Go Green Cleaning!

Was told about these easy recipes for making your own green cleaning
products. If you are interested you might check it out too:

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/files/NC/Green_cleaning_recipes.pdf

Today's Date

Logan has been getting the hang of the days of the week
now that he changes the date every morning and puts up
the weather. It's always sunny!!

What do we do all day?

Yesterday the kids around town started their first day of school. We
follow the American school year, so Logan is half way through
kindergarten. So what does our daily schedule look like if the kids are
not going to public school? Well, each day is different but it has an ebb and flow
that looks like this:

7am -- up and at 'em
breakfast
Mom reads a book (or three) aloud
date and weather cards
Logan does some writing (copywork, mazes, Thank you letters (we
still have a few more Christmas thank yous to go!), letter practice, etc.)
Delenn does some coloring, mazes, etc

8am -- while Mom does the dishes, laundry, etc. the kids usually play on
their own -- Sweet Streets/doll house and building activities are the
current favorite activities of choice. We don't ever watch TV in the mornings; the kids know it's not an option.

9am -- Some sort of activity together; Elora usually goes down for a nap
-- lately it's been science experiments and preschool activities like
painting, drawing, cutting, crafts but this is also when we do lapbook
projects, history, etc. Check out some of our experiment pictures below. I just posted the latest science experiment (#7 -- density of liquids) and the cool volcano pictures are below that. Incidentally, we've been doing a volcano lapbook and have been reading about volcanoes to follow up with our experiment from last week.

Here's another day's example of our morning together--breakfast, scavenger hunt for letters/words. After they found them all, Logan took the letters and had to make as many words as possible from them; Delenn read some simple words to Mom (like cat, Mat, and fat). Then we did some Fruit Loops math (Logan organized and counted by 5s to 50 and then did some simple addition/subtraction with the cereal. Delenn placed the fruit loops on little circles and counted them --and ate them). While Mom put Elora down for a nap, Delenn played Starfall while Logan watched. Then when Mom was done, Logan played "Star Wars Math" computer game (which requires addition and subtraction up to 20 and even some multiplication -- figuring out what 3 sets of 4 comes to). Then snack time and Mom read a couple chapters from a book. Delenn started doing mazes and Logan was back to Star Wars Math. All this before taking a splash in the pool for an hour or so.

later in the morning (before or after the kinds of activities mentioned above) -- we'll have some activities like Kindermusik (Monday--Imagine That for Delenn's friends and Thursdy--Young Child 2 for Logan's friends), kindergym and dance class (for Delenn). Logan'll still do swim lessons probably Wednesday afternoons and Saturdays.

11:30am lunch
clean up, play
book time
quiet time
reading and math

late afternoon -- pool, TV, computer, etc.

4:41pm -- Daddy arrives home!!

Below are some pictures that'll give you the inside glimpse of some of
the kids' activities...

ELORA: Just thought I'd mention that Elora has been very clingy the
past few days. She's teething and the top left tooth is on its way
through (her 7th tooth so far). Elora turns one next Tuesday, Feb. 3rd.

Copywork

For a number of weeks (6-7 weeks) we put out
a nursery rhyme at the kitchen table which Logan
would read at breakfast time.

These days we're using nursery rhymes in a
different way. Logan is using them for copywork
(popular among those homeschoolers who follow
Charlotte Mason's philosophy.)

Hammering Away!

Working on the Alphabet Book

Delenn found B and C objects to cut out and glue into
her alphabet book.

Ebay Win!

Mom did some ebay shopping at the end of December --
and had some wonderful wins. Dad shipped us these books
before he left for Antarctica -- 150+ Hello Readers. The kids
were SO excited when they arrived today! Happily they
were sent over by M-bag. Needless-to-say, we spent over an
hour reading together.

Believe it or not there are more on the way. We also won
some Caldecott Award winning books. Sadly, just a couple
of weeks later the M-bag (international book rate) was
elimated and these books are coming over normal air mail
rates (at nearly 3X as much!)

Buildingwith Legos

while listening to a story from http://storynory.com/

Building

Logan has been spending hours building things with these
cubes in addition to his legoes and K'Nex.

Surprise!

Delenn surprised Daddy by reading a book to him! She
read her first Bob book -- and very proudly read it all (Mat.
Mat sat. Sam. Sam sat.) She has been reading her "-at book"
http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/go/wil/at.pdf found at
this website --
http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/go/wil/rimes_and_rhymes.htm#This_Week

She's been keen to spend time with Mom reading after
quiet time too (just like Logan).

Kicking back and watching a movie

Elora's been enjoying sitting in her little rocker!

Volcano Math

Logan counts volcanoes by fives and tens. Elora always wants
to be right in the thick of things (which often means destroying
things being built and snatching cards).

Preschool Activities

Delenn has started an alphabet book. For the letter F we
did some painting. Delenn is painting a fishbowl & fish in
the top picture. Logan jumped in and said he wanted to
do a painting too. He announced that he'd do a painting
of fire. Delenn's' second painting was a flower.

