Summer Science - AIG Properties of Atoms and Molecules Unit 1

I respectfully ask that you not pin pictures of my children to Pinterest. Thank you!

We finished up Properties of Matter and jumped right into the next book I planned, Properties of Atoms and Molecules. (The third book in the Chemistry & Ecology series, Properties of Ecosystems, is used in My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures. So those topics aren't scheduled in MFW 1850-Modern Times).

For unit 1, we started with a bang. Well, more of a plop and fizz. :) We showed how baking soda reacts with vinegar and then on a much larger scale how Mentos react with Diet Coke.
My biggest tip for the Mentos/Coke project is to not try to fit your paper tube and Mentos inside the house. Just sayin'.
I got 25 2-liters of Diet Coke (on sale for just $1) and Mentos on sale as well. I got some funny looks in the store because of all the soda in my cart.

I cut scrap cardstock into 6" x 3" pieces. Then we wrapped them into cone shapes that were wide enough to hold Mentos and would sit over the open bottle of soda. Scotch tape closed the seam. We taped dental floss onto the end of a toothpick. Then we poked holes through the cones and inserted the toothpick.

The toothpick held up the Mentos until we were ready to pull the string and set off the reaction.

 

We started with one bottle and 4 Mentos. Then we did one bottle with 5 Mentos. We found the greatest fountain height with 6 Mentos so that became our standard.
Here's our finale:

The rest of the lessons in this unit only had worksheets and on-paper activities.

Weekly School Summary - Last Week of School! (May 21-25)

I respectfully ask that you not pin pictures of my children to Pinterest. Thank you!

 School's Out for Summer! We finished our very last week of school! We got our evaluation done so all that's officially left is to take our portfolio to the school district. Then we'll be ready to prep for next year. (But I'm not ready to think about next year quite yet!)

Here's what we did during our last week:

Math: Back to our regular schedule. Tenor had 4 days of math lessons to finish up Saxon 54. Soprano had 2 lessons to complete Saxon Math 2.

Reading and Language Arts: Soprano had a final evaluation for "The Little House in the Big Woods" from 'Across the Centuries'.

She's finished her third Phonics book with several reviews. She also completed her English. She only had a final test to wind up Spelling by Sound and Structure 2, and a few pages of handwriting to finish that book as well.

Tenor finished his 'A Reason for Handwriting C'. He also completed his writing workbook.

He finished 'The Family Under the Bridge' from 'Across the Centuries C Level 2' with a worksheet, some discussion questions, and a story sequencing activity. English and Spelling (Rod and Staff Level 4) both finished up this week too. 

Electives:
Typer Island for their typing instruction and completing their SOS Elementary Spanish.

Tenor finished all of Spanish while J did a half year of lessons.

Phys Ed.: Just Tae Kwan Do and outdoor time.

With all those 'finished', 'completed', and 'winding up's, the kids both did all their scheduled work for the school year! Huzzah! I found some promotion certificates online which I printed for each of them.

I was able to take time over the holiday weekend (since M's mom was visiting with us) to finish compiling their portfolios in preparation for our evaluation. PA state law requires that we meet with a qualified (as outlined by the PA state law) evaluator at the end of the year. We met with the aunt of a friend who was super nice and did a good job going over our year's work.
Other things we need to do at the end of the year to fulfill the law:
Submit a portfolio of samples of the child's work
Submit a log of work done
Submit a log of books/media used
and Submit any standardized testing scores (if required for the child's grade level)
We also needed to show our evaluator proof of our attendance but that's not required in the portfolio that gets turned in to the school district.

Thanks Granny for keeping the kids occupied!

 So now, the bulletin boards are cleaned off....

the work log clipboards are empty...

the file sorter got cleaned out and filed....

and we had a party! After pizza and a movie, I gave the kids little end-of-the-year gifts.
A new pack of Craz-Erasers

A lego set

and a new Dollie and Me outfit for Soprano and her 18" doll

Now, I think we're all excited for a break!

Somehow it doesn't feel quite right that a year's worth of work can be summed up into 2 binders each. But it is nice to have completed so much wonderful work this year! I'm so proud of my younglings.

Weekly School Summaries - Antarctica (May 7-18)

 I respectfully ask that you not pin pictures of my children to Pinterest. Thank you!

 

Tenor's Handwriting for week 31

One more week, one more week, one more week, one more week! (Shouted while jumping up and down gleefully!) We only have one more week of school left. Wow!!! There were times I wasn't sure we would finish the year and still be alive! We're so close! God is faithful, and we've only got one week of work left!
Here's what we did the past 2 weeks:

Math: Back to our regular schedule. Tenor had 4 days of math lessons and 1 day of computer math. Soprano had 3 days of lessons last week and 2 lessons this week since we're almost to the end of Saxon Math 2. The other days she practiced flashcards for multiplication or subtraction and played math games on the computer.

