Game Schooling - Gobblet

Gobblet is another logic game, a smart spin-off from tic tac toe. Mindware.com says:

This game has won more awards than we can fit in this space-and no wonder, with astonishingly easy rules and addictive, fast-moving play. Players place four pieces in a row to win, "gobbling" their opponent's pieces. A wonderful exercise in strategy and logic.

This is another game we received when Mane was about 5, and it was an instant hit with both older and younger folks in the family. I even had a good friend of mine playing round after round with me on a camping trip a few summers ago! As Mane gets older, her play gets more sophisticated. It's great practice for learning to stay focused and attentive, too.  It reminds me of chess because of the way that you have to "see" several different possibilities for your opponent's next move. In Gobblet you have to plan for bigger pieces to be able to "gobble" littler pieces and strategically place the larger pieces that cannot be "gobbled."

Chemistry Lesson - Lewis Dot Diagrams

We are STILL loving the middleschoolchemistry.com lessons, and we got to the end of chapter 4 today and wanted to play around MORE with Lewis Dot Diagrams. So, I found this website that let us practice online:

http://chemsite.lsrhs.net/bonding/flashLewis.html

Then I started putting together a list of materials that we need for chapters 5 and 6. These chapters are a bit more materials-intensive than the previous chapters. For the homeschooling family this can be a bit of a challenge. I'm reading through the lesson to see what can be adapted and what we definitely want. If there's anything we feel like we definitely need and can't get locally, we'll be ordering from Flinn Scientific.

Game Schooling - Blokus

I had a lot of fun this week teaching my friend's 5yr old to play Blokus! (And the 2yr old played his own pieces with help from both of us)! In 2011 Blokus was featured in the journal Mathematics Teaching in Middle School, and was cited as teaching students to "exercise spatial awareness, analyze attributes of two-dimensional shapes, compare patterns, and use logic -all of which encompass NCTM's Content Standards."

We started playing Blokus when Mane was five and received it as a Christmas gift. The whole family loved the game. We took it on a family vacation, and it was enjoyed by the 5yr old, the 17yr old, and both parents! That's definitely a win! Blokus gets more complicated as players develop the skills listed in the journal article. A review at The Guide for Toys says this:

Blokus Classic is an award-winning game of strategy in which players compete to be the first to place each of their 21 colored pieces on the game board.  With each color beginning at one corner of the board, each piece must touch at least one other piece of the same color but only at the corners.  With every move, players use thinking skills for strategical moves and blocks.  The game ends when all players are blocked from laying down any more pieces. The player with the highest point total based on number of pieces played and any bonuses, wins.

Math Homework

Math homework in a cozy kitchen with a warm mug o' something! Mane is drinking her "not-no" coffee, Cafix, with coconut milk in a Harry Potter inspired hand-painted mug.

This year she's doing Saxon Math 87. This is our fourth year with Saxon, and Mane is doing awesomely well. We like the way Saxon teaches incrementally, making learning feel pretty effortless. And we like the way that lessons provide constant practice and review for maximum retention. And, FINALLY, today I heard Mane exclaiming, "Oh, I like these kind of problems!" as she hit certain problems in her lesson.

America: The Story of Us

This is how history is done at Peregrin House! We've been watching the History Channel series, America: The Story of Us. The History Channel website has study guides, bonus videos, and links to other websites to extend the lessons. Mane kicks back on the couch with her history binder and answers study guide questions as we go along.

We're currently on episode six. (This is Week Eleven of the school year for us.) I must say that the videos have been a little bloody, but, then again, that is what a lot of history has been. I'm happy that the series is not sugar-coated. It *does* go by fast. Twelve episodes take the viewers from the revolution to modern times. We've taken some time in the middle to watch supplementary videos about President Lincoln, the Civil War, and the Civil Rights Movement. We've also checked out picture books from the library about a number of the early presidents and their families. Mane has been keeping a list of presidents and their wives. She's working on memorizing the names of the presidents.

After this, our plan is to work our way through the PBS series, Faces of America, about the history of immigration in the U.S.A.

Covalent Bonding Experiment - Day 2

Yesterday I posted the beginning of our project separating hydrogen and oxygen in water with a 9v battery. Here's what we've got today:

 See the gas bubble in the top of the test tube? That wasn't there yesterday, and the tube was completely submerged under the water. So, no outside air could get into it. That's hydrogen gas!

We know it isn't oxygen collecting in the tube because the oxygen is reacting with (oxidizing) the copper wires and turning it blue at the bottom of the jar:

Note: This project is set up somewhat differently from the project described at middleschoolchemistry.com. We used 2 test tubes under water in order to collect the gas (rather than just watching the gas bubble in the jar). The wires go directly into the tubes under the water. We held the tubes close together with a rubber binder so that the electricity would flow between them better.

Atoms, Molecules, and Bonding

We are still working our way through chapter 4 of MiddleSchoolChemistry.com. We've worked through the lesson on energy levels and valence electrons. Today we talked about covalent bonding, double bonds, and ionic bonds. Then we put together a contraption to separate the hydrogen and oxygen in water! This one we did with Mango's help:

Submerged test tubes filled with water (no air bubbles) in a mason jar full of water

Placed wires under each of the test tubes without letting any air into the tubes!

Set-up Success!

Wires connect to 9 volt battery...

This one will sit on our table for a few days while we watch the tubes fill with hydrogen and oxygen, as the water molecules are blown apart by electricity!