Nanny to Mommy

This post is sponsored by College Prep Science. Copyright 2020 by Greg Landry.

As a mom who works at home and enjoys exploring supplemental education and hands-on learning with my children, I can appreciate tips from a veteran teacher. This post has great tips for an at-home science lab whether you homeschool or want to encourage to further your child's education out of a classroom setting. Thank you Greg for sharing your expertise.

I fell in love with science labs in college and graduate school. I loved being able to “see” the science happening rather than just reading about it. As a homeschool dad and former college professor, I'm passionate about teaching science, in particular, Christ-centered lab science to homeschooled students. But, I know that on average we don’t provide enough lab experience for our homeschooled students – often very little. And, for many of them, that puts them at a tremendous disadvantage going into college – and in understanding how science works.

If you’re a homeschool parent, may I offer a few homeschool science lab suggestions:

1. Allow your 6th-12th grade students to explore science, dissections, interactions of matter, experiments, etc. Most students love exploring and experimenting once they get started.

2. Teach them the scientific method and why it’s important.

3. As they explore, teach them to record their observations and results.

4. Teach them to create a lab report (the written result of the scientific method) for each of their explorations or experiments.

5. Keep those exploration and experiment notes and lab reports in a lab notebook as a record of their work. Label it for the subject and time period – colleges may want to see it.

6. Periodically review those lab manuals for lab ideas, etc.

If you’d prefer not to dissect/explore/experiment at home, we offer two options that enable your students to complete their lab requirements for Biology, Chemistry, and Physics: 

Our two-day Biology and Chemistry Lab Intensives that allow students to complete a school year of Biology or Chemistry labs in two days or both of them in three days. I have the privilege of interacting with 7th-12th grade students as we cover wide-ranging and in-depth college-prep labs, appropriate background information, and lab reports. These are offered at 15 locations across the U.S. Students earn a full school year lab credit for each intensive they complete.

This enables students to virtually walk into and use a great science lab - from their computer at home. All the experiments are ready to go with background information and step-by-step instructions. Students actually perform the experiment from their computer – filling a beaker with hot water, putting a thermometer in the water to measure the temperature, mixing chemicals by pouring from beakers, determining the mass of items in a physics experiment by placing items on a balance, etc. It’s very realistic and enables them to experience the lab, collect data, and produce lab reports over the period of a school year at a pace they choose.. Students earn a full school year lab credit for each set of labs they complete for either Biology, Chemistry, or Physics.

​Homeschool dad, scientist, and former college professor, Greg Landry, offers live, online homeschool science classes, Homeschool ACT Prep Bootcamp, the Homeschool Mom’s Science Podcast, in-person two-day science lab intensives nationwide, freebies for homeschool moms, and student-produced homeschool print publications.