We LOVE lapbooks in our homeschool. Learning made fun!http://www.ajourneythroughlearning.net/expresslapbook.html
Enjoy,
Moe
Wife, Homeschooler, Mom, Gluten Free Cook and Blogger.
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Lapbooking
A Journey Through Learning has lapbooks for many subjects and grade levels. These are great for all kids and even for kids with special needs.
We LOVE lapbooks in our homeschool. Learning made fun!http://www.ajourneythroughlearning.net/expresslapbook.html
Enjoy,
Moe
We LOVE lapbooks in our homeschool. Learning made fun!http://www.ajourneythroughlearning.net/expresslapbook.html
Enjoy,
Moe
Apologia Young Explorer Series Science Book Review
Are you looking for an easy science curriculum for your 4th-6th grader?
We had seen Apologia in the vendor hall and heard them speak at our homeschool convention. We sort of drooled over the Apologia curriculum, but in keeping with tradition we continued with our ‘boxed curriculum’ that we always used. “Why change?” Well let me tell you, once the Young Explorer Series Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology showed up in the mail, it was like Christmas at our house, ripping and tearing of the mailing bag, paper flying all over! Our son was just going crazy over the color pictures, upcoming fun experiments and the activity pages in the Anatomy Notebooking Journal.
Even though our student is in the 7th grade, I felt that this would be a good fit for him since science has always been a struggle for my normally sharp student. The boxed curriculum that we had been using pretty much focused on memorizing terms and answering questions: BORING! Apologia Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology teaches from a different angle. “This K-6 science curriculum uses the Charlotte Mason methodology to give young students an introduction to the incredible human body.”
1) The book is hardcover “I can toss it in my book bag to take in the car and it does not get all bent up.”
2) I like the full color photos and crisp pages.
What this Momma did not like about Young Explorer Series Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology:
1) I thought that the MP3 audio would be great, until I found that it would only play in our computer. The MP3 does state that “you must play it in an MP3-compatible CD player or on a computer”. I was thinking that it would have been great to take it on car trips or for our student to be able to listen to it in his room on a CD player.
Things that this homeschooling Momma liked about Apologia Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology:
1) Penmanship, it always seems like such a chore in the homeschool, read just about any homeschooling blog or website and you will see Mothers chatting about handwriting. The Anatomy Notebooking Journal incorporates copy work right in to their lessons. It’s all blended together in the learning process and as an added blessing the copy work consists of Bible memory verses!!
2) I like the answer key being in the back of the textbook, it’s nice not to have an extra book (answer key) to hunt for when grading work. The lesson planning guide is included in the Anatomy Notebooking Journal, yet again one less thing to have to hunt for :O)
3) Love, Love, Love the different skin tones of the paper dolls to pick from in the Personal Person project.
4) The section of the student textbook called “How To Use This Book: A step-by-step guide and the Items Needed to Complete Each Lesson were WONDERFUL!!! There was no hunting for supplies or starting a lesson only to find out that there is an experiment that day needing XYZ that you don’t have on hand to complete. It’s all right there in the front of the book listed by lesson. How easy is that for a busy homeschooling Momma!!
5) I like how the Apologia website offers sample pages of all the textbooks so you can look through them before buying. Very nice feature.
6) I had to have surgery during this review and ended up with a post-op infection, and was hospitalized for 13 days, many days of laying and doing nothing on pain meds. My son was able to move forward all by himself in the material, that was a huge blessing and he learned a lot. I was very impressed with his drawings of the human cell, normally he hates drawing in science and would whine and carry on if he had to draw anything besides a Star Wars action guy! lol. But he really had a fun time with the Anatomy Notebooking Journal.
We had seen Apologia in the vendor hall and heard them speak at our homeschool convention. We sort of drooled over the Apologia curriculum, but in keeping with tradition we continued with our ‘boxed curriculum’ that we always used. “Why change?” Well let me tell you, once the Young Explorer Series Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology showed up in the mail, it was like Christmas at our house, ripping and tearing of the mailing bag, paper flying all over! Our son was just going crazy over the color pictures, upcoming fun experiments and the activity pages in the Anatomy Notebooking Journal.
Young Explorer Series Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology (hardcover) by Jeannie Fulbright and Brooke Ryan, M.D. Grades 4-6.
The student textbook is hardcover and looks as thought it would hold up well for use by more than one student.
Young Explorer Series Anatomy Notebooking Journal for Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology (spiral bound) by Jeannie Fulbright. Grades 3-6.
The Journal is spiral bound with a soft cover and it has yet to tear by the spiral, most of our spiral bound textbooks/workbooks from other companies seem to fray quickly and eventually tear at the first few spirals. 
Even though our student is in the 7th grade, I felt that this would be a good fit for him since science has always been a struggle for my normally sharp student. The boxed curriculum that we had been using pretty much focused on memorizing terms and answering questions: BORING! Apologia Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology teaches from a different angle. “This K-6 science curriculum uses the Charlotte Mason methodology to give young students an introduction to the incredible human body.”
Things that our student liked about Apologia Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology:
2) I like the full color photos and crisp pages.
3) “You always get to do something fun in the Try This section. ”
4) The course website book extras were GREAT!!! “I had fun going to these websites to read more about what I was learning in each lesson.”
Things that our student did not like about Apologia Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology:
1) "NOTHING, I LOVED IT AND CAN'T WAIT FOR TOMORROW'S LESSON!"
