Unusual Outbursts of a Scientific Mind

I used to homeschool little ones, now I'm here sharing about high school homeschool organization. My oldest has graduated and gone on to her dream job and my youngest is starting 10th grade. I am a former high school science teacher and so high schooling is what I know. Now, after 15 years, homeschooling and being organized is what I do. And I learned a few things along the homeschool high school way. While we learn to keep it simple, we also deal with complex emotions. I can’t promise I won’t have you crying by the end of this post though.

(This post includes a free printable and video)

Time Passes and Suddenly We Are High Schooling

I remember our homeschool was a room full of books and tables and manipulatives, and paint and crayons and posters. Today my son’s room and his desk is our homeschool. 

My desk in a nook is my area. 

So much has changed. In this post I want to share with you what I know, how I organize, what you may be doing that you don’t need to do, pressure you’re putting on yourself that you don’t need to and what IS important. I will share with you pictures from the last years my daughter was home. I will share with you how I organized myself as a teacher and why. First year teachers are notoriously a stressed out mess because they are thrown into the fire and have to learn what’s important and what isn’t, how to organize themselves as the paperwork necessary behind the scenes far exceeds the work necessary to teach. So I too went through the hazing, the stress, until after a few years I got it organized, learned what was important and what could wait and became fully engaged with my students.

I now bring those skills into my high school homeschool organization and wanted to share them with you. There are things I see high school homeschoolers stressing over that is unnecessary and things missing that I hope you learn to include. It’s far easier than you think but oh so easy to fear the pressure and make it complicated. So let’s get to it! There are records you’ll need to keep and keeping them is far easier than you think. Colleges need only a few things and they are not important to worry about until the senior year. Until then there are truly simple things to do each year of high school so you have what you need. But the most important thing to do is enjoy these years. It will get easy to lose sight in being overwhelmed, putting too much on yourself and stressing and missing out on the best and last years of homeschooling your child.

Our New Order Slim and Sleek

My work is one simple book, my plan/grade book. My desk now has only a few things on it, pens, files for graded and not graded paper and I have a bookshelf.

 Life, while more full of things to teach, is smaller now. My son’s desk has his laptop and his book bag has his books. That’s our school now! We’re on schedule and life is organized and easy. Even those days that surprise us we treat as another chance to go with the flow. The no regrets part...keep reading...

Record Keeping

So how about grades and all that insane transcript and portfolio stuff?

Firstly, colleges and trade schools are only interested in high school transcripts. So up to 8th grade you can keep a relaxed planner or any records your state requires but you don’t need to make a transcript for anything before high school. So let that go. You can use my RELAXED HOMESCHOOL PLANNER I made. It’s free. Here. You may have to go to page 2 to find it.

Teachers in schools have 2 things, a plan book and a grade book. But that’s only for administrative purposes. You do NOT! At home, you can have one book each year. Don’t over complicate it.

I use a $12 planner. It’s the 7-subject plan book by Action Publishing. I get it from Amazon.

 I start the year off by counting out the 180 days required and then tear out the remaining pages. Down the left side I cut off a thin slice of the pages to reveal a strip where I can write each class/subject so I don’t have to re-write it on every page. See this pic….

Once I trim the edges off, I now have all the subjects in the margins, written only once.

From there, what I’m about to tell you is VERY important. Kids get sick, we go on vacations, we get stressed, you can’t teach every single day. Sometimes you can’t teach for a week. If you PRE-WRITE in the dates in the entire book before the year starts, you will be setting yourself up emotionally. Those days you can’t teach will sit empty, the plans sitting there that you’ll have to erase and then re-do down the line.

So what to do? Start out by knowing that life will happen. Create a pacing guide. All teachers have it, perhaps you know what one is. A pacing guide is what you plan to cover each day, not by date. Just something your child can look at and see, next up do this. Then they can cross it off and tomorrow do the next thing. It takes about 2 weeks per subject for you to make it (during summer) but once you have it, it’s everything. It takes all the stress away. Take the time to make one for each semester at a time.  Take into account how many weeks you need to cover, divide the chapters into those weeks and work it out so that you finish what you want to cover in 180 days. Keep in mind, as a teacher we never covered all the material in the book. We had to choose what was most important to cover. Here’s the one I just finished for upcoming year 1st semester. Each line is a day of work. He’ll do that, cross it off, turn it in. Next day, next line until we finish the work at the end of the semester. This isn’t all of it, it goes on for another page but you get the idea. I make one of these for every single subject. That way he knows what he’s doing every day. Yes it takes time, but it’s your work. Do it before the year starts and your year will be simple.

You’re Normal

This is something I see homeschoolers stress over. Let me say that again. We NEVER covered the whole book. I skipped at least 5 chapters in everything I taught. It’s what we asked other teachers, “What are you leaving out of it?” I realized what I was leaving out, they too were leaving out. Like instead of spending a week on lab safety and the scientific method which the kids have had every single year, I spent a day on each. Instead of teaching the entire history of the subject, we did maybe 2 days then moved on. Each book had careers in the field, after every chapter, we skipped those and did a project on a single day about careers. Stuff like this saves you time and keeps you from attempting the impossible.

When we’re ready for school to start, I have all the subjects outlined as to what to cover and the pacing we will use based on the number of days I have in the year.

 Once school starts, we do week one without actually writing in the plan book. At the end of the week, we write in what we covered each day that week. The grades for each assignment go in same square as the assignment. 

Then just tally up the week’s grades and put that total at the end of the week.

As a teacher I had to turn in an official plan book in advance. It meant nothing. It was a joke. All teachers laughed at it. It was busy work. We knew we’d never cover all that. Why? Constant interruptions. Kids acting out in class, sudden assemblies and half my class would have tickets and leave, calling me out of the classroom to attend an IEP meeting, half days, holidays, teacher work days, the death of a student and the school was in mourning, homecoming week (nothing got done that week), pre-holiday weeks, the kids were too restless, more assemblies, fire drills, tornado drills, you name it, it was truly rare to have a week that didn’t involve losing at least a day.

Toss Perfectionism

I know this feels odd and I know perfectionism kicks in but in reality, that’s fear. You think that if you plan it all out in advance you’ll prevent things from going wrong, getting off track, getting disorganized, but in reality, you’re creating that very thing. Letting go is the first step to REAL organization. Facing that life is going to get in the way is the first step to becoming truly organized. And this was the thing that messed with me the most in my early years as a teacher. I found me and my plan book a hot mess. I learned by my 3rd year to turn in the ridiculous plan book then in MY book, plan one week at a time, shoot for a certain test day, notebook check day and I’d say about 50% of the time that actually happened.

At the end of the semester, I only have to add up 18 grades (18 weeks). And that is the semester average, takes me 10 minutes. I have one book, I plan one week in pencil, I put the grade in the day of the assignment in ink, I add them up on Fri and put the week’s grade at the end of the week. At the end of the semester I average up 18 numbers and done. Simple. Easy. There’s a higher purpose for this. We’ll get to it. Remember... no regrets!

