Our Year in Chemistry

I never studied Chemistry in school so when my girls said they wanted to do study Chemistry and do lots of experiments, I jumped at the chance. I did my research and looked for the most appealing books and curriculum which would give us lots of hands-on opportunities and I have to say we have had a really good time with Science this year.

We started off using Real Science 4 Kids Chemistry pre Level 1. 

Real Science-4-Kids Chemistry Level 1 Student Text

What I like about RS4K in general, is that it doesn't skimp on the real science. It uses the proper scientific terms from the start and it trains kids in the scientific method and it is easy and fun to understand and implement. The great thing is that they have set up their website so that you can check out their books in full online. This way you can gauge if it will work for you before you purchase. They also have an excellent workbook set called KOGS 4 Kids which allow kids to make connections between the scientific discipline they are studying (e.g Chemistry, Biology, Physics) and other disciplines like Philosophy, Language, Technology, History and Art. ( I haven't used these myself but have been SO tempted to do so). 

Pre Level 1 is aimed at K-3 and it was a little too simple for my older child and I felt I had to supplement with other books.  However, I thought the basics were covered well. It  has ten chapters and we got a good foundation in the study of Atoms and Molecules, Acids and Bases and chemical reactions. The only downside would be that I felt it was too brief and needed supplementing.

Some of the fun hands-on activities we did included building molecule models with marshmallows (big hit!); they were first allowed to build the models without any rules and then they had to build them according to specific rules. This was a cool way to introduce them to the idea of order governing the Universe right down to the tiniest atoms. 

What molecules might look like without rules

We also enjoyed observing chemical reactions using basic kitchen foods. We then created our own acid-base indicator from red cabbage and proceeded to test the properties of a variety of liquids. Kitchen science is so fun for kids (and mums)!

We supplemented our lessons by watching these episodes from Bill Nye the Science Guy which we all enjoyed immensely!

Bill Nye the Science Guy on Atoms and Molecules

What RS4K (Chemistry Pre-Level 1) doesn't have is a study on the Elements, and I felt that was an important omission. So, in searching out more material to help us -  I discovered R.E.A.L Science by Pandia Press. 

We really enjoyed what this added to our studies. It is complete one year curriculum that is simple but very thorough and enjoyable. The lesson starts with a notebook page that presents the information directly to the kids and it is then followed by one or two hands-on activities or experiments. The beginning of each unit will have a poem or rhyme of some sort that helps the kids remember the facts and the unit ends with some fun review in the form of a crossword puzzle. 

The experiments were easy to put together and did a good job illustrating the point. Again, each experiment requires the children go through the process of making a hypothesis, predicting a result, testing and observing what happens and drawing a conclusion. 

We were taken through the study of the Periodic Table in a gentle and interesting way. The girls enjoyed learning about the structure of an atom and built up different elements using marshmallows which you can see in the top photo. We then focused on studying and experimenting with the first 18 elements on the Periodic Table and the girls assembled an element book over a few weeks.

A free sample of their curriculum is available to download from here. 

Below are some of our favourite resources that I found to help round out our studies on the Periodic Table and the Elements.

These are some fun videos about the Elements which we enjoyed.

Another wonderful site for learning about the Elements is the Periodic Table of Videos produced by Nottingham University that allows you to see the elements react - of course, the explosive elements were the most fun! They are all introduced by a professor with crazy hair a la Einstein which just adds to a surreal sense of fun.

These have to be my picks for best books on the subject!

This is a gorgeous full colour exploration of each element and an engaging historical overview. My kids really enjoyed reading this. Five stars! 

The Japanese style graphics and comic tone make this a fun look into the qualities of each element. A quirky and engaging introductory reference book.

The Mystery of the Periodic Table (Living History Library)
This  book is on my wish-list. It looks like an excellent living book and it seems to have  a pretty long list of positive reviews.

                                                           
                                               What's Smaller Than a Pygmy Shrew?

This is an helpful and entertaining read to introduce the idea of atoms and molecules especially for younger kids.

Here are a bunch of links to other helpful resources for your Chemistry adventure:

General Sites:

Chemistry and You - excellent interactive site showing how chemistry is part of our everyday life.

Online Kitchen Chemistry game from PBS

Chemistry of Daily life 

What's that stuff - explains the chemistry behind stuff we used every day

Resources for starting a Chemistry lapbook (lots of printables) 

Free Chemistry Unit Study from Homeschool share 

Reeko's Mad Scientist Lab - tons of free experiments you can do at home 

Acids and Bases:

Alien Juice Bar - great game for learning about acids and bases.

The PH factor  - a virtual chemistry lab with information and lesson plans about the PH scale.

