Bigger Hearts for His Glory- Unit 31

This week we learned our new character trait, hardworking.  Our verse was Proverbs 14:23.  'All hard work brings a profit but, mere talk leads only to poverty.'

We continued reading our Wright Brothers book and learned that after mastering gliding, the boys were eager to invent a powered engine and propellers to fly.  The brothers worked hard to design their own engine and propeller blades for their flying machine.

The kids experimented with how a glider can rise into the air. Bernoullis principle says that faster air creates less pressure. The air above the balloon had less pressure than the air beneath it. This causes the balloon to lift!

We learned that the Wright brothers father and sister prayed that it would be God's plan for the boys to fly.  After they were successful with 4 flights in Kitty Hawk, the brothers returned home.  They were surprised there was no big welcome for them.  People did not believe that they had flown. 

The kids certainly enjoyed their artistic expression this week! They each made paper airplanes and launched them down the hall.  They experimented with adding paperclips to different types of planes to see the affects of the flights.

We learned that the boys rented a cow pasture to test their plane and made steady progress and longer flights. 

This week in Science we started reading a book about Thomas A. Edison.  As a boy he had many questions and wanted to know the answers.  Thomas moved his goose and he himself tried sitting on the eggs to hatch them because the goose was taking to long.  The eggs did not break because it has a special hard shell to protect the developing chick from the weight of their mother sitting on the egg.  We held an egg and tried squeezing it in our palm.  The egg did not break!

We learned that Thomas fell through the thin ice while skating on the canal.  His good friend saved him.  Our experiment was to freeze water to see the thin layer on top of the surface.

This week we took some time to go on several field trips.  

 

We went on a field trip to a nearby Civil War Plantation.  The kids listened as the guide explained slavery and why there was a Civil War. This field trip was a perfect refresher from our previous units. 

As we walked thru the house the kids were excited to find some of the household items we'd recently read about in our Pioneer Sampler book inside the Robertson's home.  The wash bowl and pitcher was used to wash hands.  This was one of the first items the kids noticed. 

They pointed out the ladder back chair. 

They also brought this sewn sampler to my attention. 

 

Who could forget the bedpan?!?!  

 

He finished the discussion with the gear a soldier would be issued when he enlisted into the army and of course firing the musket gun. 

Our library homeschool program had a special robotics class. The kids were able to create and design their own robot to battle. 

This was a huge hit! 

 

 

The robotics have sensors and the kids remotely controlled them. Pretty exciting! 

 

We had a great week and are looking forward to cruising through these next few units!  The summer bug has bitten me as the weather warms and the kids are outside more.  The Preparing Heart of Dakota books have been purchased for the fall and I can't wait to get my boxes in!

 

I hope that everyone had a great week!

See you next week!

Bigger Hearts for His Glory- Unit 30

We hope everyone had a beautiful Easter.  It was a wonderful day here in Virginia. 

The character trait we learned this week in Unit 30 was carefulness.  

Our verse was Proverbs 2:10-11.  'For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you and understanding will guard you.'

 

In History, we read more in the Wright Brothers book.  We learned that the boys carefully researched reading about gliders and flight before they began to build their own glider. 

We learned that a sound is a long, wide ocean inlet that is parallel to the coast.  We found the North Carolina sounds on the map.  We learned that Kitty Hawk is surrounded by 3 great sounds, Albemarle, Roanoke, and Pamlico.

 

The brothers carefully made a model of the glider to try as a kite in the windiest area- Kitty Hawk, NC.  When it worked, they decided to try riding it!  

We learned the boys only visited Kitty Hawk in the winters and then went home to Dayton, Ohio to run the bicycle shop for the summers to earn money. 

When the boys returned the next winter their flight with the bigger glider was not successful.  We learned that no matter how careful we are, we are often still going to make mistakes.  The Wright boys experienced set backs and we're ready to give up. They soon discovered that the air pressure tables were wrong. They experimented with a wind tunnel and different types of wings to find their solution. The boys carefully worked to correct the problems with their gliders and improve them from year to year. 

We visited the Virginia Air and Space Museum this week. The kids enjoyed participating in experiments. It fit perfectly into HOD. I love it when that happens! 

The kids really enjoyed the experiments this week.  They experimented blowing a globe with a leaf blower on a grander scale and a ping pong ball with a hairdryer at the museum but, at home we just used a plastic onion. Lol! 