Money Worksheets and card game

Money Master Game -- Give the correct change http://www.mathsisfun.com/money/money-master.html  -- Can be done with US or Australian coins.

Free math worksheets (colored money flashcards, coin worksheets with pictures of pennies, nickles, dimes, etc.)
http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/printables/math.htm

How much?  Worksheets at Enchanted Learning (a site where you have to pay to be a member)
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/math/money/coins/nickel/

The Learning Page has a number of math worksheets  http://www.learningpage.com/pages/menu_basics/money.html

Coin Chart:  The link to open this document is found here
http://www.teachingheart.net/COINChart3.doc

Robin Hood:  I made up coin cards with coins from some of the worksheets above with different combinations of coins (a card with 2 pennies, 1 dime, 3 nickles another card with a quarter and a penny, etc.). (This worksheet was especially useful for making the cards: http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/worksheets/dimes.pdf)   Each player gets a stack of cards. On the count of three we shout out the knights trumpet call and put one card down each.  My son has to determine who has the most money on their card.  The one with the LEAST amount is Robin Hood and steals the money from the rich (and keeps both cards).  It's essentially the card game "War" just with a money/knights/fighting twist.

Other fun kids websites to check out:

http://funschool.kaboose.com/?g=rns_ds1&t=j&w=620&h=360

http://www.multiplication.com/interactive_games.htm

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/

http://www.brainpopjr.com/

http://www.funbrain.com/

http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/ A0886509. html

http://www.aaaspell.com/

http://www.kidsspell.com/

http://kids.discovery.com/

http://www.mathsisfun.com/

Science Experiment 7: Studying Liquids

Today we talked about liquids. We learned that some liquids
are more dense (heavy) than others. We put oil and colored
water into a bottle. Then we added honey. Finally, we added
some milk to see what the milk would do.

What Happens When you Add Milk to Oil and Water?

The milk formed little bubbles. Then the kids stirred the
milk and popped all the bubbles. The milk mixed with the
water.

After a few days...

the milk separated from the oil and the water
into a lumpy white mass. Quite interesting
(though we wouldn't want to open the top
and take a whiff of it now!!)

Elora's Fashion Sense

Elora

Elora has discovered what fun the shoe/hat closet can
be. She spends a lot of time taking out all of the kids'
shoes and hats -- and just in the past couple days has
learned to put hats on her head (up until this time, she
spent all her energy taking her hat OFF her head!)

Obviously she thinks it's quite funny!

The Volcano!

Watching the Volcano Explode

Select pages from Logan's Science Notebook

A couple of you are going to do these experiments with your
kids. Here are some select pages from Logan's science notebook
as promised. Scroll down to see earlier entries (with more
pictures). I've probably repeated myself quite a bit, but hope
this helps you follow what we've done so far.

Have fun!

Science experiments so far:

1) Ecosystem in a bottle (planted seeds in a glass jar -- stones
on the bottom, dirt, seeds on top or along the side of the jar
in the dirt, a couple teaspoons of water, plastic wrap on the
top held on with a rubber band).

2) Bread mold -- we talked about mold and other fungi. We
looked for mushrooms in our yard (found some this past weekend
though not when we were looking that day!). Then I gave
each kid 3 slices of bread. One they put in a sealed ziploc bag, one
they put a teaspoon of water and put in different ziploc bag, the
third slice they spit on and sealed into a bag.

Science Notebook continued

3) The Bubble Bomb
We talked about acids and bases and what happens when
they are put together (the react). They poured vinegar into
a plastic bag. Then they each put a teaspoon of baking soda
onto a piece of paper towel. We sealed the ziplog bag with
as little air as possible while holding the baking soda packet
at the top. We dropped in the packet and let it "explode"!

























































4) Volcano --
We made a paper mache volcano with a plastic soda
bottle as the base. Paper mache=1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup
water. Stir in 2 cups boiling water. Mix. Put newspaper
strips in the mixture and glop it onto the plastic bottle.

Lava: 1/2 cup baking soda into a can under the volcano
In a pitcher mix 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup vinegar,
1/4 cup dishwashing liquid, red food coloring. Pour the
vinegar mixture into the can and watch the lava flow!

Science Notebook Continued

5) Crystals --

We talked about crystals, their symmetry, etc.
Logan and Delenn made paper snowflakes and Logan drew
some pictures of crystals.

We boiled water and added sugar to make rock candy. We're
still waiting to see the results!

Science Experiments: 6) Five Senses -- Taste

Many kindergarten classes cover the five senses, so we're
doing a few experiments based on the five senses. The first
one was on taste. We talked about the tongue and the fact
that each person has more than 10,000 taste buds. We
talked about where you taste different flavors and then
wrote that on a tongue and glued it into a mouth (as a pop-up
page). (Logan got tired coloring in his lips red!)

The kids tasted lemon, a mint, bitter (baking) chocolate, pretzel,
instant coffee, chips, and candy. We also looked at items that
were similar and compared the taste: salt & sugar, vinegar & water.
They had to decide whether each item was bitter, sour, sweet
or salty and glued the item's name under that category.

