Our Microscopes

Several years ago, we were given a microscope by the lady who taught my kids to swim.  She knew we were homeschoolers and offered it to us.  The next week we went back to swim lessons telling her how wonderful it was, and then she presented us with another microscope!  They have been wonderful additions to our our homeschooling supplies. 

For the last two years I have loaned one or two to our co-op.  This year, I will get to use these in our Biology class.

The two microscopes I have are made by Parco.  They no longer make this model, but they do have replacement parts if I need them.  So far, everything has worked well.

Here is the side view.   There are three objectives.

For cleaning the microscopes, I use lens cleaning kit.  It comes with dry lens paper, lens cloth, lens cleaner, Q-tips, and a brush.  The brush is used for dusting the equipment.  The brush part can come off, so that you can squeeze air into small areas to remove dust.

The Q-tips are used to clean small lenses.  Just apply a drop of cleaner on one end, gently clean the lenses, then dry the lenses with the other end of the Q-tip.   Do the same with larger lenses or glass areas, with the cleaning cloth.  You should never touch the lenses with your fingers.

When not in use, always cover your microscopes with a cover.  I’d like to have a heavy dute case, but it isn’t in the budget right now.

Always keep your slides in order and in a case.  This will keep them from getting dirty or broken.

 

 Below is a picture of the microscope I borrowed from the co-op.  It has a camera and it will project onto the computer.  So cool!

Sorry, not a very exciting post.  I will be showing my students how to handle and clean the microscope on their first day at co-op.

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