Here we are at the 50th State - Hawaii! I wish! We were suppossed to be going to Hawaii next week but stupid COVID regs are holding us up. So when you can't go there, create it in your own backyard.
To launch our official start of homeschool, I am creating a 'fly-by-the-seat-my-pants' curriculum around our 50 wonderful United States.
Today we read books about Hawaii, we colored and drew pictures of the fabulous island state and checked out the Google maps satellite images of the 8 main islands. We talked about the food, the fun and the history of Hawaii's revolution.
For science hands-on fun, we went out into our sandy backyard and created our very own islands complete with erupting volcanos. Hawaii is so interesting that we may spend a whole week here learning about the plants, food and weather that makes island living so inticing!
Uber excited to kick of homeschool with every kid's favorite science experiement, I eagerly led my kiddos outside to build their own fantastic sand volcano islands. Instead, we cussed and cursed as our beautiful sand volcanos cracked and fell over when we tried to add the plastic cup to the center.
Lauren had a brillant idea to put the cup into the sand mold before adding the sand. This worked well for her which just angered her brother to no end! Convinced to do things his own way, Zach brushed aside the sand molding buckets and created his own realistic volcanic cone.
He was quite proud of his ingenuity and insisted on creating his own lava eruption concoction. As any great teacher would, I gently suggested that it works best to add the baking soda first to the cup and then pour in the vinegar last.
"No, mom" he screamed. "I want to do this my own way. I am adding the vinegar first and then I'll pour in the baking soda."
"Ok" I responded. "I'm not sure it will work out very well that way but give it a try."
To his great disappointment, the mixture bubbled but didn't erupt into an overflowing lava field. He cried, he screamed, he kicked the sanda and ran inside- utterly defeated.
Lauren and I both had great success with out volcanos eruptions! This justseemed to just add fuel to Zach's disappointment.
"Let me try again!" he exclamed after he regained his composure.
"Ok," I responded again. " Can I help you this time?"
"No, absolutely not. This is my creative experiement and I want it different."
Again, he concocted a mixture of way too much vinegar and way too little baking soda. The result was a slightly bubbling cup similar to last time.
"Arrrgh!" he screamed, throwing down the empty cup of baking soda..
I couldn't contain my laughter this time. I had to turn around so he wouldn't see me breaking out in giggles.
Truthfully, I felt so badly for Zach. But meanwhile, I couldn't get the Charlie Brown kicking the football image out of my mind. He didn't need Lucy to foil his plans, he was his own Lucy.
Ah, the joys of a child who just wants to learn his own lessons - the hard way.
Stay turned... in my industrious yet unfocused mind, I envision us taking learning 'trips' to every state of the union. We will learn the capitals, the industry, the food and environment that makes each state unique. We can expand our knowledge in science and math via cooking up different experiments and food dishes.
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