Why Learn Physics?

Top 10 reasons why you should take physics.

10.   Physics Makes You a Problem Solver - When faced with a particular problem, students are taught to systematically identify all factors contributing to the problem and work out how those factors interact in order to solve the problem.

9.     Physics Teaches You to Think Outside the Box of Human Intuition – Many people who have studied physics report it helps them develop critical thinking skills … just talk to Copernicus about that one!

8.     Physics Explains Useful Things – Like How a GPS system works or how to make a car engine run more efficiently.

7.     Physics Helps with the ACT, SAT, MCAT, and LSAT - Data from the American Institute of Physics show that physics majors get among the highest MCAT scores and the highest LSAT scores of all undergraduate majors.

6.     Physics Will Help Prepare You to Get into a Good College – It demands respect from many employers and university administration officers as it provides students with excellent analytical, problem solving, and quantitative skills.

5.     Physics Opens the Door to Many Career Opportunities – The skills learned in Physics class are not limited to only science and engineering but also economics, journalism, urban planning, national defense, and a whole host of other careers.       

4.     Physics Allows You to Express Creativity

3.     Physics Helps You to See the Mind of God in His Created Universe – We can see His creativity, organization, and the order of creation from theories of cosmological beginnings to how it could possibly end.

2.     Physics Makes Things Possible - Without physics there would be no refrigerators, light bulbs, grocery laser scanners, rockets, cars, cell phones, airplanes, fiber optics, DVD players, TV’s, computers, and the list goes on…

1.     Physics is Interesting and Fun! - Perhaps the greatest skill a physics student develops is a sense of wonder about how things work.

If you're looking for high school physics courses online, Homeschool Connections offers two levels of Physics. We offer Conceptual Physics and also Mechanical Physics. Please don't hesitate to email us if you have any questions about the best physics course for you and your homeschool at homeschoolconnections@gmail.com

Christian Architecture Overview: Online Classes

When we think of Christian teaching, many of us think of the Scriptures, catechism, writings of the saints, and the teachings of the popes. In our 2015 summer bootcamp "Christian Architecture Through the Ages", Mr. Phillip Campbell will lead students in exploring Christianity's architectural heritage, which has traditionally been one of the main ways the faith is passed from generation to generation.

Registration is open. Click here: Homeschool Connections Registration Page (choose the summer semester and click on Search).

Christian Architecture through the Ages

Class dates: Monday through Thursday, July 13, 14, 15, and 16.

Total classes: 4

Starting time: 4:00 PM Eastern (3:00 Central; 2:00 Mountain; 1:00 Pacific)

Duration: 55 minutes

Prerequisite: None

Suggested grade level: 7^th to 12^th grade.

Suggested high school credit: 1/3 semester World History

Fee: $65 for all 4 classes.

Instructor: Phillip Campbell

Course description: This course will acquaint students with the basic components of Christian ecclesiastical architecture, beginning with the basilicas of the late patristic era and moving through the Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Neo-Classical and Neo-Gothic.

Course outline: Day 1: Late patristic basilicas, Day 2: Romanesque and Gothic, Day 3: Renaissance and Baroque elements, Day 4: Revivalism and the Modern Descent

Course materials: Provided free by the instructor.

Homework: Minimal amount of reading; test at the end of the week with suggestions for further reading.

We hope to see you in class!

Click here: Homeschool Connections Registration Page (choose the summer semester and click on Search).

Homeschool Online History Classes

As always, Homeschool Connections is offering lots of great history courses next semester. Below I'll give you all the little details for each course. In a nutshell, here are the fall history courses:

• The French Revolution: “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, or Death” with Mrs. Stanley (6th to 8th grade)
• The Rise and Fall of the Missions of Alta California with Mr. Zehnder (7th grade and up)
• History: Making of the Modern World: Light to the Nations II with Mr. Zehnder (8th to 10th grade)
• The History of Latin America with Mr. Campbell (11th and 12th grade)

Registration is open. The Early Enrollment Price ends July 15th some courses are starting to fill up, so don't wait too long! Click here: Homeschool Connections Registration Page (choose the semester and click on Search).

The French Revolution: “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, or Death”

This course is limited to 20 students.

Class dates: Wednesdays, September 23 to November 25, 2015.

Total classes: 10

Starting time: 1:00 PM Eastern (Noon Central; 11:00 Mountain; 10:00 Pacific)

Duration: 55 minutes

Prerequisite: None

Suggested grade level: 6^th to 8^th grade

Fee: $150 if you register on or before July 15, 2015. $170 after July 15 for all 10 classes.

Instructor: Alison Stanley, JD

Course Description: In 1789, a three-part revolution began in France due to grave inequality between the three classes (“Estates”), the distressed financial condition of the French government and the widespread dissemination of Enlightenment ideals. The rebellion was radical and violent, leading to the abolition of the monarchy and execution of King Louis XVI. Although the monarchy returned to this country, the French Revolution drastically altered Europe forever by abolishing feudalism and promoting the principles of equality and natural right.

Course materials: All course materials will be supplied free by the instructor.

Homework: Homework is approximately 30 minutes a week consisting of original reading from the time period, as well as educational videos. A final project also will be assigned which will be presented at the last class. Moreover, a final exam will be given.

The Rise and Fall of the Missions of Alta California, Part One

Note: This is Part One of a 2-part course. Students are expected to register for Part Two in the spring.

Class dates: Mondays, September 14 to December 7, 2015. No class October 26 for midterm break.

