Wodensmeet – Poppies and Gases

I am so far behind in blogging that I am not sure where i got to or how to catch up!! However, I will at least type some of it! There has been a great arts award with oil paints, i worked all weekend , a reasonable home ed week, with wodensmeet on weds, and then a knex home ed group on the thurs and the woodcraft meet on the fri. SB has been signed off from hospital dentist who has rebuilt her tooth . She had a fab sleepover with her friend G from guides, which they both v much enjoyed, and have also been to spymaster together with guides – again v much enjoyed. SOme v expensive boots have been bought. SB took her grade 3 music theory, and thought it went OK. BB’s fish died, and so she got a replacement molly, and then we bought 2 guppies, so we currently have 4 fish in the tank. Work has been v busy, and lots of stuff to do in the evening. General home ed has happened. BB has finished level 3 books and has had a bit of a breakthrough really.

Anyway, having done that very quick potted history, wodensmeet was fab, so deserves a bigger bit of a blog. Unfortunately, for variety of reasons it was just us and le ciel rouge. not that i object to spending time with them on their own but it was sad to miss the others. We started with a poppy craft to think about remembrance day, and what this meant. It was a mixed media craft/art, making poppies by painting various papers red, texturising them, or using red wool etc, having a textured black background. It took quite a long time but they did a fab job.

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As the older ones got to then end, they helped us catch up a bit with story of the world by reading between them a chapter. I like listening to our children reading out loud, though it can be difficult with wierd names! they all did very well at it. Yummy snack and then set up for science.

I had been going to do a spit experiment but instead, due to the shortage of people, thought we would do some scary science again, so got out the 3 gas experiments to remind us all about how we can tell experiments have happened, what diff kinds of chemical reactions there are, and then, how to test for 3 gases.

1. calcium carbonate [chalk/eggshells/marble chippings] ground or cut small and 5 mls of dilute HCl [you can use acetic acid if being more cautious] and a balloon quickly popped over the top of the test-tube/flask. There were clear gas bubbles, and the balloons dilated we then tested the gas with a lit match, and it went out.
2. manganese dioxide and then 5mls of hydrogen peroxide. there was a disagreement here about what gas might be going to be made here! but it was a v v quick reaction, and hard to get balloons on quickly enough. However, we did manage to test for gases. the lit match perhaps slightly popped sound, whilst it flared brighter. the glowing spill definitely relit. this was v popular, and we did this one a couple of times each
3. but i saved the best till last… for the final, we had an inch of magnesium ribbon and added 5mls of dilute hydrochloric acid. [i should say that we do have all 'the gear' with coats, gloves, flasks, test tubes and holders etc, and it is all done with stern safety advice at the start, and any warnings or advice required - including having sodium bicarb avail...] . The pops were resounding!! we didn’t try putting balloons on, but instead we had the lit spill or match ready for when we saw the bubbles from dropping in the magnesium ribbon. This reaction is particularly exothermic. We did this a number of times too.
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We had lunch and then got out some sewing. we had planned to do some french, but no-one seemed that enthusiastic, so the girls all had a play first and then we made owls. These were brilliant. Lots of nattering whilst we did them, and P turned hers into a cat.

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finally we had a bit of music, with all 4 girls doing a short piano practice, cheering each other on and being really positive about each other’s skills. I was really surprised that BB happy to join in, but not about to turn it down!!
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on the way back we got a replacement molly for BB’s dead one. they gave it to us free. it is a halloween molly apparently, being mostly black with some orange. we also got the photos done for BB’s judo passport. she is ambivalent about judo. partly as she hates not being able to do something, worries that she has it wrong. we negotiated with judo that for now, SB will go to BB’s session and be her partner and she can stop at next grading if not comfortable.