Little Bits of Life: May 2019

Tuesday, May 28, 2019

Bathroom happenings

So we made some progress on the bathroom his weekend. We found some crazy plumbing work and a void between the walls hopefully we will have the plumbing roughed in by next week.

Its Science time with e-Science Homeschool Science Curriculum by Supercharged Science. This is a video based science curriculum that is online. It's designed to teach your kids real science. Its is a subscription based service like most online programs are now days. It covers grade levels Pre-K to 12th grade. Units can be done in any order its completely up to you on how you use the program. Looking at the number of lessons available I think you could successfully fill an entire school year with this one program.

Each science lesson has complete video demonstrations, how to lessons, full explanations, worksheets, a shopping list, and quizzes. It's available 24 hr a day 7 days a week as long as you have internet connection you can watch a lesson. It is a self guided program so your kids can basically just sit down and go. The majority of the lessons taught in this program are hands on lessons. There is always something they can do which helps reinforce learning.

I got logged into Supercharged Science there is an introductory video that I recommend watching as
right now navigation is a little tricky. They are working on making navigation easier. When you log in you can navigate either by topic or grade level. Right now as a self guided lesson my kids are struggling to figure out what to do and where to go next.

We have just finished our main science curriculum we are not really studying any specific topic at the moment.. Since I make hand made soap my kids are quite familiar with how soap is made and I decided to just type soap into the search bar and see what lessons it brought up that had to do with soap. The very first lesson that came up was called Microwaving Soap. Now I have done this experiment my self when I was in school but I really couldn't remember why the soap expanded when heated in the microwave. But I remember being amazed by it. The experiment called for a bar of Ivory soap, I make my own soap. But we found an old bar in the back of my moms bathroom cabinet.
The lesson gives a written explanation then it gives a list of materials needed for the experiment. Below that list is where you find the video part of the lesson and below that is where you find the printable worksheets. I printed the worksheets so that the girls could have them while they watched the video. I gave them there bar of soap and let them loose to see how they would do following the lesson on there own.

So the girls watch the lesson they are all excited to try it out they pop the bar of ivory in the microwave and total let down. This is what it did!

I really wasn't sure what went wrong they followed the directions but it never expanded. So we tried some handmade soap. This was whipped soap that floats in the bathtub it simply did this.....

Before

After

On our next trip into town I picked up another pack of Ivory soap and the girls gave the experiment another try. This time the soap expanded like it should have. Our best guess as to what when wrong is that the first bar was just to old after all it has been in the cabinet for at least 3 years. So this is what the soap should have done.

Microwave soap was just the first lesson that we tried. There are so many different topics and videos I could not possibly list them all in this one review. Some of our favorites were the 4th grade lessons on magnetism even I learned some new things in this lesson, Rocks and minerals was also a hit as we are planning a trip to a diamond mine in the fall. For the 6th grade lessons we liked the lesson on Heat Transfer and my oldest enjoyed the ecosystems lesson.

All in all I am very pleased with the selection of videos and lessons offered by Supercharged Science. I feel that it covers all the topics for each grade level in a fun way. The videos are so helpful and give the girls a much better understanding of the lesson than just reading it from a book or having me explain what happens. I found the I usually had mots items needed for the experiments on hand and if I did not have them I was able to find them at a local store. I found it easiest to navigate by grade level as it helped me to stay on topics that would not be over the girls current understanding. However I would like it if it had the ability to show which lessons have already been completed.

Be sure to click the banner below and see some of the other amazing experiments that the other families tried.

e-Science Homeschool Science Curriculum {Supercharged Science Reviews}

Monday, May 27, 2019

Wednesday, May 22, 2019

So this is happening at our house

Our aging bathroom has begun to give us trouble. The toilet is starting to leak. The tub enamel is chipping the plastic wall surround is cracked and brittle. Its just time for this retro bathroom to be repaired. This is what it looked like the day I began DEMO!

This is what it looked like that night. Everything is out but the tub, sub floor and dry wall. As you can see the stain on the dry wall where the surround was beginning to leak. All this dry wall will be removed so that I can put in a tile shower.

A great neighbor came and helped me haul that beast of a bath tub down a flight of stairs. The tub is thick cast iron with enamel. That wonderful neighbor took is repurposing that tub as a water trough for his Mule.

The hole project will take me a couple of months to finish since I only have weekends to work on it. It will be a tile shower with a linear drain. I have never done tile work so this hole process should be fun.

EdAlive Typing Tournament and Math Invaders Review

The girls are still working on there typing skills. They are slow and tend to hunt and peck more than anything. I thought this program by EdAlive called Typing Tournament Online might help them learn to type a little better. EdAlive also has program called Math Invaders Online. These are two different subscriptions but both are reasonably priced.

Math Invaders Online is a math program that is designed to be a fun way to learn math. It uses a game format to help kids have fun while learning math skills. It is designed as a mastery learning system for age 5-15. It covers topics like Times Tables, Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Fractions, Percentages, Decimals, Counting, Squares, Powers, etc. As your child masters a concept the program automatically progresses them to the next level. Kids are motivated to learn by earning new defender levels. The girls have toyed around with this program a bit. They report that the games make practicing fun and they are usually willing to play it at least a few times a week. The only downfall to this program is its internet based so while they can play it on a tablet or phone they must have an internet connection.

Math Invaders has become our rainy day activity. About 2 weeks into the program the girls discovered they could host a game called space rescue and they could invite other players to play with them. Most of the time they are just playing against each other but they find it fun to see if they can beat each other. I like that its fun and educational at the same time. Math Invaders is giving them some extra math practice and for once they are not complaining about it.

Typing Tournament Online is the program the girls have used the most. They are calling it TTO. This one is designed as a complete 10-finger typing course. It is for ages 6 to adult. There is no need to have prior typing experiences. It progressively introduces the whole keyboard and allows the student to work at there own pace. There are 128 lessons including games and drills. Typing Tournament Online teaching works on PC's Tablets, ipads, iphones, Android tablets etc. It solves the problem with the nonstandard on-screen keyboard that is used on mobile devices by substituting its own specially created onscreen keyboard that has a standard layout. You get unlimited 24 hour 7 day a week access. The only down fall is its internet based so if you must have internet to use it. As far as typing programs go this is one of the better ones we have tried. What makes it better is its been updated so the graphics are modern and it the audio is easy to understand. The girls say the instructions are very clear and easy to understand. They describe the typing games as fun. The games have a medieval theme with 16 different levels they can advance through as there typing skills get better and better. As they progress through the program they are given test to evaluate how they are doing and an opportunity to earn tokens that you can use to watch a movie.

From the teachers end of things it offers a teacher account with printable reports so its
easy to keep a log of each child's progress. It has an unlimited amount of printable worksheets that you can choose from for some extra practice when they need it. It offers graphs etc to help you track prog ress and see any areas they might need a little help working on. Both girls have really improved there typing speed and accuracy. They enjoy playing the math game and blasting away aliens and are really getting some much needed math fact practice.

Don't forget to click the banner below and check out what all the other crew members are saying bout EdAlive!