Science Experiment and "How To Trick Your Child"

With the limited time we have, it is essential to be creative (and efficient!) with this homeschooling stuff.   Ramsey LOVES when we do "science experiments".   Because we are trying to do an even better job with cleaning overall, we have to do everything more often.... to include cleaning the toilets.   *Insert "meh" face here.*

So... being rather crafty, I told Ramsey we were going to do another science experiment today, to which he was thrilled!    I had all of the items ready for him for our lesson: a TOILET VOLCANO!

 I put the kid to work.   "Voila!", as Ramsey says.   Two-for-one deals that teach science as well as get the house clean are definitely a must!

A bubbly fizzy foaming cleaning party!

 Pure trickery.... and the kid loved it.  Ha.  ;-)

By the way, when I had mentioned in a different post that I would not be adding more homeschooling adventure posts... I lied.  Whoops.  *wink*  

Finally, a Beautiful Day!

The weather was nasty on Saturday, being chilly and ridiculously windy.  By Sunday, I had a horrible case of cabin fever.   Thankfully, the temp was 55°.   Ramsey didn't seem to give a rip if he stayed in or went out.   

I had purchased a new rainbow swing for him for Easter, but I broke it out early.  After Ramsey opened it, it seemed to give him a nudge to get outside!  

Eric put the swing together.  Soon thereafter, I made Ramsey put on his coat and shoes and we bolted out the door.

First stop: The play set.  Ramsey has a nice collection of rocks from last year.  He likes to "mine".  Here he says, he has granite, tin ore, diorite, and some other rocks.  He's very pleased with his collection.

He found the Hotwheels too.   He wanted to zoom down the hill with it, but it was too muddy, so that crazy little notion was nixed (don't need ruts in the yard).

Then, we went for a walk on the trail!  Gorgeous day with beautiful views.

We still have a little snow in areas, but it's melting swiftly.  Usually, by the end of March, the ice is melting and moving off the lake.

Then, we went for a walk on the other side of our house, on the paved road.  There was quite a bit of traffic for our [typically very untraveled] country road.

And, then back to the play set for more fun.

"Peace Out", says Ramsey as he chills in the shade.

His new swing is fun.  I tested it out personally and could have easily taken a nap on it!

After we came in and had supper, we got together online with Troy, Sarah, Sadie, Isaac, Nana, and Bumpa for a Zoom Video call (a very popular social notion, nowadays with the COVID-19 and "social distancing"!).   Ramsey thought it was amazing and acted like a squirrel the entire time.

COVID-19: Days Who-The-H-Is-Keeping-Track-Anymore?!?!

Last week, Eric went to the school to pick up Ramsey's schoolwork packet.  In it included "assignments" from his homeroom teacher, P.E. teacher, and Art teacher.  He also was given links to free online classes and assessments.   With the online links, his teacher can assign certain things for him to work on, in addition to the papers.  The "choice" board are things every kid needs to work on, check off, and then submit back to the teacher at the end of the week.

I'm not gonna lie... working my full time job AND trying to homeschool my child is quite a "challenge".  See above where they note that the child should be "working" 2.5-5 hrs per day.   They also sent home a structured synopsis of what a typical day should look like, complete with recesses, snacks, and classes.  Well... this is really "crisis teaching".  If I were actually able to focus and homeschool him properly, yes, we'd have a regimen.    As it stands.... we're winging it; there is no structure, but we're definitely getting it done!   And, he's learning, so.... 

Here's some writing and math (writing numbers to 100):

More math: We're working on learning to measure things.

After completing the workbook pages, I gave Ramsey a measuring tape and a ruler and he quickly possessed the need to measure a gazillion things in the house.

I'm not sure how impressed Riggs was, but he played along.

For Art, he colored... then I guess we could say added a bit of reading, as he read aloud every....single....one... of his set of 216 crayons.  

And... gotta write in the daily journals, so there's that.

