Tuesday, January 30, 2018

We Rode a Driverless Bus

We had this random adventure back in the early fall, but the kids are still talking about it.

To be fair, it WAS pretty weird.

For two entire days, our hometown blocked off its main street downtown so that citizens could sign up for free tickets and ride a driverless bus.

Why? I do not know why city government does the things that it does. I just get on the bus!

The driverless bus was smaller than I thought that it would be--


--so its benefit isn't that it holds a lot of people; I think that there was maybe room for a dozen on this bus?


It only has seats for six of these people, if you squish--


--so its benefit isn't really that you can sit down while you get where you're going, because like as not you're going to be standing.

It also drove reeeaaaaally slowly, as in a brisk walking pace, so you're not going to use it to get where you're going any faster.

It could navigate around obstacles--


--but it apparently always has a driver on board who can manually operate the bus in case of emergencies, so you're not really saving money by employing fewer people if you use it.

It WAS super cool to ride in--I mean obviously, it was a driverless bus!!!--but I couldn't really work out its usefulness. I guess if you put it in an area where there's mostly foot traffic, with its own lane, like in a tourist area, you could save people some walking, but if a bus only holds twelve people, you're not really benefiting that many people, unless you had a whole fleet of them in constant operation. Same if you used it on our university campus, where there is lots of distance between buildings, but again, our local campus has an enrollment of over 48,000 students, so ferrying them around by the dozens doesn't feel feasible.

Ah, well. In 80 years, when my children are on the holo-talk circuit showing off their vintage digital pics of them test-riding the world's first driverless buses, I'm sure they'll laugh at how naive my doubts were. 

Because the buses will be flying by then, of course. Or utilizing warp zones. THAT would be efficient!

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Homeschool History: The Feudal Economy via Skittles

The Medieval period is my favorite time period to study (one of my Master's degrees actually focuses on the Medieval period), but it wasn't very nice for many people to live in. The economy of the early Medieval period, at least in Western Europe--in Eastern Europe, this economy lasted a lot longer; Russia, in particular, was RIDICULOUS about it--was de-centralized, and built on the unpaid, enslaved labor of the disenfranchised poor.

Essentially, the feudal system was a pyramid scheme, and one gloomy school day (as you'll see in the photos below), the children modeled it in Skittles.

At the bottom of the pyramid are the serfs. They are born and live their lives and die on the same estate; they do not have permission to move away from it. They are required to give labor, usually manual labor in farming and building, to the knight who "owns" their estate, although additional labor, such as serving in the knight's household or performing other services, is paid. They also may farm and labor for themselves in their free time, and indeed, they must, if they're to eat and clothe and house themselves.

Let's say that each serf household, then, can earn ten Skittles for themselves in a year. Skittles, for a serf, represents surplus food and goods, maybe a little cash money.

However, the knight who owns the estate that the serf lives on owns the land that the serf farms and the serf's house,  etc. The serf must pay that knight rent. The serfs probably farmed some wheat for themselves, so that they could have bread to eat. The knight owns the mill; the serf has to pay to get the wheat milled. The serf probably traveled on a road or over a bridge to get to the mill or wherever else the serf needs to go. The knight owns that road and bridge, built with free serf labor; the serf has to pay a toll to use it.

This means that out of the ten Skittles that the serf's household was able to earn in a year, they're left with about...



Two. Two Skittles is not enough to live on for a year, and so the serf's family is abjectly poor. Their pigs and chickens live inside the hut with them to help keep them warm. When they're sick, they require charity from the knight's wife and daughters to feed and doctor them. Their lives are short and hard.

The knight, now, the knight does somewhat better. He doesn't actually farm his land; that's what the serfs are for. He has an estate manager to keep things running and profitable, but he's also expected to understand the workings of his estate and to gain the love and loyalty of his serfs. His first loyalty, however, is to his lord who gave him his estate. He probably served that lord well in some battle or other, and his prize was this land and its income, which makes him really more of a minor lord, now, rather than a knight, as such, but let's keep it simple for the children, shall we? The lord will still do the knight favors, and he'll participate in ceremonies and such.

