A little more heresy…

 Is it okay to skip a concept or even a module?  What about an entire lab?  The Chemistry class I teach for Co-op is struggling through specific heat.  The most recent edition of Apologia’s Chemistey textbook has moved the module from 2 to 12, which should tell you something.  Most of the module is straight forward.  Let me tell you, the calorimetry lab is NOT!  The calculations in particular are hard because you have to set two equations equal to each other.  (Experiment 5.1 in the textbook is another challenge.)

So what if you encounter a problem you don’t know how to solve or a complicated lab?  Did you give it a good try?  I don’t mean just read it and weep.  Did you even Google the topic to see if there was a video?  Was the video just as confusing?  Have you even resorted to AI?  At this point you probably enlisted your husband and made it a group project.  Are you at the point where you feel defeated?  Stop.  Skip the problem.  Move on.  Just because you cannot understand one lab or one algebraic problem doesn’t mean you should abandon the subject and admit defeat.  Continue with the subject.  By all means ask your friends if they have encountered the issue and can help.  (They might know a tutor.)  Look, you can only do what you can do.  Stop beating yourself up.  Even my husband, Rob, who teaches math and is extremely smart, has encountered problems he couldn’t solve.  Yes, as a matter of fact, I did resort to AI, Google, and videos.  Yes, it did become a family project.  Yes, I did suggest just to skip it.

Does your Co-op hold book exchanges?

 Every September, our Co-op has a back-to-Co-op Mass followed by a picnic in the park.  Families bring books, supplies, and bins of anything related to Co-op they aren’t using—workbooks, flash cards, manipulatives, etc. Families with older kiddos share textbooks they’ve outgrown.  Sometimes, one math program just doesn’t work. My friend, Ann, volunteers at the local library.  She sorts donations for the monthly books sale.  Ann saves materials she thinks are suitable for home-schoolers.  These donations are part of the book swap.   In fact, we do informal swaps all the time.  My friend, Helena, gave me a large bag of craft materials.  I took a few yards of fabric and gave the bag to my friend, Jen, to share with another Co-op in Woodbridge.  Does your Co-op have an exchange?  Anytime the Co-op meets to plan members bring any extra curriculum materials to share.  Leftover supplies go to the church’s thrift store—making supplies available to an even larger audience.  While September is a great time to share, anytime is fine to swap textbooks—say in the spring, when you’re planning.  Then next September, everyone can make a second swap after all of those plans change.  BTW no one objects to a bin of clothes appearing at the book swap!

Buy used presents.

 I like to bid on lots.  I just bought five LEGO Klutz sets to use as presents.  (We have several,  young friends.  I sew doll clothes for the little girls.  I like to have $5 presents for the little boys. I have a stack of LEGO Klutz sets and puzzles.)  My target price is $5 for each piece—the same as for lots I bid on for science camp. 

As long as the set is complete, most kiddos don’t mind that it’s used.  Our family buys used books as presents, too.  Who doesn’t love a large stack of books?  (Of course I read on my Kindle; I still like sets of books!)  I keep a stack of used puzzles on hand for gifts, too.  Sometimes the used puzzles are still sealed.  If I want to give a small present, I’m ready!

Join the Apologia Facebook Group!

Do you use Apologia’s materials?  If you do, consider joining the Apologia Group on Facebook.

Yes, many of the posts are people selling books, etc.  However, members ask questions.  Guess what?  Jeannie Fulbright has posted answers to questions about the Young Explorers series.  It’s one of those groups you can check out weekly and stay on top of posts.  Give it a try 

Apples!

 Do you use themes with your instruction?  How about a unit about apples?  Start with a trip to an orchard or farm market.  Look over this 4H Apples! unit, which include taste-testing, my favorite activity at a farm market or an apple orchard!  Michigan Apples Resources includes a virtual farm tour and a huge Educator Kit.  The kit is geared toward elementary-aged kiddos.  (I’m originally a Michigander.  I’m partial to Michigan apples.  I understand New York grows good apples, too.  I need to give a shout-out to Virginia Farm Market.  We used to live in Winchester.  This farm market draws from the best local orchards.)

What lessons can you derive from apples?  I’m so glad you asked!  Mummify Apples!  Make Applesauce!  Try Apple Browning.  Here  are more experiments.  Want even more?  Look at A is for Apples! Borrow an armful of books from the library for your Littles.  Have a blast!  

Backyard Science! Literally.

 Friends of mine really want to homestead.  They long for wheat grinders, raise chickens, and garden.  My friends embrace raw milk.  Friends use boric acid to control beetles around their chicken coops.  If you’re baking your own bread, making yogurt, and cultivating herbs, you’re doing science.  

1. As a family, create a map of your backyard, homestead, or farm.  Include all of the co-ops and varieties of poultry.  Do it to scale.

2. Make of list of all your kitchen skills: canning, baking, curing, fermenting, drying, etc.  Do a little research.  What is the science behind fermenting Greek yogurt?  What are different food preservation methods?  Look at this 4-H webpage for food science topics to research.  Have your kiddos write a report on food science topics, such as Sanitizing Dishes.  Be prepared for your kiddos to critique your dishwashing methods.

3. Do you raise poultry?  Which breeds?  Are you interested in Poultry Breeding and Genetics?  Do you incubate eggs?  How do you control pests?  Tons of science.

4.  How do you garden?  You might have volunteer plants in a compost pile, raised beds, or acres of crops.  All excellent science.

5.  Do you feel wild birds?  Make bird feeders?  What about bee hotels?  

Turn all of your homestead efforts into a science curriculum.  Do a bit of research.  Write brief reports.  Take loads of photos.  (Let your kiddos take pix, too.)  Change how you look your household.  When you do a project, such as bake bread, research the science behind sourdough.  Summarize in a report.  Handwrite the report.  Use a dictionary for unfamiliar terms.  Bake a sourdough boule.  Take a photo.  Just like that you have a mini science lesson.  Look at you upending your science curriculum!

A bit more about the free courses at Hillsdale….

 Hillsdale College offers a number of free online courses.  When I home-schooled Lacie, she took several courses.  One of my home-school friends is using them for her teen son and recommended them to another friend.  (We all were chatting after Co-op.)  Christine assigns one video and quiz each day to Max, four days a week.  I let Lacie map her own schedule.  She liked to work in batches.  But, a video and quiz daily is a great schedule.  Max is knocking out History courses right now.  The only issue we ran into was with the online school, Kolbe.  The consultant really wanted us to submit the courses in advance in order to get credit through Kolbe.  If you are enrolled in an online school and want to add Hillsdale courses, check with your consultant.  If you manage your own curriculum and just create a transcript, you won’t have to worry.  BTW, college courses of any stripe are terrific additions to your portfolio—especially for those of you who submit portfolios to the local school board.