Science and Ships

A couple days ago, Levi and I did a science experiment for school, to see how atoms are dispersed in different liquids and to see different items' densities. We put oil into a glass, then added water, which went through the oil to the bottom of the glass. Then we added some maple syrup, which went through the oil and water both, straight to the bottom of the glass. It created a three-layered effect of separated liquids. It was pretty cool. After we could see that separation well, we added some items to see their density and how they would end up in this glass. First, we added a rock, which went straight to the bottom. Next we added a grape,which was denser than the water and oil, so it ended up right on top of the maple syrup, sitting in the water. The third item we added was an ice cube. The ice cube was denser than the oil, but not the water, so it ended up sitting on top of the water, in the oil. And, the last item we added was a little cork. The cork wasn't denser than anything, so it ended up sitting right on top of the oil. It was a very basic experiment, but it was fun to do and Levi was amazed by it. Science can be so much fun! Here's a picture of our finished experiment.

On that same day, I got to watch something amazing. Well, amazing to me anyway. I'm easily entertained. :-)  There's this author I read often. She's an older lady, close to my own mom's age, but I really enjoy her blog and books on homemaking and her travels. And, she does fabulous drawings and watercolor paintings. Actually, I think her artwork is half her charm. Anyway, she and her husband are taking a two-month tour all over England and Scotland and she's planning to blog about it all, which is going to be so much fun to follow, but they didn't fly over there because she doesn't like flying. They took the Queen Mary 2 and are taking a transAtlantic 8-day crossing to get there, which is really cool in itself, but the day they left, she had posted a link to the New York Harbor cam so we could watch the ship leave. So at 5pm on Thursday, while I was making dinner, I set up my tablet in the kitchen to watch her ship leave. Now, personally, I thought that was really cool, but even more cool than that, was that as the ship was beginning to pull out of the harbor, it went right past the Statue of Liberty! I got to see the Statue of Liberty in real time in New York Harbor! I was mesmerized!! (See? I told  you I'm easily entertained!) So, of course, I had to take a picture of it.

                                                             How cool is THAT?!?

Chocolate Festival!!

On January 22, the kids and I went to Fairchild Tropical Gardens for their annual Chocolate Festival!! We were really looking forward to all the chocolate samples and stuff to eat! And, we did get some stuff, but we had a lot of fun just learning about the cacao plant and how they turn it into the chocolate we know and love! Actually, we've been studying about Brazil and the Rainforest the last few weeks in our homeschool studies, so this played right into it. I love when that happens!! They do have some cacao plants at Fairchild, but apparently, it's not warm enough for them to actually flower and bloom. So, the only place you can actually get the chocolate from is South or lower Central America! This lady told them the basics and showed them the pod and then gave them a scavenger hunt paper, which we followed and learned a lot.

On the left is the pod. Inside the pod are the seeds (center). They roast the seeds and then take out the "nibs"(right), which actually becomes the chocolate. It's a very long process, which I guess, explains the cost of chocolate. Of course, it's worth every penny, right?!? lol

This is the boys at one of the stations asking the question they were supposed to ask and writing the answer.

This is more of the pod, seeds, and nibs.

In totally unrelated news, on the 25th, we had our annual International Day with our homeschool group. Indy did Russia and Levi did New Zealand. They had fun and actually learned some stuff!! Surprise, surprise!! ;-)

Landscape Entry

Savannah's FFA group at school decided to enter the landscape design competition at the fair this year. Unfortunately, they had only a couple weeks to prepare since they didn't know about the deadlines. But, they still did a great job, especially for such short notice. They did a feng shwa (or however you spell it) theme. Don't ask me anything about it, just look it up online. Anyway, here's some pictures of them setting it up and the finished project.

Here, the kids are setting it up, with Levi's help. More setting up. In the foreground, Ashton and Gina are desperately trying to get the fountain to work. It never did.

The finished product. None of the students could be there the night of the judging, so Savannah was the group's representative. Here she is, just before the judging. The landscape looked great and was very original.

Here she is explaining the theme to the judges and answering their questions. We don't know how the team placed, but they didn't win. Thankfully, the judges gave Savannah many hints for next year's entry, on how to obtain plants and decorations from local nurseries. That will come in very handy, as this year the group bought everything themselves.

It was a lot of fun for the students and they are looking forward to next year's competition!

Finally Writing!

Well, Levi has finally, FINALLY decided to write! Yippee! Today he wrote his name (with his right hand) all by himself and he did a great job!! He wrote small and in control and I was very impressed! This has been a loooonnng time coming...whew! :-) I'm such a proud mommy today!

Last Environmental Class

Last Tuesday was our last environmental class until January when we move over to the zoo. We arrived a little early, incredibly (!), so we just walked around for awhile to take a nice last look. We walked out to the water to see if we could see any manatees. One of the workers told us he'd seen some that morning along with some stingrays. Unfortunately, we didn't see anything except some beautiful water in the morning light. Here the boys are goofing around while I'm taking pictures.

This is a gopher tortoise that was rescued from an abusive owner. His name is Scooter. We brought food during the term so we could feed Scooter. He's a nice tortoise and the kids love to go visit him.

This is the boys with our teacher, Mrs. Yoelly. She was very sweet and great with the kids. They all loved her! This was taken on our last day of class when she and the assistant teacher, Mr. Elias, had planned a surprise for us: They set up a fire in the fire pit for the kids to do smores! They had a blast!

We interrupt this tale of a fire to bring you a bird house we liked that hung waaay high up in a tree.

Now, back to the fire tale.... Here the boys are roasting their marshmallows for their smores.

Yummy smores....mmmm.

Maybe scraping the last of the marshmallow off the stick is better. Hmmm.....

We will miss this place and our teachers when we go over to the zoo.

