SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Some of you may be interested in the Dreamspark offer, but hesitant because of the caveat to only take advantage if you will really use it. If you are on the fence, many of the Dreamspark items are available individually as freebies. Try googling the names of any of the items and you will see that Small Basic, the Express Editions and some of the game developer tools are free to download. I haven't checked them all yet, but I'm sure that others are, too. As a computer science professional with software instruction experience, however, I would recommend using a prepackaged curricula for students new to programming. The free sites have a lot of neat applications and tutorials, however, there is nothing like a good, systematic introductory curriculum to get started. After that, a motivated student can really take off with the free versions of Microsoft development products.

Our co-op has a class called "Make A Mess" - it is science at it's best! There is always one common theme (one week it was milk, another week it was baking soda, another week it was water bottles, etc.). While this class was started for younger kids (K-5), we have kids up to college age (and parents!) who love to participate and learn the science behind baking soda bombs, invisible writing, or tornadoes. And we do make a mess every week!!!

SImple but effective - teach only one concept at a time, give some independent work, and then give it some time to "cook"! Walk away, do something else, start again tomorrow. That's what worked best when I taught at brick and mortar school, and works best at home, too.

Science, though daunting at times to teach, is something that kids can get super excited to learn! I've found that the key is to be as hands-on as possible! Don't be afraid to make a mess or go outside and get dirty! We've been watching an ant colony in our neighbor's dead tree for years... Kids also love experiments - and there are lots and lots out there that are only a Google search away. I structure our class with Sciencesaurus by Great Source, but supplement heavily with relevant You Tube videos and field trips. Most museums have a block of time during which you can get in free. If not, many are members of the Association of Science and Technology Centers. This enables you to buy one membership and get in to others across the country free or at a discounted rate. My $7.99 a month membership to Netflix also has most of the National Geographic episodes ever created.

We love technology so much we opened a computer store lol. We do a lot of creative activities with our kids homeschooling. We love Gimp (a free version of photo shop) www.gimp.org/downloads/ And National Gallery of Art NGAkids brushster lots of fun creative way to put art into technology! My 7 year old can use these on her own! http://www.nga.gov/kids/zone/brushster.htm

My entire family participates in the FIRST program. We love Robotics. I coach a FIRST Lego League team, and belong to a 4h Robotics Club that covers all aspects of FIRST. My sons love it and I loved it so much that I now am on the Board of Directors of the 4h Robotics Club and help host several competitions, for kids of all ages that love STEM.

We participate in the Jr First Lego League for our science and tech curriculum. There is actually more science/tech involved than there is lego play but the kids have a lot of fun! They get excited when we say "Lego"!

When I get excited about something, so do my kids. Show your enthusiasm about science and your kids are sure to love it. Science rocks!

The big thing here in our house is nature journal. Both boys make entries several times a week. They find something and sketch it, with two different views, and record details about its size, location, and any other observations about it. This has been a great foundation for the observational skills that they need for experiments as well as an exercise in naturalism and ecosystems (we are developing a very thorough catalog of things that live in our yard). And it gives me a way to look back at how their skills have developed over time. My oldest is 10 now, and we have journals that he kept in kindergarten. This is probably my favorite thing that we do in any subject.

I also love ARTSEDGE (http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org). They have fantastic lesson plans that really mix up the subject areas. Linking art and science is always fun for me.

The guys have fun using the Gizmos on ExploreLearning.com, but, I have to confess, we've only done the free trial on that one.

My son loves science, and I so did not have good science teachers, so I am not very confident in the area of science. Supercharged Science is wonderful http://www.superchargedscience.com/ although we have only used the free stuff. Also I found a retired science teacher who teaches at a local church and does hand-on stuff which is my son's learning style. I stay for class to learn too:) I would recommend strong networking if you don't have a strong science background. We also recently found out about http://www.firstlegoleague.org/ and someone from our local co-op is willing to coach!

I love taking my children to science museums and spending the whole day there! We spend multiple DAYS in the museums soaking up the science and the demos, especially in the big cities with super museums.

I have found that joining a smaller- city's museum as a family member with ASTC reciprocal membership is my best deal. We had 6 children under 18 at one time, and it was prohibitive for us to ALL go. I found a museum which charges only $65 for their family + membership, including astc membership. When we have gone to big cities like Boston or San Jose, it costs us nothing to get in the door with our membership cards - but it would be MORE than the membership fee at home to pay for museum entrance in these big cities!! Boston is $146, and the Tech in SJC is "just" $69 for a family our size without the membership.

You don't have to join the museum closest to home, either. You can look for a better price anywhere - look near grandparents, too!! - but you will get more from your membership if you are close to the museum which offers it.

Above all, ENJOY science!

Look for programs in your area that encourage exploration of natural areas. We just joined the Nature Challenge in our state. As a family, we are visiting selected parks, natural areas, museums, gardens, seashores, etc. and completing missions at each location. Many locations are free or have waived the fee if we are participating in the program. We have learned about wildlife, migration, habitats, history and so much more. And the kids are enjoying it without realizing that it is school. We are seeing it all with our own eyes instead of reading it in a textbook. And the program offers prizes to the kids at completion. Look for ideas or opportunities in your own area.

For us it is simple and perhaps the most difficult for me, as mom the teacher...allowing for failures. To begin to understand that almost all science experiments fail, but some of the greatest discoveries have come from unexpected results.

Absolutely makes sense though. She learns from her mistakes by developing skills to critically analyze and modify.

My best teaching tip is to JUST DO IT! It is so easy to get so busy doing "bookwork" and skip over the science experiments and projects because they are too complicated or you don't have the time. My children learn so much by getting their hands dirty...it's worth the 20 mile drive to the butcher and the drive to the store to get gloves to see the spark in my five-year-old's eyes when he got to dissect a cow eyeball. Just priceless...and he will never forget what the optic nerve and the cornea look like!

HBC offers the best stuff :) like Switched on Science, but when I needed a free resource for High School math and biology I was really grateful to find Hippocampus.com

I love Charlotte Mason's advice of paying attention to details! Seeing a flower and talking about how many leaves, petals, texture, smell, (not taste most of the time LOL), environment, color. Examining a bug and where it lives,what it does and how it interacts with its environment.. What appears simple is so complex. When we start to really look at things it makes us ask more questions that can lead to things like food chains,