WholeHearted Mama: January 2011

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Science Exploration Day: Water's 'Skin'

Today in Science (day 95 of My Father's World) we learned about "Water's Skin", pages 8-9 in Science With Water.

Basically, the experiments we did show the effect of surface tension on water. The "skin" allows the water to resist slight pressure, like shown below:

Davin will do the narration again, since he does such a nice job!

First, we filled a glass with water and put pennies inside it. We saw that they sunk, but the water began to rise. It looked like the water was held in by a thin skin.

Uh oh, Quinn accidentally pressed the picture button while Mama was holding her with the camera! As you can see, Quinn's foot is on the right.

There's Quinn again! Isn't she so cute?!

Next, we got a tray and a spoon and started catching water drops with the spoon. Then, we dropped them onto the tray.

This is what it looked like:

Then, we got a straw and dipped it in dishwashing liquid and put it on the drops. The drops began to get flatter; the drops changed their shape! (The detergent made the skin stretch so the drops spread out).

I made this picture with the dishwashing soap and water droplets:

Next, we mixed up some bubble solution using water and dishwashing liquid. We started blowing bubbles!

There's Dori!

We're blowing more bubbles:

I learned that water actually has a thin skin that holds in water even if it changes shape. Putting the dishwashing soap on the water makes the skin move and flattens out the water. Doing experiments is fun!

My Confession

I have a feeling that a lot of people think that I am a very neat, organized person. I'll let you in a little secret:

My house is messy 99% of the time!

I like to make lists and schedules, but I have a bit of a problem following through with them! That doesn't mean that I'm okay with the mess in my house; it drives me absolutely crazy! Nevertheless, my house is usually messy unless I am expecting company. So, I have an idea to document the messies, so that I may have some accountability on getting my act together :)

So, let's start with the kitchen today, shall we?

Maybe you can share some tips with me on how you keep your house tidy, especially with little ones running around. Pretty please?!

Here is the current state of my kitchen. It's pretty bad:

Notice several weeks' worth of mail on the end of the counter, a couple days' worth of dishes, and lot of other clutter!

Unnecessary clutter on top of the fridge, kitchen appliances and other things on the floor (from when we started cleaning out a cupboard that I haven't put back away).

Clutter in the corner on the floor and on the breakfast bar:

I need to deal with the mail as soon as it comes each day and read the paper the day it comes, don't you think? There's also more clutter here that needs to be dealt with.

I could use the excuse that I don't have a dishwasher to explain this mess, but I will just suck it up and admit that I'm lazy when it comes to dishes. I need to stick with doing ALL the dishes every evening, and then after each meal during the day. It doesn't get out of control that way.

So, there you have it! Do you think I can get this cleaned up today?

Here's my to-do list for cleaning the kitchen. I will clean in 15 minute increments setting a timer, since that's about the maximum amount of time I have before one of my children needs me!:

Do the dishes.
Go through the mail: throw away junk, set aside bills to pay, file away the rest.
Get a basket and put everything in it that doesn't belong on the counter or floor or top of the fridge!
Put those things away where they belong, or put in bag for Goodwill, or throw away.
Wipe countertop and top of fridge.
Wipe cupboards, fridge, and oven door.
Dust shelves and windowsills.
Mop floor.
Clean stove surface.
Clean inside oven.
Clean out fridge and wipe shelves.

After making this list, I'm not sure I can get it all done today! I'll do my best and share my progress tonight!

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

First Grade Reading List: January

I am using Sonlight's Reader's 2 Intermediate list for part of Davin's independent reading list this semester. The books range from mid-first to third grade reading level. He loves to read and spends many hours a day reading (and I'm pretty sure he can read faster than me!) I was able to get 15 out of 21 of these books from the library and plan on ordering the rest, plus the Sonlight Instructor's Guide for these books which includes comprehension questions, activities, map work, and more.

**Note: I started this post 4 days ago, and Davin has already read 8 of these books, plus many more from the library! He has been a reading machine lately! He has REALLY enjoyed all of these books, commenting after each book he finishes: "This is a really good book!" I didn't know how long it would take him to read these books, but it looks like he'll be moving on to the Readers 2 Advanced list in no time! I am so happy that he is loving reading so much :)