Supercharged Science Review

 

Do you have a kid that loves experiments?  Does learning from a textbook seem dry and unappealing?  Then you will want to check out Supercharged Science.  Their
e-Science Premium Membership is a complete science program perfect for all types of learners (visual, auditory and kinesthetic).


About:

Aurora Lipper combines videos, text, worksheets along with hands-on experiments to make a complete interactive and VERY fun curriculum.  

Choose learning either by twenty topics including:  mechanics, motion and earth science or go by grade level.  (from k-12) 

Cost:

K-8th plan is $37 a month
K-12 plan is $57 per month (which is what I received for this review.) 







How we used this product:

We used this curriculum with my 11 year old son who is currently in 6th grade.  He was very much independent while using the course.  We went by topics rather than grade level because we had about 6 weeks to use it before the review and I wanted our time to be fun.  Either way would have worked but we had some 'ideas' about what we wanted to accomplish and study! Typically he would read about the topic and watch the videos.  If it was a experiment I had planned ahead to do we would break out our supplies and complete the activity.  He kept a science journal for all experiments.  I printed out the worksheets that went along with several topics but we did not end up using any of them these past few weeks.  I do think we will in the future. 

The first thing I had him do was watch the video about keeping a Science Journal.  This is located on one of the tabs at the top.  Ms. Lipper teaches the kids to keep good notes which include drawings and experiment results.  I think this was a huge help because it was one thing that my son didn't really grasp even though we had been keeping a science notebook.  I could see the change in what he recorded and how he put his results on the paper.  

Next we moved onto our first lesson section.  This was under topics: The Scientific Method.  This was another area that was cleared up for Xan.  We had gone over the Scientific Method but Aurora's video was so clear it was like a light bulb went off.  My son is a visual learner so seeing someone teaching and incorporating experiments on the videos was just the trick he needed for comprehension.

The experiment we did for this section was called Underwater Presidents.  Xan made a hypothesis about how many drops of water the penny would hold.  What we found out was that it depended on some variables like how clean/old the penny was.  

Next we decided to have some FUN!  I knew that the Electronics section would be a hit however we made a pitstop at Unit 10: Electricity because that was recommended before moving on.  

For this unit we learned about electricity, conductors and how to make switches.  

 First we studied basic circuits.  This was really cool.  Xan read the text online then watched the videos.  The we re-created the experiment.  We were able to connect to a power source and light a LED bulb.  Getting the results of the light bulb lighting up was pretty awesome.

Another experiment we did was make a simple switch.  This was pretty neat too.  We basically learned how to turn on and off the power supply.  


My Thoughts:

Supercharged Science is really a unique science curriculum.  I love that everything is pretty much online (with the exception of printables or if you want to print text.)  The videos we watched all featured Aurora Lipper and she was very pleasant onscreen to watch.  My son said that  his favorite part was watching the videos.  Another highlight is that there is SO much material in this program.  You could explore it all school year and not be able to complete everything.  

There are some things that didn't work for me too.  Mostly is how the website is set up.  It just isn't that easy to navigate.  As a parent I could easily be overwhelmed fast.  There is a *getting started* tab at the top which was very helpful.  I did like how there were shopping list for each unit - that made planning much easier.

Another thing I didn't like was when I signed up for a free trail I was flooded with emails.  The marketing was very aggressive.  Of course as soon as I unsubscribed that stopped - so if you do sign up for the free trial be sure to just click unsubscribe on your email.  I personally don't think they need to be so aggressive.  The material is fantastic!  My kid loved it and the price wasn't that bad for all that you get.  (The free trial had nothing to do with the review but I thought I would mention it in case you want to try the program out.)

This program is experiment heavy.  You can do as little or as much as you want but if your kid is like mine you will be doing a lot of experiments.  Lots of the items required for the topics we picked we already had items for.  You should keep in mind though that to really enjoy this course you will want to spend a little money for materials.  This was no problem for me.   We've bought science kits in the past with other curriculum.  I've been slowly creating a science experiment box which will host a wide variety of materials.  I figure when my littlest is bigger we will be covered.  After all this is an investment in my child's education.  We spent about $20 on materials for all of our experiments for electricity, and magnetism. 

So in conclusion we will keep using Supercharged Science.  My son loves it and I think it is fun to do the experiments too.  I think you could easily make this your main curriculum or use it to supplement another curriculum.   I have a feeling in the summer we will be continuing science just people learning with Supercharge Science is really that much fun that my son (and his older brother) will want to do more.