Reading and Language Arts: Soprano finished reading "The Little House in the Big Woods" from 'Across the Centuries'. She wrote a story about what it would be like to live in a time with only lanterns and candles, and did a patchwork math worksheet. She also had a couple evaluations and will finish with a final evaluation next week.

She's doing well in her third Phonics book and is almost done. She's working on synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms. In English, she's working on alphabetizing and synonyms. Don't you love it when 2 separate subjects line up with the same thing? Spelling and handwriting are continuing well. 

Tenor continued with his 'A Reason for Handwriting C'. He got back to work in his writing workbook with persuasive letters.

He finished 'Helen Keller' from 'Across the Centuries C Level 2', and began his last book of the year, 'The Family Under the Bridge'. He did some vocab work, a worksheet about descriptive words, and did a few evaluations. English (synonyms and antonyms, like J) and Spelling (Rod and Staff Level 4) are going well. 

Electives:
Typer Island for their typing instruction and continuing with SOS Elementary Spanish.

Tenor is doing extra lessons for the next few weeks to finish the entire Elementary Spanish program this year.

Phys Ed.: Same as before... they're doing Tae Kwon Do each week but that's been about it. It's finally nice enough for them to play outside so they're out riding bikes, shooting baskets, and being total daredevils on scooters. I'm so thankful we live on a cul-de-sac!

For My Father's World, we're off to another continent. These past few weeks, we've been studying Antarctica. 

Bible: The past two weeks included:
Reading about Samoa and Iceland
Reading Matthew 27:31-28:20
Memorizing Matthew 28:18-20

Geography:

Things we did included:
Filling out our passports to travel to Antarctica (no flag to add though because Antarctica doesn't have an official flag) 

They did create their own version of what Antarctica's flag could look like.
Tenor incorporated flags from different countries that have scientific bases there. He also put in 2 penguins and 2 norwhals. Soprano put a penguin on an ice floe and added some water since it's surrounded by water.

Reading about Antarctica and comparing it with the Arctic. I found a printable Venn diagram that I had the kids write their observations on.

 

Illustrating notecards for iceberg, crevasse, glacier, and peninsula.

Taking a geography post-test to see what they learned from this year. They both did a fantastic job. T only knew 14 out of 105 countries at the beginning of the year. He was able to label 111 countries at the end. J only knew 1 country (the USA, which is good I guess) at the beginning of the year. On the post-test, she labelled 92 out of the 105 countries that we learned.

Other stats:
Tenor knew 21/22 studied capitals; all the continents, all the oceans, and identified 17 other elements (seas, mountains, rivers.)

Soprano knew 19/22 of the capitals we learned this year; all the continents, 3/5 oceans, and identified 2 other elements. That was working from pure memory. I think they would have gotten everything if I had given them a list of all the countries and capitals we studied this year.
If you do MFW and are worried about a 2nd grader tagging along and learning anything, don't be! :)

Tenor did 5 of the Antarctica pages from World Geography. We had one head-scratching moment... our 'Climate of Antarctica' worksheet has the answers printed on it. Tenor didn't seem to mind much. :) Soprano finished the Arctic/Antarctic Animal pages from The Complete Book of Animals. She did the whole book and loved it!

Science: We had a few pages from the Living World Encyclopedia again these past two weeks. 

They read about polar regions and the Antarctic.

We also finished up with Properties of Ecosystems and did several experiments about penguins, icebergs, and glaciers.

 

Seeing how fat on a penguin helps to keep it warm.

Seeing how much of an iceberg is below the surface of the water.

To include some fun, we rented Mr. Popper's Penguins at the library and watched it during a family pizza night. It was really, really good! There are 2 words that they use ('sexy' and 'freakin') that I wasn't thrilled with but the rest of the movie was tame. (Considering Jim Carrey was in it, I was pleasantly surprised.) 

Tenor told us (through the whole film) that it didn't match the book but he was okay with the storyline changes.

Other MFW: 

Wee sing: review songs I let the kids pick their favorites: Hello to All the Children of the World, Zum Gali Gali, and Nani Wale na Hala.

Art: crystal water snowflake (Caution: this gets messy! We did it on a cookie sheet.) and sweet snow sculptures

Soprano made a 'J'

Tenor was making a science research base, I think.

