Here are 10 easy ways to add science into your homeschooling.
1. Observe ants.
Carefully lift a rock near an ant nest and see all the ants try to move the
eggs as quickly as they can! (Make sure you lower the rock carefully afterwards
too, so you don’t harm the ants.) Try placing different foods (salt, bread, honey, for example) near the
nest and see which food the ants are interested in. This can occupy your kids
for weeks if they keep trying different foods.
2. Study the birds in
your backyard. Some children might enjoy participating in the Great
Backyard Bird Count, too, or the lesser-known annual loon count.
3. Check out all the
live animal cams available on the internet. Watch eagle eggs hatch, see a barn owl up close, or find out what
animals visit an African Watering hole at different times. Google and you'll be amazed at how many are out there.
5. Go on field trips:
the local hydroelectric plant may offer tours, the chocolate store may offer a
tour (we did this and it was great!), there’s maple syrup season, horseback
riding, working farms…….you get the idea. It’s all learning.
6. Go to the beach.
Look at the waves, find seashells and look them up in a field guide, catch a
little crab, let the minnows nibble your toes and guess what kind of fish they
are.
7. Teach your kids to
weed the garden. Besides the obvious benefit of your not having to do it,
they’ll find all sorts of creepy crawlies to observe, and see how plants grow
from the seeds up, as well as learning how the weather in different years can
affect the “crops”. If they are “veggie-resistant” at meals, you may find that
picking their own food right off the plants they grew may increase their
enthusiasm.
8. Polish rocks.
As you walk, let them find pretty rocks of various kinds (I usually carry a
Ziploc bag or two when we go out). Look them up in the field guide or online,
talk about it, and throw them in the rock tumbler. When they’re all shiny and
polished, put them as a decorative accent on the dining room table and they
start all sorts of great conversations.
9. Magazines.
Know, National Geographic Kids, Dig, Click, and Odyssey are just a few great
ones off the top of my head. I casually leave the latest issue on the table or
in the sun porch on a chair. I find them in a child’s hand a few minutes later
and they are often telling me something they’ve just learned.
10. Colour! When
we’ve been out walking and seen a new plant, bird, or tree leaf, I can usually
find a colouring page to go with it (www.edupics.com
is a great site for a lot of things).
How do you include some easy science?
