Where/how can older homeschoolers do dangerous Science (especially Chemistry) experiments?

[Homeschooler in Dubai]

Hi everyone,

 

my husband, who is not fully convinced of homeschooling yet, was asking me how can homeschoolers (College age) do the practical Chemistry for example? You can't store dangerous Chemicals in your house, need a lab etc. Is there a place where homeschoolers could do these type of experiments?

 

He said they did a lot of experiments in his public school which helped him a lot to understand the Theory. Even his sister might not have been able to achieve her PHD in Chemistry if she didn't go to one of these "good schools" where they do a lot of practical science. She works in a lab now (in the UK). We live in UAE.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I buy actual chemistry equipment online including chemicals.  We store the chemicals in a safe place according to their specifications.  We get small amounts because we are only using small amounts instead of needing to stock an entire classroom.  I like http://www.hometrainingtools.com/special/christmas-offer?gclid=CjwKEAiAvZTCBRDvnoOaoa2j3xISJABxPjN982ph6O-Cs2igmhwP_ZtBZijMej8-RWFPRQZnRkyuyxoCGpPw_wcB

[regentrude]

Microchem lab kits to do the labs at home

coops where several teens together do labs at a central facility

taking individual classes at the local high school

dual enrollment, i.e. teen takes a college class

[Homeschooler in Dubai]

He said he doesn't want to have these dangerous Chemicals in his house. (Especially if you don't have much storage place). So the second post would be a good argument. Has anyone done that? How difficult/easy is it to organize sth like that?

 

"taking individual classes at the local high school". Are schools cooperative in this regard or is it rather difficult?

[Jean in Newcastle]

Whether you can attend classes at local schools will depend on the local laws.  Or policy if it is a private school. 

[KristaJ]

Our library offers monthly science classes to homeschoolers where they do activities that I’m not as comfortable doing at home.  The local school system also offers weekly classes to homeschoolers in different subjects, including science.  But I know this is not available everywhere (we just moved to this area from a state that had very limited opportunities open to homeschool students).  I would look into what opportunities are available in your area and see if there is something that would appease his emphasis on science.

[Donna]

We use are using Spectrum Chemistry this year for high school chemistry. They provide (well, you pay for) all the materials required to do the labs, one lab a week. I also purchased a chemistry kit (rather expensive) with additional experiments...linked here for additional experiments because my dd likes the experiment part best. We do them at home either in the kitchen or outside on the deck, if necessary.

 

 

[Tanaqui]

Is your child in high school yet, or even middle school? If they're still very little, there's no use borrowing trouble. You can figure it out when you get there. That might mean dual enrollment or a co-op, it might mean doing them at home (but not the experiments with "dangerous" chemicals), that might mean that by the time they're in high school you've said "Meh" and enrolled them. Homeschooling doesn't have to be forever if that doesn't work for your family, after all :) (Which isn't to say that enrolling them for high school IS what is best for your family, but a lot of people have trouble with that concept so I try to point it out.)

[Guest]

http://www.hometrainingtools.com/

[Guest]

My oldest kids had a chemistry tutor who taught in her home.

[GoVanGogh]

In this area, there are several homeschool academies where one can take science classes with labs.

I have not used them, but Landry Academy offers summer intensive labs.

I have several good friends with science degrees and they offer high school labs out of their house.

My state does not allow homeschoolers to take classes at the public school, but there are private schools that do.

Many nature centers around the country offer field trips with labs. I will be organizing a field trip to a wetland this spring. The facility that runs the wetland has a full lab for environmental science experiments.

My child took many homeschool field biology classes at one local nature center. We do many biology explorations when we vacation. Four years ago, we spent ten days on the west coast and visited many tide pools and observed the differences in flora and fauna along the coastline. We tend to do one educational vacation a year and take advantage of any science centers or nature centers.

A local state university here offers homeschool labs for high school and middle school students. My child took the labs last year and we will likely use again. They rotate through the different branches of science, with the students reading the textbook at home and doing the labs on campus.

There are so many options...

Edited December 6, 2016 by GoVanGogh

[Lori D.]

Consider paying a tutor to set up and run labs once a month at the tutor's location.

 

You can also go with virtual chemistry labs:

ACS: Virtual Chemistry and Simulations

Chem Collective: Virtual Labs

Online Chem Labs

Virtlab

 

Online Labs lists extensive options for virtual labs in a number of the sciences: Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Anatomy, Geology, Astronomy, Design, and Math.

