Summer School

It is flat out TOO HOT to do anything else, so we have started up school!

We are just 3 days into our new curriculum(Heart of Dakota), and are really enjoying our school time.

It is just the right blend of reading and activities, although it will be next week before I'm organized enough to add in our math and Isaac's formal grammar work. I have both of them and need to lay out the scheduling for each subject.

The boys enjoyed geography playing "twister" with the continents we taped to the floor, making currents in the bathtub with medicine droppers for paper boat shapes, and for science today we learned about sea creature's blubber with a little vegetable shortening on their hands and a sink full of ice water.

Alyza is learning all about the letter "A", and how God created everything... She is very enthusiastic, and the fingerplays and songs we are learning are PERFECT for her learning style and personality. Trystan is reading like a hurricane, devouring everything I give him. Isaac is enjoying himself despite his preconceptions, and really likes his biography on Amelia Earhart he selected. Overall, a great start!

We still have plenty of time for playing in the hose and eating popsicles, too, those other required summer courses! Yesterday the kids were sprayed by firemen at the library park, and went through fire obstacle courses... quite a hit!

Other than that, the house is a bit of a wreck, and we are all getting a workout killing flies! SUMMER!

Fizzy Corn... aka density experiments

You can have alot of fun with some water, baking soda, vinegar, and popcorn kernels.

The kids measured 2 Tablespoons of water into a clear cup (at least 8 oz in size), and stirred in 1 Tablespoon of baking soda. Then we counted out 14 popcorn kernels and dropped them into the cup, observing whether they sank or floated.

Then we added 1/4 cup of vinegar, and.....FIZZZZZ. After the fizz dies down we were able to observe the newly formed carbon dioxide bubbles adhering to the popcorn kernels. This lowered their density, allowing them to FLOAT.

Trystan was at kindergarten, so we reapeated the experiment with our little pirate when he came home.

You can find this, and many other fun science experiments in the BackYard Scientist series.
Happy Day, science experiment that was scheduled for Wednesday finally completed! Now let's see about math and lapbooking!