Total classes: 12

Starting time: 1:00 PM Eastern (Noon Central; 11:00 Mountain; 10:00 Pacific)

Duration: 55 minutes

Prerequisite: None

Suggested grade level: 7th grade and up

Suggested high school credit: 1 full semester American History

Fee: $175 if you register on or before July 15, 2015. $195 after July 15th for all 12 classes.

Instructor: Christopher Zehnder, MA

Course description: This course will tell the story of the mission system that Fray Junípero Serra established in California, the various struggles he and his successors faced in bringing Christ and civilization to the primitive peoples of California and the opposition they faced from both Spanish and California officials. It is a dramatic story that includes many dramatic events: Indian rebellion, heroic sacrifice, and martyrdom. It is a tragic story, too, for it tells of the promise of the mission system and how it was ultimately destroyed.

Course materials: Instructor will provide texts (primary source and otherwise) in PDF format to students.

Homework: Weekly reading. Lectures will focus on those events and ideas that are the keys for understanding the historical periods under consideration. The teacher will evaluate the students by essay tests given after Week III, Week V, and Week VII. Thereafter, evaluation will be based on student's responses to questions in class.

History: Making of the Modern World: Light to the Nations II, Part One

Please note: Light to the Nations I is NOT necessary to take Light to the Nations II.

This is Part One of a 2-part course. Students are expected to register for Part Two in the spring.

Class dates: Mondays, September 14 to December 7, 2015. No class October 26 for midterm break.

Total classes: 12

Starting time: 2:30 PM Eastern (1:30 Central; 12:30 Mountain; 11:30 Pacific)

Duration: 75 minutes (1 hour 15 minutes)

Prerequisite: None 

Suggested grade level: 8th to 10th grade

Suggesting high school credit: 1 full semester World History

Fee: $175 if you register on or before July 15, 2015. $195 after July 15th for all 12 classes.

Instructor: Christopher Zehnder, MA

Course description: This course examines how the Modern World – our world – came to be. It looks at the revolutionary ideas that created, first in Europe and then the entire world, an understanding of man and his relationship to God, the Church, and the state that was in many respects radically different from the understanding of these things that prevailed in the Middle Ages. Ideas influence deeds, and thus the course examines historical events, showing how they flowed from the struggle between those who held to traditional conceptions and those who embraced the new ideas. Events influence ideas, and thus we study how the events of history helped modify and develop both the new ideas and the traditional vision of the world. The course is divided into two parts. Part I (first semester) begins with the scientific revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries and concludes with the attempt, steered by Prince Klemens von Metternich, to reestablish the ancient regime after the fall of Napoleon's empire. Part II (second semester) continues the story, beginning with a study of Romanticism and concluding with Vatican II and the post-conciliar world. 

Course materials: The text for the course (both Part One and Part Two) is Light to the Nations II: The Making of the Modern World, published by and available from http://www.catholictextbookproject.com/. 

Homework: Students will read assigned portions of the text. Lectures will focus on those events and ideas that are the keys for understanding the historical periods under consideration. The teacher will evaluate the students by essay tests given after Week III, Week V, and Week VII. Thereafter, evaluation will be based on student's responses to questions in class.

The History of Latin America

Class dates: Mondays, September 14 to December 14, 2015. No classes Nov. 2 for Midterm Break.

Total classes: 13

Starting time: 4:30 PM Eastern (3:30 Central; 2:30 Mountain; 1:30 Pacific)

Duration: 55 minutes

Prerequisite: None, Introduction to Christian Historiography and Modern European History recommended (both available through Unlimited Access).

Suggested grade level: 11^th to 12^th grade; 9^th and 10^th grade students with above average reading and comprehension skills.

Suggested high school credit: 1 full semester World History or American History

Fee: $200 if you register on or before July 15, 2015. $220 after July 15^th for all 13 classes.

Instructor: Mr. Phillip Campbell

Course description: Americans routinely hear about problems all over the globe, but seldom do we have the historical hindsight to understand the origin of these conflicts. In "The History of Latin America", students will survey of the history and culture of Central and South America, from the Spanish and Portuguese colonial period through the age of the revolutions and into the region's troubled modern period. Focus will be on South and Central America but will also touch on the Caribbean with an emphasis on illustrating how the region's past relates to its modern character.

Course outline:
Week 1: Geography: Introduction to the geography of south and central America
Week 2: Pre-Columbian Peoples: Cultures of south and central America prior to Columbus
Week 3: First Contact: Initial contacts with the Europeans and the Conquest 

Week 4: Brazil: The calamitous history of South America's largest nation

Week 5: The Caribbean: Culture and history of the Caribbean islands
Week 6: The Catholic Church: The role of the Church in creating the culture of Latin America
Week 7: Culture and Society: Distinctive cultural characteristics of Latin America
Week 8: New Spain: The creation of Mexico
Week 9: The Age of Liberty: Revolution rocks Latin America throughout the 19th century
Week 10: Banana Republics: Latin America and U.S. influence in the early 20th century
Week 11: The Strong Men: Pinochet, Peron, and the Latin American dictatorships
Week 12: The Spectre of Communism: Latin America's experiment with socialism and communism
Week 13: Unresolved Issues: Contemporary problems in Latin America

Course materials: Provided free by instructor.

Homework: Five hours per week, including attending the live class, watching recordings, completing reading assignments, online quizzes, and occasional short answer or mini-essay questions.