Family Schooling Summary: All About Chemistry and Science

In my preschool science class we talked about animal anatomy (invertebrates and vertebrates).  We compared animals with ourselves and what body parts we have.  Then we made caves for the miniature animals using rocks from our backyard. We talked about different homes and why animals like to have cozy dens instead of big houses. 

 We went to another Sciencetellers class at the library.  It was called "Dragons and Dreams".  The themes were about chemistry. Big sister A helped with an experiment that illustrated how much more space gases take up than solids. It used a "rather ancient technology called a film canister" that none of the kids had ever heard of before. I had to laugh - the teller was super dramatic and funny.  He dropped dry ice (solid CO2) and a little warm water in A's canister then put the lid on.  It exploded off after only a few seconds.

 

  All the kids were absorbed in the science and the story.

 At the same yard sale that she got the free cake pop maker A also scored this doughnut maker (cake style doughnuts).  We found a couple recipes and she got to work.  It's amazing how much she can already do. I did not have to assist with any of the mixing, just helped load and unload the hot machine for the first couple rounds and then she did it herself.

 She has been watching "Cupcake Wars" and the "Kids Baking Challenge" shows.  I think she will be ready to compete by the time she is 11-12 (like the other contestants).

We also recently had a flurry of robot costumes being made. 

 Here is A's transformer robot.

 Here is M's robot costume for his favorite stuffed toy - Harry the dog.

We went our local orchard two days in a row to take in all the Halloween fun.

 They fed the goat and a llama.

 We took a hay ride.

 The kids spent about an hour running in, out, and through the hay maze.

And they danced around the witches' caldron. 

Farm Fresh: Garden additions, wood storage, and chicken pho

Hubby took a week of "vacation" so that he could work on some yard projects. Mostly it was spent building this wood storage frame, chainsawing up/bucking trees, and chipping up the branches.  He also spent some time researching tractors. 

 The piles are stacked apart to allow the wood to age properly for burning in the wood stove.

 Next wood storage frame in progress.

 Another pile of wood chips -- I am using these to refill the chicken, duck, and turkey houses following my deep cleaning.  

 Gathering the last of the tomatoes. We are supposed to have our first frost this week.

 My goal for the winter is to double the size of the backyard garden. I clear off a layer of weedy topsoil, put down a layer of cardboard, add all the manure that I deep clean out of the coops and some compost, and then spray it with the hose.  The chickens usually follow behind me and scratch it all up too.  I will also continue to spread each week's load of rabbit droppings in the beds. Hopefully in a couple of years this soil will be nice and rich.

I butchered our last 2 old hens this week. They were the only 2 left from our first flock.  They still laid eggs occasionally, but I decided that it would be better not to put them through another winter.  I also took into consideration the cost of their feed and the fact that the older hens are more likely to get sick and sicken the rest of the flock.  The kids were not happy to see them go to Heaven, but understand that they had a good life and fulfilled their purpose on Earth.  It is very spiritual to offer a prayer of gratitude for food that you raised and have gotten to know.  I can't help thinking how much easier it would be for people to eat meat "sparingly" if they raised it themselves.

Older hens are good for making soup, especially pho.  My Vietnamese friend told me that they have a hard time finding old hen meat at the store.  I gave him our two old ladies for making pho and they are going to bring us part of their delicious recipe for dinner tonight.

Fall Fun: Leaves and Halloween Decorating

We have a beautiful sugar maple in the front yard.  About 1/3 of the leave are down now, plenty for jumping in. 

 

 

 It was just about to rain when we took these pictures and the lighting was so pretty. It smelled amazing too --moist and leafy.

I finally let the kids start putting our Halloween decorations around the house on October 1st.  They had seen them in stores for awhile and wanted to do it in September.  Spooky spiders, webs, pumpkins (hidden by bushes mostly), and bats all over the house. 

We have a lot of glass containers full of acorns around and I bought two new signs --

 

And at co-op school we talked about seeds in our pre-school science class.  They organized them and glued them on their plates.

Family Schooling Summary: Another Raccoon!

