Free Science Projects for Kids from Home Science Tools

The Home Science Tools site is one of my first stops for anything science related. They have a fantastic Free Science Projects for Kids section that includes project ideas in every area - Biology, Chemistry, Microscope Projects, Dissection Guides and so much more!

Physics Friday #5

This week she finished up simple machines and the topics were force, wheels, axles and inclined planes....


I must say she is still RAVING about BrainPop!!! She is doing it daily and keeps finding more and more links to all her subject areas! It is so wonderful when they start reaching out for more and more information on their own!

Physics Friday #5

With our new schedule going well she was VERY ambitious this week and decided to take on quite a few experiments and workshops. Some came out better than others and the latter were not allowed to be photographed so here the ones that made it through -






and we had some difficulties and some success with this one as well.





Km is starting to realize on her own what it means to bite off more than you can chew! Frustrations were a bit high this morning as we headed down from a LONG week, but she held it together and completed most of the tasks that she tried. This one section of the manual was also a bit trickier to understand with far fewer instructions on how to put it together and more of them just showing you pictures to recreate. It was great to work through them and figure out what could have been done better. We also discussed who if they had used pictures from all sides we would have been fully capable of replicating the exact thing. All in all despite the aggravation and near loss of temper, a LOT was learned from this weeks projects.

Physics Friday - #3

She created a force scale that measured in Newtons -

Then did a demonstration of Inert Mass and a Gimbal to show how something can stay stable even when moving.

PHYSICS FRIDAY - #1

WE STARTED OUR PHYSICS WORKSHOP KIT THIS WEEK. KM DECIDED THAT SHE IS GOING TO HOLD OFF ON DOING THE ACTUAL MIDDLE SCHOOL PHYSICS FROM SIMPLE SCHOOLING, AS RIGHT NOW IT JUST DOES NOT APPEAL TO HER. HOWEVER THE KIT THAT YOU ARE SUPPOSE TO USE IT WITH IS VERY APPEALING.

WE WILL BE POSTING PHOTOS OF THE EXPERIMENTS AND WORKSHOPS EACH FRIDAY FOR ALL TO SEE.

DUE TO POSSIBLE COPYRIGHT ISSUES I WILL NOT BE GOING OVER THE INSTRUCTIONS, BUT YOU CAN TAKE A LOOK AT THE KIT HERE .

Curriculum Picks for Fall Session - 7th Grade - KIT FINDS

I mentioned the choices that we had made for our science curriculum last week, but as I was trying to find somewhere that had the physics kit that was recommended by Simple Schooling I also happened to come across an incredible kit to supplement The Story of Science - Milestones in Science!

I am soooo excited about this two kits! They are complete and FANTASTIC! I am amazed that no one has mentioned combining The Story of Science with this Milestones kit before, it seems like a no brainer to me. I am all about getting my money worth and with 100 experiments that is less than 80 cents an experiment! How can you beat that with everything all there and ready for you! The physics kit has 37 experiments and also has extremely clear instructions and meshes seamlessly with the simple schooling physics.


~~~After further investigation I must add- I usually wait to get kits in person when I just happen to see them in a store marked down to some ridiculously low price because I have been sooooo disappointed in the past, but THESE KITS are fantastic and totally worth the money. You have to add VERY few items like a 9-volt battery for instance. They also have INCREDIBLE clear and informative booklets that go along with them! The more I look at the them the more I am very happy that I didn't have my stingy cheap side come out and I got them!

Curriculum Picks for Fall Session - 7th Grade - Science

Keeping the ball rolling - here are our science choices:

Science
Our approach to science is going to be a bit hard-core this year because that is REALLY what KM wanted! I am not too sure how we are going to fit everything in, but hey she is excited about science, so I REALLY can't smash the interest!

• The Story of Science, Aristotle leads the Way - we got the whole shebang on this one! Books, teacher's quest and student quests!
• Middle School Physics - I fell in love with this site when I stumbled across it at the beginning of the summer and I have to say when I downloaded this program it did not fail to please...hopefully it will be as easy and enjoyable to execute as it appears!
• Unit study on weather & meteorology - more specific information on resources for that to come later as I am still putting it together!
• Basher Science Series - we LOVE everything about this series! From the cute little comic pics to the through yet entertaining information! We have been working through Astronomy this summer and plan on starting Biology in the fall and Physics, well when we start Physics!
• Adaptive Curriculum - to supplement with extra projects that we wouldn't be able to do in our home! She absolutely loves this program and we got a SUPER deal on it through Homeschool Buyers Co-op.

Keep your fingers crossed for us that our ambitious choices will not crash and burn!

Sledding, Sledding and More

SLEDDING

This was earlier in the week...

Then CJ decided to have his friend come over with some machinery to move the snow so he could park his truck in it's usual spot - CAN YOU GUESS WHERE THEY PUT THE SNOW?




The mound is at a high spot in our yard and crosses part of the driveway and heads down into the far back corner where the jeep mounds usually are. Originally it just went smoothly down a slope in the hill, but of course that wasn't good enough for the men with the machine - all I could think of was Tim "The Toolman" Taylor!!! - they had to redirect the course so that it went faster and off a pretty good jump! They did also make a side hill for SC when she comes back on Saturday. As for the BIG hill - I don't know which set of kids liked it better!