Okay, this is the funniest video...I think we shall learn it for Pi Day.

Today the kids did a rather simple experiment entitled Make Up a Molar Solution of a Solid Chemical.  It was a mighty fine wrap up on our study of solutions.  It was really cool because the children got to apply all the math they've groaned their way through this week into a real life situation.  They were really proud when their numbers came out right calculating the molarity of their solution!

Today I taught my youngest child her first real lesson in trig.  We use Saxon and they have a really strange mnemonic for remembering the opposites and adjacents and the hypotenuses for sine, cosine, and tangent and so I always spend a few minutes teaching good ole SOHCAHTOA.  Today I introduced the concept for the very last time.  For some reason that really made me sad. 

Usually I don't even think about the things I'm doing for the very last time, but every once in a while something surprises me with its poignancy.  Today it was SOHCAHTOA.  Another biggy was when Rebecca finished the last third grade Pathway reader.  I consider my children fluent readers at this point and they were allowed to get their own library card.  Rebecca got her card in kindergarten!

Really, this is the silliest thing to get all teary about, but alas, I'm all smooshy inside today.  I think I'll go and make some chocolate chip cookies

I FOUND IT!!!

Somehow my camera wound up in the basement freezer room on the storage shelf where I start seeds.  I have NO IDEA how it got there, but I'm really glad it's found. 

Today we did another cool experiment from our Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments;, Solvent Extraction.  I'm trying not to stick my nose too far into the kid's way when they are doing these experiments because sometimes you learn best from your mistakes and starting over is not always a bad thing.  Anyway, this is the only picture I got:.

This experiment only involved one test tube, but the rack also serves as storage and we are too lazy to remove the unused ones.  Here is a link that sort of explains this experiment. 

As we only have one lab book, I was testing the other two children on elements and ions (a neverending task!) while the other child finished up his/her lab report.  Elizabeth had the very cool idea of writing her ions on the whiteboard as I called them out.

She wasn't sure she had hers right and so covered up her answer with her hand to avoid having a mistake published in my blog...smart girl!

Josh got bored and began contemplating whether element flashcard nose rings would ever catch on:

Well, we went to the superqualifier today and were not triumphant.  It was a loooooooooong day that began at 4:45 AM and ended when we finally arrived home at almost 8:00 PM.  The event was held at Dalton High School and we all met up at a McDonalds off of I75 at 6:30 in the morning to caravan up there.  It was a longish drive (about an hour) in the dark and I thought Rebecca would sleep because she is STILL a bit under the weather.  She was a tad bit jittery, however, and did not catnap at all.

We arrived shortly after sunrise, although it was not spectacular because it was quite overcast.  I was disappointed because what's the point of being up that early if you can't enjoy a good sunrise?  After setting up the display, the children went about checking out the other teams, of which there were forty in all.  There were some VERY impressive displays.  So impressive we kind of wondered how much of it was STUDENT'S work and how much of it was COACH/MENTOR work...

On a side note, I forgot to charge the batteries in my blogging camera, so at first I was quite bummed.  I figured we could use the digital video camera and try out the still photo feature on that.  I LOVED IT!  I can take a bazillion pictures one after another with no lag time!  I can zoom from across the gym AND the battery lasts much longer.  Is this not a most awesome discovery?! 

The only drawback is that you have to be VERY still when taking photos, especially if there is any motion.  I learned this the hard way as most of the photos I shot today are not of the highest quality and so I'll probably stick to my point and shoot for blogging, but it's handy to have a back up. 

Anyway, back to the story--our highest score on the table with the robot was a lowly 75, not even as high as we did in the qualifier!  Rebecca was extremely bummed about this. 

Robo Yellowjackets Team Fireball robot:

Setting up for first run:

Does everything check out?

Signing form at the end of the competition.

One of these days I will post the actually competition...when I get around to uploading it to YouTube.  Don't hold your breath, now.

The team felt the research presentation went well.  Here they are getting dressed:

Waiting for their turn and making a few quick repairs--there was also a LOT of lip movement as they rehearsed lines:

There was one portion of the superqualifier that I hadn't seen before.  They grouped four teams together to collaborate and make a robot run where all teams contributed a portion of its programming.  Each team had to check in on the table and attempt to run their bit. 

Here is the group Fireball collaborated with:

This group received the highest score, so we actually did come away with SOMETHING. 

They also won the Overcome-Adverse-Conditions Award as well...I don't remember the name because it was the first award given and no one was REALLY paying attention yet!

This felt like the world's longest lab--I think we managed to actually squeeze it out over a three week period.  What we were doing was refining copper sulfate.  I thought this would be a good experiment to let each child do the whole thing from start to finish on their own.  Rebecca did hers first.

From her go at it we learned it's better to keep the solution boiling as you fllter if you don't want tons of crystals forming on the filter paper.  We also figured out it was a several hour lab in length, so Elizabeth and Josh worked together:

Elizabeth discovered she has a real talent for filter paper folding...

Josh  REALLY enjoyed the boiling blue chemicals and the whole filteriing process. 

After finally putting everything away we sat down to finish up lab reports a few days later and discovered on the next page that we were supposed to use the leftover solution to make some copper carbonate.  Oh. RATS.  We had to do it again!  Needless to say, it didn't happen immediately.

Finally, the end product...

Actually, we're STILL waiting for the copper carbonate to dry...

I love curriculum fairs not only because of the huge array of vendors (which is nice of course and also potentially very expensive) but because the workshops often re-inspire me in my homeschooling ventures.  This was a really good year! 

I attended a workshop on timelines, which we have tried to do in the past but then tend to peter out about two months into the project, but this time I think since the kids are older now it will be kind of like an art project across the curriculum kind of thing I want to chronicle the next three years scrapbook like including history, science, literature and to some extent art and music.

