The order matters…

 I just finished a summer marathon: VBS, Science Camp, and two weeks of Faith Camp.  Now I’m trying to rough in lessons for the anatomy class this fall.  Do you know what is important when planning lessons, whether it is for a camp or class?   One key aspect is to determine the order of topics, labs, or activities.  We played suitcase relay the last day of Faith Camp—not the first!  We smashed open geodes outside the last day of Science Camp—not the first day my husband suggested.  Why?  When you do something that fun, you have to top it.  Instead, build a crescendo.  The same goes for class.  Many families teach math first thing in the morning.  One, the kiddos are fresh; two, math is hard.  After you get math out of the way, the other subjects aren’t as daunting. 

 Rule one is to do the worst first.  I start class with a review or introduction, usually for about ten minutes.  After we launch into activities, the labs or projects are tiered from least fun to most fun.  We meet Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I’m more likely to schedule lab on Thursday to get kids to finish work on Tuesday before starting lab.  

Rule two is to combine tedious assignments.   For example, viewing and sketching slides is dull.  We stack a few sections together and get it out of the way.  Let your kiddo do a week’s worth of geography on Monday.  Make Tuesday spelling and vocabulary day.

Rule Three is to inject a fun or novel event as a motivator.  At VBS we paint with tape on Friday.  I used tiny peg dolls mini kits as motivation for Faith Camp.  (We bring sharpies and hot glue guns to elevate Camp.  They paint and Modge-Podge, too.) Let the kiddos know that Friday they’re making ice-cream in a bag or in our case, edible aquifers.  Do I use candy labs?  Absolutely!  Cutting up gummy bears to learn anatomical positions and directions gives kids a little lift.  Remember to do the fun lab, craft, or activity last!

Maker Camp 2026

 I’m already planning next year’s science camp.  The theme is Maker Camp, which is deliberately broad, a little bit of everything.   I need to add more chemistry, such as Comic Chemistry. The kiddos love and missed messing with colorful mixtures.  Here is the initial spreadsheet with links.  I’ll tinker with ideas.  The Pool Noodle Balance Board (or PVC Pipe Balance Board) and the scrap wood Catapults are tested hits.  Kiddos like to decorate the balance board with paint, washi tape, and stickers.  The pool noodle is easier to balance.  Have older kids polish the PVC pipe ends outside on the sidewalk.  By polish I mean rake the ends over and over on concrete to smooth rough ends.  I’ll post updates whenever I become inspired.

Giant Human Anatomy Book

Do you like to use posters for instruction?  Are you teaching Anatomy?  I recommend a copy of Human Anatomy. (The ISBN is below.)  This book is large enough to act as a set of posters, useful in a room without Wi-Fi.  Our Co-op space has robust internet access.  However, I use tech lightly, as a tool.  Textbooks, models, posters, graphics, and labs all engage a kid’s brain much better than tech.  I took a shot of my tattered copy of Human Anatomy and did a search for used copies.  Right now the price is about $30.  Good Will, Amazon, eBay, and the used bookstores all have used copies.  The best price I found is about $21.  The Good Will copies are cheaper; the shipping costs are higher.  

ISBN:  9781844060795

Let’s do more science with kiddos!

 Guess what?  It’s not just you.  It is hard to inject some science into an elementary program.  I’ve taught in both private and public schools.  Even in a public school, in which science instruction is mandated, the kids are likely to examine a penny for its metallic qualities or to tape up seeds in a plastic bag on to the window to germinate.  In fact, elementary kids are most likely to learn Botany because it’s a comfortable topic for teachers.  Teachers of all stripes, including home-school parents, focus on reading, writing, and math at the primary stage.  All other subjects are elective.  So how do you add more science?

Join a Co-op.  Make science instruction a priority.  Your Co-op might adopt Apologia’s Young Explorers Series.  Start with Zoology.  (Apologia has a Kickstart doc.)  There are 14 Lessons.  Meet once per week for an hour; plan to tackle the book in 30 weeks. This allows loads of time to do all the activities, plan projects, etc.  Does the leader need a science background?  Nope.  The leader needs to dive into the program along with the kids fearlessly.  

