Science in Your Homeschool

 Science in your homeschool can be filled with loads of fun adventures in your kitchen and beyond.  When I was a member of the Homeschool Review Crew we  reviewed some amazing science curriculums however the one thing I found is that you don't need an official curriculum to enjoy learning about the science of the world around you.  Science is a subject that is huge in scope from every day science in your kitchen to working in a laboratory. Do not forget to tap into field trips such as going to the museum, look for community expo's or watching programs like Kill it, Cut it, Use it.

Define: Science

• The word science comes from the Latin "scientia," meaning knowledge especially knowledge based on reproducible data.
• Science is the systematic knowledge of the physical or material world gained through observation and experimentation. 

From this definition we can see that science is not solely about science labs and microscopes, formulas and chemicals it's all about the world around us. The sciences need not fill you with fear the high school years can be a wonderful time of learning alongside your students and discovering amazing things together.

Experiment 8 - Colorful Flowers

More on Science on this blog:

• Visual Periodic Table
• Science Curriculum Options
• FREE Science Resources
• Science in High School take a look at THIS POST

Curriculum we have reviewed:

• Australian Nature Study 
• Exploring the Building Blocks of Science.
• Web Design - Compu Scholar
• The 101 Series - These DVD's are fabulous!  LOVE them.
• Science Unit Studies For Homeschoolers
• Visual Learning Systems 
• Science4US

Kitchen Experiments

• Crystal Snow Flake tutorial - grow your own crystals in your kitchen. 
• Raise Silkworms at home.
• Organic Mini Mushrooms in your home.
• Eat Your Science Homework  
• Science at Home 
• Compost in a Bottle Science Experiment.
• Bake something.
• Make an erupting volcano.
• Grow an Alfalfa Sprout Head
• Make homemade Flubber

Books 

• Eat Your Science Homework
• Science Unit Studies For Homeschoolers
• Solar Systems A Visual Exploration
• The Elements A Visual Exploration
• The Burgess Bird Book for Children
• Pasteur's Fight Against Microbes
• How We Make Stuff
• Space
• The Solar System
• First Encyclopedia of the Human Body
• See How It's Made
• What Makes You Ill?
• Science Activities, Vol. 1
• The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks
• Why Do People Eat?
• The Usborne World Of Animals
• Night Animals
• Magic Schoolbus books are a wonderful addition to your science book library. Join Miss Frizzle for many fun filled scientific journeys.
• We have also enjoyed The Berenstain Bears' Big Book of Science and Nature Topics covered are: Almanac (seasons, weather, and astronomy), Nature Guide (plants, animals, and earth science) and Science Fair (machines, matter, and energy).

On the WWW

• Science in the Kitchen on Pinterest
• Cooking with Kids on Pinterest
• Make a Gingerbread House for the holidays. {Part 1, Part 2, Part 3}
• 7 tips for cooking with kids over at Crayon Freckles
• 16 Kitchen Safety Tips for Children over at Just Mommies
• Kitchen Science Experiments over at About.com
• Kitchen Science over at The Naked Scientists
• Home Science Tools The Gateway to Discovery 
• Teaching Kids Science in the Kitchen: Tips to get talking about Science

On YouTube

• Smarter Every Day Channel. The very first clip we saw was Mystery of Prince Rupert's Drop at 130,000 fps. Destin covers really interesting topics covered and explained in layman's terms and if he uses scientific jargon he is careful to explain it.
• For fun we visit the Slo Mo Guys. On this channel, Gavin Free and Dan Gruchy take a $150,000 high speed camera to show you the world hundreds of times slower than you can see with your own eyes. . One of our favourite videos is Giant 6ft Water Balloon
• The Super Slow Show by the Slo Mo Guys brings on science educators to explain what is happening in the experiments 

Our Microscope

You do not NEED a microscope to enjoy science at home but if you are able to save up and purchase one it opens up a whole new world for you and your children to enjoy. A few years back I spent a long time researching microscope options and settled on the Sonlight's Variable Voltage Microscope. You can read all about it's technical specifications and watch a YouTube walk through.

If you are living in Australia you can not order in science specimens they will not be allowed past customs. If you are wanting to purchase dissection specimens you can order them from Southern Biological in Melbourne. They also stock a full range of items for science use at home and they also ship to New Zealand.

