Review In A Nutshell:
Overall Rating (1-10): 10
Value (1-10): 9
Flexibility (1-10): 10
Website: http://www.theyoungscientistsclub.com/
Ages: 4-12
Review: Do you feel overwhelmed by the books, methods, equipment requirements and areas of scientific study as a homeschooling parent? If your children are between 4 and 12 years of age, I have a fun, simple and affordable solution for you!
The Young Scientists Club is a service that runs similarly to a magazine subscription. You receive a complete science kit in the mail at intervals of either once or twice per month, depending on which program you sign up for. Upon initial sign-up, your child will receive a binder and a few starter supplies. With each shipment, you will receive a very easy to follow parents guide to several experiments, a child’s interactive guide for their binder and all the supplies needed (minus normal household items) to complete experiments. Each kit focuses on a different scientific topic such as recycling, magnetism, electricity, etc. Your kids will absolutely love and look forward to science and so will you! This program makes teaching science a real breeze! And you might just learn something along the way too!
The best part is that this program is affordable! It costs US$11.99 per shipment, plus a $4.95 shipping and handling fee. We opted to do the once-a-month plan and I used it to teach both my boys who were ages 5 and 8 at the time. I found that we had plenty of experiments and opportunities to last the entire month and really focus on each area of science. It was a really thorough curriculum and gave us a lot of great jumping off points for learning and expanding on what we learned.
Description of a kit: The first kit focuses on recycling. The kit contained several experiments. One experiment involved decomposition. Three peat pellets were expanded and small pieces of paper and food was placed in two while a piece of plastic was placed in the third. After several days, my kids took apart the peat pellets and discovered that the food and paper had disappeared but the plastic remained. Boy did this open their eyes to recycling! Then we learned how paper was made and actually made real paper of our own, using equipment provided in the kit. This was so exciting for the kids! We made brown paper and colored paper. We used the paper to create labels which we then used on our brand new recycling bins. We did one experiment each week for the month. This kit really inspired my kids to be conscious consumers and they became zealous about reusing and recycling. Even a year later, this lesson still sticks with them!
Tips: Unless you are very efficient, stick with the once-per-month package. You can start at any kit you want. It is recommended that some children 9 and over might be more interested in starting at kits 6, 7 or 10 and up although from my own experience, I think there is great value in all the kits for all ages (even my own ancient age!)
Bottom Line: This is a great value and is flexible enough to use with all ages of children, thorough enough to use as your sole science curriculum and easy enough that even non-scientific parents will guide their children with ease!