August 20th-24th 2012 -Week 3- Core E Lessons

This was a busy week b/c Dd and I went with Dh to Nashville, TN.  He had a seminar to attend and we had never been to Nashville....so off we went (easier said than done, though!).

I will post pix of the 2 places we went to seperate from this posting.  We went to Andrew Jackson's home; which he called "The Hermitage".  We also went to the Parthenon; which is an exact replica of the one in Athens, Greece.  Both places were fantastic and wonderful!!!!


WEEK 3: Core E
We managed to get some of our lessons in during our down time.  Here is what we accomplished this week, regarding our book learning--

Bible:
exerps from: Luke, Mark, John, and Matthew
"Starting Strong" bible devotion book--chapters 2 and 3

History/Geography:
William Wilberforce by John Holzmann
Landmark History of the American People, Vol. 1 (Yay!  we haven't read from this book in a few months and I had been missing it...glad it is back!)
Sounding Forth the Trumpet

RA's
Moccasin Trail
We are really liking this book.  It is an exceptionally fun one to read aloud due to the great 'voice' of the characters..."By Gore!"  I think I am going to advise my Dh to read this one after we are done with it.  It is such a good read!
Oxforsd Illustrated Book of American Children's Poems
I also checked out a PBS dvd from our library on Walt Whitman to watch this week with Dd. WW was from this exact time period, and I thought it would be good to get to know him and his work a little better to add to our history knowledge.  I am not sure this was such a good pick for my Dd's age though.  This dvd focused a little too much on WW personal life and was probably intended for adults not children.  I'll keep trying to bring in more poets though...
Thee, Hannah
What a book, fun book!  We are enjoying this one too!

Readers
Freedom Train
Dd really is slagging on this one.  The first 2 chapters were very harsh.  I've offered to make this a Read Aloud; but Dd doesn't want that.  She says she wants to read this alone and she is 'fine'.  But, she usually goes through books so quickly and definitely isn't going quickly with this one.

Math
Dd is still avoiding long division a bit longer, so she finished her TT4 this week.  She did lessons 113-119 and a quiz to finish up.  She earned herself a new Star Wars figurine--for those of you that know Star Wars this is a Clone Wars character--"Ahsoka Tano".  She has 3 different Ahsoka's and this one is the oldest version.  She is taller and her 'tails' are longer.  Dd is loving her!!!

Because we went to the Parthenon, Dd has been very much interested in the Greek myths...again. We go through phases of loving the Greeks.  We are very much Percy Jackson fans here and have read the series.  We studied them in history prior to that; so we just keep circling back to them every few months.

Here are the books Dd read this week--or perused through--as she is still reading this group:

Goddesses, Heroes, and Shamans: The Young People's Guide to World Mythology by David Bellingham 

 

 

DK Classics: The Odyssey (DK Classics) by Homer

 

  

Favorite Greek Myths by Mary Pope Osborne and Troy Howell

  

 

Medusa by Deborah Nourse Lattimore

  

 

 

Greek Myths by Jacqueline Morley and Giovanni Caselli

  

 

 

Orchard Book of Greek Myths by Geraldine McCaughrean

 

some fun books Dd's read this week:

Geronimo Stilton--Surf's Up, Geronimo!

 

Cat and Mouse in a Haunted House--Geronimo Stilton

...

August 20-24th 2012

Hi--Dd just HAD to make an apple pie by herself.  She made one while at her friend's house and had been asking and asking to do it again.  I think Pappa gave her some crust pointers; but she did it!  She is really happy with herself, as you can see.  Then she sent almost half the pie to give to Giz and Grampy as she wanted them to enjoy her hard work.  They were so happy to eat her pie!

This will be Week 2 of Core E as soon as I find my sheet of paper!  As for now this is a place marker!

Fibonacci Sequence

What has been rocking my brain this month?

Fibonacci

and the Fibonacci Sequence!

You can see a very cool video at youtube.com --just type in "Fibonacci" or "Vi Hart".  Vi Hart is a young woman that has done some great video's of her drawing the explanations of what these number sequences are and how and where they show up in nature.

Be warned- Vi Hart is very captivating!  I wanted to watch her video's all day!  She is also at Khan Academy's website too. You can tell it is a Vi Hart video b/c she always shows the video from the perspective of her forearms coming in from the sides, and she is usually wearing some funky striped shirt...you don't ever see her face in these video's.

