Homeschool Science Resources

A few cute things from the National Watermelon Promotion Board

A cell size and scale


We are using the Chemistry Program from Flexbooks CK-12 Curriculum. It is an online textbook (although they can be downloaded). It is a secular curriuculum, so you might want to beware for subjects like Biology. Brittany is enjoying it. It isn't boring or "hard on the eyes". There are also links to various science information and experiments throughout the chapters. I've been pretty impressed.


Here are a series of Youtube videos for Chemistry done by The Home Scientist.


Try Science Bob for some experiments or science fair project ideas.


We did a science experiment last week that worked fairly well and was VERY easy. (My kind of experiment.)

You need some of these........

Then you go into a very dark room and eat them. Try chewing with your mouth open and you should be able to see some faint sparks.

Go here to find out why. (FYI, I believe this will also work with pliers instead of teeth.)

I Can't Believe It's Butter!

The older boys and the younger kids are studying 1800's American History this year. I've been reading Little House on the Prairie to the younger kids and we decided to make butter.

First, take a little cream......

Then, take a jar with a lid. We didn't have a glass jar, but we did have Daddy's hunting thermos.....

After you shake, shake, shake.........

Yummy, creamy, butter!




They like it!

A few more science resources

Check out the Mount St. Helen's cam



Learning Page has some neat things to print out.





Chem4Kids has some good chemistry information.





These are some funny science songs.



Some things about earthquakes and other teacher resources at USGS.

Learning Science, One Topic at a Time

One thing that has worked really well for us is to study one or two topics in science per year. For instance, instead of learning a little about habitats one year, and a little more the next, and a little more the next, we just delve right in and learn all about habitats one year and then move on to something totally different the next year.



For instance, this school year we covered habitats for the first half of the year and the human body the second half. We made notebooks for each and included booklets, maps, diagrams, charts, pop-ups, reports, etc. I know these will be brought back out and looked at time and time again.



Studying science this way allows for more time to really expand on a topic and go much more in depth than covering many topics each year. Just skimming the surface of many topics per year may never give the child a real understanding or appreciation for stuying science.



You have the freedom to choose what you'd like to cover and when, especially if your state's homeschooling laws do not require you to test.



These are the topics I have chosen to break our studies into-keep in mind that your topics can and will be different. I've chosen to cover about two per year in order to fit all the topics I want to cover into my "5 year plan".



Habitats and Human Body

Five Kingdoms (This takes all year because I cover insects, plants, etc.)

Astronomy and Geology/Chemistry (I used to just call these two "Earth Science".)

Weather and Recycling/Earth Stewardship

Physics (We do a lot of experiments with this one, so only one topic this year.)

Now, I use a lot of stuff I get from the interenet and a lot of real, living books. Yes, there are actual books to study science beside textbooks! I'm not sure I actually knew that when I was in school! And, it's easier for us to study science twice a week for two hours each, than to try to just do a small amount a day. A smaller amount of time may work for some, but even my younger kids stay interested for at least the first hour to hour and a half. BUT, you can choose what works best for you in that arena, also. That's what makes homeschooing so awesome!

Science Links

Does anyone remember Slim Goodbody?


How about a study of cotton?


Or a study of peanuts?



Here are printable periodic tables in words or pictures. Very cool.


Some good information on container gardening.....



Some flight activities from the Federal Aviation Administration



The Mineral Information Institute has some great resources.

Habitat Notebooks

We did a habitat unit study for the first half of this school year. I decided I really liked making these notebooks. We just used a three ring binder. We had more room than just a typical lapbook, but were still able to include our little mini books and diagrams and things.

This study took us 14 weeks, working on science for about two hours, two days a week. The 6th and the 3rd grader made the notebooks.

