Science Weekly

Hello scientists and future scientists alike. Are you looking for a great new supplement for your science curriculum? Are you looking for a resource that covers activities for your kindergartner as well as your older students? Would you prefer that it meet National Education Standards? How about lab work? Does your current resource include hands on experiments to reinforce the lesson?

Well then, you'll want to read on as I tell you about Science Weekly, a little newspaper of sorts designed to supplement your science program.

Our family received an issue which focused on learning all about the flu, but I'll go into that more a little further down. When you receive your copy, you'll find that each edition is written for six different grade levels- K-6. Is that a homeschooling parent's dream or what? It makes it a little easier to teach the subject to all of the kids at once. And, what a nice bonus if every age group gets their own personal copy, right?

You'll also notice that Science Weekly is not strictly science. Open up to the second page, and you'll find age appropriate vocabulary, math, and writing exercises. As you reach the last page, there is a final activity to complete- sequencing for the younger ones, and a brain teaser or puzzle for the older ones. An activity is featured at the bottom to be completed with a parent's assistance. For the older students, their copy may feature a bio of a scientist, or a riddle.

You'll also find it helpful that enclosed with each issue are a set of teaching notes, conveniently divided up according to the grade level.

So, we reviewed the "flu edition". Right now, we have the younger elementary students, so I used mainly levels A and B, with a little C thrown in for fun ;) Those handy little notes made it easy to lead the discussion on the who, what, where and how types of questions. We learned that we need to wash our hands for at least 30 seconds (we actually knew that already, as I am a bit of a germaphobe, but it's always a good reminder), and that if we sing the alphabet song twice, it takes about as long. Then we timed ourselves while we did just that. Our favorite part hands down, was definitely the hands on, lab time. We filled a spray bottle with water, and pretended to sneeze- our squirt bottle being the nose. We found out how important it is to cover our nose as we "sneezed" into the general population ;), and then as we did so in to our elbow. The results? Eww, but educational :).

So, our thoughts...

The kids definitely gave it a thumbs up. They love science, and most everything that goes along with it. The teaching notes make it a cinch to get the discussion going, and I really liked that it included levels for K-6. That feature allowed me to borrow from other levels to really customize the lesson for my family. While the older levels had information that was over my younger ones' head, they did were able to learn and enjoy the experiments from the older sections anyway.

As far as the pricing goes, the individual rate offers 15 issues for $19.95. But, if you can get your homeschool co-op on board, or just a group of other families, there is a classroom rate of 15 issues for $4.95 per student per year with at least 20 subscriptions. Check it out and, to quote Science Weekly, "put a little science in your week".

**I received a free issue of Science Weekly in return for my honest opinion of it, with no additional compensation.

Science Weekly

http://www.scienceweekly.com/

Phone: 1-800-4-weekly

Fax: 1-301-680-9240

Classroom Rate: $4.95 per student per year- 15 issues-minimum order 20 subscriptions

Individual Rate: $19.95 per student per year -15 issues- less than 20 subscriptions