Testing a Hypothesis

Yesterday E was playing with this slime we made, and she said that she was doing a test.  I asked her what she was testing, and she said that if she held the slime up and hit it with the knife, she wanted to see if it would go to the left or the right.  "Like on Mythbusters!  They test things."

I said that she was right.  They do experiments.  She said, "No they test things."  So I explained that is what an experiment is- testing a hypothesis.  I gave her some examples.

Then she said "My hypothesis is that if I hold the slime up, it will be easy to cut."  Then she did it and said, "And it's true!"

She did a few other tests to see of the slime would fall one way or the other, and if it was easier to cut with a steak knife or a butter knife. 

Radical Tuesdays- Curriculum

The next time someone asks me what curriculum we use, I'm going to say youtube.  I usually say "real life," which is true, but so often things come up that would be very difficult to take my kids to see or experience.  Some things, like the tornadoes we just watched, I wouldn't want them to experience too closely!  Youtube lets us see those things that other real people have really seen and video taped.  I love books, I even enjoyed workbooks as a kid.  My kids like the occasional math or reading workbook or coloring books that are designed to "teach" colors and shapes.  However, there is something much more REAL about seeing something someone else has seen.  It lack some aspects of the real life experience, but it is WAY better in other ways than reading about something in a book.      

Caves, Caverns and Catacombs

Yesterday E told me that she wanted to live underground with the bugs! The first thing that popped in my mind was the catacombs and I told her about them. Not the violent, scary parts, but the fact that they are underground and people lived in them and there are probably lots of bugs down there. Then the conversation turned to caves. We were in the car, so I made a mental note to look them up when we got home.

Today I found this Planet Earth video all about caves and the bugs and bats that live in them. We watched about half of it so far- fascinating and beautiful!