Searching for Sea Critters

These are some more of our environmental class activities. On the last day of the marine animals unit, we went out to the beach to look for critters. First we went into a classroom in the nature center at the beach. They got to handle some animals and skeletons in here.

Here's Levi holding a type of sea star.

Mrs. Yoelly shows Levi some critters.

Mr. Elias helps Indy hold a critter.

Walking out to the beach with nets in hand, ready to search for critters. Can you tell where the water ends and the sky begins?? Beautiful day!

Levi following Mr. Elias, as usual.

Indy digs with his net for something. What is it??

Hey, look what I found! It was a sponge!

This is what our box looked like when it was all over. Our whole class worked on this and this is everyone's collections. Pretty cool, huh?

This is a pipe fish that Indy caught. He was so proud!

The next session is about Archeology. Savannah went with us that day and we began the four week process of mummifying a chicken. No, not a live chicken; one I bought from Publix. But, let me just say: It takes a LOT of salt to complete the embalming process of the days of old. Thank goodness salt is pretty cheap! lol

This should be interesting! lol We'll see if we make it all 4 weeks!

Environmental Classes

We are taking some environmental classes for homeschoolers at a local park every Tuesday and we're really enjoying them! Sadly, they are coming to a close and come January we'll be doing these Tuesday classes at the local zoo. I know the boys will really like that, but I will miss this beautiful park we meet at now. It's right on the bay and has tall, gorgeous palm trees that just sway in the breeze as you sit under them. Plus, sometimes, manatees make their way from the bay into the area right beside the park and you can nearly touch them. Really cool! Anyway, here are some miscellaneous pictures of some of the classes.

This is the skeleton of a certain kind of whale, which escapes me now, but it was so neat to see it so close up. And, of course, they got to touch it, which was really neat, too.

This is Mr. Elias with Levi. He's the assistant teacher in our group and Levi's buddy. He follows Mr. Elias around all the time! lol

This day we were learning about whales (I think it was the same day as the skeleton.) and how their blubber helps keep them warm. They had the kids put on a rubber glove and then they covered the glove with crisco shortening and then put on a second glove over the shortening. This insulated their hand.

Here's Levi with his insulated hand.

Then the kids had to put their hands in ice water and see if the insulated hand kept warmer than the non-insulated hand. It was a great idea!

Then, they gave us the job of building a whale skeleton like the one inside, using any natural materials we could find, like sticks, leaves, etc. Here, Indy gets help from our main teacher, Mrs. Yoelly. We love Mrs. Yoelly; she's a lot of fun!

I think this whole 5 week session was about marine animals because the next week we learned about squids and octopi. Towards the end of class we got to dissect a little squid. Levi had his own and Indy worked with his friend, Jacob. It was sooo interesting! I learned a lot about squid that day!

Here's Levi poking his squid trying to count his tentacles.

Here's Indy using a magnifying glass to get a closer look at some of the parts we took out.

After awhile, Levi was just playing with the poor squid.

We used a microscope to look closely at the parts we took out. Really neat!

This is the boys on the main path through the park. See the bay way in the background? And, the beautiful palm trees? It's a really nice place and I know I'll miss going there each week. :-(

The Turtle Boy

Yesterday, when we went to our environmental class at a local park, we talked about sea turtles. Since we had recently been to that sea turtle field trip, Indy knew a lot of the answers. A cool thing was that they had a big shell from a sea turtle for the kids to see and feel. Before they walked it around, the teacher called up Levi. We didn't know what for, until she lifted him onto a table and had him lay down. He then became our sample turtle. It was soo funny and cute! And, he was a great turtle! He laid so still, which enabled the teacher to tell the class all about the turtles and how their shells are "streamlined" and that there's not enough room for them to pull in their head, arms, and legs. That's bad because that's how they can get attacked and killed. Anyway, he was a great example for us....and so cute! :-)

Fits him perfect, huh?? lol

St. Augustine, Part 3

After we left the Old Jail, we drove over to the Fort in St. Augustine. There are more pictures, but the other family's kids are in them, too, and I don't really like to put pictures of other people's kids on here unless I have spoken to them, so you won't see those pictures unless you come to my house! (Come and visit sometime!!)

Anyway, when we went inside the fort, there were 4 guys dressed up as soldiers and they put on a display of their black powder guns.

While we were waiting for them to shoot, we looked over into the bay and saw a pod of dolphins swimming by! It was so neat! I got a couple pictures of them. I don't think I've ever seen a whole pod in the wild before. Pretty cool! I've seen one here and there, but never in a pod like that.

Here's the kids by one of the cannons.

Levi and Indy were running around from cannon to cannon pretending to shoot pirates. It was so cute!

Here's Indy on the top of the fort looking over into the courtyard area.

The boys really liked the fort.... I knew they would. I think they would have been perfectly happy to stay there and check it all out, except that it was so stinkin' hot!! Ugh. Plus, we were with the other family and the mom was ready to go because the little guy had had it. He was pooped and cranky. So, we left. I wish we could have stayed a little longer so the boys could really have looked all through the rooms and played more, but that's ok. They got the jist of it.

I think the main reason I even wanted to do such a quick trip to a place more than 6 hours away was that Indy has been learning about the start of America in school. We've talked about the Vikings, Christopher Columbus, the pilgrims, and even St. Augustine. So, I thought this was a great time to visit and make it more real to him. He was very impressed and I read the self-tour guide to them for some of the info. Overall, it was a fun trip and I am really glad we went. Ahhh, the joys of homeschooling.

(In case you're curious, Ashton did not go with us. Since she's in school now, she had to be in school that day, so she stayed home with Nicky and we did miss her. I wished more than once that she had been there. Oh well. Maybe next time.)