2014 Bloggy Convention — AHEC — Jay Wile Science Giveaway

Welcome back to the 2014 Bloggy Convention! We are continuing to sharing our favorite upcoming homeschool conventions!

Our next featured convention will arrive to Pigeon Forge, TN in June!

Appalachian Home Educator’s Conference: Pigeon Forge, TN
June 26-28, 2014
Music Road Convention Center

 Be sure to stop by the vendor hall booth for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine to pick up your copy of the brand new 2014 Print Edition and to learn about all of the other fun and exciting things happening with TOS!

Our featured speaker from this convention is Dr. Jay Wile.

Dr. Jay Wile learned about his love for chemistry when his dedicated parents bought him his first chemistry set. Many stink bombs and a few explosions later, he was hooked! Although he loved chemistry, he also had many other interests. For a while, he thought about becoming a concert pianist, but unfortunately, his fingers were not long enough (no kidding!). As he was finishing up his high school years, he became extremely interested in the theater and began to pursue a career in acting. Partly because he learned the science behind some of the special effects of the plays in which he performed, he eventually went back to his first love: chemistry.

He went to the University of Rochester in upstate New York to study chemistry, and while he was there, he began working on nuclear chemistry experiments. He became so fascinated with nuclear chemistry that he stayed at the University of Rochester and got a Ph.D. in that field. For several years, he did research in the field under the auspices of the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation. This research led to several grants and many publications. While doing research, Dr. Wile was also an assistant professor of chemistry.

Dr. Wile’s love of science is demonstrated by the many awards he has won for excellence in teaching and research. He has also presented numerous lectures on the topics of Nuclear Chemistry, Christian Apologetics, Homeschooling, and Creation vs. Evolution. He has published 30 articles on these subjects in nationally-recognized, peer-reviewed journals, and has 9 books to his credit, most of which belong to the award-winning “Exploring Creation with” series of junior-high and high-school science courses.

Dr. Wile’s speaking topics in Pigeon Forge include:

Teaching High School at Home — Homeschooling parents are often faced with a difficult decision when their children reach high school age. Typically, the parents feel that they are just not able to teach the more demanding levels of mathematics and science which are required at the high school level. In addition, providing the homeschooled student with an adequate laboratory experience is a particularly daunting challenge. As a result, many parents feel that they must send their children to the public schools for a proper high school education. In this seminar, Dr. Jay L. Wile, a former assistant professor of chemistry at Ball State University and Indiana University, will explain why such a decision is not in the best interest of the student.

How to be a Real Environmentalist — In this seminar, Dr. Wile discusses the facts related to the environmental debate that is currently raging in America. Dr. Wile does not engage in the emotional hysteria which typically surrounds this topic. Instead, he gives a cool, scientific appraisal of the environmental situation today and shows that, in fact, most of the environmentalists’ claims are completely devoid of scientific merit.

What about K-6 Science — In this seminar, Dr. Jay L. Wile discusses a different method for teaching science in the elementary years: covering science topics chronologically. Science was learned in a definite, chronological sequence as early scientists developed ideas that were tested and improved by later scientists. If science is taught this way, students cover a wide range of topics each year and then revisit many of them as they were improved by later scientists.

Environment for Genius with Diana Waring —

Why Homeschool through High School — Using data gathered from many different sources, including his own experiences, Dr. Wile shows that the last place a student can get an adequate high school education is in the typical public high school.

Textbook Myths with Diana Waring —

Teaching Critical Thinking — One of the biggest failures of our public and private school systems is that they do not teach students how to think critically. In this seminar, Dr. Wile gives you specific suggestions as to how you can teach your child to think critically, regardless of the subject matter that the student is learning.

Teaching High School Science — In this seminar, Dr. Jay L. Wile explains how any parent can help his or her children learn science at the upper levels. As a former University teacher and a former high school teacher, Dr. Wile has experienced first-hand the failure of our public school system. As a result, he is a staunch advocate of homeschooling a student all the way through the high school years.

Watch the AHEC website for updated news about all of the speakers and exhibitors you’ll find in Pigeon Forge, and then click on the banner below to register for this event! Scroll down to find reviews of the products the Crew has reviewed from some of these exhibitors and to enter an awesome giveaway from Jay Wile and A Journey Through Learning.

Bloggy Vendor Hall

Here you’ll find links to our Crew views of products from several companies that will be exhibiting in Greenville this week:

Giveaway ($57 value)

For today’s giveaway, Dr. Wile has graciously donated his brand new science curriculum, Science in the Beginning. And A Journey Through Learning has donated the Science in the Beginning Binder Builder to go along with it!

Science in the Beginning Textbook and Helps and Hints

Science in the Beginning is the first book in a hands-on, multilevel elementary science series that introduces scientific concepts using history as its guide. Because each lesson is built around an activity or experiment, it is engaging for all K-6 students. In addition, there are three levels of review for each lesson, so the parent/teacher can choose the depth at which each student is expected to grasp the material. The course contains roughly 90 hours of instruction, 35 of which are composed of hands-on activities.

The beginning of history is given in the Bible’s creation account, and this book uses the days of creation as a way of introducing a wide range of scientific concepts including the nature of light, energy conservation, the properties of air and water, introductory botany, our solar system, basic zoology, and some aspects of human anatomy and physiology. As the students learn about these scientific concepts, they are constantly reminded of the Creator who fashioned the marvels they are studying.

This product is a set consisting of the textbook plus the helps & hints book containing everything the parent/teacher needs to know for the subject.

A Journey Through Learning Science in the Beginning Binder Builder

This Binder-Builder goes along with Science in the Beginning, the first in its series written by Jay Wile, author of the Apologia middle school and high school science courses.

A Binder-Builder is a lapbook done with sheets of card stock and a 3-ring binder. We provide the mini-booklets for your child to cut out, fold, glue, and record learned information. We show you how to store your mini-booklets so that at the end of the study, your child has a beautiful notebook binder to show friends and family.

 

To enter, use the Rafflecopter below. Residents of the US, age 18 and older please. See other terms and conditions in the Rafflecopter. See our complete contest rules here. And be sure to check back every day for the next 10 days for even more awesome giveaways!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now be sure to click on the banners below to enter our other giveaways, too.