Week 19 - 2012 - Full Steam Ahead!

We're back to our regular round of classes this week.  My son's co-op started, and I'm very glad to have him back in a P.E. class.  His indoor soccer finally begins tomorrow, too.  I really, really want to get him into more physical activity, but keep running up against a brick wall in my attempts to find outlets for him....

I'm hopeful that the drawing class he's doing at co-op is going to be really good for him.  He's really not that artistic, but I've always wanted him to have a chance at some good drawing instruction and I'm hopeful this will be it!  They started off doing a value study and working with shading and light this week.  Next week they'll move into drawing basic shapes and shading those.

In science, his teacher is working in class with gases right now.  She sent home a variety of crystal growing activities that we need to get started this weekend.  At home, I began an exploration of light waves and the properties of light this week.  I'm using some of these kits for our explorations:

Light and Color - 10 hands-on experiments - this is an old kit and I don't find it listed on the internet any more.  It includes solid experiments.
( http://sciencekit.com/color-paddles/p/IG0035692/ )


Set of 6 demonstration lenses:



http://www.hometrainingtools.com/lens-set/p/OP-LENSET/

These are okay, except that I was given two plano convex lenses, instead of a plano concave (not used in the included activities, anyway....)


Spectroscope with info on use:


http://www.hometrainingtools.com/spectroscope/p/OP-SPECTRO/

(You can use this with chemistry, too, in burning various types of mineral salts....)

Shiny Science book and kit, Steve Parker, Sterling Publishing - this is another old kit and I don't find it online any longer, either.  We love most books by Steve Parker!  This one covers various principles of light....

These kits from Home Science Tools seem at least somewhat similar to those I'm using:

http://www.hometrainingtools.com/science-wiz-light-kit/p/KT-SWLIGHT/

http://www.hometrainingtools.com/optical-science-art-kit/p/KT-OPTSCI/

Or here's one from Thames and Kosmos:

http://thamesandkosmos.com/products/exploration/op.html


They're also looking through the section on light at Rader's Physics 4 Kids:

http://www.physics4kids.com/files/light_intro.html

Today, we visited the Arts Center in Danville to view a traveling exhibit created by NASA on space.  They viewed planetarium shows on black holes and asteroids, as well as seeing a live performance by an interpreter doing Galileo (who was very good)!  There was lots of other info available, too, and this is going to spin into some assignments for them related to light and sound waves....



(Here are some links for all ages related to space topics from this venue):

http://www.communityartscenter.net/include/docs/cac-spaceext-lessonplan.pdf

In history, we used our various encyclopedias and atlases of the 20th century to cover events surrounding the rise of communism in China; conflicts between Japan and China; the rise of Fascism throughout Europe, as well as other forms of dictatorships following WWI; and the rise of Nazism leading up to WWII.

My son read chapters 25, 26 (second half), and 27 in Story of the World, as well as chapters 25, 26, and 27 in volume 9 of History of US.  He completed labeling of some modern maps of the countries of North America, South America, Australia, and Africa.  He began reading The Nazis, William Lace.




Related to last week's reading, he completed Children of the Dust Bowl, Jerry Stanley, and Kids at Work, Lewis Hine.

   


In literature, he completed a paper related to his outside class.  He finished reading Murder on the Orient Express and began The Hiding Place, Ten Boom.





He did a lot more reading on his own this week because I apparently was trying to come down with some sort of virus that I had to fight off for a couple of days, so I spent a lot of time in bed.... 

I've had more problems with allergies this year than I can ever remember.  I can only guess, until I finally get to an allergist, that this is because of all the rain and warm weather we've had, and that leaf mold is the culprit. 

The store that carried a drink I've been enjoying for the past few years now says their distributor no longer handles it, so I haven't had it since the end of summer.  It contains ginseng, vitamin A and C, so I guess maybe I'm short on those vitamins, too....  SO, I keep trying to come down with illnesses this year!  It's the first time in years this has happened to me and it's really aggravating!  Thankfully, my homeopathic and other home remedies are working to help me get rid of things quickly, thus far, but I'd rather not catch things at all!

Hope everyone else is staying well this winter,

Regena