Behold and See Science
Curriculum
Catholic Heritage has developed a beautiful series of science textbooks for homeschoolers that features solid science content and plenty of hands-on activity.
The series extends from kindergarten to seventh grade. While Behold and See 4 is an older book now in its sixth edition, all the other books were published in 2010-2014. Books are written by different authors and they differ in style quite a bit. Books for kindergarten through grade four are self-contained, each in a single, spiral-bound worktext, while grades five through seven each have two softcover books. All books are printed in full color, except the workbooks for grades five through seven. Each course except level K has an answer key at the back. I review Behold and See K separately because it differs significantly from the others, so click here for that review.
Many lessons include hands-on activities that are an important part of the learning process. You should really try to complete all of them if possible.
These books are written from a Catholic perspective and include scripture references. They present a strong belief in God as Creator, a pro-life position, and an attitude of love and concern for people as well as the environment. Within the “Note to Parents” at the beginning of Behold and See 3 is a summary of official Church teaching regarding evolution. The author follows with comments that point out a few of the unproven claims of evolution. Aside from an indirect comment in Behold and See 5 mentioning millions of years in regard to geological movements and a chapter in Behold and See 6 explaining the Big Bang theory as the best model to describe “what the universe was probably like right after Creation,” I could not find evolution discussed in the textbooks themselves.
The entire program is relatively easy to use. Activities and experiments require some pre-planning and supervision. Parents should plan to teach these texts rather than use them for independent study. Overall, this seems to me one of the best science programs for Catholic families.
