taking the fear out of and putting the fun into homeschool science
One of my favorite parts of Apologia Biology is the when we start dissections. Seriously. I love when the kids see first hand what we have been learning about in the text. I know that dissections can sound gross, but trust me, dissections make the curriculum come alive. Don’t skip them! Dissections in Apologia Biology start with the earthworm. Earthworms are a great introductions to invertebrates and an
After the socialization question (which is totally ridiculous, but that’s for another day), the second most popular questions homeschool parents get is “Do you plan to continue homeschooling in high school?“ I remember people asking me this when my kids were still in kindergarten and 3rd grade. I always wanted to answer “Um, no. I think I’ll try 3rd through 8th grades first.” People seem
When I was young (way before Harry Potter), I used to love to pretend to create magic potions. I would mix water and food coloring or vinegar and baking soda and watch the reactions. In my imagination, each one had a special power like making my bicycle fly or turning my brother into a frog. Now, a whole new generation of kids have been
The beach is one of my favorite places. The sun, the water, and the sand! I just love the feel of the sand between my toes and the way it slips through my fingers. While grains of sand may look tiny, round, and uniform, each one is very different. They have different shapes, sizes, and colors. The grains aren’t even all made of the same
As much as I love science, the study of history comes in at a close second. I loved my history classes in high school and college and you will find me reading a historical account of an event or biography way before any fiction novel. A few years back, I started thinking about the history of science. I had studied the important scientists and
An important part of scientific investigations is observation. When you conduct an experiment, you observe what happens during the course of our experiment. You write down what you see so that you can use those observations to draw a conclusion. Observations are, also, important when you are doing an animal or nature study. Those studies usually do not require experiments. They rely on what the
Kids and sand go hand in hand. This stuff could entertain kids for hours! Plus… if you get a little creative, you could even sneak some learning in amongst all that playtime. To help you discover all the wonders of sand, we have compiled a list of some pretty great sand learning activities. Since we have already been learning so much about the ocean (if
Why an ocean animals unit study? Here we sit in the Midwest. No ocean for hundreds of miles. Still, we are fascinated by the beach, the sand, the salt water, and the creatures that live in and around it all. In a few weeks, our family will travel to the beach for a vacation in one of our favorite spots. The sugar white sand of the
During our week at the beach in the Gulf Shores area of Alabama, we did a lot of looking for shells. Tropical Storm Debbie just off shore in the gulf brought in huge waves and lots of shells, seaweed and other interesting things. However,the power of those huge waves crushed many of the shells into pieces so we didn’t find a lot of complete large
On our recent trip to the Gulf Shores, AL area, we noticed the beach in front of our rental house changed each day. The crest and face of the beach right in front of us varied in its slope. Some days, the crest was very apparent and others there was such a gradual slope into the ocean that we couldn’t tell where the crest was.
Add a little science to everyday with the FREE May Science Calendar download! Each day on the calendar contains a link to interesting science information and activities to keep your kids busy and interested in science. May is that month here in the midwest starts out feeling like Spring and ends feeling like Summer. The leaves are still budding out May 1, but the swimming
I don’t mind spending money on good homeschool curriculum. I don’t mind spending money on science experiment supplies and field trips. I don’t even mind spending money on more glue, because I every time we use a bottle for a craft or a project I never see that bottle again. It’s strange. What I do hate to spend money on is printer ink! I know I’m
