Half Square Triangle Quilt Puzzle - Math Meets Art

Piecing together the isosceles triangles for our Valentine cookie with the children, I was surprised at how tricky it was to create the pattern, even with a picture of the design we were working toward right in front of us.

I really love geometric puzzles. Naturally, after the cookies were all eaten, I decided we needed to have to have a more permanent set of half square triangles to use for exploring the multitude of designs, that can be created with them.  So, it was back to cutting out and dividing squares, but this time out of card stock instead of cookie dough...

...or rather out of folding notebooks, which turned out to be a lot less expensive than colored card stock (cereal boxes would do in a pinch too, and might even turn out to be more quilt-like in the end).

Before I cut the squares apart, I used them to trace out the base of a cardboard frame (also a good use for an empty cereal box)...

...which I completed by gluing thin, "mitered" strips around the edges.

The frame isn't really necessary, as the triangles can be pieced together right on the table, but it helps the younger children visualize the 4 x 4 unit square.

All that was left then, once the triangles were all cut apart, and the glue on the frame was dry, was to print out, and "laminate" with contact paper,  a sheet of half square triangle, quilt block patterns from one of the many quilting websites out there (this one is really good) to get us started...

...puzzling out and coloring in the designs for ourselves.

It's a lot like working on a Tangram puzzle...

...but with a slightly more artistic flair that quilters, mathematicians, and puzzle fanatics alike are sure to enjoy.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Valentine's Day Math Cookie Patchwork Heart

1/2 of a batch of sugar cookie dough...

One half - either of two equal or corresponding parts into which something is divided.

...rolled out and cut into an eight inch square...

Square - a two dimensional figure with four equal, straight sides, and four right angles.

...divided into sixteen, two inch squares...

Divided - separated into equal parts.

...cut in half diagonally to form thirty-two triangles...

Diagonally - moving in a straight line connecting two opposite corners of a polygon.

Polygon - a two dimensional figure with at least three straight sides.

Triangle - A three sided polygon.

...transferred to a greased baking sheet, and baked for thirteen minutes at 350° F...

350 degrees Fahrenheit - the unit of temperature used in the United States of America, equalling approximately 177 degrees Celsius.

...allowed to cool, and iced so that...

...3/8 of the triangles were glazed with white icing (no food coloring added), 5/16 with light pink (one drop of food coloring and one drop of strawberry extract added), and 5/16 with dark pink (two additional drops of red food coloring added)...

3/8 * 32 = 3/8 * 32/1 = (3 * 32)/(8 * 1) = 96/8 = 12 triangles

5/16 * 32 = 160/16 = 10 triangles

...arranged back into a 4 x 4 square, forming a heart shaped geometric pattern with the colored triangles...

Geometric - utilizing a pattern of simple shapes.

...and equalling a Happy Valentine's Day wish from Almost Unschoolers.

Children's Snow Day Snacktivity - White Chocolate Covered Pretzel Snowflake Station

I thought I'd be a really cool mom, and make up a batch of A Southern Fairytale inspired chocolate covered snowflakes for the children to have with their "we just came in from outside" mugs of hot chocolate.

The snowflakes however, while not difficult to make, proved to be more time consuming than I cared for. So I modified my plan, and set up a make your own snowflake station on the counter instead, leaving out a tinfoil covered cookie sheet with pretzel sticks, candy sprinkles, sparkly sugar, and a bowl of melted white chocolate chips...

...for the children to discover, one by one, as they came in from outside.   I hovered nearby to give some initial instructions, and remelt the chocolate chips in the microwave (in 30 second intervals) when necessary. But, for the most part the children worked on their own...

...designing...

...dipping...

...decorating, and basically turning a tedious chore into a messy, but fun snow day snacktivity.

White chocolate hardens quickly at room temperature, making it a bit of a race for the children to get all their pretzel pieces dipped before the chocolate needed to be remelted, but also making for solidified completed projects ready to be transferred to plates in just about the same time it took to mix the hot chocolate.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Cold Weather Classics - Snowy Day Science, Snacks and Literary Tie-ins for Children

If you're in a part of the country where the temperatures are plummeting this week, don't miss out on these winter weather must-dos (thanks to Annette from The Simple Home for inspiration - we're glad to finally have some winter weather to play in, too).

