Eli's Helping Verbs

We had a time remembering these so we took a few days to sing this song and now he has them!






Helping Verbs, Helping Verbs
There are 23
Am is are was and were
Being Been and Be

Have has had
Do does did
Shall will should and would
There are five more helping verbs
May might must can could

Jet Propulsion ~ Oceanography Unit

Sometimes in our school I find that an experiment is called for and I feel the child has the concept from other moments of schooling or play. Elijah had one of those come up. I knew he understood the whole jet propulsion with the octopus so I just brought up some old blog posts and videos of old experiments. ;)


Back in October, 2007 I taught a co-op science class and this experiment came up, a balloon jet.


And then in July, 2009 Remy had some balloon rocket fun, again.


I love to SEE that my children have learned something that they can build on for another lesson. It is really very cool to see. ;)

Eli's Icy Glue Experiment ~ Oceanography Unit

This experiment had to do with the freezing point of water with added salt. This one was very neat you must try it with your kiddos. You could make them think you were magic for just a moment. ;)


Eli set out to prove that salt water freezes at a lower temperature than fresh water. He gathered a glass full of cold water, ice cubes, the salt shaker, and atleast 6 inches of string.





He added an ice cube to the glass of cold water.





He then laid the string on top of the ice cube that was floating in the water.





Next he sprinkled some salt on the ice cube. He waited 20 seconds and VOILA the string and the ice were stuck fast together!!!





Remy had to do this one for himself!





I love how the younger ones in a homeschool can SO get in on what the older ones are doing. It is so neat!


When Eli put the salt on the cube of ice he lowered it's freezing point which by the way is 28.5 instead of 32 degrees with fresh water. This caused the ice to melt and the salt solution on top became more diluted with fresh water upping the freezing point a little and causing it to refreeze. This trapped the string or made the icy glue. ;)

Eli's Floating Crayon ~ Oceanography Experiment

Elijah has been learning how the salt in the sea changes many things that happens in fresh water. He learned that the salt in the sea water helps the ocean to support weight better. He is very willing to try this out if we ever make it to Florida to visit our family. ;)


We learned that the seas have a lower freezing point than fresh water as well.


We gathered up a glass, poured in one cup of water, half a crayon (do not use the cheap waxy ones use crayola), 2 tablespoons of salt, and a spoon.


I told him to first place the crayon half in the clear fresh water.





It sank very quickly!


Next I had him stir in the salt and try it again.





The crayon did indeed float this time!


We talked about the fact that the salt water has more molecules than the cup of fresh water.


Remy thought this was awesome, too.

Eli's Water Pressure Experiment ~ Oceanography Unit

Elijah has been learning about water pressure and how we, man, can only go so far down until we need special suits or machines to help us.


He used this simple water pressure experiment to show where the greatest water pressure could be found. I had asked him if his ears felt different under water at the bottom of the pool. He told me no. We argued about this. I told him he didn't need his ear plugs then, see, he has issues with water on his ear when he dives deeply. But, he assures me he feels nothing different. WHATEVER! HA HA!


Anyway, we used an empty milk carton. We drilled three holes spaced from top, middle, and bottom. Next we used masking tape to cover the holes and we filled the carton with water. When we were ready for the experiment Elijah ripped the tape off and we were able to see where the water flowed the fastest...the point of greatest water pressure. ;)

Moving Air

Elijah experimented with the energy of moving air. :)

And he found that a soda bottle was not empty and that the air inside of it would prevent him from blowing up the ballon.

Elijah's Surface Tension Experiment

We gathered a bowl of water and we gently put the small square of mesh on top of the water.

Elijah then VERY gently placed the cork on top of the mesh.

With a dropper he added a drop of liquid detergent to the water near the little "raft" he had created.

This is what happened....

Now that is called "breaking the tension"! Yea, yea, yea, we are pretty corny here.

Garden Goodies and Eli is a 4th Grader!

Elijah pulled out his stuff for a science project in 3rd grade and finished it up before we moved on to the 4TH GRADE! He made a book on animal classifications and it was really good. We made a binding with hot glue just like daddy does for the picture books at work. :) Matthew was super impressed with us. :)

Elijah has it turned to his favorite page, mammals. :) Just excuse the silly monkey who felt he should be in the photo too. Hee hee...

Elijah is getting really good at typing now. He loves to do it because he is allowed to be on his daddy's new computer. We all like to do that. ;)

Elijah and Remy made the little rows and planted the seeds for their little garden on the 22nd of April. Elijah almost did it all by himself this year. His pawpaw Jack would be SO PROUD! It was nice to sit back and watch, although the vampires ate me UP!

Here they are all done! Silly monkey on Eli's back to prove it!

Now they just have to wait...

Remy learned to set his place in health! :)

Frog tattoos anyone? Remy is covered in them!

I bought this really sweet memory game from Old Navy some weeks back and Remy loves it. :) He begged to play it tonight, but I was a grouchy mommy. *sigh*

Today I went to inspect the garden after the sweetest and softest April Shower. I was THRILLED to see baby KALE!

Baby Okra!!!!

Baby CORN!!!!!

Nothing is as wonderful as seeing those little baby veggies peeking out from their nursery of soil! It makes all the work worth it. :) Grow little plants, grow!

When were were at the park with Sherri and her family Madison had her art bag with her. Sherri drew some crosses and Remy saw it. He must have filed it away because he came home and drew one of the crosses that Sherri drew and he added on to it to create a butterfly crab thingy. :)

Sherri should love that. ;)

I really should be in bed, but I am so nervous about the doctor appointment tomorrow! I am going in for a belly button hernia from my last pregnancy. But after I get that done and we are back on our feet with work and the bills caught up and we have insurance I can have my baby. I only have 14 pounds to lose now. :)

Pray for us with work and my doctor appointment!