The knight, too, is expected to pay fealty to his lord. Fealty is paid through labor, often fighting in whatever squabble or little war the lord has gotten himself into, but also through goods and money. The knight has to pay on some of what he got from his serfs, and some of whatever treasure or goods he was able to obtain during whatever fighting and looting he'd been involved with. This means that after a year, he's left with:



Seven or eight Skittles. That's not bad, and his household can live pretty well on that. But if he's got daughters, he'll need to marry them off as soon as they're old enough so that someone else can feed them, and if he's got sons, most of them are going to have to join the clergy or find other lords to serve as knights, because he doesn't have enough land to pass down a decent income to all of them.

The lord, now? The lord has it great. The lord has lots of knights paying him fealty, and those knights will also fight for him in his own squabbles, and when the king calls for soldiers to fight HIS petty squabbles, the lord can call on those knights, as well. The lord owes fealty to the king, getting presents and favors from him, paying him in goods and labor, but overall, he's high enough up the pyramid that after a year, he's left with:



Sixteen to twenty Skittles. That is PLENTY. The lord has enough of an income that he can divide his estates up a bit when he dies, although some sons are still going to have to think about becoming clergy or knights or marrying up. Daughters will generally be married off to similarly wealthy families, although their parents always have an eye on marrying them up. Life is generally pretty good when you're a lord. You've got fancy food, plenty of servants, nice clothes, etc. You spend a lot of your time overseeing your downline, and sucking up to the royals, and going to church, but you have a lot of free time, too, and a lot of parties.

The king, though. The king is where it is AT. Check out your spoils!


Every serf, every knight, every lord is paying up to you (unless you're in France. France is something else, and they'll have a whole revolution about it in about 400 years). Admittedly, you have a lot of politics and management to get done, you can't marry who you want, you're surrounded by toadies and spies, but eh. Look at all your Skittles!

Here, then, is all of early Medieval Europe at one table:

In Western Europe, this economic system didn't change until the Black Plague killed off most of the population. Afterwards, the labor shortage was so great that the serfs were able to agitate for reform, including the right to actually leave their estate for the first time. Some of them went to estates where there were better conditions, but some of them went their own way and found new land and made new economies among equals.

And boom! You've got towns.

Like the Medieval period? Here are some other resources we've enjoyed:

Monday, January 22, 2018

How to Make a DIY Magnet from Any Paper

I collect fan art, and one of my favorite artists is the author of My Life as a Background Slytherin. I was SUPER stoked to buy a print and a book of collected works from her etsy shop last year, and even more SUUUUUUPER stoked when it came with a teeny-tiny bonus print!

My teeny-tiny bonus print was not going to go live in a drawer, so instead I made it into a super awesome magnet, which is something that is super easy to do with any paper.

Super, right?

Here's how to make your own DIY magnet from any paper:

Step #1: Don't trim the image that you want completely to size, instead leaving some border around it that you can trim later. Turn it over, and cover the back well with double-sided tape (for the quick and dirty solution) or archival-quality glue, if you want your magnet to last forever:


Step #2: Stick your paper to the back side of a piece of mat board, then trim to size with a ruler and craft knife:


Step #3: Use clear packing tape (for the quick-and-dirty solution) or archival-quality sealant (if you want your magnet to last forever) to protect the front of the magnet from stains:


Step #4: Use an epoxy glue (I prefer E6000) to attach a magnet to the back of the mat board. Let it cure, then use your magnet!


I know, I know--ALL my magnets are pretty baller. I've got a souvenir from our Alaska cruise up there, as well as some Super Mario Bros. magnets, as well as some DIY Scrabble tile magnets!

I might need an even bigger metal board...

Thursday, January 18, 2018

Cincinnati with Kids

I am in serious road trip planning mode right now (Spring Break, here we come!), but whenever I start my research, I always also start to reminisce about all the other great vacations that I've taken with Matt and the kids.

