When you don’t attend a regular school there is a tendency for the summer vacation to be nothing great to be excited about. You know that school will continue as usual even if the rest of the regular school kids are having a couple of months off.This may be a good time to vary the routine for homeschool students.
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Since homeschool students do not have a bus to catch to school, they could start the morning later in the day. However the ideal time to start teaching in the homeschool classroom has been an often debated topic. There are those who feel that allowing the children to run through their daily chores in the morning and begin studying after an early lunch may be a better way to use the whole day productively.
While others may argue that the children’s minds are fresh early in the morning and should be used to concentrate on studies at that time. Also what works for one family may not work as well for another. Plus the age of the homeschool student makes a difference. Younger children need less sleep than a teenager would, making it easier for them to wake up in the morning and begin school work. If you are sitting on the fence of this debate and wondering where side you need to fall on, here are some considerations.
The Circadian System in Teenagers
It is now supported by scientific research that teenagers need nearly 14 hours of sleep as compared to adults who can get by just fine with 8 to 10 hours. Mary A. Carskadon, a sleep researcher at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University has found that most teenagers are sleep deprived due to waking up early for school, and not going to bed early to make up the difference. The lack of sleep has been linked to lower academic performances as well as an increase in petty crime rate for the sleep deprived teenagers.
What Can You Do About This?
As a homeschool teacher of teenage children, you may want to get your homeschool students tucked into bed at a regular hour, relatively early in the evening. In addition you may want to allow them to sleep in late enough to complete about 10 to 12 hours to sleep. Also get them to take that nap in the afternoon to make up their sleep deficiency. You will find that after they get their full quota of sleep, you angry teenagers are actually doing better at school work.
Often a child is encouraged to try a different learning activity if he has access to the materials that he will need. One homeschooling mother shared that having her fiction books up in a proper bookcase was all it took for her children to start reading. They didn’t want to dig into a cardboard box in which she had placed the books earlier, but seeing the books easily accessible in the shelf made them start reading more. Here are some ways in which you can encourage your homeschool students to do more around the homeschool classroom.
List of Tools to Give Access to Homeschool Students
While books are a good starting point, there are a number of other tools that can help speed up learning for your homeschool student. Providing them with all kinds of different tools can help create a learning rich environment for them in the homeschool classroom. A list of such tools could include things such as a magnifying glass, binoculars, measuring tape, rulers, play dough, a camera, blank sheets of paper, and art supplies.
Create a Learning Counter
Having a dedicated space where they can experiment is a great idea. It can be as simple as setting aside a small table for them. Or they can use a roll up mat on the floor if they need more space to spread out. The idea is to give them a place where they can sit and do what they want when experimenting with the different tools that you have made available to them. It will help them be more creative, learn new facts on their own, and keep busy when you are unable to give them direct supervision in the homeschool classroom.
Invite them to Undertake Specific Activities
A little challenge can go a long way when encouraging them to take up a new experiment or project. You can offer them a reading nook where everyone takes turns to read out a specific story that they liked. Or have them come up with a snack for the siblings at a kitchen center. It would be interesting to get them to draw up a map of the immediate neighborhood on a large chart paper. There’s so much that can be done.
Summer is the perfect season to bring in new learning activities into the lives of your homeschooled children. You are not as focused on classroom activities, formal lessons are on a break, and its time to have some fun. Make that fun instructive and you have a set of learning activities that you can do in the summer holidays.
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Shifting from regular school to homeschool requires a fair amount of adjustment for both the new homeschool teacher, as well as the class full of homeschool students. A tool that can help with this transition is deschooling.
What is Deschooling?
It is a period of time taken out to help students understand that their lives may not be governed by school bells, class schedules and teachers anymore. Instead they are encouraged to learn in new and innovative ways. On their own and often at a pace that they wish to set. It is a time when the child learn to de-link from school as a regular institution and link up with the school ways that allow him to learn on his own with the guidance of the homeschool teacher.
How to Deschool your Homeschoolers?
The longer a child has been in a regular school, the more shifts in attitude and behavior will be required. The homeschool teacher should figure in a generous time for the deschooling of the new homeschool student. Patience is a must because often children don’t want to do things the way they had to in regular school, but may object when a new teaching method is introduced by saying that’s not how they did it in school. The children are confused and need to be guided to the new normal by the parent.
Allow them to Indulge their Curiosity and Imagination
These two qualities have little space to bloom in a regular classroom. A student is often asked to stick to the essentials. They are rarely allowed the freedom to be creative in their expression and imaginations are often kept on a short leash. They need to be shown that now they are allowed to indulge in their creativity. That speaking up with a vivid imagination is not a waste of time. The changes will be gradual as the conditioning of the child needs to be overcome.
Give them the time and space they need to make the adjustments for a more productive learning schedule to take shape in the future. The time spent deschooling can help them immensely.
A number of parents wonder about homeschooling. They want to start, but since their children are already in regular schools, they are not sure how to figure out the transition. They are often also worried about being able to handle the demands of homeschooling. Here’s a simple manner in which these families can test drive the concept of homeschooling without making any major changes.
Speak to the Students
If your children are old enough to go to school, you can discuss the concept of homeschooling with them. Get their reaction to the idea of studying at home. If they are enthusiastic about it, speak of all the ways it will affect them and the changes that they will face. Ask them to get on board with trying out homeschooling during the summer break from school. Should they agree, go ahead and set up a fixed time trial to see if the homeschooling concept works for your family.
Set up the School Room
Having a dedicated space to sit down and study will be important for your homeschool students. Since they are used to regular school, they will do better with a more structured environment and schedule. Tell them to pick seats, cupboard shelves and study areas for themselves in the homeschool classroom that you set up. This will help them ease into the homeschooling trial. It will also give them a sense of control when they begin homeschooling.
Keep Some Time for Summer Fun
The children may resent having to give up their summer break completely. So make sure that you include fun activities like you would have during a regular summer holiday as well. These could include a camping trip or a visit to the grandparents, especially if they stay out of town. Other activities could include summer sports, hobby classes, and volunteering at the zoo or a museum. These activities should be designed to have fun, not to teach the children anything.
At the end of the summer of homeschooling, get the feedback from the children before you make your final decision. The entire family will have a much clearer picture about what they prefer after the trial run.
There are more children being homeschooled today than ever before. The statistical data seems to suggest that most parents tend to prefer homeschooling their children rather than sending them to a regular school to attend regular classes. What is the reason for this drastic shift in the way education is imparted?
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Getting ready for life is the purpose of education, and if you are homeschooling your child, you need to get him or her ready to live in the real world. Here are some basic skills that your homeschool student needs to master to be successful in the journey of life.
Note Taking
One of the most crucial skills is to be able to take notes when some one else is speaking. Not only does this come in handy when the homeschool student is learning something in the classroom, but it is a skill that will continue to serve them well when they are attending lectures in college. It also comes in handy when they join the work force and needs to attend meetings where a number of points may be conveyed to work upon.
Time Management
Taking responsibility of their time is important for the homeschool student. While children who are younger may require constant parental guidance about how to best make use of their time, the older ones should be able to work out their own schedules and maintain them. Having to set realistic deadlines and meeting them is a very useful skill no matter what task your homeschool student may be performing. Time management allows them to keep track of their assignments and goals effectively.
Written Communication
Writing reports, essays, letters, and emails ensures that the written communication skills of a the homeschool student develop adequately. Being able to write down and communicate efficiently is always going to come in handy in life. Everything from a list of chores that you want someone to do, to filing in your taxes once you begin working will require the homeschool student to have good writing skills. It’s a good idea to give them enough practice in the homeschool classroom regarding this skill.
Self Advocacy
The homeschool parent is not always going to be with the student. It behooves the child to be able to put their own point across to other people even in the absence of their parents and teachers. While familiar adults may be well versed in the needs of the child, the child should learn to explain their needs to others who may not be aware of them. In order to do this the child needs to be able to analyse what he needs in a particular situation, then communicate that need to the person present who may meet it.
