Homeschool, Week 2 Recap

September 16, 2011

Homeschool, Week 2 Recap

Week 2. Sigh. Better. This week things went more smoothly and we are beginning to find a groove. It's a pretty wobbly one, but we're finding one.

In science, we studied whales: toothed and baleen and their habitats. It was very interesting to me and more so to the kids. We did an experiment to see why the Baluga Whale can live in waters that are below freezing and worked on our dioramas.

In history, we talked about Ieyasu of Japan who took the Shogunite for himself in a post-civil war Japan, Henry Hudson, and Samuel Champlain as well as a visit to Jamestown and Plimoth colonies.

The boys cried some more over their phonics and a little bit over math. They're going to learn to read if it's the last thing they do. It's not that they can't, they just don't want to.

We rounded out the week with some documentaries on whales, Jamestown, Ieyasu, and Nefertitti. No, we didn't study Nefertitti. We just felt like learning about her. No, she didn't live anywhere near to the settlement of Jamestown, either.

Our Science Experiment: Does Salt Water Freeze?

Ruth measures out the salt.

Grace pours in the water-one to remain fresh and one for salt

Byron gives our salt water a stir while David amuses himself

At the 1 hr. mark-our fresh water has a thin coating of ice and our salt water has no ice. We checked each hour for four hours. At the end of four hours, our fresh water was nearly solid and our salt water had some slush in it. Conclusion-yes, salt water can freeze, but it's got to be colder than my freezer to get it solid.

At one point, I see Grace rolling about and I ask her, "Gracie! What are you doing!?" She gives me a cheeky grin and says, "Looking for my pencil!"

On Thursday, we finished our work in a timely fashion, so it was now time to spend some extra time on our dioramas. I gave the kids each 2 pieces of clay and told them to make a toothed whale and a baleen whale. They made them out of clay and I baked them.

This requires some serious concentration.

David couldn't get enough creating and since he was restricted to whales at this point, he opted to pull out the playdoh and make squids. Humboldts, Giant and Colossal Squids to be exact. He watched a documentary on squids a while ago and he's been fascinated by them ever since.

Colossal Squid