• Oct. 16, 2006
First day back to school
Today was our first day back to school since Katie's birth. It was full of disarray, but we did get it done. We didn't cover everything, but I feel good about what we did do on our first day back. The boys were not too resistant to returning to their studies after 8 weeks off. (The 2 science demonstrations we did helped. 
)
We started a study on lakes and rivers. To demonstarte how they are formed we made a model with dirt. First we covered a pan with dirt and molded hills and valleys out of the damp earth. Then we placed the pan on an incline and slowly poured water at the top. The boys watched the "rivers and lakes" that were formed and we observed how erosion works. It was very simple, but the boys thought it was fabulous. Next, we had a little demonstration about surface tension. We showed how pond skaters are able to stay above the water by carefully placing a paper clip on top of a bowl of water. If you don't do this just right, the surface tension is broken and the paper clip will sink. After several tries, we were successful! To show how surface tension holds the water together, we filled a spoon with water and continued to add water with a dropper. The boys were able to observe how the water was "growing" over the edge of the spoon, but not spilling.
We also covered a little math and a little reading. Of course we started our day with a reading and discussion time from the Bible. This morning we read the beatitudes.
