Homeschool World Forum

[knobren]

Sure. No problem.

[phiferan]

Thank you so much, Knobren, for the PBS, NOVA, Science videos on line resource. I was purchasing them from PBS; but, this will save me so much as my child and I can now watch them for free. Also, because I was purchasing them, I had to be selective about which DVD’s to buy; but, now we can watch all the ones that interest us. Thanks again and God bless.

[knobren]

Teachers get most of their science supplies from Ward's Natural Science, Carolina Science, Fisher Science Education, and Nasco Science. These companies also sell kits that would be appropriate for homeschoolers. Some of the websites for these companies also have information/newletters/etc. for homeschoolers. They also offer science books, videos, and software.

By the way, Nasco also has catalogs for art and other topics. I have purchased materials from both the science and art catalogs for my niece.

[phiferan]

Thanks again,
You know, I get all my science kits from www.sciencekit.com (Boreal Laboratories); it is a great place for pre-packaged science lab kits, with supplies, instructions and answer keys, and at reasonable prices. You do have to supply the more pricy lab items such as microscopes and graduated cylinders (but you can buy those from this site as well), and you have to buy a few easy to purchase perishable items for experiments, such as grape juice, cabbage, etc. God Bless.

[Ginia]

I also use HomeScienceTools.com to get lab kits to go with my textbook.
It's a great site that offers just what you need to go with the textbook you have.

Another new source, just this August:
Dr. Shorman of DiveintoMath.com also offers science lectures on CD, and this August he has updated his science CDs to include videos of the labs.
We are using his CD for Biology and it is a God-send! Tx, Dr. Shorman.
_________________
Ginia - Author of the online program: Preparing Your Student to Win College Scholarships, a blueprint for parents.

[knobren]

I recently had a student who needed to make up a lab he missed. I found some useful sites for him to do a combination of an online lab and home experiment on alcoholic fermentation and cellular respiration.

1. Online lab exercise about cellular respiration. The quiz at the end is also good practice for interpreting graphs.

http://www.phschool.com/science/biology_place/labbench/lab5/intro.html

I had him turn in the quiz and a sort of methods section explaining the procedures used in the simulation and what he learned from the experiment. This was mostly to make sure that he had done the exercise and had gotten something out of it. If you did it, you might do something like that for a portfolio, I suppose.

We actually use similar methods and equipment in our normal lab and one of the questions we ask that you might also use is:
a) Give two reasons why we know that germinating pea seeds aren't performing photosynthesis. (Hints: What does the KOH do? Where are pea seeds normally germinating?) - The KOH absorbs carbon dioxide that would be necessary for photosynthesis. Also, pea seeds normally germinate underground where there is no light for photosynthesis; instead, they rely on the food stores the parent plant provided them.

2. The home wet lab was about how temperature affects yeast and alcoholic fermentation.

http://www.lesaffreyeastcorp.com/SoY/experiment_4.html

I had him add a third temperature...so he used ice water, warm water, and hot water. I also suggested that 20 oz bottles would probably be more readily available than 1 L bottles. I cautioned him to put the smaller-sized bottles away from anyone just in case the pressure became too great and blew the balloon off. His write up didn't mention any problems, but it is better to err on the side of safety.

I also had my student write a hypothesis about how temperature would affect the fermentation process and then to explain in his conclusions how enzymes would be affected by the three temperatures. (There wouldn't be enough energy available in the ice water for the reactions to get over their activation energy humps. The enzymes were closer to their optimal temperature in the warm water, so fermentation could proceed quickly. And at high temperatures, there might be rapid fermentation at first as the solution heats up, but when the solution got hot enough, the heat would denature the enzymes, so they couldn't work anymore, therefore leading to a decreased fermentation rate.)

-knobren

[StellarStory]

Thanks for sharing these!

[knobren]

http://chemistry.about.com/od/homeexperiments/Chemistry_Experiments_You_Can_Do_at_Home.htm

These are cool and most are inexpensive.

[knobren]

http://misterguch.brinkster.net/snowglobelab.pdf

This website shows how you can can turn making a snow globe into a science experiment (and doesn't use glitter or egg shells).

(cross post from home ec. forum)