Food Allergies and Science Experiments

In our last chapter in Science a few years sgo, we had instructions to complete an experiment with eggs.

In case you were not aware, I have 3 children allergic to eggs :/

So normally I would just skip the experiment/activity. Like when Saxon 1 calls for using peanuts... we have peanut allergies, too... obviously we just SKIP it or find a substitute (in that case we used jelly beans in plastic Easter eggs).

This recent experiment though seemed pretty safe because if it was done correctly the kids would have no need to come in contact with the eggs.  So we tried it;)



YAY!!

The hesitation (and nervous fussing) was magnified due to the eggs being present:/ And during this 1st attempt both girls (and possibly Nate as well) were WAY behind me... so they could see but not be anywhere near the eggs:)

I am thankful for my children's healthy respect of some of these food they are allergic to since they can (and have) made them ill. So they DO need to be super cautious about knowing what ingredients are in foods they are planning to eat. AND knowing what foods are lingering around them... ie, peanut shells near playgrounds, scrambled egg leftovers in the sink, or even a gallon of milk in the fridge when we have company.

But there should also be a healthy balance that I am constantly striving to model. I don't want their allergies to unnecessarily limit them! Like not going to the park because of the peanut shells. Or not wanting to touch a cart at the grocery store because what residue might be leftover from the person before us (who gave their noisy kiddo a peanut butter snack at the store).

Thankfully.... with taking some necessary precautions, like warnings NOT to touch the egg:) Or to step back, just in case the egg flies... LOL! We had a fun time with this experiment and grew a little bit with our food allergies, too.

Science Should be Fun and Gooey

This year we did something that we've never done so far in our 5+ years of schooling.... we bought a brand new full blown Science curriculum.

Some of you are thinking, well, what did you use for science before. We used experiment books:) And science encyclopedias, library books on what we were studying and gotta love Magic School Bus;)

While we learned lots about all aspects of Science, these last 5+ weeks of using Apologia has been awesome!! We purchased the brand new Apologia Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics textbook and notebooks (one for each of the kids).

Chris working on making an oxygen atom to join his two hydrogen atoms;)

 I like the emphasis of explaining the concepts using very kid-friendly language and examples.

 I love that they use the real scientific words and we get to practice using them as they notebook and work on activities. I feel like we've already learning at a deeper level than what the experiment books (and all the "extras" I was trying to add) were giving us.

And we all love that it's very hands-on:)

While I'd love to say I do the hands-on activities and labs/projects as we're reading... I don't :/ Usually I save some of the messy stuff for a quiet afternoon when we can really dig into the activities and not have to rush through them.

Here is a recent LAB DAY!!  Which resulted in two kids and a dog needing a bath... LOL!! A good lab day;)

working on lab/project reports with Nate joining in with his "notebook"

the classic floating egg experiment to introduce density

lava bottle - oil, water and alka seltzer to demonstrate chemical reactions

challenge to build ship that will float with the weight of pennies, counting out pennies on Chris' vessel

Anna's turn!!

And this was an activity from the following week that we all thought was cool;) Cornstarch and water....






The gooey cornstarch concoction had both liquid and solid tendencies! Introducing all of us to all sorts of new terms;)

Even just looking back at our science fun makes me smile and know why they are excited when I say it's Science or Lab Day;) We definitely have loved using Apologia Science!!! 

Who wouldn't when it's this fun and gooey!

Have you used Apologia before? Which unit do you recommend??

*** We have done this post completely without the request of Apologia or any company related to their products; purchasing all books and supplies on our own as well. We will not, nor have not, profited financially from this post or any links from this post! We just really have enjoyed it and we wanted to share our great experience!***

The h-Word and more

I was hit with the innocence of my children this week in a casual conversation as we finished up a meal. We were planning how to tidy up a school room that was ravaged by Tornado Nate-o and I expressed my dislike for those little bumpy blocks that keep getting tossed over the floor at least 2 times a day... if we're lucky:/


Yes, LEGOs!! We have a love-hate thing going:) I love how creative the kids can be with them and how they can sit in the school room and build/create for hours... building little houses and a city and then visiting one another....

