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We have now started studying geology. To begin with, we are studying the layers of the earth. Alex made a playdough model of the 4 layers of the earth: crust, mantle, outer core, & inner core. Then, we cut it open to see what it looked like. She really enjoyed making her model! And, we bought new playdough, so we both enjoyed playing with it!
We spent one day dissecting owl pellets. Alex's pellet was a lot bigger than mine, but when we found the skulls, Alex's was a lot smaller. But, then she found another skull... and another skull...
So, she had 3 whole skeletons in her pellet, and I only had one, but it was quite a bit larger. We really enjoyed it once we got past the "gross" factor.
I took the time, while Alex was still "digging" at her bones, to lay out my skeleton. I know I didn't get all the bones in the right places, and I didn't find all of the bones (it just got too tedious), but we had a lot of fun discovering the joys of owl pellets & rodent skeletons! We thought the skulls & the teeth were the neatest part!
Today was Alex's 1st official day of kindergarten! She will be going to a homeschool "enrichment school" every Wednesday. Since today was her first day there, we decided this was her 1st day of kindergarten. Tomorrow will be her 1st day of kindergarten at home.
We started FIAR (Five in a Row) this week covering the book, Katy and the Big Snow. Today, we made a snowman from ice cubes! Yesterday, we filled 3 balloons with water & placed them in the freezer. Today, we sprinkled them with salt to make them melt & then stick together. Then, we decorated them with felt. Alex also added sugar to the snowman for fresh snow. There's nothing like a snowman in August!
Today we have been studying about the three states of matter: solids, liquids, and gases. We did several experiments. The experiments were from the book "Solids, liquids, and gases" by Louise Osborne.
We mixed a solid, baking soda, with a liquid, vinegar, to create a gas, carbon dioxide. The gas filled up the balloon.
We also used salt, a solid, to melt ice, another solid. The ice then froze again and stuck to the piece of yarn. Alex was able to pull the icecube out of the water with the yarn!
We read many books about Harriet Tubman, slavery & the Underground Railroad. Alex was fascinated by the whole things - she still is. We've been reading/studying these subjects for at least a month.
Here are favorites - each of these we've read more than 10 times & plan to buy them:
"Young Harriet Tubman: Freedom Fighter" by Anne Benjamin
"Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman" by Alan Schroeder
"The Drinking Gourd" by F. N. Monjo (with cassette)
"Escape North: The Story of Harriet Tubman" by Monica Kulling - we read this July 2006, and really enjoyed it. It's a Step Into Reading book
"Harriet Tubmand and the Underground Railroad" by Michael Martin - it's a cartoon-style book & we really enjoyed it - we read in July 2006
movies:
"Harriet Tubman" - an Animated Hero Classic
"Great Americans for children: Harriet Tubman"
(one of these movies we loved & watched probably 5 times, but I'm sorry I forgot which one!)
"Follow the drinking gourd" Reading Rainbow movie
Here are some of our resources from "visiting" Ireland:
"Patrick: Patron Saint of Ireland" by Tomie de Paola - This was definitely our MOST read book.
"St. Patrick's Day" by Gail Gibbons - This was our 2nd most read book
"Fair, Brown & Trembling: An Irish Cinderella Story" - I like this because I've seen versions of Cinderella for other countries we'll try in the future, too.
"Katie's Wish" by Hazen - This tells about the Potato famine at a young age-appropriate level.
"Crafts for St. Patrick's Day" by Ross - we're still planning on doing a few crafts out of this. They're pretty easy, but we just need to go get some glitter & some gold pipe cleaners.
The next few books I didn't read to Alex, we just looked at and discussed the pictures:
"Dublin" by Deborah Kent, "Look What Came from Ireland" by Harvey, "Count Your Way Through Ireland" by Haskins & Benson
We also looked at a few books on potatoes. We're planning on doing a "potato" craft or experiment.
MOVIES:
We watched 3 movies:
"Irish-American Heritage" (American Cultures for Children movie) - this was good. It taught some words in Gaelic. And, it showed how to make a harp with a box - Alex wants to do this, but I'm not sure we'll get around to it.
"Lord of the Dance" - she is LOVING this one. We've had it a week & she's watched it 3-4 times (she was pretty sick for 3 days & mostly just laid around watching movies) Now, she does Irish dancing around the house (me, too!!
"Riverdance" - we actually never finished this one because she loves "Lord of the Dance" so much, but I think I prefer this one.
We also listened to The Irish Tenors CD I already had and we learned the song about "Dublin's Fair City... and Molly Malone."
Some of my family just got back from Ireland so we're eagerly awaiting their package of goodies. :-)
Yesterday turned out to be unseasonably cool, so we did school outside! It was really nice. We also went for a long bike ride in the park. We worked some more on the castle, but still haven't finished it. Maybe I'll work on it some more tonight...
Besides Ireland, we are also studying about Harriet Tubman, slavery, and the Underground Railroad. Today we came across a National Geographic Site (http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/99/railroad/j1.html) that lets you pretend you are a slave who is thinking about running away. If you decide to run away, you may get caught! (We did) But, you can always go back and try again. We also looked at this site - http://www2.lhric.org/pocantico/tubman/tubman.htmlIt is for second grade. We looked at their timeline, did their quiz, and a wordsearch. We've also been singing "Follow the Drinking Gourd" and watched the Reading Rainbow movie about the book which we borrowed from the library.
The best part of the day was when I tucked her in and she asked why we'd done "so little school" that day. :-)
We have been studying "space" since Alex took a Junior Astronaut camp in late July. Here are some of our favorite books:
We made two castles for Ireland. The first one, the pink one, took a LOT of time as I kept messing up. Alex was expecting it to look more like a Disney princess castle. 
Alex helped a lot more with the second, green one. She helped paint, cut, and decorate it. It was a lot easier, too, as it is made out of toilet paper tubes. 
We mixed a solid, baking soda, with a liquid, vinegar, to create a gas, carbon dioxide. The gas filled up the balloon.
We also used salt, a solid, to melt ice, another solid. The ice then froze again and stuck to the piece of yarn. Alex was able to pull the icecube out of the water with the yarn!
