Pegs Posted December 28, 2014 Share Posted December 28, 2014 I've been browsing through videos and various other resources at http://thehappyscientist.com, wondering whether a subscription might be of value for my DS, 5. If you've bought a subscription at some point, I'd love to hear what you and your students have thought of it, and how you used it. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackie Posted December 28, 2014 Share Posted December 28, 2014 My daughter loves The Happy Scientist! She'll go through periods of time when she watches several of the videos, then we forget about it for a while, then back to watching. We don't formally incorporate it into "school" but will play the videos on the iPad during lunch. Often we'll watch about half a dozen videos in a sitting and then follow it up by trying one of the demonstrations ourselves. Our subscription will be up in March and I'll definitely renew it. I believe KOLA has a discount going right now. Maybe HSBC does, too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linguistmama Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 My 9yo loves it and has done several of the activities on her own. We have gotten it when it was discounted and found it to be well worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegs Posted December 31, 2014 Author Share Posted December 31, 2014 Thank you both. It sounds like something which will work well for us. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stutterfish Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 We go through phases of using it a lot, then forrgetting about it for a while, but I always renew every year. The videos are fun, the experiments great to try at home, and the explanations very useful. Subscription isn't expensive - you can often get half-price subscription through homeschoolbuyerscoop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahW Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 It is on HSBC now for $20. I can't find it on KOLA. Link? I just got a Google cast, so I'm considering this too. I'll ply some of the free videos on my kid sometime and see what he thinks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sahamamama Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 We are on our third year of having a subscription, and we plan to continue signing up for the Happy Scientist. IMO, it's well worth the subscription cost. We enjoy Robert Krampf's enthusiasm for science, his wonderful sense of humor, the hands-on things we can do with items from around the house (i.e., easy to find things), and the good explanations for what we observe. We also like that Mr. Krampf has organized his lessons into topics related to Life Science, Earth Science, Space Science, Chemical Science, and Physical Science. That makes finding things so much easier, and it helps to give us a sense of what we've "covered" and what is new territory for us. He adds new content all the time, even though he's been sick lately (Epstein Barr). As a parent, I truly appreciate that Mr. Krampf talks about his hobbies and collections, his travels and interests. He is such a good example of an intelligent, interesting, entrepreneurial person -- much more than "just" a science teacher. My girls were fascinated with the video of the spider moltings, my husband was impressed that Mr. K. collects Native American flutes (hubby does, too), and I like seeing the pets. ;) They show up in some of the videos, and try to eat Mr. K's lunch. ;) It is funny. We all wait for the bloopers at the end of most videos. All in all, this is a science option we plan to keep in our line-up. It helps me as a parent-teacher to put some "live" and hands-on content into our otherwise bookish lessons. I know that being overly book-based in science is my weakness (one of them, anyway), so The Happy Scientist is like this person who LOVES science and comes into my home to teach and inspire. He motivates us to assemble the materials and actually DO the hands-on stuff, not just read about it or watch him do it. We recently studied electromagnetism, and we did everything on his site, and then some! We even found two soup cans, and yes, they made the compass needle move. Who knew? We started back up with school yesterday, and we'll be doing all the lessons on sound that are on his site. It does help to make science come alive, more so than if we're just reading and reading, as much as we enjoy books! I suppose you could say that Mr. Krampf gives me the confidence to just try things, and not worry if they "succeed" or "fail." I was sorely lacking that. My experience with science in school was not that positive. I could follow the "recipe" of the labs, but had no idea what was happening, what was the point. I wish Mr. Krampf had been my teacher. I never had a science teacher who actually seemed to like science. For $30 a year, I'm glad he can teach my girls (and me!). :) Edited to add: I just realized that it's the fact that he includes bloopers that started giving me confidence to try the things on the videos. If Mr. Krampf "messes up," and it's okay, then we can dive in, too. I'm glad he shows the bloopers. It makes science seem like more of a human endeavor. It shows his persistence in getting to the finish line. And it's great to hear his wife laugh in the background. :) LOL. Well worth it, IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackie Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 It is on HSBC now for $20. I can't find it on KOLA. Link? I just got a Google cast, so I'm considering this too. I'll ply some of the free videos on my kid sometime and see what he thinks. It is $15 on KOLA. Here's the link: https://sites.google.com/site/kidsonlineacademy/home Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antsam Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 Looks like the kola site price is only until June 1, while the HSBC price is for a one year subscription. FYI Jodie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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