Carbon Dioxide and China cont.

For science we learned about Carbon Dioxide.  There were a few experiments I had wanted to do that included lime water which indicates carbon dioxide, but I made the lime water wrong I think, so I had to skip all of them.  That was okay, because the experiment that did work was really fun.

We combined baking soda and vinegar to make carbon dioxide (baking soda and vinegar is always a hit.) and poured the carbon dioxide gas over a candle to extinguish it. They loved this.

We talked about how yeast makes carbon dioxide and bacteria in cheese makes carbon dioxide and how dry ice is carbon dioxide and creates carbonation in soda, and had a bread, swiss cheese, and root beer snack to drill this in.

We continued to learn about China by doing LOTS of origami.  Maxwell has without doubt inherited my love for creating things out of paper.  He can make some things on his own and has been pouring over our origami book all week.

We also ate noodles with chopsticks in honour of China.  I had tons more China activities that I was wanting to do, but I'm leaving for our christmas trip tomorrow or the next day, and I just got too bogged down, (much to Maxwell's dismay.)

For preschool we learned that the "g" says gggguh like someone who is trying to lift heavy weights.

And for field trip daddy took the boys snowmobiling.  What a good daddy :)

And that's it until the new year.  I hope to do a bit of reading lessons on our trip, and I'm sure we'll have educational field trips, but other then that, I really hope this will be a trip of RELAXATION!

Bye for now :)

Ancient China, paper, and oxygen

I have absolutely loved learning about ancient China with my boys.  They were masters of invention!  Compasses, wheelbarrows, boat rutters, kites, gunpowder, and even the printing press!  (but there were thousands of print characters, so it never really caught on, so I'll still give the credit to Gutenberg)

And of course, they invented PAPER.  This was my favourite activity that we've done so far.  I made paper years ago, but this time around I got a wonderful kit from Arnold Grummer that worked so well, that even Hyrum made wonderful paper with hardly any help. Maxwell of course made a few pages...

It ended up to be GORGEOUS paper with bits of flower pedal fibre embedded throughout.

We also painted some paper lanterns.  It was only AFTER we did this activity that Maxwell and I read in one of the books how lanterns were used during the new year for luck.

For Preschool...yes I did preschool this week, I was just a bit too frazzled until now to do it again....we learned about the letter "f" and put on wings to fffffly.  Hyrum loves the songs and learning more and more.  So rewarding.

And for science we learned about air, namely the oxygen in the air.  We reviewed air pressure (which was easy to do after our hurricanes winds last week that blew down our fence!) and air displacement.

And we taked about oxygen.  We made oxygen from yeast and hydrogen peroxide.  We showed how fire went out with out oxygen.  We showed how elements in fruit left and combined with oxygen to "rust" but didn't if it was covered in citric acid.  We did a few other things that taught us about oxygen, I just can't remember right now.

For field trip we had a Christmas party.  I love this time of year!

India and History Plans for next semester

We didn't do science last week because I was in Arizona.  I feel like I've missed a lot of science.  Well, we already did science for this week, so stay tuned for that post.

We learned about Ancient India in history this week.  Maxwell loves the "Just So" stories by Kipling.  We learned about Hindu gods just a bit and studied how they often have many arms to show their many powers, and so we made silhouettes of ourselves with many arms.

Then we moved ahead about a thousand years in time and learned about the Taj Mahal and how it's decorated with mosaics.  We made mosaics of our own.  Warning! do not smash ceramic plates to make mosaic tiles.  That was not the brightest idea on my part.  Sharp shards everywhere....not good.

For field trip we cut down our Christmas tree! With homemade apple-raspberry cider, chile and a fire, it was a grand time.

And Maxwell sneakily chopped down his own tree.

Okay, now for my record of what we are doing for history next semester.  The Four Year Plan spent way too long on the etruscans and Russia for my liking (her son went on a mission to Russia and there was an Etruscan exhibit when she made the book) so I did a major over haul, and I'm still a couple activities short.