LOL.... that's what happens when the sister's play, too!!

Back to the conversation with one of my kiddos.... I said under my breath, "I hate LEGOs."

I got a horrified look from this kid. And then they say, "You said the h-word!"

I didn't bust out laughing... instead I was taken back from how it sounded to them. And then just totally relieved that my children are still so innocent!!

It just made me thankful.

It was a simple reminder to continue to protect those little ears and those sensitive hearts as long as we can:) 

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Nate, the determined gardener, was out in the bed-o-weeds this week and brought home a beauty:)



Its awesome that the summer garden is still giving us pepper-gifts and I totally wish I stayed on top of the garden more.... just feels impossible to keep up with the inside need-to-do list!

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We bought a circuit kit for schooling this year as the kids and I worked through a unit on elecrtricity. We have had a blast with it and have learned a ton through "play".

Using the kit recently, Chris found an experiment to make the current go through water. We were fascinated:)


But then the next experiment was to make the current go through our bodies... it's a AA battery and just for a few seconds to make a buzzer go off... just for those who are worried:/ And I totally did it first;)

But then Chris got silly:) LOL!!


It was actually a very safe demonstration that our bodies are good conductors of elasticity!! It made the electricity safety rules we read through gain importance in the eyes of the kids.

Add your own kiddo-talk to the comments:)

Weekly Wrap-Up: Turtles. Ned Kelly and Sound

This was a hard week to finish.... finally we are getting some beautiful spring weather and the outdoors kept calling us;) Specifically... the turtles...

 

Almost every morning we found turtles in the yard... and these weren't little turtles!! I'm talking a foot across turtles looking to build a nest to lay some eggs. The first morning they surprised us by being in the garden...

we moved them, but they were back a few hours later with their eggs already deposited in their hole! Very cool to see!

Needless to say... we spent a LOT of time watching turtles from the windows (so we won't scare them off) and think so far we have at least two holes with eggs. We've also done some research about what kind of turtles that are visiting and how to care for the eggs indoors so they won't get eaten (we found eaten eggs last spring). So, yes...

this is some real-life, hands-on home schooling, but we DID drag ourselves back indoors and away from the windows (not too far away) to get our "core" work finished for the week:)

Bible
It was strange not starting the week with an Our Family Way coloring sheet...

but we did fine just reviewing a way each day (minus the coloring sheet) and using a new devotional that I am temporarily borrowing from a friend. The devo is called Long Story Short and it's just 10 minute family devotions that works through the Old Testament. For us it was longer than 10 minutes but it was because all the kids looked up the passage in their Bibles and then we took turns reading the passage.

I can't tell you how much it warmed my heart each morning to see the kids wanting to get their Bibles and reading them!!

 I know you could use ANY devotional or just pick a book to study or passage to read... it's so very simple... and exactly where my kiddos and I need to be as we start our school day!

Yes, even Nate joined in a few mornings;)

Language Arts
Lydia and Chris did two sections of spelling and poor Anna is still chugging through the names of the States:) She 's doing a great job though. We thought we could use a cool computer program to help quiz her but we never could get it to work... so it was back to the Spelling Power model:)

I had to laugh this week when I got to correct Brian's Grammar;) LOL... seriously, THAT Never happens;) So Anna (and I) have learned from Rod and Staff but we are counting down the lessons until we are through for the summer:) Besides doing some Grammar exercises, Lydia and Chris began working on one of their first written compositions... it's very simple but it's a great start to learning to write well.

