Decisions, Decisions
As I type, our brand spankin’ new microscope is making its way to our happy home. It took quite a while to decide on one. Every step down this homeschooling path is a gigantic leap of learning for yours truly. I now know much more about microscopes and how they are manufactured and marketed and sold than I ever thought I would. When you begin looking for a mircoscope, you have to formulate a goal in your mind. Do you want a scope that will take you all the way through elementary to high school biology or are you willing to upgrade later when the time comes? Do you anticipate homeschooling overseas at any point? Are your children really facinated by science? Do you place a lot of emphasis on science or is it a more peripheral subject for your family? These are all things to consider before you even dive into examining options. If you want a basic microscope, plan on upgrading later, and aren’t planning on placing a great deal of emphasis on science, then you are going to be looking at an entirely different spectrum of microscopes than if you would like one scope to use for all grades and have a very science oriented curriculum plan. So once you figure out where you fall, then you can start learning about basic features that are important to consider.
The two most important factors I discovered are the issue of power and the mechanical stage option. Some manufactures and suppliers will try to sell you on a 1000x microscope. After much research, I discovered this is a total marketing ploy. No one, not even professional microbiologist for the most part, needs a 1000x scope. Most of the time, you cannot even get a 1000x scope to focus properly. If you would like a scope that will last through high school and are planning on a decent emphasis on science, then a scope with the typical array of 4x, 10x and 40x objectives combined with a 10x eyepiece (giving you 40x, 100x and 400x magnifying power) will suit your every microscopic need through graduation. When it comes to hunting for a mechanical stage, almost all retailers offer it as an add-on only, increasing the total cost of the scope. What is the big deal about a mechanical stage anyway? Well, without one, if you wish to move your specimen either horizontally or vertically, you must move your slide by hand. This can be tricky as what you think is a tiny nudge can actually totally move your field of observation out of view depending on the magnification power you are viewing it with, resulting in the frustrating experience of shifting the slide back and forth over and over again until you get it right where you want it. With a mechanical stage, you simply twist one of two knobs gently, while still viewing the slide through the eyepiece and the stage adjusts your field of observation gradually, by milimeters at a time. Much, much easier.
We also decided that in this day and age and to make it a bit easier for Athena and I to view specimens together, we would look into adding a digital camera eye piece that you plug into your computer with a USB cable. This allows you to both view and digitally photograph your specimen on your computer screen. Technology is amazing sometimes!
Well, after deciding what we wanted in a microscope, the best deal I could find was in fact through a homeschool supplier. We ended up buying the Sonlight Ultra Variable Voltage Microscope. We bought the variable voltage version since we anticipate an overseas move in our near future and there was only a $10 price difference. Although we do not buy any curriculum from them, Sonlight’s microscope has everything we wanted in a scope, including a mechanical stage that came standard, for the best price. We purchased the microscope and the digital camera eyepiece for $313 and free shipping.
Next year at about this time, I will start joyfully hunting for the perfect telescope!
