Hello everyone! I hope you have had a wonderful week! This week has been another fun and busy one. It has been full of science experiments, so I thought it would be fun to share what we have been doing. Before I do that though, let me explain our homeschool curriculum journey!

Homeschool Curriculum

When we first started out homeschooling, I went Pinterest crazy, and found all sorts of ideas to teach my daughter. It was fun at the time, because she was at a preschool level, so we could just play a lot for learning. I knew that at some point, I would need to start teaching her from a curriculum, so that she would learn what was needed for Washington state requirements. When she was around 4 years-old, I started the daunting task of finding her a curriculum. It was a lot! There are so many options out there, and all you can do is try them.

In Washington state, children are not required to go to school until age 8. This means that technically I don’t need to be teaching her everything that is required by Washington state yet. I personally see the years before her turning 8 years-old as a trial run, to see what works and doesn’t. I rather be prepared than still be searching for what works best for us when it is actually time to really be learning.

I knew that I wanted to have a curriculum that had Christian values. A friend of mine does homeschooling with “The Good and the Beautiful”. She had me look into that, and I have heard very good things about it, but at the time it was not something that we could afford. She then recommended “Master Books” to me. We ended up using this curriculum for first grade. I absolutely loved it, because it was all out of workbooks. There was no computer involved, and my daughter really enjoyed it. At the end of that year though, I matched it up with what Washington state requires, and I realized that it wasn’t teaching her enough. Master Books may be a great option for you though, depending on what your state requires. Washington state seems to have quite a few more requirements than most other states. I can go into that another time if anyone is interested.

Schoolhouse Teachers

After doing some more research, my mother-in-law reminded me of a curriculum that I had found back when I was originally researching curriculum. Schoolhouse Teachers has everything that I am required to teach, and they have Christian beliefs and values. They do not have workbooks, so you do need a computer for this curriculum. It has worked out well for us though! Sunday nights I print out all of her assignments for the week, and add them to subject binders. During the week, we read the lessons on their easy to use website, and then she does the assignments I printed out. We really enjoy this curriculum, and have been using it for second grade this year!

I am an affiliate of Schoolhouse Teachers, so if you decide you would like to try this curriculum, I would be very appreciative if you would follow my affiliate link when you purchase a plan: https://schoolhouseteachers.com/ref/119608/

Rock Science

Let’s go ahead and get started on some rock experiments! These are all very simple experiments, and you should have most of the supplies at home. This week my daughter has been learning about all the different types of rocks. She has learned about how rocks change, such as, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks. She has also learned about fossils, crystals, and geodes. This has been my favorite science thing to learn about with her, because I loved learning about all the different rocks in school. I won’t be getting too much into the specifics of the lessons and experiments since they are not my experiments, but I will show you how our experiments went! If you are interested in this second grade science course, you can find it at https://schoolhouseteachers.com/school-subjects/science/exploring-gods-world-with-second-grade-science/ref/119608/.

Experiment #1: Taffy Rocks

Step 1: Sedimentary Rock

First I cut up 3 pieces of different colored taffy into tiny pieces. Then my daughter warmed all of them up in her hands and squished them until they attached to each other. This is an example of sedimentary rock!

Step 2: Metamorphic Rock

Next my daughter put the taffy into a plastic bag, and applied a lot of pressure on it. She actually stepped on it! Then she took the taffy out of the bag, and folded it. She then applied pressure again by standing on it while it was in the bag. This is now an example of metamorphic rock!

Step 3: Igneous Rock

Lastly, we put the taffy into a glass bowl and put it in the microwave for 30 seconds. Once it was completely cooled, it became an example of igneous rock! If you decide to do this experiment, I would go with the option to melt the taffy in aluminum foil in the oven, instead of microwaving it. It took some hot water and a spoon to scrape it out of my glass bowl, which was not the easiest, but I managed to get my bowl taffy-free again!

