taking the fear out of and putting the fun into homeschool science
Of all of the approximately 1.5 millions cataloged species on Earth, insects make up two-thirds of this number. Their diversity and accessibility make them a great animal to study. For many of us, insects carry a certain “Ewwww!” factor. However, if kids aren’t taught this, many of them never develop that feeling and grow to appreciate insects. Related post: Benefits Of Insects Ants, bees, flies,
*This post contains affiliate links. Giraffes are one of the most recognizable animals in the world. Their long neck, spindly legs, and spots set them apart. Their sheer size along with their gentle demeanor and slow movements make giraffes memorizing to watch. I would love to take an African safari to see them in the wild. I don’t think I am alone in my fascination
I’ve always been fascinated by the night sky. There were many nights growing up when I would sit in the cool, quiet dark of night and stare at the stars mesmerized. Being a field guide junkie from way back, I would check out constellation guides and planet books from the library and try to identify what I was seeing. Related link: DIY Constellation Viewer To me,
Have you seen the math challenges going around on Facebook. I have to laugh at all the adults trying to figure them out with great difficulty. I used to love these types of problem solving and logic puzzles when I was in school. They were so much more fun than your standard math problems. I’ve been creating fun math challenges for my kids lately, so
Have you ever played baseball and had a line drive hit right at you? Your ability to catch the ball largely depends on your reaction time. Reaction time is how fast or slow your body reacts to a stimuli such as a ball being hit at you, a starting gun in a race, or something darting in front of you while you are driving. It
One of our favorite things to do after a snowfall is to take a walk in the fresh snow and look for animal tracks. The snow offers a blank slate to collect evidence of what animals have been where. In our area, we might see cottontail rabbit, deer, fox, coyote, or squirrel tracks. We are a house full of animal lovers here. We are especially
Do you want math and science lessons to stick like burnt eggs to a pan? Then, use the laboratory you already have in your home…your kitchen! Let’s just hope you don’t burn anything. Believe it or not, cooking and baking can be great teaching tools. You know what I always say….”Science is everywhere!” You may be wondering how spending an afternoon baking chocolate chip cookies
When I think of Halloween, images of jack-o-lanterns, black cats, ghosts, and skeletons pop into my head. The kids thoughts turn to costumes and candy. They start thinking about Halloween and getting excited about it as fall sets in and the temperatures drop. As a homeschool mom, I always try to capitalize on things that get the kids excited and tailor our studies accordingly. Related post:
One of our favorite fall family traditions is taking our yearly trip to a local apple orchard. There is apple picking, apple tasting, apple cider, apple cider donuts, the corn maze, petting zoo, and more. We usually make an afternoon of it. One of the highlights for our kids’ is the tasting area where the orchard has 5 or 6 of their featured apples available
In our homeschool experience, I have found writing prompts very useful when teaching my children how to write. Learning proper spelling, grammar, and sentence mechanics can be stressful enough for students. Throw in trying to decide what to write can ruin the whole day. Been there? We have used silly story prompts, holiday prompts, and have used prompts from our history lessons to help in
*This post contains affiliate links. A few weeks ago, my son nailed a new rain gauge to our patio railing. It is right outside the back door, so it is easy to check. Our old one was farther out in the yard and no one ever wanted to check it. We’ve been checking that rain gauge every day and recording that information. It didn’t take
(This post contains affiliate links. I received a free copy of Eddie The Electron from Amberjack Publishing and I was compensated for the time to review the book. Opinions are all mine.) Most primary and elementary science curricula do not cover atoms. It can be difficult for some young learners to grasp the concept of something they cannot see making up everything that we can
