Fun Saturday

Last Saturday was such a fun day!  All of it.  Christopher and some friends arrived for lunch and then hung out with us for the rest of the day.  We all had a blast!  I love that he is close enough to come home and it is always a delight to have his friends come over too!

I was sporadic in taking pictures, but here are some of our day.  After having lunch, we headed outside.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day!  There had been a threat of rain, but it was beautiful!  Lots of fun playing games.  I love that my kids can just jump in the middle of things and that Christopher's friends are comfortable with that too.  

There was a lot of Kan Jam being played.  I think Rebecca (top right) and Kyle (bottom right) were the team champions.

 Everyone enjoys this game.  Even Eliana liked trying her hand at it.

Badminton was also played.  The winners would taken on a new team to play.

 Emily and Christopher were the team to beat in this game!

 Just a sweet happy face.

 Did I mention that the competition was keen in ALL of the games?!

 I just love this picture.  I'm not sure what Eliana and Grant were talking about, but I love it just the same.

 There is always time and place for an Eno, right?

 This looks a bit dangerous, but Isaiah was having fun and it wasn't too far to fall.

 Daniel hanging out with Kyle.

This was the only inside picture that I took.  Dinner.

 Afterwards we headed back outside for volleyball, badminton (am I the only one that did not know this was spelled with an "n" in the middle?) and basketball.

 A little bored with the games, and making their own fun.

 Trying to learn a new game is challenging at times, but fun too.

What a full and fun day.  I'm so thankful for these times.  Thankful that Christopher has such great friends in his life.  Thankful too that they enjoy hanging out with our family.  Thankful for these sweet opportunities!  Looking forward to more in the future!

with a thankful heart.
Leslie

Beyond FIAR Co-op: Neil Armstrong 3 - Science Fair!

This was a co-op that had been in the planning for several months.  When reading ahead for the lessons in the book, I saw that there was a science fair.  This is not something that I had ever tackled before and I wondered if the others would be interested - and they were.  As part of our co-op lesson several months ago (either end of Jan or early Feb), I did my teaching on the scientific method and doing a science fair project.  We used the scientific method as a means of the steps of conducting an experiment.  The students did a fabulous job with their projects.  It was so much fun to see the different topics that they chose too!

We had one on eggs and comparing the space of the air cell in new versus old eggs.  The students shared their hypothesis and then how they conducted their experiment and their findings.  

Some of them spent several months working on collecting data.  This one was looking at the types of birds that came to the feeder and measuring to see if time of day made a difference.

Isaiah did an experiment comparing a McDonalds happy meal (hamburger and fries) to a homemade burger and fries to see if there would be a difference in the way that they deteriorated.  He measured the results for two months to see what he could find.

The happy meal did not mold and the fries looked the same as the day that we bought them.  The homemade burger did grow mold after several days.  The fries also browned.  All of the items hardened and dried out.

It was an interesting and kind of gross experiment.  Can I mention that I'm glad to have it off of my kitchen counter!  LOL

An experiment looking at how temperature of water and thickness of a liquid affected the diffusion of food coloring.

The demonstration with mixed colors was fun to see!

An experiment on rockets including both the history of rockets and sharing the results of their at home experiments with us.

This project tested people to see if they could remember a list of words more easily if it was on a screen or a piece of paper.  The results were pretty conclusive too - not one person remembered the words better after having seen them on a screen!

Daniel wanted to do a volcano.  He conducted many (23+) experiments varying the amounts of baking soda and vinegar to see which added the most explosive power.  He also made and built a volcano.

He found that adding more of both ingredients really worked the best.  And doing repeat experiments often worked better than the original

He was so excited to show off his experiment.  This is one of the early ones, but he also added red food coloring to make his lava more realistic.

This is an experiment using mentos and soda.  A fun visual for everyone!

He found that diet sodas did not have the same explosive power as  regular sodas.

The last experiment tested the effects o wind on a paper airplane using a small fan.  A sudden burst of air from below caused the plane to go significantly less far in its flight path.

All of the students did such a great job.  Each made a display board and gave a short presentation.  They all explained their work well and it was fun hearing about what they had been doing!

This was such a great morning!  I think we have more of these in our future.  It was a lot of work - but I think well worth it in the end.

One thing we also did was to have each student write positive comments on a card to be given to each of the other students.  I liked this feedback!  We also had them give "awards" to each other for things like most creative, best display, best presentation, etc.

I highly encourage you to try this out if you haven't yet.  It was a fabulous experience!

Blessings
Leslie

Unexpected Delights

I love it when God surprises and delights my heart.  I don't know why I'm surprised by this as I know how I love to delight my children.  Its fun to meet a desire that they may not have even expressed or knew they wanted.  I know that God loves doing that for us too.  I wonder how often I may miss His efforts on my behalf. 