What this Momma did not like about Young Explorer Series Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology:
1) I thought that the MP3 audio would be great, until I found that it would only play in our computer. The MP3 does state that “you must play it in an MP3-compatible CD player or on a computer”. I was thinking that it would have been great to take it on car trips or for our student to be able to listen to it in his room on a CD player.
2) I did not care for some of the printing fonts used in the Anatomy Notebooking Journal, I thought that they were very hard for me to read. And might be especially hard for younger children that are not yet seasoned readers. The fonts used on many of the pages are bubbly or squiggly shaded fonts that are really hard on the eyes, otherwise the rest of the type is fine throughout the journal. I get that the digestive system is squiggly because it's the intestines, but for a struggling reader, this might be hard to read. They are very cute and fun though.
Things that this homeschooling Momma liked about Apologia Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology:
1) Penmanship, it always seems like such a chore in the homeschool, read just about any homeschooling blog or website and you will see Mothers chatting about handwriting. The Anatomy Notebooking Journal incorporates copy work right in to their lessons. It’s all blended together in the learning process and as an added blessing the copy work consists of Bible memory verses!!
2) I like the answer key being in the back of the textbook, it’s nice not to have an extra book (answer key) to hunt for when grading work. The lesson planning guide is included in the Anatomy Notebooking Journal, yet again one less thing to have to hunt for :O)
3) Love, Love, Love the different skin tones of the paper dolls to pick from in the Personal Person project.
4) The section of the student textbook called “How To Use This Book: A step-by-step guide and the Items Needed to Complete Each Lesson were WONDERFUL!!! There was no hunting for supplies or starting a lesson only to find out that there is an experiment that day needing XYZ that you don’t have on hand to complete. It’s all right there in the front of the book listed by lesson. How easy is that for a busy homeschooling Momma!!
5) I like how the Apologia website offers sample pages of all the textbooks so you can look through them before buying. Very nice feature.
6) I had to have surgery during this review and ended up with a post-op infection, and was hospitalized for 13 days, many days of laying and doing nothing on pain meds. My son was able to move forward all by himself in the material, that was a huge blessing and he learned a lot. I was very impressed with his drawings of the human cell, normally he hates drawing in science and would whine and carry on if he had to draw anything besides a Star Wars action guy! lol. But he really had a fun time with the Anatomy Notebooking Journal.
Looking back at our years of struggling with science, I wish we had decided to use Apologia Educational Ministries, INC long ago!! Our son would like to go back and do the other Apologia science books: Zoology, Astronomy, Botany, Flying Creation and Swimming Creation. So I think we will be spending our summers under a shade tree or at the beach with some new Apologia science books.
What do you use for science? Why do you like it?
Schoolhouse Teachers Homeschool
http://schoolhouseteachers.com/dap/a/?a=1054&p=https://schoolhouseteachers.com/member-resources/all-courses/ (The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, owner). Yet another
useful home education tool provided by http://thehomeschoolmagazine.com/. SchoolhouseTeachers.com is set up by graded sections, pre/K & elementary,
middle school and high school with drop down menus for all. You will find
everything for homeschooling with topics such as logic, math, science, history,
fine arts, Bible and many more electives as well as helps for the homeschool
mom.
http://schoolhouseteachers.com/dap/a/?a=1054&p=https://schoolhouseteachers.com/member-resources/all-courses/ is a must for all homeschoolers, whether you are a
boxed curriculum homeschooler, eclectic or unschooler this site has something
for your student with 400+ classses. Our homeschool has tended towards the
boxed curriculum (we have started branching out in recent years though) but it
was always missing something. I’ve found what was missing and it was
SchoolhouseTeachers.com, there are all sort of goodies to find on this site.
It just so happens
that my son was given an acoustic guitar as a gift and he has been getting
library books on how to play the guitar, but they have been either way over his
head or contained music that does not fit our family values. As we are
reviewing the Old Schoolhouse magazines website SchoolhouseTeachers.com we came
across the guitar lessons.
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| Mom & Dad have no trouble with reminding our son to practice his guitar because SchoolhouseTeachers.com is so much fun to use! |
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| The videos are AWESOME! It's great to go back and watch them again to get the finger movements down pat. |
Another area that I liked was the logic section. We have always struggled with teaching logic in our homeschool, so I was thrilled to see Logic on the drop down menu under middle school. I like how the lessons are set up so that my son can just go right in and get started. It has helped foster independence on his part. I know that we have a few years to go before college, but when I look at the SchoolhouseTeachers.com website, I’m thinking about how using this site will help our son out in the long run. Online college classes are the future for many of our children and what better way for them to be prepared than by teaching them in pre/k & elementary, middle school and high school with methods that they will continue to use down the road.
We plan to continue searching through all the goodies over the next year that SchoolhouseTeachers.com offers. Post and let me know what you think of the site and how it's enhanced your homeschool.
Have a great day!
Doc Documentary of the Pre-med Pre-Med student
Well here we are, fall has gone and winter is here! This is a time when we hunker down in our homeschool, snuggle under a warm blanket and really tackle the books.
I've slowed down on the blogging since I have retired from The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew, but I am still up for accepting offers for reviewing products and services, just not as a full time job anymore.
The homeschooled young man won a book from a podcast that we enjoy listening to (thank you Dr. Ryan Gray, M.D.) and that made me think that I have not updated you all on why I have retired from full time product reviewing this year. So here goes.
During the last school year, the homeschooled young man went in search of volunteering opportunities in the medical community. He came up empty handed over and over again. "Too young." "HIPPA policies." "Must be 18 or older." It was amazing how many applications he filled out and was then called for interviews on, then when they found out how old he was and it was a no go. So round about March of this year he was getting pretty down about it, but thought he would keep looking.
