Respiratory System

We have added a windpipe and lungs to our model. You learned about bronchi, bronchioles, and alveoli (big words!), the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide, and the work of the diaphragm and intercostal muscles. I love this stuff!

We also did a science activity to demonstrate how air is pulled into the lungs using a plastic bottle with the bottom cut out and covered with plastic and a balloon inside the top.

When you push up on the plastic bag (diaphragm in relaxed postion), air goes out of the balloon (lungs).

When you pull down on the bag (diaphragm contracting), air fills the balloon (lungs).

Building Blocks

We began our science today using these two books about the human body.

This book has lots of good hands on things to do.

Hannah gets alot out of the internet links.

I was excited about doing a model cell. This is how it turned out.

It has a cell membrane (baggie), cytoplasm (jello), and nucleus (grape).

Hannah's cell model

Josiah loves showing how his changes shape.

We learned how cells are the building blocks of all living things (hence the title of this post). I love learning about the human body. God is an amazing Creator.

Hannah is still finishing up her Handwriting Without Tears cursive book and doing very well. Almost done, and yes, no tears.

Hannah, the scribe

She even did some on her "wax" tablet.

Josiah is practicing his writing with a magnetic write-on, wipe-off board.

I think I'll be looking into how to deal with dyslexia soon. The youngest is still struggling with reversed numbers and letters.

We are also using English from the Roots Up again this year and I'm glad that Josiah is learning it, too. Last year, we did the Greek portion and this year, we are doing the Latin portion.

Unus is the Latin word for one and the Roman numeral one.

Fun Friday - Science with Light

While sharing with Dad what we learned about this week, we could not forget this . . .

We are having so much fun with the experiments in this book. One of them I remember doing as a kid. Little did I know that it was a science experiment. Do you remember cracking candy in the dark to see the light?

Another one involved having fun with your TV (while it is off) and a flashlight. The kids could not wait to show this to Dad. Josiah keeps asking "When can we do these experiments again?" If you don't know what I'm talking about, get the book. Just kidding! Place your hand against the TV screen and shine a flashlight around and around the area that your hand is covering. Turn off the flashlight and remove your hand. The TV does not need to be on, just plugged in. It works best if you close your eyes while you have the flashlight on.

Then, while the lights are out and we have the flashlight, another flashback happened. Josiah was dancing around and being his usual silly self and I started moving the flashlight back and forth rapidly until it looked like an old-timey movie. Remember doing that? Everyone had a turn in the "spotlight". What a fun way to spend the evening! Maybe this will "spark" some fun at your house.

Wordless Wednesday - Crystal Garden

Summer Lessons - Friday

We finish out our Summer Lessons with Science Friday. The following are a sample of some of the experiments we've done. I did not take pictures of all of them.

The squished balloon - Aurora Science

Hannah is lifting the jar with the balloon.

The churning guilty conscience - Hero Training

This is very cool when you see it in action

and see the colors moving and changing.

The Ring Thing - Aurora Science

Very simple and easy to make.

What does it do?


It flies!
Cooler than a regular paper airplane.

Eggs-periment

A while back, we did this experiment to see how strong eggs are. First, I had to save some egg shells from making a quiche. Then put tape around the broken edge so it would not be compromised. Set the egg shells evenly apart in a rectangle shape and start to lay books on top.


It held quite alot of books, but this was the final straw that broke the egg.

Cccccccrrrrrrrraaaaaaaacccccccccccckkkkkkkkkkk!

How much did it hold? Can you guess?

It held twenty pounds of books before it collapsed!

"I" is for Insect

That is what Josiah's lessons will be on next week. I had ordered harvester ants and they arrived last night. Yah! We were all so excited. It's fascinating to watch them get busy and start moving the dirt to make their tunnels.
On this side of the ant farm is a fake "ant hill" that they climb up and into.

You can see the darker soil that they have already cleared out and put at the top of the hole.

This is the side where you can view the tunnels. Josiah was memorized.

Adventures with Magnets

This was part of our science for this year. The kids found it fascinating. The kit included cards explaining how to do each experiment and almost everything you would need.

I only got pictures of this one - showing how same poles push against each other. Wow!

Hannah is lifting the purple magnet and it is pushing the orange magnet.

This is so cool!

Adventures - Pumpkin Experiments

During 2008 Thanksgiving holidays, Hannah got to do her science experiments at Grandmother and Grandfather's. Hannah recorded everyone's predictions and her observations in a notebook.

How much do you think this pumpkin weighs? How big around is it? And will it float? You'll find the answers below each picture.


This little pumpkin weighed in at 3 and a half pounds. We had asked if people thought it weighed more, or less than 5 lbs. Most people guessed less and they were right.

For this one, we asked . . . "more than 12 inches around or less than 12 inches around?" It was 19 5/8". Most people got this right, too.

And yes, it floats! Most people thought it wouldn't. Only cousin Valerie had all correct predictions.

Later on, after we got home, we opened the pumpkin, took out the seeds and counted them. Hannah thought there would only be maybe twenty seeds. There were almost 500! As you can see I put them in piles of ten each, so she could count them by tens. We tried toasting the seeds and eating them. I liked it. The kids didn't. I also tried to cook the pumpkin and make something out of it. Hannah loves pumpkin pie. But I don't remember how that turned out.