Quote

"My kids only come around once in my lifetime, and they (hopefully) won’t be with me forever. I chose to have them, and I choose, freely, to make them and my family a priority in my life. This stage of life won’t last forever. While it does, I’ve climbed on for the ride."

- David Albert

Chemical compounds

Another science-related project from Marie Curie.

We worked on constructing a few chemical compounds.  We learned that most kinds of matter are made up of 2 or more different kinds of atoms joined together in a molecule.  For example, salt is a compound made from the elements sodium and chlorine.  We used World Book's Learning About Matter as a guide to construct  chemical compounds for ammonia, methane, carbon dioxide, and ethyl alcohol.

This book does a great job explaining concepts.

Activity to make chemical compounds out of clay and straws.

Ammonia

methane

carbon dioxide

ethanol/ethyl alcohol

I am glad that I found this book at the library.  It really helped to demonstrate how individual atoms work together to make chemical compounds.

Periodic table

We learned a lot about the periodic table with our study of Marie Curie, and I wanted to share a few great links that we used.

Homeschooling ideas.com
The periodic table of videos
interactive periodic table
another interactive periodic table
artistic videos of the elements

A fantastic organizing site

I just wanted to pass along this site.  It is fantastic! There are all kinds of goodies to be found here for organizing, meal planning, and storage solutions and a whole lot more.  So if you are in the mood to get some cleaning or organizing done, head over there and check it out.
 
Organized Junkie

Quote

"School was the unhappiest time of my life and the worst trick it ever played on me was to pretend that it was the world in miniature. For it hindered me from discovering how lovely and delightful and kind the world can be, and how much of it is intelligible."

- E.M. Forster

Currier and Ives artist study

 This week's artist study is on Currier and Ives.   Nathaniel Currier and James Merritt Ives were partners based in New York City from 1834-1907.  They mass-produced copies of fine art paintings through the process of lithography, where black and white prints were made and then hand colored by artists in assembly-line fashion.  They produced and sold over 1 million prints, making art affordable for everyday American families to own and enjoy.

So today in class, this assembly-line fashion was used.  Each student colored in their assigned portion of the picture and then passed it to the next student.  Very clever!

Here are a few original works by Currier and Ives from Wikipedia.

Parlez-vous francais?

We decided to tackle a little bit of French with our Marie Curie unit.  I know, it seems like we have been working on Mrs. Curie for a long time now and we have!  There was just so much good stuff, I did not want us to miss anything.

French comes into play because Marie Curie moved to France and had to learn French in order to attend the Sorbonne.  We are just learning the basics, like hello, how are ya, good, my name is....., and numbers up to 30.  If the kiddos decide they want to take it further, then we will and if not, we will say Au revoir to French.  I took French in college about a million years ago but I am pleasantly surprised at how much I remembered.  I guess I was awake for this class.

A bientot!