On our trip to Mayo Clinic (you can search my blog for more details on that trip) he met a doctor that spent some time with him explaining about health histories, dictation and actually did some dictation right in front of him. That spurred him on and he started checking out a few medical facilities in our state that he was interested in. He found a program for high school students and emailed the doctor in charge. This emailing went on for several months.
This past summer I spent working out the details of a medical field trip for homeschoolers. We got to tour a cancer center, a women's health center, had a question & answer lunch with three medical students (all of which looked tired and hungry...lol), then we rotated to different medical fields of discussions. I think there was gastro, ED, OB/GYN, oncology, histology, and a few PhD's lol...I won't even try to explain what those guys talked about, it was WAY over my head. One was doing research on a virus of some sort. The students then got to go to the hands on area and learn about PBL, problem based learning, they got to be behind the two way mirror (I think that is what it's called?) to listen and watch in the patient rooms (of course the patients were aware of this going on, they are paid patients called Standardized Patients).
The students also got to put on fake blood, make fake bruises and fun stuff like that. Then they went to the Micro Surgery Skills Lab, this was the homeschooled young man's favorite area. He was having a ball in there stitching away. Many commented on how he was holding the instruments in a near proper manner. LOL...little did they know that he had watched hours of YouTube surgery videos in his short lifetime. Then came the exciting time of getting to meet the physician that the homeschooled young man had been emailing back and forth. This then led to a discuss in the doctors office regarding the high school program.
Applications filled out, letters of recommendation in hand, personal essay written and it was all done. We just waited for contact to see if he was granted an interview. That day came and he was interviewed by a panel of 4. He was accepted into the program and attended his first White Coat Ceremony. The entire process was done to show students just how the medical school application process is done. The students were also warned that if they could not keep up with their high school studies and the program requirements that they had ought not even apply for medical school because they will not make it.
This is why I have been gone, it has been a busy time around here. The weeks that he has class we are gone most of the day as the classes are a long journey away from here. But the experience he is getting is well worth it in the end. I just take some books or my Kindle and relax for the day.
So far he has done the following: learned about biochemistry and had medical terminology classes, 2 medical cases using Problem Based Learning, CPR/AED training, learning the head to toe physical examination and getting to practice this, a tour of an Emergency Department's trauma bay, hospital laboratory, radiology, physical therapy and occupational therapy departments. The first module concluded with bus trip and a tour of a college campus, the highlight of this tour for the homeschooled young man was the anatomy lab. Before the trip he had commented. "I hope I get to hold a human heart and examine it close up." That came true, along with getting to hold, handle and examine human lungs, livers, spleens, brains and other organs. "This is nothing like looking at photos of at human organs in my textbooks." They also toured the Histology lab and made their own slides of animal kidneys and intestines. They had a chance to meet with some first year medical students. Those medical students were so shocked by what the kids had already gotten to do as just high school students.
The program is AWESOME! And the homeschooled young man is so thankful that he was given a seat. The program lasts for 4 years of high school and comes with a list of requirements including continued evidence of superior academic performance in a rigorous high school college-prep curriculum, attendance rate of 90% or higher, extra curricular, volunteer and/or community service activities. After graduating from the program, alumni will be eligible for a program sponsored scholarship and will be followed during their undergraduate program; periodic reports of their progress and ultimate career paths will be made and catalogued in a data bank for purposes of reporting and quality improvement. (love blogger.com, no rhyme or reason for a blue font to show up here...lol).
I've slowed down on the blogging since I have retired from The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew, but I am still up for accepting offers for reviewing products and services, just not as a full time job anymore.
The homeschooled young man won a book from a podcast that we enjoy listening to (thank you Dr. Ryan Gray, M.D.) and that made me think that I have not updated you all on why I have retired from full time product reviewing this year. So here goes.
During the last school year, the homeschooled young man went in search of volunteering opportunities in the medical community. He came up empty handed over and over again. "Too young." "HIPPA policies." "Must be 18 or older." It was amazing how many applications he filled out and was then called for interviews on, then when they found out how old he was and it was a no go. So round about March of this year he was getting pretty down about it, but thought he would keep looking.
On our trip to Mayo Clinic (you can search my blog for more details on that trip) he met a doctor that spent some time with him explaining about health histories, dictation and actually did some dictation right in front of him. That spurred him on and he started checking out a few medical facilities in our state that he was interested in. He found a program for high school students and emailed the doctor in charge. This emailing went on for several months.
This past summer I spent working out the details of a medical field trip for homeschoolers. We got to tour a cancer center, a women's health center, had a question & answer lunch with three medical students (all of which looked tired and hungry...lol), then we rotated to different medical fields of discussions. I think there was gastro, ED, OB/GYN, oncology, histology, and a few PhD's lol...I won't even try to explain what those guys talked about, it was WAY over my head. One was doing research on a virus of some sort. The students then got to go to the hands on area and learn about PBL, problem based learning, they got to be behind the two way mirror (I think that is what it's called?) to listen and watch in the patient rooms (of course the patients were aware of this going on, they are paid patients called Standardized Patients).
The students also got to put on fake blood, make fake bruises and fun stuff like that. Then they went to the Micro Surgery Skills Lab, this was the homeschooled young man's favorite area. He was having a ball in there stitching away. Many commented on how he was holding the instruments in a near proper manner. LOL...little did they know that he had watched hours of YouTube surgery videos in his short lifetime. Then came the exciting time of getting to meet the physician that the homeschooled young man had been emailing back and forth. This then led to a discuss in the doctors office regarding the high school program.
