Tot School

Hunter is 27 months old.

We’ve had a kind of crazy 2 weeks with the stomach bug going around our family.  It took us 2 weeks to do 1 weeks worth of activities, but we are finally all on the mend and back to normal (I hope).

Letter O Activities:

I used several printables from 1+1+1=1.  Hunter always starts out by coloring his letter of the week paper.  Some weeks he puts a few scribbles on the paper and says he is done.  Other times he spends a very long time coloring every part of the paper.

He tried his first lacing activity, and he did pretty well (with some help).

Putting together the letter O puzzle

Pointing out an O on the ostrich.

Hunter glued foam letter Os onto the ostrich.

We made an O is for Octopus.  Hunter spent a while using his do-a-dot markers to decorate the O.

The finished octopus.

After we sang the alphabet I asked Hunter to point to the letter O on his ABC board.  I expected him to (possibly) find the O flashcard.  Instead he pointed to an O on the boarder.  I was excited that he really recognized the letter O.

Manipulatives:

Hunter is just loving his blocks lately!

Working on a puzzle.

More building with the blocks.

Practicing his cutting with playdough.

Sensory bin:

The only sensory bin we did this week was with foam letters.

Other:

Painting with water colors… maybe all the other moms already know this, but I found a great way to do water colors with a toddler.  Before Hunter started painting, I took an eye dropper and dropped a few little drops of water into each color.  After a few minutes, the paint was all ready to use without Hunter having to remember to dip his brush in the water before the paint.

Stop by 1+1+1=1 to see what the other tots were up to this week.

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Review of Supercharged Science

I have been very surprised this school year to find that one of Hailey’s favorite subjects is science. When we started our school year we were only doing science a couple of times per week. The days we did not do science, Hailey was asking me when we could do science again. I found that I needed to plan extra science activities so that we had some science to do every day of the week.  Science has never been my strong point, so I had to do a lot of work and research to find or create unit studies and experiments to use.  My search for the right science curriculum has continued through the year, so when we were recently given the chance to review Supercharged Science I was really excited to check it out.  We were able to use the e-Science Premium Membership so that we could find out what it is all about.

Supercharged Science is an online homeschool science program.  There are lessons, readings, experiments, quizzes and so much more.  Most of the teaching is done by Aurora, the creator of the curriculum, who is real live scientist.  She has worked for NASA and has even designed rockets.  All that to say that she knows her science.

At Supercharged Science there are over 800 science activities, experiments, and projects.  If you sign up for the e-Science program you will instantly be able to access over 100 activities and experiments.  Each month you will gain access to more lessons which will include more activities and experiments.  This will cost $37 per month if you want the K-8th grade section and $57 per month if you want to expand to the 9th-12th grade section.  If you would like, you can currently sign up for a trial run of e-Science Program for only $1.

So, what did we think of Supercharged Science?

The first thing I did was check out what is available by grade level.  There is a screen like the one above where everything is organized by grade.

If you prefer to look at things organized by topic, you can do that as well, and you will see a screen that looks like this one.

I looked at the grade level and picked 2nd grade.  Then we could pick from Chemistry, Life Science or Earth Science as the topic to learn about.  Hailey picked chemistry, which scared me a bit 😉  Here is a sample of some of the experiments we did:

We tried the Laundry Soap Crystals experiment.  First we watched a video about it and then we did our own.

Here is our experiment all set and ready to grow some crystals.

We did grow some crystals…. but our pipe cleaner was too close to the bottom of the jar and became permanently stuck to it.  There was no way we were going to get our crystal out!  It was still fun to watch it grow though.

We also tried the microwaving soap experiment.

I found a bar of Ivory soap, that had been around for a few years and we microwaved it.

Our soap did not expand like the one in the video that Aurora showed.  We have done this before and it has worked, so I left a comment on the experiment post and asked if it could be because we had used old soap.  Less than 2 hours after I posted my question she answered and explained that it was probably because we used an old bar of soap which has less water vapor in the air pockets, which means it doesn’t expand in the microwave.

One of the other experiments we tried was the Rubber Eggs.

We put a hard boiled egg in vinegar and left it for a few days.

When we took it out of the vinegar- it bounced.

Hailey tried to cut through the egg, which felt very rubbery, and even though the shell was soft it was hard to cut through.

She finally got the shell off and it was soft and rubbery for a little while, but was it dried it got hard and cracked.

After the experiments there are also downloads available for worksheets.  Hailey is not a big fan of worksheets, so we just had some discussion questions rather than filling out a paper.  But, for those who like to have some written work- that is available as well.

