Website Wednesday

Here is a link to an interactive online periodic table of elements. You can click on the individual elements to learn more about them. Very cool!

http://www.webelements.com/

Teaching Tuesday

A couple of years ago I started a homeschool book club for my son and some of his friends. One of the books they read was Where the Red Fern Grows. Here are some of the things we did while studying it, fun little lesson extensions.

We made butter and cornbread, just like Billy's mom would have. I actually have a butterchurn (thanks to my antique collecting dad!). You can just shake the cream in a jar though if you don't have a churn. The kids really enjoyed this. They also made the cornbread from scratch, all by themselves.

They watched the movie and as a treat I gave them strawberry soda, just like Billy had in the book. It was a big treat for Billy and for some of the kids too! None of them are really allowed to overindulge in soda, some had never even had strawberry soda before!

They also did individual reports on various topics from the book: mountain lions, coonhounds, the Ozarks, Sycamore trees, raccoons, etc. This was a good cross curriculum activity as it included science and nature and geography too.

Take a minute Monday

Wow, this is being posted late! This was our first day back to school since the Christmas break and I guess it's taking me a while to get into my routine. Here's a little humor to start the week...

Never try to teach a pig to sing....it wastes your time and annoys the pig!

--Anonymous

Fun Friday

Scented Water color:

1 TBL warm water
1 pkg. Kool-Aid

Mix these together and get a yummy smelling paint that still smells when dry. You can make all kinds of colors and smells!