Nature Study with the Boys

It has been SO hot outside lately that we have not enjoyed the outdoors very much this past week.  It rained earlier today and cooled it down to a comfortable 85 degrees, so it was a perfect day for exploring :)  There are so many exciting things to discover outside, and getting to see the world through the eyes of a child brings me such joy!  "Nature study" and letting kids spend a lot of time playing outside is an important part of Charlotte Mason's educational philosophy, which I have read quite a bit about during our homeschooling journey.  You can read more HERE if you're interested :)  Here's an example of our nature study, which is really just enjoying nature!

As I was sitting on the patio, Dorian was bringing me rocks that he thought were interesting and telling me why he liked them: like, "This one is shiny!" and "This one is white and brown and gray." Then he decided to start smelling the rocks (I have no idea why!) and after sniffing several he said, "This one smells like Daddy!"  I had a good laugh about that one :)  This was Davin's favorite rock:

Then, Dorian was looking around the rocks and discovered a butterfly on the ground.  He told me it wasn't moving, so I picked it up and carried it to the table.  We told Davin to come and look and the boys got quite sad at the fate of the poor butterfly and hugged each other to mourn their loss....I have two sensitive little boys!  It was adorable, though.  Here's the butterfly Dorian found:

When we got inside, we looked online to identify the butterfly and discovered that it was a Black Swallowtail.  Such a beautiful butterfly!:

My keen explorer, Dorian, next spotted a beetle among the rocks.  He called me over to look at it and this is what we saw:

We're not certain about what kind of beetle it is, but it looks like it may be a stag beetle:

Then, the boys were walking around the house and came to one of their favorite spots: the lavender growing beside the garage.  We all love to pull a piece and take a good whiff of that heavenly smell!  Davin often smells it and gets a little woozy with relaxation and falls to the ground to rest for a while :)  It must be very potent!

So, that was our nature study!  It's so much fun to spend a few minutes really appreciating the outdoors with my children.

Science Exploration Day: Taking in Water

(Day 120 in MFW, pp. 18-19 in "Science with Water")

First off, here's our happy little girl!  I just can't get enough of that dimply smile :)

Today we learned about "Taking in Water": how some things soak up water while others keep water out.  

Here's Davin seeing if the sponge takes in the water:

Here's Dorian putting water on the sponge.  We talked about why sponges are good for cleaning, since you can soak up spills and other messes with the sponge and squeeze them out into the sink.

 Next we tested the absorbency of 5 materials: wax paper, newspaper, a towel, tissue paper, and plastic:

Dorian testing the wax paper-not absorbant:

Davin testing the newspaper-kind of absorbs the water, but not completely like the sponge:

Dori testing the towel-good absorption:

Now the tissue paper-doesn't take in water well:

Quinnlyn really wants to play with the water, too!:

She spilled the bowl of water right after this picture, and I told the boys to try using the tissue paper and newspaper to clean it up.  They noticed right away that it didn't work well and put the towel to good use to mop it up!:

 Davin examining the towel up close to see if there was a clue to why it was able to take in water so well.  He noticed there were tiny gaps that the water was able to get into, whereas the other materials didn't have this:

 "Quinny, let me so how absorbent your clothes are!":

 The old classic celery with dyed water experiment.  The boys thought this was very cool:

It didn't take long for the water to reach the leaves, turning the a little blue (on the left) and red tinged (on the right).  We looked on the cut ends and cut some slices to see the "tubes" in the celery that the water traveled through, also.

Another day of science fun! I just love that all of the kids get excited to explore and do experiments, even if it is just simple things like this.  

Exploration Day (105): Science with Water-Mixing

My Father's World 1st grade: Day 105

We had another fun day exploring using Science with Water and learned about "Mixing" today and how different things mix with water.  We also talked about separating mixtures, what solutions are, and how to separate solutions.  Davin said it was "the funnest experiment ever!"

I set up some trays with four different substances to be mixed with water.

 The first one Davin mixed was the sugar:

After stirring it, he noticed that it took a while for the sugar to dissolve into the water, but it did dissolve completely.  Later, I heated up the water and Davin noticed that the sugar dissolved faster in the warmer water.

 The next one to mix was shower gel:

 After stirring slowly, nothing seemed to happen.  I suggested that he stir more quickly and he was delighted to see bubbles form...."Ohhh, bubbles!":

 The next one was dishwashing detergent:

 Davin remarked that the water looked "misty":

 Next was some vegetable oil.  This was his favorite one to play with:

 He liked making different designs by dropping the oil onto the water.  He noticed that unlike the other substances, the oil did not mix with the water and seemed to float on top of it.  I asked him if he thought the oil and water could be separated and how he would do it.  He thought that since the oil seems to be floating on top of the water, it could be scooped out with a spoon.  Pretty smart!  It didn't work perfectly, but theoretically it could be separated:

 We talked about solutions: mixtures that mix so well that they cannot be separated by scooping or sieving.  Davin figured out that our first three mixtures were solutions: the water + sugar, water + soap, and water + dishwashing detergent.  

I decided to get some coffee grounds and had him mix those:

 He saw that the coffee grounds didn't dissolve, but did turn the water brown:

 Then I got out my little coffee cone filter and let him filter the coffee:

 He had fun pouring it in and watching it drip:

The End!

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! 

Day 80: Exploration Day-Experimenting with Water

Today we are on Day 80 of My Father's World 1st Grade for home school.  We have finished Usborne's "Things Outdoors" for Science, and today we began "Science with Water."

Today, we read pages 2-3, "Experimenting with Water."  I'm letting Davin narrate the pictures below, so he'll tell you what we did!

First, I put a jar of water on the table to see that the top of the water goes in a straight line, just like the table top.  

 Next, I sloped the bottle and the top still went in a straight line!

 Then, I looked at the bottle with a magnifying glass and saw that there tiny, white bubbles in the water.

 Continued.....

 Still playing with magnifying glass....

 Then, I put water in a glass pan and saw that it extends to cover the entire pan.

 Lastly, I put 2 cups of water in 3 different jars.  I thought the one on the left looked like it had more water, but all of them had the same amount!

I learned that water takes any shape!  I liked doing these experiments a lot!