More Homeschool Science

The kids and I had fun learning all about land formations. We painted paper plates blue to be the sea, and then used green or brown modeling dough for the land formations.

It was the easiest way to learn about things like an Isthmus or a peninsula. Not to mention, it was fun!


Dorathy decided she wanted to sculpt the continents.






She also did one of Russia.

Spring Science

My kids are just LOVING spring!!!

We are taking advantage of it in our homeschool by doing lots and lots of Science!

We put in a new hummingbird feeder, and a new 3 tiered wild birdseed feeder. Courtney is a bird lover. She got 2 bird books in her Easter basket this year. Whenever a new bird visits our feeder, we look it up in her books and determine what kind it is. We decided to make a book of our own of all the birds that come to visit our house. Whenever we find a new bird, we print up a sheet of information about it, a picture, and then put it in our book, along with the date of when we first saw it.

So far, we have Black Capped chickadees, Black Headed Grosbeak, and blue jays. We have lots more birds to identify, as well as two distinct kinds of hummingbirds that fight with eachother over our feeder. Every night when I am reading chapter books outloud, my kids enjoy watching the birds. They are becoming quite the little experts on birds and their behaviors.

We have a Garter Snake in our yard that Lucy loves to chase. Today Christopher caught it and brought it in THE HOUSE for further examination. Of course, he dropped it, and then it nearly got lost in the kitchen. It slithered all over Julianna's high chair, but I managed to keep my head till we got it outside! I realized later we should have taken pictures!

We have 42 new baby bunnies in our yard to take care of and hold. We have a variety of all different colors. They are so fun!

Our greenhouse is THRIVING. Our tomato plants are loving that greenhouse so much, that some of them are already in flower! Christopher helps me roll up the sides to the greenhouse every morning, and we feel that muggy heat just pouring out.

Lastly, the most exciting Science Project that has been thrust upon us is TADPOLES!

Christopher is hoping to someday soon be the proud papa of 50 frogs. Yesterday we spent an incredibly fun day at "Homeschool Olympics". At the end of the day, the kids found a big puddle of water with hundreds and hundreds of different sized tadpoles. All the kids grabbed jars and began scooping. So most families there that day got to take home a bonus Science project!

Today we researched on the internet on how to raise frogs. This is our first attempt, so we'll see how it goes! We went to Walmart and bought a small hardshelled swimming pool that we are going to turn into a miniature pond. We will be filling it with rainwater, algae, plants, rocks and sticks, and then puttin it in half shade. We have to feed the older tadpoles liver (eeeewwww). This is a new adventure for us all, and the kids are crazy excited. After we've raised them, we'll leave a few in the yard, and then find a place well out in the country to release the rest of them.

Anyone want a pet frog?

I LOVE HOMESCHOOL!

Science Fair Projects

Science Fair Projects

This year, all my kids participated in the Gilbert House Science Fair.

Ducky did a project all about an Octopus. She was inspired by the Octopus that lives at the Newport Aquarium. She also liked the books she checked out from the library on Octopi.
She even used her toy octopus that she got for her birthday.






Louisa did a project on Rainbows. She is our Rainbow and Fairy Princess girl. Rainbows turned out to be way more complex that she had imagined, but she had a good time learning new things about it.






Einstein did a project all about paper wasps. He originally was going to do genetics, and his bunnies for project material, but it became way more complicated than he expected, so he chose something more simple.

During the summer, we found a HUGE paper wasps next hanging from our room. In January we harvested it, and took it apart and examined it. Then Christopher studied every aspect of paper wasps, their nests, and their living habits. He had a good time on this one!!!

It was a non-competative Science Fair, and all the kids recieved medals, certificates, and a bag of goodies. It was such a good experience, they are already planning what they want to do next year!!!

Dragon Breath

No that's not a cigar or a cigarette. It's not real smoke. It's a CHEETO that was soaked in liquid nitrogen and turned into dry ice.

This was a part of a Science Demonstration at the Sizzlin Science Day at Gilbert House they host annually on President's Day. The kids thought it was pretty cool to have "Dragon's Breath" coming out of their mouths!!

Those Cheetos were pretty darn cold. They numbed your whole mouth!

Jewel hung out in the backpack for most of the day.
Angel hung out in the sandbox!


The Science Day was LOTS of fun. We got to do an EGG DROP, see 1500 watts of electricity shot into a giant green pickle, and learn lots of other amazing things. There was more to do than could be seen in one day. They also had a giant homemade robot out front that the kid could take turns controlling. It was a busy day. The kids participated in the Science Fair by bringing projects they worked on at home. I'll post on that next!