STEM focus?

[ApronMama]

:iagree: And being married to someone who is STEM-savvy is a blessing also (since I am NOT stem-savvy:tongue_smilie:). Dh is taking them to OMSI on Tuesdays for robotics classes where they are given a new 'challenge' to work on over the week.

 

Is that a homeschool class at OMSI or one of the regular classes? I must have missed the sign up for it. Do you mind sharing more info? We really want to start robotics.

 

You asked about afterschoolers in your first post:

We pick a subject for the year and study with or w/o a curriculum, depending on the subject. Elemental Chemistry was good for afterschooling, but we added more rigorous reading. We also do unit studies on whatever ds8's current obsession happens to be.

 

Lots of PBS--the recent NOVA series on extra dimensions, string theory etc. has been watched over, and over, and over....

 

We are going to go visit the Intel Science Fair show at Portland State at the end of March. You have to be 5th grade and above to enter, so we are going to see what the middle school projects are like. When ds8 hits 5th, we will design a project and enter it. You can enter math projects too, which your kids might love.

 

Lots of OMSI, particularly when they have the different rock/brain/amphibian shows where you can actually ask questions of experts who love the subject as much as my kid does. The Brain Fair last year happened to fall just at the end of a unit study we were doing on the brain.

[Beth in SW WA]

Is that a homeschool class at OMSI or one of the regular classes? I must have missed the sign up for it. Do you mind sharing more info? We really want to start robotics.

 

Hi! Here is the homeschool science group we belong to. The current quarter started in Jan. You should come visit class on Tuesdays to get an idea. Contact Jilene. She's great. :)

[jenbrdsly]

Very cool Beth!

 

All of this talk about STEM inspired me to follow through with an idea back when this thread got started. Last Saturday my husband and I helped each of our kids film their own movies. I'm not sure how much my DD2 learned about technology:tongue_smilie:, but I taught my DS6 about uploading from the flash memory card, and the very basics of Windows Movie Maker. You can see our results here.

[mamajudy]

I forgot to add that my kids are going to try a summer STEM camp for the first time this year. I'm really hoping that it is a good experience!

 

What summer STEM camp are you sending them to? I've been searching for a good summer program without much success. Any suggestions?

[Beth in SW WA]

I must be doing something right....as my girls literally freaked out tonight when our Snap Circuits upgrade arrived via UPS. They are over the moon. I've never seen them so excited. Seriously.

[Beth in SW WA]

Very cool Beth!

 

All of this talk about STEM inspired me to follow through with an idea back when this thread got started. Last Saturday my husband and I helped each of our kids film their own movies. I'm not sure how much my DD2 learned about technology:tongue_smilie:, but I taught my DS6 about uploading from the flash memory card, and the very basics of Windows Movie Maker. You can see our results here.

 

Love your kids' voices!! Bruce is a scream. What a darling imagination and vocabulary! :001_smile:

[8filltheheart]

Beth,

 

I came across this website last night when I was researching something and I thought I would share it w/you. It is an online science magazine for kids. Didn't know if you were already aware of it.

 

http://whyfiles.org/

[JeanM]

What summer STEM camp are you sending them to? I've been searching for a good summer program without much success. Any suggestions?

 

My kids are going to a Science camp in my state. If you pm me, I'll send you the name. We looked at the CTY summer programs, but are too long (3 weeks) and too expensive. There is a lovely oceanography program (http://www.acadiainstitute.com/) that my ds would love, but the price tag is too high. There are a bunch of robotics and other STEM types of camps around.

[Beth in SW WA]

Beth,

 

I came across this website last night when I was researching something and I thought I would share it w/you. It is an online science magazine for kids. Didn't know if you were already aware of it.

 

http://whyfiles.org/

 

Thanks, 8!

[jenbrdsly]

I must be doing something right....as my girls literally freaked out tonight when our Snap Circuits upgrade arrived via UPS. They are over the moon. I've never seen them so excited. Seriously.

 

 

Which kit should I buy? http://www.snapcircuits.net/

[FairProspects]

Which kit should I buy? http://www.snapcircuits.net/

 

The biggest one you can afford. In our house the experiments went really fast, and we hit the ceiling quickly. Sometimes ds still pulls it out to add things to it, but IMO the 100 is a total waste without the upgrades. Oh, and buy extra fan tops, those have broken on our kit and on a friend's kit.

