Green Papyrus and Density

This week was awesome.  Science worked out really well.  We talked about the periodic table and how to identify elements.  We talked about how certain elements conduct electricity, and set up a battery with a light attached to wires, and we saw what kind of elements would complete the circuit.  We talked about brittleness and smashed some different things.  One boy saw everything set up and said as a joke "Are we going to smash stuff?"  I said yes, and he looked at me with a silly grin and said "Really?"  We also tried to burn different elements to show different coloured flames, but it didn't work....borax is not as pure as boric acid I guess.

We also talked about density and weighed different things.  We also put different liquids in a test tube to show how they will float on one another because of their different densities. The boys LOVED this experiment!!! Maxwell started experimenting will all the liquids he could find in the next few days.

We also made hydrometers to measure liquid density.  They really worked!

History was really fun this week....for me :)  I love ancient egypt, and Teri Ebert of the Four Year Plan gives a link to some really great Egyptian crafts at http://boiseartmuseum.org/education/egyptian.php  and that is where I found out how to make papyrus.  They suggest making it out of rhubarb stalks, but the only rhubarb I could find was limp and decrepit, so I took the celery out of my fridge and crossed my fingers and ...... it WORKED!!!  I have to admit, I kind of took over in this craft, because I really was excited and wanted it to work.

It took a lot of drying, but in the end Maxwell was able to paint on it.

We also made cartouches.  Egyptians believed that these ovals were magic, protecting the words inside.  That's how important writing and preservation was to them...fascinating (or maybe I'm just a happy nerd).  We did sand art to colour them.  The kids had fun and in the end mixed up the sand to make "rainbow sand"

But it did make a mess....

For Preschool we talked about how the letter "e" says "ehhh?" like someone who couldn't hear you very well, so we made ears.

And for our field trip we went to a halloween party.

Math has been going really well with doing Rightstart lessons and Saxon worksheets.  Maxwell has memorized the song that is the basis for the Rightstart philosophy of this year:

Mummas...I mean Mummies...

This week we didn't do science since it was Canadian Thanksgiving.  I guess we learned about the science of cooking....hey, it IS chemistry to bake something!

We did indeed do history.  MUMMIES!  I had taught Maxwell quite a bit, and then the twins and Maria came over and Maxwell was excitedly sharing what he knew, and they asked things like "were they all girls?" and Maxwell would say things like "No, lots of them were boys and dads."  I was confused for awhile until Hyrum kept talking about the Mommys.....oh, ya, oops.

Books that I loved were: one I already have "Mummies made in Egypt" by Aliki, and one I found "Hallmarks of History: Pyramids"

Our activity was of course to wrap ourselves up as mummies.

(facepainting is a regular hobby around here)

And we made canopic jars.  We filled them with noodles that I was going to pretend were brains until I got reminded that brains were thrown away, so I guess they were intestines.

And we even did an experiment with mummifying oranges.  One was left alone, one was just wrapped in a paper towel, and the other one was place in between two coffee filters filled with baking soda which should work just like natron.

The next day we talked about pyramids.  We built a pyramid from sandpaper that we glued hieroglyphics in.  Then they wrapped up toy people and animals and put their mummies in their pyramids.

For field trip....well, I kind of skunked out.  My sister-in-law took my kids and they raked leaves and put them all onto the tramp and had a jumping-in-leaves-hootananny that I don't think they'll forget.

and we have been memorizing scriptures...this is sooo cute...well maybe only I think it's cute because it's crazy just like it always is.

The Fertile "Croissant"

This week we learned about the Fertile Crescent/Ancient Mesopotamia.I couldn't find any GOOD books, and as a result, I'm not sure how much it all sank in for Maxwell.

My reeds I ordered A MONTH AGO  to weave baskets with hadn't come in.  Perturbed....

We did do an activity anyway.  We were supposed to make bas reliefs from salt dough, which is a low raised sculpture or a picture etched in clay.  The kids weren't very interested in this, and since we were talking about the world's first cities, asked if they could make cities out of clay instead.  This sounded appropriate.

