martinzoo

Today was an excellent homeschool day. GB liked it because he didn’t have to write. And I liked it because we learned a lot and got a lot accomplished.

We started with our Tomatosphere project plantings. We got 33 seeds in the ‘A’ packet and 37 seeds in the ‘B’ packet. So we planted all but 4 of the ‘B’ packet and decided to use those 4 seeds to do an experiment that we’ve been pondering.

Last year when we did the Tomatosphere project our only difficulty was keeping a consistent water level for the plantings. They either seemed too dry, or too wet. We’re going to try to do better this year. BUT it made us wonder about how that situation could be improved to the point where we didn’t have to be so diligent.

You know how diapers have that gel stuff inside them to absorb moisture? And you know how some expensive potting soils have something in them to help them retain water? Well, we wondered if we could mimic that result using a diaper’s gel.

We also worked on our Colonial Unit. I know some of you who read us all the time are wondering when on Earth we are ever going to finish this unit. But until now, we have been concentrating on our packaged curriculum, which is finished now. So for the rest of the school year GB and I will be learning in an interest-based environment. It’s kind of like having the best of both worlds for us. The packaged curriculum is nice and orderly, and I don’t worry about missing things that the County might want him to be learning. But I also like to let GB learn things that he is interested in. So the units had to be done in bits. Until now.

So today we learned about the cities and villages in Colonial times. And we focused on some of the people and businesses that would reside in those villages. Personally, I had never heard the term ‘whitesmith.’ So I learned that that was another name for the smith who worked with tin.

This project required a simple tin can. We then drew a pattern onto a piece of paper and taped it to the can. We thought a star was nice and appropriate.

Then we were supposed to use a hammer to bang a nail through the can, creating holes along our pattern’s lines. Maybe I’m overly protective, but I just kept having awful visions of what could happen if GB (who really has terrible small motor skills) was allowed to use a hammer on this can. So we used an awl tool instead. After trying the hammer/nail technique myself, I determined that the awl was much easier anyway.

These pictures are presented courtesy of GB. This is the inside of the can with a little tea light in it.

And this is the view from the front. We had to take it into our bathroom to get the full effect. Cute, huh?

Then we proceeded to dip some candles. Those of you who are observant will notice that, yes, that is a paraffin wax pot. But seriously people, it made the project so much easier. Thanks to Aquagirl for the nice Mother’s Day present!

Because we were learning about whitesmiths today, we used our ‘tin’ cup filled with cold water to cool down our candles after dipping.

Ta da!

And because we worked SO hard today, we decided to give our hands a nice paraffin wax treatment. Because we deserve it! I just love the older hand with the newer hand thing. Don’t you?