There is a natural tendency for girls to become disenchanted with science somewhere along the 4-6th grade. The disinterest at this stage leads to them moving further away from the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) career choices later in life. Now, it is possible to keep things interesting in homeschooling science and thereby ensuring that your homeschooled girls don’t miss out on science subject related opportunities later in life.
There doesn’t seem to be a single concrete reason for this lack of persistence in science for girls, rather it seems to be a multitude of different ones. The primary reason could be the fact that traditional careers for women used to be seen in more of a supporting role to men. After all the typist, the secretary or the receptionist did not need to learn any STEM subjects. It may seem like an old mindset and that girls are doing a lot more these days, but these old society beliefs do permeate down to children even today.
One of the reasons that girls don’t think in terms of a career in STEM subjects is that there are not too many female role models available for these jobs. The media has only recently begun to play up the role of the females in science related jobs and this has caused considerable interest in younger girls. Now it is time to catch them young and put them on the right path. A homeschool parent can do a lot to make this happen by including a little science in everything.
Keep talking about the role of different sciences in everyday actions and activities. Which girl would not be interested in science when she is told about how chemical reactions change the taste of fried foods, or how nail polish can actually be dissolved into nail polish remover. The idea is to bring science to them in a package that they can identify with on a daily basis. Ask them to take up a science experiment project based entirely on their interest. It is easily the best way to motivate them to learn more science on their own.
