Apologia Science--We are home!

Update.  One issue we have using our basement is lighting.  The first week, all 16 Stats and Chem kids were crammed together learning how to use the graphing calculators.  We bought a garage overhead light with LEDs.  It is bright.  Will it last?  I bought one with a two year warranty from Amazon.  We shall see if it lasts.  For now, it is much safer for the Chem kids to do lab.  The next step is to have them wear shoes during lab.

This year, my husband, Rob, and I are much more organized!  He is teaching Statistics and Physics for the Co-op.  I'm teaching Chemistry for the Co-op, finishing an elective Human Biology class, doing all of the home-schooling for Lacie, and working through British Literature with two upper class girls.   But, this year, we are in our own basement.  We don't have huge bins, rolls of plastic table covers, and boxes of books and notes.  Yeah!  All of our equipment, tables, chairs, white boards are in our house!!!!!!  We have a copier, LCD projector, wi-fi, pencil sharpener, lab supplies, chemicals, equipment on shelves or tables in the basement.  That means we can organize everything in advance.

In reality, it means 50 trips up and down to the basement.  But, I can sort my quizzes, lab equipment, demos in advance, much as I did when I taught in public and private schools.  In reality, I help my husband organize his labs and notes, and locate all of the lab equipment for Physics, too.  Arrrgggghh.  Evidently, locating objects is an X-linked genetic trait.

Five years ago, I taught Chemistry and Physical Science concurrently at my house.  The students were every where.  The Chemistry kids did their labs in the garage (with heaters during the winter.)  The Physical Science kids did most of their labs upstairs in my kitchen.  I worked upstairs in my dining room with the Chemistry class while a mom supervised the Physical Science kids downstairs in the den or sometimes upstairs in the living room.  We managed.


This year, we'll all be in the basement.  Yes, it is pretty big.  Finished basements in our neighborhood are about 750-1000 square feet in size--enough for a den, bathroom, laundry room, and bedroom.  We have rugs and a fan on my husband's side to minimize noise from the Chemistry class.  I am loud.  The kids are pretty good.  We all are learning how to keep our voices down.  It's like open classrooms in a public school.  Not ideal.

Tomorrow, we're having two more quizzes.  So far, a little background noise from Statistics doesn't bother the Chemistry class when they test.  Rob says he cannot hear the kids--but he can hear me.  Yet another work in progress.