One of my Favorites of the Year: Amazing Science, Volume One!

This is definately one of my favorite products I've reviewed this year--and I don't use that phrase often.  This company has earned the honor.  Science and Math.com brings you a 2-disc set of DVDs filled with fun and unique science experiments.  You'll be fumbling for your safety goggles, anxious to try them out for yourself! The best thing about this series is that the scientist (yes, a real rocket scientist), Jason Gibson, doesn't rely on crazy costumes, hokey props or false hype.  The "amazing" part is the science itself.  And you probably have everything you need to conduct these experiments at home right now.

Sometimes I'll review a product and I'll use it as part of "school" for the day.  Not this.  I was previewing it around 4pm, long after school was over for the day.  My sons were walking through the room, stopped in their tracks and watched as the narrator was building a battery from a lemon.  The next thing I know, they are bustling around the kitchen with a lemon (that I needed for a chicken dish that night--grrr) and getting everything they needed to make their own battery. 

I think that's all the testimony you need.

With Volume 1, you'll get 23 step-by-step experiments presented in short videos (around 8-10 minutes).  Materials are shown, the experiment will wow you, then Jason tells you the "how" and "why" science behind the fun.  According to the company, "you'll learn about electricity, magnetism, heat, temperature, pressure, surface tension, buoyancy and much more."

We did the Color Changing Milk experiment, the amazing Egg in a Bottle (which really would be a great thing to do at parties to stump your friends), Build a Lemon Battery, Unburnable Money, Matchstick Speedboat, Simple Lava Lamp, and Invisible Ink.  There are so many more we want to try!  My plan is to finish them throughout the summer.

I highly, highly recommend Amazing Science! Volume 1.  I can't wait for more from the great folks at ScienceAndMath.com.  In the meantime, I think I will check out their other DVD sets, which explore science and math instruction.  See for yourself at this site.

Disclaimer:  I was provided with this product in exchange for an honest review, which I've provided here.  No other compensation was provided. 

See what the other reviewers thought of this product here.

Christian Kids Explore...Chemistry! (A Review)

This month, I got a chance to review a product from Bright Ideas Press.  This one is "Christian Kids Explore Chemistry".

This curriculum is designed for 4th-8th grade and explores the topics of chemistry tools, matter, elements, mixtures and compounds, atoms, atomic number, atomic mass, the periodic table, chemical bonds, states of matter, chemical reactions, organic chemistry and more.  Each lesson is paired with a hands-on activity. 

Key concepts and vocabulary are introduced at the beginning of each unit.  Each unit is comprised of several smaller lessons.  The lessons follow the same pattern.  Teaching Time introduces the material.  Review It solidifieds these ideas with questions designed to make sure the student is keeping up.  There is an activity or experiment that follows next and then Think About It wraps up the material for that lesson.  At the end of a unit, there is a Wrap Up unit test.  Vocabulary words are defined in a glossary at the margins of the book.  The book comes with a resource CD to make reproducing lessons a snap.

There is also an added literature guide to A Piece of the Mountain, a biography on Blaise Pascal.

I thought that the lessons were reasonable for the age group listed.  If your child is on a more challenging track, they may want to try out something different.  However, for my kids, who have never had any formal chemistry lessons, this would be perfect for them to start out and maybe we could cycle through Chemistry again in high school at a deeper level. 

This curriculum is $39.95 and can be purchased here.  There are also many, many other titles for this age group and other ages as well.

See what my crewmates thought of their products here.

*Disclaimer:  I recieved a digital copy of this curriculum in exchange for an honest review.

Great Backyard Bird Count!

Today's the day!  Get out your clipboards, your field guides and your binoculars!  It's time for the Great Backyard Bird Count!  Official dates are 2/17/12-2/20/12. 

Have you ever spotted a limpkin?  Do you even know what a limpkin is?  Well, I didn't either until last year when we participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count, sponsored by the Cornell Institute of Ornithology and the Audubon Society.  It happens every February and for about 4 days. You count the different species of birds in your backyard, your local park, campground or nature preserve.  It's easy!