January-Ancient Greece

life-size maze (myths)
Paint gold on black pots
Olympics
Paint Coins (philosophers)
Puppet Theatre
Make miniature lighthouse (Alexander)
Library treasure hunt

February-Ancient Rome

Bullas (Etruscan)
Marbling (Myths)
murals
Portrait busts (forum)
arch/volcano (pompeii)
Marshmallow catapults and togas (Caesar)
make aqueducts from tap to bath (Cleopatra)
Make sheep (Jesus's life)....We're doing new testament next year, but I felt I needed to show the historical context of when Christ was born.
IDEAS WANTED (early christian suffering/lions in colosseum/gladiators/Nero)

March-Medieval Europe

Make shields with crosses (Constantine)
Holiday fun (Pagans)
Make swords (Huns/Visigoths)
Castles made with marshmallows and ice cream cones (Camelot)
make a round table?---not sure about this activity
Coat of Arms (Charlemagne)
Medieval banner (Ottoman)
Make fancy boats (Vikings)
Crowns and Princess cones (Crusades)

April-Medieaval Europe Continued

Stained glass (cathedrals)
Ukrainian Easter eggs
Robin Hood hats and bows and arrows
Ring around the roses,  make paper posies and burn them (black death, London fire)
Illuminations with gold leaf (pilgrimages)
IDEAS WANTED (Joan of Arc)

May-Renissance

Make printing press out of abc stamps (Gutenberg)
IDEAS WANTED (Martin Luther)
Paper Airplanes (Leonardo Da Vinci)
IDEAS WANTED (Henry VIII)
Make ruffled collars (Elizabeth I)
Maypole (Shakespeare)
Make puppets for our puppet theatre (Shakespeare cont.)
Paint on bottom of table (Michelangelo)
Carve statues (Bernini)
Be in dark with flashlight and charcoal with pre-made outlines of objects (Rembrandt and Vermeer)

If anyone out there is reading this, I would love help with the IDEAS WANTED gaps.

Molecules, Math Olympics, and Africa

Last week we were back to normal since my sister's family left.

We had fun in science.  We learned about how molecules are atoms put together.  We had gummy bears be different kinds of atoms and toothpicks stick them together to make molecules.

We also talked about the difference between physical change and chemical change.  We ripped paper (physical) and burnt it (chemical) and a few more examples.  We also talked about the difference between mixtures and compounds. We made cake batter (mixture) and baked it (compound.)

We also got iron fillings and put it in sand and then sulphur. It was easy to see that it wasn't a compound because you can separate the elements using a magnet.

We then took sand and sulphur and melted them together making iron sulphide (a compound)....it really worked! but the process had stinky moments.  I had to go begging the high school chemistry teacher for the iron and sulphur.  I went into his supply room and began to covet all the science goodies.  I asked him if normal people could buy this sort of thing and he said "of course not, are you crazy!"

I had really wanted to show how you could separate a water molecule with electrolysis, but the experiment fail miserably....yet again something I will get a kit for next time around.


For history we switched gears and learned about ancient Africa.  No particular event, city, or public figure, just ancient african culture as a whole.  We read lots of books like "a story a story" and "why mosquitoes buzz in people's ears" and talked about oral bards.  We made little finger puppets and masks to help tell oral bard stories.

The kids had lots of fun with the puppet supplies....

This week, the homeschool section of the school district put on a "math olympics."  I was quite impressed with the amount of stations and how well they were catering to families.  There is a lady here that really is the back bone to all these type of events everyone lovingly calls "Granny Wendy."  She was one of the first people in Cardston to homeschool, and she's amazing.

Maxwell is actually liking math and lately has asked for extra worksheets to do, which he does in his "office" with his abacus.  What ever house we have moved to, Maxwell always seems to find a cosy place to call his office.  It's usually behind a sofa.  I sure love him.

Arabian Nights

Before we learned about Persia and Arabia, we learned about the second Babylon and learned about Daniel and Nebakanezer. Most history books just clump the new Babylon with the old, but I decided to study Mesopotamia-Egypt-Israel-Babylon-Persia because that's the order of the Old Testament, and it makes the most sense to me.

