Dr. Durell Dobbins

Once upon a time there was a lowly scientist who had been to college for a long, long time. His whole career had been spent cleaning up industrial hazardous waste disasters. This scientist had grown up in a Christian home and had a beautiful wife and five children of his own. One day (year, actually) his lovely mate decided that home schooling was the best way for their children to get their education.

When his eldest son, Aaron, became old enough to show some interest in science and to learn it at a more advanced level, the couple began a search for good science material that was suitable for the home school environment. Here were their criteria for the ideal science program:

• technical soundness
• deference to the Holy Scriptures
• comprehensive scope
• logical, orderly sequence
• self-teaching approach at higher grade levels
• natural melding of readings (to teach the principles) with laboratories (to illuminate those principles)
• home-friendly laboratory program providing all the needed items in their required form and quantity at a reasonable cost
• a complete education on the subject of physical, chemical and biological origins to prepare the student for college
• honest segregation of scientific knowledge and theoretical speculation with supporting evidences as well as technically sound critiques of those theories
• a curriculum that allowed multiple users over time for long-term economy
• flexibility to be done in a group setting if desired for a particular student
• multiple teaching tools combined in a single program to reach the variety of learning styles among their plethora of children

Well, guess what. They didn’t find one. So the dad (by then a managing scientist and owner of the water treatment company) began dedicating all of his time to writing one that met the above criteria. This began a flurry of activity, an upset to their lives, joyous union with thousands of outstanding human beings, a move to Kentucky, numerous (welcome and unwelcome) business lessons for their children, 30,000 automobile miles per year to the family vehicle, preferred status on every major airline operating in the U.S., 16-hour days, supply-line problems, awards, speaking engagements, book signings, debt to equity ratios and The Rainbow™. So what’s your story?