Portfolio

All colleges will need is a transcript and the portfolio. A transcript is NOT a list of every single assignment and grade on every test. It is ONLY the 1st semester average, the 2nd semester average and the year’s total average for that course. So why bother with making it all complicated? If you keep their work, you’ll have that and you’ll have what you need for a portfolio. Here’s what I do. I keep his notebooks, all his map work, his workbooks, his worksheets, book reports, photos of fieldtrips, everything he does goes in an accordion file. At the end of the year I label it and put it away. Done. The good, the bad and the ugly are all in there. When it comes time to submit a portfolio I will be able to sit down and go through it year by year and find highlights, according to what the school wants, maps, reports, video, projects, and pull from all of it, the best thing that portrays what he is, what he did, how he evolved, etc. I leave all that for when that will be necessary his senior year.

For now, we focus on one week at a time, get the best information in the best way, go on fieldtrips, make things, have fun learning, take time off, rearrange the schedule because it’s written in pencil when he’s sick or we just need a day off, make it up on the weekend or double up one day next week or work in the car while running errands, or just erase that assignment completely and do it verbally and not give it a grade because we can be flexible because we homeschool.

Remember that no regrets part? Here we go...

Get out!

We don’t stay at home to school now. With no more littles in the house my son and I are free to homeschool anywhere. In college you’re in class for the lecture but if you’ve got time between classes, you sit outside and study, go to the quad, cafeteria, library, back to your dorm, etc while you wait for your next class. So we homeschool in different places, a coffee shop, this cool French market with outdoor seating, at a bookstore, in a park, we get out and in doing this I am showing him how to study anywhere. It’s good for his mind and will prepare him to do the same when his brain will need that break the most. If you have a high schooler and some younger ones, see if you can get a sitter at least once a week and take your high schooler out just the two of you and school somewhere else. This is us schooling at a coffee shop:

So like them, we too need to learn time management and it starts with letting go of fear, which helps you let go of doing too much, planning too far ahead, pressure and fear of failure. It means slimming down, taking it one week at a time, doing only what’s necessary so you can enjoy the last few years of your child at home instead of sweating those years out with your nose in books and papers and your mind in a state of stress.

 No Regrets

You’ll regret every moment of your stress. You’ll never regret slimming down to only what’s necessary and using that free time to be with your child, living life and engaging with them and their friends, going places, taking weekends away, field trips, taking days off and going to teen meet-ups. With my daughter we would have her friends suddenly show up, eat with us, stay late and we’d have a blast. We would go to a concert together, yes TOGETHER even if I didn’t like the music, I played and danced and took pictures with her,like this:

 then the band would be hungry so there I was at 10pm in the grocery store buying food to take home and feed them all and we’d be up till 2 in the morning laughing and eating and talking. Nowshe lives in another state. I have pictures on the wall, on the fridge, from those times. I have them because I quit stressing, and knew these times were the ones that mattered. My pictures from that time aren’t of her working, they aren’t of me with my nose in books at 2AM. These are the things that teach them how to live when they leave home. Be a stressed out mess and they will take that with them and become that in life. You raised them, trained them well, showed them love all for these years when you get to BE with them and enjoy them. These years may be focused on learning but in reality, they are about a small window in time where you can enjoy them on a whole new level and before they leave home. It’s a small window. Don’t waste it.

Be flexible, be simple. Stick to your small amount of work in a timely manner.

Be what you want your children to be when they leave home. They will leave healthy, with a love of life, with joy! And what more could we want for our children?

I have been fortunate enough to have been the victim of the high school traumatic science experience and then to go into college and learn the in’s and out’s of science and all the smoke and mirrors. I overcame my fear of science and it became my life’s work to help others who fear it. I was driven, my entire life, to become a doctor, but because of some scarring experiences in high school, I feared science and knew i wouldn’t cut it. I was wrong. Very wrong. I went on to major in science, take the “terrible” chemistry and physics classes and couldn’t believe how truly easy they were. They were actually much easier than biology. Then why do they have such a bad reputation? 

Since then I taught science at the high school level, dropped out to homeschool my kids and was inundated with homeschoolers and teachers who feared teaching science. I have hundreds of emails from people with really sad horrible experiences with science. I speak at conferences and afterward so many people come up to me in tears telling me about their experiences in science.

I know why. It makes me sad. That’s why I wrote this book.

The good news is that it’s not your fault. You were scared by people who inherited a sense of ego based fulfillment through fear and you are SO not alone. Seriously. Millions of us are out here having been done a disservice by the science community. And it served to run off many of us who would have possibly pursued a career in science.

And what about your kids? What if they have an interest in science and you feel scared or inept, and you feel you aren’t doing right by them? My life’s work is to help all the kids who might possibly pursue a career in science learn not to fear it but to find it easy, natural. So that when they go to choose their career in the sciences, even those that don’t seem like science like cosmetology, military service, any medical assistant, forestry service and hundreds of other fields, that they aren’t held back by any fears.

I hope you take a chance and read this book. You will be surprised at how much sense it makes, how simple it is, and how I guide you through the process of learning not to fear it.

Because really... think about it. Who are we doing this for? When we gloss over science, dumb it down, or don’t teach it, our children are not stupid. They pick up on that fear and we wind up passing that fear down to our children. This book will truly help you in letting go of that fear, helping you learn to engage your children deeply into where their natural curiosity takes them in science and you will be free of fear.

Here’s the table of contents so you can see what we cover:

Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 My Experience Chapter 3 It Isn’t Your Fault Chapter 4 Scientists Were Crazy Chapter 5 Where’s The Fun House? Chapter 6 Elitist Attitudes Chapter 7 Keeping Secrets Chapter 8 Hardened Approaches Chapter 9 The Costume Chapter 10 Wordiness Chapter 11 Missing Skills Chapter 12 You Are Not Alone Chapter 13 Where To Go From Here

97pgs

Take a chance and get the book and watch what happens!

This is the digital version. The print version is on its way!

Thank you for trusting me and letting me help you with your fears because honestly, it’s all been a ruse and science is seriously easy. I explain why and you will see it too. You can get the cheaper digital version here.