In our Pioneer Sampler reading, we learned about the different household items they used compared to what we use today. The kids added a couple to their history note booking pages.  The kids enjoy seeing the way our earlier generations lived with basic necessities.

I gave the kids 2 small squares. They rubbed them together between their finger tips and noticed friction. 

They used their pencils to shade in the area of their squares and learned that when they rubbed it, the lead caused it to rub smoothly. 

We learned that the lead provided a smooth surface and glided easily between our fingers. 

Pioneers found traveling in the winter using sleds to reach their destinations quicker was often quicker than other seasons.  The sleds reduced the friction and were pulled by fast horses quickly.  Sometimes this was dangerous so often they would tie bells around the horses harness to sound jingle noises to alert others passing. 

We also learned that yeast is a fungus that we can use to make bread rise.

The kids thought the small gray balls were strange. 

We learned to make yeast active it needs air, water, and sugar.  We added 1 Tbs of warm water and 1 tsp of sugar.

The kids mixed it together with a toothpick and soon bubbles came to the surface.  We could smell it giving off carbon dioxide. 

Pretty soon when we checked on it, it was almost overflowing! It smelled so good the kids wanted to eat it!!   We learned that even fungus has a purpose!
 

My 4th grader was pretty excited when he made a 100 on his Math quiz this week!  I am so proud of how far he has come. 

This week we added more on our capital and state study!  The kids each made their own unique game.  Pretty happy how well they did with these. They've had fun playing together and it's great for capital/state practice. 

It's been a pretty fantastic week for perfect spring weather! The kids have been more than motivated to get outside to play! Only 4 weeks left of HOD and then summer break! Who is ready? 

Hope you had a great week too! 

Bigger Hearts for His Glory- Unit 29

Disney Magic

We took a week off for a warm and beautiful spring break week in the Caribbean on the Disney Magic!  We all had a fabulous time visiting Cozumel, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, and Castaway Cay but, are glad to be home and getting back into the swing of a routine.  Ok, "glad" may be a stretch but, it's nice to be home.  I will say there is nothing more magical than a Disney vacation! 

Of course, the kids wrote reviews of the trip including what we did at the ports and their favorite parts. We mapped where the boat traveled and located the homes of our servers on a map.  :) 

***

This week in Unit 29 our character trait was honesty.  

We learned Proverbs 12:22.  'The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in men who are trustworthy.'

We continued reading about the Wright Brothers this week and learned that they enjoyed following discoveries in science around the world.  Lieutenant Peary was attempting to reach the North Pole. 

We learned that glaciers are found in the Artic and Polar regions of the globe because they are very cold being farthest from the sun. The glaciers are layers of packed snow and ice.  Icebergs are areas of the glacier that have broken away and have fallen into the ocean.

We experimented and learned that only 1/8 of the iceberg shows above water.  This makes ships vulnerable to hitting them as the Titanic did in 1912.  

We read that Orv and Wilbur had a patchwork quilt.  We learned that patchwork quilts were useful and made from used clothes of different fabrics and textures.  The kids each drew their own designs and added stiches.  I think these turned out great for their little art project! 

We also read that Wilbur and Orv were successful in what they set out to accomplish because of their honest upbringing.   They loved building things together and troubleshooting how things worked.  A tragic hockey accident and typhoid fever kept the boys together longer while they were growing up.  They had great success with a local printing shop and a bicycle shop.  Their mother passed away shortly after their success as business owners but, was not forgotten.  

The kids added the sequence of events to their history note booking.  I love how Heart of Dakota explains that God had big plans for the Wright Boys and used their tragedies into something BIG for them both.  

In our Pioneer Sampler reading, we read that one evening their grandmother told the family a Scottish story about an elf called Hobgoblin.  She used the light from the fire and her hands to make shadows appear.  We of course had to try and turn the lights off to see what shapes we could make too!  The kids had fun trying the different shadow shapes on the wall for each other with stories of their own.

 

 

We learned about the difference in opaque, translucent, and transparent are different.  Opaque is dark and light does not show through.  Translucent objects let some light through and transparent is completely see through.

We had a great week with Bigger Hearts and finding it hard to believe we only have several more units until it's complete.   The kids are cruising through their Christian Light Education Math workbooks and are each doing very well.  

Easter was a beautiful day here in Virginia. We went to church, colored eggs, cooked out with friends, and had an egg hunt. 

We wish you and your family a happy Easter and a great HOD week!

Be blessed!