I did check this book out from my library's kid section to get a quick snapshot of who Leonard Fibonacci was--(born is Pisa, Italy around 1170)

Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci by Joseph D'Agnese and John O'Brien

Biodegradable Corn Plastic

Biodegradable Corn Plastic

What is the point of this project?
We have learned how to make many plastics from corn starch today.  This process is much better for the environment b/c it breaks down in weeks/months instead of decades.  Some yogurt containers, cups, packaging peanuts, and grocery bags (to name a few) have been switched to this new 'green' process.

But, can we make some fun new toys out of this same process?  Yes, we can!  That is what we are doing in our experiment today.  We are sitting in our plastic chairs, using many plastic things to make this project.  It is great to think that we are moving toward making a new kind of plastic--one that won't be so harmful to the environment.  The ingredients list did NOT have food coloring listed, but we did use it at the Children's Museum (where we did this project), so I added it in.  If you don't want or have it; you can leave it out. 

Materials:

You need cornstarch, water, vegetable oil, an eyedropper or pipette, a stirring spoon, a microwave safe bowl, cookie cutters, food coloring, a microwave oven, and a set of measuring spoons.

Procedure:

1.  Place 2 tablespoons of corn starch into a microwave safe bowl.
2.  Add 3 tablespoons of water to the cornstarch.
3.  Use the eyedropper or pipette to add 6 drops of oil to the cornstarch and water.
4.  Stir the ingredients together until the mixture is smooth and shows no lumps.
5.  Add in 2 drops of whichever color you choose of food coloring and stir.
6.   Place the bowl in the center of the microwave and heat the mixture using the high setting for 45 seconds.
7.  Let the bowl sit and cool for a few minutes.  When you open the microwave door, be aware that the steam may have built up inside--be careful--bowl will be hot.
8.  Turn th ebowl upside down and tap on its base to release the layer of newly formed corn plastic from the bottom.  You may need a plastic spoon to scrape the plastic out.
9.  You may now knead your material together like dough and then press it flat so you can use your cookie cutters to make a fun shape for your new creation.
10.  When you are done with the plastic, you may wish to add it to a compost pile rather than throw it away.  This way you can be sure the plastic will be broken down into something useful--plant fertilizer.

Place your toys, in whatever shape you decided on, on a hard surface and let them harden for the next couple of hours.  We used cookie cutters the first time, and the second time my Dd used the material like clay and formed her own 3D shaped creation.  Beware- our dog decided to taste it while it was hardening!  I guess it really does seem more like food than a toy!

Children's Museum 8-15-12

We had a good time at the Children's Museum this week.  We were excited to see the Hot Wheels exhibit.  I was really surprised to see so many 5 and under kids there.  There were NO older kids...surprising to me and Dd!

We had a great time at the Science Lab and Science Port, as always.  John, our science guy was there today.  I like when we have the same person and they know us.  He invited us into the lab 20 minutes early b/c he knows how we like to spend time at the stereo microscopes.  We had a good time looking through all the slides before the class started.

Hot Wheels:

I won't add all the pictures I took of Dd making the Biodegradable Corn Plastic experiment--though I really want to.  I will put a post just about how you can do it next b/c it was so much fun that when we got home that was the first thing Dd wanted to do--make more!!

After the microscopes, the experiment, seeing the Indiana salamanders in the tank, and the various growing projects we finally left.  Then we went to the Science Port.  The theme today was another "Flying Adventures" day.  We have already done these experiments, but did them again.  The 'coolest' part for Dd is the remote control computer simulation of a plane taking off.  The player gets to pick which plane they are going to fly, then they have to set all the controls correctly as the plane takes off.  It took Dd a while last time we were here to get her planes to take off; but this time she was a pro.

We had to ride the carousel one time before heading to the gift shop.  Dd is always on the look-out for some of her favorite Star Wars people and she never finds them---low and behold--there they were!!  Oh course, b/c the price tag was about twice what we normally pay!! By golly!  I got her the three with the agreement that she couldn't see them anymore, they were going in the bag and then placed AWAY.  I don't know if they will be Christmas gifts, or a reward for finishing Math U See Delta (one prize) or what--but I just couldn't NOT get them after looking for them for over a year at every Wal Mart and store that has Star Wars characters.  It is very hard to find the female characters--I don't know the names of these female characters--but there is a hint of who we found.  One was a Princess Leia that was a rare one.

Once again we had a good time at the Children's Museum, if for only the Science Lab.  That place is so much fun.  But, I can see how we are getting a little old for it this year.  The kids seemed so young on this visit; and I don't normally have that feeling.  My Dd is growing up. 




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