I live and breathe science. I taught high school science for 8 years before “dropping out” to teach my own at home. In that time i was deluged with requests for help in science. I have borne witness to countless horror stories of people traumatized by a teacher or who had bad experiences in science or just plain old don’t get it and don’t like it.  I wrote blogs about it, sent emails to help people and eventually just wrote the book to help those who fear science. I coach freshmen on surviving college science and do my best to help everyone understand, it’s all smoke and mirrors. And anyone can do science, teach science and swim in it like a fish. No, not because I can. But because it’s not what you think. There’s a reason science is intimidating and I can dispel all the myths and help you learn, it isn’t YOU, it’s the way the system is structured and if you don’t overcome what you were taught, you will pass that fear on to your kids. Here’s the description of the book I decided to write for you about this. Right now it’s in digital. When I get it published the price will go up but I know some people just like a paperback hard book in their hands.  Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 My Experience Chapter 3 It Isn’t Your Fault Chapter 4 Scientists Were Crazy Chapter 5 Where’s The Fun House? Chapter 6 Elitist Attitudes Chapter 7 Keeping Secrets Chapter 8 Hardened Approaches Chapter 9 The Costume Chapter 10 Wordiness Chapter 11 Missing Skills Chapter 12 You Are Not Alone Chapter 13 Where To Go From Here

97 pgs

GET IT HERE

So, no I don’t go getting in dumpsters. I rarely even get my feet dirty. I’m going to show you (brag) about some amazing things I’ve found at dumpsters and how you can too! So the key is to know WHERE to go. And I’ve found a little secret. Apartment complexes, especially large ones, have a lot of people move out on Saturdays. Many of those people leave behind things they don’t want to take to the thrift store but don’t want so they leave them on the ground outside or near the dumpters in case others might want them. That’s strategy number one. If I’m feeling like going on a treasure hunt I’ll head over to 3 of my favorite spots around 6 or 7pm. Most of the time it’s things like mattresses and couches. NO, not taking a chance on bed bugs or critters. But every once in a while I’ll find a treasure and wonder why in the world someone would let it go!

So here’s my favorite, this is in perfect condition and the tree looks like the one in Forrest Gump. Didn’t need any work, just hung it!

Next seems trite, an old rusty bed spring, but I put my dried roses in it and voila’ I had something beautiful for my balcony.

This water fountain seemed broken, but alas it was not, only taken apart and left there. I bought a pump for $12 and set it up on my balcony. Over time I have added rocks from adventures, rivers and gifts. It’s become so beautiful.

And here’s a cool copper sun that had a wonderful blue green patina, just sitting there on the ground. I wiped it down and hung it on my balcony also.

This next item blew me away. It’s a wonderful lantern, with a hand crafted hinge closure. I put tea candles in it and the copper dragonfly and flower light up and glow so nicely! I think this may be my favorite!

This next item is a nice little insider trick. Many apartments remodel as tenants move out. And they remove things like this old light fixture, 

headed for the trash. I spoke to one of the maintenance people and he told me they had it and were about to toss it and did I want it? Well.... YEAH! And all I did was wipe it down, spray it with hammered copper spray paint and now THIS is how she looks! 

I’ve gotten many things from apartment maintenance. When people move out and leave things behind, they toss it. Asking never hurts! 

I taught high school and middle school science for 8 years and I used maps all the time. Yes, we used maps in science! They are also useful for social studies and for reading too! I used them in lessons but I also use them in my homeschool for emergency rescue activities when we are having a meltdown day or the teacher is just exhausted and stressed J. See this article about how to build your emergency rescue kit.

Outline maps are a great activity because they can be used by the learner without your help. Younger children can color in the states or regions or continents, without having to name anything. This helps them just develop familiarity with the map. Older kids can label the states or regions, or add capitals. Then this becomes a reference tool later and becomes wall art for bragging rights.

In science we used maps to map out regions where elements of the period table are mined or found and where the elements were discovered. (See the Periodic Table of Elements Coloring Book for this information). We used them to map biomes (deserts, tropical forests, arctic tundra, oceans, etc), we used them to map out where valuable minerals and resources were found and we used them to map out average temperatures around the country or world during any given season. We used them to draw the water cycle (oceans evaporate, mountains return the water to rivers, rain lands in tropical forests, etc.), just to name a few. See this lesson on using outline maps in science.

 For social studies you can make, political boundaries, trade routes, shipping routes, cultures, traditional music, interstates, major international airports, places where natural phenomenon occur (fires, earthquakes, volcanoes, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, monsoons, droughts, most lightning strikes, etc.).

 For reading and literature, they can map where they “think”or imagine the story takes place or if it’s stated, place it on the map. If it’s an adventure story, they can map the character’s travels. This helps give the hands on learner more tactile places to store what they read, it helps bring a story to life and they will remember reading that book because they mapped it and you put the map on the wall.

 You can even use maps for math. Plotting coordinates on the map helps them use decimals, helps them see a real world application of numbers and helps them understand those numbers on Google Earth. You can plot the coordinates of Disney or Universal, plot your home, other family member’s homes, the 7 wonders of the world, famous structures. You can go to Google Earth and find them, find the coordinates and they can plot whatever they find interesting.

 Booklets

You can also take what they color and start making a map booklet. When they have enough maps created, they can cut them out and place them in a home-made booklet, create a cover and design it, with a title. This can become part of a portfolio or a great gift for grandparents. Or perhaps you can squirrel it away in your keepsakes. After our walls got full of maps I took them down and we made the booklets. I put ours out on the coffee table whenever we were having company come over so the kids could see others admiring their work! I laminated the front and back covers for durability.

There are many places you can buy outline maps like on Amazon. I like this one. 

I found this post about getting free outline maps.

Here’s Free and paid maps.

Here’s a World Mineral Map

And a lesson on minerals.

Lesson on using outline maps in science

Build your emergency rescue kit

Periodic Table of Elements Coloring Book

I taught middle and high school science for 8 years before giving birth to an Aspie son and taking my daughter out so I could teach them both at home. I knew what it was like to start a new school year, in school, things got overwhelming fast! And at home it was no different. But I learned a few simple strategies that changed all that. I want to share them with you.

We’ve been homechooling for 15 years and in that time I see so many posts in my groups of all the pressure parents are putting on themselves with no built-in rescue plans. So read along with me here, and before you even begin this year, build these things into your plans so that you have an escape hatch to stay sane and keep the stress away!

When I was a teacher, I had files full of quick and easy go-to activities to grab in an emergency. They were a lifesaver, I don’t know how I would have survived without them. The first step is to already plan and accept and expect the excitement to wear off quickly. Expect the kids to still be in summer mode and still want to get outside. Expect things to go wrong. They always will. In class, it seemed like just when we would really get going, they would announce a spontaneous meeting in the gym for half the kids in my class and out the door they’d go.

Sometimes, like during homecoming week, the kids were going and coming and getting so restless they took it out on me and I spent more time in moving seats and discipline or trying to get them to pay attention. THESE were the moments when I grabbed my rescue activities. It was welcoming to the kids, it helped get us through impromptu interruptions, missing kids, fire drills, storms outside, holiday excitement and anything else that seemed to cause the kids to just not be present and to be rebellious. Yours are no different.

So when your curriculum isn’t working like you planned, when the kids fight you, when you’re dealing with a sick child, when you’re exhausted, when you’re overwhelmed, when they are too excited to work, you’re going to have back up plans and you’ll use them and you’ll be glad you did!

MAKE THE BIN!

