Skip to main content

Science Fair!


This past week we participated in our second-ever science fair.  It was a lot of fun!  And I could really see growth in the kiddos in their understanding of how to do their projects since the last time we participated in a science fair.  This is partly due to time and largely due to the great co-op class they participated in this past quarter.  In that class the teacher-mom spent six weeks teaching them about the scientific method and helping each class do a group project using that method.  It was a lot of fun and I even learned a lot.  


Mr. B really wanted to make a volcano erupt for his project.  Now this project didn't really follow the scientific method, but his age group (1st & 2nd grades) was allowed to simply enter an exhibition project if they wanted to since they were the youngest participants.  

He and Vince worked together to make a volcano out of spray foam (after the try with homemade play dough failed--too heavy).  My husband loves to create out of foam and apparently my son does now, too.  He had a blast!  

For his board he drew a picture of a volcano using a book sketch as an example and then he dictated information about volcanoes for us to print out on the computer for him (since lots of handwriting is not his thing ...yet).  He also included some pictures of Mount St. Helen's and some volcanic rock that I had picked up a few years ago on the beach in Hana on Maui, Hawaii.  We did a test run of the "lava" at home in a cup, then he did his experiment inside of this volcano at the science fair.  He was pretty excited about it!  And it went well.  


The Princess' age group (and up) was required to use the scientific method for their projects and she was very happy to comply.  She chose an experiment from one of the Mythbusters' Science Fair books that we have (that's where Mr. B found his volcano project, too).  You can find both of the books on Amazon, btw: Book 1 and Book 2.  They're really great!


The Princess' project was called "The Silver Spoon Experiment".  Her hypothesis was that inserting a silver spoon into the top of a pop bottle would help it stay bubbly if left like that overnight.  She tested three other bottles left in various stages overnight as well: one with no cap, one with the cap, and then a freshly opened bottle.  She blind taste-tested them, recorded her results, and created a graph with her data.  I was pretty impressed with how well she did and how much she had learned in her co-op class.  

I thought she did a great job on her board showing all of the scientific method steps: question, hypothesis, materials, procedure, results and conclusion.  She worked very hard on it!  


I was very proud of both of them for their ideas and hard work!  And they really had fun doing their projects, too.  I hope that next year our group will host another one so that they can continue to improve on their presentations and methods.  

Do your children enjoy fairs such as this?  Does your homeschool group host science (or other) fairs?  I'd love to hear more about them!

*****
Don't miss a thing here at My Blessed Life!
Subscribe, Follow, and "Like" today!

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

The Making of an Egyptian Death Mask

We are learning all about the ancient world this year with Story of the World I and loving it! We've been learning a lot about Egypt, of course, which is completely fascinating. Most recently we have studied the New Kingdom of Egypt, which includes the story of King Tut. So we decided making an Egyptian death mask in the style of King Tut's would be a fun project. First since it was too cold at the time to paper mache in the garage (it probably would have frozen instead of dried-ha) and it was too messy to do it in the house, we decided to pick up a couple of cheap craft masks at Hobby Lobby. Next we cut out cardboard shapes to complete the shape of the death mask, attaching them with hot glue. Vince even put a little detail on the *beard* with the hot glue per The Princess' request. Then the kiddos started to paint them with this metallic gold tempera paint. It worked okay for the cardboard, but would not coat the plastic of the mask. We thought maybe a second coat ...
Read more

One Way I Refresh During the Summer as a Homeschool Mom

As our homeschool takes some time off this summer, my mind almost never stops thinking of and planning ahead for the upcoming school year.  This is probably because I'm Type A and an obsessive planner...lol Whatever the reason, I do enjoy this season of planning.   But I also need to be refreshed as a homeschool mom.  Homeschooling can be incredibly exhausting and all-consuming.  It's not easy and it's a lot of responsibility.  And I take that very seriously when I am researching curriculum and planning toward the next school year.  So also taking some time to rejuvenate and refocus myself is very important.   How do I do this?   Each summer I take some time to read something inspiring and motivating that speaks to me as a homeschool mom.  Some of my fave reads from past years--that I have nearby on my shelf and refer to often--are Educating the Wholehearted Child, The Well-Trained Mind, The Charlotte Mason Companion, A T...
Read more

Arkansas' Crimson Clover

One of my favorite things about Spring is the crimson clover that grows along the highways and interstates here in Arkansas. I say Arkansas because this is where I first grew to love it. We actually saw some in Mississippi on our way here and I saw it in our town in Alabama for the first time this year. But it spreads like that, each year it grows and looks even more beautiful. I'm not sure who decided to plant it in the medians of the interstates , but it was genius! It seeds itself and just comes back more lush the next year. I always want to take pictures, but of course it's almost always in the median of a very busy interstate~which is a little dangerous for photography. However, the other day I found the perfect patch of it on the side of a not-too-busy highway, so Vince obliged me and pulled over:) Isn't it beautiful? I just had to share it with you...
Read more