Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Q: How does a homeschooler change a light bulb?

A: First, mom checks three books on electricity out of the library, then the kids make models of light bulbs, read a biography of Thomas Edison and do a skit based on his life. Next, everyone studies the history of lighting methods, wrapping up with dipping their own candles. Next, everyone takes a trip to the store where they compare types of light bulbs as well as prices and figure out how much change they'll get if they buy two bulbs for $1.99 and pay with a five dollar bill. On the way home, a discussion develops over the history of money and also Abraham Lincoln, as his picture is on the five dollar bill. Finally, after building a homemade ladder out of branches dragged from the woods, the light bulb is installed. And there is light. ~Author Unknown

Kinda lame, but it made me giggle.
We continued our weather unit last week and made a tornado in a bottle. For fun, we made it purple. Can you even see it?
The next day (whatever day that was) we learned in our Roman unit that their houses had mosaic floors sometimes, so we "created" our own. Not on the floor, although I HAVE been picking up sticker after sticker from the carpet for a week straight. Maybe I should've just let them do that in the first place. Very authentic.
Yesterday we made Roman bread pudding from a recipe in our book. The first batch was mushy and gross, but luckily we had more. Yum - fried bread with honey!
Today after learning about rocks and fossils during Science, we tried to make our own. Fossils, that is. I followed the directions and made some "fossil clay."
Isn't that amazing? I think we captured the almost-extinct Fingerprint Bug quite nicely. No, really, there's a leaf print in there somewhere. I can't even see it, so good luck.
We cut our cable last week after the price got jacked up to a billion dollars a month and we signed up for DirecTV, but it doesn't get hooked up until the end of the month. While Shawn and I are slowly dying a tortuous death, the kids haven't even noticed. We (and by we, I mean they -- the kids) don't watch a whole lot of tv anyway, but I hate knowing that a football game is being played somewhere and I can't watch it. One. more. week. And, we get a DVR again! Hooray! We haven't had one for about 2 years and I'm excited to start watching 30 Rock again. I haven't watched the last two seasons because it came on so late, and I'm too lazy to find it online after the fact. So now I can DVR it and watch it later! Or, more accurately, keep it on there unwatched until it gets too old and gets deleted.
An ending note - I checked out this Learning Tree: Beginning Spanish dvd out of the library last week for the kids. EVERY NIGHT when I try to go to sleep, I'm singing ridiculous songs about balloons and colors and birthday parties and singing dogs. I am SO GLAD it's due back today.


3 comments:

  1. Sounds like a great week, Summer! So you're doing unit based school, then? We've been without cable for about a year and a half now...It only hurts during hockey season.

    We have a rule about videos where the kids can only watch any given movie once in a day. That way I'm not praying for library day so I can get rid of them. Ha-ha-ha!

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  2. we don't have cable....we are sad. sad. people. and in one more week we'll be cancelling Netflix. bleh. So soon we will completely be relying on network channels and that is all. we can't get directv...too many trees otherwise I totally would!

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  3. I think that we will be making some fossil clay this fall! Thanks for the idea! Care to share how to make the fossil clay? I'm clueless! lol

    P.S. Tomorrow we are showcasing our classroom, so you should check it out! :) It's for a NOT back to school blog hop for THIS month, since we started school too late to participate last month! You can join in on the fun if you want! :)

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