Review: e-Science Program

It used to be that our family did Saturday Science with Cool Daddy for our homeschool science. Then things changed as Cool Daddy went on to continue his education. So, science pretty much got set aside for a time. Enter the e-Science Premium Membership by Supercharged Science. As a TOS Crew member, I received a free six month subscription of the K-12 Level Plan in exchange for my honest review.

How the e-Science Program Works:

This program has it all! It contains step-by-step video and written lessons for students; all of the lessons are self-guided; access to Aurora Lipper and her team of scientists with questions your students may have; supportive reading materials that correspond with the lessons; homework and quizzes if you'd like to take advantage of those; and live classes with Aurora Lipper.

Classes are also recorded so that your family can view them according to your personal schedule. And since it is intended for K-12, it works perfectly for families with multiple grades.

There are a variety of topics to choose from: Electricity, Robotics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Life Science, Astronomy, and more.

If you already have a science curriculum you are using, the e-Science match-up sheet is offered for a large variety of homeschool curriculum families use: Abeka, Bob Jones, Apologia, and even The Noah Plan (happy dance), plus several others!  

How We Used the e-Science Program in Our Homeschool:

Cool Daddy was excited about this opportunity. It allowed for him to be able to get back into science with our brood despite his tight schedule between work and classes. This was a blessing for us!

With Cool Daddy's schedule and our children's desire for him to be a part of the experience, we were flexible and did *mini science camps* as a family.

The website has a clean, crisp look to it. Everything is organized and easy to navigate. 

Cool Daddy watched the videos (being able to watch the videos posted by Aurora Lipper saves him lots of time!), gathered the necessary supplies, gathered our family together and began. He's really good about asking questions to get the kids engaged. Then, they did the experiments and discussed why things worked (or didn't work). After some of the experiments, he also had the kids watch the videos by Aurora Lipper.

{Chicken and Clam Soup experiment.}

We don't eat canned soup so we didn't have it on hand and it wouldn't make sense for us to buy it for the Chicken and Clam soup experiment. So Cool Daddy came up with an alternate plan. He used glass jars. One had water in it and the other had bullion. He was able to demonstrate to the kids how the water doesn't move with the jar, so it doesn't add to the jar's inertia. It helped them to really see what was going on. Light bulbs were going off!  

Some of the experiments had already been done with our older kids (such as gravity), but they still had fun going through these with their younger siblings. They also enjoyed new-to-them experiments...

It was a blessing for our family to have such a flexible program- we have missed this time with Cool Daddy. It really saved him a ton of time because he didn't have to research or add extra reading to his educational load; it was all ready for him. We just had to help get the items for experiments prepped.

Once in a while, Cool Daddy changed it up and had them watch a video experiment first. I enjoyed seeing their faces and hearing them ooh and aah. Then they enthusiastically darted into the kitchen to give the experiments a try for themselves.

Now, how someone ever came up with the idea of microwaving grapes to ignite them, I'll never know. Or maybe it was discovered accidentally. But the Plasma Grape was one of their favorites. This was pretty interesting. With this they created a fourth state of matter (an ionized gas). They were enthralled with how this process worked.

The Microwaving Soap was another favorite of theirs.

At this point, you may think that some of these experiments can be found via on-line search or in a textbook, Well, I can't emphasize enough how I appreciate the videos. As Cool Daddy gives his focus back to his education load, I have Aurora to do the teaching. :-) It's also nice not having to look up random experiments on-line (that can take up a lot of time). Plus, I can have our children safely view the content without having to be concerned about what might pop up to the side or at the end of a youtube video. That means a lot to me!

The Experiments We've Tried So Far:

1. Inclined Plane
2. A Weighty Issue (gravity)
3. Levers
4. Chicken and Clam Soup 
5. Tops
6. Gyro Wheel 
7. Tada!
8. Density Jar 
9. Electrolysis 
10. Lava Lamp 
11. Plasma Grape
12. The Breaking Point 
13. Moon Sand 
14. Microwaving Soap 
15. Rock Candy
16. Penny Crystal Structure 
17. Laundry Soap Crystal 
18. Look Out Below! (Friction/Gravity)

Some Things We Like About the e-Science Program...

• It's nice having videos to watch so we can get an idea of how things should go.
• I appreciate having someone explain the *why* behind things.
• The website has instructions for various ages/abilities to comprehend.
• The website is easy to navigate.
• There is one location for each experiment containing everything you need (video, text, etc.)
• Easy to understand experiments and good supporting educational materials.
• Most experiments are low cost!

Some Things I'd Like To See...

• Written materials matching up with the videos. For the most part they seem to, however, with the Incline Planes (paper screws) the video instructions didn't match up with the written instructions. Cool Daddy had prepped up the experiment based on the written instructions. But when he went to watch the video, the experiment had been simplified. He felt that wasted some of his time.
• A progress indicator for the account (a way to easily keep track what students/ the family has already accomplished).

How Much the eScience Premium Membership Costs:

The K-8 Level Plan is just $37.00 per month.

The K-12 Level Plan is just $57.00 per month.

But! Supercharged Science is offering your first month’s membership for $1. Give it a try! See if you like it and go from there. :-)

Membership benefits include:

• Videos of teaching real science to your kids, just like I do in an actual classroom
• Text-book type reading to support the material in the videos
• Hands-on activities and experiments, with videos that guide your kids through them. These activities and experiments are what really ignite a passion for science in most kids.
• Homework exercises/quizzes so you can see what your kids are really learning, and tips for how to keep track of your progress in a real a science journal
• A live science class in difference science areas every few weeks where you can connect with me personally
• Parent resources for helping you give your kids the best science education they can get
• A place to ask me questions (lots of them!)
• Recordings of everything so your kids can do the program on whatever schedule AND at whatever pace suits them.

Connect With Super Charged Science:

https://www.facebook.com/superchargedsci
http://www.twitter.com/aurora_lipper
https://www.youtube.com/user/auroram42
http://pinterest.com/superchargedsci/
https://plus.google.com/u/0/112193545312804826871/posts
http://www.superchargedscience.com/blog/

Read more reviews by other TOS Crew members by clicking on the graphic below!

Blessings!