Experiment #2: Toy Fossil

Step 1:

First, I cut a Styrofoam cup down and set it on a plate. Then my daughter squished some modeling clay into the bottom of the cup to seal it, so it won’t leak.

Step 2:

Next, we took a small toy, and press it into the clay. It should be pressed into it enough to leave a pretty good impression of the toy. Then we were done with the toy.

Step 3:

Lastly, we had to mix up a plaster to pour into our mold. This is when it got tricky. It wanted us to use Plaster of Paris, but we live quite a ways from a craft store to just drive in for one item. We decide to try some DIY plasters on line. First, we made one out of flour and water. It was supposed to dry in two days. This did not happen. It just turned into a sticky dough, which is what I kind of figured it would do. I then dumped that mixture into the garbage and washed the mold out. Then we created a glue and water mixture, which was going to take three days to dry. It did not, so I dumped that out and washed the mold again. I’m sure this would have worked out perfectly, if we just used Plaster of Paris, but I am all about using what you have on hand. Finally, I did what I knew would work, and melted some chocolate chips, poured it into the mold, and put it in the refrigerator for an hour. Once the chocolate dried, we peeled the Styrofoam cup and the modeling clay off. We now have a fossil of a flower ring! One thing to note though! This is not to be eaten! It has touched modeling clay, and in this case glue. Please do not eat the chocolate fossil if you decide to use chocolate.

Experiment #3: Crystal Pipe Cleaner

Step 1:

First I had my daughter shape a pipe cleaner into something that would fit into our glass jar. I then cut a piece of string and tied it to the pipe cleaner and a pencil. The string was cut short enough, so that the pipe cleaner shape would not touch the bottom of the jar.

Step 2:

My daughter then mixed up a solution of 2 cups water and 8 tablespoons Borax. I did the next part, because it involved boiling the solution until the Borax was dissolved.

Step 3:

I kind of did the rest of it, because once the Borax was dissolved, I had to pour the very hot solution into the glass jar. Lastly, we put the pipe cleaner in the glass jar with the pencil resting on the top. We then left it undisturbed for three days, and pulled the pipe cleaner out and dried it. This was a favorite this week. It was so cool to see this transform into a crystal!

Experiment #4: Watercolor Geode

Step 1:

This is a very simple and crafty kind of experiment done with watercolor paints. My daughter started by painting brown for the the outline of a geode. We waited for that to dry. Then she painted a dark pink as the next color in. We then waited for that to dry, so it won’t bleed into the other colors.

Step 2:

Next she painted a light pink in the center. While it was still wet, she sprinkled sea salt on it. Make sure it is plenty wet, or it doesn’t work very well. We had to do this experiment twice, because it didn’t work the first time.

Step 3:

Once the painting dries completely, brush the sea salt off. If it is done correctly, it will look like little crystals in the center just like a geode!

We sure had a lot of fun this week! I hope you are able to do at least one of these experiments with your children! Again, if you think this science course sounds like a lot of fun, and you want more details for the experiments and lessons, please follow this link: https://schoolhouseteachers.com/school-subjects/science/exploring-gods-world-with-second-grade-science/ref/119608/.

Facing the Giant

This weeks lessons about rocks lined up perfectly with our Bible Lesson “Facing the Giant”, which is about David and Goliath. David, the smallest of his brothers, faced this giant with all his trust in the Lord. He went up to him with no physical armor on, picked up five stones, and took Goliath down with his slingshot and one stone. What an incredible story of faith. This world is scary, and we try so hard to keep that from our children. We try to let them be kids as long as possible. It is almost impossible to keep all the bad things from them, especially when so much is going on right now. The possibility of going to war in the future, is something I have to talk to my daughter about, because her Daddy is in the military. I have never had to talk to her about this until now. The world is changing, and we need to stand strong in our faith. We need to make sure that our children know that they don’t need to be afraid if they believe in God. As you go about your week, please keep this verse in your thoughts and prayers.

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 NIV