For reading... Anna started a historical fiction book based during the French Revolution... unfortunately she lost interest in it and read through other books in our library bag:) Lydia read through a book called Hearing-Ear Dogs; it was a non-fiction book about training stray dogs to be helpers for the deaf... I enjoyed listening to parts of it while Lydia read. Chris and I read through a Henry and Mudge book and through some of a dinosaur book called Amazing Dinosaurs by Dougal Dixon. The information was very familiar but it was written for emerging readers so Chris could read it with some help...  it was nice to have a book that fed his dinosaur interest while he could practice reading:)

Math
The older two are still at work finishing their SAXON for the year. Lydia though had a fun week filling in her math hour with ixl.com (the free practice), xtramath.com, mathbuddlyonline.com (the word problem of the day- grade 1 and 2) and a game on a little kiddie tablet she has. The older ones can't wait to finish so they can join her;)

History
This week for history we traveled to Australia and saw the British colony become a commonwealth. SOTW focused on the struggles of the poorer farmers who felt like they were not being treated fairly and how some turned to crime, especially the life of Ned Kelly. Chris, especially, liked the story:)

For the map, the kids used an atlas and world map to label Australia, it's provinces, the bodies of water around the island and other countries on the map. They love doing this and its our geography:)

We were trying to come up with a history sentence  to summarize what we should remember from the whole section. We ended up with a fun poem (a very kid understanding of the situation):)

In 1880,
Australia was a baby,
Ned Kelly died
Fighting for Australia's side.

In 1901,
The fighting was done.
Australia was a Commonwealth,
They picked their own leaders and made laws for themselves.

Anyway... definitely a fun way to do some cross- curricular writing!!

Science

We started our unit on Sound this week;) One of the first "explorations" was to figure out ways to "make" sound... so they banged on tables.. lovely, I know;) Our book suggested  cutting straws into different lengths and blowing gently into those. The kids took it a step further and make little straw pipes with many different lengths.

During the first lesson, they defined Sound and we read through the Magic School Bus: Inside the Haunted Museum. We also read through a couple of small sections in our Usborne Science book (like how sound is measured) and the kids made a notebook page with 2 or 3 things they learned about Sound.

During our second lesson we started talking about how sound travels in waves. We did a silly "experiment" where the kids had to make some dangling cereal pieces move without touching them or blowing on them. As suggested we used a rubber band and pulled on the band to see if we could use "sound" to make them move.

I had to get Anna doing this... she was a good sport... of course Lydia and Chris don't have the teeth to hold the rubber band with;) LOL!!

I pulled out a bowl of water for us to see the ripples when some thing is dropped into the water; just to give them a visual of "sound waves".  But it turned into another lesson;)

We  started talking about where sounds can be made and what are better conductors of sounds... liquids, air, or solids?

Air is a little obvious because that is hwo we hear each other talk. Using my bowl of water we clanged coins together, and we could hear it. A corresponding section in our experiment book gave us some great information to talk about... like how water carried the sound really well so yelling at the pool is loud or animals talking to each other under the water.

To experiment with sounds and solids, we scratched a wooden ruler at the end with our fingernails close to our ears and it was barley audible. Then we put the ruler right on our ear and scratched with the same intensity... it was much louder!

We found that solids are much better conductors of sound than air or water due to their molecules being closer together:) We remembered watching a show  (or maybe even in Rifles for Watie) with an Indian guide listening to the ground to hear for horses running. So we put our heads on the table and tried to guess when someone at the table was tapping (and even what song they were tapping).

Yay, for more fun, hands-on Science:)  And a great video to go with this Sound unit is BIll Nye the Science Guy: Sound... just beware that it is LOUD and old school... lots of references to Janet Jackson;) Other than that it's very thorough and fun and loud:)

 Throw in a sleepover for Chris with his RA class (and Brian tagging along)! An afternoon playdate with friends... even another doggie for Jack to pal around with:) More planting in the garden (more tomatoes, corn, watermelon and cantaloupe)!!! Some Leave it to Beaver shows and conversations! A fun new read aloud called Wonderstruck that we're all wanting to know how it ends....

And I think it was a good week;)

And it was our last 5 day week until August thanks to Daddy's summer schedule starting next week!! 
 

