Category: Science Units

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Hands-On Homeschooling – Video Post (with DD and ED!)

Last week we did some pretty fun science experiments for our ocean unit.  We always get so pumped up doing hands-on activities & the salinity experiment was especially impressive. I thought I’d talk a little bit what a big impact these kinds of experiments add to our day… the kids get excited and engaged they ask a lot of good questions the activities and projects are memorable so they often...

Science Activities for Early Elementary 0

20 Science Activities for Early Elementary

As many of you may know, I have been working hard to get some of the images in our older posts working again.  (It’s a complicated story, but it has to do with our moving our blog from Parents.com where we were for several years, to our new location here.)  Anyway, I’ve been fixing old posts and realized I should share some of these posts for our new readers!  So...

Water Cycle Notebook Pages 0

Water Cycle Review, Divides and Watersheds (Drainage Basins), Aquifer Notebook Pages

Last week we spent time learning about the water cycle, divides and watersheds and underground water. We have just started a big unit on they hydrosphere (ie. oceans), so it’s important the kids understand the water cycle because of the profound impact it has on our world’s oceans and vice-versa. We used many of the same materials we used a few years ago.  You’ll find links to these beautiful posters...

Ocean Seas Straits Pin Map printable 0

Ocean, Seas and Straits – Pin Map Printable

Last week we started on our ocean unit — the hydrosphere. We were pretty busy with other things, so we spent most of the week simply going over some of the major oceans, seas and straits.  I made a pin map and the kids worked on about a dozen places.  You’ll find the free printable below.   For those of you who may be interested in making your own pin...

Biology Packet - Ecosystems Biomes Food Chains Food Web Trophic Levels Populations 4

Biology Unit on the Biosphere: biomes, ecosystems, habitats, feeding relationships, biological interactions

What is the difference between a biome, ecosystem, and habitat?  What is the difference between a food chain and a food web? What are trophic levels?  What is the energy pyramid? What is symbiosis?  How do different species interact?  What in the world is amensalism or antiobiosis?!   These are some of the things we covered in our latest biology unit! How We Started Our unit on Biomes: This semester we...

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Make Your Own Chocolate Kit!

Chocolate Making Activity We did this Make Your Own Chocolate Kit (affiliate link) a number of years ago and we all loved it! After we went over the Rain Forest Plants, it was the perfect time and excuse to make our own chocolate again! The write-up they have in the kit is well done. We read that aloud together before actually making the chocolate. It explains the history of chocolate...

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Plants of the Rain Forest Activity: with Free Rain Forest Plant Cards

Today I wanted to share a fun activity we did about rain forest plants. As many of you know, we are doing a large biology unit on biomes, ecosystems, biological interactions, animal relationships, and so forth.  At the end of last semester we went over basic animal characteristics — the 5 vertebrate groups, the main invertebrate groups, and some fun activities for my youngest daughter — spiders vs. insects, domesticated...

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Biology Unit: Animal Tracks and Animal Anatomy

As you know, we’re working on a biology unit.  I thought I would share a little bit about the animal activities ED (Grade 2) is working on before talking about our biome activities (in the next post). In the animal packet that I shared at the end of December, there is a whole section on animal tracks.  ED pulled those back out again and was working on those the past...

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Biology Unit — Free CDC Unit on Rabies

We are studying biology right now. Last week, the kids had to choose one of the biomes, do research about it, and prepare a 3 to 5 minute speech.  They did a great job!  This week, they are going to do another short research project.  This time, I thought I would have the kids do another of the CDC units.  Previously (a couple of years ago) they did projects on...

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Homeschool Science: Year in Review and What’s Coming Up

When I think about all we’ve done this past year in 2015 in science, I’m really pretty amazed! It’s been a fun, full year!  This post has links to dozens of our science experiments, printables and hands-on activities. You’ll find direct links to the posts in the table below. We managed to squeeze in various engineering (STEM) type activities here and there. In January of 2015 we were in the...

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Animal Unit: Vertebrate-Invertebrate Animals Worksheet Packet (100+ Pages)

Animal Unit We have a 100+ page packet all about animals! The Animal Unit covers various topics such as body coverings (feathers, fur, scales, skin),  the different types of animals (vertebrates, invertebrates), animal characteristics, insects vs. spiders, domesticated vs. wild animals, animal tracks, animal homes and shelters, herbivores, carnivores & omnivores, and much more! In our animal unit, we spent quite a bit of time on animal classification. First, we...

4 Earth Systems Worksheets 2

Earth’s 4 Major Systems (Free): Atmosphere, Geosphere, Hydrosphere, Biosphere

As we start off our new science units, I wanted to be sure the kids remembered Earth’s 4 major systems (or ecospheres): atmosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere.  We spent several days just reviewing these four Earth Systems in a general way.  You know me, I also made the kids some notebook pages and review cards to go along with our discussion!  I thought it might be helpful for some of you...

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Giveaway of Molecules to the MAX! — IMAX Film Newly Release onto DVD (Now Closed)

Just as we were finishing up our Chemistry Unit on the periodic table, the team at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute got in touch with me to see if I would be interested in reviewing and/or hosting a giveaway of their  Giant Screen animated film, Molecules to the MAX! This film has just been released on DVD and Blu-Ray. I talked with the kids (and we watched the trailer www.moleculestothemax.com) and decided...

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Chemistry Unit: The Periodic Table

This semester we did a new unit on chemistry and focused on the Periodic Table. We typically use secular resources, but I previewed Chemistry 101: An Overview of God’s Chemical World over the summer on the recommendation of a close friend. It is a wonderful resource. I found the video to be really well done (the kids really enjoyed it) and while there were a few references religion (especially in...