Sink or Float?

One of my little first grader's science activities for this week was an experiment in what will sink or float. We started by reading the little story about sink and float from his "Read and Understand Science" book.

Next, we gathered some items. We predicted which objects would sink and which ones would float. He was really good at this!

Once he tested all his objects out, he filled in his answers on his worksheet. I asked him which object was the most fun to test out, and he said he liked the brick and the sheet of paper.

Another fun science activity this week was making homemade applesauce. We have been doing several apple themed activities for Apple Month. Both our little girl and boy liked mashing the apples and adding all the tasty ingredients!

Unfortunately, I don't have any good pictures of them making the applesauce, but here is a picture of the finished product! I have also included a picture of the homemade apple potpourri bags we made for our Keepers Club this week. They smell absolutely heavenly!

Veggie Picking

This week, we headed out to an organic farm with our homeschool support group. We were the first family to arrive, and they put our children right to work, gathering tools and supplies!

Once the rest of our group was there, we all headed out to the fields to taste various plants and herbs, right out of the ground. We were given mint, celery, rosemary and many others to sample.

I must admit that I am not very knowledgeable in the gardening department, and so if I were walking through a field such as the one above, I would not be able to recognize what is edible and what is not. We were taught to use not only our sense of sight, but also our sense of smell to identify the various plants.

Next, we went over to some of the vegetable rows and the children weeded the garden. Since this was an organic garden, no pesticides or chemicals are ever used.

After some weeding, the kids went over the the chicken coop and fed the chickens some of the weeds they had picked.

We then ventured into the greenhouse where the farmers taught us all about how a greenhouse works, and why it is important to start off the little plants in a greenhouse and then plant them in the ground.

The kids were able to see several samples of different types of seeds. They even were able to make their own little seed pots out of rolled up newspaper and take them home to plant in our own garden!

Next, it was over to the composting area where the children learned about composting and what materials are good or bad for a compost pile. They were able to shred some newspaper into the bin as well.

The kids were getting hungry after all the fresh air and so they went out into the lettuce field and were able to gather some lettuce to make salad for everyone to eat. The salad was absolutely delicious- so fresh and tasty!

The entire group really enjoyed this trip and we learned so much about seeds, composting, and organic gardening. Now if I could just get something, ANYTHING to grow at our house...

Starfall Fun, Science Experiment, and Self-Control

This week, my little guy has enjoyed some hands-on activities. Starfall comes with so many fantastic picture cards and so I thought I would make a game for him. I made several word cards to go with the pictures and then I placed the word cards in our large pocket chart, which by the way, he LOVES using. I then gave him one picture card at a time and he had to place the picture next to the correct word. I was amazed at how well he was able to sound out the words by himself. He didn't miss any of them!

Another fun activity involving his Starfall word cards involved using play-doh, which is another favorite in our house. I placed several cards on the table and he had to roll out the play-doh and shape it into the correct letters. I must say, he did very well. I only had to help him with the "h".

Meanwhile, my little girl was busy conducting an experiment involving this lovely plant and some petroleum jelly. We wanted to see what would happen to the leaves of the plant when petroleum jelly was placed on the top of one leaf and on the bottom of another leaf. In her hypothesis, she stated she thought that both leaves would turn brown and fall off.

After several days, we looked at the plant and discovered that the leaf with the petroleum jelly on top did not change. However, the leaf with the petroleum jelly on the bottom ended up looking like this:

As you can see, it turned completely brown and died. We found out the reason for this is because plants breathe through tiny holes underneath their leaves. The petroleum jelly covered the holes and did not allow air to get through.

Last but certainly not least, I thought I would share what we've been working on lately for our Bible study. This year, I decided it would be nice to do a thorough lesson on the fruits of the spirit. I was able to find several activities online as well as some fantastic resource books. My favorite by far is the one shown above. It is so full of wonderful activities! This week, we are completing our study and since the lessons are on self-control, I thought I would have my children do a little experiment to see just how self-controlled they really are!

Each of them found a bag of these adorable heart-shaped strawberry scented marshmallows in their workboxes.  After they copied their Bible verse (1 Peter 5:8) and practiced the hand motions for all the other fruit of the spirit qualities, we discussed what it meant to be self-controlled. I then had them open their bags and smell the treats. By now, they REALLY wanted to eat them!

They were then instructed to close the bags and place them where they could see them. I decided ahead of time they would be able to enjoy the marshmallows after lunch time, several hours later. The entire time they were doing other school work, those cute little treats were there tempting them. I am proud to say though that each one of them demonstrated self-control and after lunch, they were finally able to eat them!

This was a fun and tasty activity and it really showed them how it is difficult sometimes to have self-control, especially when something (or someone!) is tempting you.

