http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ajsblog/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Wed, 14 Jan 2009 12:36:00 -0600 Wed, 14 Jan 2009 12:36:00 -0600 Apart from fishing my favourite hobby is woodworking. Recently I bought a book off amazon called making heirloom toys, that shows how to construct wooden toys by Jim makowiki. It looks hard but I will like to make some of the things some time. It is a great book. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ajsblog/645431/ Wed, 14 Jan 2009 12:36:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ajsblog/645431/ Mum signed me and CJ up to an science education web-site where for two years you can watch experiment videos on the computer and they add a new experiment to the site every week. Today I found out how sparklers worked and how to make sparks with iron filings and a candle. How They Get the Sparks in a Sparkler Most people have seen the type of fireworks known as sparklers. In fact, in many places they are about the only kind of fireworks that are legal. They consist of a thin wire about 10 inches long, with about half of the wire covered with a grey mixture. When you hold the base and light the other end, it burns and throws off bright sparks. Here, we will find out where those sparks come from. You will need: - a steel file - a large nail or a piece of iron pipe - a piece of white paper - a flame (This can be a propane torch, the burner on your stove, or even a candle) Hold the nail over a piece of white paper and begin to rub the file firmly against it. Soon, you should notice a fine, grey powder on the paper. This is iron that is being ground up by the file. Keep filing until you have a small pile of this powdered iron. Light your flame. Now, carefully pick up some of the powered iron and sprinkle it carefully into the flame. Sparks! But wait a minute! Metal doesn't burn, does it? Under normal circumstance, iron does not burn. If you hold a nail into a flame, it will not burn. It may get hot, and if it gets hot enough, it may even melt, but it does not catch fire. In order for iron to burn, it must be VERY hot and it must have quite a lot of oxygen. Both problems can be solved by making the pieces of iron very small. Imagine trying to heat a large iron bar. It would take quite a while for the entire bar to get hot. Now, imagine using the same amount of heat on the nail. Since there is a lot less metal, it takes a lot less time for it to heat up. The smaller the piece, the faster it heats up. By powdering the iron, we allow it to heat up very quickly. Powdering the iron also allows much more oxygen to reach the iron. Imagine heating the nail. Only its surface is exposed to oxygen, while most of the iron is on the inside, away from the oxygen. Now, if we powder the nail, much more of the iron is exposed to oxygen. This combination of quick heating and extra oxygen allows the iron to burn, producing bright yellow sparks. Powdered iron is one of the ingredients in the grey mixture on your sparkler.     When I do any more experiments from the site I will post about them. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ajsblog/642803/ Thu, 8 Jan 2009 10:04:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ajsblog/642803/ Yesterday I did a bit of baking. I did a big batch of oaty apple fruit loaf and put some in the freezer.   Here is the recipe.  It is lovely and moist. Ingredients: -125g butter -1/2 tsp cinnamon -1 tsp mixed spices -1 cup brown sugar -2 apples, grated -1cup sultanas -1 cup of water -2 eggs , beaten -1 cup rolled oats -1 1/2 cups plain flour -3 tsp baking powder -tsp baking soda Put butter, soda, spice, cinnamon, sugar, apples, sultanas and water into a large saucepan . Bring to the boil, stirring occoccasionally. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Beat in rolled oats and eggs. Sift flour and baking powderinto the saucepan. Stir to combine. Pour mixture into a well greased 22cm loaf tin. Bake at 180 degrees  for 45-50 minutes. Leave too cool for ten minutes before turning onto a cooling rack. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ajsblog/642792/ Thu, 8 Jan 2009 09:53:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ajsblog/642792/ My sister Talitha is having a blog give away. please enter. To get to her blog click here. Thanks. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ajsblog/633340/ Wed, 17 Dec 2008 09:10:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ajsblog/633340/ I have not been on my blog for a long time, but I will start to do some posts more often. Yesterday we got two kits, one on circuit boards that teach you about electricity, circuits, how to make a dynamo, circuit boards,  how traffic lights work, a generator and lots of other things work on circuit boards. It is really interesting. I have done Three projects out of it so far.  We also have a Triop volcano kit. Triops are very interesting crustaceans that are related to wood lice and crabs. The name "triops" means dinosaur shrimps or tadpole shrimps. In the kit there is a plastic water tank and a nursery tank and food and triop eggs, a magnifying glass and various tools. With the things from the kit you can raise your own little critters and they grow up to 4cm and live for two months. They originate from some part of America. I will post some pictures of them when they are grown. Elijah making ice creams. To do show and tell go to Canadagirls blog http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ajsblog/630771/ Thu, 11 Dec 2008 03:58:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ajsblog/630771/ Today I have been doing some bird-watching out our back garden for a hour and have written down what I saw. I saw some black birds, blue-tit's, four great tit's, some robins and a house sparrow. Some of them where feeding on Mum's bird feeder and the fat balls. Some other birds that we see quite often are wood pigeons (we had some nesting in our tree-house tree last year), magpies and other types. We went  on a boat trip with some friends last year on Lough-neagh which is the biggest lake Great Britain, to Coney Island and saw lots of interesting birds there. Lough-neagh is just a short walk from where we used to live. On the edge of the lake there is wildlife center called Oxford Island which we used to visit quite often.   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ajsblog/501683/ Thu, 20 Mar 2008 08:44:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ajsblog/501683/ These are some pencil that I made out of some wood from the holly tree. First I chopped it to the right length.  Then I drilled a hole and removed the sawdust. Finally, I poured melted crayon wax into it and left it to harden then whittled a point. I have also made these animals out of some oak. The turtle I made by carving the shell and pattern on the top and then gluing on the legs and head. I made the snake next and then the crocodiles.  Wooden pencils for sale £1.50 each.  To take part in Show and Tell visit Canada Girl. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ajsblog/498397/ Fri, 14 Mar 2008 10:12:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ajsblog/498397/ Lately I have been making a bird feeder out of a book that shows you how too make Bird-feeders, shelters and bird-baths, It is a very good  book. I am making it for someone but I can not say who because they might look at my blog. This afternoon  me and Caleb are going to go swimming. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ajsblog/488533/ Wed, 27 Feb 2008 06:30:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ajsblog/488533/   Big Cat Central awarded me, thank you very much!                                          I will like to pass this award to Job19v25, cucumber and sunflower8.                                                    http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ajsblog/487179/ Mon, 25 Feb 2008 04:46:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ajsblog/487179/ Today it is Elijahs (my second smallest brother, (I have three brothers)) second birthday. At the moment mum is baking a cake to eat later. Dad made him a cool wooden rocking horse that me and Caleb helped sand it and helped build  for one of his presents. Mum made a neat quilt and knitted a jumper with a picture of Bob the tomato on it. If you are wondering what Bob the tomato is, it is a cartoon tomato of veggietales, one of Elijahs favorite videos. The rest of us got him crayons and some animals. This afternoon I helped  Dad planted some bush's at the bottom of the garden. I will post some photos some time soon, I was going to do it now but i can't do it till Mum uploads them onto the computer.   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ajsblog/477549/ Sat, 9 Feb 2008 10:00:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ajsblog/477549/