See how there's a city wall and a pyramid like temple in the middle?  I teach 'um good, eh?

We talked about how Mesopotamia is also called the Fertile Crescent and made croissants to drill this in, but I don't think they got it...maybe in four years.

For science, we talked about water tension.  We showed how a little safety pin will float on top of water but will sink if it goes through the water tension (just like a water skeeter.)  We showed how we could still fit tons of stuff in a glass that seems full.  We showed how material would hold in water unless you touched it and broke the tension, and then we broke the water tension in a shallow bowl with matches in it using dish soap.  It was pretty low key since only one boy showed up.  They were more interested in halloween costumes then water tension.

For preschool we learned that "d" stands for dddrum.

And for Field trip we went to an awesome Friendship Soup party.  Everyone brought an ingredient for soup and some cookies.  The soup ended up tasting delicious, and everyone got their cookie fix for the week.  There were probably 80 people in one house, but it wasn't crazy, I swear.  I bet it was because it was a big open house with vaulted ceilings, and she had carpet and log walls to soak up the sound.

I spent some of the party talking to one homeschooled boy who had just got his mission call.  I love how most homeschoolers are so comfortable talking to adults.  He has earned all the money he needs for his mission mostly from selling CDs with music he composed/performed on it.  Incredible and with it....YES another homeschool success story in the making.

Of course, what's a party without Shaina face painting everyone?

Ice, Ice, Baby

With learning about dry ice, the Ice Age, and "c" stands for Cold ice, it was an icy week at the McKay household.

Science was AWESOME!  And that's even what the kids said :)  Seriously, it was the funnest science day ever.  We learned about the changing states of matter.  We changed ice to water to steam and back to water again. Then we talked about what would happen if something was both a solid and liquid and brought out the cornstarch and water.  EVERYONE loves cornstarch and water.  While they were playing with that, I was showing them how every liquid has a different boiling point.

Then I had them pretend to be a solid and crunch down into a ball, a liquid where they stood up straight, and a gas where they went crazy, and talked about how molecules expand as they change states.  This led to mixing a liquid (vinegar) and a solid (baking soda) to make a gas that expands enough to blow up a balloon.

And of course, we got out the DRY ICE!! A solid changing to a gas....cool.  It is way hard to find dry ice in Canada.  After making about twenty phone calls I found it at a welding supply shop.  I now understand Dustin's delight at being able to buy dry ice in the grocery store in the States.  I've always taken it for granted.

Maybe I should not share our finale, but it was every one's favourite....dry ice bombs....being married to Dustin of course I knew how to do this, and how better to prove that matter expands as it changes into a gas?....expanding soooo much that it explodes!  I did not know how effective these bombs would be.  I now have little craters in my back yard, and I'm sure my neighbours think a gun was going off...all in the name of science!  This was all that was left of one of the pop bottles....

This week we learned about the ice/stone age.  I've always been fascinated by how artistic the oldest of man's preserved paintings are.  Books I found that were awesome were "Discovery in the Cave" by Dubowski and Barnard (I've always loved the true story of the discovery of the Lascaux caves.)  and "Stone age Boy" by Kitamura....very cute and informative.

I love learning about the Chauvet caves and the Lascaux caves!!!  Were these dumb men just evolving from nothing?  NO! These were children of God being inspired to create!

And we were inspired to create our own cave paintings....In a fridge box...jammed with six delighted kids.

We also spray-painted over our hands using straws.  At first we did it too watery, but it worked in the end.  I think I swallowed some paint though!....we also painted rocks.

In preschool we learned that "c" is for cold...

And for field trip we went to a lake and enjoyed fall colours..how wonderful that it's still warm!

Dead Dinosaurs

We excavated our homemade dinosaur fossils.  Maxwell was very excited about this and kept yelling "Let's excavate!"  I don't think I learned the word "excavate" until Jr. High.  Hyrum had a different approach.  He would say "Help, I'm stuck!" in a little voice for the dinosaurs, and then say "I will help you!" in a deep voice at which point he would hammer them as hard as he could with his mallet.

