Set a day aside for labs!

 Many families join a Co-op just to do the labs, especially at the high school level.  Teens work on the course material, reading, study guide questions, etc on their own; they attend Co-op to do the labs.  It’s a good strategy.  If you don’t have a high school, science lab Co-op, set a day aside to do labs.  Is once a week too much?  Set one Friday aside every other week.  There are generally about 30 labs in Apologia’s textbooks.  Do two labs on fifteen Fridays.  Schedule four, once a month, over eight months.  It does reduce the mess. Don’t be too concerned about matching the lab with the textbook’s content.  For example, get out the microscope and do all of the microscope labs at once.  I schedule batch days for microscope work in Biology all the time.  I do the same thing with dissections; we do all of the animal dissections over a two week period.  Really.  (The owl pellet, flower, and fruit dissections are done during Ecology and Plants.). Take photos and make a few lab notes.  You’ll be surprised how much your kiddos remember about any experiment they do.  At any time, before, during, or after the lab, ask your children one question, ‘What is the point to this experiment?’  Whenever you schedule lab days, do as many labs as you can stomach!  Every single one you do is one fewer you have remaining to do.  Let’s make this the best year possible!