[Beth in SW WA]

Which kit should I buy? http://www.snapcircuits.net/

 

I just upgraded our 300 to the 750 and the student guide. You could start with the 300.

[jenbrdsly]

Thank you!

[Lucy the Valiant]

This might merit a spin-off (new) thread, but - what specific advice would you wise STEM-focus parents give to a total rookie who realizes the importance of good, solid math and science programs but feels unqualified to do it with her own children?

 

I have a master's degree in English, and DH has one in history, and . . . our 6yo DS has the heart of an engineer.

 

So - what would your best starting-out advice be? I clicked the link for those Snap Circuits - I have never heard of them, but I KNOW he would love them. They're going on his birthday list.

 

What else? (We have a room dedicated to Legos already; would love to make it into a lab-type fun room.)

[serendipitous journey]

This might merit a spin-off (new) thread, but - what specific advice would you wise STEM-focus parents give to a total rookie who realizes the importance of good, solid math and science programs but feels unqualified to do it with her own children?

 

I have a master's degree in English, and DH has one in history, and . . . our 6yo DS has the heart of an engineer.

 

So - what would your best starting-out advice be? I clicked the link for those Snap Circuits - I have never heard of them, but I KNOW he would love them. They're going on his birthday list.

 

What else? (We have a room dedicated to Legos already; would love to make it into a lab-type fun room.)

 

I'm going to list the things I don't other folks will ;):

 

Get a good voltmeter (lets them check strength of voltage/current, check battery life, just a great tool).

Get a decent set of miniature screwdrivers & hex drivers for taking little electronic stuff apart.

Magnifying glass, of course, though prob. everybody will say that; for a fancy gift, one of those neat-o, hands-free jewelers/soldering ones with alligator clips to hold stuff.

Do some kits, or parts of them, from Sandbox Scientist. This stuff is terrific. Really. When we did these, Button LOVED science; I'd set one up and we'd do it for a week or two. Some are complex, some are easy, no guilt but do what you like. -- we only paused b/c Bot-bot was eating everything. We'll pick them up again this spring or summer ...

 

lots of television. :) I totally disagree with SWB on this, Button's learned an enormous amount of science from documentaries. How the Universe works and the BBC Life series have been big hits (plus there's The Magic School Bus & cetera, but Button won't watch those b/c sometimes the children have interpersonal conflict ... )

 

best of luck!

 

... if any of those ideas sound good to you, and you'd like advice on models (for a multimeter, say) feel free to PM me.

[SunnyDays]

So glad this thread got revived! I read through it last month, but hadn't really put much thought into the topic. I've been realizing I need to really allow DS to soar in math and science - particularly math!!

 

Katie, I'm not a terribly "sciencey" person either... but I'm lucky in that my husband, father, and brother are all engineers of various sorts, so I have plenty of resources, LOL!! As DS gets older and goes deeper into subjects, I'm fine with the math for a while... the science will get outsourced to DH before much longer!

 

So, use your resources! Do you have a neighbor or family member who is into math and science? Ask them to occasionally chat with your son. Definitely get the Snap Circuits... we started with the 300 set, and upgraded to the 750 this past Christmas... it was the hit gift!! As your DS gets a little older, look around your area to find him community education classes, summer classes, Lego Clubs, things like that.

[besroma]

:bigear:

[SonshineLearner]

Don't know if anyone mentioned this school.... http://www.stannesacademy4girls.org/?q=node/68 They have a classical school with STEMS activities, too... At least that's what I think it is ;)

[quark]

I drool over this all the time but it's too far and too expensive:

http://www.tinkeringschool.com/

 

Anyway, I wanted to add in addition to Ana's great list, to not be afraid to take risks if you see your child's interest piqued in a certain area even if it is out of his reach. For example, if he really wants to learn something in science, don't let his inability in math stop him. Expose him to all the science documentaries out there on the topic and then explain that in order to get to where these scientists are, he may need a little of X and Y in math and then strew books that teach X and Y around the house. You never know what they pick up on their own. When they are ready (and you don't necessarily have to wait till they are in their teens) make use of free online courses from MIT, Stanford, YouTube etc to further the interest in that topic.