Smelling Station, Soup Month, and a Lost Tooth

Today my 8 year old set up a "smelling station" for science. I created a direction sheet ahead of time, along with some answer sheets to hand out to all the participants. First, she wrote a number on each bowl. Next, she had to go around the house and get something for each bowl that had a recognizable scent. After that, she placed the items in the bowls and covered them with a paper towel so they could not be seen.

The fun part was when we all got the chance to smell each bowl and write down what we thought was hiding under the paper towel. Some were easy, and others were a bit difficult to guess! The items she chose were the following: a banana, shampoo, a gingerbread cookie, an orange, and toothpaste. I thought her choice of items was great because she chose a variety of items and they all had distinct smells. This was a fun activity and we all enjoyed participating in it!

Speaking of smells, did you know that the month of January is National Soup Month? I just love the smell of a nice big pot of soup simmering on the stove when its cold outside! So far this month, we have made homemade chicken soup and today we are making kale soup. Kale is so healthy and tastes delicious, especially in soup. My kids gobble it up! We serve it with some nice grilled cheese sandwiches. Yummy! I can hardly wait until dinner tonight.

Last of all, I wanted to share my little guy's big milestone- he lost his very first tooth! I can't believe my baby is old enough to be missing teeth! He was a bit upset at first because it was just hanging there, bothering him.

I assured him once it was out everything would be ok and he would be able to eat "normally" again. So, here he is with his toothless grin! The tooth fairy, Dentalina, arrived right on schedule and left a nice payment for his little tooth. I asked him what he thinks she does with all those teeth and he replied that she puts them all in a box and saves them. By the way, my oldest always said Dentalina makes "tooth soup" out of them and my middle child says she builds little tiny tooth houses. I always get a kick out of their responses to certain questions.



God's Eyes, 3 Letter Words, and Too Much Sugar!

Every year, my kids get a TON of candy. When I say a ton, that is no exaggeration.  Each of their buckets was completely overflowing with chocolate, gum, Skittles, M & M's and just about every other type of candy you could imagine. So, always looking for a teaching opportunity, I decided to have my children do some math and science activities with their load, secretly praying it would all somehow disappear before they ate too much. First, I had them sort all the candy by brand. Then, they sorted the candy by type- chocolate, chewy, gum, hard candy, etc... The fun part came next. We did lots of experiments using various candies-melting time, water/oil experiments, etc...   They really enjoyed this activity and little by little, the giant sugar mountain started to disappear.  I don't even think they really cared about eating the candy as much as they were curious to see how long it would take a chocolate bar to explode in the microwave. Fun times...

We've been learning about Mexico as part of our Galloping the Globe studies and the kids had fun making Ojos de Dios (God's Eyes) this week. Much more about Mexico will be seen here, as we chose Mexico as our Christmas Around The World country.

I know I've mentioned this before, but I will say it again- I just LOVE Starfall Kindergarten. It is so thorough and full of all sorts of colorful, high quality manipulatives and products. My little guy has been working hard at sounding out words and so I decided to make 3 different colored circles and laminated them. Then, I wrote the words "beginning" "middle" and "ending" and placed one above each circle. I say a word out loud and give him a handful of magnetic letters. His job is to break up the word into separate sounds and then find the correct letters and place them in the appropriate spot. For example, I say the word "bed" and he repeats it and then says what each letter sounds like b-e-d. Then, he finds the letters in his pile and sets them in the correct order.  He really enjoys this activity and I am amazed at how well he is learning to distinguish beginning/ending sounds as well as vowels.

A Busy Week!

We finally had our first week of "fall-like" weather and you know what??? It feels GREAT! I absolutely love the cool, windy breezes and the crisp smell in the air. It's the perfect time of year for us to spend lots of time outside and so our first adventure this week was to the alpaca farm to learn all about these cuddly, cute animals from Peru.

We also engaged in some science experiments, including one where my daughter learned about air pressure and how birds fly.

My little guy loved reading "Caps For Sale" with me and even got out his own set of caps to "sell" to us. He wrote in his Starfall Journal about his favorite cap.

My kids were also able to finish their hot air balloons as part of our Galloping The Globe geography studies. I was quite impressed with their creativity and love how each one of their balloons is different.

What was my favorite homeschooling moment this week? It would definitely have to be the times I caught my older girls helping their little brother and showing love and kindness towards him. It sure does make me smile...

Middle School Science

My oldest daughter is using Apologia Science Exploring Creation With General Science this year. This is an extremely thorough program designed to introduce middle-schoolers to several branches of science. There are experiments in every module and she must keep a lab notebook with notes and diagrams. We are still using the elementary Apologia science books for my younger children. So far, she seems to be enjoying it- all except for these wonderfully fashionable safety glasses!

Another successful experiment!