Category Archives: Homeschooling

“How to Build a Rocket”

On a whim (the place from which all good things come) I got the book “How to Build a Rocket” by Hazel Richardson from our local library.

I love it!

It is not just about how to build a rocket, it has a lot of information about the moon and experiments to go along with the lessons.

I am seriously considering buying this one.

The first thing it had us do was go in a dark room with a flashlight and a tennis ball (or baseball).

You have your child hold the ball out in front of them and shine the light on the ball.

This helps them understand why there are different phases of the moon.

It also helped mine remember that the moon was just reflecting light from the sun.

“He’s got the whole moon in his hands, he’s got the whole moon in his hands…”

I am odd.

Next we took a ball and string and then spun around while holding it.

This demonstrated the earth’s gravitational pull and it’s effect on the moon.

School is just so much work.

Watch out here comes the moon!

We are only a couple chapters in.

This book definitely gets my vote though!

The Nina & The Pinta

We headed out to Muskogee, OK Saturday to see replica’s of the Nina & The Pinta.

They were two of the ships in the armada that Columbus sailed with in search of a new passage to Asia (finding the new world instead).

Whenever I get the chance to touch and feel history I jump at it!

“What’s down there anyway?”

When I was telling my kids about the ships before we got there, my oldest got really excited and thought we were going to sail across the ocean.

Then my youngest thought up a plan to make that happen. He said, “I am going to push it and jump in and sail away! Do you think that will work?”

No, you may not steal the ship.

My little pirates.

The Niña – Most Historically Accurate Columbus Replica Ship Ever Built

The Niña is a replica of the ship on which Columbus sailed across the Atlantic on his three voyages of discovery to the new world beginning in 1492.  Columbus sailed the tiny ship over 25,000 miles.  That ship was last heard of in 1501, but the new Niña has a different mission.  We are a floating museum, and we visit ports all over the Western Hemisphere. (Taken from their site.)

View of the Pinta from aboard the Nina.


One of the crew members that sails around on her.

It was a great experience!

They are only here until December 7th, then they sail to the next port.

Adults are $8

Children $6

The day I supervised an archaeology dig

This is the book that started it all.

We have been studying ancient history so I thought archaeology was a good subject to study at the same time.

I tried to find as much “equipment” as I could, that I had just laying around the house.

Then we heading outside to find a good location for our dig.

Sifting the dirt they excavated.

Brushing off artifacts.

It is important to hold the magnifying glass right against your eye.

They tried the whole team work thing…

It ended about how I thought it would.

Documenting locations for his finds.

More brushing.

More documenting.

The grid.

Our artifacts or as the boys like to call them “clues”.