Plan Friday Funday.  Do whatever lab seems fun.  Our family (and my classes) have performed any number of candy labs.  Plan tiered science labs.  Let the five year old mess with Edible Chemistry while your older kiddos try a harder lab.  Trust me; kids can play with the Edible Chemistry contents for 45 minutes.

Attack science as a family.  Start a garden, put up a bird feeder, raise chickens, tour a museum, test natural dyes, explore the science of art, such as nature prints, build catapults and trebuchets.   Start with Frugal Fun and see how many STEM activities your family can replicate.  Give each project a score between one and five.  Look for more STEM fun similar to those with a score of five—like catapults. You can do this!

Mystery Liquids Lab

Mystery Powders is a popular chemistry lab.  (I use this version, a qualitative analysis lab for high school classes.)  Mystery Powder is versatile for younger kids.  I ran across another version, perfect for kiddos: Mystery Liquids.  This is good to introduce solids, liquids, and gases.  Now, you have three tiers of labs to use with your family!

National Medical Museum

Do you want to visit an off-beat museum?  Go to the National Museum of Health and Medicine.  The Walter Reed Medical Museum moved to a new location in Maryland, just outside Washington, D. C.  Here is a bit of history.  I visited the Walter Reed museum twice before it moved.  The museum is free.  Take a look at their Education page.  The high school tour include plasticized organs for students to observe.  I took a high school anatomy class; the organs are excellent.  Younger kiddos can take the Human Body Tour.  The museum has a ton of Civil War medicine, too.  Is it weird?  Extremely.  It’s one of my favorite museums.

Immersive Approach

We just finished a gauntlet of summer camps: VBS, Science Camp, and two weeks of Faith Camp.  Do you know what they all have in common?  They all use an immersive approach to teaching—one I embrace for any subject.  Most of the time I teach a science class for Co-op; the past few years, I’ve added  Composition or Literature to my Co-op schedule.  I find it helps to saturate the subject. In Science, we do loads and loads of labs and hands-on activities.  I take a topic and hammer it home.  One unit is Acids and Bases.

I introduce Acids and Bases with a red marker for acids and a blue marker for bases.  Why?  Litmus turns red in an acid and blue in a base.  Then I drag out a dozen household chemicals to test with litmus paper, pH paper, and universal indicator solution.  The kids measure pH of all these substances with pH probes.  We calculate pH, and name acids and bases.  This approach helps just about every teen.  Do it, say it, learn it.  It works.  Below are a few instructional videos, another means to help hammer home a topic.

Advanced Biology: Summer Assignment

 I may have already posted the summer assignment for this fall’s class, Advanced Biology.  The kids are creating Infectious Disease Projects.  Here is a good list of communicable disease.  I want these to be pamphlets or posters, largely created by hand.  There is increasing evidence that teens are too reliant on AI for projects.  Hopefully the project will jump-start their brains before school resumes.

More things you never knew you needed….

 Yes, this is an on-going series based on unusual items for sale.  My current favorite is the ground water model.  I had one in my classroom once; however, it is hard to clean without a large pump and bleach.  That is the only reason I am not more tempted to bid.  If you happen to be hosting a large nature camp, Good Will has 50 owl CDs and raptor books.  Sometimes you can invite a raptor group to do presentations at Camp.  Host the birds in their cages in a large, well ventilated room.  Ask me how I know.  Take a look!

Take a look!

Bird Watcher Starter Kit

 Good Will has a great starter kit for budding birders.  Kids can paint the bird box whatever color they desire.  The birds do not care a whit.  The set includes an Identiflyer with bird call cards.  Be sure to check the shipping!

Let’s celebrate Shark Week!

 Do you have a kiddo obsessed with sharks?  My son loves Shark Week.  Take advantage of your kiddo’s interest.  Shark Trust has loads of activities and information.  Let the little ones color sharks or make Shark headbands. Learn what shark skin feels like.  Make Shark Teeth Necklaces.  Take a look at Shark Bite lessons.  Here is a shark anatomy poster.  Finally here are 70+ activities.  Yeah!

