LEGO Thursday–LATE

 

 

I forgot about LEGO Thursday.  Kiddo loves LEGOs, did I mention he loves them.  I rarely catch a picture of his creations, he takes them apart as fast as he builds them.  He into building mini figs and robots right now.  He recently got this book Cool Robots and is having a ball building all the LEGO robots. 

Here is a vehicle with travel pod he built this week.  It started out as a electric car but he was not happy with the charging station he built to go with it so it became a gas car with travel pod

Weekly Round Up

 

This week we worked hard and accomplished a few goals.  Kiddo finished the first disc of Teaching Textbooks 3.  We also finished Story of the World 2.  I got in the first of next years books, Easy Grammar 2.  We started on it today.  I plan on ordering easy Grammar 3 but I wanted to go through this workbook first.

We have a library trip planned for this weekend.  Kiddo wants to learn more about Galileo. There is also the Home Depot Kids workshop this weekend. 

April Fool’s Day- Spaghetti Cupcakes

 

 

The office where my husband works, people regularly send in treats for everyone.  I had not sent anything in a while and needed to come up with something.   While I was looking around the net for an idea, I saw these spaghetti cupcakes and since Friday is April Fool’s Day I thought they would make a good funny treat. 

These cupcakes are so easy to make and took little time. You could buy premade cupcakes from a bakery and turn them into spaghetti cupcakes easily. My son thought they were so funny.  These are perfect to make with the kids, you can’t really mess them up. 

 

All you need is a tray of cupcakes.

Icing, a piping bag with a small round tip.  I used a Wilton No. 5 tip.  I added a dot of ivory food coloring to give the icing a more pasta color.

I put all the cupcakes on the tray I was sending the cupcakes on.  It made the icing noodles look a bit more like a platter of noodles having all the cupcakes together. 

 

Then you need to add the “meatballs” and “sauce”.  I used chocolate candy and raspberry jam.  You could also use truffles.   Heat the jam just a little to make it easier to dip the candy and spread the jam.  Dip the candy in the jam and place on the cupcake. Spoon a little extra jam to make the sauce.  I keep the jam light on my cupcakes. 

 

Ready to serve

I hope they like them.  I will hear the reviews tomorrow. 

 

Have a great weekend. 

Weekly Wrap-Up

 

 

We had a good week this week.  We did science experiments, bird watching(becoming a favorite hobby), seed planting, wood working and of course school work.  I have made plans for next years curriculum and have started shopping around for it.  I have a bird watching experiment planned and if the weather will clear up hopefully we will get to it this weekend. 

This week we did a subject a day again.  Kiddo loves this schedule so much I am considering switching to it. I usually use it just to break things up and make our day different.  He does great with the schedule though.  We will see I might start doing once a week every month, it would be a great way to catch up in any areas we have fallen behind in.  Our schedule this week was:

 

Monday – Math  He did 3 lesson in Teaching Textbooks, one quiz and we did a lesson in Singapore math on measurements.

Tuesday – Language Arts  He did 3 handwriting worksheets(took forever), Words are Wonderful worksheet, 3 lessons in First Language lessons and spellingcity.com

Wednesday – Reading day per his request.  He read 3 Horrible Science books and we started Harry Potter Prisoner of Azkaban.  We have a rule at our house you have to read the book before you can watch the movie.

Thursday – Science  We read a chapter in Zoology, made creation book in Zoology notebook journal. Read Genesis 1.  Did vocabulary crossword puzzle. Read chapter in Botany and did a little work in the notebook journal. 

Friday – History We read 3 chapters in Story of the World, did 3 maps worksheets, and took the test to go with each chapter.  I use the test book as worksheets.  We will finish history next week most likely.  I am working on a geography unit study for us to do before moving on to Story of the World 3.                      

In the pictures above: we met Rufus the screech owl at Animal Encounters, did the coke and mentos experiment, helped Dad with some furniture building, and planted seeds for spring. 

 

                                                                                                             Looking forward to next week.  I can see the end of the year or curriculum since we are year round schooling now and I am ready to move on to new things. We took a month off from TaeKwonDo and we will start that back next week, I am very happy about that.  It is spring which means getting out and doing more, yeah!

