{Mixed Bag} :: What We've Been up to Lately

Lots of happenings over here in Beracá Valley the past couple of months...

~Royal got his much-anticipated puppy. He has been wanting a dog for some time, and his grandparents surprised him at Christmas. It's a Blue Lacy, the State Dog of Texas. Read about this impressive breed here and here if you're interested!

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~My littlest munchkin is growing up! We celebrated 'Manzo's 4th birthday at the end of January with a blueberry muffin breakfast and Star Wars light saber cake later that evening with family :-)

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~As we were working one afternoon at the dining table, a cardinal crashed into our window. Royal went out to inspect and determine the bird's state. The cardinal must have been pretty dazed because he was statuesque for a good 5 minutes, just blinking his eyes and slightly turning his head. Notice our dog sitting so close as well!

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~Alice had received a cornhusk doll kit for Christmas. We worked on putting this project together a couple of afternoons. She turned out really cute for our first attempt!

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~We have been reading Madam How and Lady Why in our Year4 lessons. It has been interesting all the connections to nature we are making: chines/ravines...glens/valleys, metals, etc.

Little "chines"

We figured this clump of dirt/clay has iron in it due to the rusty colored layers

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~One Saturday we attended a Feather Fest event, which included making pinecone bird feeders, native plant seed balls, observing birds through the park's new bird blind, and learning more about raptors.

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~And a wet walk this past weekend. It has been unseasonably warm here this winter in Texas, with very little rain; however, this Sunday was wonderfully wet! We went on a family hike at our favorite state park and just reveled in the warm showers, getting completely soaked in the process! I was reminded of how Charlotte Mason encouraged us to get outdoors even in "imperfect" weather conditions and found this wonderful quote of hers on the subject:

A mere time and distance tramp is sufficiently joyous for a wet day, for, taken good-humouredly, the beating rain itself is exhilarating.

-Vol 1, p88 

~And I leave you with another fun, rainy-day image... 

My Valentine and I were blessed with an afternoon kid-free, so we were able to enjoy the last day of the Caillebotte exhibit at our art museum.

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Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

I hope your New Year has gotten off to a good start as well!

{Science} with A Drop of Water

We have continued with our water studies this term and conducted a few more experiments last week, which (again) were lots of fun! 

We read the sections on "Soap Bubbles" and "Bubble Shapes", then got some materials together for a little experimentation. After watching a youtube video here on making bubble shapes, and after reading Soap Bubble and Bubble Frame experiment notes in the back of the book, we got to work.

We connected straws to play-doh corners at first (to make our cube), but then the play-doh got slimy and didn't keep a firm grip on the straws. After that we decided to use pipe cleaners twisted together at the ends to form a cube. This worked fairly well, although the cube was a little lopsided. However, we did manage to get a shape to form in the middle. It wasn't the 3-D bubble cube like in the book or on the video. It was just a flat square ... but still cool!

We then attempted to bounce bubbles with our gloved hands. The kids had a ton of fun doing this, although I should have taken it outside. At least it wasn't a dirty mess.

After reading about how to rest a bubble on the mouth of a jar in order to drop a pin through it, we couldn't resist trying this out. We wet the pin with bubble solution and dropped it through the bubble. The bubble didn't pop! And quite by accident (as our hands were already so covered with solution) we discovered that even our fingers could pass straight through the bubble without it popping:

How cool is that?!?

After all this experimenting and excitement, Royal mentions how maybe we should start a science journal and write down our findings. ... And after blinking and pinching myself, I said: "Ok, good idea!"

Alice dictated to me her notes, then she copied them from the white board.

This addition to our Year 3 studies has been so much fun!

... and apparently inspiring as well ...

:-)

{Science} with a Drop of Water

Although we are in the final term of Year 3, when I saw that there had been added a science component using the book A Drop of Water, I didn't want Royal to miss out.

We began the book during our first week of Term 3 and have been enjoying the wonderful photographs along with the succinct, yet informative description for each topic.

Since week 1, the kids have been begging to do the "floating steel" experiment. Well today we finally got to that portion.

After reviewing some basic properties of water molecules and discussing the reasons why and how a steel pin can float, there was a lot of excitement when I gathered all the materials for the experiment.

I have to say it was pretty amazing that we were all successful at floating the pin!

After a first attempt fail, we tried a different way of lowering the pin into the water, balanced carefully in the cradle of a paper clip, held in "V" formation, so as not to disrupt so much of the surface tension:

Really amazing to see from below how the pin is held suspended on top of the water...

And then to float the paper clip:

If you are using this book, how are you all enjoying it along with the experiments?