October Wrap-Up

I'm hoping to eventually get back to posting more often, but for now once a month is about all I can manage.  We are definitely keeping busy around here.

School is going well.  Squidy isn't appreciating the time he has to put in to Algebra.  He says it's not that it's hard, it's not that he doesn't understand it, he just finds it "tedious" and doesn't understand why he has to do so many problems.   He's doing Foerster's Algebra and it's a LOT of word problems.  Multi-part word problems.   I am spending a lot of time telling him how much time is typical for 7th grade (homeschooling or public schooling) and pointing out that he still has it pretty good.

Writing has consistently been our problem subject.   I like the idea of doing projects, ala Brave Writer, but while they are more likely to enjoy the projects, they need more actual instruction in the mechanics of writing.  We are giving Wordsmith (for Squidy) and Wordsmith Apprentice (for Vicki) a try.  It has a fun, creative, project-y feel to it but still offers incremental instruction.

We're still a little light on History.  We've been watching the Egypt episodes from the Great Courses  course - The Other Side of History: Daily Life in the Ancient World.   We will do a few projects after we finish with Egypt.

On the other hand, the kids are doing a TON of science.  We were light on 4-H this month because our location was refinishing the floors and we had to cancel one meeting.  We did an activity on Acids and Bases for the session we did have. 

We started with a discussion of what is meant by pH and what are acids and bases.  pH is the scale that measures acidity/alkalinity. pH stands for potential Hydrogen.   If a substance produces more hydroxide (OH) molecules in solution, it is a base and is alkaline.  If a substance produces more Hydrogen (H) molecules in solution, it is an acid and is acidic. 

We then tested a variety of household substances for pH using two different methods:  cabbage indicator and litmus papers.  We tested citrate, baking soda, alka seltzer, borax (which had to be put into solution first), conditioner, dish detergent, ammonia, vinegar, diet coke, milk, tap water and well water.

I have also started offering science classes to local homeschoolers.  Vicki is taking two of my classes - Getting Messy with Science and Crime Scene Investigation, while Squidy is just taking the CSI class.

Messy Science began with a discussion of the Scientific Method and an experiment to determine what combination of soda and candy will produce the biggest release of carbon dioxide gas.  We compared 4 different sodas: Coke (sugar and caffeine), Diet Coke (artificial sweetener and caffeine), Sprite (sugar, no caffeine), and Seltzer (carbonated water); and 3 different candies: Mint Mentos, Mint Tic-Tacs, and Nerds.  In order to obtain measurable results, we used smaller bottles of soda, weighed out the same amount of each candy, and captured the released carbon dioxide gas into balloons, which we then measured to compare. 

Our hypothesis was that Mentos and Diet Coke would produce the most gas.  In this case, Coke and Nerds actually produced the most.  We discussed what effect the nucleation sites, size of individual candies, and mint flavoring seemed to have on our results.

Week 2 of Messy Science, we discussed Physical versus Chemical reactions.   We used acetone to dissolve styrofoam and made shapes out of the resulting "plastic".  We made Elephant Toothpaste by using yeast as a catalyst to convert Hydrogen Peroxide to water and Oxygen, and we made "plastic" by reacting warm milk with vinegar.  Vicki wanted to make sure the class lived up to it's name.  She's always liked getting hands-on with everything.

Our most recent class we did some Candy Chromatography in honor of Halloween. 

CSI started with the crime scene set-up. 

Mary was having dinner at home with her friend Susie, who works at a daycare center.  Also present were John, the chef who cooked the meal and Brian, Mary’s housekeeper who was doing laundry.

During the course of the evening, Mary’s jewels disappeared! 

You are Crime Scene Investigators who are tasked with processing the scene and solving the crime.

Your suspects include everyone who was present that night.

During the first class, they processed the crime scene.  Taking pictures, examining evidence, gathering trace evidence, swabbing "blood", and lifting fingerprints.

Our second class, we identified the unknown powder found at the scene by testing knowns with iodine, vinegar, and pH indicator.  Our unknown ended up being cornstarch, which could have come from Susie (cornstarch baby powder), or John the chef.

