LEGO Robotics

We had an amazing opportunity this week - Mad Natter had the chance to enroll (a year early) in a LEGO Robotics class with our local Sylvan Learning Centre. Because it was with our local Association of Bright Children, he was able to squeak in without their usual "age 7" guideline. And so, on a lovely Sunday morning, we went off to the centre and I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.

Virtual Field Trip: Brookfield Zoo!

While we were in the burbs visiting with Hammie and Buppa, it seemed we were never really in one place - unless we were sleeping! As a result, I have another virtual field trip for you, this time to the Brookfield Zoo, unsurprisingly located in Brookfield, IL.  We managed to pick the perfect day for the trip - it was a Friday, and the day before we went, there were tornadoes through NW Illinois, so many people stayed home fearing another rainy, cold, yucky day. It was gorgeous, and I'm actually surprised by some of the things Mad Natter learned!

Virtual Field Trip: Museum of Science and Industry Chicago

Mad Natter and I recently spent about a week and a half visiting with Hammie and Buppa in their suburban Chicago home, and while we were there, we had a lot of great opportunities.  From visiting with some of his cousins to spending days playing baseball with his Buppa in the yard, we had a lot of fun. We found a lot of fun things to do that were good field trips, too, and so I want to take you with us!

Secular Science Curricula

I think I've said this before, but we're not a particularly religious household. In our house... well, the most religious of us is a Secular Humanist, another is an Atheist entirely. This puts us pretty well outside the scope of the pre-existing homeschooling demographic. What this also means, though, is that it's ridiculously difficult to find a decent history curriculum - most history is tied up in religion, and whichever religion came out "on top" is the one that wrote the stories, so that's where the slant is. But even more difficult than trying to find an entirely secular history curriculum?  Secular science.

Review! "The Family Library" series by Robie H. Harris and Michael Emberley

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Having Mad Natter in the house is often an exercise in mitigating what he's emotionally able to handle versus what he's intellectually ready for. Nowhere has this been more evident than in his determination to understand every single thing about how the human body works - including all its parts (both variants!), and the reproductive process. This is all well and good, and I encourage a whole lot of curiosity, but there's only so much I'm willing and/or able to tell my then-four-year-old about human reproduction. As a result, I turned to the children's book section of Amazon, did some flipping through of books, and went on to find what would work for us. It turns out, that starts with It's Not the Stork!: A Book About Girls, Boys, Babies, Bodies, Families and Friends (The Family Library).

Review! The Magic School Bus: The Secrets of Space

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Mad Natter is a big fan of all things science, but he does particularly love space science. As such, one of the things he got for Christmas (and loved!) was the The Magic School Bus: The Secrets of Space kit. I was The Mean Mom, and made him wait until we could put it into our science rotation - there's only so much I can cope with in terms of half-finished projects, and Mad Natter has been notorious in the past for getting partway through anything, and then dropping it in the middle of the living room for everyone to trip over until he decides he's done it and throws it away. But, we've just finished, and I'm super excited to talk about it.

Volcano Day (with a sensory kiddo)!!

Now, everyone knows one of the classic science experiments you have to do as a little kid - especially a little homeschool kid - is the baking soda volcano. Well, that volcano is included in the Magic School Bus chemistry set as the final experiment. The card was missing a few things on the materials list, so it got set to the side for a while, until I could get all the things in the house.

Magic School Bus Science Kits

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This year, science has been what seems like entirely too easy. Mad Natter received several Magic School Bus kits for his birthday, and so we've been working through them one experiment at a time. As a result, I'm in the position to pass along what we've learned about these kits, having gone through three bus-style kits already, with two box-kits to go.