SCIENCE LABS – How to & Why to (link)

Claire – I agree labs are important, hands on science is one wonderful way to discover and see principles in action.

 I do not agree that buying a science curricula/book with labs included in the book is a waste.  For me, it is priceless.  I could spend my time googling experiments, creating supply lists, and making special trips to the store for materials each week or every few weeks.  However my time is better spent elsewhere while raising 8 children.  It took no time and effort for ME to use Apologia’s upper level books.  They’ve done all the planning and footwork for me.  They have experiment supply lists divided by module ready to go.  My daughter adds needed items to the monthly grocery list for the module.  We went so far as to buy a lab kit through ChristianBook.com so most of the materials for the experiments are in a single box, divided and labeled by module, with a narrowed down materials list of the few things we need to provide in each module (like pans, water, or red cabbage).  It, too, was worth the cost.  I had baby #8 a month before the school year began and my time was better spent focused on my family instead of online and then making trips to the store each week just for science. By doing these two things (buying a book with labs planned and buying a materials kit) I was freed up from hours of work. I did very little beyond being a sounding board for narrations all year for oldest’s science, or a discussion buddy when needed. My time was worth spending money on something planned out for me.

Christie has a good point, there have been times where I have spent my time and saved money too. Sometimes one way, sometimes the other. And I love science enthusiasm too, I am glad you shared the link!

Claire,

I’m sorry I offended you! I suppose it wasn’t right for me to assume you spend more time on planning science doing it your way than I would with Apologia (though I spend ZERO time planning because of Apologia).  Everyone does things differently and that is a good thing.  Truly, there is freedom in homeschooling.  I happen to be one of those one income families sacrificing to make ends meet.  We have 10 people living on less than $35,000 a year and are caring for a disabled child with major medical expenses.  We have to be extremely wise in how and where we use our money and how and where we use our time.  I think that is true for everyone though.  Again, I did not mean to offend, but to point out that our time as mothers is worth something and sometimes it is worth paying for resources to be able to spend our time on something else.  For this coming year, as another example, I bought a science book for the 8th grader and invested my time in putting together a family World Geography and Cultures study that will be used by my high school to baby crowd.  We will have daily time spent learning together about God’s people and the world he put them in.  That was the priority and the place where my labor of love was best spent this year in school planning.  Another year my time might be best spent on something else while paying for ready to go resources in the history/geography arena. 

I also find the thought of doing things myself can be empowering . . . or overwhelming.  I’m reasonably intelligent and fairly well-educated, but I am NOT a science teaching professional, and while I could find oodles of labs easily myself .  . . I very much doubt my ability to necessarily find ALL the best labs to prepare my kids for college that would also be easy to implement at home AND fit well into a science program, and that I could afford.  If I feel this way, I have to assume that many other mothers do as well, and it is a tremendous blessing to have guidance in the area.  As much as I love math and science and exploring it with my kids, I am actually a poetry, literature, history and social science mama, and math and science are my WORST areas.  I have to say that I think that most college bound homeschool kids and families would be better served by a regularized text and labs so that they could be prepared like the other kids going in to college, and that the self-serve approach would be a better option for only a few.  In general, science is one of the things homeschooling does the WORST job at, leaving a lot of kids rather struggling in first college classes.  

Claire, I accept your apology. Perhaps I read too much into your words myself. Writing is hard, especially on public forums. So much is lost without knowing tones, facial expressions, etc. The beauty of homeschooling is the freedom it affords each of us to do what works in our given situation. Your efforts to blaze your own trail are admirable even if I’d rather not reinvent the wheel personally. Different strokes for different folks! I sincerely appreciate you.

Christie

I would like to “second” the suggestion of a .pdf dropbox! Christie was kind enough to share her entire 4th grade schedule with me and it is PRICELESS!