Weekly Wrap Up: A Canal, Heat and Upside Down Painting

yes... it's all learning;) And I'm trying, trying , trying to get back into Wrapping Up:)

No good excuses  not to, except that these days are precious:)

Bible

We worked on our final way of Our 24 Family Ways by the Clarksons. I really have loved this kid-friendly devotional. I am hoping to make the list visible somewhere in our school room. Hopefully with it visible we will be reminded of the things we need to continue to put into practice. I would also like to repeat the study in a few years.

Language Arts
Doing the Spelling Power thing.. sort of:) The middle two and I worked through 2 sections and Anna started a BIG section; she's working through the names of the States. I love that my kids are definitely going to be better spellers (is that a word?) than their mother:)

We're treking on through Grammar... the middle two still loving FLL and Anna (and I) just doing it to finish up. I hate to say it but we're both learning from Rod & Staff just not as "fun" as we'd like :/ Anna also completed a book report... maybe she'll blog it;)

Anna and Lydia were reading Misty of Chincoteague and Stormy: Misty's Foal last week (they started the week before last). Chris and I are reading through some Henry and Mudge by Cynthia Rylant... these are some great practice reading books for Chris and he likes them!!

Yes, I even caught him reading on his own... one the first steps of being a fluent reader;)

Math
We're getting to the end of our math for the semester... well Anna has 20 lessons and Lydia FINISHED!! LOL!! During the year, Lydia would sometimes do 3 lessons in a morning (she's a determined little gal)... so she got to finish early... her siblings aren't very happy about it;)

Since Chris started SAXON 3 after Christmas, he is working to the middle of the book and then he'll take a break... if he wants!! He has been doing really well with his math work... but he's not loving  doing xtramath.org subtraction:/ Working on it;)

History
We looked at the building of the Suez Canal and the changing of power in Egypt at that time. We read the section from SOTW, did the map, worked on the outline together and the kids wrote narrations for the section. Unfortunately there was little for kid to read about the Suez Canal and Egypt during this time period.

Interesting videos about the Suez Canal;) YouTube summary of the building of the canal  called "A man, a dream, a canal" (4 min) or Modern Marvels: Suez Canals (44 mins). The kids watched both, but Brian and I liked the Modern Marvels video because it covered the original building of the Suez Canal through the point when Egypt was the final "owner".

It was a little humorous that as we were studying the Suez Canal inside, Brian was building his own outside....

LOL!! Actually he is working on a "french drain" but uncovered it looks like a canal through the yard:)

Science

Last week we started working on a unit of Heat Transfer. I'd definitely heard the words before but I'm totally learning with them (well a little before them).

We talked about conduction last week as we heated up a pot of water with two spoons sticking out, one metal and one wooden. We read a description about the molecules of the spoons getting hot and bumping into one another making the heat move up the spoon... move more up the metal spoon than the wooden one. We demonstrated it by standing in a line and having the last person bump the first one... we were close and we all felt it. Another cute explanation of the molecules "moving" was that they don't travel around but "dance in their seats when it gets hot". LOL!!

This week we tackled convection and convection current. We attempted two experiments, the first was heating up particles in water so we could see the particles move as the water heated up. The second was to show how warm air currents using a spiral and our space heater.

Maybe it was because the first experiment was "ok", it was really cool to see the 2nd experiment work;)

Through different readings we also learned about some real places convection currents are found/used... like weather (wind), some ocean currents, heating/cooling a house, etc!!

On Wednesday we finished with radiation. Through our readings we were able to make a definition and talk about where we use radiation.

Some fun resources were
*Intereactive video that reviewed the prinicples
*Simple explanation of each concept
*Heat, Matter and Energy by Graham Bateman ( a little too much for my kids but we read through a good portion of the book.. a great resource for us).

Art
Last week we started reading about Michelangelo as our "artist of the month".  We have enjoyed the Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artist series and corresponding lesson plans from COnfessions of a Homeschooler.

This week we looked more indepth at the Sistine Chapel.  We talked about the challenges surrounding painting the ceiling. And we examined talked about the different scenes found in the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

And then ....

they climbed under tables and benches...

and painted their own biblical scenes;)

Super fun.... they all said that they "Love art time!!" Oh, and "ouch, this hurts my neck!"

