Berean Science in the Age of Reason by Dr. Jay L Wile Review

I have a Timberdoodle science curriculum to share with you, Science in the Age of Reason by Berean Science by Dr. Jay L. Wile (the same author that wrote many of the upper grade science books for Apologia).  This elementary science set is geared towards grades K-6th, ages 5-12.  This is the 4th book in the 5 book Berean Science series (also called Berean Builders):  Science in the Beginning, Science in the Ancient World, Science in the Scientific Revolution, Science in the Age of Reason, and Science in the Industrial Age.

The Berean series teaches about science chronologically so this particular book covers scientific discoveries and developments from the 1700s to the early 1800s (Halley - Brugnatelli).  Dr. Wile teaches about science through stories about famous scientists.  I think that this is a more interesting approach for children than just reading the information.  This is a very different way of teaching and learning science.  I have never seen a book that uses this method (historically and chronologically) to teach science - usually they are more topical.  So far, I am really enjoying this approach.  It does make me want to get the other books in the series so I can see the complete curriculum!  I'm also interested to see what my kids retain and remember when we have completed this book.

Each lesson is short and concise with full illustrations and experiments or activities focusing on hands-on learning opportunities.  This is also big in this series.  Dr. Wile set up the curriculum so that you are experiencing science every time you learn about it.  Even thought they are short, most lessons are information dense, meaning there is a lot of information in there.  Every lesson concludes with additional questions and/or activities for both "younger" and "older" students.  This feature allows you to adapt the curriculum for multiple grades if you are wanting to use the same science for multiple students (this is how is works for such a broad age range).

List of Uncommon materials

(this is just one of the many pages)

Most of the experiments in this curriculum are short-term and do not require a lot of time.  A few are long-term and the book is really great at giving you a heads up for them.  Most of the experiments use common household items that you either have on hand or can find easily.  Some items may be a bit less common and take more time to acquire.  At the beginning of the book there is a list of materials that you will need for the experiments that is a bit more uncommon - mothball, two flowers, jawbreakers, feather are a few examples.  We have been homeschooling for 10 years now so it is amazing what is more common around my house than most but I really appreciate this list for planning purposes.

 Taking D's blood pressure in Lesson 9.  This was not part of the experiment but I try to pull in extra teaching moments when I can and this is a great example.


We have some famous scientist cards in our home and it was fun to pull them out as we were learning about them.  I like that these cards are concise and give you the "meat" of what to learn about each scientist.  As you can see above, this book does the same.

 D using 2 straws and water to demonstrate the speed and pressure of a fluid in Lesson 12.

She finally got it to work!  This is a great example about what is meant by hands-on.


For this experiment, a magnifying glass and the book is all you need.


E and D using a microscope to learn about chromatic aberrations in Lesson 13.

Example from Helps and Hints

This set comes with the textbook and a helps and hints book as well.  This additional book contains answers for the text exercises, test and solutions for those who wish to use them as well as hints for correcting and explaining children's work.  The helps book also ties in concepts with the other books in the series - showing you where you can find certain topics and where they are discussed throughout the series.  See above for an example.

The Berean Science Series will not appeal to everyone but I think it's a great option.  Things to remember - it is taught through a Christian perspective, has a nontraditional chronological approach to teaching science (not topical), and it is hands-on with lots of activities.  Check it out and let me know what you think.  And I'm happy to answer any questions you might have as well!

Science in the Age of Reason is part of Timberdoodle's 4th grade curriculum kit.

Disclosure:  Huge shout out to Timberdoodle for selecting me as a Timberdoodle Blogger.  Timberdoodle sent my family Science in the Age of Reason by Berean Science in exchange for our honest review.  All opinions are my own.