• All levels include a new article on issues regarding evolution
    • In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, and in all things charity.
    • age of the earth
    • worldview: naturalism & theism
    • macroeveloution vs microeveolution
  • Presenting more information and response to evolution - highlighting God as CREATOR and INTELLIGENT DESIGNER
  • Better integration of science into the Christian worldview
  • Learning not just FACTS about science, but also key PEOPLE who shaped it
  • Better matching of experiments to what is learned in a given week
  • All activity sheets reviewed and updated to match new books
  • Optional 'do together' activities added - related to science topic covered
  • New DVDS
    • Incredible Creatures that Defy Evolution (3TS)[one of a series of 3, we only use volume 1]
    • Icons of Evolution (6TS)
    • Unlocking the Mystery of Life (5TS)

[Below info from thread:https://www.sonlight-forums.com/showthread.php?p=2666513#poststop

  • we've added a lot of additional IG Notes, revised/updated the majority of the Activity Sheets, and added weekly optional science-related activities.
  • Basically we went through every page of every new book (and every book that was retained) and did our best to add IG notes where we believed they were needed. These notes cover science, cultural literacy, philosophy, religion, etc., so they are pretty well rounded. Sarita explains more of the general approach to the revisions on page 160 of the new catalog.
  • The optional activities are in the IG Notes section. There are usually a few of these per week. They are somewhat in line with the Charlotte Mason concept of combining nature activities with learning science. Unlike the Activity Sheets, the optional weekly activities offer opportunities to do some hands-on activities beyond the experiments.
    • Here's a sample of an optional activity found in the new Science 2: Do you constantly fight with your children about washing their hands? Reinforce what they learned today about germs with this simple activity that will help teach them the importance of washing their hands with warm water and soap. Put a small amount of hand lotion on their hands and ask them to rub it in. When they’re done, sprinkle some glitter onto their hands (a bucket will come in very handy to prevent a mess!). Explain that the glitter represents germs that get on their hands all throughout the day. When their hands are sufficiently “germy,” give them a dry paper towel to use to clean their hands. Not very effective, is it? Next, let them run cold water over their hands. Still germy? You bet! Now have them wash their hands with warm water and soap (over the bucket!) until all the “germs” are gone. Do they understand why it’s so important to wash their hands regularly with warm water and soap?
  • On removing outdated books, we tried to do this consistently. For instance, gone is one book we used to include that pictured a rotary phone. In some other cases we kept older books around such as The Usborne Book of Knowledge and The Young Naturalist because they still offer valuable and relevant content.
  • no changes were made to P4/5 science. On Usborne use, we removed some, added some, and replaced some. For instance, Science 1 includes a great DK book (5-Day) called See How It's Made.
  • I would add that we've also written a new article for the Introduction of K-6 science that addresses issues about evolution and the age of the earth. We spent a lot of time on this and would like to think it turned out well.
  • The Real Science book we selected offers a good intro to biology without taking an overt stance on some controversial issues, which I think is helpful.