Applications filled out, letters of recommendation in hand, personal essay written and it was all done. We just waited for contact to see if he was granted an interview. That day came and he was interviewed by a panel of 4. He was accepted into the program and attended his first White Coat Ceremony. The entire process was done to show students just how the medical school application process is done. The students were also warned that if they could not keep up with their high school studies and the program requirements that they had ought not even apply for medical school because they will not make it.
 |
| White coats waiting to be given out to the students. |
So far he has done the following: learned about biochemistry and had medical terminology classes, 2 medical cases using Problem Based Learning, CPR/AED training, learning the head to toe physical examination and getting to practice this, a tour of an Emergency Department's trauma bay, hospital laboratory, radiology, physical therapy and occupational therapy departments. The first module concluded with bus trip and a tour of a college campus, the highlight of this tour for the homeschooled young man was the anatomy lab. Before the trip he had commented. "I hope I get to hold a human heart and examine it close up." That came true, along with getting to hold, handle and examine human lungs, livers, spleens, brains and other organs. "This is nothing like looking at photos of at human organs in my textbooks." They also toured the Histology lab and made their own slides of animal kidneys and intestines. They had a chance to meet with some first year medical students. Those medical students were so shocked by what the kids had already gotten to do as just high school students.
The program is AWESOME! And the homeschooled young man is so thankful that he was given a seat. The program lasts for 4 years of high school and comes with a list of requirements including continued evidence of superior academic performance in a rigorous high school college-prep curriculum, attendance rate of 90% or higher, extra curricular, volunteer and/or community service activities. After graduating from the program, alumni will be eligible for a program sponsored scholarship and will be followed during their undergraduate program; periodic reports of their progress and ultimate career paths will be made and catalogued in a data bank for purposes of reporting and quality improvement. (love blogger.com, no rhyme or reason for a blue font to show up here...lol).
The homeschooled young man says about the program. “I think it’s fun, exciting, and a great experience for
my future as a medical student. It has been fun getting to meet and work with
new people and get to talk with actual medical students. I am eager to begin
shadowing physicians to get a good feel for the area of medicine I want to
pursue. It was an honor to be given a seat in the program and I look forward to
the next 4 years I’m in the program.”
Wow what a year we have been blessed with! (here is that blue again!).
Apologia Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics Review for K-6th grade
Having seen Apologia
Educational Ministries, INC at the vendor hall, heard them speak at
homeschool conventions, having drooled over the Apologia curriculum and having
done a review for them in the past while on the TOS Review Crew, I was thrilled
to be asked to take part in this review. Once the Young Explorer Series Exploring Chemistry and Physics,
a homeschool science curriculum showed up in the mail, homeschool young man was
ready to start. Our son was just going crazy over the color pictures, upcoming
fun experiments and the activity pages in the Exploring Creation with Chemistry & Physics
Notebooking Journal!! Due to a shipping error we were sent the wrong
notebooking journal by Apologia, they offered for us to keep the wrong one and
then promptly sent us the correct one. I was excited to be able to use the Exploring
Creation with Chemistry and Physics Junior Notebooking Journal. I've never
had chemistry or physics so I thought it would be a great way for me to pick up
on some of the materials so I have at least a foundation in those two subjects.
The homeschool young man is interested in
becoming a physician. (this is the reason why this homeschool Momma will
not be re-joining the TOS Review Crew for the 2013-2014 school year. The
homeschool young man has been accepted to a medical school's physician prep
program, so our days are going to be a little busy with this program, so I
would not have the needed time to devote to the wonderful TOS Review Crew.) So
in preparing the homeschool young man for a ministry in medicine, I've got some
tough subjects in my future as a homeschool Momma. Chemistry and Physics SCARE
ME and can keep me awake at night if I am not careful! lol. When this review came
out, I saw that it was for K-6th grade, but thought this would be helpful to
me, so I applied and explained my reasoning. I was so excited when we were
approved for the Young Explorer Series Exploring Chemistry and Physics review.
While completing this review, I noticed
that the materials were right on this tired, old homeschool Momma's level and
of course too low for my freshmen homeschool young man (remember that Young Explorer Series Exploring Chemistry and Physics
is for K-6th grade), but he still enjoyed it. Sometimes it's fun for our
homeschool kids to have something that is educational, yet easy.
There were so
many concepts in this homeschool science resource from
Apologia
Educational Ministries, INC that were a great foundation for homeschool
young man to learn before stepping into their high school series on these
subject. I think it is important to learn some concepts as a younger student,
they might not fully understand them or know exactly how to put them into
practice. Nevertheless, when the full scope of learning comes about, there are
some foundational materials in the brain already and I think it helps things
come together in the end.
The Young Explorer Series Exploring Chemistry and Physics
book is a very nice hardcover textbook, which could be used by more than one
student. Textbook is $39.00 (hardcover) and is authored by Jeannie Fulbright.
You all know me and how I like bright colored pictures in my textbooks, you
have got those in the Young Explorer Series Exploring Chemistry and Physics,
and LOTS OF THEM! Nothing less than what you would expect from a quality
homeschool science curriculum like Apologia Educational
Ministries, INC. "Engaging text, many hands on demonstrations,
projects and experiments and exciting articles." Your child will make bouncy balls, lava lamps,
smoke bombs (COOL!) and mini motors. There is a list in the back of the book
for needed supplies for the experiments. They are all pretty easy to locate. I
will give you a hint though, for ease of doing the experiments in our busy
homeschooling lives, I would shop around for a supply kit, because I find it is
MUCH easier on me if I actually have everything bagged up for me, for each
experiment, otherwise I find it an effort to drop what I am doing and drive to
town to buy X. It is so much easier for me to say, "We will do this
tomorrow." Well, ya know what? In our perfect world tomorrow NEVER seems
to come! So homeschool Momma, treat yourself to a pre-made kit of supplies.
