Ok, before you think we are doing something illegal here, I guess I should change the name to "Eruptive Homeschooling."  Just in case you didn't know, if you have never made a homemade volcano, then you aren't really homeschooling!  (Just kidding of course!)

My son has put together a lesson on this and I am going to blog it for him! He is dictating it to me and I am correcting some spelling for him.  He is 11 years old.  We just started his own blog for his experiments and took photos of this whole process too!  Just click on the title and go see them!

*disclaimer:  we didn't make this up, I don't know where the idea came from, but I am sure somebody out there has a patent on it.  If you made it up, please let me know so we can give credit where it is due!

Make Your Own Volcano

by C.I.B.

Things you will need:

An eight ounce cup.

3 tablespoons of pure baking soda

Six ounces of white vinegar

A small mound of sand or dirt.  (note, this would be a good thing to do outside)

Red or orange food coloring

Start by digging a small hole in the sand or dirt.  Put the cup in the hole.  Make sure the top of the cup is level with the top of the hole in the mound. Then put the vinegar in the cup, then a drop of the food coloring in the vinegar.  Stir till the vinegar is mixed well with the food coloring.

Then, add the baking soda then immediately the baking soda and vinegar will fizz up and overflow the cup.  The fizz will roll down the sides of the sand or dirt depending on what you used. 

This experiment shows how a volcano works.  You see some places underground there is something called molten lava.  And sometimes there is so much lava and so much pressure that it bursts through the ground and forms a hill, which we call volcanoes.  Now, you probably are wondering what molten lava is.  Well, it is melted rock and it is very hot!  I don't know why it melts or how it melts.  My Mom and I are going to look this up together. 

 I hope this has helped you learn some new things about volcanos.  Let us know if you have a favorite book about them so we can read it too! 

Well I have had a lot of fun telling you about volcanos.  I hope you will have learned something and remember, learning can be fun!

Homeschooling is Life!

Nancy