Pilgrim's progress

This week we studied pilgrims and painted pumpkins (that the natives gave the pilgrims) and we painted our own Plymouth rocks.  We also made little colonist houses complete with thatched roofs.  Maxwell loves projects and would have me do them all day long if he could.  I feel like I need to spread out my creativity and energy so I'm not always obliging.  Maxwell then does things on his own. His favorite thing to do as of late is to make an elevator that he has Hyrum fill with odds and ends and then Maxwell hoists it up to the landing of the upstairs.

For science, we learned about Newton's 3rd law: action and reaction.  We made rockets out of milk jugs, rockets out of balloons, pushed people on skateboards, and made little paddle boats.   I think this was one of the easiest concepts to get through to kids yet.

For our field trip we went to a pumpkin patch, but it was a failure.  Although some cute pictures were taken, it was cold and uneventful.  So we went swimming (no pictures) the next day, and then of course it was Halloween too, so I'm sure there was enough going on to count something as a field trip :) Besides, next week we are off to Boise at least,  so field trips might be the only thing we accomplish next week!

Jamestown and real results

This week was great.  Maxwell is so wonderful to teach because he loves to learn.  We learned about Jamestown (which was NOT the first colony as a true North Carolina lover will tell you) but was the first one that was successful, and we had fun making the ships that sailed to Virginia and candle holders (my sons LOVE fire, the little pyros.) But Maxwell kept on insisting that the biggest ship was the Santa Maria still....oh well.

For science we learned about inertia, and it really sunk in for Maxwell.  At dinner that night, he observed "Hey Mumma!  My bean rolled down my chip and wanted to keep on going!"  Now that's what I call real life application :) We had a tower with an egg at the top and hit the things under the egg so the egg would land in the cup of water showing how the egg doesn't actually want to go anywhere, and we made a car wreck where our little clay people fall off because of inertia, and among other things, we had a clamp fire off two markers to go from one state of inertia to another.

What I thought was great, is that we started BOB books, and Maxwell read his first book!  I was going to put up a movie I made about it, but it never worked....oh well

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS!!!

I can't think of Columbus without thinking of Jo from Little Women exclaiming "CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS!"  Maxwell has loved learning about Columbus.  He thinks the Santa Maria is the coolest ship ever because he has a cousin he loves named Maria.  For those of you who do not know, Columbus day in the states is Thanksgiving in Canada, and even though we are in Idaho, we had a full out Thanksgiving, and that was our activity for monday.

Tues we made boats out of Styrofoam.  I left the boys alone for a minute and of course came back to a mess. Styrofoam is a nightmare to clean especially when wet!

For science we talked about centripetal force and I was dizzy for an hour afterward.  We spun cups full of water, tried to play "crack the whip," spun pennies in balloons, spun the boys until they were flying, and spun multi colored jello with marbles in them.  That was supposed to be the climax.  The marbles were supposed to drop down from the inertia, while the jello and cup were held with centripetal force, but the jello was too thick, and it didn't budge no matter how long we spinned. Oh well...the jello looked cool and once we fished out the marbles it tasted good too.

For our field trip we went to Utah!  Yah, kind of last moment, but I'm so glad I went. A couple of my dearest friends were getting together, and I decided not to miss it.  So for Maxwell's activity we went with my sister's family to Bridal veil falls.  It was a perfect fall day for a leaf fight. But of course, i FORGOT MY CAMERA!!! URG!!! so these are my junky phone photos.

Then on Monday we went to the children's museum in Salt Lake...Does that count as this week's field trip?.....

Becoming History

This week I decided to continue with the Native theme even though it's October because Maxwell is still having so much fun learning about them still.  We made Kachina dolls and clay pots and had fun with clay.  This was right down Maxwell's alley.

The next day, we made Native costumes.  I use "we" loosely.  Maxwell said "wow mumma....this is YOUR activity, isn't it...."  I guess I kind of took over, but they ended up cute.  And what's a native without his cowboy?

For science we learned about pressure, namely air and water pressure.  Balloons, straws, and vacuums....need I say more?

For our field trip we went to Leo's...a place like Chucky Cheeses....with my boys' cousins.  Wow that place can be a parent's worst nightmare yet a child's fondest dream.  I felt like I couldn't keep track of my boys but they always had smiles when I found them. Doesn't Hyrum look like he is so serious about riding his motorcycle?  Oh he makes me laugh.

Native American Music Week

Well, another week, and I'm still on track....and when it's 3 in the afternoon, and we haven't done a part of our routine, Maxwell begs me to get my act together.

This week we made musical instruments the Natives use, namely a drum and tambourine rattle.  Both of them looked pretty cool but were not that musically effective...that's the joy of having little kids...they don't care!  :)

Our science day was really fun.  We talked about friction.  And what can teach you about the loss of friction better then shaving cream on freezer paper!!!  Definitely a winner...and of course blanket rides around the room teach about friction too....and man I got my workout for the day.

Our field trip was the zoo.  The tauphaus zoo is really impressive for a small city that's cold for 9 months of the year. They have lions tigers and bears....oh my did we get to see a lot.  It was fun since Daddy came too (even if he did want me to be his business sounding board the entire time.)  A highlight of our visit was a little wallaby that got on the path right in front of us!....I'm not sure if that was supposed to happen!