Watching soap bubbles freeze.

For best results wait for a windless moment.  Blow into the bubble wand with your mouth a little away from the soap, so the bubble won't fill with hot air, and rise too quickly away from you.  It's easiest to view the bubbles freezing if you catch them on the wand...

...or view them on the ground.  But, it's fun to watch them pop in the air too, because they fly apart like little sheets of plastic.

Let the heat from your hand melt an icicle so you can watch it drip.

It's not very scientific, but children find it fascinating.  You can't really save icicles (or snowballs) in a frost-free type freezer, though - the process that eliminates frost, will also do in your frozen treasures.


Collect pans full of clean snow for making molasses snow candy (recipe here) like the Ingalls in Little House in the Big Woods.

It's a lot of fun to make...

...and a good chance to brush up on thermometer skills...

...while you discuss the meaning of the idiom "slow as molasses"...

...but honestly, it doesn't taste very good.  You can try to suspend reality, and imagine you've been living in the "olden days", out in the woods, and haven't had any real candy...but even then, it's a stretch.

Or, you can save your pans of clean snow and make yummy snow ice cream (recipe here), or lemon snow ice (find our post on that, here) like in...

...Andrea Cheng's The Lemon Sisters (have a box of tissues handy, if you decide to read the picture book to your children).

And of course, if the thermometer is dipping down well below zero, you don't want to miss turning boiling water into instant snow (though you might want to check out our tip for that one first).

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Cold Weather Kid Science - Tip #1 - Turning Boiling Water Into Snow

So apparently, when you step out into the sub-zero weather, preparing to turn a mug of boiling water into snow, it is important, as you carefully hand it off to your child, not only to warn them about the dangers of boiling water, but also to specify that...

...they are to toss the water from the mug, not with the mug.  The experiment, however, works either way.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Gingerbread Geometry

Our groundhog might have predicted an early spring just yesterday, but we had more snow on the ground today, than we've had all winter so far.

Normally, we make gingerbread men to celebrate the first "real" snow of the season.  We gave up this year before Christmas, and made them with only a skiff of snow of on ground.  Even so, with the children out playing, and the snowflakes falling, I couldn't resist rolling out one more small batch of gingerbread.

Since I hated to lose the entire school day to a February snow, and since we (or at least I) have been in a mathy mood this month, I cut out 2''x2'' squares instead of men...

...scoring them into quarter inch squares (more or less) before baking...

...for a frosting covered, gingerbread geometry lesson to go along with the obligatory mugs of hot chocolate, when the children finally came shivering back inside.

I gave them each a baggie of frosting, and let them pipe along the scored lines while we talked about perimeter and area of the squares.

We frosted a few of the extra squares together to investigate the surface area of a six sided cube...

...and piled up a batch of Pfeffernüssen-ish gingerbread cubes (made with the left-over dough)...

...for a quick lesson on volume, as well.

It's great to be a homeschooler on a snowy day.

Groundhogs Day - Spring Science is Coming Soon

Our little groundhog stepped out on the back deck, at noon today, to take a quick look around.  There were plenty of clouds, but not a shadow to be seen. So, he predicted an early spring.

Then, just to prove his point, he came inside, and jumped up into the windowsill to point out the flower beginning to blossom on the strange viney plant, that has been growing there since C brought home the seed, planted in a decorated paper cup, from VBS back in August.

C had told us at the time it was supposed to produce a purple flower, but up until today it had only been a vine.  Now, as if on cue, we have our first spring (or at least spring-ish) science project to work on...

...as we try to identify what sort of flower we have.  Our first guess is a Montana Cornflower, a type of Bachelor Button.  We'll have to give it a few days to open completely, before we can be sure.

 After all, the groundhog predicted spring was coming soon - not that it was here already.

It's great to be a homeschooler.