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Faith-Building Homeschool Geology Curriculum for High School!

Looking for a homeschool high school geology curriculum that teaches with a biblical worldview? This year we’re reviewing the high school resource from our family’s favorite geology resource. 💕

Ever since he was about 7 years old, my oldest son has been fascinated with all things rocks and fossils. We went through the dinosaur phase, of course, but as the years went on, he developed a deeper interest in rocks and minerals, with an emphasis on geologic evidence for young Earth creation. (In fact, this year, even though I’m more of an ocean biology kind of gal, ALL 6 of my kids voted for a year of geology. I’m outnumbered, folks! lol!)

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Faith-Building Homeschool Geology Curriculum for High School!

This year, my oldest was in 10th grade and asked to do a whole year of geology. I knew Northwest Treasures would be the place to look for geology homeschool curriculum, so we checked out their high school offerings and I let my son choose which kits he wanted to do to comprise the year’s science credit. It has been a huge blessing!

Who is Northwest Treasures? 

My absolute favorite Christian homeschool resource for geology is Northwest Treasures. We first learned about them at our state homeschool conference and have enjoyed their materials ever since. We have used several of their kits and resources, including their Geology for Little Eyes kit we’re going through again this year with the younger boys. And we have plans to use more! 

What makes Northwest Treasures a win? 

  • Hands-on kits and curriculum for pre-k through 12th 
  • Biblical, young Earth explanations woven throughout
  • Designed for homeschools and can be used in co-ops
  • Faith-building results

From their website: “A proper understanding of geology is vital to understanding biology, anthropology, earth science and paleontology.  This in turn will lead to a deeper and richer understanding of the Bible and what God has spoken there. And that will help you learn to defend your faith through geology.” Love that!

They even provide geology tours, field trips, and camps for the family. We’ve been eyeing the yellowstone tour to take one of these years. It’s definitely worth checking these opportunities out!

High School Geology Homeschool Curriculum from Northwest Treasures

Northwest Treasures offers four main self-paced homeschool geology curriculum kits for the high school level. Each kit includes lessons, books, and samples. Two of them comprise a typical high school credit, so doing all 4 would cover 2 years. 

My son chose Bedrock Geology and Rocks and Minerals. These are excellent choices for the beginner in geology but also a joy for my geology-loving kid. (We’ve since decided to do the Fossils and the Volcanoes ones later as well.) 

Review of the Northwest Treasures Homeschool High School Geology curriculum

Our Experience with Northwest Treasures High School Homeschool Geology Curriculum

Each kit came with a textbook for my son to read. The textbook is fairly light as far as volume and guides him through each lesson. Here’s what’s covered: 

  • Vocabulary study: My son used the textbook and the Websters 1828, when needed, to write down the definition of each term. 
  • Text reading (with color illustrations): He read the text and underlined/highlighted. You could also have your student take notes. He then orally narrated to me what he learned. A written narration would also work.
  • Activities: These might be questions to answer, Scripture readings, interaction with the samples in the kits, extra side research, or other activities.
  • Quizzes and final exam.

The Bedrock Geology book also includes a copy of Patrick Nurre’s book, Genesis: Rock Solid. My son would read it a chapter at a time and then narrate it to me. Again, you could also have your student do notes or written narrations, if desired. 

The textbook provides some intro text with suggestions for the teacher/student on how to break up the lessons each week, doing science 3-4 days a week for a semester per kit. 

Bedrock Geology - Northwest Treasures Homeschool High School Geology Curriculum with a Biblical Worldview

We already knew my son would enjoy these kits from Northwest Treasures, based on our past experience with them, and we were not disappointed! Here’s what he said: 

  • He loved learning new geology information and getting refreshers on some of the things he had already learned
  • The kit samples were fun and helpful. He definitely preferred having them rather than just reading the books. 
  • Nurre’s book, Genesis: Rock Solid, was one of his favorite parts of the curriculum. It was fascinating! As a result, he requested we also get Nurre’s Four Powerful Words in Apologetics and The Geology of Yellowstone.

A Christian Mom’s Perspective of the Northwest Treasures High School Curriculum

As a homeschool mom who wants to point my children to God’s Word, the high school homeschool geology curriculum from Northwest Treasures is a delight and a blessing. I love that my son’s passions for geology and apologetics have been nurtured all along his educational journey and right into high school by these fantastic resources. In turn, he’s encouraging his younger siblings and sharing what he learns!

I’m also learning along with him, which is one of my favorite things about homeschooling high school. Having my son do written or oral narrations of what he learns helps him to process and retain information AND it helps me to tag along and learn with him! I skim the books and photos as he orally narrates and we have great discussions in the process. Often, one of us will bring up related things we learned from other sources. 

For example, when we took a family trip to the Grand Canyon, we went on a creation science tour and learned so much about how the Grand Canyon was formed after the global flood. When we learned about the Bretz Flood in the Bedrock Geology unit, it reminded us of our Grand Canyon adventure and led us on some fun rabbit trail questions to go research together. That’s homeschool gold! 

Bottom line, I highly recommend any of the resources from Northwest Treasures, including their high school homeschool geology curriculum kits! They’re worth saving up for and using for subsequent kiddos. You can also contact them about co-op pricing. 

Rocks and Minerals - Northwest Treasures Homeschool High School Geology Curriculum with a Biblical Worldview

Live Online Classes from Northwest Treasures

Did you know that Northwest Treasures also has LIVE online classes for middl and high school? You can learn right from Patrick Nurre with these four great courses. (Sign up NOW for Fall, 2024!)

Space is limited to 20 students per class, so SIGN UP NOW! 

More Northwest Treasures Resources Suitable for High School

In addition to the four kits I listed above and the four live online classes, Northwest Treasures actually has several other homeschool geology curriculum resources good for the high school level. Let your student choose materials for a half or full credit of science this year!

Don’t forget, there are also plenty of resource from Northwest Treasures for younger kids, too. I recommend checking these out: 

Enjoy a geology adventure this year in your homeschool!

~ Tauna

 

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