Science Is All Around

Lu recently finished the book we used for science this year. A book all about our universe. A very thick book, with lots of information and beautiful illustrations. I thought it would take him all year, but we still have two more months of our school year. But this is not a problem in my house, with my science-loving kid. Lu will be in charge of his science curriculum for the rest of the year.

He's been doing daily science experiments 

that he finds on websites and on YouTube,

like this balloon launcher:

 

Science projects/experiments are so much more fun 

now that Lu is old enough to find all the stuff he needs, 

follow the instructions, and research the explanations

with no help from me. lol

The homemade thermometer:

Making a saltwater battery:

 Listening through a stethoscope:

Here Lu and a friend are building a forge.

They spent all day forging metal into knives and swords.

On Sunday, we went to our friends' goat farm

and Lu got a chance to play with the little ones,

and milk one of the mamas.

He drank a WHOLE liter of goat's milk!

We're lucky to have science learning built into our every-day lives.

And there's  so much wonderful stuff to be found online.

 Science is all around!

Old Books, Big Cities, Free Flow, and a Rock Star

 Our school year runs from Jan-Nov,

so these are the last few months of 6th grade for us.

After finishing the first two books of the "Chronicles of Ancient Darkness" series, and not having the third, Lu pulled "Black Beauty" off of my childhood bookshelf and is reading it mostly from a lack of a better book, aka We Need More Books. 

Morning reading time is VERY important around here 

(specifically for mami's quiet coffee time).

Creative writing has always been a struggle for Lu, so we let it go for a while, but recently we bust out a notebook and started 

"Free Flow Writing/Doodling Time" and it's been a HUGE success!!!

 

The first half of our year was very science-heavy with lots of documentaries, including the complete "Through the Wormhole" series with Morgan Freeman (the only man I'd leave my husband for, I luuuuuv Morgan). Now Lu is just chilling with some reading on deep space from another book from my childhood, this Nat Geo "Our Universe" book that my great-grandfather gave me when I turned five, 35 years ago:

For history we're reading about the Spanish conquest of Mexico and Guatemala. It's a very old book written by a Spanish soldier. We take turns reading aloud in a Spanish that is old and difficult to read. We're slowly working through the over 800 pages, but it's worth it because the story is truly fascinating.

As a final 6th grade research project, Lu is putting together a slideshow presentation of ten major cities of the world. He's having a great time with it. He'll come running to ask "Did you know there's no toilet paper in Tokyo, because the toilets wipe your butt for you?!" or "Did you know that pinball machines have been illegal in New York since the year...?!" Some of his findings are questionable, but it's so much fun to see what he gets excited about. lol

 We recently participated in an artistic photo shoot 

for a make-up artist friend.

 Lu had a blast getting made up and posing.

Here's one of my favorites: The Rock Star