Physics At Home

High quality physics education for the homeschooling family

Greetings! My name is Chris Shullenbarger. I have been teaching public high school science in Frederick County, Maryland since 2002. I am a blessed husband and father of six, and every year I look forward most to spending my summers exploring the United States, road-tripping with my awesome family.

On those trips we cannot help but to run into countless displays of our universe's wonders, as well as the many ways that knowledge of the universe, the willpower for hard work, and the creativity bestowed on humankind have produced marvels beyond reckoning. Sometimes, we are able to capture photos and video of these amazing displays to share with my physics students, but I present the same challenge to all of them from school year to school year: discover physics happening every day in your own life!

My excitement and enjoyment of physics began when I was in high school. I would not want you to miss that opportunity, because a foundation in physics is a tool that you can carry with you for your entire life. Pick any career, occupation, hobby, sport, political voting decision, or odd-job to complete around the house, and for most cases, taking a class in physics will make you better at them all (I can honestly say that the jobs I feel comfortable doing because of what I learned from my physics classes has saved me tens of thousands of dollars as a car and home owner).

This brings me to the reason I have begun offering these online courses. My wife and I homeschool our own children, and within the homeschooling community, we find that high school science tends to be the subject most often avoided for many varying reasons. However, without a solid science background, any graduating high school student - from public, private, or home school - will find it extremely difficult to compete for college acceptance and scholarships, and ultimately to compete for jobs in our increasingly global 21^st century workplace.

Therefore, my growing passion is to make student growth and acquisition of science processes and skills available to a community that, at this point in time and as a whole, lacks quality resources to do so. Free resources on the internet are quite excellent, and I incorporate many of them into my courses, including some exceptional video teaching segments from Paul Anderson (http://www.bozemanscience.com). While these and boxed computer course resources can teach some content and skills, they lack a key element that is fundamental to the advances in science that we have seen in the past 400 years: collaboration.

Sharing ideas, thoughts, experiences, and perspectives are essential to the advancement of our understanding of the universe, and they sure make things exciting in science. Conversations with my students are what I live for in the classroom. They bring science to life for all contributers. And finally, it is my mission to introduce real, contemporary methods of scientific investigation and data analysis that will equip students for college and their future careers. I hope to make your acquaintance.

Wherever you want, and whenever you want! Once a course is started, there are defined time 'milestones' to meet so that class discussions are synchronized and so the courses end by the final ending date, but other than that, it's up to you: the home school student and parent.

If you have any questions, contact me at physathome@gmail.com

*** This course experience cannot apply to AP courses. For consistency and reliability, the College Board audits all courses with the "AP" label; a process that requires instructors of its Advanced Placement courses to submit materials and syllabi that demonstrate the curriculum, rigor, and lab experiences of the courses that they teach. For these courses to legitimately carry the AP status, they must be fully instructed by an audited teacher.

 

Course Experience Comparison
	Full Course	Parent Guide	Parent Teacher
Full instruction
Learning activities
Lab investigations
Assessments
Writing assignment feedback
Classroom discussions and group activities		*
Time Constraints/Deadlines		*
Full grading
Assessment grading only
Automated grading only
Parent Access to writing rubrics
Parent Access to all grading / feedback materials
Tuition Deduction	N/A	$100	$200

Every course includes labs that only require supplies that are readily available in most homes. But, if you would prefer an enhanced lab experience, each course has several options available:

• Lab Level 1 - @Home Lab Supplies: This option is free of charge, although some inexpensive supplies may need to be purchased depending upon what you already have available. The beginning of each unit will have a list that you can use to collect lab supplies ahead of time.
• Lab Level 2 - Enhanced Labs: A small shipment of pre-fab lab equipment will be sent to you from Physics At Home. The actual equipment varies from course to course, but it will offer a cleaner, more convenient, and more accurate investigation/data collection experience than the standard @Home Supplies. Most of the supplies are delivered "at cost," but some of them do require some fabrication, time, and packaging, so a modest handling fee is included.
• Lab Level 3 - Extreme Labs: The Enhanced Labs equipment will be shipped to you along with Vernier probeware for a modern lab experience. Required Vernier equipment varies by course, and is shipped to you "at cost." If you return the equipment to Physics At Home at the conclusion of the course, you will be refunded two-thirds (2/3) of the cost.

It is a Physics At Home goal to make the physics education experience as affordable to the family as possible, and at the same time, deliver the highest quality instruction. With that in mind, each course will provide a full list of the materials contained within the Enhanced and Extreme lab options for those who wish to price these packages. The Enhanced and Extreme packages contain materials that are available to many public school students, but are not often readily available in the typical home school classroom. Their availability provides the home-schooler similar exposure to lab instruments that their future college peers will have had exposure to in their high school classrooms.

Each course has a full tuition cost ranging from $300 to $500, depending upon the course. However, these courses are structured for the homeschool experience, and discounts can apply for different experiences! In addition, you have the option to enhance the lab component of your course. Optional course add-ons in the table below are preceded with the addition symbol (+).

 

Course Tuition Chart
	Full Course	Parent Guide	Parent Teacher	Text Book	Enhanced Labs	Extreme Labs
101:  Physical Science	$300	$200	$100	+ $50	+ $40	+ $40 + $160*
201:  Conceptual Physics with Applications	$350	$250	$150	+ $50	+ $40	+ $40 + $160*
301:  College Preparatory Physics	$400	$300	$200	+ $50	+ $40	+ $40 + $160*
401:  AP Physics 1	$500	N/A	N/A	+ $50	+ $40	+ $40 + $160*
402:  AP Physics 2	$500	N/A	N/A	+ $50	+ $40	+ $40 + $160*
451:  AP Physics C - Mechanics	$500	N/A	N/A	+ $50	+ $40	+ $40 + $160*
452:  AP Physics C - Electricity & Magnetism	$500	N/A	N/A	+ $50	+ $40	+ $40 + $160*

* This value represents the final cost to you: one-third (1/3) of the amount that will be charged during enrollment. The full amount that will be charged is a security deposit for the full cost of the Vernier equipment. At the conclusion of the course, if you wish to return all of the Vernier equipment to Physics At Home you will be refunded two-thirds of the full cost, but if you wish to keep the equipment and waive the refund, you may do so!

 

It is a mission of PhysicsAtHome to make the study of physics accessible to everyone, especially homeschoolers! In the quest to do so, we have created many options to fit the needs of each student and his or her homeschooling family. This tool will help you to pinpoint the course, course experience, and lab experience that is right for your needs.