Thursday

Yesterday was a warm, sunny day. Yeah! We spent time outside swinging and observing nature. I brought out the Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock (a gem) and we learned all about the parts of the crocus. I thought the crocus was a bulb but it's really a corm. Who knew?!

Then it was inside for some experimenting with eggs. I gave J and B a plastic bag, a few pieces of cardboard from a paper towel tube, a sheet of paper and tape. They had to somehow keep the hard boiled egg from breaking when dropped from 10 ft. The first time they tried it broke.

But, the second time they tried, (after making a few adaptations) not a crack. Yeah!

Next, we did some egg etching. We took a hard boiled egg and drew pictures on it with a crayon. We placed the egg in vinegar for 2 hours. Then we emptied that vinegar and put in fresh vinegar and let it sit for 2 more hours. When we took it out and washed it off the crayon was gone and the picture was "etched" onto the egg. It was pretty cool. I tried taking a picture of the etching but it didn't come out. The vinegar is an acid and it dissolves the calcium carbonate on the part of the shell that it touches. The wax in the crayon keeps that part from dissolving.

Then it was off to swimming a tennis!

And yes, for family members who wonder if we ever get to the 3 R's, we did. Well, we got to reading and math. J finished a book she was reading (Rules) and worked on division with two digit answers and B and I read together and he worked on multiplication. :)