Marshmellow Molecules

Moving into September, we are still hard at work at Chemistry.  Emily enjoyed her Chemistry studies so much last year that she asked to move on to the next level and so we have!  This is the Making Marshmellow Molecules Lab.  This year she learned a little about the rules that certain atoms must follow when bonding with other atoms.  The book didn't go into the very specific rules about electron orbitals but she did learn that a Carbon can typically form 4 bonds, a Hydrogen typically forms one bond, etc...  Using these rules she formed some real molecules and had a lot of fun doing it.  There was some marshmellow consumptions as well.

NH3

CH3OH

 And then of course, once the business had been taken care of, the other kids wanted to make their own molecules too.  They didn't care much for any rules though.  David says this is a polymer!

Van Gogh Appreciation

When I found out that I would be going to Amsterdam and to The Van Gogh Museum in October, I thought it would be fun to do an art appreciation session on his famous Starry Night.  Here is a picture of his original:

And our versions:

Lia's work of art.  The yellow tracings around the moon and the stars are all hers.  She traced over the wind lines as well.

Emily's Starry Night

Mom's version too.  The kids were having too much fun!

David's Note

 

To the Good Bugs:
Hello Good Bugs.
The scorpion and the roach are going to attack you!
From,
David

Some background:  Emily got some magic grow capsules for her birthday.  You put this little pill in water and it "grows" into a sponge critter.  All her critters were bugs and the kids had a ball playing with them after they had all "hatched" for lack of a better word.  They divided them up into good bugs (ladybug, butterfly, caterpillar) and bad bugs (spiders, roaches, scorpions) and then they had all sorts of battles...   Just plain silly.

Natural Science Museum

We were excited to meet Aunt Jeanne, and cousins Madison and Jed at the Natural Science Museum on August 18th.  We had a great visit!

Look how small Lia is next to the dinosaur.  I can't help but notice how well she would fit in its belly!

And Emily was lucky to assist during the chemistry experiments.  It was an acid base indicator test and she already knew all about it from our experiments at home.  Smarty pants.  ;-)



The Assumption (August 15th)

One of my homeschooling goals I set for myself was to teach more of the liturgical year at home.  Our faith studies are very important to us.  My hope is that our kids will embrace and love their faith.  The best way I can think to accomplish that goal is to lovingly teach them at home as much as we can and pray that with God's help they will come to know and love Him.  We are lucky to be a part of an active parish where our kids are constantly having their faith reaffirmed by what they see and hear at church as well as in their activities with other families in our local homeschooling group.  We use Faith and Life for Emily's studies and the New St. Joseph 1st Communion Catechism, along with reading the bible each night for David.  Since all my kiddos love crafts so much, we have added Seton's Art 1 for Young Catholics.  The Church celebrates the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, when she was taken up into heaven, body and soul, on August 15th.

In Mary's honor, we did this:

Hard at work!

Beautiful artwork to inspire us.

Lia likes the glitter part the best.

Emily's finished product.  She likes the glitter too!