In addition to our group science activities, Squidy has continued working on getting the Nitrogen cycle started on his fish tank.  We weren't making much progress so ended purchasing some chemicals to help get it started.   Ghost shrimp and a snail were added over the weekend and we will be going soon to pick out his betta fish.

The kids are still doing Tai Kwan Do as their main PE activity.  They had a belt test this month and are now Brown Belts!   

We've been struggling a little bit finding other PE activities.  Swimming lessons last year were such a total bust, both in the learning aspect and the exercise aspect, that we decided not to waste the money this year.  Too much waiting around, not enough actual swimming.  

The kids yoga at the Y, despite being advertised for ages 7 to 12, ended up mostly preschoolers.  Neither of the kids were comfortable in the class, and they weren't doing any actual yoga, just running around.  

We've done some hiking, Squidy takes a walk to the bus stop to meet the kids coming home from school each day, and we've dragged out the old Wii Fit to help us get through the colder weather.

Of course, since this is a wrap-up for October, we have lots of Halloween!

We started our Halloween activities with a trip to pick out pumpkins and check out a corn maze.  This maze was HUGE.  Squidy went off by himself for a little while and when we met back up 15 minutes later, he was done and ready to leave.  It took us another hour to find our way out.

It was a neat maze with activity stations, bridges and riddles but it was just too big unless you were super-excited about corn.   Previous years we've gone someplace closer to home that is about a 10th the size, but is big enough for the kids to go off and have an adventure, yet easy to get out of when you've had enough.  Lesson learned.

Squidy turned his pumpkin into an Elekin.

In a long tradition of picking out costumes that it is impossible to just buy at a store - Vicki dressed as Funtime Foxy and Squidy was a Decidueye.

We did a Mad Science lab at our local Trunk or Treat to advertise our 4-H Club and my science classes.  

The kids also enjoyed a party at TKD, and Trick or Treating around Gramma Kaye's house.  This year Squidy decided he was old enough to go T or T'ing by himself.  Since it's basically one street with a small cul-de-sac off one side, we agreed he could go alone.  Vicki and I did cross paths with him a couple of times.

A common theme with Squidy lately has been wanting to do things by himself, with friends if possible, but definitely without parents or siblings.  There aren't a lot of opportunities for him to get this independence but we are trying to offer it when we can.

September Wrap-Up

We're starting to get into a decent routine with school and it no longer feels like we're still trying to figure things out.   Mostly.  Okay, maybe we're still working out history, science, art, music, writing, and health.  But math, literature, grammar, reading, PE and nature study are going great.

The kids start their morning with their one hour of required reading.   This allows them time to wake-up slowly, enjoying their morning chocolate milk.   Squidy is working his way through The Lord of the Rings, while Vicki is on the second book of The Mysterious Benedict Society.

Once the kids finish school, they usually have some time before they are allowed on screens.  We've been playing lots (and lots and lots) of board and card games.  Their favorites right now are Aggravation and Pokemon Headbanz (both birthday gifts), and the old favorite Uno.

 I got fed-up with chasing dice and having to get them away from the dog so now we use the "dice monster" to hold the dice.

We haven't started our formal nature study yet but we've taken quite a few nature walks.  We even managed to find a geocache that we couldn't locate last year.

I finally got brave enough to take the kids to the top of the Tourne.   We've gone there before but just on the lower paths, because I wasn't sure about tackling the route to the top which is steep and long.  We went with some friends (so another adult along just in case) and gave it a try.  It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and there's a great view of NYC from up there.

We studied some mycology, both in our backyard and on our hikes....

and we did some caving.

Squidy has been doing some science as part of his 4-H project for this year.  He's been asking for a fish tank for his room for a while so we decided to finally get him one.   We are currently working on getting the Nitrogen cycle properly set-up, which involves lots of water testing.  He has been keeping records on the test results and once he gets his fish (a Betta), he will continue keeping records on its care.