The homeschool Momma's notebook was the Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics Junior Notebooking Journal it was just right for me! There were coloring pages, short vocab crossword puzzles, lapbooking (homeschool young man liked those, but who does not like lapbooking? lol). Very easy to do and great graphics as usual from Apologia Educational Ministries, INC. This notebooking journal for the young grades is just $24.00, you can use the hardcover textbook without the Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics Junior Notebooking Journal, but I do not recommend it. The notebooking journals add so much to the learning process that I personally think that they are essential.
The homeschooled young man used the Exploring Creation with Chemistry & Physics Notebooking Journal also $24.00. The older kids notebooking journal has many of the same things as the Junior Notebook does, but at a higher level of difficulty. The fun and economical aspect of Apologia Educational Ministries, INC is that you can buy one textbook for your family and then just buy the needed notebooks based on grade. For one low price you can teach science to all your children together, while each works at a different level in their notebooks. How easy is that on the busy homeschool Momma's schedule!
You all know that I like to get the most bang for my buck when it comes to education. When I think of skills learned by using Young Explorer Series Exploring Chemistry and Physics I think of public speaking (telling me back what was learned), reading/oral reading of daily work, writing skills, Bible and so much more! I love how the textbooks are written in an easy to read fashion, the text really flows as the student reads. The suggested use is 2 days per week, for this review we were asked to do 4 days per week. In our homeschool we do science 5 days per week, so it was manageable for us. We enjoyed the sections on atoms and energy, we had not studied either of those in the past. As a homeschool Momma, my favorite part was the fact that the answer keys were easy to use! Homeschool young man loved the puzzles in the book, I had thought he would like the experiments, but it was the vocab puzzles that he liked best.
The only thing that I thought about regarding this review that was negative is that I think that there is a LOT of notebooking activities for the Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics Junior Notebooking Journal. I would not get bogged down with the notebooking at this young age (K-3rd), I would let them pick and choose what to do in the notebook, UNLESS you would be trading out handwriting class, for them writing on the copywork pages. To me the Exploring Creation with Chemistry & Physics Notebooking Journal would be just the right amount of work for a 4th-6th grader.
YET AGAIN, ANOTHER QUALITY PRODUCT FROM
Click below to see what my Crew buddies had to say when they wrote their reviews.
Moe
Changes To One Of My Favorite Homeschooling Websites...
Khan Academy has some new updates and a new dashboard! Sign up today and check them out.
Khan Academy has TONS of subject areas, videos, worktext problems, solutions and much more! I do know that the science is NOT Bible based, but there is still some decent info that can be gleaned from Khan Academy.
Sal is an AWESOME teacher and I just love how he goes about teaching, he is also very funny. I have to laugh he sounds exactly like a guy that I use to DJ with back in the 80's. One of those weird kinda things that when you close your eyes you can picture that person....lol. I do that every time I hear Sal's voice.
Our Homeschool young man enjoyed watching the medical video's that are on Khan Academy. Lots of pretty cool stuff on there. I remember back in the first years of Khan Academy, there were just lists of videos to watch. With the NEW and improved Khan Academy there are parent/student accounts, a dashboard, a reminder system, points system and suggestions of materials to look at and learn.
Check them out!
Khan Academy has TONS of subject areas, videos, worktext problems, solutions and much more! I do know that the science is NOT Bible based, but there is still some decent info that can be gleaned from Khan Academy.
Sal is an AWESOME teacher and I just love how he goes about teaching, he is also very funny. I have to laugh he sounds exactly like a guy that I use to DJ with back in the 80's. One of those weird kinda things that when you close your eyes you can picture that person....lol. I do that every time I hear Sal's voice.
Our Homeschool young man enjoyed watching the medical video's that are on Khan Academy. Lots of pretty cool stuff on there. I remember back in the first years of Khan Academy, there were just lists of videos to watch. With the NEW and improved Khan Academy there are parent/student accounts, a dashboard, a reminder system, points system and suggestions of materials to look at and learn.
Check them out!
Back to school funny & our homeschool tradition
So glad that we homeschool and don't have to spend much on supplies. We just use the same stuff from last year. No one breaks our Crayons or steals our pencils in homeschool...lol
We have a tradition of buy something fun and new for the school year though. For me I usually pick out a cute pack of sticky notes (you know I have a passion for STICKY NOTES!) I blogged about my overstock of sticky notes. This year I got some Post-It Notes with a cute Pug dog on the front.
The teenager decided on a folder/notebook with a Pug on the front.
You would think that we have a thing for Pugs at our house :O)
Moe
Science For High School: Physical Science Review
As members of The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew we have had the exciting opportunity to review the Physical Science program from Science for High School. The program is called High School Physical Science In Your Home for the last several weeks in our homeschool. This course is for grades 9-12, but I think in home education you can use it with junior high aged kids if they are ready for the material. High School Physical Science In Your Home comes with a student and a teacher manual.
OK, first let me tell you what my experience with science has been. To me science was reading a chapter in the science book, memorizing the bold terms/definitions, answering the chapter checkup questions, taking a weekly quiz/test. Maybe doing a science poster or short write up once in awhile. Basically rote memorization skills were practiced in my kind of science. Toss those ideas right out the window with Science For High School.
