This is a complete hands-on online science curriculum for homeschoolers taught by Aurora Lipper, a former Mechanical Engineering instructor at Cal Poly University. It is designed to be totally kid-friendly so that you can just point your kids to their next science lesson. The curriculum includes videos, texts, homework, a teleclass featuring the textbook author, parents resources, a means to ask questions of the author and a way to record experiments. The curriculum is available online for a monthly fee, and there are also texts, CDs and numerous science project kits at various price points. Features include:
- Experiments that are designed to use inexpensive commonly available materials so shopping for them is easy. Plus, I always try to use inexpensive stuff so you don't need to buy all sorts of expensive supplies and equipment. In fact much of what you already have, or it's free.
- In depth textbook readings for older kids, so you don't even need to buy a text book
- Exercises and quizzes so you can keep tabs on what your kids are learning
- Live interactive video tele-classes every 2-4 weeks where I'll introduce each new unit and answer questions.
- All videos are saved online so your kids can do lessons at their own pace. Different kids are at different levels, so you can go through the lessons at any pace that is right for your kids.
Website: Supercharged Science
(9 Reviews)
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Contributor Reviews
Reviews are solely the opinions of the contributor.
Cons: It will help if material list is provided separately for each Science category. Sometimes materials can be difficult to find but as mentioned the kids can just watch and learn.
Grades Used: Primary and high school
Supercharged Science is wonderful! My kids absolutely enjoy the hands-on experiments and if materials are not readily available, Aurora also makes the sessions informative and engaging. There are so many experiments to do and they are categorised neatly. Aurora is very knowledgeable and her high school notes are also very comprehensible.
Cons: Hard to follow
Grades Used: 7-8
Although I think Aurora is an amazing woman with a great personality, she talk really fast and it can be hard to understand what she's saying. Other than that, I think her program is incredible. She really does hands-on activities and her prices are great. I love that her experiments include easy items to use. Also, I really like that her company is family-owned. Thanks for helping my children learn Aurora!
Cons: Poor customer service
Grades Used: 5
Speaks very fast and difficult to follow for SEN child. Not straightforward to use as advertised and unfortunately no reply to any emails.
Cons: None!
Grades Used: Prek-4
What a wonderful program! Covering many different aspects of science all in one place, Supercharged Science has brought the subject to life in a way my son truly enjoys. Learning by doing seems like it should have been obvious but without knowing where to start all we ever did was reading from our basic home school curriculum and for that reason William never really had fun with science. He also didn't seem to soak in the information. Now, however, he tells anyone who will listen what he has learned and how it applies to real world applications. There are things I don't even realize he is learning until he starts spouting off information.
Aurora takes the guess work out by having everything organized wonderfully on the website and has videos for all the experiments so you never have to wonder if you did things right. Supply lists with each experiment also mean you never have to buy things for the ones you don't plan on doing by mistake. We do everything together and even I've learned allot (building robots isn't so scary with Aurora by your side!) but for older students they can definitely do most of it on their own. There are also special live classes multiple times a week where you can ask questions and even classes where the kids can all get on, safely, together and show what they've been working on. This also isn't an automated service where you have to wonder if or when any questions you have will be answered, I don't think there's been anything yet where I had questions or comments and someone didn't respond within a couple hours.
It truly is amazing everything they have done and I can't wait to see even more curiosity and growth in William because of Aurora and Supercharged Science.
Definitely recommend Supercharged Science.
Cons: $, difficult to use, find what you need for experiments, bad customer service
Grades Used: 1st and 4th
I find Supercharged VERY difficult to use. We tried it for a few months and changed. It's very expensive and not worth the money. We find it difficult to find what we need for the experiments. My kids like her. I find her incredibly annoying! I wish there was a setting to slow down her talking. She talks VERY fast. She is knowledgeable and does interest the kids but the curriculum is a chore to use. We won't renew. I wish we could get at least a portion of our money back but her customer service is a joke. I find Mystery Science easier to use, a lot cheaper and I feel like my kids learn a lot more because they can do so much more.
Cons: finding some of the parts
My son loves this stuff! I have had "skeptical" family members say "You learned/did that at home"?!
Aurora is energetic and the projects are simple but keep the students attention and desire to do more. She usually uses stuff everyone has in their kitchen or can get at Wal-Mart. There has been a time or two I needed to go to a hardware store but it wasn't difficult on me or the checkbook. My son's favorites were the rollercoaster, catapults and water hydraulics.
Cons: expensive
Grades Used: 3-8
We have tried some of the online experiments and enjoyed the chance to pop rockets off in our basement! She does a good job of sending out materials lists in advance, and of explaining concepts.
Grades Used: 2nd
We downloaded the free booklet and signed up for the newsletter. We love her videos and enjoy her enthusiasm. She also has great free resources for other subjects in her newsletter.
Cons: pricy
Grades Used: all
We LOVE Aurora's science! My children love to watch the videos and then make/do the project. In fact they want to do it all the time (and not do the other schoolwork!) We purchased the one year package with all of the supplies (since I have a new baby) and it was pricy - but since it saved me the time in locating all of the necessary supplies for each experiment - that's always our challlenge around here - it's actually saved me sanity in the long run - and that's PRICELESS!!! Aurora is the kind of science teacher we all wish we had in school! Her enthusiasm is contagious! I highly recommend this resource!!!!