In the USA I highly recommend Sonlight's science resourcesand the resource kits from Rainbow Resources.

What are you using that I could I add to this list ?

Chareen

Find the other ABC posts in this series here:

1. A is for Art Lessons at Home
2. B is for Books Where do You Purchase Yours? 
3. Charlotte Mason a Round Up of Posts 
4. Delight Directed Education
5. Encouragement for Weary Homeschooling Mothers
6. For the Children's Sake  
7. G is for Geography
8. Homeschool Bloggers  
9. Instagramers to follow who are homeschooling
10. Joy in Your Homeschool Journey
11. Know Yourself - Stop the Comparison Game  
12. Life Skills in Your Homeschool
13. Math Resource for Home Education
14. Netflix in Your Homeschool
15. Olympics 2021
16. P is for Podcasts  
17. Quintessentially Homeschool
    
18. Read-A-Loud in Your Homeschool
19. Science in Your Homeschool

Featured from last week the letter P...

• R is for Race Car and R is for Rummikub over at Our Homeschool Notebook 
  
• Quilter ~ (composers ABC) from At Home: Where Life Happens
• Letter R Homeschool Tips from Homeschooling Highway 
• Discovering the R Rabbits of the World over At Home Pets.

This Week over at Our Homeschool Notebook the topic is S is for Sea creatures 

 

Please link up your posts starting with the letter S for this weeks ABC Blogging

Crystal Snow Flake {Tutorial}

A few years ago my son and I tried to grow crystals at home with a science kit.  While this was a fun activity it was a very long drawn out process. 

Recently on my travels on Pinterest I discovered a pin on growing borax snow flake crystals. These were so much easier to do than our science kit and we could almost watch them grow! My one tip is to pour the mix over the snow flake first thing in the morning so you can watch the crystals grow through out the day.

I followed the directions found on What will we do today ?

 You will need

• Jars for your crystals to grow in
• Borax (Please be aware Borax is  toxic. There are conflicting reports on it's safety so please do your own research before using this substance in your experiment.) Sugar is a great alternative.
• Pip Cleaners
• Pencil, stick or kebab skewer
• Boiling Water (to be done by an adult)
• Food colouring if you want your crystals to be colored.

Method

 You will need three long pieces of pipe cleaner and six small pieces of pipe cleaner.  Be sure to check the width of your cross section in relation to your jar before adding the smaller bits. The completed star needs to easily lower into your jar without touching the sides.

 Attach a piece of string to your shape and then onto your pencil.  Test it in your jar to make certain that the snow flake does not touch the base or the sides of your jar.

The Mix

• 1 cup boiling water
• 3 table spoons of Borax
• Mix well and pour into your snowflake jar.

• Place the jar in a safe visible place. Pour in the hot borax / water mix.  Make sure that your snow flake is totally submerged.  
• Do NOT move your jar or snow flake after it is in the jar or your crystals will stop growing.
• Observe the crystals forming over the day as the mixture cools down.
• Leave in the jar for 24 hours.
• Hang in an empty jar to dry.
• Enjoy your crystals.

 We made a number of different shapes.  One of the things I found was that by adding food colouring the crystals did not grow as well.

Have you grown crystals?  If so what shapes were your favourite ? For those of you who love Snow Flakes the Twisted Sifter has the most amazing macro photographs of snowflakes to look over.

Blessings
Chareen 

**This post origianlly appeared as a guest post on To The Moon and Back and I recently found they have deleted all their online content.  So I've shared this information here.

Australian Nature Study Guide Volume 1 Review

Ever since I read Karen Andreola's A Charlotte Mason Companion (Chapter 33 Nature Study, Chapter 34 - Nature for City Children and Chapter 35 - Neighbourhood Nature Study) I have had a love affair with the idea of Nature Study and Nature Journaling. I even gathered a whole list of  Resources for Nature Journaling. After discovering a few wonderful blogs showing how to do nature study as well as the Handbook of Nature Study Home of the Outdoor Challenge I was even more inspired, I did not however follow through because all the challenges were Northern Hemisphere challenges.  Due to the demands of marriage, motherhood and home education I just did not have the energy or time reserves to develop our own Southern Hemisphere equivalent.  I was so excited and relieved earlier this year when I discovered Nature Study Australia which is hosted by Marie, a fellow veteran home educating Mom here in Australia.