[Mama Geek]

I have often heard it said that the best engineers started out on family farms. My dh grew up on a farm, I did not. This is what I have found to be true. He has a common sense understanding of how things work and how to solve problems. I attribute it things like working on farm machinery, working on cars, assisting with additions to the farmhouse, making repairs on the farmhouse or barns, etc. His dad is an electrician. His dad spent a lot of time teaching him how to fix things and why things work they way they do. If something broke they didn't throw it away, they found the parts needed and fixed it.

 

Their hobbies were things like electric trains, working on antique cars, and doing woodworking projects.

 

I know we can't all live on farms, we probably won't, but there are several things that we hope to do with dd. She'll help daddy work on cars, chainsaws, house projects, lawnmowers, we'll probably get her into ham radio, flying, sailing. We'll have her involved in problem solving anything that needs done around the house.

[firedaniels]

I am considering stepping back off into the abyss of homeschooling again. My DD is now caught up in the struggle of science based interests....EVERYONE...trying to make her well rounded (which she doesn't want to be and I doubt ever will be since she is more like a polygon). So bump, that you are trying to make things different for her...if you find a solution other than "well-rounded" let me know. :o)

[Nan in Mass]

Mama Geek, I agree. Future engineers need to DO things, FIX things, MAKE things. They aren't going into theoretical science - figure out how something works as completely as possible. They are going into practical science - make or fix this one thing so we can use it for something as soon as possible. Obviously, there is some overlap, but in general, that seems to be the difference.

 

Nan

[jenbrdsly]

Speaking of "doing things", we did finally get snap circuits and they are indeed awesome. Here are some pictures from my blog.

[cassafraz]

I know this is an OLD thread, but I didn't see any newer ones about a stem focus, so, I'm going to see if any of you lovely people will help me.

 

I am starting out with my little fella, 5.5, and starting kindergarten. We have always been focused on science and math as a family, but when I started researching our homeschool curriculum, I got a little distracted by the pretty shiny boxed curriculum that all seem to focus on history. My husband and I agree that we want a very well rounded education, just because we love math and science and the boys seem to now does not mean that we may not have a humanities profession in our future. And we agree that history is important, but maybe not to the extent that some of the curriculums place it.

 

So, here is my question. What should homeschool look like for K? We will focus on reading and writing and math and science, with history and geography as added extras. Should science be formal at this point? Such as RSO, which is what I have been leaning towards? Or just reading books?

i would also like to say, that this thread has been wonderful for me. To hear that there are other people who have a different focus is like balm to my confused newbie soul.

[Dana]

I know this is an OLD thread, but I didn't see any newer ones about a stem focus, so, I'm going to see if any of you lovely people will help me

.... [snip]

 

i would also like to say, that this thread has been wonderful for me. To hear that there are other people who have a different focus is like balm to my confused newbie soul.

 

Welcome!

 

In retrospect, I very likely pushed too hard when we were starting out. (I may well still be doing it.)

My son is 10 now.

 

From K-2, in my opinion, as long as your child isn't pulling you for more (in which case, meet his needs), I'd spend a lot of time reading books aloud.... all types of books... history, poetry, biography, fiction.

 

I'd be working a lot on handwriting. Pick the style you want to teach, spend time on proper pencil grip, proper letter formation, and legibility. It's tough going back and making corrections (although I got active resistance with handwriting the whole time).

 

For math, I'd do a lot of discovery. Miquon is wonderful for that, along with Cuisinaire rods. If you get it, you need to be sure to get the Lab Sheet Annotations. I had looked at the books but didn't understand how to use them until reading the Annotations. The Notes to Teachers and First Grade Diary are really good too. I also like how Miquon does division better than any other curriculum. (If you divide two numbers, you get one number as an answer, not a quotient and a remainder.)

 

For science, I'd spend a bit of time looking at BFSU (Building Foundations for Scientific Understanding).

 

Good luck!

[8filltheheart]

 

 

So, here is my question. What should homeschool look like for K? We will focus on reading and writing and math and science, with history and geography as added extras. Should science be formal at this point? Such as RSO, which is what I have been leaning towards? Or just reading books?

i would also like to say, that this thread has been wonderful for me. To hear that there are other people who have a different focus is like balm to my confused newbie soul.

 

Welcome!

 

So far my older kids have been STEM oriented with degrees/careers in or majors/ planned majors in chemical engineering, occupational therapy, and astrophysics. (my current 8th grader is my first humanities loving child.)

