Science Question of the Week Competition

Two months ago I blogged on the science we use in our home school. One of the highlights of Apologia Science is the Science Problem of the Week competition. The life skills CJ learns by participating in this competition is vast. I want to highlight three prominent life skills.

Firstly, he learns how to read a question properly with understanding. During the first series, in which he participated and got 11 out of 12 questions right, he read the one question wrong. His answer was correct for his understanding of the question, but he misread the question. That cost him the competition but was a valuable lesson.

Secondly, he learns how to research. How to research is a critical life skill and a big focus in our home school journey. You can google any subject and within seconds get hundreds and thousands of articles on that particular subject. How to quickly sift through these articles will become more and more important in our era where information doubles every day.

Thirdly, he learns critical thinking. How to look at current facts, evaluate them critically through a biblical filter and then form an opinion, based on truth.

Learning these skills is the purpose for taking part in this competition (apart from the fun) and winning the competition would obviously be a huge bonus! (And I prayed for him every single week, that the Lord will grant him wisdom to find the correct answer.)

Well, CJ just won the 27th round of the Science Question of the Week Competition together with another young boy! They answered 12 out of 12 questions correctly!

You can just imagine the joy, when Dr. Jay’s congratulations e-mail landed in my inbox, only minutes after CJ submitted his answer to the last question. He could choose between four prizes and is now eagerly awaiting the arrival of his prize.

And in the mean time…? He starts all over again! Researching the first question of the new round of questions!

This post features on the South African Carnival of Homeschool Bloggers where South African home schoolers share experiences, ideas, philosophies and much more.  You can join the carnival too by heading to the South African Carnival of Homeschool Bloggers sign up page.   In the meantime, head to SACH Carnival #5 - Science and Natural Science for this week's carnival.  We hope you enjoy the carnival as much as we have!