Experimenting with Science

At the homeschool conference this summer, I was able to put my hands on the science curriculum I have been eyeing on the internet for quite some time now.  Now, I absolutely love the Apologia Elementary series, but right now, that is more above Little TD’s head than I think I want to go at this point.  While I love our main curriculum, I have been struggling with the science portion for several years.  It seems more light than my kids are needing, but most homeschoolers that I talk with don’t worry about science in the early elementary years.  I guess it is the engineer in me that makes me want them to want science.

After I actually put my hands on the curriculum, A Reason for Science, and had my hubby look at it as well, we opted to go with Level B for both Princess TD and Little TD.  We decided that combining them in science and Bible would be the most advantageous for both of them and for me as the teacher!  One of the things that I loved about this program was that everything that we need for the experiments is included in the package.  When I pulled it all out to get started, I noticed that the first unit required something extra that I didn’t buy!!  It was not a huge deal, but I had to do a bit of searching to find the flowers that were needed.  Needless to say, we had to put off the first unit for a bit.

The first unit was to learn about how plants get water and nutrients through the stem. 

Princess TD inspecting the inside of the stem.

Little TD inspecting the inside of the stem.

In order to see how the plants use water, the experiment had us cut the stem of a white carnation in half and put half of the stem in blue colored water and half of the stem in red colored water.  We had to let the flowers stand for 24 hours without touching them to see the effects.

The experiment set-up and ready to go.

The flowers before.

The flowers after.

Little TD labeled the experiment a failure since the flowers were not as deeply colored as the picture in the book.  It is not clear in the picture, but half of the edges of each flower are colored red and the other half are colored  blue.  The entire petals did not color, but the edges did.  Princess TD loved the experiment and wanted to do it again. 

They love this new science program and can’t wait to do it every week!

How the Drought Affects Playtime

We recently took a trip to the local lake to have dinner along the lake shore for Mr. TD’s birthday.  We were looking at the docks and were discussing how we wouldn’t be able to pull our boat up to dock for lunch.  Even if there was enough water to float the boat, there would be no way we could get out of the boat and on to the dock!  The marina usually employs people to help you to tie off when you come in for shopping or dining.  They had a 8 ft. ladder laying on the dock to assist those who dare to pull in to get out of their boats!  I don’t think we’ll be heading out there anytime soon!

While Little TD waits for me to work on different subjects with Princess TD during school, he builds with his Trio blocks.  He has become very creative with what he builds.  This day, he was building boats. 

Here’s the story.  The picture is worth a thousand words!

“Hey Mom!  This is how it is usually when we pull up to the dock.”

 

 

“This is how it is now.  There is no way we can get out of the boat!”

And for reference, here are a few pictures of the lake about 3 weeks ago.  I am sure the water levels are even lower now.  We are all praying for rain!

A picture slideshow by Smilebox

Best. Movie. Ever.

Okay, maybe not the best ever, but it certainly ranks up there very near the top! 

 

 

We attended Homeschool Day at the Movies last Friday.  We went to see the movie Dolphin Tale.  If you haven’t seen it, you must go see it!

We had a crazy theater experience, and it turned out to be close to a private showing for 4 homeschool families from our homeschool group.

It was such a great movie!  I think we may even take Mr. TD to see it again this weekend. 

Our Way to Learn Geography

  In January of this year, one of my brothers realized his boyhood desire of driving an 18-wheel truck for a living.  I am not sure what inspired this dream, whether it was our neighbor across the street who also drove a truck for a living or the endless number of movies about truck driving that were filling theaters at the time, I do not know.  Either way, he is driving all over the United States and at least once a week, he sends me a text message with his pick-up and drop-off locations for the week.  We have been tracking them on a large map.   Princess TD and Little TD take turns adding cities to the map.

We ended up changing the original small map pins for larger ones that would show up in the picture.  We have also decided to track Daddy’s travels as well.  The white pins are where my brother travels, and the dark purple pins are where Mr. TD travels.  We are on track to learn most of the states in the continental US by the end of the school year.  I think it is time to pull out our Star Spangled State book and learn more about each of the states where our family travels.

 

Happy Birthday Uncle Brian!!!