Wordless Wednesday - An Inch Taller Than Mom!

Sigh...

Linked to Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes For Mom.



It's great to be a homeschooler.

Twirly Acrobat - A Preschool Boredom Buster Craft

We found the idea for this craft in Sharon Dunn Umnik's 175 Easy-to-Do Everyday Crafts. Hers was actually a twirly monkey, but basically the same idea. This was one of two crafts we found interesting in the book, so I guess we'd give it a lukewarm recommendation, except that we really did like this craft.

First, I drew out three different sized circles on card stock. My five year old cut hers out, while I helped her younger sister.



They colored in half of the biggest circles (for pants), and drew faces on the medium sized circles. The smallest circles were cut in half, and glued on sides of the faces, for ears. Finally, I stapled on pipe cleaners, cut in half for arms, and in fourths for legs, secured with tape.

Then, we wrapped their "hands" around a straw (a smooth pencil, or wood dowel would work too)...



...and gave them a twirl.





It's great to be a homeschooler.

What's In The Bible - Review

The older children (ages 9-12) are just finishing up reading Genesis, and Exodus, and should be moving on into Leviticus this week, so I was quite happy to see Phil Vischer's What's In The Bible, Wanderin' in the Desert, in at the bookstore.


In case you're unfamiliar with the new series:

• Phil Vischer is the Veggie Tale guy.
  
• This is his new series, for kids, using puppets, animation, and live people.
  
• It begins at Genesis, and is supposed to ultimately make it to Revelation, explaining What's in The Bible.
  

The first two titles, In The Beginning, and Let My People Go!, cover Genesis and Exodus, and answer questions like, "What's in the Bible?", "Who wrote the Bible?", "Who chose the books of the Bible?", and "What is salvation?"

I picked them up for my younger children, but insisted my older children watch with us, at least once. At first, they were put off by the idea of puppets, but it wasn't long before they were drawn into Vischer's excitement. That excitement is one of my favorite aspects of the shows, too. It's great to have the children see another adult so fired up about the Word.

My 12 year old told me he thought it was the best Christian DVD series we'd viewed yet. Then, the highest praise came a few days later, when he asked when the next one was coming out.

The children like the easy to understand definitions of words like salvation, and redemption. They like the information about church history, and the use of time lines. They like the sweeping overview of the books. And, of course, they like all the silliness.

The third title, Wanderin' in the Dessert, which we watched this weekend, takes on Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. As you might imagine, I think it's going to take us several viewings to fully absorb the content. But, Mr. Vischer does an excellent job of explaining the difference between ethical and ritual laws, and in defining holiness. There is also a fun musical finale, summarizing everything covered so far.

All in all, I believe it will prove a very helpful tool, as the children head into the last half of the Pentateuch. And, hopefully by the time they're ready to begin Joshua and Judges, the next installment will be in the bookstore, too.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Super Science Concoctions - An Excellent Science Book

I mentioned in my Science Sunday post, that I would be reviewing Jill Frankel Hauser's Super Science Concoctions, which I thought was either the best science book for children ever, or a huge disappointment.

I said that, because on first glance it is a wonderful book of science experiments for children. It's not only filled with excellent, child friendly, scientific explanations for each experiment, but it's also laid out in a colorful, and exciting way, that draws the eye from one bit of information to another. And, it's one of those books, that makes every experiment look like so much fun, you want to try them all.

However, we've encountered books like that before, only to experience a series of total flops, or mediocre results, when we actually tried out the experiments.

And, we did have one major flop, when following Hauser's taffy recipe (during a non-Newtonian fluid experiment). What we came up with was definitely not the example of thixotropy we were promised.

But, the other experiments we tried - making colloid, gelatin and juice, worms...







...using chromatography to make a fire breathing dragon, bookmark...


















...turning brown sugar, cornstarch, and milk into a pretty yummy, butterscotch pudding...



...and the whole slew of cabbage based, pH testing, experiments, that made up our Science Sunday post, turned out terrifically.

Many of the base experiments are familiar, like the vinegar egg etching, perfume making, or rain in a jar, but they all come with additional experiments, and some creative side activities (like the dragon bookmark above), and really clear, interesting scientific explanations.

