Pls. share your opinions of Quality Science Labs and Labpaq (frustrated re. science labs!)

[g1234]

I posted a broader question about science labs not long ago, but I hope it's okay to post this more specific one, too, with the names of these two lab providers in the title.

 

For the past two years, we have tried so hard to make a science lab component work, and we have crashed and burned pretty spectacularly both times.  I know that labs are famously hard to do as homeschoolers (along with foreign languages), but still, I don't want to just give up!

 

Two years ago, I very carefully pulled together labs (it was biology that year) from multliple different sources--labs I thought we'd really enjoy.  Then I went scurrying all over the universe trying to pull together the components, and spending way more money than I had expected.  (Sound familiar, anyone?!)  Then, most of the labs just didn't work out, anyway.

 

Last year we went the money route up-front: we spent a lot of money on a chemistry lab from The Home Scientist.  No complaints in terms of quality or integrity--the kit was exactly as advertised, the seller was extremely communicative, and the lab manual was free for us to peruse in its entirety before we bought a thing.  How could we lose?!  Well, the labs were just far, far above our heads (and I'm generally not afraid of things academic or scientific, though I didn't major in science), and they took forever...hours and hours and hours, always at least twice as long as the manual said they would.  I suppose we should have been able to figure all this out from the lab manual, but we didn't.

 

So here we are.  My kids say they hate science labs (though they love studying science from books, and they love goofing around with variables out in the real world and seeing what happens, and they give anything I bring to them a good-faith effort).  They hate labs because we've failed so badly at them for two years. 

 

I want this year to work.  I'm exhausted from trying to pull together things on my own, and I'm frustrated that spending money for a kit didn't work out last year. 

 

Still not sure what we will try this year, but if we go the money/kit route, the two options that keep presenting themselves to me are Quality Science Labs and Labpaq.  I would love to hear about anyone's experience with either Quality Science Labs or Labpaq, for any of the science subject areas. 

 

If you have posted in the past, I have probably seen your post because I tried to do an exhaustive search.  I am just hoping that if I ask outright, some more people might put in their 2 cents.  I'd love to hear from anyone who has experience with any of these labs.

 

Thanks so much for any feedback anyone has on either of these options!

[foxbridgeacademy]

:bigear:

[Lori D.]

So sorry your lab experiences have been less than stellar! I feel your pain. :(

 

Still not sure what we will try this year, but if we go the money/kit route, the two options that keep presenting themselves to me are Quality Science Labs and Labpaq.  I would love to hear about anyone's experience with either Quality Science Labs or Labpaq, for any of the science subject areas. 

 

Can you go with a distinctly Christian perspective? The Landry Lab Intensives are 2 full days done at a location NOT your home, led by NOT you, and by people who have worked out all the bugs. Are you catching what the keys (to me) are here: outsourced and set up for success!  :tongue_smilie: These were not around when we were doing high school science, so no personal experience...

 

 

Of the two you are asking about:

 

We tried using the Quality Science Lab: Micro Chem kit and gave up after several experiments -- frustratingly, just couldn't make some of them work (for example, counting number of drops out of the pipette to get to 50 drops -- 3 of us tried multiple times and never could get that far before a bunch of drops flooded out of the pipette). Several experiments we had done previously, some didn't match up at all with our text. And the initial 2 experiments had nothing to do Chemistry. This particular kit gets mixed reviews on this Board -- some have had success with it, others have been frustrated with it.

 

Not sure if that is the particular Quality Science Lab you were considering, or if it is a different one...

 

We ended up going with some of the experiments in the textbook, and using the simplier-level TOPS units of Analysis (with supply kit), Solutions (with supply kit), Oxidation (didn't need the supply kit -- some overlap with the first two), and Heat. (The TOPS unit Kinetic Model was more of a bust than a help.) Even if the experiments were more at a middle school/young high school level, at least they *worked*, and helped demonstrate the concepts, which was the point of us doing them…

 

For more reviews and additional ideas:

Chemistry labs?

Opinions about lab experiments

Micro or macro for chemistry lab

Anyone using Apologia Chemistry with LabPaq or MicroChem?

 

BEST of luck in finding what works for your family! Warmest regards, Lori D.

[g1234]

Thank you so much for your thoughts, Lori D.  You are always so generous with your ideas and experience!

 

Unfortunately (for us), we really can't go with a specifically Christian approach to science.  Not that it's bad; it's just not right for us.  But it's too bad, because I had looked into Landray Academy.  Like you say, the idea is excellent, and I hear it's very well done.  This would be such a great answer to our problems!  If only...

 

Your TOPS idea is a good one.  It's physics for us next year, and in fact, having done lots and lots of research on this board, I had run across your ideas for matching TOPS with Hewitt that you so kindly shared with others.  I have it all copied into my notes! :001_smile: I had kind of decided against it, wondering if perhaps something else would be more age-appropriate.  (Mine are middle and early high school... I've really got to make a signature line so this info is visible to everyone.)  Or maybe more comprehensive.  I'm not sure why I wrote off TOPS so easily.  We used some TOPS units when the kids were younger, and they were some of the best things we ever did.  

 

I am going to go back and give TOPS a more fair second look for our lab needs at these ages.  Thank you so much for putting that back on my radar.

 

And, since I still haven't made final decisions (and it's the end of June...gulp), I'd still love to hear anyone else's thoughts about QSL, Labpaq, TOPS, or anything else.

[kangato3]

We've used Labpaq Biology and Chemistry and have had overall favorable results.  On the plus side, the kits are very complete and well organized with separate material packages for each lab.  The only things we had to supply were common items, such as distilled water, a couple of food items, etc.  For the most part, the labs did what they were supposed to do, and when they didn't, we discussed the possible areas of error (which I think is a good learning experience).  On the downside, some of the procedures were long and cumbersome, especially with chemistry.  However, with careful prereading, I was able to assist my kids if they ran into problems.  The longer labs are often separated into separate parts, so you could spread them to different days or just choose to do certain parts.  Most of the labs are what I would term observational rather than inquiry based, e.g. observe chemical reactions, observe the boiling point and melting point of different substances, etc.  I would have preferred some more inquiry based labs where the student could come up with an educated hypothesis based on what they have been learning, but the ease of having everything in one kit was key to us.