Mulitpling by 5s

I work with the kids. I give them math problems, I go over the short explanation on how to do it (if needed), and send them on their way. If they NEED help I will help them. However for the most part I leave them to do it on their own, especially Superstar!

Superstar has been working on multiplication this is the typical course work for "3rd graders". We have just finished his multiplication chapters and the next chapters covers things like Geometry (solid and plane figures, triangles, lines, rays, angles, and congruent figures) and Graphing (making and using bar and line graphs).  Once the the Geometry and Graphing Chapters are done we will start working with Division, followed by Fractions and Decimals.

Seeing we are taking a break from the multiplication and it's going to be awhile before we start the dividing I thought I would take advantage of this time and help Superstar memorize his multiplication facts. We will do the book work followed by going over the multiplication flash cards.

We used the flash cards yesterday and he actually knows them pretty well. Some of them he takes longer then I would like to see, but I know with practice he'll know them better and will not need so much time to come to the answer.

We discuss which ones he knows really well and which one he still struggles on. He then shared with me that 5s are easy because of "his method". I asked him to explain his method.

Well it's simple if the number is even you just 1/2 it and times it by 10

• 16 x 5 = 8 x 10
• 24 x 5 = 12 x 10
• 112 x 5 = 56 x 10
• 6 x 5 = 3 x 10

If the number is odd then you take away 1, 1/2 the rest, times it by 10, then add 5 for the one you took away

• 17 x 5 = (8 x 10) +5
• 25 x 5 = (12 x 10) +5
• 221 x 5 = (110 x 10) +5
• 3 x 5 = (2 x 10) +5

This method works for ANY (whole) number times 5. We tried it on several numbers. I gave him all kinds of numbers odd and even and asked him to use his method to test it. He was able to give me the answer to any number multiplied by 5 using this method.

I was simply FLOORED that he came up with this on HIS OWN!!! I did NOT teach him this and it is NOT in his book. I didn't know what to think, other then he must just have the brain for math and no wonder it comes easy to him and I don't have to explain much to him. Web-princess on the other hand is a different story. Most of the time I just give Superstar his book and he goes to town. I often do not need to instruct him on what to do.

That's one reason I'm happy I'm homeschooling him because I know he doesn't have to sit through long boring instructions on how to do math problems. He can just get to work on them without me holding him back with long boring instructions. If he doesn't know something or gets stuck I'm here and I DO help him. However if he can look at the book and know what to do then that's fine with me. (Besides it allows me to sit with Web-princess more, without feeling guilty, because she need more help.)

I'm sure that Superstar really didn't come up with this method for the first time, I'm sure there are math wizards out there that know what this method is called.

I'm just amazed that my 8 year old discovered it on his own, without it being taught by me or the book. It's interesting to see how his brain is processing math.

Making And Capturing Carbon Dioxide

Recently in science we have been discussing gas, along with other things like solids and liquids. We have been discussing how gas has a volume; how it takes up space. One easy way of showing this to the kids is to make and capture carbon dioxide.

To make and capture carbon dioxide you will need:

• some narrow neck bottles (we used some beer bottles, but any narrow neck bottle will work)
• Vinegar
• Baking Soda
• Balloons

I'm sure most of my dear readers are aware of the bubbling, explosive reaction that baking soda and vinegar have together. That same bubbling, explosive reaction makes a carbon dioxide and you can capture that gas by placing a balloon over the bottle as soon as you mix the vinegar and baking soda.

Web-Princess after doing the vinegar and baking soda several times wanted to see what happened if we mixed the baking soda with other liquids: Water, Milk, and Apple Juice. She chose these other liquids because it was what we had here at the house.

To our surprise we had a reaction, a gas produced, when we mixed the apple juice and baking soda. The picture ABOVE shows that. The bottle in the middle is milk and baking soda, the bottle at the end (left side) is the water and baking soda. The bottle at the other end, with the green balloon, is 100% apple juice and baking soda. So when you mix baking soda and apple juice you get a gas too.

However baking soda and vinegar produces more gas as seen in this picture BELOW:

The bottle with the  blown-up yellow balloon is vinegar and baking soda. The bottle with the green balloon is vinegar and apple juice.

Of course we wonder now if would get a gas with baking soda and other juices like grape, cranberry, orange. However we don't have any more juices in the house. So we would have to wait until we get one of those juices at our next shopping trip. OR you could try this at your house and let us know the results!!!

FYI: We had to shake the juice and baking soda really well after we put the balloon on to get the result we got. If you decided to do this please blog about it and share your results with us! It will be fun to see what others did or what they observed!

