Rainy School Day

Today was one of those dark, dreary, rainy days. Normally it would be a day that we take slow, work on our daily lessons, and maybe have an afternoon nap. Not today. Today we were too busy.

We worked on our new history curriculum from Heritage History. We are focusing on Ireland for the next two weeks. We also read some Irish folk tales.

The kids have been taking turns reading aloud from Michael Vey: Prisoner of Cell 25. It's a very fun read about a kid with mutant powers.

My friend, Donna, sent me a message to let me know my baby was read for adoption. I told the kids I was off to pick up a baby scoby and left them to ponder the mystery of it all.

When I pulled into the driveway the kids met me outside. Jeremiah asked me, "So, where's the leach?" Leach? Ishmael said, "Yeah, that gel-looking thing." HUH? "That slimy thing in liquid."

My attempt to surprise (read: shock and awe) my kids appeared to have been squashed by a google search.

I had dinner ready by 3:00pm and made a very large batch of granola. I decided at the last minute to bake a Hershey's chocolate cake from scratch.

*I have to take a moment to brag on this cake. It was THE best chocolate cake I have ever had. Perfectly moist and rich in chocolate. Very sweet, but it was perfectly cut with some vanilla ice cream. It was very easy to make.

After we were done in the kitchen we pulled out the microscope and completed some labs for fun.

Today did not go as planned, I wanted to work on my garden. It was amazingly productive just the same. We spent the last part of our day watching Courageous together. I wish every other day could be like today.

Science

The boys finished their science books too fast. They didn't even last one semester. So I've been going back and forth between two great books that I happened to pick up on consignment.

The Microscope Book by Shar Levine & Leslie Johnstone has been one of our favorites. The labs are very easy to understand and the illustrations are clear. I appreciate the step by step instructions.

Today we did two of the labs from this book. Did you know there were fossils in toothpaste? We saw them today. Kelsea was a little wigged out.

We also followed the directions to prepare a slides to view onion cells. Most of the lessons teach a new skill. We learned how to make a wet mount by and how to pull a stain. Ironically we did not have any iodine as the lab called for, but we did have methylene blue. The onion cells were very clear. We looked at them in low and high power. Very amazing.

Elements and the Periodic Table: What Things Are Made Of

We've been working our way through this study guide. We haven't taken on the Periodic Table yet and this guide is pretty in depth. I like that we can move at our own pace.

The kids made a giant-size Periodic Table. They illustrated each element with a possible use, except for the rare element with no known use.

My goal is to do a science experiment or special project each week. Between these two books, there is plenty to choose from. The Periodic Table book is filled with worksheets for semi-daily study.

SOMEONE IS AS TALL AS I AM

He is also officially a teenager. I don't know how either are possible.