Crystal Outcomes

For some reason no crystals have formed in the sugar jar. There looks like there is some collection on the bottom, but no formation. Salt one is growing though.

Piquing Interest in Learning

In an attempt to engage the teens in the house today in a project that I thought they could really get into, I picked a topic that I knew they both would like and added a bit of constructive as well as destructive properties to it.

They began on Brain Pop! watching a video on crystals and completing the quiz together ~ they had one answer that they did not agree on and they both turned out to be incorrect! Then we went to the experiments section and decided to try it out. For a competitive twist I gave KM sugar and DN salt, so they can see whose crystal forms first and what property differences they might have. I also choose to veer of course a bit from the original instructions -- I had them use nearly boiling water, so that it would dissolve to a solution better and they would not need to "shake" every so often. There are plenty of variations of growing crystals with sugar and salt all over the web, just be sure to check the sites before you send your kids there!







Once the jars were set aside to begin growing, I took out some geodes to bash! They had a good deal of success and got out some of those pent up teenage frustrations!

With DN here for the week and learning more about how our household works on a regular basis, this was the perfect opportunity for him to engage in an educational activity where he was interested in the subject and did not feel intimidated by the process or institutional feel of learning. He asked some really great questions and when I wasn't sure on an answer he saw that we could find the answer together. Although he has difficulty admitting it, I could tell that he was enjoying himself and learning at the same time.

Sometimes in order to engage the learner, all you have to do is take advantage of an aforementioned interest area. Paying attention to the actions of a child can pay off in so many ways. Even a child who is extremely resistant to any form of "schooling", "learning" or other educational jargon will give you hints about what might interest them. You may notice that when they are walking to the car and they tend to kick the rock ever so slowly, they always seem to be staring at the ground, you find rocks in the washer and in piles in next to the bed. This is a HUGE indication that for some reason his child is interested in rocks, geology and earth science. Now your challenge will be to present it to the child in a way that will really catch their attention.

Don't push too hard and when the child is done - THEY ARE DONE! Sometimes that means that they will stay on a topic for months and sometimes that means that they are only there for a few days or even hours. Pushing them to continue a study that they are no longer interested in or that they have learned enough about is not going to do anything, but make them more resistant the next time you try a learning sneak attack.

Good Luck and PLEASE feel free to post any helpful tips or ideas for encouraging the resistant learner!

Science Thursday - Biomes?

Our topic this week from our Science Review book was Biomes - it is ironic that this was KM's strongest area last year and the books review section was only 2 pages - compared to 6-8 in other chapters - so it was a good thing that she really already KNEW the material. Anyway she did two really fun habitat builders on adaptive curriculum and then wanted to do a project. WELL I figured she already had an aquatic habitat and a tropical habitat going with the triops and the terrarium, but she really wanted to do something - so I dug out some kits that I had gotten last year at a science museum and just totally forgot about until NOW! -

Crystal growing kits - hey didn't we try this before...these are crystal growing trees so I guess they could be part of a fantasy biome right?

If you have kids who are really impatient - these are the kits to get!
This was just minutes after we filled the trays..

and this was about 90 minutes later!

The next morning they had grown to this -

Don't know why the orange one is not as puffy...hmmm?...but could have something to do with the branches not being spread out as much as the others.
Now the tray will take a bit longer but will have permanent crystals whereas the trees are the soft dissolvable variety! I will keep ya posted on how they turn it!

The Year in Review

As I went along my merry route through my blog list today, I noticed that quite a few people were reminiscing of happenings from the past year - of course this led me to think of all the things that have transpired during 2008.

I would say that here at GCK Homeschool the word for the year would have to be:
revelations - an enlightening or astonishing disclosure

The first revelation would have to have been how wonderful homeschooling can be! We began our jaunt into Homeschooling in January and we will never turn back! She really has blossomed over the last year. Of course we have had some challenges, but that has generally been more about getting our rhythms and schedules in order, than any kind of reluctance or lack of interest in learning - in fact her love of learning has been reignited! She gets truly excited about what we are investigating and experimenting with. Anything hands-on is better than sitting in a classroom reading about what you could be doing - right! The favorite experiment would have to be the growing crystals:

The second revelation would have to come from the fantastic local resources that we had been missing out on while KM was in PS. We have had some wonderful field trips with our local homeschool groups and on our own, for that matter. I have been trying to think of what my favorite would be if I had to choose one and I would have to say that there were 2 favorites. The first one would be our trip to Concord's Orchard House - to see the home where Louisa May Alcott grew up - and Walden Pond - where Henry David Thoreau went to the woods -

Running a close second would be our day going to the Big Top Circus and the GIANT Build-a-Bear Store in Faneuil Hall!
The third revelation is one of our familial codependency. Our family has become extremely close during the last year and though we have had some sadder moments, the trials and tribulations have brought us to realize how important we truly are to each other. We lost some wonderful family members during the year and had some close calls with some others. I tried to stay on the lighter side of things here, but I felt I should mention it so that no one thinks it is all just sunshine and textbooks around here. Real life events and experiences can be so much more intriguing than anything you could read about in a book. We have had a lot of anatomy lessons come about from some simple explanations of illnesses!