Time for science!  I traced Ramsey's body on paper and then he drew in the major components of his circulatory system; his heart, arteries, and veins.

It's another crossover project.... it's "Art" too, now hanging on our glass patio door.

He's also been reading using free apps that have been made available to us by the school; Scholastic Weekly Readers, Epic book center, IXL learning, SeeSaw.   And, there is also a coding app where he can learn to code Minecraft.   We're just now diving into that.

COVID-19 - Day 6 No School (Stock Market Tips)

I promise I will STOP with the home-schooling updates after today.   I honestly didn't think things would get this crazy or linger a long time, but they have and looks like the coronavirus will be around for a while.   As of now, school will be off until April 14th.

That said, yes, Ramsey did some usual school work today (mostly writing today, as writing skills can always improve!).

Lately, he continuously asks to do science experiments.  I realized that I am going to have to go on Pinterest and find new things to do with him for STEM activities! 
[Mildly] panicking, I looked around for something "science-y" (that I could easily explain to a six-year-old) in the house.  I had just the thing: my diffusers! 

Maybe it helps, maybe it just makes me feel better, but I've been running three essential oil diffusers with anti-viral EOs for the last week and a half.  (It certainly can't hurt, plus it makes the house smell nicer.)

 I let him add the water to the diffuser.

 And drop in the essential oils we've been using.

Then, he turned on the diffuser, waited for it to heat up and watch the steam come out.   

The science in all of this: "States of Matter" liquid, solid, and gaseous.  Voila!

THEN... Ramsey's Daddy's influence came into play.  He started drawing [his own versions of] stock market graphs.  He started rambling about all of these stocks that "he owns".

According to his graphs, Nabisco (Oreo's parent company) went through the roof! ha!

And, according to the NASDAQ, Nabisco went up 13.14% today!  Dang, I guess we should have listened to him!!!!

COVID 19: The Coronavirus Outbreak

Posting this for a remembrance for future-reading, to remind us of a crazy time in our lives..... (not because it is unknown to anyone - it's been on news/media 24/7 for months!)

At the end of 2019, we'd heard about a new viral outbreak that had started in Wuhan China.  The Chinese government quickly built new hospitals (in less than two weeks!), cancelled sporting events (and everything else that would be a public event), and ordered people to be quarantined.  They even cancelled Chinese New Year.

At first, we wondered "What's the big fuss all about?", "Could this virus be any different than SARS, H1N1, MERS?", and figured "it's just another flu outbreak" and went on with life as usual.   But then, the bronchial/lung-targeting virus began to spread to other countries quickly.  Then, those other countries began to shut down completely, quarantining everyone to "flatten the curve".

Obviously, all of the details will be in the history books and Wikipedia.   But, locally-speaking, our schools originally shut down for one week (March 16-20), then extended into the next week, then to April 14th..  Just announced today that the date is May 1 before classes could potentially resume.   Restaurants and bars have turned into "delivery only" establishments, small businesses (boutiques, hair salons, etc) are still open, but suffer greatly....  Over the last few weeks, people have purchased mass supplies of toilet paper, bleach, cleaning products, Vitamin C, pain relievers, etc, causing shortages in supply (both in-store and online).  It seems like most have gone into full panic mode.

Grocers and big box stores finally put limits on the number of necessary items consumers were allowed to purchase.  All I have to say is... thank goodness for recurring monthly shipments from Amazon for paper products!  We're set.

The stock market tail-spinned from nearly 30,000 points to under 18,000 points in a matter of weeks.  People's 401Ks (to include my own), IRAs, and college-savings funds have been blasted.  

Eric's been continuing to play the stock market.  It's been a bit of a roller-coaster, but, knock wood, we're doing all right!

Flights have been minimized due to low demand (though lines for security and check-ins are awful) and cruise ships have been halted.  

