Review of Supercharged Science

I have been very surprised this school year to find that one of Hailey’s favorite subjects is science. When we started our school year we were only doing science a couple of times per week. The days we did not do science, Hailey was asking me when we could do science again. I found that I needed to plan extra science activities so that we had some science to do every day of the week.  Science has never been my strong point, so I had to do a lot of work and research to find or create unit studies and experiments to use.  My search for the right science curriculum has continued through the year, so when we were recently given the chance to review Supercharged Science I was really excited to check it out.  We were able to use the e-Science Premium Membership so that we could find out what it is all about.

Supercharged Science is an online homeschool science program.  There are lessons, readings, experiments, quizzes and so much more.  Most of the teaching is done by Aurora, the creator of the curriculum, who is real live scientist.  She has worked for NASA and has even designed rockets.  All that to say that she knows her science.

At Supercharged Science there are over 800 science activities, experiments, and projects.  If you sign up for the e-Science program you will instantly be able to access over 100 activities and experiments.  Each month you will gain access to more lessons which will include more activities and experiments.  This will cost $37 per month if you want the K-8th grade section and $57 per month if you want to expand to the 9th-12th grade section.  If you would like, you can currently sign up for a trial run of e-Science Program for only $1.

So, what did we think of Supercharged Science?

The first thing I did was check out what is available by grade level.  There is a screen like the one above where everything is organized by grade.

If you prefer to look at things organized by topic, you can do that as well, and you will see a screen that looks like this one.

I looked at the grade level and picked 2nd grade.  Then we could pick from Chemistry, Life Science or Earth Science as the topic to learn about.  Hailey picked chemistry, which scared me a bit 😉  Here is a sample of some of the experiments we did:

We tried the Laundry Soap Crystals experiment.  First we watched a video about it and then we did our own.

Here is our experiment all set and ready to grow some crystals.

We did grow some crystals…. but our pipe cleaner was too close to the bottom of the jar and became permanently stuck to it.  There was no way we were going to get our crystal out!  It was still fun to watch it grow though.

We also tried the microwaving soap experiment.

I found a bar of Ivory soap, that had been around for a few years and we microwaved it.

Our soap did not expand like the one in the video that Aurora showed.  We have done this before and it has worked, so I left a comment on the experiment post and asked if it could be because we had used old soap.  Less than 2 hours after I posted my question she answered and explained that it was probably because we used an old bar of soap which has less water vapor in the air pockets, which means it doesn’t expand in the microwave.

One of the other experiments we tried was the Rubber Eggs.

We put a hard boiled egg in vinegar and left it for a few days.

When we took it out of the vinegar- it bounced.

Hailey tried to cut through the egg, which felt very rubbery, and even though the shell was soft it was hard to cut through.

She finally got the shell off and it was soft and rubbery for a little while, but was it dried it got hard and cracked.

After the experiments there are also downloads available for worksheets.  Hailey is not a big fan of worksheets, so we just had some discussion questions rather than filling out a paper.  But, for those who like to have some written work- that is available as well.

There is so much you can do with the Supercharged Science curriculum!  This post is just a small little snippet of what is available.

Here is what it boils down to for me:

Pros:
Hailey loved the experiments.
The experiment videos were short, they did not have long drawn out explanations, and they kept Hailey’s attention.
We had the materials to do most of the experiments that we wanted to try.  (There are some where you will have to purchase items.)

Cons:
The website was a little confusing at first for me.   It took me a while to figure out where everything is.
I received a lot of extra emails from the company (but you can easily opt out of those).
The program is a bit pricey.

Want to see more of Supercharged Science?

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Expedition Earth- France

Have I mentioned how much we love the Expedition Earth curriculum? It’s definitely my favorite part of the day!

 This week we learned all about France.  As always Hailey reviewed all of the other countries we have been studying on the map and found the new one as well.

We had a cheese tasting party.

 

We also learned that in France they like to have a bowl of hot chocolate and then the dip a variety of breads into the hot chocolate.  We decided to dip donuts into the hot chocolate- that’s bread, right?!?!  Hunter loved it!

Hailey definitely enjoyed her donut and hot chocolate too.

We built an Eiffel Tower

Hailey posing with the Eiffel Tower and pointing to France on the map.

Hailey loves when we read about the children from the country we are learning about.  She gets out some paper and takes notes about the child- she just finds it fascinating to learn how they live.

We learned that a french scientist discovered how to make inexpensive soap, which in turn meant people could afford to buy it and use it.  So, we had some fun making our own soap.

The finished soap

To end out the week, Hailey made some chocolate truffles.  They were super delicious!!

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Poppins Book Nook- Where in the World

The theme this month for Poppins Book Nook was “Where in the World?”