Can you see our "sabre tooth" tiger we threw in there?

We acted out the extinction of the dinosaurs.  There are many theories (scientists sometimes crack me up on how sure they are about things that are so unsure.)  First we were mammals eating the dumb dinosaur's eggs (jelly bellies.) Then we acted out the dinosaurs all getting sick.  Then we hit them with a soccer ball meteorite.  And then the planet heated up, resulting in a lot of VOLCANOES!!!  (The volcano theory was the hit of the day.)

We had a P.E. day this week.  The homeschool organization threw a field day.  Maxwell tried hard, and in the end they gave the little kids lots of ribbons regardless of winning, which I liked.  He did get fourth in throwing frisbees.  Ultimate frisbee champion in the making!

 In devotionals we learned that Russell M. Nelson was a heart surgeon...

And for our field trip we went to the WEST EDMONTON MALL!!!  It used to be the biggest mall in the world.  Maxwell got picked during the sea lion show as the volunteer who threw the sea lions rings.

We went to everything (including the "largest indoor amusement park in the world") except their "largest indoor water park in the world."  We had tons of fun, and were all tuckered out by the end.

DINOSAURS!!!

Yes last week we studied dinosaurs, much to the delight of our boys.  Maxwell, after having read many dinosaur books to him, looked up at me with wonder and said, "Mumma, are you saying that dinosaurs were actually REAL?!"  He knows dragons and fairies are not real, so this revelation was really exciting to him.  He kept talking about when they would be resurrected and how much fun that would be.

I had wanted to make footprints in clay and imprint them with plaster, and then I found the PERFECT book for this activity at our library.  It's called "Let's Go Dinosaur Tracking!" by Schlein and Duke.  It talks all about tracks made by dinosaurs and how we found them and what we learned from them.

The Imprinting worked pretty good, but the toes and fingers cracked really soon.  When I do this again, I will make the moulds deeper.

Our "dinosaur" tracks getting preserved....

Another great book I found was "Dinosaur: Digging Up a Giant" by McGowan and Broda.  Which explained how you find dinosaurs and put them together for a museum.  It was very simple and cute, and led into our next activity which was making a fossil that we will excavate next week.

We had our dinosaurs and bugs die and get stuck in "mud" that we made.  We then covered them with a layer of sand, another layer of mud, a layer of dinos, sand, and a layer of mud again, etc.  Our "mud" was one part water, one part vermiculite, and two parts plaster paris.  It worked really well, and we talked about what really happened to the dinosaurs as we did it.

Science actually happened this week, and even though I don't think I explained anything very well, I think the boys had fun and learned at least something.  We talked about matter and how all matter has mass and volume.  The funnest experiments were the ones proving that air was matter.  We tried to blow up a balloon in a bottle and then put a hole in the bottle and forced the balloon to stay blown up inside of it.  We also weighed air.  We made model molecules of solids, liquids, and gases as well as a few other experiments.

Preschool was awesome.  I was right about Hyrum; he needs one on one time.  Last week was horrible with his friend here, but this week he really excelled.  We talked about the letter "B" and sang "ba, ba, ba, buhhhhh" to Beethoven's music while "conducting" it with a ribbon-wand.

We sang songs, read books, and practiced letters.  It was really rewarding.

For our field trip we flew kites.  It was a PERFECT day to fly kites, and everyone, including Daniel, had tons of fun, I got a work out, and friends and cousins who saw us joined in the fun.

However, after dinner that night, Dustin convinced us to leave RIGHT THEN for our mini vacation that we have been planning for next week, and we had a much funner field trip the next day....

THE ROYAL TYRRELL DINOSAUR MUSEUM!!!

Apparently, Alberta is the capitol for the world when it comes to dinosaurs (very convenient for us :)

Drumheller, in the badlands of Alberta, has the world's largest dinosaur museum, the world's largest dinosaur statue, and is just plain cool to visit.

It was really neat that we had already talked about fossils, bones, prints, palaeontology, extinction etc BEFORE we went, so that everything we saw reinforced what we had already learned.  Fun fun!