You know those plastic long flat under bed storage bins? Get one. And start with the back to school sales and grab the following:

Markers

Scissors

Crayons

Colored Pencils

Tape

Glue

Glitter

Rulers

Blank paper

Graph paper

Tissue paper

Card stock

Glue sticks

Open them and dump them out into the bin and mix them up. Then add these items as you find them:

Spice tins

Altoid tins

Magnet paper

Popsicle sticks

Foil

Ribbons

Craft paper that comes in boxes shipped to you

Magazines with lots of fun pictures (thrift stores)

And anything else you can think of to throw in there. Mix it all up.

This bin is the basis for everything else. You will find activities in this post, you’ll find activities all around my blog here, you’ll find them on Pinterest. And most of them will require these things and you’ll bring this bin out and the kids will get all happy.

So when you find yourself struggling, STOP. Go to your printables file, or Pinterest or come here and grab an activity and relax. I have a lot of pinned things you can make ahead of time on my Pinterest board “Educational Littering Activities”. I will leave links at the end of this post.

It’s best for you to start now and print out the easy rescue activities that are educational, age appropriate and put them in a file ready for use. Make things ahead of time, and put this bin together. That way, when you need it, you know right where to go, grab it and set them loose on it. Then you go make coffee or tea, spray a calming scent in the room or boil a calming essential oil smell, then breathe. They are doing educational stuff and having fun. You are taking a break. They can make a mess, because you’re going to put a bed sheet on the floor, put the bin down, give them the activity and let them have at it. You’ll simply toss everything back in the bin, throw away what’s left and shake the sheet outside. Done.

Yes, I did floor time with my high school kids, they loved me for it.

So here’s a bunch of things to get you started.

Grab the periodic table of elements coloring book here. Go on and make copies of some of the pages and put it in your emergency file.

Go here to find fun easy activities you can do with those pages.

Get a lot of activities that are self guided or do alone from my Pinterest board here.

Grab these free science coloring pages here.

I have a group on Facebook called Free Lessons. Join and grab lots of stuff.

Outline maps are essential for your homeschool.  Grab these if you want.

See this post on how to use outline maps in rescue situations. And where to find more.

Print some mazes! They are great for critical thinking skills, logic and patience! These are great and fun!

There’s a common misconception in education that when it comes to chemistry, it’s hard. This is just wrong. I have written an entire book on Ending Your Fear of Teaching Science and in that book I dispel the myth that chemistry is hard. It’s a myth that was started by early scientists and those with elitist attitudes and it has continued to cause disruption of the sciences, fear in middle and high school students and many of you probably have stories to tell about it. Part of my life’s work is to help people overcome the myths of sciences, their fears and misconceptions. Part of my work is to help introduce the periodic table to elementary ages in fun and easy ways.

But this article is about why you shouldn’t have your kids memorize any part of the periodic table of elements. The reason this article started with the fear of chemistry is because I believe this is the reason for 2 things. Firstly, this idea of memorizing the periodic table started in the 1950’s when (NOT CHEMISTS) science teachers had inferiority complexes. Teaching was considered something you did if you couldn’t hack it in the real world. We know today that this really is not true and that teaching requires a very strong and unique skill set of patience, knowing their learners, imparting knowledge in a fun and engaging way and loving this as a choice. But imagine having a degree as a chemist and your peers are working in the budding field of chemistry and being well paid. But you WANT to teach. Then you see your peers gain respect, they are heralded as “smart”, they are oohed and aaahed at parties. Yet with that same degree when you say you’re a teacher it’s sort of, “oh.” And you’re less respected and paid less. 

THE DAMAGE

This inferiority gave birth to a movement in the history of science education that has done the most damage to our population in the history of education. When word spread that the kids immediately feared and “respected” you (false respect) if you started day one of chemistry by unveiling this terribly complex periodic table and told them to memorize the first 40 elements and then give a pass/fail exam, it grabbed the students by the fear, and it weeded them out immediately as they ran for the door, dropped the class then spread the word that this class was HARD! Fear equaled respect for those teachers, sadly.

This was an exercise in fakery, falsehood and shamness. It was a game. A dangerous game that broke our scientific education system and sent kids away from the sciences by the millions in 30 years’ time. The cost to our country in lost scientists is what caused us to no longer be the scientific leader of the world in discoveries, it caused a sharp decline in science majors and caused so many kids to turn away from their dreams. The practice of memorizing the periodic table in schools started to end in the 1980’s. So any teacher today who has their kids memorize any part of it is not doing their due diligence in keeping up with teaching practices. 

THE MYTH

Because of what I do, I get emails every day from people who have scarring events in their schooling years in science. And most of the time it’s chemistry related. The truth is that chemistry is the easiest of all the sciences, far easier than biology. This is a fact. I can write a 10 page article outlining why. But I will tell you that part of the myth stems from this old practice of forcing memorization of the periodic table in the first week to feel superior and weed ‘em out. The other reason this myth persists is because we SEE biology every day in animals and flowers and get a false sense of security about the real science of biology. I fell for it too. And in college I got a real slap in the face. This is not my opinion. Go to any science building at any college and ask them what the first intro level science class is, that they advise all their students to take. They will all tell you, Chemistry I. There’s a reason for this. You cannot understand most of the real concepts in biology without a very basic understanding of chemistry (respiration in a cell, photosynthesis, gas exchange in the lungs, plant hormones, human physiology, the water cycle, wind and weather, tree dormancy, tree rings, fire, acidity, pH balance in animals, how nerves work, to name a few). And chem I is so unbelievably easier than Biology I at any junior college or university, no matter how elite. This is well known and it’s a fact. Chemistry I is just ridiculously simple and Biology I is doubly difficult. I like science. I made an A in my chemistry classes, I studied very little. I have never studied so hard as I did for intro Biology I and I made a C. And I can’t tell you how shocked all the other students were in this class of 250 freshmen in Biology at how hard it was. Like you, like me, they thought it would be the simple, easy A. The only reason we don’t start 9th grade with chemistry is because kids need just a little basic algebra for formulating the chemicals. So we wait until they have that first. And for some reason we choose to do biology instead. Biology should be the very last science they take. While we wait we can do earth science or basic physical science, then chemistry.

So you’re thinking, this stuff is for older kids, my kid is in elementary school. Keep reading.....This IS for your kid!

So why not memorize the periodic table? 

Firstly, and most importantly, if a periodic table will be required for use it WILL ALWAYS BE PROVIDED. Yes, this is a true fact with absolutely NO exceptions EVER. It is in chemistry class on the wall. It is never covered up for an exam. In fact during every test you’ll see the students constantly looking up at it during the exam. Why? Because the skill of chemistry is NOT in memorization, but in knowing how to use the periodic table that matters.  In fact, the only way you can understand how to bond things or mix things is by using the periodic table. You absolutely cannot ever bond or mix a single thing in chemistry without referring to the periodic table. It’s the recipe book.

Memorizing it makes about as much sense as memorizing the manufacturer of all the pieces of furniture in your house. So what about standardized tests? All standardized tests from middle school to the SAT or ACT provide a periodic table either separately or it’s printed in the test booklet. ALWAYS. What about in chemistry lab, where you’re actually mixing things? There’s one on the wall. What about tests in class? There’s one on the wall. What about at home doing homework? There’s one printed on the inside cover of the book. There will never, ever, ever, ever be a time that your child will need to utilize elements of the periodic table that one won’t be provided. Ever. Period.

