Halloween Party

Annual karate school party!

Science

Last week in Science, Professor VonSchwartz (aka dad) gave the science lesson. He is the new science teacher and he has an annoying heavy accent. He also named me Professor VonKillJoy. Whatever!

Anyway, last week's lesson covered moving atoms.

Using hot water, cold water, and room temp water, the kids added blue food coloring, learning that when things are mixed without being stirred, it is called diffusion. They also learned that temperature affects how fast atoms and molecules mix with each other.

As the blue dye and water diffuse, we are seeing molecules and atoms in motion. 

After studying the cups the kids learned that atoms and molecules not only move, they move fastest in hotter water. We also noted the condensation and slight evaporation of the hot water.

Jayden is doing amazing in his online science class! He had an oral exam with his professor last week and got 100%. He is now working on the second unit of the class, which involves energy transformation. He is learning about all different types of energy: kinetic, potential, chemical, mechanical, electrical, thermal. radiant, nuclear, and sound.

Legoland

Jayden, who loves legos, built District 11 from the Hunger Games one morning.

 He also built a camera. 

We recently took a trip to Legoland during their homeschool week.

They built legos and we went on rides. 

After every activity they got a stamp.

The both did an English class where they had to make a beginning, middle, and end to a story that they built. 

 Jayden chose to do a Harry Potter scene where Harry played quidditch, the spectators watched, and Harry caught the golden snitch.

Caitlin's story involved people eating while a man swept the floor. A witch came and stole the broom from him. He chased her to get it back but she flew away.

History

We had our first official American Girl "Kaya" meeting.  

The girls mapped out where the Nez Perce lived and traveled.

They also started weaving belts for their dolls.

After a discussion on the book, the girls had free play.

At home we continued reading our Kaya series and worked on weaving.

Jayden reads his history assignments to Caitlin in weird voices. Last week's assignment was about the Victorian Era and the Crimean War.

Each week he has to write about two things he learned. This was his answer for the chapter:

One of the things I learned about in this lesson is about The Great Exhibition, a huge fair held in London. Every country would bring inventions to the glass building at Hyde Park. Queen Victoria hosted the Great Exhibition because she wanted to show all the other countries the power London had. 

Another thing I learned about was The Crimean war. The Crimean war started by Russian and French Christians arguing over the keys to the Nativity church in Bethlehem, where they believed Jesus was born. The war was between Russia, the Turks, and France. It took place on the tiny island of Crimea. At one point in the war, there was a battle called the battle of Balaklava when a group of French soldiers charged into a bigger group of Russian soldiers and most of French soldiers that charged died. That charge was made into a famous poem:

Someone had blundered,

Theirs not to make reply,

Theirs not to reason why,

Theirs but to do and die,

Into the valley of Death,

Rode the six hundred.

Science: Atoms

Last week we did our first science experiment of the second unit. We read several books about atoms.

We learned that atoms are the basic building blocks of everything. Atoms are incredibly tiny! We read that one raindrop contains approximately 5 sextillion atoms in it!

Then we worked on our lab sheet.

I filled 5 balloons with different things (air, water, cinnamon, lemon juice, and vanilla extract).

The kids had to smell each balloon and figure out what was in it, then record their findings.  

The purpose of the lab was to teach that scent atoms are small enough to travel between the atoms that make up the balloons.