Part Science, Part Fun

Because things aren't interesting enough around here, we're teaching the kids how to make homemade explosions. (I know, I know. I'll probably regret this later, but it's in the name of science!)

Isaac gets a close-up look.

Grandma and Grandpa D. sent a Steve Spangler Soda Foundation kit. Basically, it drops Mentos into a two-liter bottle of soda when you pull the string. The result is a spraying fountain of soda that's pretty impressive!

Isaac, Sam, Alex and Amelia do the countdown. (Note: Helmets are optional.)

Here's the video of what happened:


Pretty cool, huh?

And here's the science lesson: The teeny tiny pits (nucleation sites for you geeks out there) all over the surface of the Mentos collect the carbon dioxide bubbles in the soda. When the Mentos hit the soda the bubbles form all over the candy and rise quickly to the surface -- up and out of the bottle in an awesome blast.

This was such a hit that I'll have to go looking for more on the science of explosions. Surely some homeschooler out there has written that curriculum for the preschool set!

© Trippin' Mama 2012

School Days Continue

I'm still doing little lessons with the boys when Amelia heads off to school. We're working on the letter 'H' now, but I haven't posted any pics in a while, so here are a few of the things we did in our 'D' and 'E' lesson plans.

 Dinosaurs, doughnuts and elephants, oh my!

Daddy did the 'D' is for Doughnut lesson with them, which was a huge hit because the kids got to use scissors. (Arming the three boys with scissors still makes me shudder.) And afterwards he took them all out for a doughnut. Yep, he was a hero.

We got a little out of hand gluing eyes onto the dinosaurs, but I hated to squash their creativity. I just peeled the eyes off later and recycled them.

I get most of my lesson/craft ideas online, and I am amazed at the number of things you can make out of a cheap, white paper plate. And I do enjoy doing something creative with my kids and seeing them get a kick out of making something.

I must say I have no idea how preschool teachers do this in a classroom of a dozen or more kids. I have my hands full with just three of them!

Sam, Isaac and Alex aren't going to skip a grade thanks to my stellar homeschooling, but they are learning their letters and numbers, and they love, love, love to "do a project." They have learned to sit for 15 minutes while we work on a project, read a related book or talk about the letter sounds and the craft we're making. And that's a major accomplishment in and of itself!

© Trippin' Mama 2011

School Is in Session

Since the boys were a little upset that Amelia headed off to school on the school bus without them, I decided to capitalize on the situation.

Her first day of kindergarten was our first day of "school," too.

I'm not a teacher or any kind of expert in education, but I know that my boys will need to know shapes, colors, numbers and letters, as well as how to cut and glue in order to be ready for kindergarten. And I intend to send them to preschool the year before they head off to kindergarten, but that will be two years from now. In the meantime, they are interested in school and really want to do projects like they've seen Amelia bring home.

So, here we go. Mama's School is in session. I figure I can't screw this up too badly, since I'm pretty competent when it comes to the alphabet, numbers, shapes and colors, and I yield a mean pair of blunt-tipped scissors if I do say so myself. And luckily there are a million resources online that come from people who are educators or homeschoolers with some experience under their belts.

Our school sessions are short, about 10-15 minutes, though they can continue the day's activity longer if they want. My goals are to make it fun, to help them make some projects they can proudly show off to Daddy, and to take advantage of their desire to learn like Amelia.

Amelia's had three days of school, and so have we. We're working on the letter 'A' and circles this week. Here are some of our efforts so far, along with the books we've been reading in keeping with the 'A' theme.

 "Up, Up, Up! It's Apple Picking Time" and "Alligator Boy" with matching crafts. The apple cores are made out of white paper plates and the letter 'A' alligators are made out of foam sheets.

I've got a book titled, "Lots of Dots," for tomorrow's session, and we'll be having an active lesson where the boys will need to go around the house and find me things shaped like a circle.

So far school has been great. Yes, it's a little work for me to prepare something, but I do get to be a bit creative, which I like. And the boys are enjoying it, and are so proud of their "projects."

Now if I could just figure out how to keep them from eating the glue.

© Trippin' Mama 2011