Tag Archives: science

The Trojan War, Homer, and Archaeology.

It has been a little while since I did a post on what we are learning about right now.

Not because we have stopped learning.

I was just being lazy…

shipsAfter the great success of re-enacting the Trojan War 2yrs ago, I decided to do it again.

I forgot I read to them from the “The Aeneid for boys and girls” by Alfred J. Church so I read “The Illiad for boys and girls” instead.

It was good but very long.

My voice was tired.

troyTroy looked a lot like a medieval castle, you didn’t know that?

Strange.

parisParis the trouble maker.

battleThe boys were acting out the book as I read.

There were too many pauses between battles though and the legos were so tempting…

We did not finish it.

booksIf I had it to do again, I would probably have just read from “Tales from the Odyssey” by Mary Pope Osborne (The author of the Magic Tree House Series).

My oldest actually read both of the books by himself!

I did not realize it until yesterday.

“The Trojan Horse The Fall of Troy” is a really good book to get a picture of what is going on.

insideThe inside looks like a comic book.

moviesWe have also been watching some documentaries about the Trojan War and Troy itself.

“In Search of the Trojan War” and “The Battle for Troy”, the first is really long and broken up into several parts but follows the man who found Troy, Heinrich Schliemann.

We did not finish the whole thing yet because we were watching it in the vehicle and got to our destination before it was done.

Apparently the boys got something from it though because when they brought up Heinrich Schliemann in the second video my oldest got really excited.

I have found that my boys really like knowing about things (My oldest still gets really excited when he see’s the Mona Lisa just because he read a book about it) so if I introduce a subject with an easy introduction first they are more receptive to the informative stuff.

They feel like they know those people and want to hear more about them.

showandtellsThese are some of the books we got for Archaeology.

We only read “The Magic School Bus Shows and Tells” the other was just too dry.

There is a Magic School Bus episode by the same name also.

digforcluesThis book has been my favorite introduction to Archaeology so far.

Look what happened the first time we used it three years ago!

I had found a really interesting looking online game about Archaeology and was so excited for the boys to check it out.

It did not have a way to pin it to Pinterest so I just tried to keep the site open.

Yep, I lost it and can’t find it.

So frustrating!

Here is a list of games someone else put together that you can check out though.

If you know of a site that has an “Amy Archaeologist” can you let me know?

Thanks!

Building Molecules

moleculesI 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?

buildingThey went to town building molecules the next morning.

springsThis 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.

moleculestogetherBuilding 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?

Building Solar Oven’s ~Embrace the Camera

embracethecamera

Here is my shot for the day!

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

solarsciencekitWe 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.

panelsMy youngest built the one from the kit.

glueWhile my oldest built his from scratch.

blackpaper

inside

solar

solarovendone

shoeboxI 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.

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

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

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

waitingThis is how the boys killed time waiting.

cheesemelt45mins later the shoebox won!!!

winner

donelaterIt 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!