Website Links for our Science Experiments

Someone asked for some of the website links we have used. Here are some
of them:

Science Experiments:

http://weirdsciencekids.com/FunExperiments.html

Five Senses: We plan to use many of the ideas from this website.

http://www.littlegiraffes.com/fivesenses.html

Enchanted Learning (for worksheet printouts about snowflakes, the five
senses, etc.) We have a membership, but you can access many of the
pages, I think, without membership.

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Home.html

Kindermusik Awards Ceremony

We had a small awards ceremony and presented the kids
with a medal for their 15 weeks of hard work in Kindermusik
last semester. Unfortunately Leah wasn't there, but the
other kids were very proud (and certainly enjoyed eating
pizza and playing on the play equipment at Sammy's!)

Swing Set

The kids got a swing set from Mom and Dad for Christmas.
Mom sewed a new shade clothe to go overhead and Dad
spent two long days on the weekend putting it together.
Logan and Delenn have spent long hours swinging on the
swings and playing on the "fort" (known to others as simply
a slide!).

Fun in our Pool

During the school holidays Linda has spent most days M-F
with us. The kids have enjoyed a lot of time in the water
both in our pool (below) and taking lessons at the town pool.

Science Experiments: 5) Growing Crystals

Today's experiment involved making crystals. The kids helped
pour and stir sugar into water. We talked about what happened
to the sugar when it "disappeared." We hope to grow some
sugar crystals -- better known as rock candy!

We talked about some of the crystals they're already familiar
with -- snowflakes, diamonds and quartz. Then, of course, that
led right into making paper snowflakes. Delenn enjoyed
cutting so much today that she cut her snowflakes into tiny
pieces.

We also talked about the fact that crystals were repeating
patterns -- and Logan practiced drawing his own snowflakes in
his science notebook.
demolishing the paper today

Drawing Snowflakes

Scavenger Hunt

This morning we had a scavenger hunt. Once they found all
the butterflies, they flipped the butterfly over to see the
number on the back. Then they used fishing poles to lift
up metal lids to find the matching number. Logan's numbers
were all written in blue, Delenn's were red.

Fishing for numbers

Sunday Fun at the Playground

Fun in the DingoDen

An Evening Out Feeding the Wallabies

Elora with Mom and Dad

Science Experiments: 1) Ecosystem in a Bottle

We have started doing a long unit on science. We'll be doing lots of hands-on experiments over the next six or eight weeks. Obviously we do lots of natural sciences -- exploring nature. Earlier this year Logan and Delenn did lapbooks on bats, birds (Australian/Northern Territory), and mice. They've also learned a bit about the critters around us (frogs, cicadas, snails, etc.) This unit will introduce them to some kitchen chemistry.

Well, it's called kitchen chemistry but we started off doing an "ecosystem in a bottle." They put some rocks in the bottom of a jar and shoveled some dirt on top of that. They planted seeds (cucumber, grass, pumpkin and peas) and watched them day by day as they grew. We talked about the condensation that formed at the top of their ecosystem (on the plastic wrap) and talked about how moisture evaporates into the air and then falls as rain (eventually). Once the little plants were big enough they planted them in our vegetable garden.

Planting Seeds

and waiting for them to grow.

Hooray! Little plants grew in our "ecosystem in a bottle"

 
 

Planting the cucumber plant in our vegie garden

Science Experiments: 2) Bread Mold

Moving on to another topic -- mold! As Logan and Linda
wrote in their science notebook "Mold is a fungus." We
talked about the fact that fungi (including mold, yeast and
mushrooms) were not actually plants or animals. They glued
some pictures of mold into their notebook and we talked
about the fact that mold grows from spores (picture below).
We went hunting around for mushrooms growing in our grass
(none at the moment, though there were some with all the rains
in November), but we did find this fungus growing in our drain
pipe (below the air conditioner).

Our experiment was to try and grow bread mold. Each kid
got three pieces of bread. One was plain, they just put it into
the plastic bag. One they spit on and put into a bag (yes, with
assurances that we don't normally spit on food!) and one
with a teaspoon of water. They had to predict which one
would grow mold the fastest. We're still waiting for our
results!

Picture of Bread Mold

Look at our Mold Grow!

Proudly Presenting our Bread Mold!

Science Experiments: 3) Bubble Bomb

Our next experiment was called the "Bubble Bomb." It's a
twist on the ole vinegar and baking soda combination. You
place vinegar in a plastic bag and put baking soda on a
paper towel. You don't combine the two until after you've
sealed the bag. Then you drop the paper towel packet
into the vinegar, wait a few moments and -- KAA BOOM!

We talked about acids and bases, but the real excitement
was with the "explosion"!

Science Experiments: 4) The Volcano

Of course, the vinegar and baking soda mixture leads
right to the volcano. Later that day we started making
paper mache volcanos. Logan said "I actually liked
paper mache this time, Mom." The last time we tried
to do a paper mache project, he didn't want to get his
hands slimy!

Paper Mache Volcanoes