The Periodic Table:

Collection of Printable Periodic Table sites

Photographic Periodic table table of the elements

A visual elements Periodic table   

Game to test knowledge of the element symbols 

Periodic Table of Comic Books - for comic book fans! Click on an element and see a list of pages from various comic books featuring that elements

Chemical Reactions:

Top Ten Amazing Chemistry reactions

Top Ten Amazing Chemistry videos 

Kids Science Experiments  

How Fireworks works

Chemistry Comes Alive - videos showing fascinating chemical reactions

Polymers:

Kids Macrogalleria - learning about Polymers 

How to make slime and polymers 

No study will be complete (in my opinion) without watching this fabulous 3 part documentary from the BBC: Chemistry-A Volatile History. I've posted the first episode in its entirety here. My children HIGHLY recommend it! Enjoy. You can watch the remaining two episodes here.

Teatime Tuesday

One aspect of our homeschool life is our regular ritual of tea-time once a week. This was an idea I got from Brave Writer - a wonderful writing programme (read a full review here). It is something that we all look forward to. During this time, we read poetry and stories to one another while we enjoy a lovely old fashioned sit down tea.

We make an effort each tea-time to dress up our table with tablecloth, use our good crockery, decorate the table with flowers or candles and serve up some yummy treats. Each of my children have their own job - like preparing the table, laying it, making the hot chocolate or tea and choosing the music and poems. 


I love this time as it creates a family ritual of time spent together that is precious and memorable. During this time, we put aside the busy-ness and stress of the day and make time for one another.

Sometimes we'll bake Butter cake, Madeleines, banana muffins and cookies and other times we'll make perfect little English-style cucumber sandwiches and jam sandwiches. If the day has been hectic, we'll just pull out our everyday biscuits or some cheese and crackers but I'll make sure we serve it up nicely on our best crockery. The point is not to create work for ourselves but to sit and slow down and enjoy time together as a family. We like to make a pot of tea and hot chocolate and sometimes on rainy days, we'll make spiced Indian tea.


Below are some recipes we use:


Spiced Indian Tea (serves 2-3)


2 cups water
1 cup milk
1-2 tblspn brown sugar (depending on how sweet you like it)
1 cinnamon stick
4-5 Cardamom pods
5 cloves
1 inch piece ginger
bring to boil, add 2 teabags ( I use English Breakfast Tea but any dark tea will work) or 3 teaspoons loose tea.

Let it simmer for about 5 minutes. Strain and serve.

Butter Cake (lovely recipe from my aunty!)

Preheat oven to 150 degrees celcius.
Line and grease a baking tin 9 by 9 inches

3/4 lb butter
3 cups self raising flour
1 1/2 cups castor sugar
6 eggs
2 tblspn milk
2 tblspn brandy (optional - I don't usually put this)
1 teaspn vanilla essence


Cream the butter with the sugar and beat until creamy and smooth. Then add the eggs, one at a time and continue beating until the mixture is smooth. Pour milk, brandy and vanilla essence into the bowl and add sifted flour. Fold gently until ingredients are mixed. Pour into pan and bake for 50-60 mins.


Cucumber Sandwiches 

(we love this and I always have visions of Lady Bracknell in "The Importance of Being Earnest" when we eat this.)

First, slice cucumber very thin. Then, cut the crusts off your bread and then butter it. White bread works best but wholemeal for a healthier option is fine. You can also spread salad cream or cream cheese in your sandwich but that is entirely optional. Lay the cucumbers on the slices of bread and then cut the sandwiches into small triangles or fingers.

Enjoy!

What books do we read?

As I have a toddler and two older girls, I have to cater to all age groups. So usually, we'll start off with some nursery rhymes and then move on to a poem or two from any of the books we have on our shelves. They range from Robert Louis Stevenson's "A Child's Garden of Verses", Shel Silverstein's "Where the Sidewalk Ends",  a lovely anthology "Poetry Speaks to Children" to name a few.

Our most recent fiction book reads include:

Eva Ibbotson's "Star of Kazan" and "Journey to The River Sea". 

We love her stories - she just draws the reader in instantly with her vivid descriptions that put you right in the midst of the story. The books are peopled with absorbing, intelligent and engaging characters and with it all, you get a glorious old fashioned adventure story that is hard to resist.  

When the last crumbs are picked off the plates, the hot chocolate drained from our delicate china teacups and our tummies are full, we leave the table very happy and satisfied. Small pleasures, lasting memories.

 

Brave Writer Review

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.  ~William Wordsworth

I have an enthusiastic writer and a reluctant writer and I really want to encourage both of them in their individual learning journeys.

I chanced upon Brave Writer when I was in search of some inspiration to help me teach my kids how to write. What I found was not a curriculum but an approach to writing that started to help me formulate a clearer view of what I wanted for my kids.

This is what I hope for my kids:

1. I would like for them to love or at least, enjoy writing i.e. the process of putting their own creative ideas and thoughts down on paper and to have a desire to develop it and see it through into a finished piece they can be proud of.

2. I would aim for them to write well - not just grammatically accurate sentences but arguments that are logical, meaningful, well thought out and put together, as well as stories that are inspiring and beautiful, most importantly - wholly in their own voice.

Can a writing programme do that? Can I teach them that?