[Beth S]

If you have young ones, I would assume you would expose them to vinegar and baking soda, which make a classic volcano when combined!

 

Our high school chemistry course was designed for homeschoolers to do the labs at home, including household chemicals like toilet bowl cleaner, hydrogen peroxide, & iodine.

We just skip the ones that use lye.

The concepts of chemistry can be taught a variety of different ways via lab experiments.

Our kids have all done very well in college chemistry.

 

Try to see this as you and your husband dipping your toes into a pool. 

At first it feels freezing cold, but soon you get more acclimated to the choices, & realize that it's actually quite fun!

 

Lots of parents of kindergarteners can be frightened of an uncertain future.

But in reality, there are potentially frightening things all around us, regardless of our school choices.

For us, homeschooling became an extension of parenting.

You & your husband working together to find solutions for your family's individual needs.

Come on in . . . the water's great!  ;)

 

 

 

[Lang Syne Boardie]

Might remind him that you probably already have dangerous, even lethal, chemicals in the home...if you have ammonia window cleaner and bleach, you could kill yourselves accidentally already...but you learned how to safely use and store those chemicals, and you can learn how to manage a high school chemistry kit, as well.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I do have one question for the OP.  It asked about college aged homeschoolers.  Or did I read that wrong?  Most, if not all of us only homeschool until college.  (My advice on chemistry for high school aged homeschoolers remains the same as what I said above.)

[Wheres Toto]

I do have one question for the OP.  It asked about college aged homeschoolers.  Or did I read that wrong?  Most, if not all of us only homeschool until college.  (My advice on chemistry for high school aged homeschoolers remains the same as what I said above.)

 

I was wondering about that too, and is why I didn't answer.  Most college-aged homeschoolers seem to take science at colleges.

[MerryAtHope]

Hi everyone,

 

my husband, who is not fully convinced of homeschooling yet, was asking me how can homeschoolers (College age) do the practical Chemistry for example? You can't store dangerous Chemicals in your house, need a lab etc. Is there a place where homeschoolers could do these type of experiments?

 

I also didn't answer initially because the question confused me. We don't really homeschool college (though a person could take classes online or even do a degree online). So, college students would be doing their chemistry classes at a college, which would have facilities for experiments like these. A student need not be held back in future degree opportunities at all by homeschooling through high school. 

 

For high school students, there are typically a variety of options (outsourcing classes, outsourcing just the labs--I've even heard of "lab camps" where students go to just do the labs in a concentrated time period). There are also homeschool curricula that have associated lab kits with small amounts of chemicals, and/or experiments that can be done using household chemicals. 

[Lang Syne Boardie]

I did not even catch that the OP was asking about college-aged students. While admitting that I always read too fast, in my defense I can say that having college-aged and high school students all living at home, they all run together in a homeschool mom's mind...after all, the college boy DID study high school chemistry here, and that was only four years ago...

 

OP, is that what you meant? College? We don't homeschool college. My son likes to try to make me homeschool college, by bringing home assignments and starting fights debates about things his professors say, just to rile me up, but I'm on to him. "This is above my pay grade," I tell him. "12th grade is the end of the line."

[Laz79]

I assume she means high school. Here in Australia, some high schools call themselves colleges. What the US calls college, we call university. Since they're not in the US, it could be the same for them.

 

 

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[Guest]

I assume she means high school. Here in Australia, some high schools call themselves colleges. What the US calls college, we call university. Since they're not in the US, it could be the same for them.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This is what I assumed also. It translates to what we consider high school.

[MerryAtHope]

I assume she means high school. Here in Australia, some high schools call themselves colleges. What the US calls college, we call university. Since they're not in the US, it could be the same for them.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Ah, that would make sense. Thanks!

[Bluegoat]

I think that even if you really don't want to do some experiments at home because of the chemicals, you can do other ones that will teach the principles you'll need for university.  Universities don't necessarily assume that people have all the same background when they start.

[Garga]

This year I'm doing biology. Our lab book/kit came with a boatload of chemicals and some of them you need to take care with, like the hydrochloric acid that we used today.

 

However, they come in teeny, tiny bottles. We put them in a plastic box, like what a fisherman might use, with a hinged lid and a lock. They live on a shelf in the basement. The basement is also where we do the experiments.

