Live Butterfly Garden

Items listed in this section tend to be complete science programs with a teacher and student component, requiring few supplements besides science supplies.

With so many secular materials infused with evolution, it's sometimes difficult to find solid science materials that are based on Creationism. Bob Jones Science is thoroughly Christian, including many evidences and support of Creationism and many "holes" in the theory of evolution, particularly at the upper grade levels. Vital to the program are the student activities, or labs. The scientific method is emphasized as children participate on hands-on activities and experiments throughout the curriculum. The junior high and high school levels are full-blown laboratory science courses, complete with a separate lab manual. Experiments are excellent, but some of them require unique materials or are difficult to do in a home environment. The revised texts are more home-friendly, though, and Bob Jones also offers a Lab Manual Supplement for home schoolers, containing tips for doing lab activities in smaller groups. We have used many of these upper level texts in our home school. We also have accumulated a wealth of laboratory equipment and supplies over the years, which has made the lab work easier. I have sometimes substituted labs from Experiences in Biology and Experiences in Chemistry (from Castle Heights - see index) where it's been too difficult to use a particular lab. Bob Jones has made it easy to obtain lab materials and chemicals (you can order almost anything you need for their courses on the Science Lab Materials Order Form), but some labs are still pretty complex for a home environment, requiring a lot of set-up and preparation time. For each grade level, essential materials are listed first, followed by asterisked (*) supplemental support materials. Support items used at multiple grade levels are at the end.

Home Teacher Editions have reduced student text pages, lesson information for the teacher and answers to discussion questions in magenta. The texts are full-color and present a variety of topics from earth and space science, life science and physical science at each level. Most student texts are softbound. The Student Activity Manuals have all consumable student materials including worksheets to accompany the text, review sheets, and experiments with places for students to evaluate or record scientific data. The Complete Home School kits include all essential materials for one child.