Just click here http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc and enter your zipcode.  The website will show you what species you are likely to see in February in your area.  Then, get a bird guide (or use the internet to help) and start making those tally marks.  Last year we went to Circle Bar B Ranch.  It is a wonderful park here in the Lakeland/Winter Haven area of Florida.  So many trails to explore, so many animals to see!  We usually see wild turkey there, but only in the fall, so we couldn't count them on our tally sheet--boo.

Bring lots of water on your trails!

A "snakebird" sunbathing. 

After you count, go home and do your part as an amateur ornithologist and enter your data on their website.  There are random drawings for those who enter.  You may win, you may not.  But you will definately get a great experience being out there in God's Country, binoculars in hand, spotting some of the most magnificent creatures on earth and noticing things you never noticed before.  If it wasn't for the GBBC, we would have never met our friend, The Limpkin.

Last year, the GBBC came along at the perfect time--while we were in the m
idst of Apologia's Exploring Creation Through Zoology I:  Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day.  Maybe it will fit your science curriculum as well.  If not, squeeze it in for fun!

Dissecting Again. Poor Starfish.

Clam Dissection!

 After our unit on bivalves through Apologia, the boys dissected a clam, which we purchased through Home Science Tools here.  We've learned that dissections need to take place outside!  Although don't smell like anything, I just don't like the idea of guts on my kitchen table.

Plans for our "Light December"

I promised the kids this year that since we started school in early August and have yet to take a "holiday", "teacher work day" (um, that's every day), or have any early release days like their public school friends, that we would take off for December.

Now, that thought scares me a bit.  So, I've backtracked and renamed it a "light December".  Which means, they'll be maintaining their independent reading schedule, we'll be doing some math activity a few times a week, they'll be building lots of models (like the Pitsco Siege Machine kits we are going to be using a reveiwing in a few weeks), and oh yes, musn't forget the starfish and clam dissections!

So, I was taking stock of all my resources that I keep shoving to the side because we always seem to need to move along with the curriculum plan.  I'm excited to be implementing several lessons from Artistic Pursuits.  We did a nice artist study last year of over 12 artists.  This year, we've only gotten to DaVinci and Bruegel.  I think the boys would enjoy some real art instruction on a consistent basis.  So far, we've done perspective drawing and we've duplicated some of DaVinci's sketchbook ideas with drawing the outer and inner parts of an object (a grapefruit and a wristwatch).  They really liked that so I know they'll enjoy the projects in Artistic Pursuits.  I've hear great things about this company.

Also, have you heard about Instructables?  It's a "Share What You Make" site where people post pictures and videos and things they build, create, etc.  Some of them are amazing machines, science models, and really geeky stuff.  Around here, we love ALL of that!  So, I may let the kids build some cannons or other stuff that could potentially make my house explode.  All in the name of learning...

Also, we wanted to do a unit study on Austrailia, more experiments from AIMS Educational Company's "Electrical Connections" as well as their "Chemistry Matters" book, a unit study on Simple Machines from Evan Moor's Daily Science, and we must finish The Hobbit from last year (only 2 chapters to go and we never seem to find the time).  Add these things to our normal holiday routine of ice skating, baking cookies, making gingerbread houses, attending our hometown Christmas Parade and ringing the Salvation Army bell, and I think we have our "light December".

Do you try to do school during the busy holiday season or do you take off?  Please share your thoughts!

TOS Product Review: AIMS Education Foundation

For the past month or so, we have been using Electrical Connections, an activity guide by AIMS Education Foundation.  AIMS stands for "Activities Integrating Math and Science", and in my opinion they have accomplished that task nicely with this book.  As excited as my two sons were to rip open the Fed Ex box and see what sort of things they were going to be able to charge, light up or (if they had it their way) explode, I for one, was a little hesitant in my ability to guide them through the activities.  I am a literature nerd, an artsy type, a sit under the tree and read Shakespeare kinda girl.  I spent most of my middle school science class dreaming about Kirk Cameron (LOL), and what I know today is only from watching alot of Jeopardy.