What does our Co-op space look like?

 This fall four teachers will host classes in our basement; it’s been tough finding dedicated space locally for Co-op.  BTW this is unvarnished real life, complete with stacks of books and materials for classes.

Turn your TV into a projection screen for Co-op…

 We took an old TV and connected it to an old laptop with an HDMI cable.  The TV screen is large enough to use as a projection screen, much like an LCD projector.  You can also connect an iPad to the screen if your laptop doesn’t have a touch screen.  Is this old school?  Yes.  Hey, it works!  You can use an online whiteboard with either a laptop or iPad, too.  The iPad is much easier.  

Things you never knew you needed…

 Take a look!  I love the vet models!

More kits!

 There are three good value kits at Good Will.  I look for kits I can cannibalize for class: mini scales, dissection specimens, thermometers, etc.  Take a look!

Where can you teach a Co-op class?

Right now, my husband, Rob, and I teach Co-op classes in our basement.  This fall, two friends, both moms, are teaching science and history classes in our basement, too.  Before we landed in the basement, the Co-op held classes at the local library twice a week for upper school students.  The Co-op also held classes on Fridays at an Episcopal church’s Religious Ed (RE) classrooms for younger kiddos.  (Our church doesn’t have extra space.  There is a pre-K-8 school which doubles as RE classes.) 

I have taught Co-op classes in my house before.  I had Chemistry and Physical Science, with labs in the garage.  I’ve taught Co-op at our former church’s RE classrooms before we moved near Quantico.  When I taught in a public school, the home-school kids were allowed to come after school for classes, which is very unusual.  In another life, I did some consulting and training.  I learned that you can make just about any space work: school, church, hotel, college, or office space.  I’ve done dissections outside the library and at a local park.

What do you need?  You need a table and chairs.  If you do labs, bring jugs of water and plastic table cloths to protect any surfaces.  Be judicious as you select labs or demos.  While a whiteboard or chalk board is nice, you can bring a small white board for notes, diagrams, or problem sets.

Since I teach mainly science classes, I have a bunch of equipment, posters, microscopes, etc.  Ideally, there is some space at the facility to store a few items.  But, I have had to make do and sort materials into crates and bins, which I kept in the garage and hauled back and forth.   The amount of space will determine the number of kids you can accommodate and is the biggest constraint.  As long as there are four walls, tables, and chairs, you can make things work.  

Goods for Co-op

 If you teach Co-op science classes, there is basic equipment you use year after year.  Good Will has a few interesting items listed.

Host a Camp: Where do you find budget-friendly ideas?

Once you have your theme, start collecting budget friendly STEM activities (loads and loads of links) museums and 4-H groups are great places to start.  I love the Exploratorium’s ideas.  Start now for next summer.  Why?  Save as many recycled materials, such as yogurt cups, Pringle’s cans, plastic bottles, etc as possible.  Below are resources with budget activities.  I start with these sites.

1. Museum hands-on:  Stomp Rockets, Science Museum Group Learning activities, STEM Sprouts,  and Tinker Kit.  Museums often host events which attract dozens kiddos.  

2.  Another site I use for Science Camp planning is Toys from Trash.  Love, love love!

3. STEM at Home, Hands-on STEM, and a treasure trove of STEM Links

4.  Exploratorium: Tinker with Balance, Sound Sandwich, Bee Hummer, or Head Harp.  See the Exploratorium Snacks, too.

5. Be sure to search Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls.  

Host a Camp: Fun!

