Geology ~ Resources

Books, books and more books!  Just as long as they are not dry and boring we will get along just fine.  These are the books that we have read or are reading.   I have a few more in my pile, not sure yet if they are any good or not so if they are I will update this post later in our study.  We have also watched a few DVD's but have not been impressed with any of them.  Unfortunately, most are geared to older kids not elementary school age.  I now know of a market that needs help in the homeschool world if someone out there LOVES rocks - please make something fun and entertaining for these young kids!

  

            

  

Electronic Snap Circuits

 The boys love these, I mean LOVE these things.  I bought the snap circuits just because I thought they looked easy to use and fun.  It was going to be a bonus that they would obtain a hands-on learning experience in how electrical circuits run.

The kit includes snap wires and other fun stuff that you snap onto the plastic grid.   No tools needed.  It comes with 'map' type directions to follow. If you do not follow the directions correctly, it does not work.  The boys have made a light switch, door bell and the most favorite is the radio, so far.

Once they have 'mastered' this we can order an upgrade to the kit so they can move to the next level in their learning process. Create their own circuits!

Geology ~ Rock On!!!

Rocks, rocks and more rocks – UGH!  I did not have a good teacher in school with this subject.  I went from a kid who LOVED rocks to totally hating them and thinking – why do I need to know this?  I need to find my inner detective and love for rocks on this subject!

Our first examination is the earth’s crust.  Let’s get some experiments going on here.  Or just some sort of visual because this earth is huge!

For starters – let’s boil and egg.  I had the boys peel the shell off.  This is our earth’s crust.  How exciting!  Look at how thin it is from the rest of the egg.  We will come back to the egg later when we learn about the next layer.  I bet you are just on the edge of your seat about this, right?

Back to the crust {shell} is only 3 miles thick under the ocean and 45 miles thick under the mountain ranges.  Not too thick – right?

What is this crust made of?  Dirt/Soil

What is dirt /soil made of? Decaying leaves, rotting plants, grounded rock and sticks.

Next, let’s put some dirt/soil into a glass jar and cover with water.  Tightly screw on the lid and shake for a few minutes.  Leave this overnight to see what happens to your soil.  It would be neat to compare different soils from different areas but we are not going to do that.  The next morning you will find all organic matter floating at the top and the heavy mineral particles at the bottom and it may even form layers –if you’re lucky.

State Capitols Song

Planting a Garden?

I would first like to point out that we try to garden. We really have no idea what we are doing.  Each year it's the same thing.  We buy some seeds, tomato and pepper plants. I call my parents and ask the same questions each year, "What way do the potatoes go into the ground again?".  We are excited, this year will be different, we will weed and care for the garden.  Yes, this year will be different.

So, here we are picking out our seeds when the love of my life suggest a science project!  Let the kids start growing the plants inside, record the growth and then we will all transplant them to the garden.  I tried to get excited, I mean he suggested a project for the kids.  I secretly wished he would do the project with the kids.  But, he is lucky enough to be out of town and the little and I mean little seeds need to be planted.  There is no way the kids can back out of this project, the seeds are to small for my hands!  

To my surprise the boys enjoyed planting the seeds.  We had a few laughs because Mom read the directions but forgot what she read!  I had to dump the cold water out and put warm water in.  I had to keep adding water because I never bothered to actually measure the water...Yep. I am so into this project! Then the lid does not seem to stay shut or latch shut.  I was told to leave it, quit messing with it, it is fine...who is the teacher here again?  Let's not forget that I cannot figure out if I need to water these things or not.  It seems to look like I don't, there is a lot of water at the bottom of the pan, moisture (green house type) and I dumped some water out.  Anyway, if it fails I am off to the store to buy some plants...

Lego Creation Thursday

My little THING 1 had his birthday in March.  He specifically asked his Grandma and Grandpa for the Lego Kingdom's Jail.  He was so excited that they found it and gave it to him.  He chose to put it together a few Saturday's ago when his dad was told to stay off of his foot.  Thing 1 asked dad to sit by him while he put his creation together.  Dad sat and sat and sat...didn't need to help him one bit but Thing 1 loved that his dad was there---watching.

Flat Travelers - Washington

Did you know that the state of Washington is the only state named after a President?  I bet you did, you just never thought about it!  Our flat traverler's went to visit folks in Washington.  A few of the things the travelers did while visiting in Washington were:

Lewis and Clark trail

Wild life park in Oregon

Going back to Washington

co-op carnival

The flat travelers also went to puppy training class, visited a reptile in a cage and crossed the Columbia River. Over all, our traveler had a blast on their trip. We enjoyed hearing about what they did when they were gone.

We need to sign up for the May swap over at the Facebook group:  Homeschool Swapping Adventures to continue filling our geography notebook.