I have never really been big on New Year Resolutions, as I have seen so many get forgotten within days - sometimes hours - of the ball dropping. However this year I am resolving to put our family's true beliefs into practice, to create our own traditions, and to be a united front against anything that stand in our way! We have become a better family and we WILL continue to keep moving in this direction!

My Favorite New Years Quote :

This bright new year is given me

To live each day with zest

To daily grow and try to be

My highest and my best!

By: William Arthur Ward

Best Wishes for a Bright and Happy New Year!

Duhhh! 1-26-2008

So APPARENTLY we were not suppose to have an airtight lid on the jar with the crystal in it….who knew! It said to cover it but as soon as we took that cover off the crystals started growing. KM was started to get nervous that the whole thing was going to be a total waste, so glad that is not the case. We are not letting the solution evaporate and the crystals are growing like crazy!!!! New problem: HOW DO WE GET THEM OUT OF THE JAR???
Will post pics and let you know how that turns out once solution has dissolved.

One Month In! 1-30-2008

So we have almost made it through our first month of homeschooling and I really think we have accomplished a lot. I am a bit surprised actually, looking at all that we have done because there were days that I was thinking “have we done anything today?”
We have been in decompression mode and trying to figure out “how“ this was going to work for us. We are very scheduled as I am a bit neurotic, however I am flexible with the schedule. I have had to rework the schedule several times and rethink the way we are approaching some of the curriculum areas, but we are starting to get in a good routine and flow.
I am also starting to understand a bit more about how unschooling and other less structured learning actually works. KM has been so interested in certain areas on her own that she wouldn’t have gotten to explore if they came up in school. They would have had the set amount of time and when the time is up it is up, whereas we were up one night until well past her bedtime looking up information on the Olmec Civilization BECAUSE SHE WANTED TO! Not because we were rushing to get the project or paper done, but because she was so interested in it. She just kept coming up with more and more questions and she couldn’t fall asleep until all of them were answered. So we are following curriculum but if it is something that she is just NOT interested in then we move through it a bit quicker. I want KM to be able to figure out what she WANTS to learn about in Art, Music, Science and Social Studies, but in Math and Language there are things she HAS to know and has to be lead more strongly through. I know no matter what I am doing the right thing for my child! She is getting more attention and opportunity than she ever could have in any other school.
Mind you not everything has been sunshine, roses and smiles. We have had our moments of aggravation and bumps in the road, but compared to what our house was like, it has been a day at the beach!
Every student can learn, just not on the same day, or the same way.-- George Evans

P.S. I still have not figured out how to get the crystals out of the jar!!!

Keeping Our Fingers Crossed!

Ok so it has been a few days and I think that the solution is solidifying on the bottom of the jar. There are a few crystals growing on the sides of the jar, however I can’t see anything growing on the actual rock where they are suppose to be! I don’t know what to do.
We are suppose to take the cover off the jar tomorrow so maybe we will see something more substantial happening. They also said in the instructions that things may develop more as the liquid evaporates. I have no idea what I am doing on this one. I am glad that we tried something for fun first and not something actually part of the curriculum cause I am just not good at these projects. I really think CJ is gonna have to step up on this end cause if this is any indication we are in for some trouble.
Keep your fingers crossed for us!!! We have fingers, toes and tails crossed over here!

Will the Crystal Grow? 1-20-2008

We started our first science project yesterday. This is NOT my area, so we bought a kit that had some cool things in it to get us started.
One of the first units in her science curriculum is atoms and forms of matter. I thought growing crystals would be a great demonstration of how atoms form and grow. KM already knew a few things about crystals from last year’s science so she was excited about growing the crystals.
We got everything we needed together and followed the directions to the exact letter. She has been checking it and she seems to think that they look like they are growing. I am not too sure…if they are growing I can’t see anything…but it has only been 24 hours so we will have to wait and see if the crystals will grow.
Keep your fingers crossed for us!