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Online Courses in SCIENCE
Honors Physics with Lab
Principles of mechanics
 Physics is the study of matter, force, and energy, as well as their interactions with one another. Though we seldom realize it, physics is an integral part of our everyday lives. When we drive a car, open a can of soda, turn on a blender, or even just take a walk outside, forces are at work, acting on matter.
Yet analyzing and comprehending those forces is often fraught with difficulty, the concepts seeming unclear or even indecipherable. The laws of physics can often seem counterintuitive: how is it that two objects of different masses fall at the same rate? — Or when a ball is thrown, why does it start falling immediately — as opposed to traveling horizontally for a while and then starting to fall?
Prerequisites
Students must have completed Algebra II — specifically, the student must be able to properly manipulate algebraic expressions.
Text to purchase
Students will need the following texts:
Partly in reaction to the difficulty of physics concepts, high school and even college physics courses often "teach" the content by requiring that students memorize and apply formulas. Students who are whizzes at math or good at memorization do well in such classes; the rest are left confused.
Honors Physics at HS College-Bound takes a different approach. Our students always begin by experiencing for themselves specific physical phenomena and understanding their underlying principles. Then and only then do they delve into the mathematical conceptualization of those principles and their algebraic applications.
 For our students, this approach has two principal benefits:
- The beauty, logic, and elegance of the physical world are obvious.
- So are the formulas.
So in Honors Physics the students perform experiments and activities primarily to explore mechanics. — Here's a partial list of the topics explored in this course:
| EXPLORING MECHANICS |
About the instructor
Monica Kiehnle-Benitez is a homeschooling mom with a degree in Industrial Engineering; she worked for seven years at a manufacturer of control instruments and accessories for electrical transformers. She is currently working toward her master's degree in applied physics.
Monica began homeschooling with the aim of imparting to her children both a love of learning and a deep understanding of all content. Monica brings those values to her teaching of math and science at HS College-Bound, and she eschews, for instance, superficial and rote learning.
Monica also teaches online courses in Algebra I and Algebra II.
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- Analysis of Data
- Vectors
- Kinematics (motion) in one direction
- Kinematics in two directions
- Energy, Work and Power
- Dynamics: Newton's Laws of Motion
- Momentum
- Gravity
- Circular Motion
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| EXPLORING ELECTRICITY |
- Electrostatics
- Electric Potential
- Electric Fields
- DC Circuits
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Not currently scheduled
All sessions live & interactive
Students attend
three classes
per week
Instructor: Monica Kiehnle
For information on Monica, see here.
To contact the instructor, click here.
Fee for entire year: $ 1340.
Please note: At registration, you will pay
the fee for the fall semester ($ 670); for the
winter-spring semester we will invoice you,
with payment due by September 1.
Our approach to ...
Science
Sciences at HS College-Bound aim high. We provide in-depth studies for two kinds of students:
- those new to the formal study of science;
- those who have already studied science deeply for years.
Our courses employ college texts, websites from universities, AP-level labs, and in-depth explorations. All content is taught by subject-matter experts who are passionate about their disciplines. In order to ensure learning and mastery of concepts, moreover, the content is taught in a tiered fashion — laying foundational concepts, building up and delving deep into the facts, and reinforcing by looping back to essential concepts covered earlier in the course.
These methods ensure that no student is left behind. Rather, students come away with a full picture of the science and the interconnectedness of topics. Students with more science acumen can learn deeply while students new to the discipline learn comprehensively.
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