Planet Comparisons & a Picnic

 

Today Mickey was studying the planets in Science and one of the suggested activities was to do a planet comparison with objects around the house.  Happily, it was a warm day outside so we all decided to head to the backyard and the 3 kids worked on the activity together(this happens often).  We had to make a couple of substitutions(we couldn't find an acorn) but we made it work and it was very interesting and educational.  The kids had the order of the planets memorized in no time and we noticed how small the planets closest to the Sun were... then they get large in the middle... and get smaller again further out.  I never realized that before!  One of the things I love about homeschooling(among MANY) is all the things I am learning along with the kids!  So cool...

We decided eating lunch outside from a real picnic basket was in order and the weather couldn't have been more beautiful!  After the winter we had we are soaking up every drop of sun we can get!

 

 

I read to them from The Five Little Peppers after lunch(outside of course!) and then they played the rest of the afternoon.  I love these days with my kiddos!

 

Oh, and I had to include this.  We believe this is a Red-Breasted Grouse Beak.  I love it's coloring and they've been hanging out a lot lately.  I finally got a picture(even if it is fuzzy)!

Dissecting an Owl Pellet

This is from last spring but I forgot to press publish and it has been sitting in the draft section for a year!!  It is pretty cool so I will publish it today so everyone can see it and then move it to the correct date later....

Mickey had been BEGGING me to find him an owl pellet to dissect for a long time so after a bunch of looking around I decided to order one from Amazon.
What is an owl pellet you ask?
Well, here is a funny youtube video/song so you can learn about it:

 

 

 

 

Mick had a great time finding all the little bones but he didn't want his brother and sister to miss out on all the fun so he saved some for them to dissect when they got home from school.

 

They also loved it.

 

 

This is the kit we ordered.
You can order just a pellet alone too I believe.  The only thing you have to pay attention to is if it is a real pellet or if it is a pretend on(with plastic bones)- I don't think that would be as fun!

Fingerprinting

Today's science project was fingerprinting... it was so interesting and fun! Too bad Jeffrey wasn't home to help us since he is already an expert- remember this past summer?

Notice what my crime was(he crossed it off himself though). Ha!

kitchen science experiment #1- fruit battery

Some of you might not know this yet but after Christmas break I began picking up Mickey at 11:30 and homeschooling him in the afternoon. Why just the afternoon? Well, in the morning he has choir, orchestra, gym, music, library, and art(not all on the same days!) and he really enjoys those activities. So we decided to pick him up right before recess and lunch. We eat together and do Math and some other stuff(writing, Social Studies, Science, reading- depends on the day). He takes breaks in between and the new Math curriculum I'm using is making WAY more sense to him. It is working really well for Mick to have the one on one attention and most of all to not have to spend his whole evening doing homework after sitting in a desk all day. We are always done with everything by 2:30ish and then he plays outside with his brother and sister when they get home. And I get to spend time with my wonderful, amazing boy and do fun activities with him that we usually don't have time to do. WIN-WIN!

I bought a kitchen science kit from Hobby Lobby(using my coupon of course!) and today we tried one of them: making a fruit battery out of lemon halves.

He loved it! Mickey could definitely do science-y things all day...

He asked if he could start his own blog to share his science experiments, lego creations, and comics on and I told him I thought that would be an excellent idea.

So watch for that coming soon!

So how did this work? Well... The forks act like the positive electrodes of a battery. They are plated with a metal that is less reactive than zinc plates we were using(came with the kit). When the forks and the zinc plates are inserted into the lemon, a chemical reaction takes place. Electrons move from the zinc plates to the forks to form a current, thus activating the watch. The lemon juice helps to conduct electricity. It would work with a potato, a grapefruit, or soft drinks also. Really cool! I am learning a lot too!