Loupe Learning

We broke out some tools to start learning about and with. I had learned of this great program several months back from a fellow homeschooler and we decided it would make a great addition to next year's science plan... and well, just our learning experience over all. Loupes along with a book called The Private Eye, here is their site: The Private Eye

I am in the process of reading the book to better prepare myself for a rich program with the loupes. So, we have not taken a serious approach to them yet. Instead I am letting my children become familiar with them and practice proper holding, use, focus and care of their loupes. We have used them on several occasions now and have had many discussions on the care and use of them. Towards the end of summer we will try an activity from the book in a lesson fashion. For now, it's all fun!

Holly decided to get out her rock and fossil collection the other day -- a great chance to also break out the loupes. Using the loupes kind of changed the normal experience to more in depth discussion on what things looked like. She slowed down and took a moment to look at the details. She found similarities in different materials, she showed differences to me that from the naked eye -- looked the same. As well, we learned not to scrape the lens on the rocks, Hudson mastered which way to use the loupe and they both had a really good time!