Family Science: Do Labs Together

Several years ago, when I first started working with Co-op, one family always sent younger siblings along for science class.  Lydia took Physical Science and Biology along with her older sister.  Her mom felt she would benefit later.  The poor kid had taken Physical Science twice by the time she was twelve.  Since then, several families have sent siblings along, with the idea the child will pick up something.  I like this approach to lab, too.  When my Anatomy or Biology classes test blood, I order extra kits for their siblings or parents who want to test their blood.  Lacie is taking Biology at home.  I sent extra owl pellets for her to dissect with her seven year old brother.  I told her to do as many labs as possible with him, such as gummy bear osmosis.  My kids did an Accuracy and Precision lab where they dropped a sponge into a yogurt cup 30 times.  I encouraged them to work with siblings.  Timmy, who has six siblings, Zoomed me to ask what to do about the wild inaccuracy of his lab.  He said his sisters helped and the results were completely inaccurate.  Since the purpose of the lab was to understand accuracy and precision, crazy results in the data aren’t important.  What is important is Timmy explained the concept to his sisters.  Whenever possible, do labs as a family.  Buy a family set of safety glasses and have a blast.  Yes, your child will do the lab again as a teen; his understanding will be far greater the second or third time he does the lab.