Mr. Science

Levi has been taking a great science class at the rec center called "Mr. Science". Mr. Science is a funny guy who does all kinds of neat experiments with the kids. He does a good job of keeping them engaged through the hour-long class, and he throws in info for the grown-ups too. I really like that he teaches science in a way the kids can understand, but also uses scientific vocabulary (and explains it to them), and teaches them interesting concepts in a way they can understand, but not in a way that dumbs it down to nothing.

I'm glad we found the program as an addition to the other homeschool activities we do, because science is not one of my strong points. Its hard for me to come up with fun ideas, but its easy to expand on what he learns in Mr. Science class, and often we repeat experiments at home!

Here is a Video too!

Jumping Boy!

Levi likes to jump on everything, so he was excited to try out the bungee trampoline!

Here is my jumping boy:

Levi jumping when he first got on

And here is when he got to go super high!

And today I entered to win some boys patterns! Check out the give away here

Levi's First camping trip - And a BEAR!

We went on Levi's first camping trip, just an hours drive from our vacation home in Tahoe. We went to a campsite at Fallen Leaf Lake and decided to just stay one night for the experience. It was fun!

The bear story:

I rosted marshmallows for my mom, and she decided not to eat one of them so threw it in the fire. Jokingly I commented on how "a bear was going to come and eat it now"

5 min later, Levi and Nai Nai were getting some lemonade out of the bear-proof storage box, and I was sitting in a low chair on the ground by the picnic table.

All of a sudden I heard a 'crinkle' sound coming from behind me. Sense I could see Levi/my mom, I knew it wasn't one of them. I turn around thinking its a person, and its a BEAR!

There was a bear on the picnic table! It looked up at me, I think it saw me at the same time I did. I jumped up from my seat and said "Get in the car". My mom hadn't seen the bear yet, I said again "there is a bear, get in the car".

I started towards Levi (mommy instinct, even though my mom was already picking him up and slamming shut the bear-box) and we all got in the car.

The bear lumbered around for a while and walked off.

It had ripped open an empty cookie packet that we had JUST set on the table, knocked over the lemonade, stuck its nose in my lemonade, and sniffed the grill.

We asked the park ranger what we should have done, and she said walk diagonally away from the bear, which is exactly what I had done when I headed towards Levi.

It made Levi's first camping trip 'official' and will be a great story to tell!

Some other camping adventures: (We also went to Stanford Camp during the camping trip, also on Fallen Leaf Lake)

Kayaking

Paddle boat ride

Nature Walk (guided tour)

Catching crawdads (and letting them go right after pics)

Some random pics of other activites

Kids Yoga

Giant Magnifying glass

Writing practice

Space man

Blowing up balloons in a New way!

This simple experiment was a big hit with Levi who loves balloons. Normal balloons work best, not the skinny kind which is hard to put on the bottle.

Use a funnel to fill the balloon with baking soda. Put a cup or so of vinegar in the bottle (if your kid is allergic to it like mine is, don't let them help with this part!)

Stretch the balloon over the opening of the bottle and make sure its very secure (rubber band it or even hold onto it if necessary)

Now let the kiddo tip the balloon upright, releasing the baking soda into the bottle. Watch what happens!

Check out the link to our experiment:

Levi blows up a balloon (click here!)

Paper Mache

Paper mache recipe:

1 part cornstarch

3+ parts water

boil until glue like consistency. It will continue to thicken as it cools, so stir often and add more water as needed.

Lost and Found

"Stuff" being left all over the house has become a problem. I am constantly stepping on little random toys and other junk that Levi has accumulated.

After leaving his shoes at the rec center, Levi collected them from the lost and found box the following week. On the box was a sign stating that items not picked up after a certain time would be donated. This gave me a great idea which we put into use at our house.

Random stuff I find around, goes into the box. And I explained to Levi that it is his responsibility to check the box frequently and decide what he wants to keep or give away. If he wants to keep it, it needs to go back where it belongs (anywhere else and it goes right back into the box). Items he doesn't want, go into a bag in the garage along with outgrown clothes and other give aways. When it gets full, we donate the bag.

He understands that 'give away' items are given to someone else who needs them, and he will not see them again (there are no 'take backs' from the give away bag!). Often he chooses something to donate (sometimes something no one would want, but I don't tell him that!)

This system has worked surprisingly well - Levi notices right away if something is in there and takes care of it.