DON’T DO IT

Having your child memorize the periodic table teaches them that memorization is part of chemistry. It isn’t. Ever. Memorization is boring, it’s useless and mindless. It makes people hate science. Science is about DOING. Forcing memorization immediately makes that child’s mind turn it off before they ever start.

Secondly, having your child memorize the periodic table is a go-to something easy that seems hard and like your kid is smart. Thirdly, if you ever get around anyone in the chemistry field and brag that your kid is memorizing the elements you will get a loud silence, questioned about your ability to teach your kids and most certainly not be taken seriously. We homeschoolers have enough myths to deal with without actually perpetuating them through ignorance. And any transcript or portfolio you turn into a college where you had your kid memorize the periodic table will come under question. It shows ignorance of a subject and the lack of knowledge that this practice started to leave the field 40 years ago. I keep seeing this practice perpetuated in the homeschooling community and it has to end.

DON’T HATE ME YET!

Before you get offended let me save myself.  I actually am spending my life’s work and purpose in having empathy for all of us out here who had terrible experiences with science, and you came by it honestly. I talk about this in my book End Your Fear of Teaching Science. But I had to write this article because I keep seeing pins on Pinterest about helping memorize the table and I almost cry because it’s spreading the fear and falseness and intimidation factor, not to mention the huge waste of time on that child’s brain. But it’s doing a disservice to the validity of homeschooling. Scientists see this practice as ancient and happy it’s gone, yet see it thriving in the homeschool community and are quick to place judgment on the lack of real scientific learning in homeschooling.

When I do speaking engagements, one of the first things people raise their hands and proclaim proudly is how their kid is memorizing the periodic table. It’s hard to hear. And I get it almost weekly in person, at meetups with my kid, in emails and it’s just hard.

NOW WHAT?

But you’re reading this because you obviously either heard you had to do this or you already did it. And now you feel insulted. I hope you don’t. Because it’s not your fault. It’s the result of the earlier scientists having inferiority complexes, creating the myth that chemistry is hard, keeping it alive with scare tactics and then you come along having heard that, believing that, yet wanting very much for your kid to have a basic chemistry introduction to the table early. So if you know little about chemistry and you want an easy activity and you see it perpetuated all around you, then the obvious go-to activity is “Hey, let’s memorize the elements.”  Lack of information about chemistry, what it is and how it works is what gives rise to this memorization thing.

But guess what? Remember when I said chemistry was the easiest science? It is! And HOW the table works is so deceptively simple that if I had 10 minutes with you, you’d understand how the table works and you’d be joyful because something that looks so intimidating is so easy and you get it. I do this all the time. When I speak, I speak about getting this thing on the wall early and helping introduce very young children to it. So of course I have to show everyone how it works so they won’t be afraid of it. And it takes me 10 minutes. And when it clicks, while I’m still talking, the audience erupts in applause, women crying and kids getting excited. Why? It’s sad really. It’s because all those people feared it, were intimidated by it and when they saw how perfectly designed it is and how perfectly simple it is, the relief, the joy, the sadness of feeling so afraid, all of it comes out. That experience in that room is so joyful and electric it makes me cry onstage and my makeup starts running down my face. And it changes everyone. And those families leave different than when they came in. And they will move forward doing REAL work in chemistry, not rote wasteful memorization.

DO THIS INSTEAD

Please help me do this. Please do not make your child memorize the periodic table. Please take a chance and learn how the table works. Make your own periodic table. In my Teachers Pay Teachers store I have a FREE lesson to teach you how to make your own for the wall. I have The Fearless and Simple Guide To The Periodic Table. I have The Periodic Table of Elements Coloring Book. Here on my blog I have many activities you can do with the elements, with the table and they are fun hands on activities. There’s so much to get your child into real science instead of memorization. Help me tell others to stop the practice of memorization. Help me end the damage it does, how wasteful it is, and how it’s taking time away from the really fun stuff that kids truly love.

Indulge in my life’s work, read, get, do. Because the periodic table is FUN!

I homeschool so of course I started my kids out with it, it’s been on the wall for 20 years, from the beginning of their lives, along with the letters, numbers and maps. So it’s a natural part of their lives. Even my creative fantasy whispy grown daughter is well versed in its use. My sciency son immediately gravitated to the chemistry and sciency mods of Minecraft and built and mixed and played in the game as his playground to learn more about chemistry because he never feared it, because he knew it and it was easy and fun and helped him get ahead in the game. 

Instead of memorizing elements, go play with them!

Free downloadable printables and how-to’s are here:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Teresa-Bondora

Like forks and spoons are tools. We don’t memorize how many forks and spoons we have with our toddlers, we help them learn how to use them as tools. 

Are you ready to play? Lets dump the memorization and let’s play with the elements. Want to start? I have a free sample of the coloring book, and crafts to do, travel element tins you can make, magnets for the fridge, games to play, and how to make your own table, placemats….oh so many fun things to do with the elements. Let’s go….

Activities and crafts are here on my blog, click on periodic table posts.

Free samples, downloadable printables and how-to’s are here:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Teresa-Bondora

Wanna know more about me and who I think I am that I can say these things? 

Find me here: www.HowToTeachScience.com

Pin this post, share it, help me rid the practice of memorizing the elements. Let’s play with them instead!

COMMENTS:

KT Brison, of Lit Mama Homeschool blog said...

I Love the article. I taught my boys, who are now 11 & 13, how to use the periodic table last year rather than having them memorize it. I did make learning about each element part of the class, but not with memorization. Rather, they learned what each does or is used for.

Gina Munsey  of www.oaxacaborn.com blog said...

This is a really fun activity if you like scrapbooking and this scrapbooking activity is going to be really useful for the kids when you’re done. In this example, I was lucky enough to have Loretta Pounds, an avid scrapbooker, make this one for me. I’m not THIS crafty :)

I sent her the Periodic Table of Elements Coloring Book and just wow, this is what she came up with. Notice that the best part about this is that you get to scrapbook, then the kids get to add their touches, they get to color the element’s name, number, symbol and pictures that related to that element. The kids can gather items that pertain to that element as you can see here, Loreta found a very old iron nail, she incorporated stickers of items made of iron, she found papers that resemble iron elements and so on. Have your kids help you gather the items you can use to scrapbook. Once you have all your items you want to use, they sky’s the limit. Older kids can help, or you can have the kids make it themselves. Obviously it doesn’t have to be as involved as this one. Loretta’s been doing scrapbooking for years, but it’s not about how it looks in the end, it’s about having fun with the elements. 

