Egg-ceptionally Smashing-Apologia Physical Science

A year and a half ago we switched from A Beka to new science curriculum.  DD completed Apologia's General Science last year and is currently studying Physical Science.  We are halfway through the book.  The second half of the book is all about physics.  One of the things I love about Apologia, along with Dr. Wylie's Young Earth Creation teaching, is the experiments.  We can actually be successful with most of them.  He has us use common household objects and explains what we should be looking for.  Here are some pictures of an experiment dd recently did on velocity.





She released 2 eggs simultaneously, one behind the other, and noted that not much happened.  BTW, see that top book on the stack?  Here's a close up.  The kids thought it would be fun to use this specific book on top!



On to the next step!



Then she released one at the top of the ramp and noted what happened when it collided into the egg at the bottom of the ramp.  Don't worry. There was minimal damage.



Finally, she released these two eggs simultaneously.  Prepared for the predicted mass of destruction????

Latch Hook Rug for Sensory Integration

Even at the age of 12, my daughter has struggled with learning how to sew or stitch anything. So I bought her a latch hook rug kit, hoping that would be easier. This was her progress two years ago.



Two years later she is finished and it looks great! She did all the latch hooking. I sewed it into a pillow but had her stuff it.



This project used more gross motor skills than the fine motor skills required of sewing. Lots of texture was involved in the use of the yarn. Also proprioceptor was engaged with the pull and tug of the hand tool used to put the yarns in place. It was a great quiet time Sensory Integration activity.

Renaissance Dialectic History Presentation

 About 30 minutes before our company was due to arrive, I encountered a major mishap in attempting to put on my Elizabethan gown.  Because I did not use grommets to facilitate in the lacing of the gown, I found it absolutely impossible to thread the lacing through the tiny holes while wearing it, though I could manage with it off. But how to put it on while the lacing was threaded through the holes?  My husband attempted to help me. 

To save time, I told my husband that the lacing works like our shoes:  pull out the lacing enough to slip the foot through, but not so much to have to redo all the lacing.  So we did that with the bodice.  He tried to slip it over my head but I got stuck!  I started to suffocate!  Feeling a bit panicked I insisted he completely unlace it.  He did. 
Relieved at breathing air, I put the gown on.  Now all he had to do was relace it.  We were back to square one. Because there were no grommets, the lacing did not fit through the itty bitty holes.  Sigh.  I told him to go down to the pantry where I keep my sewing box.  Hours later it seemed, after my extended family arrived, and I had redone what I could of my messed up hair, my husband returned.  He works extremely methodically, precisely, patiently...and s-l-o-w-l-y.  I told him to get the tapestry needles out.  Now he couldn't get the lacing through the big eyes of the tapestry needles. But, he had a plan! He got his lighter that he uses to burn off spare threads from his military uniforms and proceeded to burn off the edges of the lacing.  Panic in my heart ensued again!  I've heard ladies of this era catching fire!  If my gown catches fire, how will I ever get out of it?  Oh that's right, Stop! Drop! Roll!  That is, if I can move that quickly!  Well, long story short, my husband wasn't able to lace the needles even with the edges burned.  I sent him down for packing tape to wrap around the ends to keep them from fraying.  In the meantime, a l-o-n-g meantime, I snipped off the burnt ends, because the heat melted the lacing and caused it to bump out, preventing it from ever fitting into the eye of the needle.  By the time he returned, I had managed to thread one of the needles, while reaching around the side.  Remember, I am wearing the dress while I am doing this.  Sheesh!  The things a queen has to do to get dressed!  No wonder the queen was apt to send people to the tower! 

My husband eventually got the other needle threaded with the other side of the lacing and laced me up, only to get the sides uneven.  I explained to him I could not be a lopsided queen.   He told me I was getting a bit "queenie" in my attitude!  I had to bite my tongue before I told him he should try standing around for an hour attempting to get dressed.

Finally, I was laced up, a bit rumpled in hair style and spirit, but it was time to get the show on the road!  





Here are some of the books that we read for the last several weeks. Studying the Renaissance Era is full of lots of information!



Here are the children's major projects for the unit (which I kept simple due to the holidays and numerous contests they competed in).  Here are their Nature Journals and term papers on Leonardo da Vinci.



The queen and her royal subjects. (Everyone had a say in their costume fabrics and trims for their characters.)



The food!  The children and I decided it would be a lot of fun to get creative with the food.  Since we studied about exploration of the New World, and Queen Elizabeth had tried to establish colonies in the New World, why not let her taste some of the food from the New World?  We realized some of this may not be accurate.  But in our research, exactly on what day were the Europeans brave enough to eat the tomato?  We just decided to have fun with this. 



I remained seated while everyone helped themselves. (In this costume it is extremely difficult to navigate in the kitchen.) My husband brought me a sample of everything.  I waited to eat until everyone had their food and was seated and eating...and still alive!  My dad asked where my food taster was.  I told him that my royal subjects were my taste testers.  Since no one had keeled over, I figured it was safe to sample the food!  He got a good laugh over that! 

When I was presented with the food, I sort of stuck my nose up at it and asked, "What is this?  I've never seen food like this before."  My son answered, "My queen, this is a sample of food found in the New World.  Your kitchen staff has devised new recipes with these new foods."  I'd then ask questions about each item and the children would take turns telling me what it was and where it came from.

Then we talked about Leonardo da Vinci, based on their research on him.  Since he used to keep Nature Journals, they shared what they had been doing with theirs.



All of their pictures are of various angles of the back yard.  They shared how they learned more about detail by careful observation.  They also experimented with different artistic techniques such as perspective and light and shadow, just as the Renaissance artists did.



Then dd shared the artistic techniques Raphael used in "The School of Athens."  This helped us to understand the painting better.



Then ds shared how Titian used color in "The Assumption and Coronation of the Virgin".



After that, we talked about the Reformation and ended by singing, "A Mighty Fortress is our God" by Martin Luther.



Next we talked about Shakespeare.  DS recited from King Richard II.  



DD, who was dressed as Portia, gave the famous "Quality of Mercy" speech from Merchant of Venice.  



 Then ds shared who he was dressed up as.  He was D'Artagnon from "The Three Musketeers." (He insisted on being a ruffle-less D'Artagnon but I insisted that it was extremely French and quite period!) 



He then taught us what he had learned about fencing! "En garde!"



 The lunge...



Even Slipper Kitty got into the act. 

"Pussy cat, Pussy cat,

Where have you been?"

"I've been to London

 to visit the Queen."

"Pussy cat, Pussy cat,

What did you there?"

"I frightened a little mouse

under her chair."

As Slipper walked under my chair I caught her up for a picture!