Posts Tagged ‘Homeschooling’

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Groundwater Experiment

Monday, March 17th, 2014

groundwater-experiment-2This post contains affiliate links. I was compensated for my work in writing this post.

We performed a groundwater experiment to understand aquifers, saturation, and the water table. We are continuing our study of the hydrosphere by using the book Earth and Space by Bright Ideas Press. We are enjoying all the hands-on activities and experiments. Today we will give you a demonstration of this groundwater experiment. But first, we filled out a diagram of the water table, provided in the book.

the-water-table

The rain falls on the ground, and the water sinks into the ground through infiltration. The rock that is permeable allows water to pass through it, while the ground that does not allow water to pass through it is called impermeable rock. The water table is the invisible line that is just above the level of saturation. Of course, saturation means that the ground is holding as much water as it can hold.

groundwater-experiment

When we do the groundwater experiment, you will see that we fill one jar with a thin layers of pebbles and thick layers of sand. The other jar contains thick layers of pebbles and thin layers of sand. Both jars are aquifers: layers of rocks and sand that contain water. Which jar has more permeable ground than the other? Will the water sink through faster through the pebbles or through the sand? Watch the video to find out!

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Posted in Science | 11 Comments »

Gideon Unit Study

Friday, March 14th, 2014

gideon-unit-study

My kids have been filming videos to bring the entire Scripture to life for kids, and we are now doing a Gideon Unit Study. The videos are all uploaded into the huge Bible section of the Treasure Vault. We have been studying each of the judges of Israel, and the kids had so much fun re-enacting the story of Gideon.

First we have Gideon approached by the angel of the Lord, who tells him that he is a valiant warrior. Gideon is bewildered by this greeting, and he is told that he will deliver Israel from the Midianites. He asks, “Why me? I’m the least of my family.” But the Lord promises to be with him.

Grab some fleece (either some cotton or a pillow) and tell the Lord that you need a sign, to know if you will succeed in battle. The fleece needs to be wet at first, with the ground dry. Then you realize that this could have easily happened naturally, so you flip it around and say that if the fleece is dry and the ground is wet, that has to be God. And so it was.

Gideon was commanded to smash down the Baal and the Asherah, and the people were angry. When they got over the shock of the destroyed idols, they joined Gideon to go to battle against Midian. Tell the soldiers to go home if they are scared. Most of the soldiers are scared and go home. Then throw a blue blanket on the floor, and the soldiers need to drink the water from the blanket river. Those who lap the water after scooping it with their hands win the lottery to go to war. All the others must go home.

Now is the fun part. After Gideon sneaks into the camp to overhear the enemy having a dream of being conquered, Gideon divides the soldiers into 3 groups. Try to have pots you can smash on the floor. Otherwise pretend to smash the pots. Hold up the torches or flashlights. This is especially dramatic when you perform it in a dark room, but we filmed it in the daylight. If you want to make a craft of a torch for the Gideon story, my friend Ticia made some out of Q-tips. Then blow some trumpets, or pretend to blow trumpets and shout, “For the Lord and for Gideon!”

If you want to make this scene out of LEGOs, you can find the instructions here:

Here are some of the drawings that my children made for their Bible notebooks. The first one is a comic strip:

gideon-comic-stripgideon-drawinggideon-illustrationgideon-unit-study-2

Sign up below for a free Bible crafts e-book!

If you enjoyed this Gideon Unit Study, you will love all the hands-on activities for Bible class in the Unit Study Treasure Vault!

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Posted in Bible | 8 Comments »

Water Unit Study

Sunday, March 9th, 2014

water-unit-studyThe following article contains an affiliate link. I was compensated for my work in writing this post.

When you are doing a water unit study, you will want to observe water in its 3 states: solid, liquid, and gas. We are continuing our study of Earth and Space by Bright Ideas Press, and we are doing the chapters on the hydrosphere.

First we colored and labeled the Water Cycle page provided in the book. Then we dramatized the water cycle by having the kids evaporate themselves up to the chair, puff themselves out as clouds, and rain down by jumping off the chair.
water-cycle-worksheet

Oceans cover the majority of our Earth, and these currents flow in a clockwise pattern in the Northern Hemisphere, and a counter-clockwise pattern in the Southern Hemisphere. The book says to draw a clock with chalk on your driveway, but since we had snow on our driveway, we decided to use masking tape on the carpet. My daughter demonstrated the ocean currents in our video.

ocean-currents

We enjoyed looking at other picture books about water, seeing how it evaporates into the air when you leave a glass of water on the counter. I especially love picture books that have gorgeous illustrations to help kids visualize how important water is to us as human beings.

water-papersglacier-experiment

Most of the fresh water on Earth is found in glaciers. We performed the glacier experiment in the book, where you race two blocks of ice down a ramp, to see if ice with dirt goes faster or slower than ice without dirt. Make sure you use paper cups for freezing your water. The water freezes faster if you used crushed ice from a blender to start with, and the dirt mixes better with the water when you have crushed ice. You’ll have to watch the video to see which glacier wins!

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Posted in Science | 14 Comments »

Hands-on Learning Pinterest Boards

Wednesday, March 5th, 2014

hands-on-learning-pinterest-boards

These are my top 5 Hands-on Learning Pinterest Boards:

1. Homeschooling Bible

This Pinterest board is full of hands-on ideas for teaching the Bible to your children. My popular 31 Days of Bible Crafts caused this board to soar because of all the original ideas that were gorgeous and do-able. Most of the projects are super easy, and the ones that take longer are worth it. To bring Scripture to life for your children will bring them delight in God’s Word!



2. Ancient Egypt Unit Study  This Pinterest board has lots of fun ideas for teaching Ancient Egypt to your kids. You can make your own mummy and sarcophagus using an inexpensive hinged box, a small doll, and some white strips of cloth. Play games, make hieroglyphs, create a simple Egyptian costume, build sugar cube pyramids with sand on them, and emboss some Egyptian art onto metal. Look at a list of fun DVD’s about Egypt that you can find at your local library. And create an Egyptian feast as a culminating activity for your study!

3. Homeschooling Geography

This Pinterest board is a joy to me because I traveled the world before I was married, so I have seen a lot of places. I have a Travel board, too, if you want to see where I’ve been. (I grew up in Guatemala and have another board about that!) But this Homeschooling Geography board is specifically for hands-on geography ideas for your kids to understand world cultures and geography. I show you different ways to learn about maps: cookie maps, 3-D maps with clay in blue water, and home-made puzzle maps. Cut an orange to understand hemispheres. Learn about the culture of France through various hands-on activities. And learn how to use coins to teach about geography!

4. Organization for Homeschoolers  I love to organize, and this board is stuffed with ideas on how to organize everything in your home! Organize each room in your house. After that, you can organize your closets, your art supplies, your car, your shoes, your games, and your paper clutter. Organize your homeschool space through nature displays, science learning centers, and other educational displays. Then organize your time through scheduling, goal-setting, and prioritizing what is important.

5. Spring Activities for Kids 

I have a fun hands-on board for each season, and because Spring is around the corner, here are some super fun activities you can do with your kids to enjoy this season. Throw tea parties, create fun hats, do some gardening, visit your local botanical gardens, go kite flying, and make a pop bottle bird feeder. Use fun cookie cutters in 17 creative ways, including jam tarts, sandwiches, dolls and pillows, soap, jello, and pancakes. Have fun this spring with your kids!

Each of these boards is packed full of ideas for incorporating hands-on learning into your home. And the fun part of it is that they are all bookmarked visually!

Linked to Our Pintastic Pinboards

pintasticpinboards

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Posted in Homeschooling | 2 Comments »

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