Moon Phases

Our first science unit has been on the solar system. Below, the boys are learning about the phases of the moon.

Science: Physics - Forces and Wheels

We also learned how rollers and wheels make work easier.

Noah lined up pencils and then used a rubber-band to pull the heavy book across the "rollers." Less force is required with the rollers than without.

Our 3x5 card didn't move down the inclined plane, so we added axles (straws) and wheels (mints).

Gravity pulled our car down the inclined plane.

Large wheels can move over objects more easily.

The salt on the gameboard caused more friction and the car didn't travel as far.

Science: Physics - Force, Gravity, Friction, Work

We completed a science unit, "Investigating Forces and Work." There were a lot of hands-on experiences and experiments.

Mass and Force: It took less force to push the empty box than the box full of heavy items.

Gravity: Galileo discovered that all objects are pulled to Earth at the same speed. We dropped an empty water bottle and a full water bottle at the same time, from the same height, and they hit the floor at the same time. Mass was not a factor. We dropped many, many other items as well. In the case of the paper ball and sheet of paper, we were introduced to result of friction...

Friction slows moving objects. The toy car moved much faster down the smooth gameboard than the towel-covered gameboard.

Pre-States Trip

I was really busy leading up to our 7 week States trip, and posting pictures was not a high priority. School went on as usual until the day before departure. Here's a snippet of our work:

Science: Identifying matter attracted to magnets

Can a magnet attract through plastic?

Can a magnet attract through glass?

 Kirsty did a fantastic lesson on birds.

British birds - Color by number

Painting a Robin

We found the mass of pebbles using our balance bucket and hexagrams.

Matter

We learned that there are three states of matter: solid, liquid and gas. We examined an ice cube, melted it, and watched it evaporate.

 Our following lesson covered transparency.

Water is transparent.

Milk is opaque.

Juice is translucent.

Mass and Monks

In science, we learned that grams are used to measure mass. The boys used our balance scale for some practice.

 We learnt about monks and monastaries in history. The boys had a go at creating their own illuminated letter.

Matter

We've been learning about matter in science.

Liquids change shape.

We focused on solids and discussed various materials. The boys taped samples in their science workbooks. Samples included construction paper, wooden toothpick, metal paperclip, plastic label, cloth, and aluminum foil.

First Day of School!

Reid School began last Monday, September 5. Nick will be teaching theology every Monday morning and Latin daily. The boys have really enjoyed having him teach!

7:50 am start time...yikes!

Each of the boys signed their names to our "Scientist" page.

Caleb will be a scientist this year too.

Butterflies and China

After several weeks of waiting, our butterflies emerged from their chrysalises.

The butterfly (bottom left) has just emerged.

Cooper held one of our Painted Ladies.

 Our most recent history lessons have been on Ancient China.

Noah and Cooper using tangrams.

Caleb typically joins us for history.

We also made tea. The boys were not keen.

Muscles and Math

We're continuing our study of the human body. This week we focused on muscles.
There's been a lot of flexing going on.  

Cooper worked on estimates and had a little help. 

Fishy Fun, Body Parts, and Athenian wax tablets

We read Dr. Seuss's One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, and Lucy Collins' Hooray for Fish! Caleb completed a number of fishy projects as well as other "F" work.

We're now studying the human body in science. To get things started, the boys identified and labeled body parts. 

Caleb rolled the die and did some graphing.

Yesterday, we read about the Spartans and today the Athenians. The boys attempted to write on "wax" tablets. We all decided paper and pencil is an easier (and neater) option.

Photo Catch-up

Since I haven't posted in a while, here are a few photos of some of our recent additions/activities...

A history timeline now graces our wall.

After reading Nate the Great, the boys colored Fang yellow (like Annie) and then red (like Harry) resulting in an orange dog.  

Caleb waters our basil plant so the boys can observe water absorption.

Noah and Cooper examine soil from our garden.

This was an excellent read! Beethoven has been a favorite.

Another great read!

Black and white illustrations and excerpts of music are interspersed throughout the book.

We began investigating animals and their habitats last week.

The boys sorted land animals by habitat.

Making Mycenaean shields after our history lesson.