Breaking Up the Repetitiveness of Staying Home | Toddling Through the Silicon Valley | Cheryl Bac | Palo Alto Online |

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Toddling Through the Silicon Valley

By Cheryl Bac

E-mail Cheryl Bac

About this blog: I'm a wife, stay-at-home mom, home cook, marathon runner, and PhD. I recently moved to the Silicon Valley after completing my PhD in Social Psychology and becoming a mother one month apart. Before that, I ran seven marathons incl...  (More)

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Breaking Up the Repetitiveness of Staying Home

Uploaded: Apr 22, 2020
When we found out that we would be staying home for an extended period of time our kids were very excited to do lots of new science experiments. The problem? I didn’t have lots of new science experiments prepared! It was overwhelming to think about sifting through the abundance of science experiments/demonstrations online. And preparing for weeks (most likely months) of new science activities. So I narrowed my focus and mainly choose experiments and demonstrations from Steve Spangler, DadLab, and Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls. I’m so grateful for the creative and educational activities these sites have for kids.

When stuck at home with young kids, life can become very repetitive. Reading the same books, playing the same games, singing the same songs. I’m grateful that our kids asked for science experiments when we first started staying home. Yes, it was a bit overwhelming at first, but now we’ve fallen into a rhythm of doing (or watching) at least one science activity every weekday.

These science activities have given us a great way to change things up. When I look back on this month with our kids, I hope I’ll think about crushing a soda can with air pressure, getting our walk along glider flying, and patiently waiting for our egg geodes to form.

We get to try something new, I get to share my passion for science with our kids, and our kids can share their favorite experiments with friends and relatives. If you haven’t added science projects to your day, I would recommend trying some of the simple (yet impressive) ones (Have you walked on eggs? Crushed a can with air pressure?)

How is your family changing things up while staying at home?
Democracy.
What is it worth to you?

Comments

Posted by Patrice Geraghty, a resident of Community Center,
on Apr 23, 2020 at 12:47 pm

Looking for additional resources for fun science activities at home? Science from Scientists, a national STEM education non-profit, has made available their hands-on STEM activities for free on their website. See Web Link Join their STEM at Home Challenge for a chance to win a $15 Amazon gift card.


Posted by Cheryl Bac, a Palo Alto Online blogger,
on Apr 23, 2020 at 2:05 pm

Cheryl Bac is a registered user.

Patrice Geraghty- Thanks for commenting. That sounds great. I’ll check it out soon.


Posted by Patrice Geraghty, a resident of Community Center,
on Apr 24, 2020 at 12:49 pm

Cheryl - Please do! Once we are back in schools again, we'd love to host a visit for you to one of our local schools where you can watch our scientists lead hands-on, engaging lessons in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math in the classroom during the school day. Let me know if you're interested. [email protected]


Posted by Gettingthrough, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood,
on Apr 29, 2020 at 8:40 am

Things I finally did with my kids/teenager that we never really had time to do before, but always wanted to:
I taught them how to properly wash our cars...and vacuum the inside.
We finally planted a raised bed and have been maintaining it.
We now all have dinner together( no more sports or commuting) and each of us has to share a daily current event.
The kids now do the yard maintenance...blow, pick up leaves, pull weeds ( I do have to pay them for this one to increase motivation) We never had a gardener, as my husband begrudgingly did it.
We can't go to the beach anymore, but they have a lot of fun with a hose...spraying each other and sprinklers to cool off.
Overall, I feel bad for these kids, but we are trying to get through this the best we can while staying safe. Online school is lonely for them and they miss their peers. This month we will attempt to make some masks to donate as we improve our sewing skills:)


Posted by Cheryl Bac, a Palo Alto Online blogger,
on Apr 29, 2020 at 9:46 am

Cheryl Bac is a registered user.

Gettingthrough- Thanks for commenting and for sharing a little about how life has changed since the stay at home order started. Distance learning is definitely a change. We miss the beach too. So many fun summer memories playing in the sand and water.


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