More cell study...

I think I have mentioned this video before, but we watched it again today and it just amazes me every time!  

Thinkwell Biology Review and Cell Activites

We are really enjoying our Thinkwell AP Biology course, but we are moving at a much slower pace than I had anticipated.  This is partially because we keep going down rabbit holes and discussing side topics and doing supplemental reading...and partially because there is just so much information to cover.  

It's December and we have just finally finished Unit One, so we will definitely be extending our subscription!

The lectures are great because the instructor takes big topics and breaks them down into manageable pieces (about 10 or 15 minutes instead of a typical hour-long college lecture.)  We never watch more than one video a day because we like to discuss the video, go over the course notes, and delve into supplemental information.  

My only criticism is that the video quizzes are useless; they are too short, not at all thorough, and awkwardly worded.  We never do them anymore--I make the tests using the excellent notes that come with the course (above.)

I made a vocabulary matching game to help the kids review for the unit test.  I also had them put some terms in order from least to most complex.

After testing, I thought it would be nice to take a short break from our usual routine.  The kids are always enthusiastic about microscope work! We don't have the greatest microscope in the world so I often print photos of what we're looking at as well.  Today we looked at Spirogyra, Dinoflagellates, and Chlamydomonas, and read a little about each. 

Then we prepared onion slides because, well, it's easy.  And fun!

Onions work well in microscope slides because it's easy to peel off a very thin layer.  We dyed them with regular food coloring.

Note to self: remove the extra onion pieces immediately so you don't cry while trying to use the microscope! 

"Oh WOW!  I can see a nucleus!"

We've never been able to make this work well, but just for the heck of it we looked at cork cells.  They always look clumpy, not at all like Robert Hooke's drawings, and I would imagine that our microscope is more powerful than what he used in 1665! 

That's OK, we still had fun messing around with the microscope.  And the kids did a fantastic job on their biology unit tests!

First Day of 7th and 5th!

7:30 am

Mom is caffeinated, has a load of laundry going, and is pulling today's work out of the files...

 

 

8:15 am

Kids are up, dressed, and having breakfast.  Then Dude feeds all the animals while Super puts away clean dishes and gives the dogs fresh water.

9:30 am

Gomez is all settled in for the first school day!

We start by filling out a fun First Day Questionnaire.  This is one of several things we'll put in our Time Capsule (to be opened at the end of the school year.)

10 am

First Day goodie bags!

Some new school supplies, Tic Tacs, a cute little journal, a mini Slinky, thinking putty (a.k.a. Silly putty) and a note from Mom.

 10:30

Kids happily organize their workspace...then we head out for Nature Study.   (More on our Tree Study in another post.)

11:40

Lunch...and an impromptu science experiment.  Dude wants to see what would happen if:

 he measures exactly four inches of Silly Putty...

...uses a pen and the Slinky to hang the Silly Putty off the table for five minutes...

 

 ...and then measures it again.  Amazing what a couple of cheap toys can inspire!

12:30 pm 

A few math review sheets and a sorting activity.

 

Uh, Gomez?  Trying to work here...

1:30 pm

Grammar Voyage: the introduction.  Then a nostalgic voyage for me.  We read one of my childhood favorites: The Captain's Dog. 

Super is in charge of jotting down the adjectives and Dude records the verbs.  Until they get tired of it and just listen to the wonderful story.

 2:15 pm

Kids listen to Raptor Red while doing handwriting practice.

 2:30 pm

A snack and free reading time.

Wake up, Gomez, it's almost time for karate!

Other than the goodie bags, this is a pretty typical day for us.  We alternate between nature study, science, and history.  We do math, reading and language every day.  

Between karate, swimming, scouts and our homeschool group, there is usually something going on in the afternoon.  And Gomez always joins us for school!

Hope you had a great day, too!

Oops!

:-0

UFO Solar Baloon

We had to do this experiment in between rainstorms!  Fortunately we had a few sunny hours on Saturday, so we were able to use the power of the sun...

 ...to warm up the air inside the balloon.

 

It got warmer and fatter...

...then lifted off the ground!

 Up...

 ...up...

 

...and away!

Hope you're having lots of fun this summer!

Uzbek Plov

So, we've been making our way from Venice to China in a merchant caravan (child-led learning is so awesome!) Along the way, we're getting exposed to all kinds of cultures and cuisines.

As we travel through Central Asia, we meet Kazakhs, Kyrgyzs, Tajiks, Turkmen and Uzbeks. The Uzbeks introduce us to their fragrant, spicy rice dish called plov. (That's the Uzbek version of the Russian word pilaf.)

That's a whole lotta onions! (Four large ones, to be exact.)

Traditional plov calls for an entire head of garlic. You are supposed to trim the end off and steam the bulb in the middle of the rice as it cooks. I didn't have an entire head of garlic, and I wasn't brave enough to try the steaming method, so this is what we used.

By the way, if you don't have one of these nifty little garlic twisters, you should get one. I got mine from Lehman's but they are widely available.

Cook your onions, carrots, spices and garlic until the vegetables are just getting tender. The recipe we used called for cumin, coriander, turmeric, paprika, salt and pepper.

Measure and rinse your rice. Oops!

Put the vegetables in a tall pot and cover them with rice. Then pour in enough boiling water to just cover the rice.

Put the lid on and cook 15 minutes or so and you have delicious, hearty plov!

We learned about plov from this absolutely fantastic book by Kathy Ceceri. It's well-written, with lots of great information and fun projects. We got it at the library, but I like it so much, I'm thinking of buying a copy. (In fact, I almost had to buy this copy, after a near-miss with the olive oil today!)

We had lots of fun cooking together and learning about the Silk Road. Hope you had a great day, too! Enjoy your journey, wherever it takes you!