To supplement, we read other books about Antarctica, the Arctic and penguins and borrowed DVDs from the library. One of the best DVDs was "Antarctic Antics" by Scholastic Storybook Treasury. It was based on the book of the same name. It was funny and the singing is fantastic. There's a Josh Groban sound-alike that sings a penguin love song. We also finished up Kingdom Tales.

So other than a geography vocab review (my doing, not MFW's), we're finished with My Father's World: Exploring Countries and Cultures. It was a wonderful curriculum this year, which makes us excited to do Creation to the Greeks after summer break!

Linking up at www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com and
at http://2ladybugsandalizard.blogspot.com.


Disclaimer: I'm an Amazon affiliate so clicking on links to Amazon and then purchasing items will put a few pennies into our piggy bank for future homeschool purchases. Thank you!

Weekly School Summaries - Australia (April 23 - May 4)

I respectfully ask that you not pin pictures of my children to Pinterest. Thank you!

Shhh! Can you hear it? Quiet....... Ah, yes, there it is. The whisper of summer vacation soon approaching. We've got 3 more weeks to get it all done. It's going to happen, I just know it. :)
Here's what we did the past 2 weeks:

Math: We did things a little differently these past 2 weeks because the kids had standardized testing to do. Tenor got 5 days of math lessons (because I didn't calculate correctly somewhere along the way) and then a week with 4 days of lessons, while Soprano had no math at all the first week. I gave her the week off to help with some attitude issues and to allow time for her CAT test. This past week, Soprano only had 3 days of lessons (doing great with multiplication) and 1 day of computer math.

Reading and Language Arts: Soprano continued reading "The Little House in the Big Woods" from 'Across the Centuries'. She read through chapter 8, had a couple evaluations, wrote a bear story, did a sap to syrup worksheet, and colored a stitched sampler.

She's doing well in her third Phonics book and is almost done. She's working on prefixes and suffixes. In English, she's working on alphabetizing. Spelling and handwriting are continuing well. 

Tenor continued with his 'A Reason for Handwriting C'. He had 1 week off with his writing workbook to allow time for the CAT test. This past week, he cracked it open again and continued working on friendly letters and using descriptive words when writing.

After a half week off, he continued 'Helen Keller' from 'Across the Centuries C Level 2', with some reading and vocabulary word work. He also worked on a timeline of Helen's life and made a little book about how to be a good friend to someone who is deaf or blind. English (prepositional phrases) and Spelling (Rod and Staff Level 4) are going well. 

Electives:
Typer Island for their typing instruction and continuing with SOS Elementary Spanish.

We finished our last community helper, airplane pilots, for the year. We also talked about the PA state nickname and how PA is a huge dairy state.

Phys Ed.: Same as before... they're doing Tae Kwon Do each week but that's been about it. Although, Soprano has been all into her jump rope. She's getting really good at being steady. Rather than jump, jump, miss, jump, jump, miss. She can jump about 30 times in a row unless she's distracted. The weather has warmed up but it's been raining for the past few days. It's supposed to get a little sunnier this weekend. Maybe we'll actually have a real spring?? Nah, we live in PA, so probably not. :)

For My Father's World, we're off to a whole 'nother continent, a whole other nation.**(**Extra credit if you can name that cute kids' song. Bonus if you know all the words! If you need a hint or just want to listen, it's at the end of the post.)
G'day, mate! We made it to Australia.

Bible: The past two weeks included:
Reading about Papua New Guinea and New Zealand
Reading Matthew 26:17-27:26
Memorizing Matthew 25:36 and 25:40

Geography:

Things we did included:
Filling out our passports to travel to Australia

Coloring the Australian flag and writing down interesting facts about it.

Reading about Australia and its neighbors, Australia people and places, farming, and industry.
Talking about the different words Aussies use. Our favorite: smoodge (for kiss). I also found out online that they call the subject "maths", not "math" like the U.S. does.
Creating Australian lapbooks using resources from Homeschool Share (Australia and Coral Reefs).
Putting together a Sydney Harbor jigsaw puzzle. (A yardsale find for $0.50)

Illustrating notecards for island, seamount, reef, key, atoll, archipelago.

Playing the geography game doing the world traveler version.

Tenor did 8 of the Australia pages from World Geography.

Soprano finished the Australian Animal pages from The Complete Book of Animals.

Science: We had a few pages from the Living World Encyclopedia again these past two weeks. 

They read about coral reefs, islands, and island life, as well as, Australia's dry forests.
Trying a kiwi for the first time

Planting some kiwi seeds.

Of course, for school, we had to watch Finding Nemo. We also watched "The Silver Stallion" on Netflix (with Russell Crowe before he was Russell Crowe.)