Cincinnati is one of my favorites, totally drivable for even a day trip from our hometown, but with more than enough to do to fill up a long weekend. The kids and I were last there in October, when we added to my list of great things to do in Cincinnati. Here are all of our favorites over the years, all nice and organized for you:

Cincinnati Zoo


Now, I have met people who dislike the Cincinnati Zoo, but when we went, we thought it was lovely and exciting and that the animals looked well cared-for and that there was an emphasis on animal conservation. 

Mind you, something that happened to us there did foretell the Harambe tragedy pretty clearly, but then, I'm quite used to human beings being the most obnoxious and most dangerous  creatures that I encounter.

William Howard Taft National Historic Site


The William Howard Taft National Historic Site wouldn't be a terribly engaging field trip for a super little one, as it's just a museum and historic house tour, BUT it has a Junior Ranger program that will engage elementary and up, AND it's indoors, so you've got something to do for the morning even if the weather is cruddy.

Newport Aquarium 


You can simply go to Newport Aquarium, of course (which is technically across the state line in Kentucky, but it's nevertheless practically in downtown Cincinnati), but I highly recommend one of their Family Overnights, which my Girl Scout troop attended over the summer. We didn't get as much sleep as I wish I, personally, had, but we did see every single thing in the aquarium, much of it via private tour, and many backstage scenes that regular aquarium visitors don't get to see. And since our arrival was in the evening after the aquarium closed to the public, and our departure was just as the aquarium was opening the next day, it took care of our overnight and left the days free for more sightseeing!




Riverfront Park

Seasonally, this is the BEST thing to do in Cincinnati! You could spend the entire day at the Riverfront Park, walking the whole stretch and stopping for the carousel, the porch swings overlooking the river, the shady spots to sit in the grass, tons of creative, interactive features and playgrounds and mazes and climbing structures and wading areas all along the paths:

There weren't food carts, though, at least on the day that our Girl Scout troop was there, so finding a budget lunchtime option was a struggle. Finally, we settled on burgers and hot dogs at the single spot under one of the bridges, so if you go during a mealtime, plan to pack or leave the park to eat in a restaurant downtown.

Jungle Jim's


Yeah, this is my kids' favorite thing to do in Cincinnati. There are two Jungle Jim locations, and we've been to both of them by now and like them both equally. I'm there for the interesting international food--I was able to find spoon sweets!--but the kids are all about the novelty food:

It's also often international, and we'll take it home and make a taste-test out of it. I like to pretend that it's educational.

Trying new things is ALWAYS educational!


Obviously, we've only just tapped the surface of what Cincinnati has to offer the traveling family, and we've already got more to do when we go there than you could possibly do in a single weekend. 

And we still haven't gone to a baseball game!

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Projects to Enrich the Girl Scout Cadette Book Artist Badge

The Girl Scout Cadette Book Artist badge is my favorite of the Cadette badges.

Because really, who doesn't want to earn a badge in bookbinding?!? The ability to make your own bound book is the best thing ever, and it's absolutely one of those skills that will grow with you throughout your entire life.

But of course I've never met a lesson plan that I couldn't futz with, so you won't be surprised to learn that I don't think that the Book Artist badge goes far enough. The bookbinding skills are excellent, but there's so much more to be said. You can't make a book without paper, for instance, and so papermaking, to me, seems essential.

Many lovely books also have decorative endpapers, so obviously you need to explore different ways to make artistic endpaper.

And Girl Scouts promise to use resources wisely, so I don't think you can talk about making new books without also talking about ways to productively re-use the tattered and torn old books already out there in the world.