There are days when you are feeling tired in mind and body, but you still have a homeschool classroom to manage. These are the days when a homeschool teacher should have a number of back up activities planned for. You can take a partial day off from teaching actively to giving the homeschool students some assignments that don’t need too much in terms of supervision from your side. Here are some ideas that could work for your homeschooling family.
The Educational Videos
Have a couple of DVDs ready for the homeschool students to watch on a topic that would be educational. You can even use the internet to rig up instant access to multiple learning channels on YouTube. To make sure that they actually see the videos and learn something, have them submit a written report on what they see.
Physical Activities
If your children are old enough, you can send them for a bike ride to the local park. Let them pack a picnic lunch and go spend some time outdoors. The older homeschool students will have to be in charge of the younger siblings. Or just let them all out in the backyard and play catch or hide and go seek. The idea is to keep them active and occupied.
The Crafty Project
If your homeschool students are the kind who enjoy making stuff, give them a craft project. Let them design and paint a frame for their photographs. Or have them make and decorate a basket in which they can store their toys. Let them make cards for upcoming festivals or birthdays. Just give them the art supplies and let them lose on their respective canvas or card pages.
The Music Song and Dance
This is a good time to make them choreograph a new set of steps on their favorite song. Or to get them to practice singing a new song by learning it’s lyrics. The activity is fun, and they won’t resist it. Especially if they get to show case their final production to the full family. You can even have family and friends over for the show and provide snacks.
Homeschooling has become a choice that more and more parents are opting for these days. The reasons for homeschooling may differ but it is undeniable that more children are being homeschooled by their parents today than ever before. A number of these homeschooling parents worry about just how well they are coping with educating their children. They may have high ideals but are they really succeeding in passing on the kind of instruction that they hoped to? This is a question that can be easily answered if the child is allowed to compete with his peers in contests.
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You have heard about sick days in the corporate world? It is when the employee needs to take an off to recover from an illness. A homeschool mother’s mental health day is a similar concept. It’s the day the homeschool mother takes off, leaving her loving kids in the hands of another trustworthy adult. How does a homeschool parent spend this mental health day? Here are some ideas.
Settle the Kids First
If you’re worrying about what the kids are up to, you are not going to get much of a break. To ensure that you don’t ruin your day off, try and keep the kids with a responsible adult who you trust. Then you can give them tasks that require little or no supervision such as design a book cover for the book they are reading. Or build a fort within the house. Or draw their favorite cartoon character on a poster with a motivational quote. It’s all about busy work.
Head Out of the Home
Most mothers find it difficult to unplug from the homeschool classroom even when another substitute homeschool teacher is involved. The best way to get a total break is to head out of the home and do something that you usually don’t have time for. Tie up with your friends to do lunch in a fine dining restaurant. Go see that movie you have been wanting to. Attend a workshop on learning something that interests you. Just get out of the home so that you are not thinking about what the kids are doing.
Just Step Back and Relax
If you are so tired that you literally have no energy, then settle the kids as above and settle yourself back into your bed and go to sleep. Yes, sleep deprivation can take a huge toll on your health. A few hours of sleep when you are not responsible for the homeschool students or the chores at home will have you waking up refreshed. You can continue your day of rest by remaining tucked into bed with a good book, not a text book or study resource, and lazing.
Festivals can be used as a great learning tool with your homeschooling class. As most festivals revolve around specific events (such as Independence Day or Thanksgiving)or individuals (such as St. Patrick’s Day or Christmas) your child can be taught about this cultural history in a fun filled manner.
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In the majority of homeschool families the trend is for the mother to be the primary homeschool teacher, as the father is usually busy with the day job that supports the family. This does not mean that the father in the homeschooling family can not contribute to the learning of the homeschool students. Here are some ideas to apply if you want to help your children as a homeschool dad.
Stick With The Strengths
The father should not act like a replacement homeschool teacher for the mother. He should hone in on the subjects that he is good at and help the homeschool students with doubts in those. If he can figure out a schedule for holding regular weekly classes in these subjects, all the better.
Plan Outside Educational Activities
This does not mean just playing out in the backyard with the homeschool students. The homeschool dad has the opportunity to actually organize outings for the kids where they will have a chance to see or learn something new. It could be a field trip to a national park, a visit to the local museum, a musical recital or even a play performance. The idea is to expose the kids to something different each time. They go off with the father for these activities.
The Project Supervisor
Project based learning is a good experiential learning experience for homeschool students. The homeschooling father can be made in charge of these projects. He can supervise the process, guide the children on how to make progress and share the benefit of his experience with them without actually stepping in as a teacher in the homeschool classroom.
The Chore Guide
There are a number of chores that the homeschool students can be shown how to help with around the house, and as they grow older, outside the house as well. The homeschool father can become the guide for these chores. He can give demonstrations about how the chore needs to be done, then mentor the homeschool students as they learn to perform the chores by themselves. All the kids should learn at least five chores around the house.
There’s a lot of writing that can be added to different subjects in the curriculum of a homeschool student. Here are some ideas to get you started on writing assignments.
Historical Reports
Have them study a specific historical event in their curriculum and then write down a report on it. They need to be able to describe the incident, the impact it had and what they feel about it in terms of their own opinion. This will allow them to learn the skills of reading and understanding what they read. Of collecting pertinent facts and putting them down in points. Also being able to think for themselves whether an event was important or not. Not to mention learning how to express their own opinion in a respectful and positive manner.
Science Project Reports
Getting your homeschool students to the scientific method is a good way to introduce them to making their own science project reports. Have them draw up hypothesis, possible ways to prove the hypothesis and records of how the experiments went. It will have them scrambling to note down their observations and speak of the different results that their experiments generate. Want to make the write some more? Add biographies of scientists who discovered the laws that they are basing their initial hypothesis on.
Math Word Problems and Notes
Have your homeschool students come up with word problems that they can write out and solve in math. The real life situations can be used to define specific concepts. Ask them to take notes while you explain mathematical concepts with real life examples. This will have them writing some more. Give them ready worksheets for math as well. They can come up with more word problems of a similar nature and work them out for extra practice.
Book Reports and Reviews
For every book that they read, ask them to write a review. Describe what it was about, discuss how they liked it or didn’t and give recommendations of what could make the book better. It’s a good exercise to get their thinking caps on. It will also help them to think out of the box and come up with new ideas.
There is the basic skill of writing which backs all learning in the homeschool classroom. However most homeschool students are not very keen on writing down their lessons. They are happy to rattle off their knowledge orally but ask them to take a paper and write it down, and more often than not you will hear them groan and complain. So what can you do to help them enjoy writing more?
Get Creative With Writing
If the only time your child is writing is when they have to do worksheets or practice math, they are not going to enjoy it. Instead, allow them to do some creative writing. Show them an interesting picture and ask them to write down what they see in it. Ask them to build a story around the picture if they can come up with characters and a plot in discussion with you. Let them enjoy the process of thinking and writing.
Writing Doesn’t Always Have to be Pen and Paper
By changing the material that they write with or write on, you will interest them to keep writing some more. Give them oil paper and crayons and ask them to write a list of things they want for their birthday. Give them broad markers and ask them to write greetings on card paper to family members who may have birthdays coming up. Give them ideas about what they want to write. Discuss the concept of writing short stories, poems and flash fiction.
The Practical Aspects of Writing
Show them the use of writing in day to day life. Ask them to write out a list of groceries at the kitchen table as you open the cupboards to check what all needs to be replaced. Make them write out a message from a caller to the parent when they answer the telephone. Have them write out their letters to grand parents describing their day or a field trip that they took. Show them the importance of writing in daily communication. When they see it as a useful tool, they will be more eager to learn and practice writing.
It’s Okay If You Can’t Do Everything
The first time you attend a homeschool convention, you may feel that you should go to every single event in the schedule. It’s simply not possible. There will be some happening at the same time. You will have other mingling to do. So it’s perfectly fine to give yourself permission to not do everything. Don’t feel guilty when you planned to do ten things in the day and barely managed to get six done.
