September and October Update

Georgia had fun trying to put together our "Mr. Bones" after learning the names of some of the bones. We also had fun learning about the brain, skin, heart, and lungs at http://www.nationalgeographic.com/guides/science/humanbody/index.html#

We were able to watch demonstrations of each system as well.

We also enjoyed trying to place the internal organs of a human and get the body working at http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/incredible-human-machine/

Very interesting...you should check it out.

We learned a little bit about Greenville's history, and visited some sites around town.

Olivia worked with money, trying to identify the name of each coin and its value. We used some flashcards and real money to sort and count.

She also practiced reading. We read a story together and she had to highlight certain words when she found them.

And she had fun putting together an alphabet puzzle she got from Grampa Trueman. This helped her think of and use alphabetical order.

Olivia also worked with time. The girls both had fun making their own clocks with paper plates. Olivia likes to match her clock to the clock in the living room.

Georgia wondered why oil and water do not mix. So we talked about the properties of water and oil. Then we played around with them. We tried different kinds of oil, and hot and cold water, to see if there was a difference.

Olivia enjoyed this activity, too.

She liked adding blue food coloring and watching the bubbles and waves of color.

The girls painted some pumpkins.

Georgia finished studying Texas. We made Texas Chili and talked about the history of chili, and of the pioneers. She also learned about the Alamo, Davy Crockett, Tornado Alley, armadillos, geography and resources of Texas, etc.

She then studied Ohio. We made Cincinnati Chili, which the girls did not care for. I had never tried it but really liked it...it is unique. We also made some Ohio Buckeye Candy. She learned about Ohio's geography, government, history, we read a biography on Johnny Appleseed, and another on the Wright brothers. She learned a lot about Ohio's resources and biodiversity, such as the cardinal, buckeye tree, flint, and ladybug. The girls both made some salt dough maps of Ohio, too.

They mixed the dough, after measuring the ingredients. I think we did 1 cup of salt, 1 cup of flour, and half a cup of water.

Then the girls shaped their dough on top of a map of Ohio I printed.

Georgia shaped hers, and is pointing to where we live.

I helped Olivia shape hers.

Then they needed to dry....we probably waited about a week!

Once they were completely dry....the girls painted their maps.

Here's Georgia's finished map. The NE corner broke off...oops! She still wants to mark the capital and where we live, too.

And here's Olivia's finished map.

Other topics we have discussed or read about are:

Mythology (Norse, Greek, and Egyptian)
Static Electricity....with a balloon activity
Sound Waves...with a straw flute activity
Natural Disasters (watched a nice overview at nationalgeographic.com)
Fire Safety (reviewed our safety plan, changed batteries in alarms, and other safety tips)
Columbus Day review, with a map and vocabulary activity
Similes
Venn diagrams
International Date Line
Prime Meridian
Differences in Hemispheres
Millepedes (actually caught one and got library books about them)
Center of Gravity and Balance....with activity
Drugs, what it is, legal and illegal drugs, effects on body
Moon, sun, and other space facts
Magazine clippings collage poster
States and Capitals review and game
World Facts
Presidents
Typing and e-mail practice
Game SET (love it!!!)
Life cycle of a pumpkin
Bead jewelry
Painting, and paint by number
Money, saving, spending, values, etc
Military
Library Skills
Math Textbook work
And we have started studying Maine now.

Also...since Olivia turned four, she can now have her own library card. She now takes out her own books, as Georgia does.

Birthdays!

The girls each had a birthday in September. Georgia is now seven years old. Olivia is now four, but sometimes will tell you she is really six.

Gymnastics, Swimming, and the Y

Olivia is in the Tumble Tots. She loves her class and is always attentive and participates in all the activities.

Georgia is in the Swingers class. She also loves her class and tries her best in each session.

Swimming is a different story. Olivia did great for her first two or three classes, but now she is not into it. She doesn't like to listen to the instructor, she doesn't even like the instructor looking at her. And in her typical Livy stubborness, she refused to get in the pool for class today!


But....while we were in the parent viewing area watching Georgia in her class....Olivia pointed to a sign and READ IT!!! I got all excited and said, "OLIVIA, you just read that!!" Of course, that made her mad and she said, "No I didn't," and then tried saying it said something different, like she didn't know what it said.



Georgia can swim real well now. She has improved a lot. She still is rather timid when jumping into the pool. Today at class the instructor had her class jump off the diving board into the deep end. She did not do it, but did jump in from the side of the pool. She came home saying how she didn't want to go to the rest of her classes! There are only two more left for this session, so I will do my best to encourage them to attend the remainder of their classes. After that, they do not have to take swimming if it does not interest them. We do still go over to the YMCA four times a week, and we swim three of those times. They LOVE to go swimming. We also love playing raquetball, and basketball. So, perhaps they will only take gymnastics next session, or try something else, or not take a class next session and just have fun with whatever activity we choose to do.

Butterfly Day at the Nature Center

In September, we visited the Nature Center for their Butterfly Day, and learned a lot about butterflies and moths. http://www.darkecountyparks.org/

The girls wore some butterfly glasses to see how a butterfly sees. They also tried to identify different animals in pictures while wearing the glasses. It was hard to do.

We also reviewed the life cycle of a butterfly and tried to guess which butterfly belonged with which caterpillar by looking at their markings.

And then Georgia made a life cycle of a butterfly using various types of pasta for each stage. The butterfly stage was a bow tie pasta.

We also got to see live examples of the life cycle. We saw eggs, caterpillars, and some pupas hanging from the screen on the top of the butterfly aquarium.

The girls also tried to sip nectar with a long curly tongue, using a party favor as their
proboscis.

And we visited the butterfly tent outside, where one of the naturalists told us about the different kinds of butterflies and moths we were looking at.

Olivia was allowed to touch one, too. (Georgia chose not to)

After viewing all the exhibits, we painted some pots to take home. We were also given some seeds for plants that attract butterflies.

Visiting Minnetrista

While we were at Minnetrista we visited their exhibit on farm history, and a glass art exhibit.
http://www.minnetrista.net/


The girls thought some of the old farm equipment looked like ancient weapons.




The outhouse....

Mark recognized something that he used to use, and showed the girls where the corn went in, and how to wind it. (don't ask me...I have no clue)

The girls had fun pretending to milk a cow.

And we watched a video of a cow giving birth. (and it's not something I need to see again anytime soon!)

And of course, Livy found another computer.

The glass art exhibit was really interesting. We all enjoyed seeing the different things people created out of glass!

GPS Adventure Maze

In early September, we visited Minnetrista in Muncie, IN to attend the GPS Adventure Maze exhibit. Here's a link that tells more about the exhibit http://www.gpsmaze.com/

And here's a link to Minnetrista http://www.minnetrista.net/

We had to figure out clues and follow the maze as we learned the history and story of geocaching, common tools used, how a satellite works, hiking safety and equipment. We each had passports that we had to stamp at each secret room we found.

To find the secret code to open the locked doors we had to answer riddles or calculate some problems. Here the girls are working on calculators to figure out the code using numbers from a poster on Seattle's Space Needle, such as, the year it was built, how tall it is, etc.


Georgia found a sample cache.



And here we found one that gave us a secret code.




Here, Georgia and Mark are learning how a satellite triangulates a location on Earth.

The girls thought the miniature satellite was pretty neat!

We were able to look at a lot of different kinds of hiking equipment.

And we all tried something on. Georgia wore some snow shoes....don't they go good with her shorts and sandals!!?

Olivia was ready for the rain!

And of course......she always finds the computers! It is one of her favorite things!