THIS CLASS IS NOW FULL.

INSTRUCTOR: Sherri Atwell (For teacher bio, please see Here)
EMAIL: SherriA@empowered.academy
TIME: Full Year, Mondays 1:00-2:00pm ET (12noon-1:00pm CT)
plus additional 1/2 hour 2:00-2:30pm ET (1:00-1:30pm CT) for high schoolers
Note: In addition, Monday Q & A/Study hall 1:00-2:00pm ET (12:00-1:00CT). Any student may attend, however your student will not be required to attend this every week. When they are leading an experiment or discussion time that week in class they will need to meet with the instructor during this time therefore it is important that this time is reserved in your schedule!

SUGGESTED AGE RANGE: Middle school (6th-8th grade), with adaptations for elementary school (3rd-5th) and high school IF middle school siblings are taking the class.

Course Description:
This course enables families with multiple age levels to participate in the same Science class together.  Each chapter of the required books contains two levels – one for approximately 3rd-5th grades and one for approximately 6th-8th grades. From the Answers in Genesis book description: “Have fun with electricity, magnetism, and light; learn about machines and technology with hands-on activities and experiments. This fascinating series for grades 3 through 8 covers studies in motion, energy, and technology.”

If your family has Middle/Elementary schoolers taking this class, and you have a high schooler who would like to participate, please e-mail me!

Required Curriculum & Supplies by the student:

  • God’s Design for the Physical World – Student textbooks and Teacher Guide  3rd or 4th Edition ONLY.
  • Worksheets and Quizzes can be downloaded free here.
  • There are many experiments in this class, most of which use common household items, or easy to find inexpensive items. I will provide a list of items needed for each month, as well as who will be leading the experiment approximately one month in advance so that supplies can be gathered and experiment tried before class time.
  • Curriculum for High School adaptation: Physics 101 (Here) and Physical Science and Creation (Here)

Optional Resource: 

  • The Cartoon Guide to Physics found HERE
  • Life of Fred Pre-Algebra 0 with Physics found HERE

Instructor’s Note:

I firmly believe in Alicia’s God given vision: a free online academy, Empowering us as parents and teachers as well as empowering our students to be leaders, a chance to interact with other students live, have hands-on learning opportunities, all while focusing on Christ.

I see myself as a facilitator. I will be coordinating a schedule, what is expected of the kids and our times together online. I won’t be grading homework assignments and administering tests. In my schedule I will let parents know when they can administer tests if they choose. I will leave testing up to the discretion of each family. I believe testing only gives us a tiny snapshot of the learning that happens in a class. There may be a few assignments to turn in, however, most of my grading suggestions will be based on participation during our live classes. Because this will be an interactive, hands-on, participatory class, it will be clear if the students are not prepared!

The middle schoolers (and high schoolers) will take the reins in our times together. Students will be responsible for helping lead the class each week. That means they will each be assigned leading a science experiment we will do together online, or sharing a project, experiment or research from the week. I firmly believe that we all learn so much more when we are teaching it – and this is true for our kids also! I believe giving the kids a little bit of responsibility each week inspires them to greatness, and motivates them to work harder as they take ownership in the class. Students will also work on a project for an online virtual Physical Science fair.

Instead of trying to cram in the entire contents of all three books in the series into our 25 weeks together, and doing more than feasibly possible to truly learn, we will not be fully covering all three books. This will allow us to move out of “cram the brain” mode and be in “hands on, real learning mode” and do a virtual Science fair together.  I will make suggestions for OPTIONAL assignments during breaks.  In addition I am praying about, at the end of the year next year, possibly doing a Summer Camp using parts of that books we don’t get to.  I want the kids to learn and be excited about it. I don’t want either them or myself to be stressed that we cannot finish in time. I desire to enjoy our time together and genuinely learn!