Bring Cash, Cards and Cheques
These conventions are a great place to invest in study material and resources for your homeschool classroom. Don’t get surprised if some of the vendors are unable to process a credit card. Many of them are homeschool parents themselves and will be happier receiving cash for your purchases. The bigger brands will have swipe machines available. So keep your payment options open.
Carry a Rolling Suitcase
There will be a number of heavy purchases made. You do not want your shoulders to be weighed down with a bag or backpack. Get a small, empty, rolling suitcase along with you to the convention hall. It can hold all your material with ease and you can have your hands free most of the time as you can simply leave it at your feet and go through the books in front of you.
Visit the “Used” Sales
There is usually a section out back where the “used” and second hand material is available. Some of it may be in remarkably good shape. Make sure that you go through the stuff here, specially if there are already specific resources that you are looking for. At times simply browsing through the stuff on sale can uncover a couple of gems that you would not of thought of.
Go in a Group With Friends
It’s always better to travel in a group. You can scout out more when there’s a good number of people together. Plus it’s a fun experience to share with your friends. If you have kids with you, the other adults can also help keep an eye on them at the times that you are busy with a workshop or some other activity.
Many homeschooling parents enjoy teaching their children at home. They can be quite organized about the time they spend in the “classroom” and equally particular about the play time that their children enjoy. It can be however quite a herculean task to come up with fun activities day after day for the children to do. After sometime all the ideas in the text books get exhausted and the children still want things to do.
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There’s more to attending a homeschool convention than simply showing up. By handling the logistics in advance you can ensure that you stay frugal even while getting the most bang for your buck.
Pre-Book and Get the Early Bird Discounts
Most homeschool convention registrations are cheaper if you get them done well in advance. Up to 6 weeks before the actual event, you should be able to get a good discount on the price. If you can team up with other homeschool families and register as a group, the price may drop further. Float the idea among your local homeschool community to see if there are any takers.
Decide If You Want to Bring The Kids Along
Sometimes it can work out well bringing the kids along as they can be attending interesting workshops and doing some travelling. The experience can help them grow as individuals. However, at times it may be simply more convenient to travel to the convention on your own. This could be a working vacation for the homeschool parent. You get a break from the homeschool classroom, but learn so much that you can take back to it.
Plan Accommodation and Travel In Advance
Since staying is usually the biggest expenditure if the convention is out of town, look out for family or friends in the city who don’t mind you crashing with them for a few days. The next option is to look for homestays with apps like Airbnb, or Oyo rooms. Hotels are the mist expensive and should be a last resort. Traveling to the destination also needs to be fixed whether it’s a bus or road trip in your own car.
Go Through the Event Schedule for Speakers and Workshops
To get the most out of the homeschool convention, go through the event schedule and plan out your days in advance. Some of the workshops may require additional registration. Once at the venue you have little time to think and can become lost trying to figure out what to do next. By ensuring that you have already circled the events you need to attend, you will have a much more positive experience.
Homeschool conventions are run in practically every state of the US. You can get online and find out the schedule for the year with ease. There are many benefits to attending a homeschool convention. There are a large number of homeschool vendors available in once place. They offer fabulous discounts on most of their products. Speakers will share tips on different aspects of homeschooling. You get to socialize with other homeschooling families and your children can treat it as an educational field trip.
Do Some Research Before You Reach
There will be tons of vendors at the convention. Most of them also will be homeschooling parents themselves. Have a list of people that you want to meet. It will help you avoid the overwhelm at the venue. Just like a shopping list helps keep the weekly grocery shopping on track, your list will keep you focused on meeting with the vendors who you feel can help you with specific issues. Explain your requirements to them and see what they suggest.
Don’t Buy Stuff on Day 1
Most homeschool conventions last two to three days. Make sure that you attend all days and do not buy anything on the first day. Just use the first day to familiarize yourself with all that the convention has to offer. Then make another list of stuff that you feel is cool, useful and what you want. The second day you will have weeded out the impulse purchases and go with what is actually essential. Also remember to have a fixed budget in your head before you start shopping. Maxing out your card at the convention is not acceptable.
Listen to the Speakers
At each convention you have a host of different topics being covered by the speakers. Most of the talks are free to attend along with the admission to the convention. Make sure you take advantage of these speakers experiences. Most of them have finished homeschooling their own kids and are now out to help others who are doing the same. You will pick up a number of tips by simply listening to them.
Science is all around us. In the flutter of the butterfly or the roar of the car engine we can find science related principles to study. There is always the possibility of converting anything that you see into a science observation. Take it one step further and you can make it an interactive science activity. Be it biology, chemistry or physics, we are surrounded by possible homeschooling science activities.
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Being stuck in a job you dislike can be instrumental in having a miserable life. On the other hand if you choose a job that you love to do, you will be happy every single morning for the rest of your working life. Since the homeschool student is not exposed to many professionals, it may be a good idea for the homeschool parent to ensure that they learn a bit about different jobs by actually getting to do them for a while. Here’s how they can make it happen for homeschool students who are in high school.
Apprenticeship
Self employed professionals in your area may be willing to take on your homeschool student as an apprentice. The opportunities could be in appliance repairs, piano tuning, or even plumbing. The idea is to expose your homeschool student to a skill set that they can pick up which has a professional application. It will allow the real life experience to seep in before the child picks a career of their own. In addition the type of skills they learn will be helpful to them around the house as they grow up and live alone.
Internship
Bigger companies are often looking for interns who can work at the smaller jobs around the office. The internships could be free or paid, full time or part time. Depending on the type of company and work that your homeschool student is interested in, it may be a good idea to trace the companies in your town who are looking for interns. A number of colleges also prefer the students who have done an internship, so besides learning new skills, the student will be able to add positively to their resume.
Volunteering
A number of organizations such as hospitals, zoos, nursing homes, rescue operations, and animal shelters don’t have the money to pay full time employees. Most of them are happy to work with volunteers who they can train to do the hob. This is a good way for the homeschool student to get some experience, pick up new skills and make a positive contribution to society. They can volunteer at different places till they find something they truly care about.
As a homeschooling parent you will need to keep records to help you with the daunting task of teaching all the subjects to your child at home. Things would perhaps go easier if you were able to separate these records into different heads giving you an easier overview of what you have already done, what you wish to do and what all your child has accomplished. The easiest way to keep records is to break it down in terms of time.
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As a child grows older the expectations from the homeschool parent change. When they transition from middle school to high school, it’s a good time to explain the changing rules in the homeschool classroom to them. Here are some aspects that you may want to speak with the homeschool student about.
Guided to Independent Studies
As the homeschool student moves from middle school to high school it’s a good idea for the homeschool teacher to move from hand holding to a supervisory sort of guidance. It’s time for the homeschool student to study on their own more than wait to be taught everything by the homeschool parent. Encourage the child to learn on their own. To explore new topics, and to find the resources that can help them learn more about them.
Choosing the Curriculum and Schedule
As a young child the homeschool student was made to follow the curriculum and schedule that the homeschool parent felt was best. Now as they head into high school encourage them to make their own schedules. Guide them to balance the subjects each day, but allow them to create their own lesson plans and what they would like to learn during the week. It will teach them how to take responsibility for their own learning, while freeing up the homeschool parent’s time.
Identifying and Improving Weaknesses
For the most part it’s easy to tell what subjects a child is weak in for the homeschool parent, however it is important that the homeschool student also learns to identify this. It’s usually the subjects that they don’t feel comfortable with or the ones that they avoid because they don’t understand. It’s important that they understand that this is a weakness, and then figure out ways in which to improve.
Planning for the Future
It’s important that your homeschool student know where he or she is headed. High school is the time to plan what they want to do with their lives. Think of jobs they may want to do, and the qualifications that they will need to do those jobs. It’s a good idea for the children to write down a plan for their own future and then make up the steps that will lead to it’s success.
No matter how fit a homeschool parent is, at one stage they will not be able to keep up with the physical energy of their homeschool students. So how do you find outlets for all that energy without having to push your own self physically to do activities with them. Here’s a list of suggestions.