So, here we are.... for the most part self-quarantined, except for Eric who is going to work every day, continuing his efforts to protect the city.  As the COVID-19 virus has been said to be 5X more contagious than influenza, he's taking great care not to come into contact with the higher-risk population (elderly, people with compromised immune systems, etc).

Homeschooling is now "the thing" and commences in the afternoons when I can break away from work!   The school will soon be giving parents state-approved curricula for all students.  We should see that this afternoon.  :-)  

Other fun things: "Spring Cleaning" is at full blast, we're dusting off games from our game shelf (Minecraft UNO, Star Wars Monopoly, Angry Birds Chutes & Ladders), and soon we'll be able to go outdoors and run around the yard without snow/winter gear.   

We will make the best of all of it.  And, this too shall pass.    God bless us all.  :-) 

Self-Quarantine Weekend

Self-quarantining isn't exactly a ton of fun, especially when you have a serious case of Spring Fever and just want to do something!  But, in the relayed wisdom of my sweet Grandma Myrtle (and Persian poets before her!) we do realize that "this too shall pass".

The weekend was filled with CLEANING, disinfecting, washing every blanket, sheet, pillowcase, etc, in the house.    But, as a way to redirect Ramsey from his Kindle or TV, Eric got out his police patches and coins.

Eric and Ramsey went through each and every patch.  Ramsey read them and put each one in on the carpet, in its own special place.   And, he read each and every one of the police challenge coins that Dad has.  His favorite patches were ones that were from SWAT teams.

COVID-19 - Day 5 No School

Another day of homeschooling.

So, really most of the day was time for Ramsey to play on his Kindle, with Legos, Little People, swords, etc.

But, when I was able to get him set up with his school work for the day (so glad we had stocked up on work books!), I put him to work on writing skills first.

We decided jump into some math and learn how to add three numbers.  (I was impressed at his ability to pick this up so quickly.)

Then, we moved into reading story problems and writing them out into math equations.

And then more reading and writing.

At the end of it all, snack time was probably the best!

Perhaps it was more like bribery.

COVID-19 - Day 4 No School

What was supposed to be the boys' first day of Spring Break actually became Ramsey's first day of homeschooling!   Connor and Bridger had left, so I couldn't have Ramsey just sitting on his Kindle the entire day.   So.. bring out the activity and workbooks!

We started with Art and colored for a bit, then learned how to draw ants, butterflies, and frogs.

 He likes "step-by-step" pictures/drawing.

 Then I gave him some math pages to do.  He finished them so quickly that I didn't think it posed much of a challenge.

 While I had to get on a conference call, I told him to do two more pages.  And, when he got them done, he could have a bit of  Kindle time.   I barely got logged onto my conference call and he was already downstairs showing me his finished pages for me to check!  Insane!

 After I was off my call, we had "P.E.", jumping on and off adjustable boxes.... (yes, in the kitchen)

 Balancing on the wobble/balance board...

 Ramsey did realize that it was a bit more difficult than it first appeared!

 Push-ups and sit-ups on the balance ball...

 And then we moved on to our Science experiment.

 This was to show him the importance of hand-washing and how soap affects germs.  I filled a plastic bowl with tap water, then added a ton of pepper.  The pepper sprinkles played the roles of germs.   I asked him stick his finger in the water to show what happens daily when we touch things;  germs attach and hang on tightly.

 Then, I had him stick his finger in liquid soap first and then touch the water.  All the "germs" scattered and were repelled.   I'm not sure if he was too thrilled about this experiment or learned much, as all he wanted to do was go wash all the pepper and soap off his hands.  If nothing else, he had one more hand wash today!

After our "lessons" he told me, "But Mom, we forgot 'Counseling'!"   Well... guess we can counsel tomorrow.  :-)
Or, our nightly chat after bedtime prayers would definitely hit the mark in that area.

We were informed that afternoon that the schools would have government-approved school curricula available next Tuesday for parents to pick up.   Hopefully that will keep senior graduation on track for May!