So these projects, then, aren't necessarily projects that fulfill one of the requirements of the Cadette Book Artist badge--instead, they're projects that enrich it, that allow Girl Scouts to dig deeper and explore further, and that open up new possibilities for interested girls:

Papermaking


I think that an understanding of how paper is made is a great place to start when you're learning how books are made, and the process is surprisingly easy and kid-friendly. Here's one kid's very first piece of handmade paper:


Here are some ideas for papermaking:

  • basic handmade paper (we put comic books in ours!)
  • photo paper. This isn't exactly making paper from scratch, but rather making interesting photographs into pages for a book, with the idea that you can doodle and journal on them.

Artistic Endpapers

These are intended to be pasted down to the book cover to hide where it's attached, but they're lovely works of art in themselves, and since they're abstract, making them is a fun, process-oriented sensory experience.
  • alcohol ink and tissue paper. The tute specifically uses this for an album cover, but I think that you could cover a thinner piece of paper and make endpapers, as well. Tissue paper is easy to obtain, and alcohol ink is fun to play with!
  • printmaking with Styrofoam. This would be an easy project to gather the supplies for. Ask friends, family, and parents to save you the tops of their Styrofoam take-out containers for a month, and you'll have LOADS for printmaking.
  • shaving cream marbled paper. This project was SO FUN, and the paper turned out great! I highly recommend it.
  • wine cork stamps. Use these DIY stamps to stamp all over high-quality paper to make endpapers.

Upycled Book and Book Page Crafts

Girl Scouts use resources wisely, and there are so many discarded, unwanted, damaged books in the world that it would be a shame to learn all about how to make new books and neglect exploring all the ways that you can make old books new again.

And yes, many people, when confronted with book and book page crafts will say the following "I could never destroy a booooooooook!"

To that, I say, "Really?!? You're going to treasure that complete set of Reader's Digest Condensed Books, all fifty volumes that do nothing but offer five-page synopses of Moby Dick and A Tale of Two Cities? You're going to pass down to your children the thrift store copy of Green Eggs and Ham that has three pages missing and blue scribbles all over the rest?"

Of course you're not. Nobody actually wants books like those. But I'm going to take that Reader's Digest Condensed Book and teach my kids how to make a book safe out of it, say, and then they're going to keep secret treasures inside. I'm going to teach them how to take the covers off of that Dr. Seuss book and make their own journal, and then they're going to keep a diary inside of it. Here are some other ideas for making much better use of old books and book pages:


  • beeswax-coated paper. This is more a sensory activity than anything else, but if you cut the paper to shape, punch the holes, and then coat it in beeswax, you can make a pretty sturdy bunting out of it. Do the embellishing and decorating first, as well as the cutting and punching, and you'll have reusable gift tags. 
  • book page poetry. We did this project with an old Sweet Valley High book, and the poems came out awesome.
  • decoupaged book page mosaic tesserae. Older kids working on a more sophisticated mosaic piece could make these with proper safety gear on--broken glass is SHARP! For younger kids, buy flat-backed glass marbles and let them make them into magnets.
  • decoupaged monograms. You can buy letter blanks at any big-box craft store, or you can make your own out of cardboard.
  • decoupaged room decor. I think it would be fun to have every girl bring something from her room to decoupage. The lampshade in this tutorial would be quite the accomplishment!
  • padded envelopes made from book pages. If you need some small-scale padded envelopes, or perhaps packaging for a gift, this DIY looks much quicker and easier than even running to the store to buy some would be.
  • paper feather. These would make such cute party decorations or costume components.
  • paper flower. The tute calls for newspaper, but you could use vintage book pages just as easily.
  • paper scrap pendants. Make these with the leftover flurries of paper after a bookmaking project; if you have a multi-level troop, this project would also complete a step of the Junior Jeweler badge.
  • paper scrap magnets. Here's another way to use paper scraps, if you're not into pendants.
  • plasticized paper. This probably wouldn't make the book pages sturdy enough to make sit-upons, but maybe a picnic tablecloth?
  • upcycled artwork. This elaborate project lends itself well to process-oriented fun, but I bet it wouldn't be too challenging to make it come out cute, as well.
  • vintage book photo album. This would work well with old dime novels. Find one whose book cover lends itself to a cute theme!
  • watercolor and Sharpie-embellished book pages. Inspired by this blog post, the kids and I did our own drawings with Sharpie on vintage dictionary pages, and then embellished them with watercolor. 
P.S. Want more Girl Scout projects? Follow my Craft Knife Facebook page where I post what works and what DOESN'T work, right as it happens!