Well, there was a look into our schooling time... it totally doesn't really wrap it ALL up, but it's ok:)

Ending the Civil War and Simple Machines

Bible
Our discussions were about doing the right thing regardless of what others are doing. This was a great lesson that was very applicable for my kids!! And it lead to some fun, real, "what would you do" conversations.

Language Arts
Nothing too exciting;/ Journaled about a simple machine they'd like to build, kind of like the inventions of Da Vinci :) More prepositions! Comparision adjective for Anna:) Spelling words and sentences!

One "new"thing is using our Time Timer for a reading time. Setting the timer for 30/45 minutes each morning to read!! I usually use that time to do reading lessons with Lydia and Chris and then free-read with Chris until the time is up:) So they are reading during their "down time" during the day and then this reading time, too! yay!

Math
Thankfully we have some diligent math students;)

 

History
We read a lot last week just to "catch up" some and finish up:) We talked about the hardships different groups faced during and after the War. The final match-ups between Grant and Lee. Sherman's "March to the Sea" as he marched through GA really crippling some if their homes, businesses, rail stations, barns,etc! And the official end of the War happening at Appomattox, VA.

Even though we had read and discussed the assination of Abraham Lincoln before, we still spent some time discussing the impact of Lincoln's death on the Nation at such a critical time. Anna had a great observation....

 she got excited that there was another person who was shot in the head and worked with the government.  The person she remembered was shot in the head but because we know more about brains and how to help this person, she is on TV with her husband and can walk and talk again.
Any guesses who Anna was linking Abraham Lincoln with????

Gabby Giffords!! It amazes me how much information my kids learn from watching the news with their dad! And what s even cooler was that Anna was making connections from historical figures to modern times... similar shots in the heads and then the difference because of modern medicine! 

We also talked about some of the challenges of Reconstruction. The bitter feelings and anger that still kindled in the hearts of people in both sides of the War. How the freed men and women were treated :(


Science
We finished our three week study of Simple Machines;) This week we finished with Screws:) And then we enjoyed a magazine from our library to review.

And a Simple Machine Scavenger Hunt.

I also found a great printable Simple Machine sort!! They sorted through the many different pictures

and then made some of their own pictures to "even out" some of the smaller columns:)

And then I found a fun simple machine quiz at EdHeads! A great way to end our unit on Simple Machines;)

Art
We did art on Monday so we'd be sure to fit it in this week:) We reviewed who Da Vinci was by reading a short biographical article. I gave the kids a black and white sketch of Lady with an Ermine and we read some of the background information about the painting. Then the kids pulled out the painting supplies and got to work using the painting as a guide;)

A great week:) Kind of sad to end these two units, we've learned a lot.

The Week the Started with Play-Doh & the Civil War

Last week was tough as we started back into schooling after the Christmas Break and everyone getting over sicknesses. But this week was unique, too... isn't every week. It started Monday with the kids getting into the school room before me and pulling out the Play-doh. I would definitely prefer them to work on bookwork first to get it over with..... but the last thing I wanted on Monday morning was for a "battle"! So I went with it:)

They played with Play-Doh and I did our devotional times, read history, later in the week I gave them their spelling works to practice with Play-doh and a knife and did our Grammar lessons orally. It was amazing how much we read this week and how quickly and smoothly our school days went! I told Brian a few days when he returned home from work how much we completed BEFORE lunch!!  I'm definitely willing to add in some Play-doh every week although maybe make the Play-doh after the basics?

And just as an FYI... they all sat at the table and worked on mats. Before we started bookwork all the Play-doh was cleaned up BY THEM. And they usually were the ones asking to complete their other work. To make history come alive a little more, since we're not able to visit some of these places right now.

Bible
This week we discussed working together, helping one another and accepting help! The biblical passages were mostly about cooperation in the church, but it's easy to see that we need to use these principles in every group we are a part of... church, family, or office/class.

