organizing a homeschool science fair?

[kittie313]

I'm working with the student activities team this year with our hs group, and my pet project is getting a science fair organized for this school year. I've been GoodSearching for a couple days now, and I'm having trouble wading through all the stuff I find (99% of the results are for project ideas, not for the actual organizing of the event itself) so I thought I'd ask on the couple hs forums I visit. Has anyone organized a homeschool science fair before? My group has over 170 families in it, and I know that there are a lot of families in the group who would like to participate in the science fair so if I can pull this off it will be a total success. This project scares me a little bit................... lol Is there anyone here that may be able to point me in the right direction for this project?

[Savoir Faire]

Our homeschool group has a pretty decent science fair. I have a friend who organizes it each year...though I'm not sure if she was the one who started it.

Just from my experience, you're going to need to find independent judges, sponsors from the community for prizes and a place to hold the fair. Oh, and parent volunteers.

Our organizer has several helpful info sessions during the year to help with the fair.

It can be done! Good for you for getting something started!

[Callimom]

I organize for our local homeschool group which is smaller than yours -about 90 families. We typically get about 30 families participating

I make ours non-competitive.
I invite a couple of scientists from the community to come and talk to the kids about what they learned.
I leave out comment cards at each child's display and visitors can leave comments for the kids.
Each kid gets a certificate.
I charge a small fee to cover space and the group subsidizes what I can't cover.

I send out announcements early in the year (September) about what month I will be hosting it in - usually the spring.

2 months before the projected date I send out an announcement and ask for interest. Using that I book our space, confirm the date and cost and 6 weeks prior I release those details and ask for firm commitment.

I have a form that people fill out to organize the space (who needs power, floor space etc). Most space is half a table (4 ft by 4 ft) but we can juggle that.

I send out reminders and info on a weekly basis, with resources, reminders etc to keep it fresh.

I cut off registration 2 weeks before or when we hit our space limitations whichever comes first. AT that point I confirm table requirements and order a few spare just in case.

The day of I set out the tables and put color coded recipe cards on each with the persons name. The colours indicate power requirements, space requirements, etc. I also tape a pen to the table and put out a stack of comment cards at each table.

I have a registration table for people to pay me, and a floor plan to help them find their tables - one of my kids usually helps with this.

We have rules - some dictated by the space we use and some are common sense:
no animals, no projects that involve cruelty to animals, no noxious chemicals, no open flame. If a project involves loud sounds I ask that they check in with me first.

I also send out a behaviour expectation list as we have some families in our group whose kids are not well supervised and/or able to behave appropriately in these situations without lots of support. I don't want one kid's hard work damaged because another child is rough housing, running, wrestling etc.

Our group provides funds for refreshments. In the past this has been a bit of a free for all so in the future I am going to issue a ticket per kid for refreshments so that there are some left for our guests. I also try to keep the kids in one space with the snack so that there isn't food being dropped all over the place.

We do a rough schedule for rotation. I announce a switch every 20 minutes or so, so that we have kids at their projects when the scientists are coming around. Also helps control the chaos.
I usually try to get a group picture with all our scientists.

We allow 30 minutes for set up.
For tear down each family must clear their space, wipe the tables with supplied cloths and I usually corral a couple of dads to help take the tables down.

hth
Karen