Another Week

Hannah had her first ever sleepover away from home this week. She had such a lovely time! She hasn't stopped talking about all the fun she had ever since she got back!

She has also had a riding lesson and had fun doing some races and small jumps.

We have been doing lots of math at home and science. Hannah has been working her way through the human body and has looked at the digestive system and the brain. She has also been making up her own lapbook on mythical creatures which i will photograph when it's finished.

We had some new friends over yesterday which was so nice. We are planning to see each other again soon. Hannah was really happy to find someone new to share her love of American Girl dolls with as they are still a big part of her interests. Her collection is up to 7 dolls now and she still has plans for more!

Dressed for dancing!

Homeschooling

It's not all days out, a lot of Hannah's education does take place outside of our home, such as learning to tie dye at Adventure Group on Tuesday,

but Hannah also does Language Arts, Math and Science at home. This year we are using Spectrum Grade 5 workbooks for those subjects.

Today she has covered common and proper nouns, long multiplication and scientific method.

 I like having something to follow and some sort of plan, and Hannah likes the sense of achievement when she masters something new. She has also started to appreciate the usefulness of some of the skills that she previously wasn't keen to learn! It's so lovely to see her excited about the prospect of learning new things! Homeschooling is an ever evolving journey!

Science - Growing Crystals

Hannah received a science kit from her aunt for Christmas last year and has been waiting for the perfect day to use it. The set has all the equipment needed to grow 5 types of crystals - some of them are really fast growing and others take time which is perfect for keeping her interest!

The first experiment Hannah did was to grow a crystal tree - this was effective, the crystals started to grow the same day and two days later she had a beautiful sparkly tree!

She is also making crystals from limestone and vinegar,

This one takes a bit longer but is looking very promising - Hannah was fascinated by the carbon dioxide bubbles coming from the stone!

Lastly she made a salt water solution and is making salt crystals on a paper clip suspended in the solution. She already has small crystals forming and is going to see how large a crystal she can make.

Thanks very much to Auntie Jayne for such a great gift!

An Explosion Of Colour - Science Workshop

Yesterday Hannah attended a science workshop held at The Kings Theatre and run by The British Science Association. It was titled An Explosion Of Colour, and involved lots of hands on experiments to teach the children how colours are made and how our eyes and minds interpret colour.

Hannah had a really interesting time and enjoyed it immensely.

She made a wheel which she coloured alternately pink and blue and discovered that when she spun it around it appeared purple.


She and her friends were lucky enough to have the scientist sit with them and explain their findings to them.

She coloured orange, purple and pink dots on blotting paper and then dipped it into water. As the water was absorbed the colours separated into the colours they were made of ie the orange separated into red and yellow!


Next they added food colouring drops to a bowl of milk and then dripped dish washing liquid into the centre and watched the soap repel the colours.




And finally they learned about optical illusions.


It was a really great workshop and has inspired Hannah to want to do more science at home.