Imagine a home school science curriculum actually written by a home school mom! After using the curriculum I am realizing that she understands that most home school Mommy’s don’t have a clue about science :O) This little sentence in the teacher manual sold me…lol. “(As in all home schools, we bend and fit all curricula to our home.) LOVE IT! Author Bridget Ardoin has been a home schooling mom for the past 12+ years. Ardoin has a degree in microbiology and has taught science in private high schools.
My student used the library, books, textbooks (what homeschooler is lacking in any type of book? LOL), science magazines and the Internet. I would caution the Internet use for research, be sure that your student is using legitimate websites. There is a lot of junk science out there.
For the High School Physical Science In Your Home review we received a Student Manual that was 3 hole punched, quizzes, a final exam for each semester and a spiral bound teacher edition. You can go here to purchase for $79.99. If you have more than one student you will need to purchase additional lab books here for $24.99. I love that you can go here to purchase the lab kit for $45.00. To save $ you can purchase the HIGH SCHOOL PHYSICAL SCIENCE IN YOUR HOME TOTAL PACKAGE for $110.00.
HOW THE PROGRAM WORKS:
Each week I would give our son 1 Lab Sheet and 1 Experiment Sheet to work on, he had the next 7 days to prepare, take a quiz over previous material and then present his written material for the new week in a discussion format. Pretty simple for the teacher if you ask me :O) Our discussion time usually took on some added chatter…lol. I picked Thursday as our day to do this since it’s a less busy school day for us and allows for some fun and relaxed interaction.
What this homeschool Momma liked about High School Physical Science In Your Home:
1) Simple to use teacher‘ manual! LOL…Have I ever said that I can’t stand a teachers manual or answer key that is hard to use? Ya know the kind, where you have to hunt through the reading materials to find the tiny little number that matches the question that you are grading! Super easy teacher manual here with Science For High School with ANSWERS!.
2) I’m seeing 4-H projects written all over this curriculum!!
3) DISCUSSION! LOVE IT!! Each week you sit down with your child and they discuss with you the research that they did that week on the assignment. If you have more than 1 child this is a great opportunity for them to absorb the information while sitting in on the discussion :O)
4) BONUS! A high school curriculum that prepares homeschoolers for college? GREAT! The author brings this up when explaining how to give quizzes and tests. “This gives the student a chance to develop skills to study for a quiz while having other assignments, something that will prove useful while in college.”
5) I think that no matter what learning style your child has High School Physical Science In Your Home will fit the bill. It touches on all learning styles
6) I’m thinking Homeschool Co-op Class with this curriculum!!! You know we are always looking for something challenging in a homeschool Co-op for our teens!
7) A good reminder! The author reminds us as homeschool moms that some colleges and universities want to see copies of the student lab notes.
8) Easy list of items needed for the experiments, so far I have not had to hunt far for items, I’ve pretty much had them on hand. Though I am glad I looked ahead to second semester, there are a few things I will need to hunt up.
9) She gives an idea of how to score the quizzes and tests, which is nice, sometimes with homeschool materials I have had to stand on my head to figure out how to give a grade.
10) EUREKA!! Second Semester we learn about the Periodic Table of Elements, you ask “What on earth is that?” lol…Yeah, homeschooling Sista, I am right there with ya! And I plan to learn this right along with my child. All I can say is Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow!
11) So far what we have worked through has really had a college feel to it, the way the material is laid out, the lab sheets and the discussion each week. Many college classes, not just science are using the discussion format each week.
12) Everything is laid out plain as day for you! LOVE IT!
What this homeschool Momma didn’t like about High School Physical Science In Your Home:
1) When we first got the materials someone (home school student who shall remain nameless…lol) decided to take the High School Physical Science In Your Home student materials in the car to review, without first putting them in a 3 ring binder (not included) and they dumped all over and had to be picked up and put back together. They are now secured in a 3 ring binder.
2) I thought that a few of the labs were a bit grade schoolish or middle schoolish to me. I was expecting a bit more difficulty across the board. But I think that High School Physical Science In Your Home would be a great place to start if your homeschool science program has been lacking in experiments because the first semester ones were pretty simple and the second semester ones seem more advanced. It could be a confidence booster for your homeschooler.
3) I do have some concern about this program when it comes to my son being interested in a medical career. I am just not sure that it meets the standards of the tough STEM requirements. STEM education is an acronym for the areas of study in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in the United States.
What this homeschool student liked about High School Physical Science In Your Home:
1) I kinda got to look up things that I wanted to look up and study things the way I wanted to study them :O)
2) I liked the experiments, sometimes they did not work out, but I had fun with them.
3) I can’t wait to get to second semester to study electricity, I think this might help with my 4-H electricity project next year. COOL!
4) I like how the author tells us in our student manual that we need to do a little bit of work each day. If she had not said this I would probably have waited until the night before to work on it.
What this homeschool student didn’t about High School Physical Science In Your Home:
1) This was a totally different way of doing science that was very new to me. So I think it’s going to take some getting use to the change.
2) It was a bit hard for me to keep motivated to work each day on my own, Mom had to nag me at first, but then I started to look forward to working on my research.
I really like the program as it seems very easy to use, but as I said above I have reservations regarding the STEM and college admissions if your child will be entering a career field that is heavy on science. So if you have a student that will need a strong science background look over the material and decided if this is for you. We plan to use this as a supplement to our current science program.
