Favorite Resource - The Jason Project
I was involved with The Jason Project back when my now 28 year old daughter was 10 or 12. I was introduced to it by another homeschooling mom who was actually a biologist in real life. She was a secular homeschooler, and only homeschooled for a little while. But anyway, that's how I found out about it and was so wowed by what a great program it was. The kids who enroll sign up to do certain experiments along with real scientists. And then at the end of the year you all meet somewhere depending on where you were in the country. We met at the National Geographic Society auditorium where you get to actually talk to the scientist either there in person or remotely on a screen.
It is great fun and the whole program was so well laid out. It even included literature, geography, history and of course applied math in the science experiments. I remember reading Island of the Blue Dolphin when we studied the Channel Islands and Treasure Island when we studied the Caribbean and finding treasure. The program was originally developed by Dr. Robert Ballard, the guy who used remote cameras to discover the Titanic and also the vents at the bottom of the ocean. He got so many letters from students about the Titanic asking really intelligent questions that he decided to develop a program that would take kids along with him as he explored the Earth.
It was initially very homeschooler friendly. I think Dr. Ballard loved the idea of homeschooling! I did it with our co-op at least three times. However, Dr. Ballard relinquished it to National Geographic and it got a bit more PC and more public school friendly. However, there are homeschoolers who have continued to use it. It really is so wonderful in teaching science in the most exciting, hands on, mentoring way. Kids develop a working relationship with actual scientists and it is cutting edge science. So I still recommend looking into it and seeing if it would work for your family or a group of families or a co-op.
I did have to go and get trained at some point. I took a Saturday morning and spent it in a workshop held at an inner city school. It was a great experience for me because I saw the dedication of these teachers trying so hard to reach their students and inspire them. And then later that school that held the workshop sent a teacher and student who'd won some kind of a scholarship to something Jason related in California. Unfortunately their flight was on 9/11 and both died in the attack. Hopefully, that will never happen again! May they rest in peace.
Here's a link to Jason Learning which is what came up when I googled 'Homeschoolers Jason Project.' It might take some digging around to get started in it.
Wow, I was just googling around and it seems that Dr. Ballard has started another educational enterprise called Nautilus Live! I know nothing about it but you can check it out here.
It is great fun and the whole program was so well laid out. It even included literature, geography, history and of course applied math in the science experiments. I remember reading Island of the Blue Dolphin when we studied the Channel Islands and Treasure Island when we studied the Caribbean and finding treasure. The program was originally developed by Dr. Robert Ballard, the guy who used remote cameras to discover the Titanic and also the vents at the bottom of the ocean. He got so many letters from students about the Titanic asking really intelligent questions that he decided to develop a program that would take kids along with him as he explored the Earth.
It was initially very homeschooler friendly. I think Dr. Ballard loved the idea of homeschooling! I did it with our co-op at least three times. However, Dr. Ballard relinquished it to National Geographic and it got a bit more PC and more public school friendly. However, there are homeschoolers who have continued to use it. It really is so wonderful in teaching science in the most exciting, hands on, mentoring way. Kids develop a working relationship with actual scientists and it is cutting edge science. So I still recommend looking into it and seeing if it would work for your family or a group of families or a co-op.
I did have to go and get trained at some point. I took a Saturday morning and spent it in a workshop held at an inner city school. It was a great experience for me because I saw the dedication of these teachers trying so hard to reach their students and inspire them. And then later that school that held the workshop sent a teacher and student who'd won some kind of a scholarship to something Jason related in California. Unfortunately their flight was on 9/11 and both died in the attack. Hopefully, that will never happen again! May they rest in peace.
Here's a link to Jason Learning which is what came up when I googled 'Homeschoolers Jason Project.' It might take some digging around to get started in it.
Wow, I was just googling around and it seems that Dr. Ballard has started another educational enterprise called Nautilus Live! I know nothing about it but you can check it out here.
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