Family Gym Membership
Getting a family gym membership is a good idea when you want to combine a light workout for the homeschool parent with a more intensive one for the homeschool students. Most gyms offer classes on aerobics, zumba or kick boxing, which could work as an additional exercise session for the homeschool students, while the parent catches their breath.
Yoga Classes
For those blessed with active children, a yoga class can prove to be a boon. Yoga helps balance the mind and body energies. Not only will the children find the yoga asanas challenging, they will automatically develop a serious control over their mind. Yoga is a low intensity workout which can still be quite tiring physically speaking. A good option for your homeschool students.
Athletics
Those interested in a more traditional set of exercises, may like to place their homeschool students in a formal athletics training class. Running could be a simple exercise that doesn’t need a formal class. Other sports that the child may be interested in could also be given a shot. Try the local YMCA or community sports center to get free coaching if the budget is rather tight and doesn’t allow for extra classes.
Rock Climbing
This is a relatively new fad, but can be a good full body exercise. There are rock climbing centers where the homeschool students can learn the basics of safety and technique involved in rock climbing. The homeschool parent does not need to be physically active in this class as the instructors are trained to overlook the safety of the students participating.
Martial Arts Classes
Karate, tae kwon do, judo, or any other martial arts classes are a good way to keep active kids engaged. They are physically demanding and ensure that the homeschool students get a good workout. You can find the local instructors who offer these classes online or through word of mouth from other parents whose children are attending such classes.
It can be difficult for a parent to get the degree of formality required to make the transition from parent to teacher in a homeschool. This is especially true when you are starting out homeschooling your young pre schoolers. In this case it comes in handy to establish a formal identity for the homeschool. Here is what you can do to make the transition from parent to teacher easier for your child to understand.
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This is a beefier-version of the Electric Eye that will be be able to turn on a buzzer instead of a LED by increasing the voltage in the circuit. This type of circuit is a light-actuated circuit. When a beam of light hits the sensor (the “eye”), a buzzer sounds. Use this to indicate when a door closes or drawer closes… your suspect will never know what got triggered.
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Today you get to concentrate light, specifically the heat, from the Sun into a very small area. Normally, the sunlight would have filled up the entire area of the lens, but you’re shrinking this down to the size of the dot.
Magnifying lenses, telescopes, and microscopes use this idea to make objects appear different sizes by bending the light. When light passes through a different medium (from air to glass, water, a lens…) it changes speed and usually the angle at which it’s traveling. A prism splits incoming light into a rainbow because the light bends as it moves through the prism. A pair of eyeglasses will bend the light to magnify the image.
Materials
This is a recording of a recent live class I did with an entire high school astronomy class. I’ve included it here so you can participate and learn, too!
Light is energy that can travel through space. How much energy light has determines what kind of wave it is. It can be visible light, x-ray, radio, microwave, gamma or ultraviolet. The electromagnetic spectrum shows the different energies of light and how the energy relates to different frequencies, and that’s exactly what we’re going to cover in class. We’re going to talk about light, what it is, how it moves, and it’s generated, and learn how astronomers study the differences in light to tell a star’s atmosphere from millions of miles away.
I usually give this presentation at sunset during my live workshops, so I inserted slides along with my talk so you could see the pictures better. This video below is long, so I highly recommend doing this with friends and a big bowl of popcorn. Ready?
This is a recording of a recent live teleclass I did with thousands of kids from all over the world. I’ve included it here so you can participate and learn, too!
This class is all about Light Waves, Lasers and Holograms! This is a newly updated version of the older Light Waves and Lasers teleclass here.
We’re going to learn about the wild world of light that has baffled scientists for over a century. You’ll be twisting and bending light as we learn about refraction, reflection, absorption, and transmission using lenses, lasers, mirrors, and optical filters with everyday stuff like gummy bears, paperclips, pencils and water!
We’re going to learn how to build a projection hologram out of piece of old plastic, make a laser microscope so you can see tiny little microscopic creatures, bend laser light to follow any path you want without using mirrors, and finally understand how glow in the dark toys really work on the subatomic level. Are you ready?
Materials:
This is a recording of a recent live teleclass I did with thousands of kids from all over the world. I’ve included it here so you can participate and learn, too!
You’ll discover how to boil water at room temperature, heat up ice to freeze it, make a fire water balloon, and build a real working steam boat as you learn about heat energy. You’ll also learn about thermal energy, heat capacity, and the laws of thermodynamics.
Materials:
Getting out of the house and exercising need not be a chore. There’s a lot of activities that a homeschool family can take on, which can be fun and prove to be a complete physical workout for the homeschool students. Here are some options to consider.
Basket Ball
A single basket ball hoop can provide hours of entertainment and exercise. The family can play together, the children can practice on their own, friends can come over in the evening to shoot hoops, there’s so much that can happen by getting this one sporting accessory fit. You will also need the basket ball and a pump to ensure that it’s not run out of air. Teach the homeschool students to care for their equipment.
Cycling
Getting the family to go out for a long ride on the weekend is a good way to start a picnic. The homeschool students can also use their bicycles around the neighborhood in the evening. Friends can team up and have cycle races, and it is a good way for the children to learn to get around independently on their own. Ensure that safety equipment like helmets, knee and elbow pads and training wheels are available if required.
Hiking
If the family sets out to explore local hiking trails, it’s a good field trip to study rocks, flora and even the smaller animals that may cross the path. It also ensures that the homeschool family gets a good amount of exercise as well as a healthy dose of Vitamin D by being in the sunlight. Take a look at the area around where you live, what are the best places to start exploring?
Weights
Improvise doing body weights with the homeschool students around the house. You do not need to spend on dumbells, just use plastic bottles of water in pairs. Squats, push ups and sit ups can be added to the workout. It can be done in a competitive manner by encouraging the homeschool students to do more repetitions than they managed to do the day before. Keep a record of how many each child manages each day.
As you walk around your neighborhood, you probably see many other people, as well as some birds flying around, maybe some fish swimming down a local stream, and perhaps even a lizard darting behind a bush or a frog sitting contently on top of a pond. Most likely, you know that all of these living things are animals, but they are even more closely related than that.
Unsurprisingly, often the most interesting critters found in soil are the hardest to find! They’re small, fast, and used to avoiding things that search for them. So, how do we find and study these tiny insects? With a Berlese Funnel (Also called the Tullgren funnel)!
Some insects are just too small! Even if we try to carefully pick them up with forceps, they either escape or are crushed. What to do?
Answer: Make an insect aspirator! An insect aspirator is a simple tool scientists use to collect bugs and insects that are too small to be picked up manually. Basically it’s a mini bug vacuum!
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The way animals and plants behave is so complicated because it not only depends on climate, water availability, competition for resources, nutrients available, and disease presence but also having the patience and ability to study them close-up.
We’re going to build an eco-system where you’ll farm prey stock for the predators so you’ll be able to view their behavior. You’ll also get a chance to watch both of them feed, hatch, molt, and more! You’ll observe closely the two different organisms and learn all about the way they live, eat, and are eaten.
How does salt affect plant growth, like when we use salt to de-ice snowy winter roads? How does adding fertilizer to the soil help or hurt the plants? What type of soil best purifies the water? All these questions and more can be answered by building a terrarium-aquarium system to discover how these systems are connected together.
Mass and energy are conserved. This means you can’t create or destroy them, but you can change their location or form.
Most people don’t understand that the E energy term means all the energy transformations, not just the nuclear energy.
The energy could be burning gasoline, fusion reactions (like in the sun), metabolizing your lunch, elastic energy in a stretched rubber band… every kind of energy stored in the mass is what E stands for.
For example, if I were to stretch a rubber band and somehow weigh it in the stretched position, I would find it weighed slightly more than in the unstretched position.
Why? How can this be? I didn’t add any more particles to the system – I simply stretched the rubber band. I added energy to the system, which was stored in the electromagnetic forces inside the rubber band, which add to the mass of the object (albeit very slightly). Read more about this in Unit 7: Lesson 3.
What grows in the corner of your windowsill? In the cracks in the sidewalk? Under the front steps? In the gutter at the bottom of the driveway? Specifically, how doe these animals build their homes and how much space do they need? What do they eat? Where do fish get their food? How do ants find their next meal?