Friday, January 12, 2018

In Which I Write New Kids on the Block Mary Sue Fanfiction

In order to not be a hoarder (which is a losing battle, I'll go ahead and tell you), I've lately been going through some of the random piles of papers and keepsakes that I've collected over the years.

And yes, I HAVE been tossing some of it! I saved, like, napkins from places that I don't even remember. I have blurry photographs of people whose faces I don't know. Scrapbooks full of totally random pictures cut out of magazines. I have no idea what I was up to with that...

But of course there are treasures, as well. I was stopped dead this morning when I just happened upon a snapshot of Mac, sitting in front of some waterfall or other, looking pensive and perfect and so, so young. Now that snapshot gets to go on my wall, instead. I destroyed with happiness every member of this super dorky genealogy Facebook group focused on my grandparents' hometown by carefully unbinding, scanning every page  before carefully rebinding (thanks, Girl Scout Cadette Book Artist badge!), and then uploading the entire contents of my Mamma's autograph album from the years 1941-1943 to the group. You'd think it was Christmas all over again, with the enthusiasm with which my contribution was received. I'm pretty chuffed, as well, that my Mamma's album could bring so much pleasure to people still.

The most fun, though, is recovering things that were written by and for me when I was a kid. When I was in the fifth grade, I was out of school for a tonsillectomy, and the whole class made me cards. I found (and scanned, and uploaded to his Facebook timeline...) a get-well card that one boy made for me, a really elaborate card that was a combination of recipes that all involved murdering cats (you had to stir together a cup of motor oil with a cup of cat blood and its brains, etc.) and a bunch of really stressful reminders that we had a big project coming up and our teacher was going to be mad if I didn't finish. Thanks, Chris!

I found a letter that another friend wrote me a week after I left for college, in which he referenced America Online a lot (like, a LOT) and demonstrated this new thing that he'd discovered. It looked like this:

:)

Yep, my friend wrote 300 words explaining the smiley to me. Thanks, Josh!

In my own hand... or on my own typewriter, rather, because my Mamma bought me a typewriter when I was in elementary school and I used my aunt's old secretary manual to teach myself how to type... I found a lot of...

Well, it's a lot of fanfiction, I guess you'd say.

A lot of on-the-nose Mary Sue fanfiction.

A lot of on-the-nose, Mary Sue, New Kids on the Block fanfiction.

I was into New Kids on the Block the same as I was also into Ozzy Osbourne and Metallica and Bon Jovi and The Lost Boys and Top Gun, but something about New Kids on the Block seemed to lend itself especially well to fanfiction, mostly of the sort where I'm discovered by some happy accident and join the band or something. It was pretty good stuff.

Of course, in other of my works, higher adventures ensue. Here, for instance, my friend and I happen up a--gasp!--drug deal gone wrong, and it ends in a--gasp!--murder!


You can tell from my writing that I know a lot about both drug deals and murders.

Okay, this next part is pretty great. Jenika and I have run headlong through the shopping mall, through a door marked PRIVATE, and we've just slammed it shut behind us and are catching our breath:


Gasp! We've happened upon the New Kids on the Block, themselves! I have no memory of this Biscuit fellow, but in my story he appears to be some kind of handler or chaperone. I'm betting that in reality, there would have been more staff on hand to tend to the performers' needs, but whatever. I'm also pretty sure that they're not going to serve as some sort of proxy Witness Protection Program for two twelve-year-olds. I mean, did we even talk to the police? It doesn't sound like it!

But the baby blue eyes of Joey McIntyre, amiright?