There is so much you can do with the Supercharged Science curriculum!  This post is just a small little snippet of what is available.

Here is what it boils down to for me:

Pros:
Hailey loved the experiments.
The experiment videos were short, they did not have long drawn out explanations, and they kept Hailey’s attention.
We had the materials to do most of the experiments that we wanted to try.  (There are some where you will have to purchase items.)

Cons:
The website was a little confusing at first for me.   It took me a while to figure out where everything is.
I received a lot of extra emails from the company (but you can easily opt out of those).
The program is a bit pricey.

Want to see more of Supercharged Science?

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Expedition Earth- France

Have I mentioned how much we love the Expedition Earth curriculum? It’s definitely my favorite part of the day!

 This week we learned all about France.  As always Hailey reviewed all of the other countries we have been studying on the map and found the new one as well.

We had a cheese tasting party.

 

We also learned that in France they like to have a bowl of hot chocolate and then the dip a variety of breads into the hot chocolate.  We decided to dip donuts into the hot chocolate- that’s bread, right?!?!  Hunter loved it!

Hailey definitely enjoyed her donut and hot chocolate too.

We built an Eiffel Tower

Hailey posing with the Eiffel Tower and pointing to France on the map.

Hailey loves when we read about the children from the country we are learning about.  She gets out some paper and takes notes about the child- she just finds it fascinating to learn how they live.

We learned that a french scientist discovered how to make inexpensive soap, which in turn meant people could afford to buy it and use it.  So, we had some fun making our own soap.

The finished soap

To end out the week, Hailey made some chocolate truffles.  They were super delicious!!

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Review of Captivated DVD

How many hours per week do you think you spend using some kind of media?  Most of us are using some type of media much of the time throughout the day, whether it be your smartphone, computer, iPod, television, gaming devices, etc.  It has become a constant thing where we feel like we always have to be connected.

I recently had the chance to watch the Captivated DVD from Media Talk 101, which talks about how much time we are spending using media and what kind of influence it is having on us.  At first I didn’t think this was something that really pertains to my life, but as I watched the trailer of the documentary I realized it was very important for me to watch this DVD.

MediaTalk101 is a company that is working towards helping our generation to see what kind of impact this constant media is having on our lives.  Philip Telfer is the director of MediaTalk101 and he founded the company in 2005.  He co-directed the documentary, Captivated: Finding Freedom in a Media Captive Culture, that I had the chance to watch and he is an author as well.  MediaTalk101 shares some concerning statistics- just a few of those statistics that really made me think include:
-The average teen uses 7 1/2 hours of media each day.
-The average person watches almost 5 hours of TV each day.
-43% of 3-4 year olds have TVs in their rooms.

So, after I read some of the statistics and watched the trailer for Captivated, I knew I needed to watch it.  The DVD is a little over an hour and a half long and also includes a lot of bonus material.  I rarely watch TV or movies, so finding time to watch it actually proved to be a challenge to me, but I am glad that I took the time out to watch the documentary- I learned quite a bit from the dvd and found it to be very informative and thought provoking.

Captivated starts out by discussing how much media we consume.  It is a scary thought to me that the average American child watches more than 53 hours of TV per week.  And, by the time a child graduates from high school- he or she will have spent more time in front of a TV than in a classroom.  I was pretty shocked by both of those statistics.

Next, the documentary goes on to talk about the content of what we are watching and consuming.  Media definitely has an influence on how we behave and our attitudes- this can be a positive or negative thing, but we can’t deny that it has a huge influence.

The idea that we are being held captive to media is the next topic in the DVD.  People have become addicted to the internet and video games.  People use these things to escape from reality and they are not living a real life- it’s a fantasy.  Researchers have found that being addicted to video games compares to a gambling addiction.  And, it has been found that 10% of children are actually addicted to video games. What a sobering thought.

The documentary finishes up by talking about how media is a battleground and finally about getting freedom from media.  They do not give any specific guidelines or try to tell you that you can’t use any media at all.  But rather, they suggest Biblical principals that you need to consider when making choices about the media you allow in your home and how much time you spend using media is acceptable.

Captivated is meant for adults to watch (although it has been approved for all ages).  I think it something you can certainly watch with your teens and have a family discussion afterwards about what you want to happen in your household.  I recommend paying the $16.95 for the DVD (shipping is free!) and watching it to see what you think.  I know I am planning to make some changes in our family after watching Captivated, and while I am sure I will be met with resistance, I believe the changes are necessary.