Language Arts

spelling in Play-Doh... why not;)

Pronouns! pronouns! Pronouns!! LOL!! Just amazed again this week how much First Language Lessons vol1 &2 combo has prepared Anna for Grade 4 Grammar, definitely a GREAT reason for us to enjoy our time with FLL with Chris and Lydia;)

For writing we completed some story narrations from Writing with Ease (probably not going to use it next year.. or ever again) and then wrote more Thank You and pen pal letters;)

For individual (or with Momma) reading, Anna is still working through Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell. Christopher is working through Just a Few Words, Mr Lincoln by Jean Fritz. And Lydia has gotten lost in the American Girl series... this week she finished Changes for Samantha and began working through Josephina books;) It's very exciting to have little readers and hear them explain the stories they are reading about!

Math
We had 5 full days of schooling... so lots of Math... lots of word problems, math facts and some assessments:) Thankfully we all got through it well and had a BIG accomplishment:) Chris finished Saxon 2 on Friday:) He started Saxon halfway through his Kindergarten year so he is 1/2 year ahead in Math. But for Chris to do the work successfully is exciting... he likes Math and obviously is getting it DONE:) Congrats to Chris!!

History
This week we started The Civil War. Story of the World vol 4 only has one week of material for the Civil War... I just felt like there was soo much to cover that ONE week wasn't enough. I was hoping to find a  recommended book to act as our spine, but I found a book I had reviewed a while ago and so I divided the topics chronologically and into separate "do-able" weeks.

So this week was our first week. Our topics were Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis and the build up and  causes of the War. We colored a map of the US to show how the states alined themselves - Union, Confederate and Neutral.

We've read some fun Abraham Lincoln books;) In 2 books we read about some of Abraham Lincoln's homes. Chris wanted to build one... a lean-to:)

 

Definitely a highlight of his week to use my glue gun! 

Another simple, but fun activity was to see how tall Abraham Lincoln was. We printed off a head shot of Lincoln, measured his height of 6 foot 4 inches and then

For Jefferson Davis we had a coloring page of Davis and an issue of Cobblestone that we borrowed from our library! After all the reading the kids wrote out 2-4 sentences about each on the back of their painting/coloring page:)

Lincoln and J. Davis pictures painted with watercolor and Nate's contribution :)

We also found some short video clips at the History Channel and PBS to supplement what we already had read! I just want to warn that they were produced for adult viewers, so preview them before you watch them with the kids. And as an FYI, if you use Netflix there is an interesting PBS documentary called The Civil War by Ken Burns... it's like 8 episodes (we're still previewing it for the kids).

Science
We learned about what "work" was:) After reading about forces and work on physics4kids.com, we defined "work" and drew a picture of a stick figure kicking a ball.

Our experiment was called Falling Weight Does Work so we used a small plastic container of maple syrup and Play-doh, of course! I had a BIG rock to do the experiment outside, but we had a cool, wet morning, so I had to improvise.... and the Play-Doh was already out;) I wanted to show them a real-life example of  how this concept is used and How Stuff Works had an ok video of a pile driver at work.

Preschool Corner

Nate and I had two sessions of Before Five in a Row starting with his favorite book Goodnight Moon:) We have a few conversations about day and night, light and dark and finding the mouse on the colored pages;) It's one of his favorite books and he can often finish some of the phrases because we have read it soo much before this week;)

Since mid-November he has begun watching  Little Einsteins. Before then he was never still enough to watch anything on TV... which was fine! So now that he's watching (and asking to watch shows) we are introducing him to Leap Frog... can't believe he's already at this stage!

Next week I'm hoping to put together a few more plans for Nate using The Snowy Day by Keats. we'll see what happens as we ease into "pre-schooling" Nate.... hate to call it pre-school right now because he's young. But he's got his colors down, he's trying to count, he loves letters and maybe it's time to start doing some more slightly structured things with him... a little at a time;)

Photo of the Week
Walking into the school room after taking the dog out and I see this:)

Anyway, a GREAT Week... if you couldn't tell:) Add in a few visits with friends and Mommy finally going to the doctor for some meds... and it's a fun week:)

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