Another Side Note: It was great that we decided to do this today when Daddy was home. It was great because often Daddy doesn't see how they react to the hands on activities such as this. It was also great because Daddy got to see our daughter get excited about the reaction of apple juice and baking soda. She went on and on how she discovered it. (After all it was her idea to mix the two items.)

I'm sure they would have had the chance to mix baking soda and vinegar in brick and mortar school. However I don't think they would have had the chance to say okay now lets see what happens when we mix the baking soda with other liquids. Homeschooling allowed us to take this to the next step and start mixing the baking soda with other liquids to see what happens!

Of course you could just blow up a balloon the "normal" way to show how gas has volume, but frankly it's more fun to mix vinegar and baking soda and capture the carbon dioxide!

Does education kill creativity?

This is well worth the 20 minutes of your time!

Rian, Seeds, Dirt and Socks?

The nice weather outside yesterday reminded me of a science project I blogged about back in January: "Plant A Sock". We are going to do this on Monday!

Moving Big Rocks! The Secret of Stonehenge

This video is a MUST see! Especially for any little engineers that you may have in your home!

WOW!!! I think that this must be the secrets to Stonehenge. If not it's awfully close!

Plant A Sock!

This is something my kids learned this week while watching Real Science on PBS. (I'm starting to like PBS LOL)

They said on the show it's works best in the fall, but can be done in the spring and summer also. So we can't wait for Spring!! We are going to try this all 3 seasons and compare the results.

For each time you want to do this experiment and/or per child you will need:
2 Socks (large enough to go OVER your shoes)
2 flower pots
potting soil (from any store)
dirt from your back yard
and woods to go hiking in

This is what you do.... put the socks on OVER your shoes and go hiking in the woods. When you are done hiking take the dirty socks off. Make sure that they are NOT inside out. Make sure the "dirty" part of the sock is facing out.

Fill the flower pots 1/2 full with dirt. Fill one 1/2 full with the dirt from your backyard and the other 1/2 full with the potting soil. Place one sock in each flower pot.

Now cover the sock with about an inch or 2 of dirt. (You don't want it to be buried to deep). Which dirt you finish covering the sock with will depend on the pot it is in. If the sock in the pot with the potting soil then finish covering it with the potting soil. If the sock is in the pot with the dirt from the backyard then finish covering it with the dirt from the backyard.

Place the pots in a sunny spot and keep them watered for several weeks. Over time you should start to see plants growing!!! And the plants in the potting soil should be growing better then the plants in the dirt from the yard. Why is that??

This works best in the fall because that is when most plants loose their seeds etc, but it can work in the spring and summer.

Anyway I just wanted to share this will all of you, it's simple enough to do (and the cost is fairly low too). We can't wait till spring to give this a try. (Of course summer and fall too)

Oh and not only is it "science" but the hike in the woods could be counted as PE too. It 2 subjects in one!!!! Got to love that!!!

UPDATE: Our results can be seen here: Planting Socks The Results.

It's not practical

It's not practical or you need a back up plan are things we hear a lot. I know it was something I heard a lot growing up. Johny would mention to everyone how he's going to be a basketball player and the adults around him would say that's nice Johny, but not everyone is going to be the next Micheal Jordan so you need to have a "back up".

Susie would talk of being an famous actress only to hear things such as it's not practical, it won't pay the bills, it's not the kind of life that is good for a family, etc. The reasons and list of why a person shouldn't shoot for those dreams are endless. The arts are something that just isn't valued and we wonder why they are disappearing from the PS (public school[s]).

The above video was/is a huge eye opener for me.

If you have 20 minutes please spend it watching the above. I found this after I made my decision to homeschool and it was refreshing. It really (for us) helped cement in our minds that we were/are doing the right thing.

I guess that is why I was floored to listen to several of the moms in my homeschool group talk about their children and they have "dreams" of being a dancer, artist, etc. Not only were they talking about their children dreams, but how they have been telling them to get "real". That those dreams are not going to buy food, pay the light bill, or even keep a roof over their heads. (These kids are very close to my own kids ages. The oldest can't be any more then 9, and they are being told to get real.)

It is a given that I don't want my children to be homeless nor do I want them starving. However, I also don't want to squash their dreams, their creativity, their hopes, by some statement from me saying how it's not practical.

I was taken back by the moms in my group. I thought one of the reasons to homeschool was to provide an environment that the WHOLE child could flourish in. My kids have expressed many interests in being this or that. It changes day by day sometimes. When I'm face with it I tell them that's great and share with them the "work" that is involved to make it happen.