Category Archives: science

The Sub Might Take Over

This last year my hubby has taken over teaching science to the girls.  We did some research and he chose a book.  It works out great.  I go running or do errands or…while they cover science.  But a couple times I have been called upon to sub and it is fun.  I think I might take over science for next year.

This morning we learned about low pressure and high pressure in the weather and how it creates the basic building blocks for wind.  For example, the heat of the sun causes low pressure on the beach and the coolness of the ocean, or in our area the Great Lakes,  causes high pressure, which rushes in to even out the pressure in the low area, thus causing wind.

Our experiment involved opening up and emptying a tea bag, lighting it with a match and watching what happens. It was so cool we did it twice.

Up, up, and away!!

Yeah, it was cool…I think the sub will be taking over science class/

 

Plants Plants Everywhere

Go ahead, ask me which subject I like to teach the least…science, yup…that’s the one.  Not that I didn’t enjoy it in school, I did.  I worked hard to understand all of it, but it paid off.  I did get to repeat one year..I know, horrors of horrors…but it wasn’t my fault–really!!  I went from one school to another.  School A was a year ahead of School B in science, so I got to repeat the class.  I liked the second teach better, so it wasn’t all bad.

So why the my hesitancy to teach science with the girls?  At first, it was because we all hated the curriculum I had.  It was so textbook heavy and quite a drag.  Now, it is more of forgetting it and pushing it aside.  It must be.  I have  a great program that is very hands on.  The girls love it.  On the days we do science, the girls all have something to tell daddy about what they learned at school.  And yet, I get lazy.

But I  have decided to turn over a new leaf.  So, it seemed appropriate to focus on plants, how they grow, what types there are, and how they enrich our lives, as we kicked off school after the new year.

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Our science activity actually said to make a plant man to grow plant hair on him…why do that, I say, when you have two chia pets in the house just waiting to grow hair?

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See that six-year-old that used to be in speech therapy?  Here she is pontificating during science about SOMETHING.  She is always talking about SOMETHING!!! (and I love it most of the time)

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In this activity, the girls made flowers, with stigmas (sticky labels), and pipe cleaner bees) to show how pollen (coffee grounds and sugar) gets carried from flower to flower.

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Yes, two K-cups that were previously shunned by the coffee drinker, were harmed in this experiment.  Who knew decaf coffee and chocolate flavored coffee would be a no-go?  It’s a risk you run when a die-hard non-coffee drinker buys the coffee.
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It has been a fun week of science.  Tomorrow we will explore how some plants produce fruit with seeds and some do not.

Science Outside

We are having a crazy, wonderful fall.  It is quite unheard of to be outside in shirt sleeves on November 14 and yet, here we are…outside in shirt sleeves!

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Sue has been begging me to explode something.  I normally brush her off, but today, I said, “let’s make a plan and do it.

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I went to the best website in the universe, Pinterest and found this “recipe.”

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And started getting all the materials around to explode some sandwich bags.

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One half cup vinegar.

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A couple drops of food coloring.

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Finally, add one Tablespoon of baking soda wrapped in a little bit of toilet paper, seal it in the bag.

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Back up, watch it grow and pop pop!!

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2016-11-14 13.46.00 Just a little outdoor science fun!!

(Hubby says to try dry ice next…)

Through New Eyes

This week we have done some fun new things in our homeschooling.  In order to continue this theme, science was last night as I finally asked daddy to help me with the little microscope and slides I had gotten on Amazon awhile back.

Turns out he had one like it as a kid and had us seeing things through it right away.

We checked out Pennicilium, skeletal muscle, a bee hubby found, some of his hair, my hair, and our middle daughter’s hair,  our wedding rings, and skin.

It was a ton of fun.  And I could not help but thinking what an amazing designer our God is.  He gave such complexity to everything around us.  He could have made the world textureless and boring, but He didn’t.  He gave it layers and beauty.

Psalm 19:1  How clearly the sky reveals God’s glory!
    How plainly it shows what he has done!

 

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There Are The Elite

There are those we see as the REAL bloggers, the REAL moms, the REAL homeschoolers.  I am not one of those.  I am not the elite, but I am pretty proud of myself right now.

Saturday we went apple picking.  While we were riding the wagon, Caitlyn leaned over and asked if we could study the digestive system and learn why her tummy rumbles.  Absolutely, so I set out to find ways to make it relevant and understandable.

First I headed to youtube and found some videos to intro the thought.  I started with a fun Winnie the Pooh video singing about the rumbly in his tumbly, here’s a pin for it, then used a quick intro from the Arizona Science Center.  We then headed to Wonderopolis for an overview of why the stomach growls.

But what kind of homeschooler would I be if there wasn’t a hands-on experiment?  For that, I headed to Teachers Pay Teachers and found a messy, but fun hands-on.

I dyed noodles black last night with this recipe, again from Pinterest.  It was as messy as you might imagine.  I don’t know how to use black food coloring without making a mess of myself.

I bought some bananas and drug out my blender.  And we were off.

First we needed to eat our food, so we broke the banana in pieces put it in the blender.

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Supplies are one banana, a section of silk stocking or nylon.  Has to be open at both ends, bowl and noodles dyed black.  I started with the blender, but with just one banana, it was not very effective, so I ended up just mashing it myself.

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We broke it into pieces to represent biting up the food.

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Smash it up to represent chewing.

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Put a couple black noodles in the section of nylon.  Hold it closed, put in some banana.  Mash it up and wring out fluids in the nylon to show the action of the intestine, then push it out the bottom, you know, show the “end product”.
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We then referred back to our homeschool curriculum, Easy Peasy, to add our intestines to our bodies.

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And of course, since the blender was out, we had to have smoothies.

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