Friday Funny--Egyptian-style

How about a fun activity of doing math with Egyptian hieroglyphs? When you're done, you can give yourself a High-Five! HERE's the link for the math.

Smart Phone Apps for Education

We were recently with Smartphones. I'm trying to be smart about my Smartphone. While I enjoy a game of Angry Birds like most, I didn't want my phone to be merely entertainment. I want it to be a tool including being a tool in educating my daughter. And you know my penchant for FREE. 

Here are a few of the apps I have found already and  I would LOVE to find out about what apps you use.

Kindle--You don't have to have a Kindle to download the app for free to your phone or computer. I have access to all the books I have on my regular Kindle.

Google Sky Map--My family really enjoys astronomy and this app is really cool. You hold your phone up to the sky and it displays constellations, planets, etc.

iFlash Free--The link is for "i" products, but it's also available for other products like my Android. You can make flash cards for any subject you want! Currently, we work on our Latin words using this app.

Math Practice Flash Cards--This is really handy. You can practice addition, subtraction, multiply, division and is totally customizable. It reviews missed cards and answers can be multiple choice.

Word Search--Always a fun way to learn new words and vocabulary. I think this one is pretty because each word is colored a different color.

Well those are the ones I've started with. What have you found/used that you like?

Scientific Method on a Sunday afternoon

AKA---I am out of vinegar and baking soda.

We recently watched a video about how glow sticks work. Here it is:

It really spurred her to think about "experiments", so Sunday afternoon after church, while my husband and I watched the Kansas City Chiefs lose (as usual), mija played scientist in the kitchen.

She had started mixing things together to see what happened. She used things like left-over 7UP, coffee, soap ("foam" soap & liquid), etc. Since she was so interested, I introduced her to what happens when you mix vinegar and baking soda. 

Now, it would have been very easy for me to turn this into an "official" science lesson. I didn't, however, because I didn't want to squelch her natural, spontaneous learning. 
What I did do was to introduce some correct terms and scientific method as she experimented. I mentioned words like "observation", "data", "record results", and "hypothesis". As she checked in throughout the afternoon, I asked her "What do you think will happen if...?" or "Why do you think it did...?" 

Well, by the time she was done, I was out of baking soda and vinegar and my stove top looked like this:

She did help clean up before she went outside, and she did it without complaining! Another plus!

All this to say, sometimes we need to be careful not to turn every "teachable" moment into a "school lesson".