Science Secrets

I'll be honest, Science was not my subject during most of my school years. I did enjoy Chemistry in high school and college, and the general science class I had to take in college (it covered history, astronomy, physics, seemed like everything). Anyway, I've said before that my kids love Science, so that is a challenge for me in homeschooling.

I've been blessed the last year and a half to assist my friend, Colleen, in the Science classes she teaches at our co-op. Science just comes naturally for her. She has given me lots of great ideas.

This last week at co-op, I assisted in the Jr. High/High School Anatomy class where she told the kids about laminin. If you aren't familiar with laminin, basically, it's the stuff that holds humans together. Do a search for "laminin". You can check out the pictures of laminin by clicking here. Laminin looks like a cross. She told the kids that although God wants us to believe in Him and take Him on faith, He leaves us evidence of His existence (sometimes) in the smallest places.

Co-op was last Friday, so all of that was still in my mind when the kids and I enjoyed a wonderful live online Science class Monday, Astonishing Atoms. The class was put on by Science Jim, through Currclick. This was a free class, but nonetheless full of content, so that you could get an idea of what to expect in a Science Jim class. In case you're interested, there is another free class on December 22! We signed up for this class a while back, but didn't receive our link to the class for some reason. This time we had no problems.

So, Science Jim was explaining that there are basically two things that everything is made up of: matter and energy...and they are basically the same thing (E=Mc2...thanks, Mr. Einstein!). Then he explains about atoms. Well, I learned about atoms in school, they have a proton, electron, and neutron; atomic number 1 has one of each. I never thought of this before, but my mind was in the right place thanks to Colleen, that an atom is a great example or way to understand the triun (trinity) of God. An atom, unimaginably tiny atom, has three parts to make up the whole atom: proton, neutron, and electron. Our God, unfathomably immense, has three parts to make up the whole: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. One of the kids in the class asked where atoms come from. Science Jim was very good to say that people have different beliefs about how things began (I appreciate this, rather than pushing your views on others, even if they might be the same), but that atoms have always been in existence, since the beginning. Also, atoms never "die" or go away, they are kind of recycled. Which I think is a good comparison, too. God has always been and He never really goes away. I love that.

Science Jim wanted to "blow our minds" with his figures. He did succeed in blowing minds at our house. When he explained how vast things would have to be to make a scale model of an atom where we could see the nucleus with our unaided eyes...wow! If you want to know what he told us, you should attend his class! I think this is a class that any age would enjoy (unless you've learned it all already).