These are hard questions to answer if you don’t have a chance to observe these animals up-close. By building an eco-system, you’ll get to observe and investigate the habits and behaviors of your favorite animals. This column will have an aquarium section, a decomposition chamber with fruit flies or worms, and a predator chamber, with water that flows through all sections. This is a great way to see how the water cycle, insects, plants, soil, and marine animals all work together and interact.
Here we’re going to discuss the differences between three types of worms; flatworms, roundworms, and segmented worms. The word “worm” is not, in fact, a scientific name. It’s an informal way of classifying animals with long bodies and no appendages (no including snakes). They are bilaterally symmetrical (the right and left sides mirror each other). Worms live in salt and fresh water, on land, and inside other organisms as parasites.
The differences between the three types of worms we will discuss depend on the possession of a body cavity and segments. Flatworms have neither a body cavity nor segments. Roundworms only have a body cavity, and segmented worms have both a body cavity and segments.
Flatworms (Phylum Platyhelminthes) have incomplete digestive systems. That means that their digestive system has only one opening. The gas exchange occurs on the surface of their bodies. There are no blood vessels or nervous systems in flatworms. Some are non-parasitic, like the Sea flat worm, and some are parasitic, like the tapeworm.
When birds and animals drink from lakes, rivers, and ponds, how pure it is? Are they really getting the water they need, or are they getting something else with the water?
This is a great experiment to see how water moves through natural systems. We’ll explore how water and the atmosphere are both polluted and purified, and we’ll investigate how plants and soil help with both of these. We’ll be taking advantage of capillary action by using a wick to move the water from the lower aquarium chamber into the upper soil chamber, where it will both evaporate and transpire (evaporate from the leaves of plants) and rise until it hits a cold front and condenses into rain, which falls into your collection bucket for further analysis.
Sound complicated? It really isn’t, and the best part is that it not only uses parts from your recycling bin but also takes ten minutes to make.
Art and science meet in a plant press. Whether you want to include the interesting flora you find in your scientific journal, or make a beautiful handmade greeting card, a plant press is invaluable. They are very cheap and easy to make, too!
The technological advances made in the last decade alone have created a generation gap between the current set of parents and their children. As gadgets allow the homeschool students to connect to the internet in new ways and gain more information, it’s imperative that the homeschool parent teach the homeschool class to use technology wisely.
Teach yourself before you teach them
There are a number of things that you can do using the internet, and new gadgets that you are probably not even aware of. For instance did you know that it’s possible to find an App to learn just about anything? Check out the ones that you feel will be helpful to your homeschool students and play with them yourself before asking them to try it out.
Teach them the limits and boundaries
There is so much to do, but they should have a limited time each day to be online. Makes sure that they understand basic security threats and how they should avoid them. Never ever allow them to give out their information online on any website without you being present. Plus educate them about malware and virus attacks. They should have a fall back drill for all such eventualities and you need to make sure that they remember them.
Supervise from a distance
Learn to set up filters for the internet so that your homeschool students don’t inadvertently end up on websites that they should not be accessing. Keep a check on the internet browser history to see what they are doing online. Ensure that they are being safe when they go online. Trust them, but keep a check as there are many kinds of threats these days.
Act as a role model
When you ask them to limit their screen time, ensure that you do it as well. If you are setting up a guideline for them to follow, educate them about how it works. Then ensure that they see you following the guideline when you go online or use a gadget. All children learn best when they imitate their parents, so it’s up to you to act as a good role model.
Unlike in Germany, where homeschooling is actually illegal, in Canada homeschooling programs are legal. The regulations for home based learning come under the provincial jurisdiction. This means that each province in the country may have a somewhat different set of rules to follow for homeschooling your child. This is similar to the United States where each state has a different set of legal rules for homeschooling.
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This is a recording of a recent live teleclass I did with thousands of kids from all over the world. I’ve included it here so you can participate and learn, too!
We’re going to cover energy and motion by building roller coasters and catapults! Kids build a working catapult while they learn about the physics of projectile motion and storing elastic potential energy. Let’s discover the mysterious forces at work behind the thrill ride of the world’s most monstrous roller coasters, as we twist, turn, loop and corkscrew our way through g-forces, velocity, acceleration, and believe it or not, move through orbital mechanics, like satellites. We’ll also learn how to throw objects across the room in the name of science… called projectile motion. Are you ready for a fast and furious physics class?
The curved shape of the magnifying lens causes light rays to bend and focus on an image. When we look through the lens, we can use it to make writing or some other object appear larger. However, the magnifying lens can also be used to make something smaller. The light from the bulb is bent and focused on the wall when the lens is held far from the lamp and close to the wall. The image is much brighter than the surroundings. This is because all the light falling on the surface of the lens is concentrated into a much smaller area.
When sunlight is concentrated by passing it through a lens, the result can be an intensely bright and not spot of light. Even a small magnifying glass can increase the intensity of the sun enough to set wood and paper on fire. We are using a light bulb rather than sunlight for this experiment because concentrated sunlight Can be very harmful to your eyes. NEVER LOOK AT A CONCENTRATED IMAGE OF THE SUN.
The United States Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado uses solar energy to operate a special furnace. This high-temperature solar furnace uses a lens to concentrate sunlight. A heliostat (a device used to track the motion of the sun across the sky) is used so that the image reflected from a mirror is always directed at the same spot. The lens is used to concentrate sunlight from a mirror to an area about the size of a penny. This concentrated sunlight has the energy of 20,000 suns shining in one spot.
In less than half a second, the temperature can be raised to 1,720° C (3,128° F) which is hot enough to melt sand. This high-temperature solar furnace is being used to harden steel and to make ceramic materials that must be heated to extremely high temperatures.
Concentrated sunlight also has been used to purify polluted ground water. The ultraviolet radiation in sunlight can break down organic pollutants into carbon dioxide, water, and harmless chlorine ions. This procedure has been successfully carried out at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in California. In the laboratory, up to 100,000 gallons of contaminated water could be treated in one day.
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This is a recording of a recent live teleclass I did with thousands of kids from all over the world. I’ve included it here so you can participate and learn, too!
You’ll discover how to boil water at room temperature, heat up ice to freeze it, make a fire water balloon, and build a real working steam boat as you learn about heat energy. You’ll also learn about thermal energy, heat capacity, and the laws of thermodynamics.
Materials:
When two blocks of the Earth slip past each other suddenly, that’s what we call an earthquake! From a physics point of view, earthquakes are a release of the elastic potential energy that builds up. Most energy is released as heat, not as shaking, during an earthquake. 90% of all earthquakes happen along the Ring of Fire, which is the active zone that surrounds the Pacific Ocean.
This is a recording of a recent live class I did with an entire high school astronomy class. I’ve included it here so you can participate and learn, too!
Light is energy that can travel through space. How much energy light has determines what kind of wave it is. It can be visible light, x-ray, radio, microwave, gamma or ultraviolet. The electromagnetic spectrum shows the different energies of light and how the energy relates to different frequencies, and that’s exactly what we’re going to cover in class. We’re going to talk about light, what it is, how it moves, and it’s generated, and learn how astronomers study the differences in light to tell a star’s atmosphere from millions of miles away.
I usually give this presentation at sunset during my live workshops, so I inserted slides along with my talk so you could see the pictures better. This video below is long, so I highly recommend doing this with friends and a big bowl of popcorn. Ready?
If you’ve ever owned a fish tank, you know that you need a filter with a pump. Other than cleaning out the fish poop, why else do you need a filter? (Hint: think about a glass of water next to your bed. Does it taste different the next day?)
There are tiny air bubbles trapped inside the water, and you can see this when you boil a pot of water on the stove. The experimental setup shown in the video illustrates how a completely sealed tube of water can be heated… and then bubbles come out one end BEFORE the water reaches a boiling point. The tiny bubbles smoosh together to form a larger bubble, showing you that air is dissolved in the water.
Materials:
An average can of soda at room temperature measures 55 psi before you ever crack it open. (In comparison, most car tires run on 35 psi, so that gives you an idea how much pressure there is inside the can!)
