lewelma Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 As I live so far away, my parents and inlaws always give me money to spend on my children for both birthday and christmas. I am interested in gathering all the $$ together and buying something neat for older ds. My son has an interest physics and will be taking it for the next two years, so I was looking at the Make: electronics book and kits. They are pricey! as in $400 total, so I wanted to make sure I was spending wisely. http://www.makershed.com/Make_Electronics_book_by_Charles_Platt_p/9780596153748.htm Has anyone bought the book and kits? Did your kids like it? Did they do all the projects? Do the kits supply everything you need for chapters 1-4? Did you actually buy the extra stuff for chapter 5? Did this book help your student build a passion? Give me your opinions! Thanks, Ruth in NZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giraffe Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 I do not know that book specifically, but my husband loves Make. They ARE very expensive, and the parts and tools can certainly be sourced elsewhere, but for your purposes (given your location) it may be easier to just buy the kits. I'll be interested to hear what others say, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane in NC Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 Sorry not to be able to help you with the book but I can say that my guys were charter subscribers to Make magazine. It provided a number of great diversions throughout our homeschooling years. A subscription with money or a gift card for supplies would be a less expensive route to take if the cost is a concern. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckymama Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 Dd will be using the Make book this coming year. I borrowed it from the library to have dh check the materials lists. We have a bunch of the things already but he says the kit cost is a good price for what you get. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tammyw Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 As I live so far away, my parents and inlaws always give me money to spend on my children for both birthday and christmas. I am interested in gathering all the $$ together and buying something neat for older ds. My son has an interest physics and will be taking it for the next two years, so I was looking at the Make: electronics book and kits. They are pricey! as in $400 total, so I wanted to make sure I was spending wisely. http://www.makershed...80596153748.htm Has anyone bought the book and kits? Did your kids like it? Did they do all the projects? Do the kits supply everything you need for chapters 1-4? Did you actually buy the extra stuff for chapter 5? Did this book help your student build a passion? Give me your opinions! Thanks, Ruth in NZ We will be interested in this eventually. What age is best to start something like this? Also, which kits are you looking at to equal $400? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 This guy did a blog on the book, all the experiments and the components kits. You might want to check it out just to get an idea. http://handsonelectronics.blogspot.com/search/label/Shopping%20List A few of my local libraries have the book so I didn't need to buy it. Here my hubby can get the components easily from the electronics store across his office. For your location, I'll just spend the $400 and write it off as summer camp expense, to save the hassle of sourcing for components. We had to return a store bought soldering iron because it gives out a lot of smoke and smells really bad. So test thr soldering iron when you get it just in case of quality control issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted June 10, 2013 Author Share Posted June 10, 2013 Also, which kits are you looking at to equal $400? Book + tool kit + Chapter 1-2 kit + Chapter 3-4 kit = $400! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yucabird Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 My husband is working through the book with our daughter, and I know he didn’t spend anywhere close to $400; however, he had most of the tools already. I don’t believe any of the items are particularly difficult to locate, so if you already have a number of tools and have access to a Radio Shack-type shop, just get the book (which has tool and supply lists for each chapter). If you’d to get an idea of whether items can be sourced where you are, I am happy to list the items for a particular chapter; just let me know. I’m running and can’t do it this moment but can this afternoon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corraleno Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 Have you checked out Adafruit? They have very similar kits to Make (although not one all-encompassing kit), and their prices seem to be a bit lower than Make for many things. Also, they generally provide free online instructional videos for their projects, so you can even do the projects if you source your own components. And they make very cool scout-type badges in case you want to start a Hacker Scouts group! (Adafruit was started by a female student at MIT, Limor Freid. The name refers to mathematician Lady Ada Lovelace, daughter of Lord Byron, who worked with Charles Babbage on the first computer.) Jackie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaChicken Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 My son is working through the book. We had the tools, and a lot of parts from other projects,so I just have him make a parts list for the next couple projects and we go to radio shack. He hasn't done all of the projects, some he just reads about. He also loves Nick Collins Electronic Music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tammyw Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 What's the best age to start this (with a parent)? Do you think a 7 year old would get much out of these or would waiting be better? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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