So here's where the story gets kind of weird. Remember how I was into New Kids on the Block AND Metallica? Top Gun AND The Lost Boys? Well, I now seem to introduce some sort of additional me, and the two of us converse, and, well...


Yay, I'm a vampire! That always WAS my dream! Well, that and marrying one of the New Kids on the Block. So, you'll never guess what happens next:


YEAH, I showed all those junior high bitches who never believed in me! I DID, TOO marry Joey McIntyre! And I DID, TOO become a vampire! And I DID, TOO start a vampire rock band and we're really successful!

Did I mention that I was a weird and lonely child? I probably didn't have to, did I?

Thursday, January 11, 2018

Homeschool Math: Resources for Art of Problem Solving's Introduction to Algebra: Chapter 1

Will's eighth-grade math spine is Art of Problem Solving's Introduction to Algebra. To her, it feels like a big step up from Math Mammoth 7, which she pretty much breezed through with little outside assistance, and she is working through the text quite slowly, much more slowly than she'd do in an organized class.

But of course, I'm ensuring that she actually deeply understands the concepts as she goes, which is far more important than zipping through at a steady pace.

Part of that process is providing a lot more scaffolding to the concepts than AOPS provides. By that, I mean that if a kid doesn't understand a concept when it's explained one way, then I find a couple more ways to explain it. I find a visual way to explain it. I find a hands-on way to work through it. I find drill problems to practice and cement it. That gets harder as the math gets more advanced--not because there aren't visual or hands-on ways to explain any math concept, because there always are, but because visual and hands-on learning is often neglected for older kids.

Here, then, are my hard-won extra resources for Art of Problem Solving's Introduction to Algebra chapter 1, which covers the order of operations, distribution and factoring, an introduction to equations, exponents, fractional exponents, and radicals:

Order of Operations

  • Order of Operations notebook pages. You'll find that I use a LOT of material from Math Equals Love, and that's because it's excellent, relevant, and just the kind of visual, hands-on exploration that makes math make sense. Here, I used the practice problems with Will so that she would have examples to put in her math notebook. We also discovered right away that her biggest issue with algebra is going to be writing out solutions step by freaking step. I still do not understand why she is balking at this, but she will actually erase a previous step and write the new one in its place rather than writing out the solutions. It's maddening. I've tried explaining to her every way I know how why writing out the solutions is important, but honestly, I think she's just decided to be stubborn about it. I now employ natural consequences in that if a problem is incorrect and she's written out the solution for it, I will mark exactly where she made her mistake and sometimes give her a hint about what to do next. If she's not written out the solution, I just mark it incorrect to try again, full stop.
  • Order of Operations worksheets. Drill problems, if you need them!

Distribution and Factoring

Introduction to Equations

Exponents, Fractional Exponents, and Radicals

  • The same Order of Operations notebooking pages, above, have a section on Negatives and Exponents that I think is necessary to review before beginning to learn exponent rules. I saved that section for Will to do here.
  • Exponent Properties. THIS handout was the game changer for Will's understanding of exponent rules. Before we completed these handouts (she and I both worked them, then compared our answers and discussed), she did not understand exponent rules and could not remember them. After we completed these handouts and discussed them, she understood them, and they were easy for her to memorize. Here's a little of my work in progress with the handouts:



See how working out the solution means that the math rule makes sense? Math rules. Make. Sense. If you don't understand WHY a math rule works, then you better figure it out, because there's no point in memorizing it otherwise.
  • Exponents Game. I don't usually make games and manipulatives anymore, as often they don't get enough use to justify the work and materials. I made this game, however, so that Will would have some practice without having to write and write and write.
  • Here the Exponent Rules are broken down more quickly, as a review. I'm holding onto this to present at another time, if Will seems like she needs to explore the concept again.
  • Exponent Rule Mistakes. We also didn't use these pages, but only because Will was ready to move on. They're still a possibility if she needs to review the concepts again later.
  • Radicals. Will started off absolutely baffled by radicals, so we used every single one of the resources here, other than the ones on rationalizing the denominator. Explicitly working through these resources on factoring radicals, adding and subtracting radicals, and multiplying radicals is the only way that Will was then able to understand the AOPS section on them. We also both completed the entire prime factorization chart in one evening, because Will was enjoying it (!!!). Previously, both kids have also memorized all of the prime numbers under 100, and I will tell you that has made life incalculably easier for both of them.
  • Two Methods of Prime Factorization. I taught Will both of these methods, but we both tend to prefer the factor tree, I think because we have the primes under 100 memorized.
  • Exponent worksheets. Drill problems, if you need them!
  • Radical Expressions worksheets.

