Scientist
Chemistry Department, Colorado State University
Fort Collins, Colorado 80523
grayt@lamar.colostate.edu http://www.chm.colostate.edu/~grayt/
phone: 970-491-7003 fax: 970-491-1801