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We home-school year round due to extreme flexibility in scheduling. We take vacations or road trips throughout the year. Learning doesn’t stop when we leave the house and learning doesn’t stop just because our friends are out of public school. We truly take an experiential look at education. Additionally, my son’s brain doesn’t turn off. During the summer we try to do what I call “home-school light” which means less curriculum and more hands on. Thanks to a neighbor giving us 2 bags of science kits her now high school son out grew, we set a goal for this summer of getting through those kits. In addition, we had a couple others of our own that we knew we wanted to do. Plus, we were already going to the pool almost daily and taking weekly field trips to museums. So the perfect complement was making this the summer of science experiments.
Here are the science kits we’ve been doing this summer:
- STEM Challenge Cards by James Dyson Foundation
- Arduino Uno
- Solar Circuit
- Space Sand
- Light Blox
- Kip Kay Kits
- Adventures in Fiber Optics
- Kinetic Futuristic Lights
- Bat Conservation International Bat Trunk
- 6 in 1 Educational Solar Robot Kits
- Giant Rocket
- Water Wise
- Windmill Generator
- Visual Illusions Kits
- The Magic School Bus: Volcanologist Kit
- Solar System Planetarium Model
- H20 Rocket
- Totally Wacky Scientist
- CSI Fingerprint Examination Kit
- Solar Kit
- The Magic School Bus: A Journey Into the Human Body
- The Magic School Bus: A Weather Station
- The Magic School Bus: Stars & Planets
- Sky Ryders Power Props
- Salt Water Fuel Cell Monster Truck
- Everything Flies
- Circuit Scribe
- Little Bits
- OWI Robotic Arm Edge
- Lego WeDo
I know we had the luck of getting many of the above kits free. Some were purchased on sale or clearance, some were obtained through kick-starter projects, and some were given as gifts. I never paid full price for any of them. In addition, what we have been doing beats any of the expensive summer camps around us. Summer camps are in the $300 to $500 range by us for just one week. That amount of money can be better spent. We also do free online camps via Maker Camp, Camp Google, and DIY. None of their experiments or projects requires anything expensive and many can be used/done with what is already in the house. Plus, much of it can be done with very little adult help.
Here is how you can save on science kits:
- Goodwill sometimes has used science kits or craft kits at really cheap prices
- Homeschool Buyers Co Op & Educents are great places to find group discounts
- 40% off coupon for Hobby Lobby or Michael’s
- Clearance at Target, Hobby Lobby, Michael’s, and the museum stores
- Subscriptions (Kip Kay & Magic School Bus) are cheaper than per kit and we have family members get them as gifts (“gifts that keep on giving”)
- Email lists for companies (this is how I find out when Little Bits is having sales as well as other companies)
- List of Free Science Books
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute has a bunch of free DVD’s (some my son enjoyed more than others, but very educational)
- NASA has educational resources for a cheap fee (free if you live near a resource and can pick up yourself) and Journey to the Stars (Free)
- Science Inquirer has a list of free science related stuff
- Free Resources for Science Teaches thanks to NSTA and more publications
- Advanced Light Source Teacher Packet (free PDF’s)
- South Carolina Earth Science Teachers Association has a list to lots of free science materials and kits
- Physics Central has free downloads and once a year free physics kits
- Hotwheels has free lessons
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences has publications too
- Education World has links to various freebies for teachers
There is more out there but this is a great start. You also can always look on Pinterest. We think science experiments are a great way to beat the TX summer heat. Science is fun!
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