Add to that, the fact that each experiment, and scientific explanation, leads nicely into the next, and you have a pretty successful science book. The target age range is 6-12, and while Hauser also has a book aimed at 2-6 year olds (which I hope to be checking out soon), my younger children were able to join in, and understand (pretty well), all of the experiments we performed.

There's more to say about this book. I could really gush on for quite a while. But, the general gist is we like it!

It's great to be a homeschooler.

On Unschooling

I'm guest posting on Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns today, while Natalie and her husband are off on a cruise, and their daughter is enjoying some special grandparent time. Pop on over, and visit me there, and spend some time getting to know Natalie, and Anna, if you don't already know them - they are a lot of fun.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Sneaky Sunday Science - Cabbage Juice In the Lemonade

If you want to sneak in a science lesson at dinnertime, start early in the day, with a head of red cabbage.



Cut half of it up, and place the chopped pieces into a pot, and add just enough water to cover. Simmer for 20 minutes. If anyone complains about the smell, remind them that cabbage soup was all poor Charlie Bucket, and his family had to eat (other than an occasional chocolate bar).



Drain the now purple liquid from the cabbage, and allow to cool. You can add vinegar, and sugar to the cooked cabbage pieces, to make some really horrible pink pickles - but I wouldn't suggest it.



Instead, using a sieve, to keep out any bit of cabbage, fill an ice cube tray with the cabbage water, and place it in the freezer.



Then at dinner, wow the children by pouring an ordinary glass of lemonade, and adding a purple ice cube...


...to produce pink lemonade!



It really tastes alright. I was a little skeptical, and the children (who were probably tipped off by the Mission Impossible theme song I was humming, as I poured the drink) were less than enthusiastic, until one brave volunteer gave it a taste. It's funny, because you can't taste the cabbage, but it kind of takes the edge off the sourness of the lemonade, which combined with the color, does lead you to believe your drinking pink lemonade.

If you're unconvinced though, you can go with the more common, pH testing, color changing experiments by pouring some of the liquid into a couple of jars, and then adding lemon juice to one...



...and baking soda dissolved in water, to the other - always fun!



Or, you can soak some paper in the solution, and then paint on it with acid, or base solutions, after it dries (or cut it into litmus strips).



All of these ideas, came from Jill Frankel Hauser's Super Science Concoctions, which is either the best children's science book I've ever seen, or the most disappointing. I'll let you know shortly, after we try out a few more of the experiments.

But for now, you can find more fun with science, at this week's Science Sunday link-up, hosted by Adventures in Mommydom.




It's great to be a homeschooler.

Books About Pill Bugs

Ticia's Science Sunday post at Adventures in Mommydom, prompted me to order in a couple of Pill Bug books at the library, this week. Our climate here is pretty dry (or at least it's always been dry, until this spring), and so we don't see many of the roly poly creatures, but I thought the kids might enjoy reading about them anyway.

We ended up with A Pill Bug's Life by John Himmelman. The children enjoyed Himmelman's story-like style, and it was full of a lot of facts, but I thought his illustrations made the tiny crustaceans look kind of creepy.

I preferred the photographs in Raintree Sprouts' Pill Bugs by Monica Hughes. Raintree Sprouts is a series of nonfiction books intended for the K-1 classroom, and if this book is any indication of the quality of the series, we will be looking for more. Each page has only one to two short sentences, to go with large, clear, color photos, but there is a lot of information packed into those sentences.




By happy coincidence, we had a sun break, on the same day the books arrived in at the library, and crossed paths with a Roly Poly, in our own backyard. By afternoon it was pouring again, so the window for encountering this bug was small, making it a treasured find. Apparently, all the rain is bringing the Roly Polies out of hiding, which is so much better than looking under rocks, and leaf piles for them - where there might also be a rattlesnake!





For more children's book reviews, and recommendations, check out Feed Me Books Friday at The Adventures of Motherhood, or the What My Child is Reading blog hop, hosted by Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns, guest hosted this week by Debbie at Children Grow, Children Explore, Children Learn.




It's great to be a homeschooler.