field trip to the Tx Civil War Museum

A fun trip up to the Texas Civil War Museum near Ft Worth.

All the kids did a scavenger hunt to answer about 20 something questions.

Their prize for getting it all right was old fashion candy sticks which they loved :)

The girls had to find specific items from clues hinting to exhibits.

Hubby and Bub worked on the kindergartener page and had to find things that started with the letters of the alphabet. The "Z" was nearly impossible to find... it wasn't a "thing" but a "name"

Non Newtonian Fluid Experiment

What is needed

• Cornstarch (available at the grocery store)
• Water
• Bowl or dish

That's it!

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What to Do

This is a very messy experiment - but it cleans up really easily. Go somewhere that you can make a bit of a mess, and do this:

• Take some cornstarch, and put some in the bowl.
• Add water, slowly. As you add the water, stir the water into the cornstarch. Don't use a spoon - use your hands to do this. This is part of the fun, and you will also be able to tell when you have put in enough water!

The key is to add just enough water so that the cornstarch and water mix will flow very, very slowly. Now you have something which is a very strange goo indeed.

Here are some things to try:

• Smack it! If you hit the mixture really hard, it might even break.
• Pour it from hand to hand. If you go slowly, it will pour freely.
• Roll it into a ball. If you keep rolling, you can roll it into a nice ball. Of course, as soon as you stop rolling, it will ooze and turn back into a puddle.
• Bounce it! If you get the right consistency, you can even bounce a ball of this goo!

What is Happening

The cornstarch is made up of long chains of atoms - a polymer. These chains can move past each other, but they take some time to do this. If you pour it slowly, it can flow like a liquid. If you try to force things and make the chains slide more quickly than they want to, they get entangled - and the mixture gets firmer. So if you push hard on it, it acts more like a solid.

The real explanation is actually a bit more complicated than this. But the exact workings of mixtures like this is something that is not all that well understood. Folks sometimes get upset when there is no really good answer for things in science, but really that's a good thing - if we already knew everything there was to know, there would be no reason to try new things - and what's the fun in that?

Other Things to Try

If you add different amounts of water, you can get mixtures that work very differently. You can also try different liquids. Corn syrup and cornstarch can make a mixture that will do weird things in the presence of static electricity, for instance.

Arlington Homeschool Book Fair!

May 8-9, 2009 We are hoping to go this year. We went last year for the first time and did not schedule enough time to see everything. We arrived only 2 hours before the fair closed. LOL! Not making that mistake again! We hope to see our homeschooling friends there! We'll be easy to spot as Hubby is my gentle giant ;)

14 days of homeschool

THE 14 DAYS OF HOMESCHOOL written by a homeschool mom and her kids*(Sing this to the tune of "THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS")*

On the first day of home school my neighbor said to me, "Can you home school legally?"

On the second day of home school my neighbor said to me, "Are they socialized, can you home school legally?"

On the third day of home school my neighbor said to me, "Do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you home school legally?"

On the fourth day of home school my neighbor said to me, "What about P.E.,do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you home school legally?"

On the fifth day of home school my neighbor said to me, "YOU ARE SO STRANGE!What about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?"

On the Sixth day of home school my neighbor said to me, "How long will you home school, YOU ARE SO STRANGE, what about P.E., do you give them tests,are they socialized, can you home school legally?"

On the seventh day of home school my neighbor said to me, "Look at what they're missing, how long will you home school, YOU ARE SO STRANGE!, what about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, do you home school legally?"

On the eighth day of home school my neighbor said to me, "Why do you do this, look at what they're missing, how long will you home school, YOU ARE SO STRANGE, what about P.E. do you give them tests, are they socialized, do you home school legally?"

On the ninth day of home school my neighbor said to me, "They'll miss the prom, why do you do this, look at what they're missing, how long will you home school, YOU ARE SO STRANGE!, what about P.E., do you give them tests,are they socialized, do you home school legally?"

On the tenth day of home school my neighbor said to me, "What about graduation, they'll miss the prom, why do you do this, look at what they're missing, how long will you home school, YOU ARE SO STRANGE!, what about P.E.,do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you home school legally?"

On the eleventh day of home school my neighbor said to me, "I could never do that, what about graduation, they'll miss the prom, why do you do this, lookat what they're missing, how long will you homeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE,what about P.E. do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?"

On the twelfth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "Can they go to college, I could never do that, what about graduation, they'll miss the prom, why do you do this, look at what they're missing, how long will youhomeschool, YOU ARE SO STRANGE, What about P.E., do you give them tests, are they socialized, can you homeschool legally?"

On the thirteenth day of homeschool I thoughtfully replied: "They can go to college, yes you can do this, they can have graduation, we don't like the prom, we do it cuz we like it, they are missing nothing, we'll homeschool forever, WE ARE NOT STRANGE!, We give them P.E., and we give them tests, they are socialized, AND WE HOMESCHOOL LEGALLY!

On the fourteenth day of homeschool my neighbor said to me, "How can I get started, why didn't you tell me, where do I buy curriculum, when is the next conference, WILL PEOPLE THINK WE'RE STRANGE? I think we can do this, if you will help us, can we join P.E. and we'll home school legally."