Science Co-op September

Greenhouse is working!

I have seedlings!  Even with the cold nights!  of course, it may really be too late for these plants to actually grow and thrive before we start getting freezing nights, but next year I will have a way to get my plants going early without having to drag seedlings in and out of my house!

Making Shields

We are studying Medieval times and this week we studied Constantine, who claimed to see a vision of a cross in the sky, and therefore felt it was his mission to conquer the surrounding peoples in the name of spreading Christianity.  He has all of his soldiers carry a shield with a cross on it.

Tennis!

E decided to try something new this year.  Instead of playing soccer as he's done every fall since he was 4, he decided to try tennis.  He's really enjoying it!

Yes, I need to work on getting some clearer pictures!

Salt Dough Map

Eli chose the Salt Dough Map Activity to coordinate with our Mystery of History week.  He made his map of the Dead Sea area including and lableing the followoin:
1.Qumran, which is where the caves are located where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.
2. Masada, well known fortress
3. Jerusalem.

He really enjoyed this project - perfect for a kinestethic learner.  We mixed 1 cup flour to 1 cup salt and then slowly added water until we had the right consistency.  He wanted blue for water and brown for land.  Since I didn't have brown food coloring so we used cocoa powder to make the brown - it smelled really yummy!

Clean Plate Club

This might not seem like a big deal to some of you, but Z actually joined the clean plate club and was first to finish his dinner this night.  We had Asian pork chops, roasted cauliflower and roasted greenbeans (from my garden.)  He ate every bite without a single word of "encouragement" from either me or Tony.  He was very excited and clearly must have missed his afternoon snack!

Week in Review 9/12-9/16

Kindergarten Games and Writing Practice:

Making a Volcano since we learned about Pompeii:

Everyone accomplished their math, grammar, reading and other lessons.  In science we've been working on Beautiful Feet's History of Science and continuing on with our Apologia Botany.

Praying Mantis

N spotted this praying mantis while we were out working on the Greenhouse!  So cool!

National Chocolate Day

Biscuits and Chocolate Gravy for Breakfast

Sorting and Graphing M&Ms for snack!

We also made Single Serving Microwave Brownies...you can see the recipe here.

And I made real brownies for dessert after dinner which we ate with ice cream and chocolate sauce!

Mini Greenhouse

I have been having trouble getting my fall plants to sprout after I planted them directly in the ground.  We've had some cold nights and hot days and the soil gets dry fast.  Also, several heavy rainstorms may have washed the seeds away.  I knew the answer was seeding in little mini pots until the plants have a good start, but really didn't want the hassle of having the pots all over my kitchen and having to take them in and out of the house every morning and dealing with the mess.  Plus with showings happening at a moment's notice I don't need plants around to worry about either! 

So I decided I wanted to try to build a mini-greenhouse.  So I gathered cinder blocks, some scrap wood, clear plastic and my handy husband.

 Tony first leveled out 2 spots to but the base cinder blocks so they would be level.  We then laid a scrap of wood, 2 more blocks and another wood plank.

 Then I cut plastic sheeting to fit and Tony cut a thin strip of wood to attach to each end of the plastic.  This is to help weight it down so the wind doesn't blow it open.

 We put our first plantings in and we'll how it goes!

If it works well, we will add 2 or 3 more rows of blocks and shelves so in the spring we could see many more plants.  I have also talked to the boys about possibly using it to start a little business growing and selling plants (veggies and flowers) to our neighbors and friends.

Special Day

When the kids at our church reach kindergarten, the church gives them all an Adventure Bible.  The reasoning for this is so the teachers can easily work with them during class to get them all on the same page and actually using their Bible.  Z was pretty excited to get his (just like his brothers have before him).  He has been using his Adventure Bible this week for our Bible time.  (We are currently reading through 2 Samuel).  Ann McMillan did a wonderful job of exhorting us, as parents, to help our children read and use their Bibles.  What a HUGE responsibility we have as parents to teach our children not just about God's Word, but how to use it!  I'm so glad Z is loving his Bible!

Reasons to Homeschool

Check out this video which share some FACTS about homeschooling!

Homeschool Skate Day

It is very hard to get good pictures at a dark skating rink!

But the kids had fun!

Nero

In our Mystery of History 2 this week we learned about Nero.  It is said that Nero played the lyre while watching from his window as his city, Rome, burned to the ground.  He had been very vocal about the disorganization of the city and many believed that he may have purposely set the fire!  So to help us remember this story, we made a pretend lyre and took turns playing it.

Beach Time