Tiger's day of gratitude day 4!

These pictures could hardly portray all the fun we had at our annual family homeschool  camp. We were very happy to be able to go there every year since 2008

Tiger's days of gratitude day 3

All right, this is something all of the students should be posting up - the Williamsburg Intermediate Home page! I am very grateful that I can go there.

:)

Tiger's day's of Gratitude Day 2.

These are pictures of our family at Disneyland. I was grateful to go on vacation with my family there.

Natural History

You know you are a homeschooling family if vacation time means seeking out learning opportunities in the city you are visiting!

Life is school to us, so on our way to the airport, we stopped at our science museum and renewed our membership in order to use it on our vacation at more museums!

We visited the LA Natural History Museum and the La Brea tar pits. At the Natural History Museum, there was a special engagement with various reptiles. There was a baby alligator that is owned by a company that provides animals for movie sets. We were able to hold and touch several different animals including chameleons, alligators, and snakes.      

Strawberry petting the baby alligator.

Butterfly and Pumpkin Pie held a baby alligator.  

We explored gem stones and birds.

Tiger looked at the Mayan artifacts.

The next day we went to the La Brea Tar Pits.

We saw skeletons of Mastodons, Dire Wolves, and Saber-Toothed cats.

Strawberry says not to touch real bears. 

  

This is looking down from the observation deck of Pit 91. The news just had an article on the tar pits on Sunday. 

This is a statue of a ground sloth.    

EEME Light Box- Schoolhouse Review

Personally I think science and building things is super fun. I have found that some of my kids tend to naturally be inclined to tinker and others tend to focus more on artistic endeavors. Because I am trying to expose my core and love of learning phase kids to many different topics and areas of study, I am always looking for resources to expose them to things they might not otherwise try. I was so excited to be offered an opportunity to review a project from EEME. From their website:

EEME's monthly hands-on project kits teach kids about electronics. Each project kit is paired with online curricula to not only teach kids how to assemble projects like lights, buzzers, and more, but to also teach them how the electronics works.

EEME offers a subscription plan of projects to complete each month. The subscription cost is $18.95/month for their 5 month subscription. You are free to cancel any time. The subscription, for a limited time, includes the kit base free. As of the writing of this post, the details are correct. Please see the website for further price details. EEME projects are designed for children ages 7-12.

For the purpose of this review, we were offered the first project- Genius Light. I found this age range to be spot on and did the Genius Light with Butterfly who is 9 and Pumpkin Pie who is 7. A 6 year old with excellent fine motor control might be able to do the project but it might not interest him as much as an older child. Each project is covered in a set of videos which explain the components, do a few small experiments to teach the principles of the project, utilizes interactive slides to check understanding, and finally build the final product.

 

The box came with all the components in a ziploc baggie including resistors, wires, LED light, photo resistor, bread board, batteries, battery case, project box, and screws and nuts to hold it together. After opening the package, we went online to view the 45 minutes of videos to learn about the various materials and how to assemble our project. The videos were very clear and explanations were well done. The one time the speaker made a mistake in the video, a pop-up window came up with a correction. I was very impressed with the speed of the videos. They weren’t too fast or too slow. We did pause a couple of times to allow the girls to insert various wires into the bread board, but the explanations were very clear so rewinding and pausing wasn’t necessary.

I liked that specific instructions were listed in the sidebar as well as pop-ups in the video to remind students of the instruction. I think my favorite part was that it wasn't just a step by step instruction video but there were several experiments to do before building the final product. Those small experiments got my girls excited to learn more about electricity. They were so thrilled when the light came on the first time and they truly understood how the circuit worked.   This first time around, they took turns doing each step. The whole time Strawberry was clamoring the participate too. In the future, I think might have one child build it and then take all the components out and allow the second child to build it by herself. Either way, the project is easily shared between the two of them. One thing that my girls commented on was that it would have been better if the video wires and the wires we were using were the same color. There was one part where they were a little confused by the wire color since our long wire was the same color as the short wire required in the video and our short wire was a different color altogether. I was able to guide them through that part and they were on their way. The other minor issue we had was inserting the screws in the project box. After some advice from EEME to turn the screws a little bit and have a point up instead of the flat side of the screw up we were successful in getting the box put together.

Both Butterfly and Pumpkin Pie loved the project. I am seriously thinking about a subscription for them, maybe for Christmas?

As of the writing of this review, all videos are viewable without a subscription if you log in with an email address. I highly recommend checking out the videos and projects.

Also from the website ---

Sign up for FREE at http://eeme.co to preview EEME's video curricula. If you think EEME is the right fit for your family, email dad@eeme.co for the latest promotional offer towards their monthly subscription. Just let them know you came from my blog.

Tiger's 30 day Gratitude Project....

 This is Tiger's 30 day Gratitude Project for Williamsburg. Each day for 30 days he will post something he is grateful for.

I am grateful for my little brother. I waited 573 weeks until the day he was born. This is from when he was 2 weeks old.

This is from a few days ago-playing with the sand.

Every Vacation Needs Some Bumps

We just got back from vacation. It was so much fun and I will be updating the blog over the next few days, but so you know why it is taking me some time to post the rest of the pictures, etc… I will post the end first. Sadly I don’t have any pictures… I was too tired to take any (the one below is from when we left)…


But, needless to say, I am EXHAUSTED. We were scheduled for an 8am flight that got cancelled due to mechanical problems. I stood in line for 2.5 hours (longer than the flight would have been!) to get rebooked. We then got taxied from one airport to another and had to go back through security. Let me tell you that 2 strollers, 3 carseats, 5 kids, 2 parents, and 9 bags is a lot of stuff to send through security a SECOND time! Finally getting on a 2:50 pm flight. I am glad that the airline didn’t send us on a broken plane but cancel the flight? Where were the other agents to help us get rebooked a bit faster? There were 2 agents working my line and 15 or so parties in front of us. 2 and a half hours to rebook us is insane.

My kids were troopers. They were up super early and were really tired. When they saw our flight was cancelled, they panicked and wondered how we would get home. Eventually we got home but our car is still not unloaded. I will face that tomorrow.

Elderberry Syrup

There are lots of tutorials on how to make Elderberry Syrup online. Some have add-ins and some don’t. Whenever I am making an herbal preparation, I always consider those who are in need of the herbs and I tailor things to them. Thus, as I was preparing this syrup and was considering my family and the respiratory congestion they are fighting, I made some tweaks. Here is what I did:

4oz elderberries (about a cup)                                                           

1 T cinnamon chips (not sweet candy, but broken bits of cinnamon bark)

1T cloves

1/2 T golden seal root

1 T Echinacea root

2 inches fresh ginger thinly sliced

1/2 organic lemon thinly sliced

1 T chamomile flower

1 T thyme

3 cups water

1 cup raw honey

Simmer the elder berries, cloves, goldenseal, Echinacea, ginger, and cinnamon on low for 30 minutes.

Take off heat and stir in chamomile, thyme, and lemon slices.

Let sit until room temperature. Strain.

Reheat just enough to melt  honey in- you don’t want to go above 110 degrees or it kills the honey. Stir in honey.

Bottle in a dark colored bottle.  

Makes just under 1 qt of elderberry syrup.

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, nurse, registered dietician, or other medical provider. I am a Master Herbalist and teach about the historical and traditional usage of herbs. Nothing posted on this post or anywhere else on this blog is intended as medical advice. This post is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any condition.