If you heat a can of soda, you’ll run the pressure over 80 psi before the can ruptures, soaking the interior of your house with its sugary contents. Still, you will have learned something worthwhile: adding energy (heat) to a system (can of soda) causes a pressure increase. It also causes a volume increase (kaboom!).
How about trying a safer variation of this experiment using water, an open can, and implosion instead of explosion?
Materials – An empty soda can, water, a pan, a bowl, tongs, and a grown-up assistant.
NOTE: If you can get a hold of one, use a beer can – they tend to work better for this experiment. But you can also do this with a regular old soda can. And no, I am not suggesting that kids should be drinking alcohol! Go ask a parent to find you one – and check the recycling bin.
You’re about to play with one of the first methods of underwater breathing developed for scuba divers hundreds of years ago.! Back then, scientists would invert a very large clear, bell-shaped jar over a diver standing on a platform, then lower the whole thing into the water. Everyone thought this was a great idea, until the diver ran out of breathable air…
Materials: 12″ flexible tubing, two clear plastic cups, bathtub
When air moves, the air pressure decreases. This creates a lower air pressure pocket right between the cans relative to the surrounding air. Because higher pressure pushes, the cans clink together. Just remember – whenever there’s a difference in pressure, the higher pressure pushes.
You will need about 25 straws and two empty soda cans or other lightweight containers
While this isn’t actually an air-pressure experiment but more of an activity in density, really, it’s still a great visual demonstration of why Hot Air Balloons rise on cold mornings.
Imagine a glass of hot water and a glass of cold water sitting on a table, side by side. Now imagine you have a way to count the number of water molecules in each glass. Which glass has more water molecules?
The glass of cold water has way more molecules… but why? The cold water is more dense than the hot water. Warmer stuff tends to rise because it’s less dense than colder stuff and that’s why the hot air balloon in experiment 1.10 floated up to the sky.
Clouds form as warm air carrying moisture rises within cooler air. As the warm, wet air rises, it cools and begins to condense, releasing energy that keeps the air warmer than its surroundings. Therefore, it continues to rise. Sometimes, in places like Florida, this process continues long enough for thunderclouds to form. Let’s do an experiment to better visualize this idea.
Lots of science toy companies will sell you this experiment, but why not make your own? You’ll need to find a loooooong bag, which is why we recommend a diaper genie. A diaper genie is a 25′ long plastic bag, only both ends are open so it’s more like a tube. You can get three 8-foot bags out of one pack.
Kids have a tendency to shove the bag right up to their face and blow, cutting off the air flow from the surrounding air into the bag. When they figure out this experiment and perform it correctly, this is one of those oooh-ahhh experiments that will leave your kids with eyes as big as dinner plates.
Here’s what you do:
About 400 years ago, Leonardo da Vinci wanted to fly… so he studied the only flying things around at that time: birds and insects. Then he did what any normal kid would do—he drew pictures of flying machines!
Centuries later, a toy company found his drawing for an ornithopter, a machine that flew by flapping its wings (unlike an airplane, which has non-moving wings). The problem (and secret to the toy’s popularity) was that with its wing-flapping design, the ornithopter could not be steered and was unpredictable: It zoomed, dipped, rolled, and looped through the sky. Sick bags, anyone?
Hot air balloons that took people into the air first lifted off the ground in the 1780s, shortly after Leonardo da Vinci’s plans for the ornithopter took flight. While limited seating and steering were still major problems to overcome, let’s get a feeling for what our scientific forefathers experienced as we make a balloon that can soar high into the morning sky.
Materials: A lightweight plastic garbage bag, duct or masking tape, a hand-held hair dryer. And a COLD morning.
Here’s what you do:
Where’s the pressure difference in this trick?
At the opening of the glass. The water inside the glass weighs a pound at best, and, depending on the size of the opening of the glass, the air pressure is exerting 15-30 pounds upward on the bottom of the card. Guess who wins? Tip, when you get good at this experiment, try doing it over a friend’s head!
Materials: a glass, and an index card large enough to completely cover the mouth of the glass.
As you blow into the funnel, the air under the ball moves faster than the other air surrounding the ball, which generates an area of lower air pressure. The pressure under the ball is therefore lower than the surrounding air which is, by comparison, at a higher pressure. This higher pressure pushes the ball back into the funnel, no matter how hard you blow or which way you hold the funnel. The harder you blow, the more stuck the ball becomes. Cool.
Materials: A funnel and a ping pong ball
As you blow air into the bottle, the air pressure increases inside the bottle. This higher pressure pushes on the water, which gets forced up and out the straw (and up your nose!).
Materials: small lump of clay, water, a straw, and one empty 2-liter soda bottle.
Fire eats air, or in more scientific terms, the air gets used up by the flame and lowers the air pressure inside the jar. The surrounding air outside the jar is now at a higher pressure than the air inside the jar and it pushes the balloon into the jar. Remember: Higher pressure pushes!
Materials: a balloon, one empty glass jar, scrap of paper towel , matches with an adult
This experiment illustrates that air really does take up space! You can’t inflate the balloon inside the bottle without the holes, because it’s already full of air. When you blow into the bottle with the holes, air is allowed to leak out making room for the balloon to inflate. With the intact bottle, you run into trouble because there’s nowhere for the air already inside the bottle to go when you attempt to inflate the balloon.
You’ll need to get two balloons, one tack, and two empty water bottles.
Fill the bathtub and climb in. Grab your water bottle and tack and poke several holes into the lower half the water bottle. Fill the bottle with water and cap it. Lift the bottle above the water level in the tub and untwist the cap. Water should come streaming out. Close the cap and the water streams should stop. Open the cap and when the water streams out again, can you “pinch” two streams together using your fingers?
Materials: A tack, and a plastic water bottle with cap, and bathtub
Yeast is a simple living organism that can break down sugars into ethyl alcohol (ethanol) and carbon dioxide. The process by which yeast breaks down sugars into ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide is called fermentation.
The tiny gas bubbles rising in the liquid mixture in the bottle are carbon dioxide gas bubbles that are made during the fermentation. The balloon on the bottle expands and becomes inflated because it traps the carbon dioxide gas being produced.
The ethyl alcohol that is made during fermentation stays in the liquid mixture. When fermentation is finished, the liquid mixture usually contains about 13 percent ethyl alcohol. The rest of the liquid is mostly water.
The ethyl alcohol can be concentrated by a process called distillation. During distillation, the liquid fermentation mixture is heated to change the ethyl alcohol and some of the water into a vapor. The vapor is then cooled to change it back into a liquid. This distilled liquid contains 95 percent ethyl alcohol and 5 percent water. The remaining water can be removed by special distillation methods to give pure ethyl alcohol.
In some areas of the United States, ethyl alcohol is blended with gasoline to make a motor fuel known as gasohol. About 8 percent of the gasoline sold in the United States is gasohol.
Gasohol burns more cleanly than pure gasoline. This results in fewer pollutants being released into the air. The use of gasohol as a motor fuel is particularly important in cities that have a lot of smog.
Corn syrup is a mixture of simple and complex sugars and water. It is made by breaking down the starch in corn into sugars. The process is called digestion. In this experiment you changed the sugars in corn syrup using yeast. Much of the ethyl alcohol used to prepare gasohol is made by fermenting corn and corn sugar.
Over one billion gallons of ethyl alcohol are made each year by fermentation of sugars from grains such as corn. Ethyl alcohol is a renewable energy source when it is made by fermenting grains such as corn. This is because the grains, such as corn, are easily grown.
A peanut is not a nut, but actually a seed. In addition to containing protein, a peanut is rich in fats and carbohydrates. Fats and carbohydrates are the major sources of energy for plants and animals.
The energy contained in the peanut actually came from the sun. Green plants absorb solar energy and use it in photosynthesis. During photosynthesis, carbon dioxide and water are combined to make glucose. Glucose is a simple sugar that is a type of carbohydrate. Oxygen gas is also made during photosynthesis.