 I used decoupage to coat everything so now it’s nice and sturdy and can be looked at again and again. We chose not to color in all the words and numbers so you can see all the places the younger children can get involved and what they can color from the book. All the sentences and data she cut out and put in there are from the coloring book’s data page about that element. So have fun, look at the pictures and start making your scrapbooks of the elements. For this one Loretta chose a file folder like lapbooking uses. She reinforced it with papers and card stock that resembles iron and iron when it rusts, just to add to the creative element of it. 

I know it sounds funny, littering. But once I started using this with my son, I was amazed and sat in wonder every day at what it did for us.

So the concept is very simple. Gather a lot things that are educational like magazines, hands on activities, posters, gadgets, etc. And hide them. I constantly created and collected and kept them hidden. 

Then each day before you go to bed place an item out on the den floor or on the couch, I put one in the car, one on the kitchen table, etc. I added also putting new posters on the wall while he was asleep.

When he woke up he was excited to see something new on his wall and excited to run to the den or kitchen to see what new thing was waiting for him. When we got into the car to run errands he would get excited again to find something new waiting for him. He didn’t know he was learning, for him it was just fun surprises.

During the day I would hide something under his pillowcase, like a math sheet with crayons (yeah I know, math!) and he would LOVE it. It was pretty cool watching my son smile and be excited to do a math worksheet in bed at night.

I used to rotate things in and out. Magazines, books, posters, “disappeared” and new things appeared daily. He would ask me where they went and I would grin and just say “I don’t know!” but he knew it was me. And he grinned back.

I have lots of cool littering ideas I pinned on my Educational Littering Activities board here:

https://www.pinterest.com/TeresaBondora/educational-littering-activities/

Follow that board, I’m adding new pins and ideas to it every day. And I find great poster deals on Amazon and eBay. I hit up thrift stores for magazines and books and of course Pinterest for great ideas of educational things to make. And of course there’s my book, The Periodic Table of Elements Coloring Book. :)

This is a great way to introduce the elements at a very young age so they become familiar with the periodic table and what their world is made of. 

The concept is simple, you can download the free blank templates from this blog. She was kind enough to create them for me and to share freely. Print them on card stock and they will be the cards on which you will glue everything.

http://tagfamilies.com/3-part-cards-with-the-periodic-table-of-elements-free-download/

If the download doesn’t work, you can easily buy card stock in bright yellow and cut them into the appropriate shapes. 

Also, see this tutorial on making 3 part cards:

http://www.montessoriprintshop.com/Prepare_3-Part_Cards.html

Then cut out the name of the elements, the symbols and numbers from the Periodic Table of Elements Coloring Book available here in digital form. 

You can also cut out the accompanying pictures and some of the facts about the element. 

Start gluing these items onto your cards you printed out, in various ways, like pictures alone, symbol alone, symbol AND element name. Glue some facts on one card.

Gather a few items made of that element. Have the child color all the words and pictures. 

Have the child place the items made of that element on the cards in any fashion. Have them match pictures to the element’s symbol, or line up a picture, the symbol and the number. The variations are endless. They will color the pictures, have them all consistently on a yellow background card, will handle the items made of that element and all easy to fit on a small table or on a floor mat!

Make a set for as many elements as you’d like! They can easily be rubber banded together or paper clipped together and stored in a shoe box or other container or vinyl pencil case for travel.

This is great to use as a littering activity. For more littering ideas see my Pinterest board here.

For cool elements tins you can make with altoid tins see this post.

Kids love magnets on the fridge, you love helping them learn. Grab some of your used gift cards and let’s make some easy fun periodic table elements, colorable magnets!

You’ll need a few things:

Used gift cards

Magnet Paper (craft stores)

Craft glue

Scrapbooking paper themed to the element

Coloring pages from the Periodic Table of Elements Coloring Book

So choose your element. I’m showing you copper here. I decided to use a cool copper paper I found as the background. Simply trace the gift card onto the paper, cut it out and glue it onto the card. The card makes it sturdy as little hands play with it.

Next, cut out the element’s name, number and symbol and glue them on the front on the background paper.

Lastly, cut out the magnet paper and glue it on the back of the gift card.

I used these in my elements altoid tins, they fit perfectly. To see that activity go to this ELEMENTS TINS TUTORIAL. They are REALLY fun to make and fun for little people to play with on the go or at home!

You can have your child color the name, symbol and number then place it on the fridge. I also decoupaged them to coat them permanently and preserve them for future play! You can also have them color some of the pictures from the coloring book and glue them to magnet paper and put them with the element magnet so they can play and make the association with the items and the element! Here we colored copper blue green because it gets that cool patina on it!

Here’s 3 of them that I have finished so far! I can’t wait to get a whole bunch of them made and fill the fridge with elements from the periodic table.

The grandparents will be quite impressed! If you make some of these, please look me up on Facebook and send me pictures! I love to see what you all are making!

For more fun things to make with the coloring book, see the 3 Part Cards free printable activity here. ( the link will be up soon! Add your email to be notified)

Want to scrapbook the elements? See this activity on elements lapbooks!

These Elements tins are really easy to make and fun for any kid! They are perfect for travel or to keep in your bag for use anytime. They also make a great item for “littering”. If you don’t know about littering, stay tuned! You’re in for a treat.

To make elements tins you’ll need mostly items you already have around the house. Of course you’re free to really get into it like I did and make them themed. You can make them real girly or themed to the element or use particular items your child likes. Once they color the pictures inside you can make them into magnets and just make more copies and reload the tin for use later, mix them up and for use by other siblings or babysitting! It’s also a really fun thing to do with grandchildren. Ready to get started?

 You’ll need:

Altoids tins

Spray paint themed to your element if you want to paint them

Craft glue

Colored pencils- I found them at Hobby Lobby. Michael’s didn’t have the small ones.

Craft or scrapbooking paper if you theme it

 Get the pictures to color, data and Facts about the elements and small periodic table for kids found in the book: The Periodic Table of Elements Coloring Book

 Later, find items that represent that element that you can find around the house or get for cheap unless your kid is like mine and likes to collect items from the table, then we order stuff from ebay.                                        

 For this tutorial I am using the copper one I made. But I’ll talk about all 3 I’ve made so far! I’m working on more though!

For copper I decided to spray it with that hammered copper spray paint. I found a sticker of the Statue of Liberty, some copper jewelry wire and some electrical wire made of copper. Since copper gets that pretty blue green patina, I used a blue green scrapbooking paper for the inside. I cut out pictures like the copper wire, the name, the symbol, the number, the penny and typed out in large font, some of the facts, all to go in the tin along with small colored pencils.  So let’s do this…..

TIN Prep

Start out with the tin and spray paint it if you want to make a themed one to reuse over and over. Be sure to wash it and dry it well before painting.

 PAPER STUFF

To make your tin, once it’s dry, begin with all the paper items.

Choose your theme and pick out scrapbooking or decorative papers you want to use, if any.

Make copies of the coloring page so you have the colorable name of the element, it’s symbol and number, and the pictures to color.  I used the data page about the element as a guide to make short sentences in larger font for the younger ones. My older child can just read the data page so I cut out strips of information to put in the tin.