This was perfect timing for us because we are learning about different countries around the world. We are going to Disney World pretty soon and so I decided it would be fun to learn about each of the countries we will see while we are at Epcot.  So, we have been using the Expedition Earth curriculum to help us learn about these countries.

 We have been using this book- “Children Just Like Me” and it’s so interesting!!  Hailey loves this book and she loves learning about how children live their day to day lives in other countries.  She loves to take notes while I read, which is unusual for her because she hates to write!  But, she is just so fascinated learning about children the same age as her that she wants to write down what she learns.

We are also using these books- “A Trip Around the World” and “Another Trip Around the World.”  There is a lot of interesting information in these books- interesting facts about the countries, fun activities to do, yummy recipes to try and more.

So…. here are some of the activities we have done:

China:

We made these fancy fans.

We decorated Chinese lanterns.  (Hunter picks his own clothes, so you’ll have to ignore the clash in colors 🙂 )

Hailey built the Great Wall of China and we created this display for an Educational Fair she had at our homeschool co-op.

 We went out to eat at a Chinese restaurant.

See more activities from our China studies.

Japan:

Hailey made the Itsukushima Torii Shrine out of playdough and then she painted it.

Hailey and Hunter made some Japanese rock gardens.

Hailey made an origami cat.

We made some pretty colorful carp.

We also ate some delicious Japanese food.

See more activities from our Japan Studies.

 United Kingdom:

Hailey made Big Ben.

See more of our United Kingdom activities.

 Ireland:

Hailey tried lots of different foods from Ireland.

We learned that the harp is the national symbol of Ireland.  Hailey and Hunter liked trying to play a harp.

 France:

Hailey had a lot of fun making soap.

We built the Eiffel tower.

 Hailey made some super yummy chocolate truffles.

 I haven’t done a full post of all of our activities from France, so you’ll have to come back if you want to see everything we did 🙂

Italy:

We learned about volcanos and made one of our own.

Hailey used blocks to build the Roman Colosseum.

A definite favorite activity was painting like Michelangelo- I taped paper under Hunter’s table and they had a great time painting under there!

I haven’t done a full post of all of our activities from Italy, so you’ll have to come back if you want to see everything we did 🙂

We are having so much fun learning about these different countries!!  I hope you enjoyed a little glimpse into the fun we have been having.

 Poppins Book Nook Giveaway! Every month the Poppins Book Nook group will be offering readers a chance to win a brand new storybook that ties in with our theme for the month. This month one lucky entrant will win a copy of Where in the World!  The winner must reside within the United States. This giveaway is brought to you by the company Enchanted Homeschooling Mom, who is owner and founder of the Poppins Book Nook. By entering this giveaway you are also acknowledging that you have read and agree to all of the Rafflecopter terms & conditions as well as Enchanted Homeschooling Mom’s disclosures found here {http://enchantedhomeschoolingmom.org/disclosures/}.  Just enter the Rafflecopter below to win:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Do you have a fun activity to share?  Link up below:

Week in Review

Here is a little review of some of what we have been learning about:

History/Geography:

Hailey tried out a fun class where the kids learn about a different country each week.  She learned all about Ireland when she tried the class.

She started out trying several different foods from Ireland.

Hunter really enjoyed a chocolate chip scone.

They also got to try playing a harp.  We learned that the harp is the national symbol of Ireland.

Hailey tried the big harp too, but Hunter was afraid to go near it.

We’ve also been having  great time using the Expedition Earth curriculum!

Science:

We have been learning about landforms in science.  We started out by reviewing the continents and oceans.

We are also using Science 4Us, which Hailey really enjoys.  She has done several lessons about our current topic and she loves using it.

I am also using a landform unit from Around the Kampfire.  We used this printable from that unit to come up with a definition of a landform.

Hailey did a test with a variety of materials to see what kind of effect wind and water would have on different kinds of land (dirt, pebbles, rocks and sand).  She drew a picture of what the material looked like before any wind or water came in contact with it.

She tested each material to see what would happen, then drew pictures of the results.   The water definitely beat the pebbles.

We took a day to go to a nearby science museum.  We had a great time!!

A floating ball!

Hailey worked to build a dam to stop the water.

Hunter loved playing in the water table.

Hailey testing out some magnets.

Fun block building

Hailey said she was a spider

Hailey and Pa (my dad) tested to see who was more relaxed.

They also made buildings and then set off an earthquake to see if the buildings could stand the earthquakes.

Hailey and Hunter helping turtles

Bible:

 Hailey has been practicing memorizing the New Testament books of the Bible.  I wrote them out on cards.  Then she would say the books of the Bible,  turn over some cards and then said them again, until all the cards were turned over and she could say them without looking.

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