                                                       

Have a great weekend everyone!

Wordless Wednesday - Spring Planting

Science Experiment–Coke and Mentos

 

We did the coke and Mentos experiment again. He loves doing this experiment, we have done it several times before.  I have a science experiment for us later this week involving bird seed and we will need 4 bird feeders for the experiment.  Since we had to purchase the plastic bottles to make the bird feeders, might as well get two experiments from the bottles.

 

For this experiment we tested which diet soda had the best fountain.  We tested Diet Coke, Diet, Pepsi, Diet Sunkist and Diet Sam’s Cola (store brand).  We used a simple scientific method for our experiment and filled out a lab worksheet to show the results.  

Scientific Method we used.

1. Ask a Question -  Which diet soda has the highest fountain?

2.  Construct a Hypothesis – Kiddo thought the Diet Coke would do the best because of the Mythbusters Diet Coke experiment.

3. Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment – Tested 4 different types of diet coke with mentos.

4. Analyze Your Data and Draw a Conclusion – Reviewed photos and eye witness accounts draw a consensus on the conclusion

5. Communicate Your Results -  Filled out a lab chart worksheet

 

 

DIET SODA AND MENTOS EXPERIMENT

Supplies Used

4 - 2L soda  bottles (any kind will work)

      Diet Coke

      Diet Pepsi

      Diet Sunkist

      Diet Sam’s Cola(store brand)

2 pkgs - Mentos candy

1 piece of paper

Tape

Scissors

 

Cut paper into strips and make a tube for the mentos candy to fit into.  We used 4 candies per soda bottle but the more mentos you use the bigger the fountain you will get.  

 

Findings -  The Diet Sam’s Cola had the highest fountain.  Followed closely by Diet Pepsi then Diet Coke.  Diet Sunkist came in last.  The Diet Sunkist actually took a few seconds for it to bubble up into a fountain where as the others were almost instant. 

 

 

Curriculum for New Year

 

 

I can not believe it is time for new curriculum already.  We started our school year last July and we have finished some courses, switched math programs and are almost finished with history. We decided to switch to year round school this year so we can take more time off in the spring and fall when Kiddo can spend more time outdoors.  Since we are getting close to the end of some of our courses and I can tell he is ready to start learning some new concepts, it’s time to start the search for curriculum. 

I enjoy looking at new curriculum, reading about what everyone else is using, reading reviews, etc.  and I hate it at the same time.  I always feel such pressure to pick the right one; I start to stress myself out over choosing a program that is right for Kiddo and I start doubting my ability to adequately educate him (why I do this I don’t know).  I have no doubts about my ability to raise him, if I can raise him, educating him should not be that big of a stretch.  I never said I wasn’t a little neurotic and crazy.  I’ve found being a bit crazy helps with the whole homeschooling adventure anyways. That being said, it is the season of spending too much time on the computer reading and researching curriculum choices.

I reserve the right to change my mind on any of these choices, since I have not purchased any of the books. I still have time to research more.  Here is what I have picked for curriculum thus far:

Bible – Have not decided which but we are going to use a devotional book.

Handwriting – Horizons Penmanship Grade 3

History – Story of the World Vol. 3

              Story of the World 3 Activity book

              Story of the World 3 Test Book(we use as worksheets)

Math – Teaching Textbooks 3 and 4  (We started Grade 3 a few weeks ago)

Science – Apologia Exploring Anatomy and Physiology

                Apologia Jr. Note booking Journal

Grammar -  Easy Grammar Daily Review Grade 2

Spelling – Sequential Spelling (still considering All About Spelling)

Latin – Prima Latina

Reading – This year we are going to read biographies. First up is,             Thomas A. Edison – Young Inventor. 

Other – Typing Instructor for Kids

            Science Detective

            Logic Countdown Grade 3

             Map Skills Grade 3 and 4 ( he loved these workbooks)

 

 

I will purchase most of the curriculum from Amazon.com or Christianbook.com.  I never seem to have good luck finding used books. As much as I love getting a good deal, I can not complain.  The difference in cost between private school and homeschool including umbrella school fees, you can not even compare.