The glucose made during photosynthesis is used by plants to make other important chemical substances needed for living and growing. Some of the chemical substances made from glucose include fats, carbohydrates (such as various sugars, starch, and cellulose), and proteins.
Photosynthesis is the way in which green plants make their food, and ultimately, all the food available on earth. All animals and nongreen plants (such as fungi and bacteria) depend on the stored energy of green plants to live. Photosynthesis is the most important way animals obtain energy from the sun.
Oil squeezed from nuts and seeds is a potential source of fuel. In some parts of the world, oil squeezed from seeds-particularly sunflower seeds-is burned as a motor fuel in some farm equipment. In the United States, some people have modified diesel cars and trucks to run on vegetable oils.
Fuels from vegetable oils are particularly attractive because, unlike fossil fuels, these fuels are renewable. They come from plants that can be grown in a reasonable amount of time.
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Fossil fuels, which include petroleum, natural gas, and coal, supply nearly 90 percent of the energy needs of the United States and other industrialized nations. Because of their high demand, these nonrenewable energy resources are rapidly being consumed. Coal supplies are expected to last about a thousand years.
We must find other sources of energy to meet the increasing fuel demands of modern society. Important alternate sources of energy include: solar, wind, biomass, hydroelectric, geothermal, nuclear, and tidal energy.
One of the benefits of using alternate sources of energy is that many of them are “clean.” This means that they do not cause pollution. Also, many alternative energy sources are renewable energy sources. They are replaced naturally-such as plant life-or are readily available – such as the sun and wind. In addition, the use of renewable forms of energy will allow us to stretch out our current supply of fossil fuels so they will last longer.
In this chapter you will learn how biomass, or organic matter, can be an important energy source. Plants are the most important biomass energy source. Plant material can be burned directly-as with wood-or it can be converted into a fuel by other means. In the experiments that follow you will explore: how water can be heated by composting grass, how a peanut burns, and how corn syrup can be made into ethyl alcohol.
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This is a recording of a recent live teleclass I did with thousands of kids from all over the world. I've included it here so you can participate and learn!
Discover the world of clean, renewable energy that scientists are developing today! Explore how they are harnessing the energy of tides and waves, lean how cars can run on just sunlight and water, tour a hydroelectric power plant, visit the largest wind farms on the planet, and more! You’ll learn how streets are being designed to generate electricity, how teenagers are making jet fuel from pond scum in their garage, and how 70 million tons of salt can provide free, clean energy 24 hours a day forever! During class, you’ll learn how to bake solar cookies, magni-fry marshmallows and do the experiment with light Einstein won a Nobel prize for that is the basis of all photovoltaic energy today.
Materials:
Greetings and welcome to the study of astronomy! This first lesson is simply to get you excited and interested in astronomy so you can decide what it is that you want to learn about astronomy later on.
We’re going to cover a lot in this presentation, including: the Sun, an average star, is the central and largest body in the solar system and is composed primarily of hydrogen and helium.
The solar system includes the Earth, Moon, Sun, seven other planets and their satellites (moons) and smaller objects such as asteroids and comets. The structure and composition of the universe can be learned from the study of stars and galaxies. Galaxies are clusters of billions of stars, and may have different shapes. The Sun is one of many stars in our own Milky Way galaxy. Stars may differ in size, temperature, and color.
Materials
This is a recording of a recent live teleclass I did with thousands of kids from all over the world. I’ve included it here so you can participate and learn, too
Our solar system includes rocky terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars), gas giants (Jupiter and Saturn), ice giants (Uranus and Neptune), and assorted chunks of ice and dust that make up various comets and asteroids.
Did you know you can take an intergalactic star tour without leaving your seat? To get you started on your astronomy adventure, I have a front-row seat for you in a planetarium-style star show. I usually give this presentation at sunset during my live workshops, so I inserted slides along with my talk so you could see the pictures better. This video below is long, so I highly recommend doing this with friends and a big bowl of popcorn. Ready?
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You can go your whole life without paying any attention to the chemistry behind acids and bases. But you use acids and bases all the time! They are all around you. We identify acids and bases by measuring their pH.
Every liquid has a pH. If you pay particular attention to this lab, you will even be able to identify most acids and bases and understand why they do what they do. Acids range from very strong to very weak. The strongest acids will dissolve steel. The weakest acids are in your drink box. The strongest bases behave similarly. They can burn your skin or you can wash your hands with them.
Acid rain is one aspect of low pH that you can see every day if you look for it. This is a strange name, isn’t it? We get rained on all the time. If people were dissolving, if the rain made their skin smoke and burn, you’d think it would make headlines, wouldn’t you? The truth is acid rain is too weak to harm us except in very rare and localized conditions. But it’s hard on limestone buildings.
I mixed up two different liquids (potassium iodide and a very strong solution of hydrogen peroxide) to get a foamy result at a live workshop I did recently. See what you think!
Note: because of the toxic nature of this experiment, it’s best to leave this one to the experts.
Nurses will put hydrogen peroxide on a cut to kill germs. It’s also used in rocket fuel as an oxidizer. The hydrogen peroxide in your grocery store is a weak 3% solution. The hydrogen peroxide used here is 10X stronger than the grocery store variety. The KI (potassium iodide) is the catalyst in the experiment which speeds up the decomposition of the hydrogen peroxide. This is an exothermic reaction (gives off heat).
Guar gum comes from the guar plant (also called the guaran plan), and people have found a lot of different and interesting uses for it. It’s one of the primary substitutes for fat in low-fat and fat-free foods. Cooks like to use guar gum in foods as it has 8 times the thickening power of cornstarch, so much less is needed for the recipe. Ice cream makers use it to keep ice crystals from forming inside the carton. Doctors use it as a laxative for their patients.
When we teach kids how to make slime using guar gum, they call it “fake fat” slime, mostly because it’s used in fat-free baking. You can find guar gum in health food stores or order it online. We’re going to whip up a batch of slime using this “fake fat”. Ready?
Here’s what you do:
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Charcoal crystals uses evaporation to grow the crystals, which will continue to grow for weeks afterward. You’ll need a piece of very porous material, such as a charcoal briquette, sponge, or similar object to absorb the solution and grow your crystals as the liquid evaporates. These crystals are NOT for eating, so be sure to keep your growing garden away from young children and pets! This project is exclusively for advanced students, as it more involves toxic chemicals than just salt and sugar.
This experiment is for advanced students. Water Glass is another name for Sodium Silicate (Na2SiO3), which is one of the chemicals used to grow underwater rock crystal gardens. Metal refers to the metal salt seed crystal you will use to start your crystals growing. You can use any of the following metals listed. Note however, that certain metals will give you different colors of crystals.
Your crystals begin growing the instant you toss in the seed crystals. These crystals are especially delicate and fragile – just sloshing the liquid around is enough to break the crystal spikes, so place your solution in a safe location before adding your seed crystals.
After your garden has finished growing to the height and width you want, simply pour out the sodium silicate solution and replace with fresh water (or no water at all). Due do the nature of these chemicals, keep out of reach of small children, and build your garden with adult supervision.
Here’s what you need to get:
There is little that can be done without rules in the homeschool classroom. The homeschooling parent needs to make the rules very clear to the children so that they can be followed. Also important is to make the children understand that if the rules are not followed, there will be consequences. These must also be defined for breaking each rule. Here are a few house rules to get you started.
Be Respectful of Everyone
This means there will be polite behavior towards everyone. No fighting, no name calling, no biting, no punching, and no ill will created. Use the golden words of ‘please’, ‘thank you’, ‘I’m sorry’ and ‘You’re welcome’. If this rule is ignored, prepare the child to lose a privilege. The exact course of consequences will have to be modified for each child based on their interests, but these consequences should be communicated in advance.
Be Honest in Speech and Actions
To develop a conscience early will allow the homeschool student to do well in social interactions later in life. They need to be taught that they must always speak the truth. Not to lie by omission. To say what they really mean and not simply what they feel the parents want to hear. They should always follow through on their promises.