 

If you get the chemicals as part of a kit, you won't be storing huge liter bottles of chemicals. It'll be a few mL of each one in jars with lids that will fit in some sort of plastic container that you can close and tuck away in a closet.

 

That's Biology, and maybe it's different for Chemistry, but we've found that a single student doing these labs alone often needs only 1 ml or a few drops of a chemical at a time.

 

This year we are using the book "The Illustrated Guide to Home Biology Experiments."

 

There is also a book called "The Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments." These books are not easy, baby books. They have robust experiments that are tailored for students in high school (college--whatever you call schooling for 14 - 18 year olds.)

 

You can get the book on a pdf for free: http://www.thehomescientist.com/manuals/Illustrated_Guide_to_Home_Biology_Experiments.pdf

 

You can buy it bound (what we did) :https://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Guide-Home-Chemistry-Experiments/dp/0596514921

 

Here is the kit of chemicals/supplies you'd need to get with the book: http://www.thehomescientist.com/kits/CK01/ck01-main.html

 

 

You can read the pdf right now and get a sense of how chemistry labs could be done in the home and done well and can go beyond using normal household chemicals, if that's important to you or your dh.

 

 

ETA: These lab books/kits are labs only. You'd also have to use other resources to teach chemistry. The book gives a teeny, tiny overview of the lab, but doesn't teach the subject. It just provides instructions on how to do the labs. It's up to you to match the labs to your chemistry curriculum and correspond each lab to what you're teaching that week in your class.

Edited December 7, 2016 by Garga

[SebastianCat]

My DS is in his first year of high school and is taking Chemistry this year.   His options for this class included:

 

(1) doing the course completely on his own at home

(2) taking the course through a parent-taught co-op

(3) taking the course at a homeschool class center, of which we have at least 3 locally

(4) taking the course at a local public school as a part-time student (which isn't an option we've explored much, but I understand is available to us on a space-available basis)

(5) taking the course online, including at least one free state-run online school (FLVS)

(6) taking the course at a local community college as a dual enrolled student

 

Of the options I listed, only #1 would involve storing any chemicals in our home or doing any experiments without some supervision.    We opted for the parent-led co-op because I knew the teacher and knew it would be a good fit for DS.   

 

If DS was a public school student, he would have half (or fewer) of the options here available.    Obviously every location will be different, but we've found greater educational possibilities as homeschoolers, especially in high school, than what we would have had through the public schools.

[Homeschooler in Dubai]

Thank you everyone!

 

I just realized that College in the US means University. Of course have heard it before but forgot :huh:  I am German and my husband is British so yes we meant High School which is Year 10-13 in the UK and Germany.

[Homeschooler in Dubai]

He liked some of the options very much so he is again a bit more convinced about homeschooling :hurray:

[2_girls_mommy]

Mine do their science classes at a co-op. The co-op has science equipment purchased over the years, costs split between parents. Our science teacher was a science professor in her working years, so it has been such a blessing to have her.

 

There are other science classes for homeschoolers that we could pay for if we wanted the help. They are usually more expensive than a co-op. And we could do some or all at home. We have purchased a good microscope for biology and used it plenty at home. The equipment needed for science can be bought online easily. There are lots of good curricula or online courses to walk you through the materials. YouTube is my friend. I do not have a science/math background. I haven't touched a calculator in years. When it was time for my dd to learn hers, we youTubed for tutorials and found everything we needed to know. I felt so proud of us for mastering that that day. :)

[Dmmetler]

Depending on where you are, you may find that a community college lab class is less expensive than an online one. That's the case here, even for kids not eligible for the dual enrollment grant. If they're eligible for the DE grant, it's almost free. And the lab set ups at our local CC are really, really nice-the CC has one campus that primarily prepares kids for LPN and to transfer to a 4 year to finish RN and Allied health degrees in fields like medical technology, and they have a great lab set up, largely funded by the medical industry in our area (we have a couple of medical equipment and pharmaceutical companies in the area). It makes the CC a really attractive option for high school age kids.

 

 

[Sebastian (a lady)]

My high schoolers take General Chemistry with a lab at the local community college as early enrollment students. This is the highest intro chem class offered. Ds1 was granted full transfer credit for chemistry as a first year engineering student at his polytechnical university.

 

We did Do a high school level courses at home with a lab through a co-op. It was good prep for the college course. I loved the fact that they could do the lab with someone else responsible for clean up.

[maize]

Most principles of high school level chemistry do not require dangerous labs to demonstrate.