Washington D.C.

Washington D.C. is so close yet so many of us fail to utilize its' many resources. I've been guilty of this too. I have to force myself to go usually, but am so glad when I finally do. I try to go at least four times a year, but from now on am focusing on a once a month trip. There are just so many awesome museums and sites to visit, a few times a year makes for a stressed and rushed visit. It helps that a mom in a homeschool group I belong to has been scheduling some trips at the Natural History Museum. Yesterday we attended a class on rocks and minerals which was awesome. Afterward we explored the museum a bit, focusing on early human history. I had no idea how far back the human tree goes! Fascinating stuff. Also gd a really good conversation with a museum docent about how humans today are destroying so much evolutionary work that has been done on our brains in the last few hundred thousand years with our crappy diets and sedentary lifestyles. Anyway, afterwards we hoped on over to the National Zoo and spent the rest of the day there. Fun stuff. Tomorrow is the circus. We ended up with a one day school day this week. Oh well, it's a journey not a race.

Growing Crystals

We got a Wild Goose Co. Growing Crystals kit and the other day we started fooling around with it. We mixed the solution, food coloring, water, table salt and laundry bluing in a tiny little cup and went to bed. The next day we woke up to this. Pretty cool! I am so inspired. I think we may make rock candy next. Some crystals we can eat!

Elemental Science Today

Today we learned about the three main types of Sedimentary rocks. We read a two page spread in our Kingfisher Rocks and Fossils book, followed by a short narration. I had gotten this rock collection at a homeschool sale years ago and it really comes in handy. Similair kits are easy to find around the web, like at rainbow resource, my absolute fave place to shop all things home ed. There are a few types of sedimentary rock in the kit, like limestone, sandstone and gypsum. It was great for the kids to be able to see them in real life, not just a photo in a book. We did a short experiment to test seashells for limestone by adding them to a cup of vinegar. When limestone comes in contact with an acid, like vinegar, bubbles form. Carbon dioxide is created. The kids thought this was really cool. We tested our limestone rock from our kit, and it bubbled like crazy. Other rocks didn't. They wrote the experiment up in their student books. Finally, they took their test for this week's work since we only do science 2x's a week and this was our 2nd day this week.

Learning Language Arts Through Literature

Both Sophia and Ben are using Learning Language Arts Through Literature (LLATL). Ben is using the red, 2nd grade book. The reading level is light for him, but the activities and writing required are right on target. Today we learned about how apostrophes can show ownership and be used in contractions. Ben pasted word pairs onto paper and wrote the related contraction. The activity called for him to do 12 of these, he did five. He also had to fill in a page in the workbook with an appropriate contraction. He then finished the LLATL activity with a handwriting and coloring page based on an assigned story he had finished reading. In addition to LLATL, we use Evan Moor Daily Language Review, Handwriting Without Tears and Explode the Code. Ben also reads a selection from his McGuffey reader out loud to me, and reads a chapter on his own in his Pathway Reader. These are the best readers in my opinion. Later on, he'll read something of his choice for fun. His faves have been the Wimpy Kid series, Magic Tree House series and Horrible Harry

WinterPromise History American Story week 31

This wee k we are still studying pioneer life. We are mainly using A Pioneer Sampler by Barbara Greenwood. Today's reading was about how the pioneers would put up food for the winter. We read about a cornhusking bee. Sophia and Ben both wrote narrations after taking turns reading out loud. I find that they pay much better attention when we all takes turns reading. This was Ben's narration. I use narration starters to give us ideas about what to write. Next we went upstairs and the kids peeled, sliced and cored apples for drying. We talked about how the pioneers would soak their dried apples in maple syrup and use them in pies for the long winter months. Though we had a pretty full tray to begin with, after drying them in the oven for 6 long hours, most of them had been nibbled during the day, so only a few were left.

Elemental Science

We are using Elemental Science's Earth and Space, www.elementalscience.com I am loving this classical approach to science. We are working our way through earth science this semester. Some fun projects we have done so far have involved making volcanoes, a tornado tube, paper mache model of the earth and growing crystals. This week we are studying rocks and minerals.

Baltimore Clayworks fun

I think this is just the greatest Baltimore treasure that not many people know about. Baltimore Clyworks offers clay classes in the community for a paltry $10 per person, per 6 week session. The instructors are fabulous. The projects are both fun and educational. Last session my kids made a complete tea set, and various other projects. Ben made a pelican, Sophia made a statue of a girl, among various other things. Check out baltimoreclayworks.org