Apologia Year-End Round-Up Blog Roll
This was our first year doing Apologia. We did the Anatomy and Physiology. We had been using Abeka since the very beginning and it was just not working for our son. He thrived with Apologia and learned so much. We bought a lapbook and used that along with the Anatomy Notebook Journal and LOVED it! We started it late in the year and it was no trouble working in the summer with it. It seems like recreational reading instead of school book reading.
I had to have surgery during this review and ended up with a post-op infection, and was hospitalized for 13 days. I spent many months of laying and doing nothing but sleeping and eating pain meds. My son was able to move forward all by himself in the material, that was a huge blessing and he learned a lot. I was very impressed with his drawings of the human cell, normally he hates drawing in science and would whine and carry on if he had to draw anything besides a Star Wars action guy! lol. But he really had a fun time with the Anatomy Notebooking Journal.
Looking back at our years of struggling with science, I wish we had decided to use Apologia Educational Ministries, INC long ago!! Our 7th grader would like to go back and do the other Apologia science books: Zoology, Astronomy, Botany, Flying Creation and Swimming Creation. So I think we will be spending our summers under a shade tree or at the beach with some new Apologia science books.
Next school year we are starting with Apologia Physical Science and have everything ready to go and are very excited about starting!
"Science Naturally" book review
We were already familiar with the Sciencenaturally.com since we had read One Minute Mysteries: 65 Short Mysteries You Solve With Math!, so we were very eager to read get One Minute Mysteries: 65 More Short Mysteries You Solve With Science! The book also contains 5 bonus mysteries that involve using math skills to solve the problems.
One Minute Mysteries: 65 More Short Mysteries You Solve With Science! has 180 pages is written for 8-12 year olds and can be purchased for $9.95 by going to www.sciencenaturally.com.
The book is set up where you solve 65 mini mysteries with science and if you have read my blog in the past you will find that science is not my favorite subject, but the book made science fun! Read through my entire review and you can receive a special offer from Science Naturally!
What this home school Momma liked about One Minute Mysteries: 65 More Short Mysteries You Solve With Science!
1) I like how it brought science to life with everyday topics
2) LOVE the critical thinking skills that you need to solve these mysteries.
3) The book was easy to use, we brought it in the car with us and would read while we were going down the road. (beats the Ipod being on…lol)
4) This would be a fun summer time book, learning while on break is always great.
5) Covers Life Sciences, Earth & Space Sciences, Physical & Chemical Sciences and General Sciences.
6) The stories were written in a fun way and engaged our son very well.
What this home school momma did not like about One Minute Mysteries: 65 More Short Mysteries You Solve With Science!
1) Wish that they had been a bit more challenging, but the book is for 8-12 year olds and my student is almost 13, so it’s for the younger kids.
What this home school student liked about One Minute Mysteries: 65 More Short Mysteries You Solve With Science!
1) I liked how some were easy and some were hard.
2) They made me have to think.
3) The book was fun.
What this home school student did not like about One Minute Mysteries: 65 More Short Mysteries You Solve With Science!
1) Wish that there was more of a clear break between the mystery and the solution, because it was way too easy to just accidental flip the page and start reading the answer. Maybe like a picture of a STOP SIGN at the end of each mystery to remind you to STOP!
2) Wish that there were more books by them to read.
I think that these would be fun for using on a sporadic basis during science class. A fun thing to pull out and surprise the kids with during summer break.
I wish that they would come out with a book for chemistry, biology and physics for older kids.
Special offer from Science Naturally: purchase any 3 books from the Science Naturally by clicking here and get 3 books for $19.95 with shipping of just $2.95 (these retail for $35.80 a $12.90 savings just for reading my review!) Enter coupon code 3SPEC in your shopping cart. ENJOY!
Hope you enjoy this book as much as we did!
Organized bookshelves? Clutter? HELP ME!!
Moody Radio's In The Market Place with Janet Parshall Hour 2 today was entitled "Too Much Stuff"
It made me do some thinking and I even had my son listen to it. I plan to get the book. You can listen by going to Moody Radio. Here is a snapshot of Kathryn Porter talking with Janet Parshall today.
"Clutter expert Kathryn Porter joins us to clean up
our houses, and our hearts. Her popular book,
Too Much Stuff, now has a second edition.
She’ll share how God loves us amongst our messes"
Kathryn also has a website Clutter Wise check her out and see how you can conquer what is cluttering your life and it may not just be stuff that is cluttering it up.
So this brings me to my blog post for today:
I'm in need of some ideas on how to get our bookshelves more organized. I really think that we would use more of our materials if we could find them! lol. Our son has been bored (we don't use that term, but for lack of another word I will :-) this past week and so he started digging through the bookshelves and found some science experiment books. He asked if he could do some and I told him that was fine, but to make sure that he marked the pages so that I could count the hours for the up coming school year ~YEAH for the teacher who has a Thinking Cap on!~
I also reminded him what science is all about: (Did I say that I just love this homeschool thing!?)
*thinking ahead (what is going to happen),
*thinking about why it's going to happen (cause/effect)
*thinking about how it happened (process)
*thinking about the outcome (was I correct in my assessment).
Got to love homeschooling and how kids love to learn. The teacher even told him that he could write in the book. GASP! In the past I have said "Don't write in that! I'll resell it." Well, I'm changing my tune on that one as of today, why not use it if you bought it. So write away! lol
Ok, now that I have taken us down that little rabbit trail (friends you know how I am with rabbit trails, I've never met one that I won't follow!).
