This week

On Saturday we cooked up a Mexican feast and listened to regional Mexican music on XM satellite radio for el Cinco de Mayo. We discussed the day's history and significance, with the Battle of Pueblo on May 5, 1862 in which the Mexican Army defeated the invading French Army, Napolean's Army which hadn't been defeated in fifty years! We also discussed the consequences for the US if the French had won, specifically how the French planned to help the South win the Civil War.

We learned about geodes and how they are formed. We have some geodes to crack open but we need to get some safety goggles before we do this.

Georgia and I keep a running list of questions or topics she has throughout the week. Then we sit down at the computer together and look up answers to the questions. Some of the questions/topics from our last research session were:

Why is the Ohio buckeye poisonous? The buckeye is poisonous because it contains chemicals, such as, glycosides, saponins, and alkaloids. The leaves and sprouts are poisonous as well. Side effects of ingestion include stomach, intestinal, and nervous system problems, such as, vomiting, muscle spasms, coma, and even death. The common chestnut and the California Buckeye are toxic, too. We discussed how being poisonous is a good adaptation for the plants to avoid being eaten.

Why is it called the United States? The name came from the end of the Declaration of Independence, "We, therefore, the representatives of the united States of America, in general congress, assembled..." The document used the term united States instead of listing the individual states and colonies because at the time they did not know which states/colonies would accept the document. The most popular theory for the origin of the term "America" is that it comes from the latinized name of explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci.

What is albinism/albino? It is the lack of pigment in the eyes skin and hair. We also looked at pictures of people and animals with albinism.

What is a bull frog and how did it get its name? The American Bullfrog is the largest frog in North America. They can grow up to 8" in length. They are aquatic and carnivorous, eating anything that will fit in their mouth (which is fairly large). The name comes from the bull-like bellowing sound made by male bullfrogs.

Do worms have eyes? While digging out back the girls found some worms. So we also looked up info on worms, which included topics of anatamy, life cycle, reproduction (they are both male and female), diet, senses, etc. As to the eye question...no, worms do not have eyes, but they do have light and touch sensative organs. They can sense differences in light intensity, and can feel vibrations in the ground.

How many eyes do spiders have? Most spiders have eight eyes, but some have six or fewer. We looked at pictures of different types of spiders and their eyes. (freeeeeaky!)

How many arms does a squid have? A squid has ten arms: eight arms with two longer tentacles.

How do cats see in the dark? Cats have a special layer of cells at the back of their retinas called the tapetum lucidum. This shiny layer acts as a mirror reflecting light back to the retina. Cows have this, too. This led to a whole discussion about the parts of the eye. We looked at an eye model and saw the different parts with the muscles and bones. We also conducted a pupil demonstration in which we looked at our pupils in the mirror in a darkened room, then with a flashlight. Georgia was able to see the pupil constricting and dilating. We also watched a video of a kid dissecting a cow's eye, which is similar to our eye except for the tapetum lucidum. You can see it too here http://www.exploratorium.edu/learning_studio/cow_eye/index.html

Another topic we discussed was the various ways to measure a circle. We talked about the circumference, diameter, and radius, and we measured a few to practice.

We finally read the news article on the mysterious honey bee killer and the theories on its origination. We talked about how important bees are to us as pollinators for over 90 different plants we consume. We discussed the terms pesticide, parasite, virus, and bacteria. (and how fitting......)

At Tuesday's soccer game, Georgia got sick on the field. The next morning she was still feeling ill, so Olivia did not get to go to her Nature Center class. (I couldn't leave G home, and I wasn't going to have someone watch a sick kid, poor girl)

We talked more about George Washington and read a biography on him. Afterwards she answered some questions about what she read. She loved the part about him having false teeth made from hippopotamus ivory!

We talked about taxes and the Boston Tea Party. She wanted to know how presidential elections were different in the beginning so I explained that to her. (In November we had a mock election with a ballot box...she loved that. She had us vote on what we wanted for supper, too!) And we talked about the roles of the President and Vice President.

We talked about transportation in George Washington's time, as well as daily life.

We talked about Washington DC and why it was named and placed where it is. And we read about the first two capitals before it, New York City and Philadelphia.

Georgia did her own research on ancient civiliztions found in the game Age of Empires. She read about their history, technologies, architecture, etc. And I explained to her about the terms BC or BCE, and AD or CE. And we made up a time line putting in dates from her studies on civilizations and added or subtracted the years to find out how many years passed since those dates.

Today we found a scary spider in the kitchen. We trapped it in a jar and want to look up what kind of spider it is. (I nearly had a heart attack from the rush of adrenaline I got from trying to capture the spider......creepy crawly things freak me out!!!!)

Saturday, Georgia has a class about wildflowers at a local nature preserve. Hopefully she is feeling better for that. And at the end of next week we leave for our DC and Virginia Beach vacation....a lot to do for that!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!