The really exciting part of the expo, for me anyway (the kids weren't particularly enamored), was getting to attend a number of Susan Wise Bauer's workshops.  She is the author of The Well Trained Mind and if you haven't read it and are interested in classical education or even just giving your kids a good, solid education, you need to read it.  So hie thee to a library immediately and check it out!  Also, if ever you have an opportunity to hear her speak, do take advantage.  She is an English professor at the College of William and Mary and you will NOT be bored.  She is concise, witty, and she has been there both as a homeschooler herself and as a homeschooling mom (with four kids including a 17 year old no less!). 

http://susanwisebauer.com/blog/

The first of Bauer's workshops that I attended was kind of an overview of classical education--how I wish I had heard this ten years ago!  All of the information is in the book, but having someone stand in front of you and speak with conviction about the methods and how and why they work is much more convincing then the written word. 

The second and third workshops that I attended were about homeschooling in the logic and rhetoric years.  Rebecca is my only logic age child, but she really is more of a rhetoric and I'll be treating her as such this year to a large extent.  I did want to hear about the how to's for this age however and once again, I wish I could have listened to this when Josh was hitting the fifth grade.  The rhetoric lecture left me highly inspired for our coming years, however, and I also feel better that I let my older dear children kind of begin to specialize.  I was feeling kind of guilty that we hadn't hit all subjects as hard as we could/should, but now I realize that this is a good thing if they develop a specialty. 

The last two workshops covered teaching writing and how to read a book.  The writing talk left me feeling that I really hadn't done enough in this area, but that it wasn't all bad and I can catch them up.  The reading a book lecture was AWESOME and now I really want to go to Susan's seminar this fall!

Today the girls and I attended our yearly curriculum fair.  We go the Southeastern Homeschool Expo which gets larger each year.  This year's keynote speaker of interest to me was Susan Wise Bauer.  I read The Well Trained Mind when Josh was in the fourth grade and I have to say it was the book that has had the most profound effect on how we homeschool.  It's been wonderful to hear her speak--and it doesn't hurt that she speaks very well: amusing and informative giving lots of info in a small amount of time.  Tomorrow I"m going back and I can't wait to hear her thoughts on writing and how to read a book!

The girls were supposed to be helping me choose stuff for the coming school year.  Well, they keep the convention hall at absolute arctic temperatures and Rebecca was not a happy camper.  She wanted to go home after lunch, but there were too many workshops that I didn't want to miss.  She made out like a little bandit however because she picked a T-shirt and she bought a couple of books written by a homeschooled 17 year old!

Here is the address for this gracious young lady:

http://www.epicscrolls.com/

Rebecca bought a t-shirt and a copy of the first Mighty Stallion for her friend's birthday next week and the author signed the book, so Rebecca is really excited about giving this particular book.  She also bought a copy of the book for herself as well as a copy of Iron Heart.  I will review these after I get a chance to read them.

Unfortunately it was difficult to get her opinions about the things I wanted to look at.  Had I done the looking first thing when we arrived there wouldn't have been a problem, but because there were back to back workshops I didn't want to miss, it was 3:00 in the afternoon before we really started "shopping" and after freezing for five hours, my baby was cranky.  She did take a look at the most important things: Omnibus I, Tapestry of Grace, and a couple of personal finance workbooks, but she flat out said she couldn't make a good decision.  We have a disc with a three week sample of Tapestry of Grace and so we will look at websites and the sample over the coming week and make a decision.  Or else I'll just pick one tomorrow and we'll do it for the next twelve months!

Well, it's exciting for me.  If you don't have teens who are doing chemistry this year, this might just be one big yawn, but hey, as I said, it's exciting to me.  I've started a new blog right here at homeschoolblogger!  Check it out if you're inclined...

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/chemblogblob/

Once again the girls didn't plan anything, but unlike yesterday, i didn't stress about it and we had a nice, quiet day.  Elizabeth babysat for a couple of hours this evening so some friends from church could have a nice evening out and I had a bit of work to do, but other than that it was a leisurely do-nothing kind of day! 

Of course, I don't actaully know how to do nothing, so I planned for next school year.  I've decided to go ahead and start thinking of Rebecca as a high schooler even though technically she is in the eighth grade.  However, when a child is doing Algebra II and chemistry using a college text, and reading the Iliad and the Odyssey, I think one can safely assume she is doing high school level work!

For some reason I'm having trouble making decisions this year.  I can't decide whether to use Chemistry: the Central Science by Brown, Lemay, and Buston or Chemistry by Zumdahl.  I went ahead and ordered copies of both so I can examine them closely.  So far I have received the Brown version and I like what I see.  I was leaning toward this volume initially because you can get a virtual lab that goes along with it.  I will probably go ahead and use that (for the labs it wouldn't be safe enough to do at home) with whatever curriculum I choose, but I figure it will probably match up best with the book it was designed to correlate with.  There is a ton of stuff on the web that refers to the Zumdahl text, however and so my decision is not yet clear!

My biggest angst, however, is what to do with literature/history.  I really want to do a four year cycle with Rebecca (my literature/English fiend) a la The Well Trained Mind.  However, my attempt at this with Josh was, well, less than I wanted it to be.  I know it will be different with Rebecca--I don't have to sit that child down and say, READ RIGHT NOW! like I do with my eldest, but I'm still a bit worried.  I have looked at programs like Tapestry of Grace and Omnibus and some others, but I'm not sure if they will be exactly what I want.  Or even close.  I need to see them and touch them.  Unfortunately both programs are too expensive to buy without full intention of using.  I guess I'm holding off on a decison until the curriculum fair at the end of July.  I'm just not happy about it!