So send me some ideas on how I can get our school year off to an organized venture! Feel free to post your areas that need some help and we can put our heads together.
Hugs,
Moe
10 Ways to Make Your Homeschool Day Run Smoothly
10 ways to make your homeschool day run smoothly was a blog post that I really needed to read! I hope that you will check it out also. So many simple things to do, yet we get wrapped up in other things and we don't do these 10 simple things. I can think of a few others that would work for me if I kept up on them. I'll give you 5 of my best to go along with the 10 from The Homeschool Classroom
1. Go to bed early.
2. Keep a running shopping list so I don't have to run to town for something each day.
3. Read over the Science lessons a month in advance so that supplies can be ordered and ready for experiments.
4. Do not over schedule, it's called homeschooling and not carschooling!! It's so easy to want to join everything and do everything. And to socialize our child.......LOL. Read Rick Boyer's book The Socialization Trap.
5. If you struggle in teaching a certain subject, look ahead and consult with someone who is in the know. Pray about this, we did this with Math. I'm not real great with Math, but the Lord has provided a good friend that has a masters degree in Math and another friend is a public school Math teacher.
Yes, the Lord provides just what we need when we need it. Philippians 4:19 " But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."
Moe
1. Go to bed early.
2. Keep a running shopping list so I don't have to run to town for something each day.
3. Read over the Science lessons a month in advance so that supplies can be ordered and ready for experiments.
4. Do not over schedule, it's called homeschooling and not carschooling!! It's so easy to want to join everything and do everything. And to socialize our child.......LOL. Read Rick Boyer's book The Socialization Trap.
5. If you struggle in teaching a certain subject, look ahead and consult with someone who is in the know. Pray about this, we did this with Math. I'm not real great with Math, but the Lord has provided a good friend that has a masters degree in Math and another friend is a public school Math teacher.
Yes, the Lord provides just what we need when we need it. Philippians 4:19 " But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."
Moe
Love homeschool science "Solar S'mores"
It's so HOT that we are making smores in the sunshine! A fun science experiment that brings in weather & climate, cause & effect, observation skills and some fun summer time memories. Nothing like schooling year round, it doesn't even feel like school!
Try something fun with your child today.
Happy Summer.
Moe
Changes for next school year?
We finished school back in April, so we are looking forward to next year. What things worked for you this year and what things would you change for next year?
We school year round and really enjoy it. We get nice breaks in October, December, February, April and May. We do the easy subjects in the summer like history and science, when we can lay under the shade trees and read. And get messy outside with science experiments!
We are working on Latin and think we might try a different program, we are using Prima Latina. Also looking at some items from the Critical Thinking Company, but not sure how to add those things in just yet. Still in the planning stages. For Bible we have switched from BJU to RBP (Regular Baptist Press)and are using the adult Sunday School materials, have been very impressed with the quality of their materials. We are also working through the book of Proverbs with several different materials (all seem to compliment each other) from www.thelearningparent.com/products.asp?pagecontrol=1&cat=29&product=21 , http://generationswithvision.com/Store/2011/06/proverbs-collection-12/ and Picture Proverbs Deluxe DVD Set from SolveFamilyProblems.com. The Picture Proverbs is a bit expensive, we got a discount on it since we saw S.M. Davis speak at a conference, but it's well worth the $$ spent and I would pay full price for it. There is nothing like hearing father/son say lets go watch a DVD and they are watching Picture Proverbs for an hour! As a family we have gotten so much out of these 3 resources.
We went through the Focus On The Family series called The Truth Project and got so much out of that, we may attend it again if it's offered, there was so much to glean from in that. Our son was only 11 when we went through the series and he was interacting with the adults during discussion time, so please don't think that our kids don't have a clue about what it going on. Treat your children knowing that they will rise to the occasion, instead of dumbing them down with little Bible stories, many kids no longer need the milk and honey, they are ready for solid Biblical food.
Do you have any curriculum items that you are interested in sharing about?
Moe
We school year round and really enjoy it. We get nice breaks in October, December, February, April and May. We do the easy subjects in the summer like history and science, when we can lay under the shade trees and read. And get messy outside with science experiments!
We are working on Latin and think we might try a different program, we are using Prima Latina. Also looking at some items from the Critical Thinking Company, but not sure how to add those things in just yet. Still in the planning stages. For Bible we have switched from BJU to RBP (Regular Baptist Press)and are using the adult Sunday School materials, have been very impressed with the quality of their materials. We are also working through the book of Proverbs with several different materials (all seem to compliment each other) from www.thelearningparent.com/products.asp?pagecontrol=1&cat=29&product=21 , http://generationswithvision.com/Store/2011/06/proverbs-collection-12/ and Picture Proverbs Deluxe DVD Set from SolveFamilyProblems.com. The Picture Proverbs is a bit expensive, we got a discount on it since we saw S.M. Davis speak at a conference, but it's well worth the $$ spent and I would pay full price for it. There is nothing like hearing father/son say lets go watch a DVD and they are watching Picture Proverbs for an hour! As a family we have gotten so much out of these 3 resources.
We went through the Focus On The Family series called The Truth Project and got so much out of that, we may attend it again if it's offered, there was so much to glean from in that. Our son was only 11 when we went through the series and he was interacting with the adults during discussion time, so please don't think that our kids don't have a clue about what it going on. Treat your children knowing that they will rise to the occasion, instead of dumbing them down with little Bible stories, many kids no longer need the milk and honey, they are ready for solid Biblical food.
Do you have any curriculum items that you are interested in sharing about?
Moe
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