Marie had been educating for a few years and was feeling burnt out when she was introduced to a Charlotte Mason educational philosophy and as such implemented the gentle arts into her home school. As her homeschool took on this new way of learning she found it was important to become organised before each study so that they did not run down rabbit trails and become despondent due to no direction.

As a busy mum, I appreciate the time I save by out sourcing resources, and this is one of the reasons I’ve written the Australian Nature Study Guide for Aussie mums and dads, who love the idea of nature science, but need the encouragement and resources to get started. - Marie

 After discovering this wonderful resource I contacted Marie via Instagram and asked her if she had any samples available for review.  She kindly blessed our family with Volume 1 of the Australian Nature Study Guide Summer/Autumn edition and Free Notebook Pages (Advanced, Intermediate and Kinda).

The guide contains

• 68 pages
• Five weeks of summer study covering
  • Honeybees
  • Blue Tongue Lizard
  • Summer Tree Study
  • Spotted Grass Frog
  • Jacky Winter
• Five weeks of Autumn study covering
  • Kangaroo Apple
  • Bandicoot
  • Autumnal Equinox
  • Emperor Gum Moth
  • Golden Orb Weaver Spider
• Starting Out Guide
• Optional Gear for Nature Exploration list
• Ideas on starting a Nature Journal both for basic and advanced journaling
• Each week of study contains
  • an introduction
  • colour photograph of the thing you are focusing on that week
  • Ideas for further exploration
  • Related Internet links
  • Nature Ramble Ideas
  • Recommended Literature
  • Non Fiction Ideas
  • Poetry
  • Scripture
  • Hymn
  • Picture Study
  • Digging Deeper (for younger, older and oldest students)
• Additional Activities contains ideas from expanding your nature studies at home 
• Resource List - contains a list of wonderful books to collect to enhance your nature studies at home. (Field Guides, Amazing Fact Series, Nature Journaling, Poem books, etc)

How a study works
Since it was Autumn we jumped in on the first week of Autumn studies, Week Six, page 34 - Kangaroo Apple. Being an immigrant it was fun to learn that the local Aboriginal people call this a Bush Tomato and that it is a part of their bush tucker menu in the drier parts of Australia.

Marie does not dumb down her introductions and uses enough scientific jargon along with explanations to keep the information both interesting and relevant.  For example she explains that the Kangaroo Apple plant in hermaphroditic meaning that it contains both male and female organs.

My husband is a passionate bird photographer and he was very impressed with the introduction to the Jacky Winter in Week five.

As we read through the information provided there were a few Internet linked recommendations to books and YouTube clips which helped us to learn more about the item of study.

In the Nature Ramble section there were recommendations on where to go and look for a Kangaroo Apple along with ideas of what to do on your walk.  There are some questions to use to expand the experience and help both you and your children appreciate the experience more deeply.

Being a passionate book enthusiast I have greatly enjoyed the Literature Jaunt sections in each study. A couple of lovely discoveries have been: Wild Food Plants of Australia and the very beautiful Bush Seasons by Joan Semmens. I appreciate these recommendations as I do not need to seek out relevant books in our local library I can simply log in from home and request the books on the list for pick up.

Each of the poems in the Poetry Picnic have been Internet linked and are just beautiful. I have not had to seek out the recommended poem or book to find it.  The same goes for the Hymn each week.  Marie provides links to the lyrics, music and instrumental pieces.  I have found some new albums to add to our listening pleasure on Spotify from her recommendations.

I am a huge fan of beautiful art and pictures to fill the minds of both children and adults alike.  Each week in the Picture Study area Marie provides a Internet linked picture.  For the Kangaroo Apple she recommended this beautiful painting by Louisa Anne Meredith.  This beautiful painting is from 1891 and illustrates the leaves, flowers and fruit.