Be Responsible for Own Words and Deeds
The homeschool students should be aware that everything they say and do will result in some consequences. They should be able to take responsibility for the consequences that follow their actions. They should clean up the messes they create. Learn to ask for help when they need it. Think how their actions will affect others before they act. apologize when they have done something wrong, even if it was unintentional.
Be Full Of Gratitude
It is important for children to understand that not everyone has everything that they seem to take for granted. Make the homeschool students show their gratitude for their blessings. Have them help those less fortunate than them on a regular basis. Also a small thank giving prayer said at the end of the day for all the good things that happened would also be a good idea to implement.
This is a recording of a recent live teleclass I did with thousands of kids from all over the world. I’ve included it here so you can participate and learn, too!
Spark together electric motors, build homemade burglar alarms, wire up circuits and build your own robot from junk! Create your own whizzing, hopping, dancing, screeching, swimming, crawling, wheeling, robot during class. We’ll cover hot topics in electricity, magnetism, electrical charges, robot construction, sensors and more.
This is a recording of a recent live teleclass I did with thousands of kids from all over the world. I’ve included it here so you can participate and learn, too!
We’re going to study electrons and static charge. Kids will build simple electrostatic motor to help them understand how like charges repel and opposites attract. After you’ve completed this teleclass, be sure to hop on over the teleclass in Robotics!
Electrons are strange and unusual little fellows. Strange things happen when too many or too few of the little fellows get together. Some things may be attracted to other things or some things may push other things away. Occasionally you may see a spark of light and sound. The light and sound may be quite small or may be as large as a bolt of lightning. When electrons gather, strange things happen. Those strange things are static electricity.
This is a recording of a recent live teleclass I did with thousands of kids from all over the world. I’ve included it here so you can participate and learn, too!
Sound is a form of energy, and is caused by something vibrating. So what is moving to make sound energy?
Molecules. Molecules are vibrating back and forth at fairly high rates of speed, creating waves. Energy moves from place to place by waves. Sound energy moves by longitudinal waves (the waves that are like a slinky). The molecules vibrate back and forth, crashing into the molecules next to them, causing them to vibrate, and so on and so forth. All sounds come from vibrations.
Materials:
Greetings and welcome to the study of astronomy! This first lesson is simply to get you excited and interested in astronomy so you can decide what it is that you want to learn about astronomy later on.
We’re going to cover a lot in this presentation, including: the Sun, an average star, is the central and largest body in the solar system and is composed primarily of hydrogen and helium.
The solar system includes the Earth, Moon, Sun, seven other planets and their satellites (moons) and smaller objects such as asteroids and comets. The structure and composition of the universe can be learned from the study of stars and galaxies. Galaxies are clusters of billions of stars, and may have different shapes. The Sun is one of many stars in our own Milky Way galaxy. Stars may differ in size, temperature, and color.
Materials
This is a recording of a recent live teleclass I did with thousands of kids from all over the world. I’ve included it here so you can participate and learn, too!
We’re ready to deal with the topic you’ve all been waiting for! Join me as we find out what happens to stars that wander too close, how black holes collide, how we can detect super-massive black holes in the centers of galaxies, and wrestle with question: what’s down there, inside a black hole?
Materials:
Many homeschooling families have to get creative about how to make up for the loss of a second income because one of the parents chooses to stay at home and homeschool the children. Most of them come up with ideas to work from home along with handling their homeschooling responsibilities. This is easier with the many opportunities that are present with working online. However would it be possible for the homeschooling parents to both work away from the home and still do justice to homeschooling the children? Here are some ways that could make it work.
Work Different Shifts
By working around each other’s shifts it is possible for one parent to always be present at home. This parent then becomes the defacto homeschool teacher for the school day. In this way the children can be taught by both parents. Mom can handle the subjects she is comfortable with and Dad can do the ones he likes. Both are equally invested in the schooling of their children. This is easier to do when the children are somewhat older. Toddlers may still need the mother more than the father.
Get Extra Help
If both the parents are working away from the house, it would be a good idea to get more help with the children. A relative who is free to help out would be best, but it’s easy enough to hire someone responsible to be with the children while they are at work. This person could be given the homeschool schedule and made to supervise the homeschool student’s work while the parents are not there.
Independent Studies and Extra Classes
Another way to help the schedule is to have the homeschool children work on independent studies while the parents are physically unavailable. That way they are guided to continue learning even when the homeschool teachers are not present. Also extra classes for music, sports and other activities can be scheduled at the time the parents are at work. This ensures that the children are gainfully employed and learning something new, at the time that the parents are unavailable for supervision and teaching.
While homeschooling is legal in all 50 states in the US this is not true of all other countries. In some countries in Europe, such as Germany, it is illegal to homeschool your children. So it is indeed lucky for you if you have the choice of following a homeschool program for your child no matter where in America you live. In fact you can even teach your children at home when you live abroad for some period of time as long as you conform to the legal requirements of the state that you will return to live in.
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Words are a much more powerful force than we reckoned. It is an old idiom that the pen is mightier than the sword. The words we think and speak have a very powerful impact on the young minds around us. The choice of words can encourage them to try better next time, or convince them that nothing that they ever do is going to be worthwhile to us.
In addition to minding our own words when we are in the homeschool classroom, it is a very good idea to teach our homeschool students the power of words for themselves. It is one of the most important life lessons that you will ever teach them. Here are a couple of things that a homeschool teacher may suggest to their wards.
Monitor Self Talk
Words are all about communicating. There is no better way to check what we think about ourselves than to actually pay attention to that little voice inside us. Teach your homeschool students to listen to what their inner voice says and share it with you. If it is saying things that are negative and tearing down their confidence, teach them to cancel that type of self talk immediately. Then instead have them say a positive and encouraging statement to themselves. This small exercise when done once a week can bring about a huge positive change in their confidence levels and ability to take on new challenges.
Think Before Speaking With Others
Now that they are speaking kindly to themselves, have them monitor how they are speaking to their siblings, friends and other people around. Ask them to keep their words positive whenever possible. The idea is to teach them to take a second to say the sentence they mean to speak out loud and consider if it is going to hurt the other person. Make them think about what they really wish to communicate and have them consider the words that would best do so. This will have less fights breaking out between siblings and get your homeschool students to be more considerate about others feelings.
This is a recording of a recent live teleclass I did with thousands of kids from all over the world. I’ve included it here so you can participate and learn, too!
Discover how to detect magnetic fields, learn about the Earth’s 8 magnetic poles, and uncover the mysterious link between electricity and magnetism that marks one of the biggest discoveries of all science…ever.
Materials:
Optional Materials if you want to make the Magnetic Rocket Ball Launcher:Four ½” (12mm) neodymium magnets
A homeschool family depends on one individual to provide all it’s needs. Be it in the homeschool classroom or at home in general. This means that the homeschool teacher, usually the mom, has a lot of pressure on her at all times to perform at her best. Here are some resources that allow a homeschool teacher to meet all the needs of her family in a stress free and organized manner.
A Computer
Having a dedicated computer for yourself is an absolute must for any homeschool teacher. Set up a separate user account for each of your homeschool students so that they do not inadvertently destroy hours of lesson plans, schedules and more that you will be working on. The computer matched with a printer is one of the most important resources that a homeschool teacher will need.
A Library Card
Yes, there are a lot of books available online. Yes, you may own a kindle, but truth is that a visit to the library is more than just getting study resources. The feel of a physical book, the hunt for a new story that will be read out loud, or simply a couple of good who dun its for you to relax with, a library card can help with all this and more. A trip to the library is one of the easiest field trips that you can take as a homeschool teacher.
An Organizer
It can be a paper and pen one that you lug around or it can be online on Google Calendar. The organizer should hold all your appointments, chores, and schedule for the homeschool classroom. It can take a few hours on the weekend to update for the rest of the week, but it will save a lot of time and effort at a later stage. Since no two days look alike for a homeschool teacher, an organizer is an absolute must.
Membership to a Homeschool Support Group
There is a lot to be said for a support group. Meeting with people facing the same challenges you are, can be therapeutic as well as helpful as you learn from their mistakes.A homeschool parent will gain a lot out of a membership to a local homeschool support group.
