Category Archives: Homeschooling

History, Homeschooling

Dig & Play Egyptian Tomb

04/04/2014 Danielle Huddleston Leave a comment

I bought this game at a museum last summer and we finally got to use it a couple of days ago!

You get to “dig” for the buried treasure and game pieces first.

We have been studying Archaeology so I kept talking about being gentle and carefully uncovering the artifacts.

Do you know how they finally got it open?

They threw it on the ground.

Future Archaeologist?

The game pieces were inside this guy.

They did break one of the smaller artifacts.

They were very surprised that happened.

Since I had just been told they were throwing the block on the ground to get the stuff out, my shock level was pretty moderate…

The game is pretty simple, you are trying to be the first one to the tomb.

Some of the spaces have information about Ancient Egypt so the kids are learning without realizing it.

I really like this type of game, hopefully I can find some more like it!

Homeschooling

Building Molecules

03/25/2014 Danielle Huddleston 2 Comments

I bought the boys a Molecular Model Kit while visiting a local homeschool supply store.

Can you really say no when your kids ask for a Molecular Model Kit?

They went to town building molecules the next morning.

This kit attaches the pieces with springs.

The only problem we have had is the springs are not all the same size so some of them do not fit.

Building an H2O molecule is so much more fun than just talking about it!

I found this fun post on how to build some using pom poms and wire.

We also watched the Magic School Bus episode on Molecules called “The Magic School Bus Meets Molly Cule”.

I decided to run with this sudden interest they had in Atoms and Molecules and we watched some of Nova’s “Hunting The Elements”.

Do you have a favorite hands on learning tool?

Homeschooling, Photo Projects

Building Solar Oven’s ~Embrace the Camera

03/20/2014 Danielle Huddleston 4 Comments

Here is my shot for the day!

Check out Emily and Ashley’s blogs to see what “Embrace the Camera” is about.

We built this solar oven from a science kit as well as one from a shoebox.

We modelled the shoebox oven after the Pizza Box Solar Oven found here.

My youngest built the one from the kit.

While my oldest built his from scratch.

I cut out the top flap for the shoebox and helped tape the aluminium foil as well as the ziplock bag we used for the top.

I added packing tape to try and keep the stick from moving around.

The boys wrote down what they thought would happen in their science journals.

We put pieces of cheese in them and waited to see how long they took to melt.

This is how the boys killed time waiting.

45mins later the shoebox won!!!

It took the kit oven ten more minutes to melt.

This was a fun easy project!

I am hoping we can try popping popcorn or making s’mores on the next sunny day as well as think up ways to improve our oven.

Have you ever made a solar oven?

What did you use to make it?

I would love to make one like this!