The point is to NOT be strict, but to play here so I changed it up and put only copper’s number on the top of the tin for mystery.

So start gluing things where you want them to be. Basically, use your papers and get creative!  Don’t color in the element’s name, the number, the symbol or the pictures. We want the kids to color those!

So gluing was minimal, just some papers and maybe a name or symbol or part of the periodic table with that element in it. 

I also made an extra copy of the coloring page so I could make a used gift card magnet for that element for the fridge to back up what we learned with the tin. It fits perfectly in the tin if you want to do that also.  Don’t color the magnet, let the kids do it! The magnet tutorial is here.

After I did all the gluing and decorating, I cut out the pictures for them to color later and I was done with paper.

So with paper you want:

Themed paper decoration

The element’s name, symbol and number on the tin or in it, uncolored

Pictures from the coloring book, in the tin, uncolored

Facts about the element from the book, cut out and in the tin

The magnet put together uncolored (optional)

That’s it for paper!

 ITEMS!

Now the fun part, I hunted down items for that element. So for aluminum, obviously I got some foil to put in it. I had fun trying to find a way to represent the Statue of Liberty for copper, when I thought of scrapbooking stickers. Carbon was easy and I had fun choosing what living things to use! You can put dinosaurs in here too! So for Carbon you can see in the picture, since it’s in all living things, I used little Nemo and Dory and I used grass paper for the inside. Since its forms are carbon and diamond, I put some coals from the fireplace in it and used fake diamond scrapbooking rhinestones.

So once you’ve gotten items that represent your element, all you have to do is decide what colored pencils to add. For some of the tins, I printed out the periodic table and cut out a chunk that had my element in it and glued it inside so they could see the elements that surround it. 

I put all the paper items in first, folded flat, then added the items and pencils.

PUTTING THEM TO USE AND “LITTERING”

When you give them the tin, you can talk to them about what’s in it, the facts on the paper about it and let them color the name, symbol, number, pictures, etc. I made the magnets from the other tutorial and put them inside also so they can stick the magnet to the back of the tin. They look at the items in the tin and associate it with the facts about it, they color the pictures and associate those with the element. And they are coloring it’s symbol and number so they are becoming familiar with the periodic table and how elements are classified!

When we got home, I took the pictures they colored and put them on magnet paper so along with the magnet for the element, I have their pictures they colored on magnet paper and I put them all together on the fridge. See the magnet tutorial here.

LATER, in a month or so, I’ll start rotating them back out again to refresh their memory. I’ll put new blank stuff from the coloring book in them to reload them. And I’ll keep adding new element tins!

 So littering…..

This is a style of teaching where you have books, posters, tins, activity pouches, lapbooks, etc and you keep them hidden. I have a board on Pinterest for items great for littering! Here:

 LITTERING ACTIVITIES on my Pinterest

After the kids go to bed, you place one item on the floor, one on the kitchen table, I always put one in the car. Then when your kids “find” them, they are surprised and curious so they stop and look and play. I also used to hide things like a math worksheet with crayons in a Ziploc bag and put it in my son’s pillowcase. He would find things like this when he went to bed and loved it!

I also used the elements to make 3 part cards for littering. 

For that tutorial go here

Just remember these tins will have small things in them, so if you have toddlers around, make sure you are around when the item is found so you can supervise or answer questions.

WHEN WHERE HOW!

The tins are useful for waiting in offices or at the table waiting for siblings to finish their work or waiting for dinner. Take them with you to the baby sitter or to visit family and let them enjoy the fun!

These are small enough to make 4 or 5 and pack them for a trip. I used to pack different small things like this so that I rotated things out every 30 minutes while on a road trip or long flight. It kept things interesting and they loved the game of “time to give it back and let’s see what’s next”!

Sometimes we take time off and travel. Sometimes I don’t want my son to fall behind in school. So sometimes we do an easy travel report. I made a great one for you to use that includes a multi-subject guide, a grading rubric, printable reports your child can fill in and a full sample report with pictures!

You can use this to help them learn to travel journal, that sometimes a trip winds up being better than we thought and one day we may want to remember the name of that great restaurant. This is also a way to learn how to write an informative piece, a critique or article.

It has a fill in report to help them learn the ropes of what to discuss. Later they can use that as a guide to write their own. At the end of the report is a grading rubric to help them make sure they touch on all the points and for you to write in to score each point for a final grade of 100 points. At the end I wrote a report about my trip to New Smyrna Beach in the winter and I added a picture and a postcard.

This also discusses with students the possibility of collecting maps, postcards and items like pins, buttons or badges from their trips which will mean a lot to them when they get older. To download the free lesson in pdf go here to my Teacher’s Pay Teacher’s store. And please take a moment to rate it!

I hope you enjoy it!

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/A-Travel-Report-for-Middle-and-High-School-Students-2400790

Yep, the periodic table of elements is very kid friendly! I made a whole coloring book for them. On this page of my blog you will find links to several places where you can grab some of these coloring pages for free! If you stay and look around you will also find some really fun and cool crafts and activities you can make with your kids and introduce them to the periodic table early so they develop a feeling for it and won’t wind up fearing it. There’s element tins using altoid tins, there’s scrapboking the table, eating the table, element collage, so much stuff! It’s what I hope you do, it’s what I’m spending my life’s work doing! So here are places to grab stuff besides here on my blog.

Here’s the FB page, you can grab 3 coloring pages from here:

https://www.facebook.com/PeriodicTableofElementsColoringBook/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel

You can grab the Aluminum page here:

http://www.homeschooling-ideas.com/periodic-table-lessons.html

And download a free sample of the book here and also find other free stuff:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/The-Periodic-Table-of-Elements-Coloring-Book-Sample-361595

Please take a moment to go to the side bar and click on periodic table posts and get a bunch of fun craft ideas with these pages. I hope you and your kids have fun with my work like I do! Keep reading for more pictures...

If you want the book with the accompanying data pages and all the elements go to Amazon here:

http://www.amazon.com/Periodic-Table-Elements-Coloring-Book/dp/1466484292/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1455735540&sr=8-1&keywords=bondora     

And here’s hydrogen for ya!

So most people think that the periodic table is for high school. I’ve spent 10 years trying to help people change their minds about this! I travel and speak and when the kids see my periodic table they are drawn to it. The parents, mid-sentence, telling me how their kid doesn’t know that yet, stops in wonder at how their child is looking at it, asking questions and wants to know. I smile and say, “Don’t worry, I’ve got this!” I love to get the emails and Facebook messages later telling me how their kid hasn’t stopped asking questions about the table. I wouldn’t have spent years making all the stuff I do about the table for kids if I didn’t already know, they love it, they are naturally inquisitive about our world and all they need is you to bring it to them! So, you can buy a poster, you can print out smaller ones from the internet, but here’s an activity that will engage their hands and minds and give you some quality kid time while helping them learn about the periodic table. 

