homeschool thursday

This Homeschool Thursday was one of my most productive ever! Honestly, I attribute it to about 45 minutes of planning the night before. Planning makes the day so much easier - so why is it so hard for me to do it? =)

We did some super fun stuff. Here's a rundown:

9:30 - Abby out the door to her church class. Emma and Samantha start journal time.

9:45 - Emma, Samantha & Mommy out the door to observe what happens with this shadow and the stick. We trace the shadow, write the time and go back inside.

9:50 - review foreign language words.

Give m&m's as prizes.

I answered a few questions right, so I got some prizes too. Yuuuum.

I'm thinking I probably need to do foreign language review more than one day a week...

10:45 - The timer I'd set for one hour goes off.

I yell, "Shoes and coats everyone!" and wait at the door.

The girls have no idea what I'm doing.

We do the shadow-tracing thing again. They think I'm so lame.

Until....they discover the shadow has moved.

They were open-mouth-shocked.
10:50 - Back inside to start Astronomy. The planet Mercury is up this week.

11:20 - Start Mercury projects. I love Astronomy.
11:22 - Make marble craters on our flour planet Mercury.

11:35 - Make a salt dough planet. Crater it up with marbles, pencils and paper clips.

11:45 - timer goes off.

Do the shadow thing again. The shock that the shadow has moved returns.

Yes, we live across from a BBQ restaurant.
11:50 - back inside.

The girls read books while I make lunch.

Emma tells me, "This book is so interesting, Mommy!"
12:30 - brush up on telling time. I've noticed Emma's gotten a bit rusty due to lack of practice.

Made a giant clock from easel paper.

Easel paper = staple of Eggroll homeschool.

12:45 - yep, back outside. The girls are starting to get it.
12:50 - Started an experiment from this Fizzy, Foamy Science Kit. [This was another thing we got the girls for New Year's. They LOVE it, and I do to! It has child-friendly experiments that are easy and really fun.]
This one is combining an acid and a base:
Voila! A chemical reaction!
Er...the magnifying glass that comes with the kit is a little small:
We held the cup up to our skin and felt the bubbles from the fizzy reaction:
and also listened to it pop in our ears:
Emma's journal entry of: "This thing we made lasts for a long time" didn't make the grade. She was later sent back to add more detail. =)
We did the experiment again and doubled the amounts for a bigger reaction. By this time, Emma clued in to the fact that I was taking pictures and insisted on smiling for each one.
Smiling:
Still smiling:
Aaaaaand, still smiling:
After the fun reactions, it was back to the journals to record their observations. [I plan to post about our so-glad-I-started-doing-this journals soon.]
1:45 - back outside. Samantha has tossed the jacket - it's getting warmer now (but it IS still January!).
1:50 - hitting it hard with math and language arts before Abby comes home. Emma is getting really good at math!
2:35 - Daddy comes home after picking up Abby from class.

2:45 - Daddy gets roped into joining the shadow project! He was happy to help. As Sid the Science Kid's mom would say, "Anything for Science!"
3:45 - Speaking of Sid the Science Kid, their normal 3:30-4:00 viewing time is interrupted by the timer, telling the girls to...you guessed it! Go outside to trace the shadow!
4:45 - last shadow trace of the day.
And yes, all of 4th Street is watching our shadow experiment. Bet they all wish they were homeschooled! ha! =)
The next day, we'd randomly go outside and hold up our stick to see what time it was. Our homemade sundial was really fun - and surprisingly accurate! We discussed how people could tell time and seasons before clocks and calendars, and ended up concluding that one purpose for the sun is telling time. Then we took a look at Genesis 1:14 -

Then God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years..."

It was a good day. Today reminded me that just a little planning can make a big difference in our schedule!