Other MFW: 

Wee sing: Kookaburra (which I remember from my elementary school days) and Epo I Tai Tai E

Art: Yumbulul Story Design T-shirts and yummy Koala treats

We ate out at Outback, even though it's kind of a stretch as far as Australian cuisine goes. The decor was cool.

 

We also made the Australian Meat pie to go along with our Koala treats for dinner.

To supplement, we read other books about Australia and New Zealand, coral reefs, and Australian animals (kangaroos, koalas, tasmanian devils) and borrowed DVDs from the library. We also took a break from Kingdom Tales to read another YWAM missionary biography, Florence Young. After we finish that one, we'll go back and finish up Kingdom Tales.

Linking up at www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com and

at http://2ladybugsandalizard.blogspot.com.


Disclaimer: I'm an Amazon affiliate so clicking on links to Amazon and then purchasing items will put a few pennies into our piggy bank for future homeschool purchases. Thank you!

Weekly School Summaries - Russia (April 9-20)

I respectfully ask that you not pin pictures of my children to Pinterest. Thank you!

 People keep asking how our first year of homeschooling is going. I've heard that it takes about 3 years to really get into a groove and that the first year is the hardest. With that in mind, my answer has been, if the first year is the hardest then we've had a great year. There have been some really rough days but for the most part things have gone really well. All that to say, we're very ready for summer break. :)
Here's what we did the past 2 weeks:

Math: Same as usual for both Tenor and Soprano: 4 days of lessons and 1 day of math games on the computer each week.

Reading and Language Arts: Soprano started "The Little House in the Big Woods" from 'Across the Centuries'. She read through chapter 5, had a couple evaluations, made a log cabin with Lincoln Logs, a rag doll, and a little paper sled.

She's doing well in her third Phonics book. In English, she's working on rhyming words for poetry. Spelling and handwriting are continuing well. 

Tenor continued with his 'A Reason for Handwriting C' and is working his next level writing workbook.

He continued 'Helen Keller' from 'Across the Centuries C Level 2', with some reading and vocabulary word work. He also did a Braille worksheet and learned a worship song in sign language. English (direct and indirect quotations) and Spelling (Rod and Staff Level 4) are going well. 

Electives:
Typer Island for their typing instruction and continuing with SOS Elementary Spanish.

They did two health worksheets. One was about how the heart works and then a final review of physical fitness. We are officially done with health for the year. One subject down.... way to many too go! We also talked about the PA state bird and how police officers are community helpers.

Phys Ed.: We've really slacked off on being intentional about exercising. They're doing Tae Kwon Do each week but that's been about it. Although, they've been shooting baskets off and on in the past couple of days.

Bible: The past two weeks included:
Reading about Russia and the Kyrgyz people
Reading Matthew 24:29-26:16
Memorizing Matthew 25:34-35

Geography:

Things we did included:
Filling out our passports to travel to Russia

Coloring the Russian flag and writing down interesting facts about it. Reading about Russia and its neighbors, Russian people and places, nature, farming, and industry.
Learning more about Russia here: http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/places/find/russia/

Taking a virtual tour of St. Petersburg here: http://www.saint-petersburg.com/virtual-tour/index.asp

We tried out the basic ballet positions and matched Russian numbers to the number of ballerinas on a worksheet. We also figured out what our Russian names would be using their system of feminine/masculine, patronyms, and nicknames.

Illustrating notecards for tundra, geyser, taiga, and steppe.

Playing the geography game doing the world traveler version.

Tenor's Asia pages from World Geography were Language and Religion. He's done 1 page per week during our Asia studies.

Soprano finished the Ocean Animal pages from The Complete Book of Animals. She's done 3 sheets or mini storybook per week for the 10 weeks we're studied Asia.

Science: We had a few pages from the Living World Encyclopedia again these past two weeks. 

They read about the arctic and surviving the cold. We also learned about the tundra. We did a couple of experiments showing how animals who change colors blend into their environment and how 2 layers of fur helps to keep them warm.

Other MFW: 

Wee sing: Veselle Husi

We also listened to Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Rachmaninoff via Pandora. On youtube, we watched an old Disney video about Tchaikovsky that was pretty cool.

I also found a recording of Peter and the Wolf at the library and a DVD of Swan Lake that the kids enjoyed.

Art: Jeweled Eggs and Coloring St. Basil's Cathedral 

To supplement, we read other books about other Asian countries near Russia (Ukraine, Georgia, Estonia), the arctic, polar bears, and the tundra and borrowed DVDs from the library.

Linking up at www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com and

at http://2ladybugsandalizard.blogspot.com.

Disclaimer: I'm an Amazon affiliate so clicking on links to Amazon and then purchasing items will put a few pennies into our piggy bank for future homeschool purchases. Thank you!