Teaching science via experiments in a lab is not necessary, but it is recommended. There are two main benefits of doing lab work with your homeschool science students. The first is the most obvious one, the children think science is fun when they get to do cool experiments. These experiments tend to illustrate the scientific principles that have been deemed appropriate for the grade. The physical experiments help them better understand the concepts that they have been taught in a lecture in class. Essentially the kids have fun doing the experiments and learn better.
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The second benefit is related to future educational options available to the child. If you are hoping that your homeschooled child will attend regular college you will need to ensure that they do science lab at home. Most colleges want to see a record of experiments that the child has performed during the homeschooling years. So it is advisable to have a list of about 18-20 science experiments ready for the child to perform in each school grade. That way you are sure that each scientific principle taught in class has been adequately explained with a live science experiment. Make sure that you make a detailed log of just what all was done in each experiment. All findings must be well documented.
Science experiments can be performed for all levels of schooling at home. You just need to prepare yourself for the lab science portion of the lesson in advance. Once you have decided on the experiment make a list of all the material that you will need to conduct it. Procure the material and you are set for the experimentation stage. As you keep conducting experiments at home you will realize that some common materials tend to get used time and again. You can buy these in bulk and keep them handy in your homeschool science lab area. Of course it will help if you are organized enough to know exactly what all experiments you intend to conduct all through the year in advance, so that you can gather up all the material that you will need in one go.
Article Inspiration: About Homeschooling
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