However, these lessons aren't written for those who are already mad scientists.  They are written for grades 4-6.  They make it easy for you to prepare and execute some pretty neat experiments with your students.  The book is divided  into a few sections:  Static Electricity, Circuits, Electromagnetism, and the History of Electricity, which includes some biographies and time lines.  Most sections have between 6 and 10 activities to perform.  But before you begin getting out your wires and paper clips, have the student read the short foldable book in the beginning of each section to familiarize themselves with the new topic.  The books are printed in quadrants, designed so that you can fold them into booklets.  Just attach them at the "spine" with a rubber band and they are ready to read!  They are very kid-friendly with cartoons that illustrate the point but don't seem too babyish.  The teacher section is well laid out, explaining the objectives, background information, listing the materials needed, step-by-step instructions and thought-provoking wrap-up questions that guide the students from beginning to end.  As long as you gather the materials in advance, there is not alot of preparation on the part of the teacher. 

The first third of the book requires only household items like Saran wrap, paper clips, string, foil, etc.  Once you get to the section on circuits, you will have to purchase a few items such as batteries, wires, bulbs and alligator clips.  These are all available through the AIMS website.  However, I just took my book to the local hardware store and they were able to help me out.  Stores like Home Depot or Lowe's would also have most of these items, but I found that Ace Hardward sells alot of the wires I needed by the foot, so I only paid for what I needed. 

My two sons, 4th and 6th grade, LOVED the "Static Strokes" experiment.  They had to charge a piece of plastic wrap with a paper towel and see which items would be attracted to it.  It was pretty amazing to see the salt dancing all over the table to fly up and stick to the plastic wrap.  Several of their predicted outcomes were proven false, which I liked because it kept them engaged. 

Experimenting with salt and static electricity.  This was very cool.

Every activity has a record sheet prepared for your student to keep track of their outcomes.

The other experiment that we've done so far is "Conductor or Insulator?"  This was another big hit, discovering which items conduct electricity.  They got to graduate from household items, to bulbs, D-cell batteries and wires for this one!  Again, another simple scientific concept broken into manageable bits of information and hands-on experiences for children.  Some other opportunities for exploration are:  Fiddling with Filaments, Making a Dimmer Switch, The Click Heard Around the World (Samuel Morse), Make a Galvanometer, How to Make an Electric Motor and many, many more!

I really appreciated the CD in the pocket at the back of the book.  The CD contains all the book's pages for easy printing, so you don't have to stand at the copier and print them one at a time.  I also liked that the writers suggest substitutes for things you may not have at home, like paper clips instead of alligator clips, or modeling clay to hold something in place.  Frugal moms like it when we can "make do" with things we already own. 

This title sells for $24.95 through the AIMS website here.  In the past, I have paid more money for products with much less "meat" than Electrical Connections.  I think it is definately a  fair value and has enough projects to keep the average homeschooling family busy for at least half of the school year.  If you take the suggestions of the guide and incorporate more in-depth reading about Ben Franklin, Thomas Edison, and Nikola Tesla, you could expand upon this topic to your heart's content. 

I would definately purchase other titles from AIMS to help bring Math and Science alive in our homeschool.   We were extremely happy with this product.

**Disclaimer:  I was provided with a copy of Electrical Connections in exchange for an honest review, which I have provided here.

"Bringing the Classroom Outdoors"

That is the motto of Nature's Academy, based out of Fort Desoto Park, FL.  My boys and I had the wonderful opportunity to participate in their Island Adventure program this week, an adventure they will not soon forget.  We go on ALOT of field trips and they both agreed that this ranks up there in the top 2 that they've experienced so far.  That's a pretty good testament to Nature's Academy!  The morning started out at 9am at Fort Desoto's East Beach in the Tierra Verde area of Tampa Bay.  Fort Desoto Beach was voted the #1 beach in America in 2005!  After exploring it all day, I can see why. 