In the Digging Deeper sections there are some wonderful ideas to broaden your students learning and includes some wonderful resources to help you learn some new drawing or painting skills such as this YouTube clip on painting foliage in water colour.  Since we are new to Nature Journaling I chose to start Nathaniel off slowly and asked him to simply draw a Kangaroo Apple. I was rather impressed with his first attempt.

Scattered throughout the book are quotes such as this one:

"A good teacher can inspire hope, ignite the imagination, and instill a love of learning." - Brad Henry

 There is no planning neccessary other than getting in books from the library to expand your experience should you wish to.

Notebook Pages
There are three separate levels of Notebook pages: Kinda, Intermediate and Advanced.

• 13 pages
• Sunrise/sunset record chart
• Cover page to colour
• PDF Format 

Each of the Nature Journal books is beautifully presented.  Above is a sample comparison of week 6 Bush Food page.  From left to right Kinda, Intermediate and Advanced. Click on the image to see it full sized.

 Australian Nature Guides Available for Purchase

• Volume 1 - Summer/Autumn
• Volume 2 - Autumn/Winter
• Volume 3 - Winter/Spring Coming in Term 3 2018
• Volume 4 - Spring/Summer Coming in Term 4 2018

Photograph by Nature Study Australia

Connect with Nature Study Australia on Social Media

• Nature Science For Aussie Families Closed Facebook Group
• Nature Study Australia Facebook Page
• Instagram - nature_study_australia
• Pinterest - Marie @ Nature Study Australia

Final Thoughts
Nature Study Australia's blog is inspirational, Marie shares some wonderful information on Australian Fauna, Flora, Seasons and Backyard . Recently I was inspired to make a Phenology Wheel after seeing one on the blog.

I highly recommend you subscribe to their news letter your in box will not be inundated with junk, you will however be blessed with free resources and a once a month news letter with relevant information pertaining to our current season here in Australia. It's also a great way to know when the new volumes are released!

I LOVE the Australian Nature Study Guides and am looking forward to purchasing the future Volumes as they become available later this year.

Chareen 

Exploring the Building Blocks of Science Book 7 {Review}

"How will you teach Science?" is one of the most common questions I get asked when people find out I am home educating.  One of my greatest delights after being on this journey for 19 years is finding products which have been designed by professionals in the field of study and home educators for home educators.  Combine the two things and you have a marvelous product! Real Science 4 Kids recently blessed Nathaniel and I with Book 7 in the Exploring The Building Blocks of Science. I had been hearing some fabulous reports about this product and was super excited when they asked us to look over their book.

About the Author

I set up the program from a reversed viewpoint. I asked, “What would a high school student need to know to master college science? What would a middle school student need to know to master high school science? What would an elementary school student need to know to master middle school science?”
The basic concepts of science are broken down to a fundamental level so that a first grader can master a few key aspects of science. I don’t overload students with material at this stage. It isn’t necessary or beneficial. The program offers just enough to get them interested without making it complicated. Those initial concepts will be built upon in second grade, and so on. As learning capacity increases, so does the material. Dr. Keller

Rebecca W. Keller is a homeschool Mom with a difference.  She has a PhD and her professional specialty is science. When Rebecca began home educating her children she came to realise that there was a lack of real science for home educated children.  She realised that most scientific texts had been dumbed down to the point where there was no real content and therefore no connection with real scientific terms and concepts.  She couldn't find any texts containing chemistry or physics which are the foundations of all science.  Born out of many years this labor of love to give children real chemistry, physics, biology etc to inspire children to learn and love science which in turn has grown into Real Science 4 Kids. You can read a more in depth interview on why Real Science 4 Kids Works with Rebecca W.Keller PhD in her interview: Real Science Chat.

Her original series Focus On was set up to meet the unit study approach and focus on single subjects.  Dr. Keller realised that many families prefer to cover multiple areas of science each year so she repackaged the Focus On course materials into grade level books and created the new Building Blocks series.  Each year, students study all five areas of science as they would eventually do if they worked through the Focus On courses. Both text and illustrations in the student books have been borrowed from the Focus On series with minor changes and additions.

