Tiny Bubbles - Simple Summer Fun

Summer is quickly disappearing, and we haven't had nearly enough bubble blowing time. I keep forgetting to pick up more bubble solution at the store, and have been completely under motivated when it comes to making it from scratch. So, a big thanks to Leslie Hamilton's Child's Play 6-12, 106 Instant Activities, Crafts, and Science Projects for Grade Schoolers, for tipping us off to the fun we could have with:

• a cup


• a tiny bit of undiluted dish soap


• and a straw.

It took a few tries to get the hang of it...


... but it wasn't long before the air was full of streams of tiny bubbles.

The book cautions, that young children might try to drink the soap, instead of blowing bubbles. Mine have learned from personal experience, not to do that. But, I will add a caution - each time you dip the straw into the soap, when you lift it out to blow the bubbles, a drip of soap falls down from the straw.

My girls didn't seem to understand they needed to hold the straws over their cups, and they ended up covered in dish soap. So, you might want to plan a bath time, after this activity, or a good run in...I don't know...maybe, a pop bottle sprinkler?

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Convection Spinner

I had one more experiment I wanted to share from The Usborne Book of Science Experiments, before moving on in our summer parade of children's science books. I'm still hoping to put together a top 10 recommendation list. And, the children have agreed, they would like to pick their favorite of the top 10, to work through every experiment, as a part of their science curriculum, this year.

The Usborne Book will not make it onto our list, however - not because it's poorly written, or because the experiments are unworkable, but because the experiments were too difficult for the children to perform alone (even my 9-13 year olds, who seem to be the target audience). And, the format failed to draw them in, and really excite them. But, looking through the book, with an adult eye, there are enough interesting activities, to give this one, at least an honorable mention.



It does have some very cool experiments - such as a convection spinner, which is like a convection snake...



...but instead of using the heat from a candle, it is turned, just with the heat from your hand.


It is exciting to watch the propeller slowly, begin to spin, seemingly, on it's own. The book has a template for the propeller, which can be traced, and cutout.

The line across the middle, is a crease line. You fold, and unfold the paper, to make the crease, and then balance it on a pencil, held in your fist. That's where the difficult part came in. T, managed to balance the paper just long enough for me to take the picture, but not long enough to get the paper to spin.

I managed to get it to spin, and the children were awed, but disappointed they couldn't do it themselves. So, I'd say, there are some fun science demonstration ideas in this book, that your kids will enjoy watching, but they will need help with most of them.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Unschooling - What About The Gaps?

I've been thinking lately, about unschooling, and the dangers of leaving gaps in my children's education. It's not so much, that I've been worrying, although I wouldn't be a homeschool parent, if I didn't occasionally worry, so much as I've been rolling thoughts around in my mind.

What will happen if the children fail to learn a skill now, that they might end up needing later on? Will the lack of that skill keep them from pursuing some later interest, or will they pick it up as they need it? What if it's something complicated like calculus, or physics? Will they be able to pick it up later?

Thoughts like these have been surfacing, and swirling through my "planning" for the fall. But, I had a breakthrough, recently, in the form of an experience, that has brought some peace, and reassurance to my mind.

It happened right before the 4th of July, while we were watching an early firework show. The fireworks were impressive, to north, but the real show was happening in the form of a moon rise to the east. We pulled out our spotting scope (what serves as a telescope in our house), and viewed the clear, beautiful surface of the moon. I have never seen the moon look bigger.

In fact, I was so impressed by the size of the moon on the horizon, that I snapped several quick shots of it.

Doesn't look too impressive - does it? That's because the large size of the moon, sun, or constellations, as seen on the horizon, is an optical illusion known, fittingly enough, as moon illusion. Your camera can't capture it.

But, I didn't know that. I'd never heard of moon illusion before, or if I had, I'd completely forgotten about it.

I set out to discover what was going on, and found that scientists don't really know what is going on. There are a few different theories, you can find them by Googling "moon illusion". I would love to explain them to you, but just reading the explanations gives me a headache. In fact, it was while holding my head, knee deep in one particularly wordy theory for moon illusion, that I realized the truth.

I don't have enough math, or science background to make proper sense of it. Not that I won't try to wade through all the theories, anyway. I'd love to know if it's the same illusion that makes the mountains, I look at every morning, appear to move, depending on where I am in town. But, I doubt I'll be able to figure it out. There is a gap in my education, that is keeping me from finding an answer I would like to find. I will probably never win any scientific awards for solving this particular puzzle.

I went to both public, and private schools. I have a college degree. And, yet I don't know everything (gasp, I know). I don't even know everything I'd like to know.

So, back to the question of will unschooling leave gaps in my children's education - probably. Will those gaps keep them from pursuing later interests - possibly. Will sending them off to be educated by professionals solve this problem - apparently not.

