Full disclosure, I’m a science teacher. Yes, I teach literature classes and French. Yes, I have home-schooled kiddos. Sure, I review portfolios. My main role is a science teacher for the local Co-op. Surprise! I like loads of labs. My classes do at least 30, with a goal of 50. Is your household doing any labs? At all? No, you don’t need to invest in expensive kits or microscopes to do labs. For example, take one cup of ice and do this Heat Curve lab. Calibrate the thermometer before you start the lab. Graph the data. Bonus points if you graph it with a graphing calculator after doing a graph on paper. Even more points if you repeat the lab three times and average the data. Go ahead and enter the data in a spreadsheet and graph it. All this from boiling a cup of ice!
How do you infuse more labs? Set aside regular time. Can you plan one hour Friday afternoon? Make the first month especially fun, such as Candy experiments. Fun helps build habits. Do the labs in your science textbook. Apologia’s science experiments are written for home-schoolers. Start with the experiments which look easy. No, they don’t have to align perfectly with the science lessons. That can come later. Right now, I just want you to do any lab. Why? The more fun labs your kiddos do, the more labs they’ll want to do. Keep things light. Build your confidence. Now, get started! Forego an hour at the park for lab this week. This is going to be the best year yet!
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