Science: Biology

This year we have been working on biology. So far it has been going well.

Our topic has been cells. Earlier this week Web-Princess decide on her own to research cells and make models.

Research is a little formal. She actually just looked up pictures and made models out of silly putty. It was interesting to see her just dive in the subject of cells and just make models just because she wanted to make models.

It actually made me feel good about homeschooling to see her use her free time to look up cell pictures and make models. Something she didn't have to do, but did because she wanted to. It also showed me that she, even though she was using images, was retaining what she was learning during the day. I know because she spent time on her own to make cell models she will remember this better and retain it.

She was looking things up and learning because she wanted to, not because she was studying it or trying to memorize it for some test. This is why I homeschool. Have your children shown you in unexpected ways they have been enjoying what they have been learning?

Art: Leaf Rubbing

It's a nice fall day! So we decided to do some leaf rubbing. I told the kids to go out into the yard to get some leafs. I suggested that they get some off the trees seeing they won't be as dried out as the ones laying on the ground. Our whole fence line is lined with trees, bushes, etc. A toddler could easily walk up to our fence and pull leaves of the "trees". So I assumed that is what the kids would do.

A few minutes later I looked out the window and this is what I seen:

Web-Princess is pulling on the leafs and branches that Superstar was able to snag with the rake! Leaf (pun) it to the kids!

ART: Painting Snow and Snow Angels

Today for ART we painted snow (or at least tried too). Web-princess had much more fun trying and doing this then Superstar.

I don't know if Superstar was pushing the paint brush too hard into the snow or if he thought the paint would cover the snow like it would on paper or what, but very quickly turn into Grumpy about this project and refuse to participate. For the paints we just used some poster paint I had on hand.

Although before his mood totally sour I did catch him making a snow angel. Regardless of his sour mood it was still cool to seem him outside "IN" the snow. Especially seeing a few weeks ago he was unable to go outside in the snow due to the casts he had on his feet.

Paper Mache Masks

First I wished I took pictures of the whole process. We over the course of the last two weeks have made Paper Mache Masks. The over all process is simple but it is MESSY! So you have to have a bit of patience with this and you need a good place for storage while you wait for things to dry out.

You'll Need:

• A balloon (1 for each child)
• strips of paper, newspaper is most likely the best, but I didn't have any so I used some left over Christmas wrap (see picture below)

This is the side of the paper that was touching the balloon.

• flour
• water
• salt
• Paint (we used washable poster paint)
• and Paint Brushes

The Process:

First blow up the balloon to as big as you want your mask to be. I told the kids to blow them up to be slightly bigger then your head. Once it's blown up tie a not in the bottom.

You'll also want to make your paper strips at this time if you haven't done so already. I did mine about 1-2 inches thick and about 5-6 inches long. Honestly I didn't measure them. You'll want them to be a thickness and length that is easy to handle for the kids, but also makes covering the balloon easy.

Then make the Paper Mache Paste. The Paste is made with the flour, water, and salt. It's about 1 part flour to 2 parts water and some salt added to help avoid mold. (Of course there are more detail instructions on how to make the paste.)

The process is really simple from there: Dip the paper into the paste, let it drip off some (although  the kids didn't really follow that rule), and lay it on the balloon and smooth it out. Repeat the process until about 1/2 of the balloon is covered. When laying the strips be sure they overlapping some. Seeing we were using Christmas wrap I told the kids to lay the Christmas Print towards the balloon so the underside of the wrapping paper was on top.

After this is done you need to find a space to keep them stored for about a week. Waiting a week allows them to completely dry out and allows the balloon to naturally deflate some which makes removing the paper mache from the balloon easier.

After about a week has past it's time to remove the mask from the balloon. This step is easy, but a bit messy. I found I had what looked like potato flakes everywhere when handling the mask. I have the feeling it was just the extra flour flaking off. Superstar's balloon deflated nicely and his mask just came off with no issues. Web-princess's balloon did deflate but not as much so I had to aid the process of removing the balloon by carefully puncturing it with a push pin. I did NOT want it to "pop" I just wanted more air out. As soon as the balloon deflated more I was able to remove the paper mashe easily.

We then put a base coat of white poster paint on the masks and allowed them to dry over night. We did this to help stop the flaking of the flour, which it did help greatly. We also did it to help cover the Christmas print that did bleed through and to cover those pieces that did get laid the "wrong" way. (Print side up). If you use newspaper the white coat would also cover up the newsprint.

Then today we finished up the mask by painting faces on them! Again we used washable poster paint and as I type they are sitting on the table drying.

This is web-princess's mask

This is Superstar's mask

I MIGHT cut out actual holes in them for eyes and mouths and add some srting so they can be worn as a "real" mask. I'll just have to wait and see how they are after all the paint has dried. I'm not sure if they will hold up for that or not.

Either way they enjoyed the process. The reason it took two weeks was giving it time to dry out. Laying the paper on that took the kids only about 20 minutes and the paint took them about 30 minutes. This easily could be a 2 weekend project. One weekend to do the paper the following weekend to do paint.

Thursday's Art Class: Picasso

We are blessed on Thursdays! On Thursdays the kids take ART Class with Oma! (Oma is German for Grandma) Today's Topic:What makes a Picasso a Picasso?

The kids had fun discussing Picasso and making little Picasso type work themselves. Here are their self portraits.

Marshmallow Sculptures

Marshmallow Sculptures are so much fun to do and eat. You can use what ever kind of marshmallows you want: large or mini; white or color. The only thing you need to go with the marshmallows are toothpicks. The toothpicks can be plain or color too. The options are endless!

Today's Sculptures were made with white mini-marshmallows and colored toothpicks.
DD's sculpture
DS's sculpture
What do you think?