We began by taking a nature walk throughout the different native Florida habitats:  Oak Hammock, Dunes, and Mangroves.  When I say "nature walk", I don't mean, "Oh look kids, it's a pinecone!"  I'm talking serious, hard-core learning presented in an interactive fun way.  All along the paths, our guide (and President of Nature's Academy), Dana Pounds, provided us with binoculars and shared her wealth of knowledge on everything from gopher tortoises, to "toothache plants" of the Native Americans, to orb weaver spiders!  The spiders were out in droves that day.  The kids asked questions about controlled forest burns, invasive exotic plants amongst other things.  You could really see their minds working.  It's amazing the learning that takes place when you get out of the classroom.

After our nature walk, we drove across the street to Nature Academy's facility, what looks like a former parks/rec building that has been transformed into a classroom with jarred specimens, brightly colored posters and a very vivacious yellow lab, Ginger.  She was so happy to see the children come by and visit!   Outside the classroom, there were tables set up for groups to do their shark dissections.  It is so cool to explore the inner-workings of God's swimming creatures, to see how they are designed for survival, for camoflague, to adapt to their changing environments.  Sharks have an unbelievably large liver and a very "marble-y" eyeball.  They hardly smell weird at all!

After lunch, the group got to participate in a diversity study down by the shore.  In 45 minutes, the kids collected over 2 dozen different marine species, including Solomon's giant blue crab!  Of course, Dana knew all the names and particulars of every species that they caught, including the latin names (ahem...show off--LOL).  My son, Denver told me that the most amazing part of the day (and I thought he was going to say the dissection) was actually how many diverse species were in that small section of the Gulf of Mexico.  It sure makes you want to work harder to keep the oceans clean and safe so that all the little cowfish and pipefish and sea slugs can continue to thrive.

The finale of the day was a coastal cleanup (we collected 5 pounds of trash in 5 minutes--we weighed it on a scale), followed by some fresh-cut watermelon from Dana's husband, Jim.  Very appreciated as the day got a little warmer!  Jim was fantastic--he provided coolers of ice-cold bottled water for us everywhere we went, set up supplies for every activity, and attended to my son Solomon's bloody nose during the day!  He and Dana make a perfect team.

And for all you Type-A teachers (that would be me), Nature's Academy provides a full sheet of Sunshine State Standards, Student Objectives and Projected Outcomes for every stage of the course AND a well-written Post Test to survey how well the student absorbed the information from the day.  This is an optional test that you can print and give your children for the ride home or the following day.  They are written at about a 5th grade level, in my opinion.  If your children are younger, you can do it as a group activity.

So you may be wondering if our leader, Dana, had her leg bitten off by a ferocious Great White during the course of her Marine Biology career.  That would make a cool story. But it's not true.  She will tell you herself that she contracted a rare form of cancer and had to have her right leg amputated a number of years ago.  Starting Nature's Academy has allowed her to continue to live her dream--studying nature and teaching children so that they might develop the same sense of wonder about the ecology in their own backyards and beaches.  But her story gets even more interesting....The same "gel sock" that she uses to attach her prosthetic leg, is used by Winter the dolphin, star of the upcoming movie, "Dolphin Tale".  In fact, Winter and Dana share the same doctor (played fabulously by Morgan Freeman in the film), who developed the technology to create a comfortable way of attaching a prosthesis to skin.  Dana never knew the path that her life was going to take.  Isn't it amazing that someone with a passion for undersea animals has crossed paths in such a way with a very spirited and determined dolphin?  God works in some pretty mysterious ways.

If you are in the central Florida area, check out http://www.naturesacademy.org/.  The price of their programs for homeschool and school groups varies depending on location and activities, but the one that we attended was $35 per child, $10 for accompanying adults, with a 10% discount for siblings.  Believe me, you will gladly write the check with no hesitation.  The value of the program is unbelievable.  I hope you'll join me in supporting Nature's Academy!