I broke the habitats down into 7 catagories:

-Artic/Antarctica

-Tropical Rain Forest/Islands

-Wetlands (Swamps, Ponds, Rivers)

-Grasslands (African Savannah and Australian Outback)

-Deserts

-Oceans

-North American Temperate Forest/Mountains

We used cardstock to seperate each habitat and on the first cardstock of each section we labeled the habitat and glued on nature magazine cutouts of animals/plants that were native to that habitat.

For each habitat, we also took a map and colored parts of the world that included that particular habitat. Also for each, I had them fill out a sheet of information for each of the following:

climate, temperatures, terrain, types of homes, common animals and vegetation.

I also had them choose one animal from each habitat to classify. We made a small accordian fold with those.

Now, everything else we included with each habitat just depended on what I had on hand for each one. Some of the mini books and things I got from Homeschool Share, some things were from other websites that I've included in my science resources, and some things I already had from various places that I've just collected here and there. You could use anything you have on hand or find online. We pasted these onto the cardstock, or hole punched them and just stuck them in after the cardstock. We also checked out some videos and books pertaining to each habitat from the library.

For the North American Temperate Forest, we focused on birds, so I had them include a few diagrams of feet, beaks, eggs, etc. and did an experiment with vinegar and an egg. (Stick the egg in vinegar and leave for a few days to see what happens.)

For the Grasslands, I had gotten a free lapbook on zebras, and we included a few more printouts from various places off the internet.


For the Rainforest, I used some printables from the Kapok Tree lapbook from Homeschool Share.
For the Ocean, we divided this into four parts: Intertidal Zone, Opean Ocean, Middle Depths and Deep Sea and did a few diagrams, mini books for each one (crabs, seaweed, anemones for intertidal and sharks, whales, jellyfish for the open ocean, etc.)

The younger kids, Pre-K, K, and 1st also did science at the same time as the older two, but we did lapbooks instead.

-Artic/Antarctica: Penguin lapbooks

-Rainforest: The Great Kapok Tree

-Wetlands: Frog lapbook from Homeschool Share

-Grasslands: some zebra lapbook printables, and various others off the internet

-Desert: various printables

-Ocean: various printables

-North American Temperate Forest: focused on birds

Again, most of the "various materials" come from "googleing" the subject on the internet, free company e-newsletters, "hand me down" curriculum, ect. Check all the "Resources" links that I have on my sidebar. You can adapt this idea, but just use whatever you have on hand.

Science Resources

For science, a few years back, I listed all the broad topics that I could think of that pertained to science. For instance, I included, habitats, human body, solar system, weather and earth science, etc. I had enough to cover two topics per year for a total of five years. I have it on a five year rotation, so the younger kids and older kids can be on the same topic each year. You can choose whatever interests you, or what you think is important to cover. You could cover whatever and how many topics in a year you prefer. I just choose to do two per year and not cover the material again until maybe 8th grade or high school (I start the rotation in 3rd grade and then independent projects in the upper grades). Keep in mind though, that you may not be as flexible depending on your states laws.

Here is a good article from Jeannie Fulbright that talks about why this "one topic immersion" approach is good for teaching science.

After I decided on which topics to cover- next year we will be covering habitats and human body- then I sit down and see all the material that I already have. I generally get a lot of e-newsletters, have websites that I check regularly, pick things up at yardsales and the Scholastic warehouse sales, etc. I keep an eye out for things that I know we'd use and then when the time comes to plan, I generally have a pretty good selection of materials. I also jot down library books that I come across as well. I have never purchased a science curriculum. There is nothing wrong with buying one, it's just that I would always look at them and think, "I could put this together myself and save the money." So, here we are.

After I pick my topics, let say I've chosen to cover habitats and for one of them I want to do a Bee unit. I break it down into sections and decide how long I want to take to cover each section. I would find library books for each, any worksheets/projects/experiments that I've collected and see how much I have, If I felt like I didn't have enough, then I would search my websites that I put on this post, or type whatever it is into the search engine. After I've gathered a suitable amount of material then I put it all together. This was our Bee unit from this past year. You can see the lapbooks under "Lapbooks" on the sidebar with links to most of the worksheets we used. This took us about 6 weeks.