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Homeschool Biology: CK-12 Biology Chapter 4--Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration

The kids and I are using CK-12's 9th/10th grade Biology textbook as the spine for this year's biology curriculum--for Will, who is in the eighth grade but who is taking high school-level coursework, this will be recorded as Honors Biology on her transcript.

In addition to that textbook, we're using The Illustrated Guide to Home Biology Experiments as our lab manual, and of course we've got a plethora of other reading/viewing/listening resources and hands-on activities to enrich our study.


Chapter 4 of CK-12's Biology textbook is a meaty one, with lots of awesome hands-on enrichment to do--there's molecular modeling, experiments and demonstrations, and lots of observation. Here's what my lesson plans for the chapter looked like:

We split this chapter into three entire weeks--you could do this in one week, but it would be an awfully science-heavy week for you. The kids read the chapter in sections, and then complete the review questions at the end of each section, writing their answers in their science notebooks. On other days, we explored the reading/viewing resources that I'll list at the bottom of this post.

I also assigned specific resources and hands-on assignments for each section. After reading "4.1 Energy for Life," the kids read the entry on photosynthesis in The Biology Book. This book is awesome because it's a historical encyclopedia of scientific discoveries in the field of biology--you get a factual explanation of photosynthesis, but you also get to place its discovery and study into historical context.

Syd also watched the BrainPOP movie on photosynthesis, then took its comprehension quiz. She LOOOOOVEES BrainPOP!

After reading this section is also when the kids practiced modeling the process of photosynthesis at a molecular level, using Zometools:







This exercise is a good math and chemistry enrichment, but most of all, it helps kids understand that photosynthesis is a concrete process that can be measured. And that's good, because we're about to measure it!

I helped the kids run an experiment from The Illustrated Guide to Home Biology Experiments--Procedure IV 1.1: Observing Carbon Dioxide Uptake:




It's a surprisingly accessible experiment, although you'll have to order many of the supplies online, and it's super cool, demonstrating not just the process of photosynthesis but also the fact that science?

It's magic!

Will later remixed this experiment as part of her academic scholarship application for Space Camp, so it also lends itself to testing a ton of other variables. If I had it to do over again, I would probably run this experiment with the kids first, then require them to design and run a remixed experiment, variables of their own creation, independently. Will got a LOT out of having to do that for her application.

After the experiment, I required the kids to answer the questions about it in the lab manual. These were a little tough for Syd, but do-able.

We also ran the experiment Procedure IV 1.2: Determining the Effect of Light Intensity on Photosynthesis. I didn't want to buy the bulb that the book recommends, because it's spendy, so instead I used one of the heat lamp bulbs that we use to brood chicks. The kids still got results, but it took a LOT longer than it would have if I'd bought the proper bulb:


 I'd suggest buying the right one, but perhaps finding someone else who's experimenting with photosynthesis this year and splitting the cost.

Again, the kids both answered the questions about this experiment in the lab manual.

We didn't do any hands-on activities for the cellular respiration and anaerobic respiration units in this chapter, although Syd did watch the BrainPOP movie on cellular respiration and take the quiz afterwards.

Here are the YouTube videos that we watched during this chapter--I generally always use CrashCourse, SciShow, Khan Academy, and Ted-Ed as resources on YouTube:









And here are some of the other resources we used!

