Ocean Unit week 3 - A glittery currents lesson

Sorry - just realised I am really behind with the posts for our ocean unit. We spent week three looking at ocean currents and how they distribute warm water around the globe.

They started by sprinkling flour on the surface of a bowl of water - when you gently blow up the middle of the bowl you can see the Coriolis effect

We decided to see if we could create a better version of this by using food colouring - red for the southern hemisphere and blue for the northern - the idea being that we would see the 'warmer' water mix with the 'colder' water and the overall temperature (colour) of the water would change.

Sadly this just proved a flop : ( 
Our colouring just sank to the bottom of the water but at least it led to a good discussion on deep ocean currents.

Not to be deterred we tried again but this time with glitter sprinkled on the surface of the water,

this not only showed the Coriolis effect beautifully but also allowed us to see how the warmer water from the equator changes the temperature (aka colour) of the colder northern waters - yay for glitter : )

Knowledge Quest, Sacagawea - TOS Review

Everyone knows we are a house full of bookworms (when we moved recently I counted 31 boxes of books) so when Knowledge Quest offered us a chance to review their latest ebook Sacagawea (Brave explorers every child should know) by Karla Akins, I was more then happy to do so.

I will be honest and say this is not the first ebook from Knowledge Quest we have used, nor will it be the last - they make history really come to life and are a staple part of our homeschool curriculum. For those of you who haven't yet discovered Knowledge Quest I should explain that they are a company dedicated to helping you enjoy and be inspired by history, they provide fantastic products including interactive maps, time lines, books and more - defiantly worth checking out.

The story is told from the perspective of Sacagawea retelling her adventures with Lewis and Clark to her son. It is written as a historical novel based upon the true story and is full of hyperlinks to explain aspects and encourage further pursuit of the topic.

The book is an engaging tale and well written but it does touch on a couple of delicate topics that will require a degree of maturity to understand (slavery & beatings) however these are mostly handled sensitively and they were accepted attitudes of the time. That said the story is inspiring - Rose has loved reading it and been fully engaged by this wonderful heroine. I have loved the additional research she has done prompted by this book and its links : )

Sacagawea (Brave explorers every child should know) is aimed at readers 10+ and is available for $3.99. Knowledge Quest do offer a free sample chapter to give you a feel for the story.

You can see what my crew mates thought over at the TOS Blog

Supercharged Science - TOS Review

We love science so when we were offered the chance to review Supercharged Science we got very excited, especially when the girls discovered that Aurora (the mastermind behind it) was previously a real life rocket scientist with NASA !

e-science is an on-line, hands on, science curriculum. There are currently 20 units to work through with more being added. The units include; mechanics, motion, matter, energy, sound, astrophysics, chemistry, light, electricity, magnetism, alternative energy, thermodynamics, electronics, life science, biology, earth science etc. As you can see its a fairly full curriculum : )

Each unit comes with lesson plans, reading, video demonstrations, hands-on experiments and finishes with a quiz which includes some very amusing questions. 

We started by looking at the Scientific Method, where Aurora explains how to keep a scientific journal and what the scientific method is.

We then moved straight into the first unit - Mechanics (Force, Gravity and Friction)

I printed off the lesson plans and materials list for the first unit (but didn't bother with the subsequent units). I would read aloud the text to the girls (more for the benefit of Rose our non reader) then we would watch a demonstration and do the experiments.

We started by working though the units systematically but the older girls quickly realised they could ditch my help and find loads of fun experiments - they jumped around the site doing various activities with density and microwaving a grape to see plasma.

Aurora is very passionate and really relates well with children - the girls found her engaging and she managed to spark their imagination. She firmly believes in 'learning by doing' so all the activities are hands-on and are designed to excite kids and get them loving science.

I loved the variety of experiments on this site and the best thing is she tries to make sure to use simple items that you have at home - none of this searching for expensive ingredients. She also has a comments section at the end of each unit where you can ask her questions and get feedback.  I also liked the way she explains 

e-science is a wonderful way to help develop a love of science and give your kids a comprehensive science grounding (and it doesn't require you to have a deep knowledge of science)

It is designed for k-12 and is available for k-8 $37 a month and k-12 $57 a month and you can try a free sample to see how it works for you.

You can see what my crew mates thought over at the TOS Blog

Old British Penny giveaway

I have been sorting through my coin collection again and discovered a few too many old pennies.

I have 10 spare that I can giveaway so if you are interested pop a comment below - if there are more than 10 I will do a random draw : )

You have until Friday 19th April to comment - please remember to leave contact details.

Dairy Day

Our local Home Ed group ran a dairy activity this week.

The kids got to make butter whilst learning the science behind why it forms

and ice cream, again learning the science (and yes they thought it was hilarious to make a green, strawberry flavoured ice cream)

We have also planned a trip to a local dairy where they will get to see cows milked and taste some of the products - can't wait : )