Whenever I host a camp I add some fun.  Sing  Camp Classic Chants and Songs: Greasy, Grimy, Gopher Guts, Herman the Worm, Chick-a-boom, Pizza Hut, and Tom the Toad.  Sing clapping songs.  Let the kids come up with team cheers and team names.  (One memorable group dubbed themselves Bubble Monkeys.  I can’t make this up.). Look for temporary tattoos, stickers, mini-skeletons, even syringes pens.  I usually buy bags for their stuff.  They’re kids; they love a little swag.  I try to do themed snacks, such as Oreo Moon Phases.  Go outside and chalk dead bodies or test paper airplanes.  We once accidentally released a solar balloon the kids were certain would be shot down by the local Air Guard.  Look for a few activities which are a little silly and just for fun. I bought leather blanks or wrist bands for the kids to stamp.  What a hit!

Host a Camp: First Steps

  What are the first steps in planning to host a camp?  

1. Location: Where are you going to host camp?  In your basement?  At a school?  In your church hall?  The location will determine the number of kiddos you can accommodate.  We just did a science camp in our basement with nine kiddos ages six-ten.  We had extra teens and adults.  Our basement space is about 1000 square feet.  Twelve kiddos would be about the maximum.  (Our Co-op classes might have 14-15 teens. But camp and younger kiddos are more active.)

2. Theme: Pick a theme.  It is so much easier to create a camp when you have a theme.  Is it more educational?  Creative?  Bookish?  Here are some Science Camp themes: Maker space, Chemistry, Anatomy Academy, Weather, Earth, Forensics, Coding, Forestry or Nature, Water, etc.  

3. Enlist help around your theme.  For example, if you are doing Forensics or Anatomy, contact the police, local nurse, and Rescue Squad for volunteers.  Could they bring an ambulance and do a demo?  Could the nurse teach kids how to take pulse and blood pressure?  Try to schedule different volunteers for different days.

4. Select activities which go along with your theme.  Anatomy could include mini first aid kits, paper skeletons, brain hats, spine, skin, and eyeball models.  Print out Human Body bingo, too.  Have a themed bingo available.  It is a good tool to calm down at the end of the morning.

5. Plan a themed snack.  We made edible aquifers and moon phase snacks.  Have a few little trinkets: tiny skeletons, nature stickers or tattoos, syringe pens, and magnifying glasses are all big hits for kiddos.

Host a Science Camp: Background

 First, I bet you are asking what I know about hosting a camp.  Before teaching with the local Co-op, I taught in both private and public schools.  Private schools often encourage teachers to host summer camps.  It’s a good cash cow.  At the public school where I taught, I took high school students to the local kindergarten and ran science stations one morning in the spring for around 100 students.  The private school camps helped me refine my program.  The families were very wealthy and the children entitled.  I made decent money; however the parents were often demanding.   My home-school friends asked me to host a science camp at our church.  Our pastor agreed.  For several years, our church held VBS and followed up with a week of Science Camp.  Half of the families were home-schoolers and half not.  Some of the kids weren’t even members of our parish.  We did not turn away any child.  Usually we had 40-50 kids, a dozen teens, and a few adults participating.

You’ll need money and help.  Our church in WV did not charge a fee for either VBS or Science Camp.  We begged, posted lists of materials, saved recycled materials, and held fundraisers.  Our most successful fundraiser was a media and toy sale. We scheduled the sales before the church yard sale to have a place to unload leftovers.  Families from church donated all of the goods which we sold after church services for two or three Sundays.  People gave us cash, too.  I also begged for help.  Our church had a dozen teens who volunteered both weeks.  It was harder to recruit adult volunteers for Science Camp.   So, I relied heavily on teens and looked for volunteers at outside agencies.  For example, I brought in free water quality experts and a forester.  I asked doctors and nurses to give lessons for Anatomy Academy.  The Rescue Squad brought an ambulance.  The police sent an officer to talk about forensics.  

Does Camp take a Herculean effort?  Yes, it does. I’ll post more about how to organize a camp.  No, it won’t be a professional series with links to a TPT site.  Instead I’ll give you some hints I have found to work.  

More Science Camp pix…

 We were too busy for many pix.  I’ll hit the highlights in another post when I recover.

A few Prime Day deals….

 There are a few deals.  Take a look.  Be sure to compare regular prices; too often there are better deals available.

Science Camp so far….

 Here are some pix…..