Showing posts with label Homeschool Science. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Homeschool Science. Show all posts

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Our First Lapbook...








Over the past two years of homeschooling, I've learned that there are two types of homeschool moms. The first type has their curriculum bought, paid for, and mapped out by mid-July every year. They write a Mission Statement every fall and name their homeschool after either some famous Reformed Minister or in tribute of a deceased loved one. These are the women that come up with amazing, creative ideas to enrich their children's lives and, in the name of community and cooperation, share these ideas online. The other type barely makes it from one day to the next and is always amazed when their children recall a random fact or use a vocabulary word appropriately. I'll let you guess into which category I fall... (Y'all thought I'd end that sentence with a preposition, didn't you??)
However, it is the painstaking archiving of various projects that make me love these Type A moms. As I can copy just about anything, I decided a few weeks ago to use this mimicking talent to enter the formidable world of LAPBOOKING... For you non-homeschoolers, a lapbook takes a manilla folder, folds it like a pamphlet, and then fills it with all kinds of wonderful information. Think "Scrapbooking meets a data dump". I have found a wonderful website that provides templates for just about any topic. If you design your own lapbook, you can submit your work for other moms to use- stay tuned for the Lindsey Lohan Trial Coverage Lapbook!!

We had just finished a unit on animals and were headed to the beach, so the boys and I researched sharks and created a darn good lapbook. Thanks http://www.homeschoolshare.com/ and whatever anal-retentive mom put the template together!!

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Why Being Fat is a Good Thing...


About three days into our summer vacation, Hub came to me with the complaint he was bored. I knew I needed to find something that could hold the interest of both older boys (finishing K and 2nd), but wouldn't throw us off track if we didn't get much done. Enter SCIENCE!!

I know lots of homeschool moms swear by their favorite science curriculum, but I honestly haven't found anything I could stick with. Last year, a woman blessed me with over 100 used elementary school textbooks! Some of you would tell me I'm "selling out" and now doing "school at home", but for us, especially for our esteemed principal (love you, honey!!), this is the style that we need.

We dove into a Harcourt Science book the second week of June and are thrilled with what we found! The first unit was on plants and the boys did some great rubbings, as well as helped me in the garden (I'm so sneaky!!). That was, of course, PBD (pre-blog days) so it never occurred to me to take pictures...

This week, we are studying animals. Our lesson today was on mammals and after all the giggling about live birth and breastfeeding was finished, we focused on the purpose of fur. Or for humans, FAT!

Here's a quick experiment that you can use in any argument- a child that doesn't want his coat in the snow, your Weight Watchers nazi the week after Christmas... you get the picture!!

Method- Take two metal cans (we used Mason jars- hey! I homeschool- it's what we have!) and wrap one of them in cotton batting, a towel- any thick fabric to symbolize fur or fat. Fill them with almost boiling water and record the temperature of each. Record each temperature reading every ten minutes for the next thirty.

Here's the Investigation chart we made:
  1. Temperature at start for Naked can _____ Furry can_____
  2. Temperature after ten minutes for Naked can_____ Furry can_____
  3. Temperature after twenty minutes for Naked can_____ Furry can_____
  4. Temperature after thirty minutes for Naked can_____ Furry can_____

Hub came up with his own hypothesis: "I believe that the naked one will cool off first"

Sure enuff... At the end of the thirty minutes, the "fat" can held it's temperature better- only dropping 33 degrees, compared to the 64 degrees that the naked one lost.

THEREFORE, fat is NOT a bad thing:-) In support of science, I'm off to eat some ice cream-