We received the following to review and share with you today: Real Science 4 Kids sent us their Building Blocks Book 7 Bundle consisting of: 

• Building Blocks Book 7 (Grade 7) Student Textbook - 422 pp
• Building Blocks Book 7 (Grade 7) Laboratory Workbook - 264 pp
• Building Blocks Book 7 (Grade 7) Teacher's Manual - 116 pp

About the Books

Building Blocks Book 7 (Grade 7) Student Textbook this is a beautifully illustrated full color text divided into 22 chapters subdivided into:

• Introduction using Science
• Chemistry - Pure Substances, Organic Chemistry (Carbon), Polymers and Biological Polymers.
• Biology - Plants, Photosynthesis, Plant Structure and Growth as well as Plant Reproduction
• Physics - Chemical Energy, Electrostatics, Electrodynamics and Electromagnetics.
• Geology - The Hyrdosphere,The Biosphere, The Magnetosphere, and Earth as a System
• Astronomy - Galaxies, Our Galaxy The Milky Way, Other Galaxies, Exploding Stars and Other Stuff
• Conclusion Putting It All Together.
• Appendix (Chemistry)
• Glossary/Index

The whole text book is beautifully written and every page contains beautiful crisp full colour photographs or drawings illustrating the point being taught.  It's a visual feast for the eyes and a banquet of knowledge for you and your student.  This books will introduce your student to foundation scientific concepts and terminology giving them a solid foundation on which to build their study of science.

There is no need to go looking for a suitable laboratory notebook for your students.  Real Science 4 Kids has a beautifully presented ready to use Building Blocks Book 7 (Grade 7) Laboratory Workbook which corrolotates beautifully with the student text. This 258 pages is printed in black and white and contains:

• Introduction
• Chemistry - Four Experiments
• Biology - Four Experiments
• Physics - Four Experiments
• Geology - Four Experiments
• Astronomy - Four Experiments
• Conclusion
• Appendix

Experiment 8 - Colorful Flowers

 Each section follows the same outline:

1. Introduction and Think About It with questions to answer before you commence the experiment.  This helps the students clarify what they are looking for.
2. Experiment - Here you will find a space to clarify the objective, your hypotheses, Materials you will need and then the Experiment with directions and Results recording page 
3. Conclusions
4. Why? This contains a discussion on what and why with deeper insights on the practical implications of what you are doing.
5. Just for Fun.  Sometimes students are encouraged to dream big and jot down ideas for the future and other times they are challenged to answer an extension question with an experiment.

Experiment 8 - Colorful Flowers Results

This book contains everything you will need to fulfill the hands on section of the course. Every question is clearly asked followed by double spaced lines for the student to write in their answers/thoughts. All the directions are clear and easy to follow and reinforce the subject matter being studied.

Building Blocks Book 7 (Grade 7) Teacher's Manual contains 103 black and white pages containing:

• A full list of the Materials at a Glance listed by experiment.
• A list of the Materials quantities needed for all the experiments.
• Introduction
• Chemistry
• Biology
• Physics
• Geology
• Astronomy
• Conclussion

 The purpose of the teachers guide is to assist you to guide your students through the experiments in order to help them solidify their scientific understanding in the five scientific disciplines through the 44 experiments presented. It also provides you with an answer key of what should happen in each experiment and the possible answers your children (and you) could come up with.

You can download and view Samples of each of the books here.

Connect with
Real Science 4 Kids @realscience4kids
Real Science 4 Kids Blog
Real Science 4 Kids @rs4k
Real Science 4 Kids @RS4K_gravitas
RealScience4Kids
@realscience4kids


Over All I thought ...
These books are beautifully presented and well put together.  They are twaddle free, logical  and provide you with challenging science instruction.  This curriculum will make it easy for any parent who has no scientific background or understanding to give their children and themselves a quality scientific education, preparing them for a life long love and understanding.  The books are available to purchase individually or as bundle sets.

Blessings
Chareen

Web Design {CompuScholar, Inc.}

A few years ago I became interested in web page design after attending a Cert III in Computer studies course.  I spent a few months learning all kinds of new protocols and then shifted my focus into the blogging world.  The HTML coding I had learned along the way certainly helped and made manipulating my blog a little easier.

Nathaniel has been working on his YouTube channel and as a result has been nagging me to learn to do HTML coding as he wants to build a website. I was very pleased when CompuScholar, Inc. gave us one year access to their Web Design course.