**Insect Bee Unit
595.799 Mic "The Life and Times of the Honeybee" by Charles Micucci
JE Thompson "Gran’s Bees" by Mary Thompson
CD 782.42 Hap "Happy Bees" Songs for Happy Kids
Videos 595.799 Bee "Bees" (Bug City)
595.799 Mag "The Magic School Bus in a Beehive"
-Read Bee overview
-Label bee parts, head and leg sheets (cut out for lapbook) what does a bee see? www.centersti.com/bee/beyehome-1.html
-Honey bee stages (cut out stages and stage time chart for lapbook)
-Egg, pupae and larvae sheets (cut out for lapbooks-use as "closeup" view of bee life stages sheet)
-Use worksheet to make one page books of each queen, worker and drone for lapbook
-stinger experiment and identification sheet, sketch and label stinger for lapbook
-Read Honey Bee Society
-Sayings from Unit study-"Busy as a bee" Are bees busy? What are they busy doing? Read Colossians 3:23. Bees are busy working hard. Do we work hard at even the smallest task? Even when no one else is looking? Does God want us to give our best effort in everything we do? "What's the buzz" Buss is a popular term used in the business world. You hear marketing types speaking of generating buzz for their products. What does this mean. What sound does a bee make? What sound do people make when everyone is talking all a once. This is what businesses want. They want everyone to talk about their product.(copy sayings and meanings for lapbook)
-Dancing bees and maze
-Bees home, diagram and beekeepers (cut out for lapbook)
-Trace some hexagons onto yellow constr. paper to include on lapbook
-Read pollination and map of highest pollination states
-Read "Honey" and "The History of Honey"
-Talk about the health benefits of honey; brainstorm all the ways honey can be used. What type of products that we buy have honey in them. Brainstorm all the things that the wax is used for (candles, lipstick, crayons, shoe polish, floor polish) Copy list for lapbook.
-Make beeswax candles
-Different types of honey around the country
-Honey Krispies Recipe (copy for lapbook)
-Honey in Scripture: Why is ther so much "honey" in scripture? Whats so good about a land flowing with milk and honey. Exodus 3:8; Judges 14:8; 1 Samuel 14:26; Psalm 19:10; Psalm 119:103; Proverbs 25:16; Isaiah 7:15; Ezekiel 3:3; Matthew 3:4; Revelation 10:9 (copy scripture for lapbook)
-Density experiment
-Math Sheets
-Africanized honey bee info sheet and map
-Africanized honey bee diary
-Read Parables from Nature pg. 5 "The Law of Authority and Obedience"
-Beego Game
**Assemble Bee Lapbook

The younger kids did all the diagrams, and age appropriate things. Since I don't start the rotation til third grade, the younger kids are involved if they want to be, but don't do the full lessons that I've prepared until they fall in line on the rotation.

When you need to purchase science materials, here are some good companies:
Rainbow Resource (sells everything you could ever need for homeschooling!)
Tobin's Lab (trademarked the "Lapbook")
Home Science Tools (has a great e-newsletter)
Apologia
Amperand Press (Nature games)
Arbor Day Foundation (10 free trees with your membership, and good tree information)
Wild Goose Science
Delta Education

Here are some websites that I have found science material:
Kid's Gardening
Dole 5 a day
Steve Spangler Science
Cotton's Journey
Science With Me
NASA
Nueroscience for Kids
FEMA
Anwers in Genesis
Minerals Lessons
USDA
Weather Classroom
Healthy Choices
How Stuff Works
Sea World
National Geographic
FAA (airplane printouts and info)
Discovery School
4th Day Alliance

After I've gotten all of my material together and broken it down into units, I type it up and put all the material together in a three ring binder with dividers for the different units. I use the pocket in the front of the binder to hold all worksheets that I've printed out ahead of time and keep all master copies in the binder. This is my binder, but you could make one up for each child if you prefer.