Home School Explorations Series

Home School Explorations Series

For 6th–9th graders (ages 12–15 years), at Explora


Spring Semester: January 30th - April 25, 2023

Be curious, discover, experiment!

Overview:

Explora’s Home School Explorations Series offers your child a semester of weekly, 75 minute-long experiential science, technology, and art programs. Each Exploration is facilitated by Explora educators. These are 75 minute-long, materials-rich classes that actively engage every child in inquiry activities. In these classes, children will make discoveries in science, technology, engineering, art, and math through questioning, experiencing, and investigating. Children will be encouraged to build their own knowledge and cultivate skills such as observation, creativity, critical thinking, cooperative learning, communication, and innovation as they explore a different topic each week. Class topics change each semester.

In-person classes will meet all CDC guidelines for COVID-19 safety. (Explora staff will be masked). 

Choose one day/time:

  • Mondays, 1pm-2:15pm (at Explora)
  • Tuesdays, 10:30am-11:45am (at Explora)
  • Tuesdays, 1pm-2:15pm (at Explora)

Registration Fee

Explora members* $110 per child per semester
Non-members $125 per child per semester

*Join & Save! Explora members get discounts on semester programs, camps, and admission all year!

Register now for Spring Semester 2023

1. Online: Select a session day and time to register online
Register Online
We’ve updated our online registration! You may be asked to provide a new password when you login.

2. Call the Reservations office at 505‐600-6734 or e‐mail reservations@explora.us.

3. Mail registration form with payment to: Explora Reservations Manager, 1701 Mountain Rd. NW, Albuquerque NM 87104

Explora’s Camps & Programs

Explora educators develop activities with children’s developmental levels in mind. Your children will have the opportunity to learn from, and work with older and younger peers and make new friends.

Registration/Information

  • You can register online, by phone, or download and mail/fax the completed registration form.
  • Please have the following available when you register: emergency contact name and phone numbers; name of alternate adults who can pick up the child; child’s medications, dosages, and physician’s name; child’s insurance information, as well as any allergy or special needs information for your child.

Call: 505-600-6734. Our reservations office is open Monday-Friday, 9am–5pm. Para español, llame al 505-600-6734, de lunes a viernes, 9am–5pm.

Email: reservations@explora.us

Mail: Explora Reservations 1701 Mountain Rd. NW Albuquerque, NM 87104

Fax: 505-224-8325

Cancellation Policy

  • If a cancellation is received more than 5 business days before the camp, a refund will be issued for the amount minus a 15% administrative fee.
  • Cancellations received 5 business days or fewer before the camp will not be refunded.
  • Full fees will be refunded if Explora cancels a program

Spring 2023 Explorations Schedule

Spring 2023 Explorations Schedule

January 30th - April 25th, 2023

Circuit City

MON Jan 30 / TUES Jan 31

Discover the relationships among voltage, current, and resistance in a DC (direct current) circuit. This includes everything powered by batteries, and more!  Connect your batteries to a variety of motors, buzzers, LEDs, resistors, lights, and switches to investigate resistance, conductivity, and the making of a flashlight.  

Be a Rock Star

MON Feb 6 / TUES Feb 7

Rocks can be sorted into groups based on a number of characteristics. However, geologists sort them by the way in which they were formed.  Students will sort rocks and then perform a number of tests on a mystery mineral in order to identify it.

Food Sleuths

MON Feb 13 / TUES Feb 14

What nutrients do our bodies need, and how can we test foods for the presence of these nutrients, specifically proteins, fats, carbohydrates and vitamins? Students will learn the importance of the above nutrients and do several tests to determine their presence in foods.

Looking Up Close

MON Feb 20 / TUES Feb 21

Plants, rocks, and insects are constructed in minute pieces that are small enough to be invisible to the human eye. Students observe objects that are man-made, non-living, and living while exploring the concepts of scale and size with the use of magnifiers and microscopes.

Mobiles

MON Feb 27 / TUES Feb 28

Explore balance, movement, and design by constructing sculptures in the style of Alexander Calder’s mobiles. Compare and contrast symmetry and asymmetry in design and weight, and explore cause and effect by trying to balance weights and physically work out visual choices.

Muscle Up

MON March 6 / TUES March 7

Students will investigate the ways that work is accomplished using simple machines. Their investigations will help them to discover the several types of simple machines and they may also learn to identify the simple machines present within a compound machine.

Plants Capturing Light

MON March 13 / TUES March 14

Energy flows in our environment from the sun through plants (photosynthesis) to consumers. Students will experimentally gain an understanding of the principles of photosynthesis and its importance to life on earth.

The Heat is On

MON March 27 / TUES March 28

How does heat get from one place to another? We will find out what it takes to keep heat from getting in or out. Discover what heat is and how to explain it scientifically. Just what is heat, anyway?

Triangles and Tribulations

MON April 3 / TUES April 4

Working with triangles in a variety of ways, students will discover some of the underlying applications of properties of triangles in the world around them.  They will use these properties while engineering the design of a game and the construction design of a roller coaster using triangle shapes.

Water Filtration 

MON April 10 / TUES April 11

How can you filter water? Experiment with a variety of filtering materials and test their water samples before and after for turbidity (clarity or cloudiness of a liquid), hardness (amount of dissolved minerals such as calcium and magnesium in water), and pH (the measure of how acidic or basic a water sample is).

Coding with Micro:bits

MON April 17 / TUES April 18

The micro:bit is a tiny, programmable computer. It is a piece of hardware that can take in certain types of inputs (any type of data sent to a computer), process those inputs using code, and send them to an output to do some form of work. Learn coding skills as you use code to make fun and functional systems!

Stop Motion Animation

MON April 24 / TUES April 25

Create your own stop motion movie! Investigate how moving patterns can create story and feeling and discover how different materials create different kinds of animation.

Class topics vary from semester to semester. For more information about this program please contact our Reservations office.

Phone: 505-600-6734

Email: reservations@explora.us

Para información en español, llame al 505-600-6734