A Picture A Day: April 9, 2013

More Experiments and a round of Battleship in HiSci (History of Science Club) today 

A Picture A Day: March 12, 2013

Science Club Experiment

A Picture A Day: January 8, 2013

Perspective and parallax were subjects covered at HiSci (History of Science Club) today!

A Picture A Day: November 13, 2012

HiSci today with some of our friends.  Loved how they were so focused on what M. was doing in the top picture and how amazed they were by the results of the experiment just a second later.

A Picture A Day: October 9, 2012

Science Club this morning!  Here the kids are working on their timelines before the club begins.  Well, except my kid, who seems to know exactly when I'm about to take a picture...so much for my plans for picture of him working!

A Picture A Day: September 11, 2012

Busy day today.  During the science club meeting this morning the kids played Latitude and Longitude Bingo.  AH attended his first Forensic Science Class of the semester this afternoon.  Tuesdays are going to be a busy day for us this year!

A Picture A Day: September 7, 2012

Today we made chocolate candies from a kit!  We have had this kit for months and I've been meaning to do this activity all summer, but we weren't able to manage it until today.  The kit contains everything to make your own candies and explains the history of Cacao and all the steps candy makers need to take to make chocolate into the treat it is today.

Life Cycle of a Monarch Project

A good friend and fellow homeschool mom found a ton of monarch eggs on her milkweed plants this spring and offered some to us. We took up the challenge and raised monarch butterflies from egg to caterpillar to butterfly.  What can I say?  If we were able to do it...anyone can.  I seem to have lost the photos of the eggs and caterpillars, so here is a video of the butterfly emerging from the chrysallis and photos of our butterflies.    I will update this post when I find those other photos!!

Just don't ask me about our tadpole raising disaster adventure last year!!

Our first Monarch emerges from the chrysallis!

We set it free near our milkweed plants on the side of our house.

Our second Monarch shows off its beautiful wings hours after emerging from the cocoon

This Monarch seemed to love the coffee filter top!  AH is trying to set it free.

A Picture A Day: August 7, 2012

Building catapults was one of the many activities at HiSci (Science Club) this month.

A Picture A Day: July 10, 2012

AH was intrigued by this activity during our July HiSci Science Club.

A Picture A Day: June 15, 2012

Releasing our second Monarch into the wild.

A Picture A Day: June 13, 2012

Our first Monarch butterfly hatched today.

A Picture A Day: January 19, 2012

AH in class with friends at Wargo Nature Center

A Picture A Day: September 6, 2011

8th grade started with our annual tradition of visiting the Science Museum of Minnesota.

 

A Controlled Burn

AH taking a video of the burn

I got a call during AH's swim lesson yesterday.  A family friend wanted us to know that his company was going to be doing a controlled burn in our area and we were welcome to come watch.  Well, who can pass up a fire? We took a lunch and some books along with us to the burn site.  When we got there our friend, Eric, came over to explain exactly what they were planning to do and why.  Then we sat back and watched the crews go to work.

Burning the dead plant material clears the way for new growth while adding nutrients to the soil.

There are 2 crews: each crew consists of one person starting the fire with a torch and another with water gun.  The crews work opposite one another.

The trees were sprayed down with water to protect them.

Our friend Eric.

It was amazing how fast the ground turned black!

FOCI - Minnesota Center for Glass Arts

 A couple of weeks ago, AH and I were lucky enough to make a visit to a local glass blowing studio and watch a demonstration of this ancient art.  We learned a little physics along the way, too!

AH and a friend holding a small glass thread.

We watched while our host made a glass horse in 2 minutes.  After it had cooled, the kids got to handle it.

We watched a wine glass being made.

AH holding colored glass.

We also watched them make a vase.

Here they are adding polka dots to the vase.

The vase is removed from the rod.

It Worked!

AH and I have usually have very bad luck when it comes to science experiments: they usually don't work for us.  Today we tried one I've read about in quite a few books and blogs.  Since Easter is right around the corner we thought it was fitting to try an experiment that included an egg.  AH is learning to use our video camera, so I asked him to record the experiment for the blog.

 

What we did:

In the microwave we heated water until it was boiling.  I poured the boiling water into the bottle and let it heat for a moment, then emptied the bottle (an adults job!) and immediately put the cold, peeled, hard-boiled egg on top.  Then all you do is watch and wait! 

The hot air inside the jug is less dense than the colder outside air.  This creates suction which pulls the egg into the bottle.  Have some fun and try it!  If it worked for us, it'll work for you!!