Our Family Project

This last Saturday was our homeschool group's science fair.  Andrew decided to make a lava lamp.  He actually made it at the beginning of January, but didn't have his presentation put together until Saturday right before the fair. Jon sat down with Andrew in the morning and helped him to understand why his homemade lava lamp works: the oil not mixing with the water.  So, Andrew brought our kitchen scale and measured water into one water bottle, and the same amount of oil into another water bottle.  He put them on the scale to show that the same measurement of each liquid had a different weight or density.  Andrew's was the first presentation, and he did such a fantastic job!  You never would have thought that he was nervous. Eliza's and Kate's project had to do with what we've been talking about for science.  We've been studying plants this year, and they prepared a presentation about the parts of plants: the roots, stem, leaves, and flo...

Our first science experiment last week was about camouflage, specifically why animals have/use camouflage and how it keeps them alive.  In our science book there is this experiment that my children really enjoyed.  In fact, they asked if they could do it for our next Family Home Evening activity when we invite another family to participate with us. Step One: Dump out some M&Ms onto a paper towel and sort them into groups by color.  Count the smallest group and then take away as many as you need from the other colors to make them all equal.  (So, most of my children had groups of 9.) Step Two: Pick three colors of construction paper that match three of the colors of M&Ms.  Take seven papers from each of the three colors and tear them into six pieces.  Crumple those pieces and throw them into a laundry basket.  Line the sides of the laundry basket with six pieces of construction paper, two of each of the three colors. Step Three: Dump all ...