And, just in case this wordy post wasn't enough for you, this morning, I'm also guest posting today at Children Grow, Children Explore, Children Learn, on the topic of homeschooling multiple ages at once. If you pop over there, be sure to check out the rest of Debbie's blog. On her second time around homeschooling, she has some very helpful insights.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Pre-Chess for Kids, Playing With Pawns

We played a pre-chess sort of game today, to learn how pawns move, in the game of chess, improving our math skills at the same time. Click, here, to read an article from About.com, detailing the link between the two.



The game, which we made out of cereal box cardboard, is our version of one from Learn to Play Chess With Fritz and Chesster - a computer game teaching chess through a series of games, that look nothing like chess.



The children pulled it out, and started playing it again, after I checked out Harvey Kidder's The Kids' Book of Chess, recommended by All Things Beautiful (they ended up playing a pre-chess game involving pawns, and the king, which you might want to check out, too).



We started by making a game board, divided into 32, one inch, squares - 4 across, and 8 down. We colored the four squares on each end, to make finish lines.



Each player has four pawns. I was going to use our chess pawns, but my oldest daughter wanted to make her own, to look more like the ones from Fritz and Chesster, and I wasn't about to object to a spontaneous craft project.



The pawns are lined up facing each other, on the rows in front of the finish lines.



Players take turns moving their pawns forward, one square at a time.



The first time a pawn is moved, it can be moved forward two squares, but after that, only one square at a time, again.



Pawns always move straight forward, except to attack another pawn, and then they move forward, one square, diagonally, knocking the opponents pawn off the board.



The first person to get one of their pawns across the opposite finish line wins.



Oh, and in case you are near to the finish line, and your opponent moves two spaces forward, you can knock him off the board by moving into the space he would have occupied if he had only moved one square forward. This is called "en passant".





For more fun with math, and math related games for children, check out Joyful Learner's Math Monday link-up.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Make a Saturday!

Linking the old Time for Timer video recently, reminded me of a snack I always wanted to try, as a child. Last night, I decided to tackle "Saturdays", with my kids.

All you children of the '70's (or was it the '80's?), feel free to sing along.



Put half a banana in a pineapple slice...



...add yogurt, creamy smooth...



...pop a grape on top...



...and that's a Saturday for you! Mmmm.



Okay, now as an adult, I know it looks a little (ahem) odd. But, they ended up tasting pretty good. The best part was, as I made the first one (and yes, I sang the words), my youngest yelled out - "That's a sundae!"

For all of you who are too young, or who didn't grow up watching American television - the video below, should explain things.





It's great to be homeschooler.

To Kill A Mockingbird Reading Challenge

Hope is the Word is hosting a reading challenge in honor of the 50th anniversary of the publishing of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird.



The challenge is to read the novel, read about the novel, or watch the movie, during the month of August. Even though I minored in literary studies in my college days, I've never read anything by, or about Harper Lee, or seen the movie. So despite the fact my reading plate is very full already this summer, I just couldn't pass this one up.

Sometime during August I hope to read, or at least listen to an audio version of, the novel...



...study through the CliffsNotes (never knock the notes!)...



...and watch the movie.



All participants are suppose to write an introductory post, announcing their intentions, and then return to Hope is the Word, at the end of August, and link up a post about their reading. It sounds great to me. I hope to see some of you there, too.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Polishing Crayons - Preschool Art Meets Sunday Science

My youngest (age 4) has been experimenting a lot with her art, lately. Most recently she's discovered she can flick tiny bits of her crayons onto her page, and then rub them in, with a spiral pattern. It's been great fun for her, but hard on our crayons.

I decided to distract her from chipping the crayons away, by showing her how she could use a napkin to "polish" her completed drawings, not only making them shiny, but also melting the crayon just enough to blur the lines, and blend them together. She was thrilled.

And, thanks to MaryAnn Kohl, and Jean Potter's Science Arts, I was able to turn the art lesson, into a science lesson, too, by demonstrating to C, that the friction of two objects rubbing together, like her hands...



...produces heat.



And, in the case of the napkin on the crayon, it's enough heat to melt the wax of the crayon (phase change!).



Kohl and Potter's book is full of messy, textural art, like you might expect from their craft books, but with a nice box on each page explaining the scientific principal behind what is happening. So painting on the sidewalk with water, becomes a lesson in evaporation, or running a straw through oobleck, with food coloring on top, is all about symmetry.

The book is a little out of date, in that a couple of the activities call for overhead projectors, or slide projectors, but if your in the mood for some messy, art related crafts, that won't produce fridge worthy art, but will teach a lesson in science, then you don't want to miss it.

Or, for more fun with science (and maybe less with art), check out this week's Science Sunday link-up, at Adventure's in Mommydom.

It's great to be a homeschooler.