The Brave Writer approach is about teaching children to write as a writer would learn rather than learning the mechanics or formulae for good sentence structure or the three rules to writing a novel. It seems to me to be centred around helping kids to discover their voice, to enjoy the process of writing about the things they feel passionate or knowledgeable about.

Brave Writer is run by Julie Bogart, a homeschooler, writer and editor and she offers an online writing and language arts programme in the form of  "The Writers Jungle" and "Help for High School" Home Study courses, online classes, and a downloadable language arts programme that covers dictation, copywork and literary analysis. She also enables direct access to the herself and the other Brave Writer teachers through their forum and classes.

The centrepiece of the programme is "The Writers Jungle". It is a manual for parents. Julie offers to hold your hand on this writing journey through this book as well as through her forums. It provides a full explanation of her approach and then many examples, activities and exercises to try out on your kids. There are no lesson plans but it is structured in a way so that you and your kids go on a journey together - where parents learn to teach and encourage their kids to write without killing their passion.

On her website she writes "Once kids realize that paper is a safe place for thought exploration, they can learn how to craft their writing into satisfying finished products that use all kinds of writing devices. Writing becomes a safe playground instead of an intimidating foreign country. Brave Writer works through all the steps from thought-origination to published work of writing."

You can get a fuller description of The Writers Jungle and read the introduction and table of contents by clicking here.

I have signed up for numerous online classes and am considering more! They are not cheap but we've learnt so much and had lots of fun in these classes. I keep going back for more so it must be worth it. :-)

The kids and parents interact in a forum and the teacher will give exercises, assignments and feedback to each child's work. It is indispensable for the parent as we are being coached in the best way to help our budding writers.

The classes I've done to date:

Kidswrite basic- The Writers Jungle grew out of these classes (although the book contains much more). My eldest daughter and I did it together and we both enjoyed it very much. Our first assignment was to play a communication game which illustrated the importance of using the right words and images to convey what you see your mind and how to convey that to another person accurately. This was followed the Keen Observation exercise which forced us to take time to really observe an object of our choosing and take time to find words to describe it. We were encouraged to use all our senses - sight, smell, sounds, taste and touch. I really enjoyed this as it made us move beyond the basic descriptions of colour and shape and think about the object in unusual and creative ways. We then were given a  freewriting exercise which is designed to give children freedom to write without concern for spelling, punctuation or grammar. It is about writing without stopping for a specific period putting down whatever comes to mind based on a topic or suggestion. Armed with some of my daughter's freewriting we could then go through the process of drawing out the interesting things from the freewrite. We were modelled different techniques to use to help them expand and edit their work. Before long we came out with a finished piece of writing and I was given a model of how to coach my child to deliver a piece of writing that was theirs alone.

The other two classes we signed up for were the Grammar and Poetry class which we loved! My reluctant writer declared that she wanted to be a poet by the end of the poetry class. They got to try their hand at writing all styles of poetry from Haiku, Cinquains, Shape Poems and Free verse, as well as learn to analyse song lyrics, recognise various literary devices and generally meet with lots of different types of poetry. There was a lot of positive feedback from their teacher and they were able to showcase their poems on the forum and read the work of other kids too. 

Grammar was enjoyable too because our teacher deconstructed the whole idea and got us to play with words by getting us to collect all sorts of interesting words, and then we played with them, moved them around and got to see how they might work in different contexts, we built word sculptures, created our own words and phrases and started a dictionary of these words. We then went through an excercise of trying to categorise our collected words and began to understand how words can take on different functions in a sentence. Finally, we read and analysed "The Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll and then we were asked to write an original poem using our own nonsense words and using The Jabberwocky as a jumping off point. I think we all came out with a better sense of the value and function of a word when placed in different parts of a sentence. This was a grammar lesson unlike any other grammar lesson I had ever seen.

Brave Writer also provides a language arts programme that helps you to teach or at least to stay consistent with copywork, dictation and explain literary elements to your child. For example, Arrows is produced once a month and offers copywork and dictation based on a selected book. What I personally like about this is that Julie will also highlight literary elements in the passages and explain what makes the passage compelling or surprising. You can get a free sample here. I really like them but have to say I am reluctant to pay the monthly US$ 9.95 per month subscription fee. If you subscribe for a whole year - you pay a reduced rate of US$79. You can also purchase individual issues as well - check out the backlist here.

Finally, Julie talks about the Brave Writer lifestyle which is really about making writing, words and books a part of every day life - from watching and discussing movies together, reading aloud, copywork, making time one on one to talk to your kids and establishing  a regular tea time where you relax and read poetry and a good book together. I love tea-time. It was the first thing I implemented after discovering Brave Writer and it has become part of a precious family ritual.

How are my kids doing in writing? My eldest has had a very positive experience and she loves to write. My reluctant writer still does not enjoy the mechanics of writing or spelling but in the classes, I noticed she was much more willing to write because she was enjoying the creative process so much. I also know that there is a creative writer in there who just has to overcome her particular issues about the act of writing. 

Bravewriter is a wonderful programme and I certainly plan on signing up for more classes.