We made our own Ishtar Gate to study Babylon.  All that was missing was the hanging gardens!

Has anyone out there actually read the Arabian Night stories?  One word....WACKED!!!  Especially Ali Babba and Sinbad, but even though they're warped, I must admit I still find them intriguing.  I find it amazing that woman, even slave woman, were often the heros.  However, I can totally see why Esther was so scared for her life if she was brought up hearing stories like these!

We wore tubans (I actually watched a youtube video on how to tie a turban,) made pita bread that actually puffed up like it should, and made genie lamps out of tin foil, but instead of oil in the lamps we just put a candle.  Maxwell loves the Arabian Night stories....humm time to return them to the library.

For science we learned about atoms again.  I think I'll start with atoms next time I teach chemistry because that makes more sense to me.  We made a marble atom model and a gumdrop atom model, and made an atom model where the nucleus was a brick and we made a chalk line 15 ft from the centre to show how atoms are mostly space.  I think some of it sunk in.  Using candy helps.

This week we went to the monthly poem recitation that my incredible friend Eve does.  Maxwell loves to perform.

My niece, Briana, has really inspired the household to make books.  There have been many books made this week.  Briana made one for Hyrum that he has me read him every night called "Super Hyrum."

I found that the "bed" way of learning "b" and "d" wasn't being that effective at this point in the game, and I went back to this theory that my friend Nicholeen taught me.  The truck either runs into the Back of the Bear or the Dog's nose.  This has seemed to work better for Maxwell.

And even though we had our track and field day a month or so ago, I thought I would include this video that my amazing sister-in-law made of the event.

Israel and Atoms

We continued learning about ancient Israel with King David.  We made sling shots of course.  These were a hit, especially since the 5 smooth stones were marshmallows! They were made from wire hangers, rubber bands, and leather from a purse I bought at our second had store. They worked really well.

That was it for history...yah, I'm a slacker, but when you have guests....well, slacking is allowed.

Science was good, I think.  We talked about atoms.  We talked about how they are too small to see, so we poked objects in play dough and tried to guess what was inside, and talked about how this was kind of like how scientists find out about atoms.

We also talked what makes up an atom and we reviewed + and - charges.  We had balloons pick up pieces of confetti and had balloons repel each other.  Kids always love it when you bring out balloons!

Maxwell is doing really well with his reading program.  It is going at a pace that he's really comfortable with.  He is starting to make headways, and it's exciting to watch.

This week, we are studying the "b" and "d" words, and my sister has this great way of reminding kids which is which.  I made a poster for Maxwell to remember her concept (Maxwell helped me colour the bed on the computer):

Do you get it?  if you put your hands in fists with your thumbs up, then you make a bed, and so your left hand is a "b" and your right had is a "d" so you just have to look at your fists to remember which is a "b" or "d."  It seems to be working so far.

Ancient Israel and Halloween

This week we didn't have science because I had a minor surgery.  I have to say that science is the hardest thing to teach because of all the preparation that has to go into the experiments (and finding the random things needed for experiments!) but it is the most meaningful thing for Maxwell, so I will continue to prepare and be diligent in the future.

We learned about ancient Israel this week.  Of course, my kids already know quite a bit about ancient Israel because of the Bible.  In fact, when I first mentioned Ancient Egypt, my kids said "oh ya, we know about Moses!"

Well they got to study Moses again anyway.  We made a Red Sea for Moses to part, and a whole bunch of Israelites to cross it. My Sister's family is staying here for a few weeks, and my nieces made this activity elaborate and fun.

We also pretended to be Israelites that surrounded the "wall" of Jericho and blew their trumpets to have the wall come tumbling down.  I had no idea when I bought these one dollar trumpets how LOUD they would be.  I thought our cup wall would literally fall down from the sound vibrations!

And Maxwell has another scripture memorized....

Of course, since it was Halloween season, we also made masks and carved pumpkins.  Hyrum LOVED his "happy pumpkin."  He wanted to sleep with it that night....I sure love him.

And even though today is part of next week, I'll just admit now that no learning besides Halloween fun was had today,  but they sure had FUN!