What is covered

This course covers fundamental web design skills such as:

• Basic web site layout
• HTML5 symbols and elements
• Text styles
• Hyperlinks and navigation bars
• CSS effects, spacing and positioning
• Graphics and image editing
• Tables
• Page design principles
• Dynamic menus
• Embedded audio and video
• JavaScript and jQuery

The courses is designed to be used over a 36 week school year.  You can view a detailed breakdown of the syllabus by clicking on the link on the Web Design page.

How we used it

One of the things I really like about CompuScholar, Inc. is that you do not need several different log in addresses to do different courses. You can have one account and add in the courses you are enrolled in. After logging in you are taken to the home page where you can choose which of the courses you are working on for the day. Nathaniel is enrolled in two courses with them this year: Digital Savvy and Web Design.  Both of these courses follow the same presentation format.

After selecting your course you are taken to the course home page where you are able to access the following:

•  Student Menu - here you are able to edit the profile, change the password, access a tutorial on how to use CompuScholar, Inc., see your grades and when your class enrollment expires.
• The Chapters of your course - including a brief sentence on what to expect. On the right on the bottom you will see how many files, quizzes and assignments there are for that chapter.

Once you select the chapter you are working on you will then be taken to the lessons for that specific chapter.  Each lesson is presented in a pop up video, lesson text and quiz.

CompuScholar, Inc. Lesson Text Sample

CompuScholar, Inc. Video lesson sample

After you have completed a chapter there is an exam button. Upon completing exams and quizzes the student is graded.  Each quiz is a multiple choice questionnaire and is self graded upon submission. The student immediately knows which questions they got correct and which ones were answered in error.  Each quiz allows you a maximum of three attempts. All grades go towards the course total.

The course grade is calculated using:

• Quiz Scores - Self Graded
• Chapter Exams - Self Graded
• Activity Scores - Teacher Graded

For the Parent
Should you require to have a transcript for your student CompuScholar, Inc. have researched which specific standards and titles are covered. You can find this under the State Standards tab on the Web Design page.

Due to the interactive nature of the course your student will need access to any HTML5-compliant web browser and computer running:

• Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10
• Mac OS version 10.7 or higher

There is a Teacher Login for you the parent.  Once you have logged in you  will be given a Course Overview page the same as the Students in your class.  Upon selecting the course you want to see you will have access to a Teacher Menu containing:

• Grade book
• Edit your profile
• Change Your Password
• Tutorial
• Professional Development
• Report Issues/Get Help
• Server Status
• Manage My Logins
• Add Siblings

In the Professional Development area you will have access to video training on the administrative features (covering how to give the Quizzes and Tests, How to Grade a Project, How to use the Electronic Grade Book, How to add a Sibling and How to get Help) and the different courses your students are working on.

In the Teacher Support overview of the course you will find video's and downloads available for you as the teacher.  The video's are a quick overview of what your students are learning in that particular section of their course.

All of the tests and quizzes are self graded by the system. On occasion the students are given an activity to demonstrate their knowledge.  These are submitted to you the teacher. 

Marking them is very easy.  After you open the activity submission and click yes or no.  The system automatically adds in the points and auto-adds up the score.  Upon saving the score is then automatically added to the students work.

Cost of Web Design
There are two pricing options available. You can choose between a monthly or a one year subscription.  

Recommended Age Range

• This course is recommended for students in the grades 6-12 range.

Connect with CompuScholar, Inc.

CompuScholar Homeschool @HomeschoolProgramming
CompuScholar Blog
@HS Programming, Inc.
Homeschool Programming, Inc.
CompuScholar,Inc.

Over All I thought ...
I am very impressed with CompuScholar, Inc.  I have learned a few things I didn't know and will be able to use here on my blog.  I am looking forward to pursuing my own personal understanding of Java Programming and Digital Savvy.

I really like that CompuScholar, Inc. show the lessons on both the Windows and Apple platforms as now I will be able to use either computer to do what I need to.  If you or your students are technologically challenged I highly recommend you adding in Computer Sills class - Digital Savvy to your day as well as Web Design.  You will learn to understand the basics of designing your own websites and build up a personal knowledge of current HTML 5.

Blessings
Chareen