I'm randomly posting my lesson plans for Honors Biology out of order, because my life isn't confusing enough as it is, so although I haven't yet posted our work in chapters 2 or 3 of CK-12, here are my lesson plans for chapter 1 of CK-12 Biology.

Stay tuned, because we're on to the cell cycle now. Today, we're making meiosis cookies!

Friday, January 5, 2018

Homeschool Science: Demonstrate Carbon Dioxide Uptake and the Necessity of Light in Photosynthesis

The kids and I are using CK-12's 9th/10th grade Biology textbook as the spine for this year's biology curriculum--for Will, who is in the eighth grade but who is taking high school-level coursework, this will be recorded as Honors Biology on her transcript.

In addition to that textbook, we're using The Illustrated Guide to Home Biology Experiments as our lab manual, and of course we've got a plethora of other reading/viewing/listening resources and hands-on activities to enrich our study.


Time for more photosynthesis! After reading the chapter on photosynthesis in their textbook, exploring some other reading/viewing resources (more on that another time), and successfully modeling the chemical process of photosynthesis, the kids were well-prepared for a science lab that would allow them to see photosynthesis in action.

If you're following along with us in The Illustrated Guide to Home Biology Experiments, which makes a great lab manual for CK-12's 9th/10th grade Biology textbook, this is Procedure IV-1-1: Observing Carbon Dioxide Uptake. To perform this demonstration, we needed bromothymol blue, hydrochloric acid, several test tubes with rubber stoppers, and several sprigs of elodea, a water plant. If you're not doing this in the late autumn or winter, you can likely find elodea, or a similar water plant species, just by hiking to a local pond, but I bought ours from AquariumPlants on etsy. I've actually purchased elodea from this shop twice, because Will also wanted to use elodea for the experiment that she had to design and perform as part of her Space Camp academic scholarship application.

To set up this demonstration, we must turn the kitchen table into our science laboratory. That involves removing everything from the table, wiping it down, and laying newspapers down.

Boom! We have a science lab!

Syd measures out the correct amount of distilled water into a beaker:

Will adds bromothymol blue until its color is distinct:

Syd adds the blue-tinted water to select test tubes, some of which have sprigs of elodea already in, and some of which are going to be left empty:

The bromothymol blue solution in those test tubes will be turned slightly acidic not with carbon dioxide, which we know is required for photosynthesis, but with hydrochloric acid, which Will is adding a teensy drop of to each tube (notice the appropriate protective gear for once!):


Now we have some acidic solutions, but we expect that the bromothymol blue indicator will not change color when this plant is exposed to light:

Next, Syd introduces carbon dioxide to the remaining bromothymol blue solution, by the expedient means of blowing into it through a straw:



Science IS magic!!!

Now all Will has to do is fill the remaining test tubes with that solution--



--and here we have two springs of elodea, both in acidic solutions:

The kids put a test tube with elodea and bromothymol blue solution with carbon dioxide; a test tube with elodea and bromothymol blue solution with hydrochloric acid, and a test tube with only bromothymol blue solution with carbon dioxide into a dark room, and another set of the same in a sunny window:


They visit all of the test tubes every ten minutes to make observations. Within the hour, however, their experiment has a positive result:

See that test tube on the left? Its bromothymol blue is turning from yellow back to blue, and doing so first in the vicinity of the elodea sprig. This tells us that the solution is changing from acid to base, but the only thing added to that solution to make it acidic was carbon dioxide. The test tube with the hydrochloric acid solution is not changing. This tells us that the carbon dioxide is being depleted from that solution, but the only thing added to that test tube was elodea. The empty test tube with carbon dioxide added is not changing. 

This tells us that the elodea is depleting carbon dioxide from the solution. It's only doing so in the test tube that's in the sunny window; the matching test tube in the dark room shows no change.

This, then, tells us that photosynthesis takes carbon dioxide and requires light. 

And that was a good afternoon of science!

I'm slowly writing up our complete lesson plans for each chapter in CK-12 9th/10th grade Biology; here's chapter one.