Just tonight as I was outside I noticed the sweet smell of honeysuckle and the sounds of birds in the trees.  It was fresh and clean and reminded me of being a child.  Isn't funny how so many memories are tied to smell?  

I was looking through some old blog posts tonight and seeing pictures of college visits 3 years ago as Christopher was trying to decide where to go.  Such a big decision.  One we prayed about often.  I also often prayed for his roommate.  Having worked in housing (and lived in the residence halls for my job), I remembered how important a good roommate could be!  I wanted that for Christopher.  

After posting Christopher's decision to go to State, I received an email from another homeschooling mom whose son was going to State.  We corresponded and then the guys started talking and they decided to room together.  I was excited about that!  We met in August and really hit it off.

That was the unexpected part.  It wasn't that I didn't expect to like his roommate's family - it was more that I hadn't even considered that God could have a plan for our families beyond the guys rooming together.  And when we enjoyed each other and liked hanging out - and then planned to get together again, it just struck me that when I prayed, God answered.  His answer though was so much bigger than anything that I asked for.  And it both surprised and delighted me.  Still does!

Joe's family was up visiting family locally and we were blessed to have them stay with us for several days!  We had a blast together!  Sure wish we lived closer together!  We mostly hung out around the house.  We talked, played games, played outside and just had fun.  

One day we went to Defy Gravity.  That place is so much fun!!!  As always we had a blast.  Its not an easy place in which to take photos, but I tried getting some of each of the kids heading into the ball pit.  Some doing flips and others just jumping in!

Thanks to Candace at http://www.mercyisnew.com for showing me how to do the collage photos!  So easy and fun at Picmonkey!  

We also celebrated Eliana's heart day!  Its been 6 years since our sweet girl had her heart surgery.  She is lively and happy and brings such sweetness to our days.  (She can also be a stinker too in case you think its all happy times.  LOL )

This was another time that God answered prayers in ways that were unexpected.  He showed me so much more of Himself than I  had known before.  He knew that my heart needed work and He sent a precious little girl to join our family to help mend my broken one.  I didn't see the blessings right away, but He was patient and taught me step by step (and continues to do so!).

We visited Moonberries for a sweet treat!  I love that they have gluten free options!  Its a safe and easy place that we all enjoy!

It was a gorgeous day and it was fun that Roger was able to join us too!

I'm thankful for family and friends that God has placed in my life.  He continues to teach me and bless me in ways sweet and unexpected.

Praying that you would see God's hand at work in sweet ways in your life too!
Leslie

Before FIAR co-op: Jesse Bear

What a delightful book!  This is one of my favorites.  I have sweet memories of reading this book and doing fun activities with all of my children from it.  This was the book for this month's Before Five in a Row co-op.  We started with reading the book.  

One of the details that we noticed in the book was the butterfly.  The children then looked at a picture of many butterflies to try to identify the one in the book.  

We then looked at different seasons.  We talked about the weather and temperatures typical in each season and what you would wear.

The children loved taking turns dressing the bear!  (And adding in the weather elements.)

We also talked about good health and eating nutritious food.  This plate is a great visual of eating the right amounts of each type of food.  In using pretend food, the children were able to try to identify which category the food belonged to and put it in the correct spot on the plate.

This activity was the one that I think they liked best of all.  They were each given 2 pieces of paper.  One with bears to color and the second with squares listing the corresponding colors.

They each were given a baggie of gummy bears to divide up on their squares.

Then they colored the bears and counted how many they had in each color.

Of course, their favorite part was making the bears disappear!

Snack time included pears, carrots, dip and cheese sticks.

The last activity was this cute craft.  It was very hands-on though and so I didn't get many pictures.  The bear was made from grocery bags (2) and then cut out.  We punched holes in the bear so that he/she could be stitched up.  They were then able to decorate the bear with fabric, glitter, sequins, pompons and more!  As is typical, Eliana did not want to do much in the group so we brought ours home to finish here.

Meanwhile the boys met to discuss another chapter in The Mad Scientist Club book.  This chapter told a story about a missing pilot who had parachuted from a plane.  Everyone was out searching for him and the Mad Scientists had their own plan to reach  him.  They used science in figuring out with available information where they thought he might have landed and then set off.  It involved climbing some mountainous areas and crossing a river.  Joshua built this river scene from clay.

They ended up in an abandoned mine/quarry.  Daniel made his scene from legos.  Its in several parts.  The first is one of the boys radioing from a big tree to the rest of the group.

Crossing the river and one of the boys (Dinky) falling in.

Dinky warming himself by the fire.  Notice his shirt is off so that it can dry.

Part of the group finding the ripped parachute.

At the top of the quarry and seeing the pilot down below.

Overhead view of the pilot with some of the legos removed from the scene above.

Love the detail that he puts into his Lego creations!

We had a fun morning with our friends and as always are thankful for the opportunity to learn and have fun with them.

Blessings
Leslie