Download the free pdf here. 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Make-Your-Own-Periodic-Table-For-Children-673571

The periodic table has moved from the halls of upper grades into the laps of kids and personally, I couldn’t be happier. So belly up and let’s have some fun making great crafts and projects with the elements shall we? 

The more time kids spend with the periodic table making crafts and learning about the elements, the less they will fear it and they will come to see it as another place to play and have fun in science! This will pave the way for later learning in chemistry and they will see it as a naturally simple science endeavor because they remembered playing with it earlier.

There are several things you will need for these activities. You will need a periodic table. I have created a very simple children’s version that you can get here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/The-Periodic-Table-of-Elements-Printable-Tables-Learning-Tools-423106

And then you can print away and cut them up and use it as a reference!

A copy of the Periodic Table of Elements Coloring Book it has cool pictures!

You can get it here https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Teresa-Bondora

Place Mats

You’ll need contact paper and a copy of the periodic table. Have the kids pesonalize it any way they want. You can color the gasses, metals and metaloids or they can color the columns or they can just put their names on them. Then cover them with clear contact paper. Voila’! You have cool dinner conversation :)

Elements Baskets

Have the kids look around the house for items you have found on the periodic table and place them in a basket. You can put a poster of the table on the wall and the basket nearby. Don’t have a poster? You can make your own with this free how to guide: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Make-Your-Own-Periodic-Table-For-Children-673571

Some items you can collect are aluminum, copper, toothpaste for fluorine and sodium (sodium fluoride), a helium filled balloon and tie it to the basket, a piece of burned wood from the fire or charcoal for carbon, a piece of foil for aluminum, jewelry like silver and gold. To learn more, see the coloring book’s data pages about each element and come up with more.

Folder Books!

Take an old file folder and choose an element from the table. Use the folder like a booklet and create a cover with the element, the periodic table, the blank table, and a title. On the inside, create pockets with strips of paper detailing where that element is found. Refer to the coloring book for ideas. Cut out pictures from the book and glue them inside, have them color the pictures. Create a scrapbook type of book! Take your own pictures and print them out and place them inside. Find that element and take a picture of it and include that too.

For more fun with folder books, get a bin and collect strips of paper, glue, scissors, markers, crayons, foil, glitter, stapler, scrapbooking stuff and keep it all together. Each day you want to do an activity, pull out the bin, grab another folder and pick another element!

How To Make Shaped Crayons and Why

Yeah, so in my science teaching I found that the sciencey kids liked coloring, the artsy kids liked coloring, the ADD kids liked coloring and it was a no-brainer to start looking for any pictures I could find to include in my science lessons. They were a huge hit. Then I started making my own shaped crayons to add to the mix and they just loved it! Did I mention these were my HIGH SCHOOL kids? Okay, so here’s the super fast  and cheap way to make the crayons so you avoid all the mistakes I made and money I wasted. Firstly you have to buy Crayola. Other brands do not melt well or mix well. You can spend $40 on buying a bunch of small packs to make sure you get all pure red, green,etc or you can get the $12 120 pack. Trust me, the kids don’t care if they’re swirled or exact color! Then on Amazon buy the shaped silicone mold. Here you’ll see I used the pumpkins for fall. Yes, it has to be silicon. Trust me, you will save yourself so much waste, broken crayons and not resuable molds if you just get the silicon. It’s all of another 12 bucks. And you can reuse it forever, for candy, for minicakes, for more crafts, whatever.

Okay you have the crayons and mold. 

Sort the crayons by color type. It can get a little weird with some of the grays and blue grays and blue greens but make piles of like colors as best you can so that you end up with a pile of what you would consider the “reds”, the greens, the yellows, etc. I put the metallics in a pile alone, i didn’t use the blacks or whites. Using a box cutter, razor blade or Exacto choose one pile of color and score down the side of the crayon to easily remove the paper. You can cut sort of deep because you’re melting them anyway. Remove the paper and as you do, place the crayon into a new pile of sorted colors. So if you’re in the reds, place all the “brick” reds together, light reds together, etc. When you’re finished with the reds you should have about 3 brick reds, 3 or 4 light reds, 2 pinks, etc.

When you have all the reds in these tiny piles, start with one pile reds. Break one into 4 pieces by breaking it in half then those in half. Now you have 4 pieces. Drop one piece in each separate mold, so 4 pieces of brick red into 4 separate molds. Go to another red pile and do the same. Keep going until you feel like you can’t fit anymore in those 4 molds. Looking at the reds you have left, determine how many more molds you think you can fill. Continue making sure to place the same number of like reds in each mold. Of course you’ll have to fudge a little here and there. So each red mold would have say, 3 pieces of brick red, 2 pieces of light red, 2 pieces of true red,etc. Don’t get too obsessive.

And don’t stack them so that they are piled above the level of the mold, this will be a color disaster and messy.

Move on to the greens and start your green molds.  I learned you have to do it this way to make sure you have enough to fill the molds, to make sure they are similarly colored, and to make sure all of them get used and the crayons are equally deep, not too thin or thick. Trust me. I know. When you’re finished you’ll find that not all the colors will fit and you’ll have to make a second batch using only some of the molds. Next, heat the oven to around 300 degrees F. Mine is gas and it’s sketchy, so I would go with less than to bake a cake and more than to melt butter fast :)

PLACE THE MOLD ON A COOKIE SHEET!!! DO THIS PART! Cause, once they melt and the bendy silicon mold is removed from the oven it folds and spills and goes everywhere. Yep, I know this too! :I You have to watch them after the 10 minute mark. There is a thin time line between melt and boil. Once they boil, they become brittle and scorched and the wax will separate and never again return no matter how much you try to mix it. Again, ask me how I know. Eventually I just stood there and watched them.

As soon as you see a good melt, remove very carefully and slowly from the oven and place it on the countertop to cool, not the oven top. When I say carefully and slowly, I mean, BE the cookie sheet. Any little angle to the left or right and it will roll up the side and stay there. Once you have them out, turn the oven off. Use a pencil or tooth pick and slowly swirl them around to make pretty designs. Stir too much and you’ll get a sudden other color that’s a mix of all of them. It happens quickly so I would only make 3 swirls max. Yeah, I know this from experience too. Aaaand let them cool.......This is the hard part. You have to wait for them to cool. Nope, can’t use the fridge. They will separate. And crack. And again, ask me how I know. Be patient. Go binge watch something.

Now, removing them is just the opposite of getting them out of the oven. If you were a soft silent kitten getting them out of the oven, be a lion removing them from the mold. Seriously, I thought I was going to break them to pieces but this part takes aggression. You have to grab one single crayon mold, fold the rest away, use your thumb and pull the edge away, while at the same time, with the other hand, push very hard from underneath. You’ll get the hang of it after the 2nd or 3rd one. You have to really get pushy with them. Once you get the edge of one out of the mold, grab it and pull really hard. There’s a suction and an adhesion you have to work against. They won’t break if you view it like removing a sticker, slow and steady pull.