While I did not homeschool my children, I am very experienced at teaching science at home. As a mother of three, grandmother of six, and now a greatgrandmother of 5, my home has and will continue to be a place where I teach kids about science. No, I do not have scheduled classes. Instead, it is just part of visiting with Granny or for any kid visiting Ms. VanCleave.

It is no big revelation that kids like to eat. So cooking can be a fun way to teach chemistry. But it is only fun for kids if they get to measure, dip, pour and mix. Remember, the best way to learn is to be involved. Demonstrate the techniques, then let kids repeat the procedures. For young learners, I make it easier by pouring liquids, such as water or milk, into containers with handles and pouring spouts. Different sizes of measuring cups make it easy to measure specific amounts. They just fill each to the top. The different cup sizes also help kids to make comparisons. Additionally, this better prepares them to understand fractions.

While spilling is not encouraged, an old table cloth could be used to cover the work area to absorb (soak up) those occasional OOPS!!.

My point is that teaching science should be part of your life and not simply during a set time. For instance, you can design many chemistry lessons around baking a cake. For ideas see: BAKING A CAKE.

For more experiments about chemistry, see Janice VanCleave’s Chemistry for Every Kid.