Reptiles, Mummies, and Cooking

I haven't blogged in a while, so here is what we've been up to for the past two weeks.

 

Reptile Museum

I found a Groupon for over half off a visit to a local reptile museum.  I figured that a $12 (total) visit for myself, the kids, and my dad was worth a shot.  We researched reptiles in our children's encyclopedias so they would know what to look for when we arrived.  Even if the trip was a bust, we were in Ann Arbor with plenty of back up opportunities. 

The museum was so much better than I anticipated.  From the outside, the building looked rather small, but once we were in we saw that they really took advantage of the space.  The kids loved looking at lizards, skinks, turtles, iguanas, giant tortoises, macaws, a tarantula, and even the largest, nastiest cockroaches imaginable.  It was totally worth our $12 and I'm hoping we can go back with a group for a field trip. 

 



 

Luke's reptile picture

Science and History Fun
Luke decided to learn about Egypt this week.  It wasn't in our plans, but we went with it.  We watched a few YouTube videos about the pyramids and about archeologists finding artifacts from the Israelites period in Egypt.  We also started an experiment to see how and why Egyptians dried out bodies as part of the mummification process.  I cut an apple into six slices and each slice was prepared differently.  We're going to see which processes work the best. 


plain (wrapped and unwrapped), salt (wrapped and unwrapped), baking soda and salt (wrapped and unwrapped)

 

Ben insisted on tasting the salt.

Some Extra Highlights
I debated for awhile on how to approach MLK Jr. Day.  Luke is young enough to be unaware of race, however, our curriculum has always encouraged parents to not just educate children on how to add or how to read, but also how to navigate the world around them and to be aware of issues past and present, near and far.  We actually very lightly discussed World War II earlier in the year when reading the book, "Twenty and Ten", so I thought he could handle discussing segregation.  We watched a few YouTube videos geared toward kids and discussed King's famous quote, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." 

We've been working through Luke's math curriculum and are finally halfway through this year's curriculum.  We've devoted a substantial amount of time to memorizing his addition facts and making sure they are cemented in his brain.  I bought a game called "Shut the Box" that he loves and is helping his speed when doing his flashcards.  He is getting really close to his goal of doing 76 flashcards in less than fiveminutes and I've promised him that he and I will celebrate with a big treat when he can do them in less that four minutes.

Luke also started taking piano lessons with me.  We're able to do three 10 minute lessons each week instead of one 30 minute lesson which works well for the attention span of a six year old boy. 


Cooking Class
I'm trying to remember to teach cooking skills to the boys throughout the week.  Even though it adds extra time and exercises my patience, these skills are useful and will come in handy for both the kids and me as they get older.

(Heavily supervised) Luke is learning to cut carrots for our stew.  He was so proud of himself and pointed out during dinner that the chunky carrots he cut tasted the best.

Ben loves to peel carrots. 

Making scrambled eggs

Making roasted potatoes

The boys worked together to make breaded chicken fingers.

Ben School
Ben has now had two gymnastics classes and he absolutely loves it.  He has a great build for the sport and really enjoys having something that is completely his.


Doesn't he look proud?

Practicing handstands

We completed R is for Rabbit and S is for Snake.

 

 

Back to the Daily Grind

Our three week break was finally over and we had to get back to work this week.  Due to colds and freezing temperatures, we spent the majority of our break at home.  Even though Luke wouldn't admit to it, I think all of us were ready to get back to our routine.  Cabin fever had set in and we needed something to do before one of us (me) completely lost it.

Seriously, we were going to lose it.

Polar Vortex Fun
We were hit with a blizzard followed by ridiculously cold temperatures last week, so we still were not able to get out of the house much.  I saw a blog with some fun winter activities, so we gave some of them a try.

 We added salt to half of an ice cube tray to see if we could lower the temperature enough to prevent it from freezing in our freezer.  It didn't work, but sometimes I think it is important to not be successful and at least we had good discussions on the definition of a freezing point.

We learned about mammals of the ocean and read about whale blubber.   The boys put one hand into a baggie and then put that hand into another baggie filled with shortening.  They then put both hands into a bowl of ice water.  We talked about insulation and ways that animals stay warm.

 

No one was able to keep their bare hand in the water for long!

Because the boys always love anything competitive, we presented them with a little challenge.  They were each given a water bottle and were told to insulate it with one item so that it didn't freeze.

Ben (and Aaron) chose to put the water bottle in a boot.  Luke wrapped his in a scarf.  Both worked pretty well.

An unintentional lesson happened while we were watching the thermometer throughout the week.  The temperature didn't make it above zero for a while, so we kept an eye on the thermometer.  By the time the weather was warming up, Luke was starting to understand that a bigger negative number meant colder temperatures.

We warmed up the car for 20 minutes and everyone still needed blankets to stay warm!


 We also took time to enjoy the weather and being at home together.

We had great packing snow.

The kids spent lots of time giggling in their little fort.

 We made snow ice cream.  The kids loved it, but I couldn't eat more than a bite or two because it was ridiculously sweet.

Sweetened condensed milk, six cups of snow, and vanilla

Sugar buzz!!

 We also completed our regular school work.  With a week's worth of activities cancelled due to weather, completing everything was not a big deal.

Making music with empty bottles

Luke just finished a book called Living Long Ago that talks about culture, transportation, and food from different periods in time.  I tried to explain a covered wagon to him and decided a video would explain it much better, so I found a Little House on the Prairie movie on YouTube.  It wasn't the cheesy TV version that comes to mind and the boys ended up watching the whole thing.  We watched the family cross the iced over Mississippi River (since they had no bridge available), battle wildlife, and talked about the relationship between the settlers and the Native Americans that lived there. 

Hulk watching Little House on the Prairie - quite the juxtaposition

In Math this week, Luke was scheduled to learn about weight.  I had purchased a balance at a school closing sale for $5 and it was worth every penny.  The boys took turns guessing weights of their toys and then using our Base Ten blocks to measure the weight.  After they had weighed a few toys, Luke began determining if the next item weighed more or less than a previous item so that he could make a better prediction. 

 In an attempt to pass on Life Skills and responsibility to the boys, they learned how to peel vegetables this week.