 

Our family's approach is not to actually start "formal" science until high school equivalent courses. My kids spend lots of time pursuing science via reading whole books on topics that interest them and researching areas for writing assignements (when they are older.....starting typically in 3rd to 4th grade.) But we don't touch science textbooks or memorize science vocabulary or write out science labs until science is studied for high school credit. (they also spend lots of time playing and tinkering!!)

 

The approach has been very successful for all of my children--from those who function on a more avg level to those who are academically gifted. Our current 11th grader took his first formal science course in 8th grade, alg-based physics. As an 11th grader he has credit for physics, chemistry, AP chemistry, university cal-based physics 1, astronomy 1, astronomy 2, and is currently taking university cal-based physics 2 and an independent study on dark matter and black holes.

 

As you can tell, waiting to start formal science curriculum hasn't slowed my kids down at all. ;) Using their younger yrs for exploring vast areas of science and letting their interests drive our science studies has generated a strong love for the subject as well as a strong foundation for upper level studies.

 

 

[EKS]

This doesn't address your question exactly, but for my very obviously STEM focused son, I actually went the opposite way a bit--I made sure that he had a good foundation in literature and history to the point that you might say that it was the focus of our homeschool. My reasoning was that after grade 10, when we were planning for him to attend CC full time, he would likely not take any literature or history courses unless they were required, so I wanted to get it all in while I could.

[boscopup]

This doesn't address your question exactly, but for my very obviously STEM focused son, I actually went the opposite way a bit--I made sure that he had a good foundation in literature and history to the point that you might say that it was the focus of our homeschool. My reasoning was that after grade 10, when we were planning for him to attend CC full time, he would likely not take any literature or history courses unless they were required, so I wanted to get it all in while I could.

 

Excellent point! As an electrical engineering major, the only humanities course I had to take in college was a world cultures course that that specific school required of all students. All of my history and literature knowledge came from AP courses in high school. If I had been narrowly focused on math/science those years, I would have missed out on a huge part of my general education.

 

A year after my last reply to this thread, I'm using Sonlight, which is history focused. It still doesn't take all day. I think we spend just as much time on math as we do on history. My K'er this year is doing a Sonlight Core that is basically reading good stories from around the world. It includes some light science also. My focus for him is getting him reading, and I'm letting him plow ahead in math as needed. He won't be doing formal history until 2nd grade, but then I plan to use a history program that combines the 3 kids in the same overall topic each week.

 

My kids are naturally good at and interested in math and science. I don't need to add focus to those subjects. They're well covered already. In fact, except for recently starting a brain unit, we didn't even "do" science this year. At lunch just now, my 8 year old brought up memory B cells and was explaining them to my 6 year old. He says chapter 4 of The Way We Work is his favorite chapter.

[serendipitous journey]

This doesn't address your question exactly, but for my very obviously STEM focused son, I actually went the opposite way a bit--I made sure that he had a good foundation in literature and history to the point that you might say that it was the focus of our homeschool. My reasoning was that after grade 10, when we were planning for him to attend CC full time, he would likely not take any literature or history courses unless they were required, so I wanted to get it all in while I could.

 

 

oh, this makes me feel much less guilty about the humanities orientation of Button's current program ... you are right that there's no danger of him losing his fascination with science, and little hope of him gaining a solid footing in these other topics unless I make it a priority.

[cassafraz]

We will be using sonlight this year too. I definitely want him to have a love for literature and learning. So, it seems at this age, just to follow his lead when it comes to science, and not start formal science, aka: RSO or BFSU? We will be doing Miquon and Rightstart and then moving into Singapore after Rightstart or that at least is my plan. Many people seemed to think that Singapore 1 was a little scattered, and recommended starting with rightstart.

[boscopup]

We will be using sonlight this year too. I definitely want him to have a love for literature and learning. So, it seems at this age, just to follow his lead when it comes to science, and not start formal science, aka: RSO or BFSU? We will be doing Miquon and Rightstart and then moving into Singapore after Rightstart or that at least is my plan. Many people seemed to think that Singapore 1 was a little scattered, and recommended starting with rightstart.

 

 

I like Singapore 1 just fine, but I also hated teaching Rightstart. :tongue_smilie: Use whatever fits your teaching personality. Both are good.

[Mama Geek]

With my 2 yo we read books, we teach through having her help with projects. We have helped her use a drill, we have used correct terminology with her, she helps to measure, we have a lionel train set up for her and will add to it as she gets older. We plan to be very much project based throughout.