Mad Science Week: Experiment #3, Dancing Raisins

The name of this experiment is quite misleading.  I mean, QUITE misleading.  We had big expectations of raisins hopping up and down in our glass, but we couldn't have been more disappointed.  There couldn't have been an easier experiment to perform, so I know we did it right.  Ugh.  Botch number two of three experiments.  That doesn't make for a very good success rate.  Anyway...

We got our supplies together...

...and began.  There's water in the glass on the right, and we filled up the glass on the left 1/3 of the way up with soda.  After we did that, we dropped a few raisins in the water to see what would happen.  Nothing did, which we expected.

The next step was to put soda in the other glass and then drop in the raisins.

Pretty much looks like the same as the other, right?  We definitely had more bubbles, but the raisins didn't 'dance'.  The carbon dioxide was supposed to make them do some kind of boogie, but it just didn't happen.

Oh, well...maybe we're not very scientific people.  At least our first experiment worked out and resulted in just what we expected and hoped for.  Its been a fun week with science, and we'll keep looking for experiments to try.  Hopefully we'll have a little more luck next time.

Have a super weekend! 

Love,

Paige

Mad Science Week: Experiment 2, Making Bouncy Balls

Ok, so there's a reason they call them experiments, right?  Today's 'experiement' wasn't quite as flashy as yesterday's, and we had to perform it twice before we got anywhere near what the end result was supposed to be.  Oh well, here goes...

We started out mixing our borax with water and then added food coloring...

Then we added a mixture of corn starch and Elmer's glue and let it sit for a few seconds.  After waiting, we mixed it all together until it became too hard to stir.

As soon as it became harder, we started shaping it with our hands, and ended up with perfectly (almost) round balls...yeah, bouncy balls...

only...

Our balls just kinda went 'splat' and fell apart.  Like I said, we tried twice and by the second time the boys were having a little too much fun with the food coloring.  Guess everything can't always be perfect, right?

Tomorrow we do the 'Dancing Raisins' experiment. 

Love,

Paige

Mad Science Week: Experiment 1, Homemade Lava Lamps

This week is going to be a short school week at home since Craig and I are going out-of-town for our anniversary this weekend.  We decided that for these three days that we're here, we're gonna have some serious fun learning about science.  Every day we'll have a different experiment to do, and for today, we made our own lava lamps using oil, water, food coloring and some alka-seltzer tablets.  We started with empty bottles and filled them 2/3 of the way up with cooking oil. Then we filled up the rest 1/3 with water (leaving a few inches of space for movement at the top) and added several drops of food coloring:

After that, we waited until the food coloring mixed in with the water at the bottom.  Once this happened, we broke the tablets into tiny pieces and dropped them into the bottles, one at a time.  This created the 'bubbly' effect that made them look like lava lamps.

 

We talked about all of the science behind it all, and had lots of fun experimenting with different sizes of pieces of alka-seltzer.  The bigger the piece you used, the more (and bigger) bubbles there were.  Tomorrow we'll be making our own bouncy balls!  Homeschool ROCKS!

Love,

Preciousness

Hellooooo, happy blog viewers . . .

It's been quite some time since a blog post, and that's because it's been quite some time since I've had the opportunity to sit down for any length of time (still being awake, of course) without any pesky noisy dramatic precious interruptions . . .  yes, precious was the word I was looking for. . . precious.  Oh, how I love this life.  Honestly, I do.  I have my gripes and grumbles about the usual 'I can't deal with the lizard and his unwillingness to eat and take care of the giant unidentifiable bug (yes, GIANT) in your room at the same time' and 'How in the world am I supposed to remove that from the ceiling before its stuck there forever AND leave for church in five minutes' moments, but the problems get solved, and in the end I love my life right where I am.  

These thoughts were all thrown at me yesterday morning. I mean, really . . . what's the problem?  Are those really 'problems' when I look and see what happened Saturday morning?  I sat down to check my usuals, and my heart sank as I saw that Tripp Roth had passed away.  My heart truly hurt, and I cried for a moment as I read Courtney's blog entry.  However, in the middle of all of that, I praised God.  I thanked him, because Tripp passed from here to eternity without a struggle.  His sweet mama picked him up from his bed and carried him to the rocking chair, and in the first few, still moments, he returned back to his heavenly father.  Praise God, because that's exactly what his mama prayed for.  She knew that the time was approaching when Tripp wouldn't be able to deal with EB anymore.  She knew, and she truly wanted a peaceful passing for her little fighter.  She knew that when he left her arms, he'd be with the one that healed him.  Praise God that little Tripp is flying high, free from blisters, swelling, pain, and horrible sickness.  You all know that I speak from my own experience when I say that nobody wants to watch their child die, but when they're in that kind of pain, you want nothing more than to see them relieved.  I'm so incredibly sorry for the sorrow that I know his mom is feeling, but PRAISE GOD that she realizes that this isn't the end.  She knows that she'll see her little boy again, and in a way that she's never seen him before.  PRAISE GOD that I know this isn't the end, and that I'll see my own little girls again, and in a way I never saw them before!  This kind of personal story always makes you think and realize what's truly important in our lives.  In the end, its all about what's in your heart . . . and really not so much about what is in your heart, but who is in your heart.  Praise God . . .'the Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away; blessed be the name of the LORD!'

Ok, lighter notes . . .

We're super excited to be talking renovation stuff with our house.  We're looking at doing some pretty major stuff, and right now we're just having fun dreaming, writing, and using our mind's eye about the whats-and-hows of it all.  We've talked with a contractor and gotten some pretty good suggestions and ideas on the flow of progression, and we intend to do all of this with NO LOAN!  Do we just have money laying around to spare?  NO!  How are we gonna do it?  Simple . . . we're renting out our basement.  (Don't go spreading the word to the next 'whoever' . . .we're scrutinizing any possibilities pretty seriously.  We live here, too, you know :)  If you have any ideas on possible tenants, make sure you'd want them living under yourself first!)  We have a few possibilities already (all people we LIKE), and its something that we've prayed up and feel good about.  Its a perfect plan, though.  Its a space that we thought we'd use, but don't, and its completely set up for somebody to live there.  Why not turn it into an income producer?  Hopefully this will all work out as planned.  Like I said, we're pretty excited about everything and Patience (my middle name, of course) is ready to see some action. 

The kids are all great.  Christmas is a blur, and now that we've started school back, things are finally getting back to what we consider to be normal.  We've noticed one more little spot on Daisee's head (in dealing with the Alopecia) but unless it turns into something bigger, to most people it won't be noticeable.  The only concern with this one, though, is that its on the very front of her head and if it does grow, you probably won't be able to miss it.  Lots of if's, though, with this condition, even still.  And, hey, . . . going back to the beginning of this entry . . . its ok, right?  We can deal.

I certainly hope the rest of your week affords you much joy with those you love.  Eat dinner together one night this week and discuss this with your family: 

In Luke 17, ten lepers were healed of their disease, but only one returned to thank Jesus.  Think of something that each family member has done for you recently.  Then express your thanks by saying, "I really appreciated it when you . . ." or "Thank you for . . ."

Nothing earth-shattering, but good conversation to have.

Take care . . .

Love,