We are continuing with our 4-H STEM club this year.  Our first meeting we worked on a cup stacking challenge, using rubber bands on strings to stack cups.   Because one of the set-ups used index cards between the layers, they were allowed to touch the strings and the index cards.  Vicki's group mainly used the string/rubber band set-up but it didn't take Squidy's team long to figure out to use the index cards like gloves to touch the cups.   They declared themselves "Team Loophole".

Since we are still working on Ancients this year, but we haven't done much over the summer, we are reviewing what we've done so far (Paleolithic, Mesopotamia) by watching the first few episodes of The Great Courses - The Other Side of History: Daily Life in the Ancient World, and reading through our DK Ancient Civilizations book.  We will start on Egypt in the next few weeks.

4-H STEM: Wiggly, Squiggly, Slimy Worms

Our latest 4-H STEM activity was all about worms.  This was a big reach for me because I am borderline phobic about worms.  Seriously.  I walk around them on the sidewalk, I shudder when I see them.  But, it my endless attempts to not infect the kids with my squeamishness (about various things), I pushed through it.  Mainly because I thought the kids would get a real kick out of these activities.   They definitely did.  I was actually surprised that all the kids (except Squidy) were really into it.  Only a few of them even felt the need to wear gloves.

First thing we did was talk about why worms were so important for your garden and lawn.  They help aerate the soil, their tunnels help prevent soil erosion by allowing water to seep into the ground easier, they are decomposers that eat dead leaves and other organic materials, their waste is high in nutrients, and they eat some garden pests.

We then discussed interesting facts about worms.  Like the largest one ever found was 22 feet long!  (EEEK!), and that they come in all colors including blue and purple.

We went ahead and made our worm jars first, so that they would be all ready for their inhabitants once we finished our observations.  We put some aquarium gravel in the bottom, then layered sand and soil to fill the jar to about 3 inches from the top.

We put aside our jars, and got out our worms.  First the kids observed the external anatomy of the worms using magnifying glasses.  We noted how the worms had ridges all the way around them. This is why they are called segmented worms, or annelids.   We also noted the wide, smooth section toward the "head" end of the worms - the clitellum, which is responsible for mucus production during reproduction; worms are hermaphrodites – both male and female but two are needed for reproduction.

We talked a little bit about internal anatomy and how it was not possible to cut a worm in half and wind up with two living organisms.  If cut in the certain places, one part of a worm may still survive, as long as the major organs were avoided.

We then took a close look at the "head" end of our worms to see if we could identify any sensory organs.  After we decided we didn't see any, we did some tests to see if worms would react to various stimuli.

We started with testing if worms showed a preference for wet versus dry.  We placed a wet paper towel next to a dry paper towel, then placed our worms half on each.  We observed to see if they crawled to one side or the other. We then repeated our experiment with them turned the opposite direction.  We also tried starting them entirely on the dry side and entirely on the wet side.  Just about everyone's worms showed a clear preference for the wet side.

We then tested their reactions to light.  We had white lights, our UV lights, and I brought along clear red plastic to see if they reacted differently to the red lights.   We used a black piece of paper to shade a small section of the area we were working in to see if the worms would go toward the shade.  We tried shining the lights on various parts of the worm ("head" end versus "tail" end) to see how they would react.  In general, the worms crawled very quickly away from the white and UV lights, but did not react to the red lights.  We discussed a little bit of why that would be true.

Our final test was to place a small amount of acetone on a Q-tip and wave it near the worms.  We were very careful NOT to touch our worms with the acetone since it would be toxic to them.   Our worms did not like the smell of acetone and wiggled away from the q-tip.

After we finished observing our worms, we placed them in the prepared jars.

We moistened the soil slightly using a spray bottle, placed grass and cut carrots on top of the soil, wrapped the jars in black paper (so the worms would dig tunnels close to the sides) and covered it with a piece of cheesecloth.

The kids took their worm jars home for a week, then removed the paper to observe any changes in the layers, and to release their worms back into the wild.

The layers were slightly mixed up. More time might have been good there.
The worms really seemed to like carrots since multiple people noticed there were a lot of carrots missing.
One of the kids had a small extra worm more coming out then went into the jar, and two of the worms were tangled together when released.  So, we may have had some reproduction going on.