Big sister A went on a daddy daughter date to see "Storks". 

 I suspected that another raccoon had come along to raid our animal feed and caught him with a cupcake as bait.

 The trap's door is a little bent now.  I think he tried really hard to get out.

 M scored a goal during his soccer game this week. Yay!

 

 

 We had a Halloween Carnival and Trunk-or-Treat activity at church.

 Baby L wore her Hang Bok.

 Brother S decided to be a fireman.

 Brother M wanted to wear his Percy costume again, but switched to Sven at the last minute.

 

 Big sister A was a detective. She has a cloak and magnifying glass too.  I was a gypsy. I considered being a "fortune teller", but decided that had too much of an occult aspect for a church party.

 Doughnut eating contest...

 This picture was taken while were trying to explain to her what to do. That is her signature tongue move.  We also tried to get a video of her favorite saying, but couldn't catch it.  She frequently bursts out with "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!" and it is too cute!

Farm Fresh: A Tale of Two Roosters

Remember how we had 2 roosters? Despite many efforts to gentle this big white guy, he became meaner and trickier. The day that he snuck up behind me and gave me a hard peck on the back of my leg while I was feeding the flock some treats was the last straw for him.

I butchered both of them this week. It was not a fun job. Causing and watching an animal's death is painful. I was terrified trying to corner, catch, and position mean white rooster too. Despite everything I did not want to cause unnecessary harm to him.  But these are farm animals, meant for working or eating. They led very happy free ranging lives until this one bad moment and then their work was done.

I meant to butcher the two older hens that morning too, but I ran out of time before I had to leave for my appt. And truthfully, I was pretty worn out from the stress of handling mean white rooster. We ate him for dinner last night. It was a delicious meal. The kids knew what they were eating and frankly rejoiced to be eating him.  "Now we can go outside without mommy to guard us!" they said excitedly. Yes. That made it all worth it. Peace has returned to the barnyard and no food was wasted.

Family Schooling Summary

The weather is cooler these days and we frequently hear the crashing of acorns falling through the leaves. We did all of our usual history, reading, math, etc studies this week, but missed a few days. I had my yearly check-in with the retina specialist and everyone went to the dentist. We were surprised and sobered by several first cavities. Now we'll have to go to the pediatric dentist to get those filled. We are going to try to stop eating candy and brush more frequently (mornings too) and better.  We will let them have a couple of pieces for Halloween and then do a big candy trade-in for a toy, like we did last year.  Big sister A finished one of her math workbooks this week. She started learning how to play "Love Me Do" on the guitar. Soccer games were cancelled on Saturday (AGAIN!) due to rain. 

Baby L watching acorns fall. And Theodore found a cozy hammock under the tent awning. (Trying to dry it out is hard when it rains every day.)

 A bean experiment from A&M's "Unseen World" class.

Family Schooling Summary: Raccoon, Cake pops, Soccer

I keep forgetting to post these pictures of the raccoon.  He had been eating our cats' food for awhile.  I thought I might be imagining the food disappearances until he left some tracks.  They looked like human (tiny) hand and foot prints. He could also pry off the tight metal garbage can lid to get to the cats' food.

 He was big! Bigger than the cat. I was hoping to catch the ground hog(s?) as well, but they seem to have vanished.

Only one soccer practice this week.  It rained all the other days.

 

 What the other kids do while they are waiting at practice. Big sister A is very into graphic novels lately. She reads 3-4 a day. Yes. We had over 100 books out from the library when I last checked.  We get electronic notices when things are due so it's not too bad to keep track of. Brother S is into non-fiction books - dinosaurs, planes, cars, machines, outer space, and animals.  He is going to be some kind of scientist I think. I don't know how we would afford to homeschool without such an incredible library network. Almost every time I see a cool book on Amazon (or A does) we look it up and find it in the interlibrary network.

 A friend from church had a "yard sale" last week and sister A brought home all kinds of baking toys: a cake pop maker (like a waffle iron, but makes balls), a doughnut maker, cutters, rollers, and patterns for making cakes with fondant.  We have been testing things out.  Pic below is of cake-pop making.