Aug 24 2008
Insects, and more :)
This past week has been very busy for our family. We did manage to get some schooling done with other things happening 
The kids are still loving thier Math U See books! Cat has enjoyed writing letters to friends on new notecards she got at a local christian bookstore, Nate and Jo have developed a renewed sense of awe about rocks. (yes rocks) We began our new “chore” system and it is working out great, leaving us all a bit more relaxed with a more organized home
Here is a bit of an update on what we did this week:
Science: Insects are the topic and the kids are fascinated. For science we happened to be visiting my sister who live across from a local elementary school and so we decided to walk across the street and do our learning at “school”. We sat in the shade on the basketball court and the kids played with ants (the most available insect around) while i read to them from our text. We learned about Thorax, parts of the jointed legs and their names, and different types of wings, and the Abdomen. Later that afternoon when we got home the kids wanted to do the experiment in our book called “the Lazarus Experiment” . (see photo above) The experiment was to “drown” an ant, taking it out of the water, putting salt on it and watching it come “back to life”. This showed the children how the ant closes the “spiracles in their abdomen when they are faced with heavy rains etc”. The salt helps to dry the ant off and when dry the ant can open their spiracles and breathe again.
While the kids did this experiment I did some looking on youtube and found this GREAT video about “Cyborg Insects” .. Amazing! The kids LOVED it!
Here are some “unschooling” things we learned this week (things that were not planned to learn
We have watched the Olympics every night they have been one and the kids have really enjoyed them. Some nights the vol. would be turned down on the tv while Dad read the Chronicles of Narnia to them.
I found this article on foxnews about the “cube” and its construction. The cube is made of what amounts to a large “bubble wrap”.
We also read about the history of the “photo booth” in the current Smithsonian. It was a great article! Here is a link to the website with great photos, history, art, and a section that helps you locate old fashioned photo booths in your area. Next road trip we will make a point to stop at one!
The boys have just loved the rock hound site I found on Lapaz’s site (thanks:) … and its has reignited their interest in rock hunting :) click here
We continue to add questions to our question board.. its become a fun thing for the kids! (and me too) … so many questions.. so little time
