Chaos and exploding metals

Monday of course was Thanksgiving and we didn't do school, but instead had a lovely meal with family. Tuesday was back to our weekly Science Day with our friends. We have learned the hard way that a) Science is no good at the end of the week and b) doing Science with a group this big while the toddlers are all melting down or getting into trouble is really not working.

Part of the problem is that I am trying to do the teaching part, but the toddlers really need me to keep them out of trouble. This is the general issue even when we don't have another giant family here to do school-- short people creating chaos when I am in the middle of trying to teach big kids. Constant interruption really kills everyone's focus and definitely doesn't improve anyone's mood or motivation.

One thing I am trying this week is putting off our Saxon Math till later on in the day or in the evening when then toddlers won't interrupt me. This might be the answer to our chaotic Science days: prep all the material, but not actually teach it myself. That, along with putting up big colourful signs reminding kids to close doors. I must have rescued the baby from toilet play and tumbles down the basement steps like 8 times this week.

Apart from Mama's nerves being frayed by the chaos we actually did lots of good learning. Georgie learned about the natives in North America and the slave trade. Theo learned about Ferdinand Magellan and the search for the North-west Passage. Pretty cool stuff. Math and Language keep charging along and Georgie aced another Spelling test which tells me that she actually CAN spell when she wants to.

In Science we learned about the alkali metals and all the kids were begging me to get ahold of some sodium so we could chuck it in a lake and blow it up. Eustace declares he wants sodium for his birthday. Personally I thought caesium was the neatest of all the alkali metals-- soft enough it actually melts in your hand and the prettiest gold colour, but extremely reactive. You can't actually hold it in your hand-- just the glass ampule it's contained in. It's so reactive that it catches fire when exposed to oxygen in the air. There are so many cool videos online.

We also started work on a collaborative Periodic Table of Elements Poster in which we learn about and write a few sentences on every single element. The AMAZING and talented Christa Price put together this awesome poster with all the elements colour coded and a little flip book for every element. This week Theo presented his project on hydrogen to the class and we attached it at the top of the poster where hydrogen belongs on the periodic table. Then each kid learned about and wrote a few sentences about one of the alkali metals-- there were 6 so Acey volunteer to do one extra.

Next week is Alkaline Earth Metals!! And I have so much prep to do still!!!